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I think he just meant that there ARE games that are F2P that are worth playing (Dota2 and League, among others), and that all F2P games are not just garbage that people won't pay for. The HUGE benefit to F2P is that you get enough players to play and keep the matchmaking/pvp/sieges/whatever...

I know it isn't on our radar, but Wizard 101 and Pirate 101 (both games designed by the Crowfall guys) were both good games that did what they were supposed to (though targeted at a MUCH younger audience). They also did a reasonable job of balancing both F2P and subs. Earth shattering games? No...

One of the tricky things about balancing PVP rewards and PVE farming type rewards is dealing with kill and/or turn-in trading. A designer has to set the balance so that opposing sides aren't encouraged to trade kills, but at the same time, are not encouraged to just avoid each other, either. I...

While I don't know how ZSO does it, typically you keep your account and lose access to a game. Rarely do they delete the whole account altogether.

Rough math is $50 box = $25 profit to publisher. Digital is 70% gross margin, so $35/copy (unless you get everyone to buy from your website ... which is not common without lots of marketing dollars or a last name of Roberts. So most of your digital sales are coming through Steam or other...

Great post! Only ... what did I say? Also, a bit melodramatic much? CALL OF DUTY HAS A LEVELING SYSTEM! MUST NOT BE A SHOOTER! STARCRAFT REQUIRES TWITCH, MUCH NOT BE A STRATEGY GAME! All successful games have a mix of elements. Successful MMOs have both multiplayer content and solo content...

If you attracted 430,000 players (assuming they all paid $50 a box) - which is the EQ number -, you could only afford a $10 million dev + marketing (combined) budget to pay itself off in box sales (assuming a mostly digital distribution mix). That is just to break even. In order to made a...

They is not to make soloing worthless, it is to offer a mix of content. What WoW and Rift both did was to offer a leveling experience that allowed you to solo all the way to max, but at the same time offered you a big reward (fun, items, diversity in experience) in playing through instanced...

Zenimax's leadership ZeniMax Media Inc Leadership on Elder Scrolls games: Todd Howard Video Game Credits and Biography - MobyGames(Todd Howard - EP of ES 3-5, plus Fallout 3) Vlatko Andonov Video Game Credits and Biography - MobyGames(Vlatko - President of Bethesda) Note that there is...

Hockey!

Bounty has fallen off significantly in the meta because of the changes to dust (e.g. if you are dusted, you run 10% slower while invis) and the ease of getting XP. He still has his place for sure (in fact, put to good use today in the Na'Vi / Alliance Bo5), but wouldn't put him in the top 3. I...

Add Windrunner (err, windranger) for flexibility in being damage (phase/force/Deso or MKB) or support (arcanes/MEK/Force), Nyx Assassin for ganking (build into arcanes then a fast blink, or Mek if your other supports are struggling) and Lifestealer for off-lane semi-carry (phase/drums). Those...

They did some ships that WERE exclusive and are sold out (like the $1,000 limited edition ships). Still, people were throwing down massive cash behind the prayer that was Pantheon for likely the same reason: a game in this genre hasn't happened in a really really long time, and it hasn't ever...

The greatest bot in history known to gamers: EZ Macros was right behind. 8x8 on a boat in UO ... oh man, those were the days. Well, until you got tagged by a water elemental spawn or stuck on another boat that was 8x8 macroing as well.

That's how they describe it and compare themselves to other MMOs. Also, from theWikipedia Article:

Chris is a great guy and I wish him nothing but the very best. We have needed a project in this genre since...Wing Commander? STO was not the droid we were looking for (mixed metaphors to make my Trekkie fans hyperventilate) Also, 212 devs isn't crazy numbers for an AAA quality game. It's not...

Sorry if I was unclear - I meant that in any given day, your best 4 hour period is what counted for your daily score. Emperor would still be awarded after some amount of time (90 days seems too long to me, but maybe 2 weeks, a month?). So you would have 14 days added together (under a two week...

If the game remains sub based, voting will be reasonably gated so that might work. If they ever end up F2P, it's just another vote rigging scheme in the making (no matter what level or /played they require). The original WoW model (Vanilla) for PVP rank was certainly demanding as hell (time...

MMOs need to not have "sides" that people can easily join, but rather guild warfare with guild controlled objectives (ala Shadowbane, as Gecko mentioned). It isn't so easy to join the winning side when it is PRX and they don't just let everyone in the guild. Take a REALLY old example...

Tuco, this is 100% not a troll question but an experiential question: With the rise of MOBAs (DotA, LoL, etc) and other PVP oriented games (I'd put Planetside 2 here), have you guys seen attrition in the MMO PVP ranks? Somewhat like, "Hey, I love me some MMO, but the PVP in DotA is just...

Two weeks! What an amazing display of openness to have a beta for such a long period of time!

I really loved the difficulty of the 5-mans early on, but they really did take too long (the shortest one took about 1.5-2 hours if you were still gearing up). It ultimately made it really hard to get enough people geared to do the raids, since really people could only do 1-2 5-mans per day. I'd...

booooooooooo

I think what L4D/2 did for its combat design was pretty great and could be applied here as well. 1-2 low level mobs die super fast, aren't dangerous. Mix in some mid-level mobs that have some specials and things get a little scary. Multiply that by the horde, shit gets crazy. Finish it off with...

Kind of a big deal when the class system is the "twist" on WoW.

One thing that is important about the level cap is the ability for people to play the same content with their friends, regardless of how much of a progression difference there is. If you are more casual than your friend, and he is 700 hours ahead of you in a 900 hour level cap game, you don't...

Going to leave this here:Nov. 2007: ZeniMax Online Studios Licenses Simutronics HeroEngine For New MMO

Two things drove me from Rift after being the MT for a top 10 guild: PVP was shit and they had no idea how to deal with rogue tanks for HK. Open world PVP quests were just people farming/camping others to get their dailies done, which ultimately was just a zerg fest. Instanced PVP was pretty...

Arma II's expansion and Arma II free or paid (I was lazy and bought Arma II: Combined Operations). Also, apparently in WarZ they have a pay-to-reduce-death-time mechanic ... TotalBiscuit did a video on the whole thing and just shit all over it (TotalBiscuit on : "Well I literally cannot find...

Agreed. FPS should beFirstPerson. This look like it could be a lot of fun. I think Trion hit pretty close to the mark with Rift, and this seems like it could amp up the fun factor. I'd rather them turn RIFT & Defiance into buy-to-play with a cash shop (GW2 style). It makes it much easier to...

I have not tried it, but Reddit and other assessments have been, in order: 1) "Hey this looks like DayZ, what a ripoff" 2) "Wait why isn't there any ammo? Oh ... its all in the cash shop" and 3) "The devs have no idea what they are doing" and 4) "This game can be a lot of fun, but its pretty...

Businesses hire more employees when there is more demand for their stuff than their current employees can handle. Businesses shed employees when there is not enough demand for what their employees can do (major changes in automation/technology excluded on both points). Politics and taxes have...

Not to get all political here, but cutting overhead (staff) always saves you money ... obviously. </maths> Now, will it make them more money? I don't know.

Played last night for the first time -- it was a fair bit of fun (go go bombing runs!). I played mostly LA, which is an ass kicking (especially with the base weapons, which are quite lacking), but drove a tank and sniped as well. I think I'll give medic a go next round based on LR's experience...

I feel like they werethiscloseto making it be something really special. Vanilla Rift dungeons were generally very fun, challenging endeavors. They got a bit too easy, but that happens. I think the big downfall was in class balancing and the class managers not really understanding the depth of...

Awww -- you can delete this if Scott comes over

Are people active at all on Rift? Would it take forever to get up and running in a top tier guild after being gone since the start of HK?