SOE Becomes Daybreak / Russian shutdown
- Thread starter Laerazi_sl
- Start date
Yep, that's how I see it too. In the end it's not innovation that's the carrot but familiarity.
Skanda
I'm Amod too!
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He was too high to even bother showing up to the office for the first. I'd bet good money he had exactly fuck all to do with the actual game design past the utterly boring alpha crap we hear about from testers that was quickly scrapped.
The second is vaporware and he's just paying lip service to the fanboys in the hopes of robbing them of even more cash.
You want this. I want this. Much of rerolled wants this. However, I'm not sure if joe-console-gamer actually does. Plus, this tech isn't ready for MMO primetime. If Hartsman couldn't get it to work with Rift, I doubt the SOE/Daybreak team could. The workaround is player content which is easier.
Plus, static spawns enable the selling of expansions and subscriptions or freemium fees where the big money is and companies still want the WOW golden goose. Dynamic means more replayability and less reliance on mudflation which kills said golden goose. Evidently there still is a pretty big market as Warcraft keeps printing money using this model, with millions happily spending 40 for an expansion and paying 15/mo.
The more tech evolves, the less I think MMOs are the answer. I really want a nextgen Bioware NWN variant with players able to make real 3D custom adventures in a simple fashion.
Muligan
Trakanon Raider
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In Hartsman's defense, Rift would have been the game if some of the changes out of beta wouldn't have happened. You may have meant that but Rift was a near perfect attempt at the type of game we were looking for but instead of taking the steps in the right direction it took an unexpected turn thanks to the more vocal people.
I can't blame people for making decision that may help secure their jobs but I believe people would have rallied around this game or at least stuck with it longer if the right decisions were made. I guess you have to be as appealing as possible to the most people when you have WoW looming over you. Now's the time though. WoW is old and while people still play, no one is as committed. I'm not saying you attack the WoW player base to gain subs but I think you have a lot of people floating between games or not playing games at all just looking for the next big thing.
Vandyn
Blackwing Lair Raider
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Everyone says this but I think you need to add the caveat that the game needs to be perfect or pretty close to it because I look at a game like Wildstar or even Archeage, which has tried to go in a different direction and has failed. And then you need to define what 'perfect' is because everyone has their own definition of it. We keep on saying that players are waiting for the next big thing, then these games come out and they crater in a month. You say people are wanting something different but yet how do you then explain a game like FFXIV, which really isn't that fundamentally different and had done pretty well for themselves. I think it's more fair to say that most that play these type of games want something that's fun which is what has been severely lacking lately (and why most always eventually return to WoW).
In my opinion, I think the old school MMO player is always going to be looking for the next big thing. Like a drug user, EQ was the first high and the player has been constantly looking to recapture that initial high (and like a drug addict, it'll never happen).
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Either way SoE was a sinking ship the way it was heading. Decade of releasing second tier product, most of which was unfinished buggy messes. Look at PS2. Great open beta turnout, tons of feedback, tons of bugs and balancing problems, but the majority of players had a positive vibe about the game. What do the do? Release the game in a buggy unfinished state with absolutely no meta game oh, and with one continent to boot. Could not even get the game to use multiple processor cores when it released. At a time where quad cores were the norm in a gaming computer. You keep releasing unfinished shit like this, people leave and never look back. We all know that in the gaming industry the first few weeks/months are crucial.
Look at BF hardline. Might not be the game for you , but they did and open beta a year ago which met lots of negativity. what did they do? They went back to fix the shit based on player feedback from beta, pushing back the release date by a year. Now a year later they had 7 million peeps logging into the beta, and even if they get 1/2 or 1/3 of those folks to buy the game, they are golden.
Look at BF hardline. Might not be the game for you , but they did and open beta a year ago which met lots of negativity. what did they do? They went back to fix the shit based on player feedback from beta, pushing back the release date by a year. Now a year later they had 7 million peeps logging into the beta, and even if they get 1/2 or 1/3 of those folks to buy the game, they are golden.
It's mmorpg.com
Delusion is it's middle name. Why would you expect anything different from it's readers?
Convo
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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I dunno, I think the released version of rift was a lot closer to Scott's vision for mmos at the time. I'm sure he would have done more with the right circumstances but overall, I think we got what he was intending. Rift was just a collection of what was working at the time. I never believed he was a becon of light for old school mmo concepts. Appreciate his posts and what he did with rift to get it out the door but he ultimately scraped a lot of the better ideas and made rift what it was.
sukik
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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EQ2 wire did a little more grounded reaction piece than that mmorpg.com georgeson lovefest.
EQ2Wire t Have To Be This Way
EQ2Wire t Have To Be This Way
Convo
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Lol Smed needs to go. It's pretty obvious. Fucked up of he really chose the option the way it was presented in the article. Not that it would surprise me.
Not sure if this has been posted but here is the reported list of lay offs:
Dave "Smokejumper" Georgeson (Director of Development for the EverQuest brand, @DaveGeorgeson)
Jeff Butler (Creative Director for the EverQuest brand, @JButlerDaybreak)
Linda "Brasse" Carlson (Community Manager, @Brasse)
Akil "Lyndro" Hooper (Everquest II developer, @akilh)
Aaron "Gnobrin" Bisnett (Weapon and Armor designer for 12 years, @Gnobrin)
Douglas "Endymion" VanDerveer (Everquest II game designer, @douglastweets)
Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske (Community Relations Project Manager, @Ashlanne)
Eric "Felgon" Smith (Associate Producer for EverQuest Next and Landmark, @F4Felgon)
Steve "Moorgard" Danuser (Lead Content Designer and Head of Story, @Moorgard)
Tiffany "Amnerys" Spence (Social Media, @JustTiffy)
Kyle "Hats" Manchester (Community Manager, @Hats)
Racheal "Afista" McKenny ( Everquest II community Manager, @Afista)
Noah Watkins (Graphic designer, @noahwatkins)
Kelduum Revaan (Programmer for H1Z1, @Kelduum)
Katharine Anderson (Build master for PlanetSide 2, @katharinelilly)
Xander Clauss (Base designer for PlanetSide 2, @XanderClauss)
Taylor Dowell (Systems designer for PlanetSide 2, @Tayradactyl)
Possibly all contracted employees - Not confirmed
Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske (Community Relations Project Manager, @Ashlanne)
Dave "Smokejumper" Georgeson (Director of Development for the EverQuest brand, @DaveGeorgeson)
Jeff Butler (Creative Director for the EverQuest brand, @JButlerDaybreak)
Linda "Brasse" Carlson (Community Manager, @Brasse)
Akil "Lyndro" Hooper (Everquest II developer, @akilh)
Aaron "Gnobrin" Bisnett (Weapon and Armor designer for 12 years, @Gnobrin)
Douglas "Endymion" VanDerveer (Everquest II game designer, @douglastweets)
Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske (Community Relations Project Manager, @Ashlanne)
Eric "Felgon" Smith (Associate Producer for EverQuest Next and Landmark, @F4Felgon)
Steve "Moorgard" Danuser (Lead Content Designer and Head of Story, @Moorgard)
Tiffany "Amnerys" Spence (Social Media, @JustTiffy)
Kyle "Hats" Manchester (Community Manager, @Hats)
Racheal "Afista" McKenny ( Everquest II community Manager, @Afista)
Noah Watkins (Graphic designer, @noahwatkins)
Kelduum Revaan (Programmer for H1Z1, @Kelduum)
Katharine Anderson (Build master for PlanetSide 2, @katharinelilly)
Xander Clauss (Base designer for PlanetSide 2, @XanderClauss)
Taylor Dowell (Systems designer for PlanetSide 2, @Tayradactyl)
Possibly all contracted employees - Not confirmed
Aimee "Ashlanne" Rekoske (Community Relations Project Manager, @Ashlanne)
Convo
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Enough good Devs to form a small studio and make eq/VG hybrid. Make it happen!
Lol grounded. Dude was looking to twitter for leadership quotes and disappointed he couldn't find any. Then tries to make the case that Perfect World would have been a good sale because they would have been amazing stewards of SOE's IP.
Kuro
Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
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Vitality
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Yeah and then you'd be able to spend $50 to get your sword of nature bolt from +1 to +9. Sounds sweet!