Richard Garriott on MMORPGs - very interesting

It seems then, that you are not reading the threads that ask for single-player to be eliminated.

 

"In the game's testing"... because it's not really a game, it's just a test maze full of test bunnies and lab rats all trying to find out what's fun about it...

Some things are allot more fun when they're all grown up !'

You know I'm still in the hopeful camp of things...
Time tends to make all things allot better
~Time Lord~

 

Sorry man, but I don't buy this anymore. I am more afraid that this will close down before it is even officially released. We need more content in form of game mechanics, not another fancy decoration for houses.

 

~High Anxiety~

Something does has to give way sometime and that sometime may be launch... which is how far away now?...err umm... I should be asking how "close" is that now?
Think of how many speaking engagements they'd loose... and these guys at Portalarium are egomaniac enough never to accept failure. There's so much missing in the game that we can't say that they are "adding to it" each time they have a release. It's just obvious that either you are right or that they're hiding content before launch. Anywhere between that bracket could be a fare assessment to.
~Time Lord~

 

Right now I'm happy if the game continues to grow into a rather traditional MMORPG, spiced up by great attention to detail and the Ultima lore/feeling. If they make quests and storyline ineresting enough for the game to have single player value, that's a great bonus. But that seems to me like too much of work to expect at this point, no matter what has been said earlier.

 

Still waiting on their idea to fix PVP and the sandbox... They mentioned sth in R33 Postmortem... So last chance IMHO.

 

Before Beta... that's how it usually goes. They're currently hiring world builders so that means that they're starting to flesh things out... that's like, step one for content creation.

Yes, content creation is one of the fastest cycles of game development. How Portalarium handles that, of course, is another thing entirely and I hope they take more time than typical to fully flesh out quests and dialogue. They could very well create a really shitty game regardless of whenever or not it has multi-player or single-player... and not because both can't be merged harmoniously but just because of sloppy execution.

Avatars Radio interviewed me back in May and I said that I'd give SotA another year... so that's more or less 8 months from now.

I never associated RG games with "polish" but I remain cautiously hopeful for SotA.

Do indulge me and link a few. I admit I don't read every-single thread in the forums so I might've missed a few. As far as I can tell, you guys are louder and more aggressive.

Let's not forget that even some PvP advocates made a poll about removing PvP altogether... because it just wasn't worth it.

 

The problem with Single-player Online is that it is a 'have your cake and eat it too" mode. I should know. I've been using it at the expense of a multiplayer experience so I can farm resources or gold in peace and without competition. It shouldn't be that way. It's a 'cheat mode', in my opinion and through my experience. Am I sitting on heaps of coin and resources? No, I'm broke, but that's because I'm playing the game by RPing my character so I have set certain handicaps for myself. The issue is I could game the system easily if I chose to in that mode.

The other problem as I've mentioned before in this thread is that while the Single Player Online and Offline story elements work towards conclusions, those elements don't work towards a good multiplayer story. For example, from what I understand (and I might be wrong), that while following the Love Virtue Quest towards conclusion that some players can get locked out of the shared party dungeon if the player has completed the quest previously and that only one character gets credit for the quest even if grouped. Wouldn't a good multiplayer-themed quest have players group together to complete a goal together without location lockouts or single-player only dungeons?

These are some more of my issues with Single Player Online and why I wish it to go. Again, I have no problem with a Single Player Offline version and I wish for it to be as well-developed as the Multi-player version but I think the Single Player Online version is hampering both Offline and Multiplayer modes.

 

We are close enough to launch that the devs have started using the excuse that somethings are too deeply embedded in the design to fix. Once one piece of the design is locked down, all the pieces that interact with it are harder to change and will likely be locked down soon as well.

 

It's a catch 22, isn't it? You bring up your concerns over and over as time goes by, hoping that it's finally time to get to a certain feature and you hear the cry: "just wait, they'll get to it, this other thing has to be done first, quit complaining and just wait and see." So you wait and you wait and then you hear: "Sorry, not in the plan for Episode 1. Sorry, this other feature is too ingrained. Sorry, you should have brought that up earlier."

Sigh.

 

This is so important to my friends and I. Don't take this wrong everyone - but we really don't want to interact with you on an ongoing basis. We are people that BETA tested the 1st Ultima Online and just about every MMOLRPG that has come down the pipe and don't care to have some feel good experience in game with people we don't have an investment in. If anything this game is guilty of giving non social people access to to an on line game. And we love it. Create some event that makes us want to join in the On-Line reindeer games. Otherwise I will level my toon to a point where I enjoy Multi-player which is John Snow's advice to Arya : "stick em with the pointy end". Based on everyone I know personally that wants this there has to be financial support for a game like this.

 

It's the national pastime around here. They should just add an in-game feature instead.

Player A tries to use feature X.

Message: "I'm sorry. That is not in-game yet. We will let you know when the feature is available in Episode 1. Soon™"

Fast forward six weeks...

Player A logs in.

Message: "We regret to inform you that feature X will not be available in Episode 1. We are simply too busy building bunny masks for the whales to buy in our store. Maybe for Episode 2. Here's a COTO for your trouble and you can thank us by buying said bunny mask as well. We'll give you a 1% discount. You're welcome"

 

Get ready to drop another branch on'em..

~Time Lord~

 

I'm curious Dep.. what other multiplayer online game have you closely followed the developement cycle? You sure sound like you know what you are talking about.

 

Can we please not degenerate a review thread into banter and trolling against the company or other persons?

We want to hear from you, and see your comments from other reviews, that's what the forums is about. It's not about simply badgering and letting all your hate out on the forums with no control. There is a big difference between sharing criticism and being a derailment to a thread that contributes nothing to it. Know that difference.

I've removed several posts here for personal badgering, flamebaiting, and a host of other nonsense. Notice carefully that I've also kept the critical comments above still.

 

Great video, thanks @Time Lord.

 

That is what I fear. But I would actually be ok with it if the devs would officially state that the game will become a MMORPG and that the offline mode will be canceled or that the Selective Multiplayer approach didn't work.
I would be disappointed but at least it would be honest. Right now the description of the game is not that of an MMORPG but it plays like one which leads to confusion and frustration.