Random MMO thoughts and ramblings (SWG, WAR)
Another fellow that took a peek at post NGE Star Wars Galaxies. A very nice read. He pretty much enjoyed the experience, although he much preferred the old game. Where have we heared that before?
And I’m going to write about this too.
The recent announcement from EA Mythic regarding their upcoming mmo: Warhammer Online.
Apparantly, due to project management, time-management issues, some stuff got scraped from the game. To be more precise:
- Most capital cities will not be available at release (leaving only 2 CC for players)
- Five classes have been scraped from the game (Choppa, Greenskin, Hammerer, Blackguard and Knight of the Blazing Sun) and probably will not be added again.
Mythic’s community/PR wizard Mark Jacobs explains the why and how’s on a forum.
Now, I’ve been following the game with some interest. I’ve never played Dark Age of Camelot (also from Mythic) but the whole realm vs realm thing appeals to me. I’m not that keen on games with an EA brand on them, so that is an issue that might decided whether or not I’ll buy the game.
Also, the itemization (WOW pvp anyone? How fun is it to get oneshot?) and balancing of the characters is vital to a PvP centric game.
So is this cutting a good or a bad thing?
For starters, no-one knows the real deal. Only Mythic has the real reason as to why. We mere mortals can only speculate. But that’s what the internet is all about so lets get to it.
The BAD:
- Beta Beta! The game is nowhere near finished and polished and they are pushing for a release (AoC anyone?). Who knows why? They’re out of money, EA is breathing down their neck, they are tired of developping …
- Promise a lot! That’s the mmo mantra these days. if you are creating a game it’s always best to say it is the most uber thing ever done. It’s packed with next-gen features (Next-Gen baby, woohoo). Offcourse the day will come that you get confronted with reality and funding and stuff like that. Woop did we dream out loud?
- World of Warcraft! Yea the killer of mmo’s. In a couple of month, WOW’s second expansion will hit the shelves, Wrath of the Lich King. And it is bound to hook players for several months to come. Bad time for you to release your mmo after that no?
The GOOD:
- They really really want the game to be perfect! Not just good, but awesomely perfect. It takes balls to make a decision like this so far into the developement cycle. They could have waited with the announcement until WAR was being shipped. They could have shipped with uncompleted (bad) content and try to fix it after release, and we all know how easy that is right? (/sarcasm off)
- The game will actually benefit from it! I actually like the decision to cut the number of capital cities. This way everything will be centered around two cities. As a player, a heck of a lot easier.
The classes is something you just have to trust Mythic on. if the data they get from their beta-testers says crap, it probably is crap. And again, kudos to them for actually listening to their QA people.
I’ve been reading statements of people (gamers) saying stuff like “I want my pre-order money back” & “I won’t be playing the game now you EA sellouts”.
Please … get real.
It certainly is an interesting developement, and I’m curious what the next couple of months will bring for the game, but I’m certain this isn’t the last surprising announcement Mythic has in store for us.