[MMO] Is EA ever patient?
- Thread starter ScytheRexx
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I meant consistently over more then a year or two...
That's the point. You can't base your business plan on something that you might be able to achieve for a while. It's blatantly obvious EA wasn't aiming at 1 or 2 million subs, but 10 million and more. Which was a very foolish thing to do.
Anyway, a well-built MMO can probably assume that, with proper hyping, they can reach 2 million for a while - recuperating investments. Once it's a bit more stable, aiming/planning that you NEED more than 2 million to stay afloat (or give enough return on investment to bother, for those like EA who think just making a nice profit isn't worth it) is short-sighted and stupid, or arrogant and foolish. It's definitely not good bussiness practice. Any MBA student who proposed that would be flunked - you CAN'T base your bussiness models on the assumption that you'll be vastly more successful than your competition "just because".
Well, the Lineages have had huge subscriber numbers for over a decade...in Korea.
I've been looking around and from what i can find the first Lineage did have more then 2 mil for a few years, but the 2nd one didn't last as long (can't tell if it's a year or just a few months, small chart and all: http://www.joystiq.com/2006/04/19/mmo-subscriber-charts-show-whats-hot/)... which explains why Lineage Eternal is closer to the first...
Still, 2-3 MMO's from a pretty wide selection still make for a stupid way to go in regards of a business model...
Then again we are talking about an industry that considered PC gaming dead while the pc market rose every year constantly, just not as fast as the console one...
I don't know about L1, but i've player L2 on 5x servers... levelling took forever... and even on a 10x one i couldn't get to max level.
Otherwise i found the combat for it and the one for WoW to be just as meh... it just doesn't work if you just take the turn based combat and paste it in a real time game... GW2 is the first game i can think of that seems to actually try adapting it to real time...
Otherwise i found the combat for it and the one for WoW to be just as meh... it just doesn't work if you just take the turn based combat and paste it in a real time game... GW2 is the first game i can think of that seems to actually try adapting it to real time...
Why I hate EA and love other companies who are doing things right
http://www.bethblog.com/2012/05/24/mounted-combat-arrives-in-latest-skyrim-update/
Game is out.... 6 months now? And they are still adding new free features.... in a community full of people modding the shit out of the game...
http://www.bethblog.com/2012/05/24/mounted-combat-arrives-in-latest-skyrim-update/
Game is out.... 6 months now? And they are still adding new free features.... in a community full of people modding the shit out of the game...
Which is likely why they are releasing these updates for free. They learned from that mistake, which you have to give them some credit for.
Actually... it kinda does, at least for me. If it's on the disk that I paid for, I expect access to the content because it's on something I own*.If they take it off the disc, then it's not on something I own. Therefore, I have no right to access it without charge. It's semantics, I know, but it's enough of a line for me.
*And that whole "license" thing that companies are trying to pull, where they say they are only licensing a copy of the game and that we don't own the disc or content? Bullshit. Name one other product or license that your not able to see/sign the contract for BEFORE you buy it?
*And that whole "license" thing that companies are trying to pull, where they say they are only licensing a copy of the game and that we don't own the disc or content? Bullshit. Name one other product or license that your not able to see/sign the contract for BEFORE you buy it?
Start a shitty trend, let other companies start doing it, and then make amends while other companies catch the hate?
Love it.
You're talking about Ultimate Super-Duper Hey A New Stage Street Marvel Alphastalkers IV here, man. They've been doing this shit since SNES and people shoving quarters in arcade machines. Instead of already on the disc, they just re-release the whole game over again. Why pay $10-20 when you can pay $50 all over again? On top of that, they'll shit all over one of the most beloved IP's of all time for free!
No, it's the Street Fighter X Tekken bullshit where the game launched with 12 finished DLC characters on the disc, some of which won't be unlocked or purchasable until the fall. People were furious about this, especially since hackers immediately just unlocked and can already play as these characters.
What I'm getting at is Capcom's done worse forever. They'd re-release the whole game again with a few new characters/stages and still list it at near retail price. The disc thing is shitty too, for sure, and had I bought the game I'd be pissed as hell, but it's just a new fancy way to screw people over. I had friends who were livid about the MvC3 re-release, too, only to get double-boned by this SFxT thing later.
You know, I should be happy that I saw this coming since it means I can play it more now, but with how EA has been treating everything I actually feel dissapointed. I wanted it to last longer in the format it was going.
It may not be a bad move. Turbine's done a lot with LOTRO since it went free to play. So has Paragon Studios with City of Heroes. Free to play works, as long as your not giving the paying players a HUGE advantage in PVP.
Hey it's better for me, I wanted to play but was unable to justify paying a monthly fee on it. It just does feel a bit sad having the change happen so soon, as MMOs that make the change rapidly are often going through a massive subscription decline. Even LOTRO took two years before making the change if I am remembering correctly.
It was more like 3, and they still honored all those life-time subs they sold by giving them all the perks of the 15 premium plan, plus free points.
Also, they're finally starting server mergers. The guild I was playing with says the new server they moved to is packed now.
That didn't take long.
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/bioware-mmo-project/1225605p1.html
http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/bioware-mmo-project/1225605p1.html
I'm so glad Bioware's major resources were plowed into that, I tell you!
Should've just made another single-player Old Republic game.
Should've just made another single-player Old Republic game.
F2P has arguably made some games better. I know LOTRO is a lot more fun now that it has a decent population of people to play with.
That being said, I'm kinda glad I stopped playing SWTOR last month. There simply isn't enough end game content for the solo player.
That being said, I'm kinda glad I stopped playing SWTOR last month. There simply isn't enough end game content for the solo player.
TOR is very similar to Diablo III in a lot of ways. Both have the same basic idea - a single player game with story and whatnot made into MMO. Both seem to struggle with the same problem - people run out of things to do at the end of the story, lack of end game, etc. Neither has fixed it, so far. Diablo's still going to try for a while with item tweaks and upgrades, we'll see.
However, going F2P means that I'll probably end up playing it too, finally - as KoTOR 3, a single player game with a bunch of idiotic NPCs milling about and a chat channel for some reason. Just like D3.
Sad to see the IP fail, glad to see the conversion-to-MMO fail.
However, going F2P means that I'll probably end up playing it too, finally - as KoTOR 3, a single player game with a bunch of idiotic NPCs milling about and a chat channel for some reason. Just like D3.
Sad to see the IP fail, glad to see the conversion-to-MMO fail.
The problem I have is that it was a really good game, and I lived bring able to live in it, but they tried to mimic WoW in their execution. Tried, and unfortunately, succeeded. All of the problems TOR has are problems WoW had when it was new, and it took them a lot of time and dedication to address those, but that doesn't help when EA and players are comparing TOR in its infancy to WoW after years of maturation.
My major issue was the group party size and lack of instance content. 4 players max... and you didn't even need that much as someone could use a companion as a weak 4th player. It just wasn't uncommon to see 2 players use their companions and "2 man" content. Not that great in regards to keeping a game alive and well.
It was a good game... but once I max leveled my sniper and kept playing PVP BGs owning the charts and finishing weak PVE content... I got incredibly bored.... very fast.
I think the last 3 months of my 6 month subscription went down the drain.
It was a good game... but once I max leveled my sniper and kept playing PVP BGs owning the charts and finishing weak PVE content... I got incredibly bored.... very fast.
I think the last 3 months of my 6 month subscription went down the drain.
Really, I can't say this is true, but I have a feeling one of the reasons they are declining so rabidly is the fact a lot of the players likely wanted to play it the same way I want to play it.
I didn't want to play SWTOR like I played WoW, because the unique part of the game for me was the storyline and seeing how it played out for each class. I already knew that once I finished said storylines and reached the end, the likelihood I was going to go and do the "end game" was about 10%. That part didn't interest me because I already had WoW.
So after a few months people are hitting the end of those stories, and just move back to other games. That is my theory anyways.
I didn't want to play SWTOR like I played WoW, because the unique part of the game for me was the storyline and seeing how it played out for each class. I already knew that once I finished said storylines and reached the end, the likelihood I was going to go and do the "end game" was about 10%. That part didn't interest me because I already had WoW.
So after a few months people are hitting the end of those stories, and just move back to other games. That is my theory anyways.
Necronic
Staff member
I dunno. A lot of people say they don't want another WoW clone. But really there aren't a lot of other models. The UI can change, the levelling/skills can change, but at the end of the day your just putting lipstick on a pig, it's still the same. You grind levels, you accumulate gear, you rinse and repeat. There's only a handful of MMOs that have come out that I felt had a truly different design concepts, and almost every one of them has failed miserably or has only been able to maintain a small user base (Darkfall and EvE respectively. UO is the only exception.
Honest question, can someone show me another MMO that has done remotely well that isn't a WoW clone?
Honest question, can someone show me another MMO that has done remotely well that isn't a WoW clone?
I don't think it was SWTOR attempting to be a WoW clone that became a problem, just the fact it was not close enough in the areas that mattered. To be honest the thing that always bothers me about new MMOs coming out is the responsiveness and cohesion.
When I run around on my Gnome Mage, I have this sense of connection with my surroundings that few games match. My footsteps seem to hit the ground properly, I don't have a floating issue, movement itself is pretty free. On top of that when I tell my Mage I want a fireball up that Gnoll's furry little ass, I hit the key, the bar fills, and the fireball is unleashed. If it's an instant spell the spell unleashes the milisecond I hit my key.
I am not sure I mentioned it before but SWTOR sucked when it came to the response level, and it was downright numbing. I would tell my bounty hunter to attack someone with a missle, he would stand there after I clicked, lift up his arm, you would go through some sounds and clicks as the missle prepared and then it launched. No bar telling me of a warm up, no instant response, you always had to wait for animations to finish before actions occured. I would hit the same key multiple times because I almost felt like it didn't catch my clicks, something felt wrong.
Maybe WoW just spoiled me with how quick and responsive it is. Everything feels under your control. Few MMOs ever bring that feeling, instead putting more into the froo-froo rather then the action. Hit a key and watch the character go into a "super summersault" attack that hits the enemy a second later, but now you have to let him finish the animation before another can be done.
When I run around on my Gnome Mage, I have this sense of connection with my surroundings that few games match. My footsteps seem to hit the ground properly, I don't have a floating issue, movement itself is pretty free. On top of that when I tell my Mage I want a fireball up that Gnoll's furry little ass, I hit the key, the bar fills, and the fireball is unleashed. If it's an instant spell the spell unleashes the milisecond I hit my key.
I am not sure I mentioned it before but SWTOR sucked when it came to the response level, and it was downright numbing. I would tell my bounty hunter to attack someone with a missle, he would stand there after I clicked, lift up his arm, you would go through some sounds and clicks as the missle prepared and then it launched. No bar telling me of a warm up, no instant response, you always had to wait for animations to finish before actions occured. I would hit the same key multiple times because I almost felt like it didn't catch my clicks, something felt wrong.
Maybe WoW just spoiled me with how quick and responsive it is. Everything feels under your control. Few MMOs ever bring that feeling, instead putting more into the froo-froo rather then the action. Hit a key and watch the character go into a "super summersault" attack that hits the enemy a second later, but now you have to let him finish the animation before another can be done.
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