What Happened This Week: Love Your Thread Title Edition


MMO Fallout wouldn’t be what it is today (and that isn’t say much as it is) without the inspiration I receive from reading forum posts, so this week’s Week In Review is dedicated to all of the completely non-biased people out there who registered at MMORPG.com to explain to me why x-company is a scam outfit and why x-MMO will probably stab me and steal my kidney…but you don’t have an agenda. I read these threads, too. Not to gain any insightful information, but purely for the entertainment. From an aesthetic point of view, it’s like seeing a homeless guy in a dirty, patched up trench coat in New York City holding a sign that says “the end is near” screaming as loud as he can for someone to listen to him. So you do, and you even throw five bucks in his hat to contribute to his meth habit device to stop the apocalypse.

I spot the good threads immediately on the thread ticker, because they always sound the same: “Unbiased preview of Star Wars: The Old Republic” devolves into why the game will flop and Bioware will go bankrupt. “Honest thoughts on ____ from a fanboy” is one that gets me. I don’t think anyone is questioning your genuine nature, perhaps the reason your thread is being trashed is because your thoughts, although honest, were neither educated nor enlightened.

So instead of going over some news, I’ll use the top 5 list to talk about some topics of interest.

1. DUST 514 and Final Fantasy XI: Could Signal Playstation Vita Dominance

I love and hate the idea of MMOs on the Playstation Vita, but all signs point toward the system being able to support true MMOs. Square Enix has already signed on to port Final Fantasy XI over, and CCP wants to put DUST 514 on the console, hopefully with more titles in the future. Should the Vita (with its 3G internet) prove capable of bringing the genre to a portable mode, I think we’ll see more companies jumping on. Then we might see a World of Warcraft port to Playstation Vita, and all productivity would be gone.

But in all serious discussion, having MMOs on the Vita would certainly drive the system up. Pulled away from the computer during a raid in World of Warcraft to go to the store? Sign off on the PC, and sign back in on the Vita, and you won’t have to worry about your random dungeon group putting you on ignore or calling you names or something.

Addiction? Thy name is Vita.

2. Now We Play The Waiting Game, Faxion Online

At this point, Faxion Online is in about the same position Chronicles of Spellborn was two years ago, minus the commitment from Acclaim to keep the title going. The game is online, but apparently has no one working on it. The servers are online, but the game has no support. The question that remains is how many people are still investing money into a game that may shut down as soon as later on today, or as long as a year from now, with no measured response from UTV? A look at the forums would tell you nobody, but the big spenders are also generally relatively quiet about their spending.

Otherwise how would Alganon still be running?

3. How Many Last Times Do You Need?

Ubisoft released a game. Normally I need not say more, what with many of your thoughts immediately turning to the topics of shoddy PC ports, brainless DRM, and bugs. The release of From Dust brought with it controversy, not just because the game is being hailed as a buggy port of a console game, but because players feel lied to over the inclusion of Ubisoft’s famed always-on DRM, requiring the user to be connected every time they start up the game, rather than the “one time activation” Ubisoft previous promised.

But Ubisoft doesn’t work MMOs, and From Dust isn’t an MMO, so why the notch here? If I had a nickel for every time I saw the same person posting “I will never buy from ____ again,” I would put those nickels in a sock and beat them with it. The repeat offenders, moreso, because they are often the worst. Here is a thought: When a company is known for lying about its products, perhaps the best idea is not to pre-order them.

For example, I didn’t pre-order Gods & Heroes from Heatwave Interactive because I know fully well how indie developers fare with MMOs. Oh I’ll buy it, but not until the price comes down on the boxed copy.

4. No, You Won’t Get Banned For Your Language Of Choice

Hellgate Global is one of a few games I play that carries international servers, yet officially expects players to speak English. Barring the obvious “not everyone speaks English” bit, I’ve found that none of the GM’s in-game were actually willing to ban a player for breaking this rule. In the closed beta, they popped in every now and then to say “please speak English only,” but that was the extent of the enforcement.

As long as you aren’t spamming, you should be fine. To the players who fill the chat box by whining about the players not speaking English, there is an ignore function and I suggest you use it: I certainly have to block your posts.

5. What Happens If The Old Republic’s Servers Buckle?

I think I’ve brought this up before, but it warrants repeating. Bioware has confirmed that they are artificially limiting the amount of copies of The Old Republic being sold before launch, and at launch, in order to ensure that players are not stuck behind queues, servers crashing, intense lag, and other rounds of downtime that affect virtually every MMO upon release. After launch, Bioware will increase the amount of copies available as they see fit, and as their server structure is capable of supporting those players.

So I don’t think it needs to be said that some of TOR’s success at launch will be directly tied to Bioware being able to keep their servers steady. After all, nothing says alienating potential players by first telling them that they can’t buy the game, but then turning around and having those safety measures be for nothing. On Rift’s side, Trion has avoided adding servers by continually increasing server capacity.

Does Jagex Have Any Enthusiasm For Stellar Dawn?


Stellar Dawn isn’t just an MMO that got me listed in Wikipedia, it is also the subject of a bit of controversy. Back in 2008-2009, then CEO Geoff Iddison stated that then-named MechScape was virtually complete and that we would see a public closed beta sometime in late 2009 with a release in 2010, following a previous announcement that the game would be done in 2009. In late 2009, new CEO Mark Gerhard announced that MechScape had been taken to the shed and shot, citing the company’s dissatisfaction with the game’s quality. Much of the game, including its engine, would be reused in Stellar Dawn, a similar yet different MMO set to release in 2011.

Jagex has been pretty adamant about the 2011 launch date, even up to swearing that the title will release this year. Despite that, we know extremely little about how Stellar Dawn will function, outside of knowledge that some features from the dead MechScape may or may not be pulled over. There also hasn’t been any in-game footage released, no screen shots aside from concept art, and the company has been very hush on features and gameplay aspects. Compare this to the press surrounding Guild Wars 2, The Old Republic, and really any other game coming out this year, and the silence is deafening.

On second thought, compare that to Jagex’s other title: Transformers Universe. Not set for release until an unnamed date in 2012, Transformers Universe has had far more exposure than Stellar Dawn. With multiple trailers, Jagex even appeared at BotCon and GamesCom to show off the character customization tool that players will use to create their Autobots/Decepticons.

Reportedly the game is in internal alpha, so the end result is still up in the air. I still can’t get past the idea that a game coming out later this year has had so very little revealed about it.

Video of the ___: Runescape, Cheater's Paradise


I care little for the inner-drama in MMOs, so the fact that the person who posted this was a player moderator, and had his status revoked afterward, plays no part in this video being posted here. With the overwhelming quantity of gold farmers that have infested Runescape since its reinstatement of free trade, Jagex has taken to issuing the usual “don’t look over there, look over here,” developer blog, promising that they’re doing something to stop the bots.

And more importantly: What is Jagex doing to keep the game from being swamped with bots and gold farmers like it was pre-trade? They seem to be very sure of themselves that their secret weapon can combat this.

I’m still waiting to see this secret weapon.

Video of the ___: Runescape, Cheater’s Paradise


I care little for the inner-drama in MMOs, so the fact that the person who posted this was a player moderator, and had his status revoked afterward, plays no part in this video being posted here. With the overwhelming quantity of gold farmers that have infested Runescape since its reinstatement of free trade, Jagex has taken to issuing the usual “don’t look over there, look over here,” developer blog, promising that they’re doing something to stop the bots.

And more importantly: What is Jagex doing to keep the game from being swamped with bots and gold farmers like it was pre-trade? They seem to be very sure of themselves that their secret weapon can combat this.

I’m still waiting to see this secret weapon.

NCsoft Q2 Release: Profits Up, Aion/Lineage 2 Down


The first thing you’ll notice about NCsoft’s quarterly report for the second quarter of 2011 is a massive spike in sales from Lineage. NCsoft attributes this to strong item sales promotions. As of now, Lineage is the company’s best source of income, despite the game’s removal from its Western presence just a couple of months ago. Lineage’s item sales have propelled a 67% year over year increase in income, despite a 1% decline in overall sales over the same period. City of Heroes and Guild Wars continued a slow decline, although City of Heroes will undoubtedly hit an increase in sales once the game goes free to play later this year.

Lineage’s success, however, comes on the heels of both Lineage II and Aion dropping a hefty amount, attributed to “slow seasonality” in the report. I talked last year about NCsoft’s regional breakdown in sales, as a response to why some western gamers described feeling like NCsoft doesn’t pay the hemisphere as much attention. As of Q2 2010, the regional breakdown is as such:

  1. Korea: 64%
  2. Japan: 10%
  3. Royalties: 7%
  4. N. America: 9%
  5. Europe: 5%
  6. Taiwan: 3%

Those figures in Q2 2011:

  1. Korea: 71%
  2. Japan: 10%
  3. Royalties: 9%
  4. N. America: 4%
  5. Europe: 3%
  6. Taiwan: 3%

You Need A Better Source Than A Guy Who Knows A Guy


I simultaneously love and hate Massively. On one hand, they have a habit of being right when they offer credence to a layoff rumor, no matter how obscure the source. On the other hand, it’s still a rumor, and I don’t humor rumors unless they have a solid backing. Over at the Faxion Online forums, a couple of players are channeling ex-staffers laying claim that the entire Faxion development team has been laid off.

The question that remains is quite simply: What happens to Faxion next? Does UTV simply ride the game out until it is no longer making money? Will they sell it to another company? Will a new team be hired? Am I looking far too deep into this?

Then again, it might just be my 1:30am cynicism settling in.

The Minority Rules: Bioware Blocks Cross-Faction Chat


Cross-faction chat is a rather controversial topic. On one hand, the supporters prefer it as it allows for smack-talk, for role playing purposes, and general immersion and social interaction. On the other hand, the opposition believes that removing cross-faction chat keeps the less mature crowd from having a larger audience to talk to, with hypothetical situations such as “it’s bad enough that a group of players will stand around ganking the same guy, now he has to read their racist, homophobic slurs.”

In World of Warcraft, Blizzard has always justified this by racial-barriers. Looking at it from a lore point of view, it doesn’t make sense that the Orc and Human factions could communicate without translators, as why would the Orc teach their children to speak Common, or vice versa? (Don’t mention the Forsaken suddenly forgetting Common and being fluent in Gutterspeak. It’s magic) Bioware talked to TenTonHammer that the plans have changed and cross-faction chat is gone from The Old Republic. Why? Because when Darth Vader announced that he was Luke’s father, the emotional scarring was far worse than having his hand cut off.

We had the big argument that this isn’t like Horde and Alliance, we all speak Galactic Standard so we should just allow it. So we actually did allow it for a little while. The argument against it was that, what happens is people start saying inappropriate things to the other side. That’s just the way it is when you’re on a different side and you gank each other, people tend to say inappropriate things.

I agree. While we’re at it, let’s cut in-faction chat for that same reason. When I was playing The Old Republic, the other players on the test server were unapologetically racist, homophobic, and vulgar. So are some of the people in trade chat in World of Warcraft, and in chat in general on Runescape. In fact, block cross-faction chat won’t stop my random LFG group from telling me I’m a shitty hunter, and that I should hang myself in my living room because I can’t build a proper DPS outfit.

Essentially, if you’re going to block chat: Come up with a real reason. There is a purpose for the ignore function, and that is removing unwanted players from your chat window. Your customer service team should also be inviting active reports for offensive language, and banning offenders. I hate to play the slippery slope card, but what else is Bioware going to remove because a few immature players might utilize it to say bad words?

Rift Has Over 1 Million Customers, Is #2 In West


Alright everyone, pitchforks and torches are in the barrels to your right, lighter fluid and booze to be handed out liberally and excessively. In an article on Gamasutra, Trion’s own David Reid made a few statements on premium MMOs and the subscription model. He mentions how companies need to adapt and evolve in order to survive an increasing demanding market with more and more cheap alternatives sprouting every day. Trion is currently running Rift, with upcoming free to play RTS End of Nations and upcoming shooter Defiance that will run hand-in-hand with the Syfy show of the same name.

“It’s a lot harder to make your money back in the premium games space than it used to be,”

More importantly, David Reid mentioned that Rift carries over one million customers, and is the second most subscribed game in the west. Once again, pitchforks and torches to your left, booze on the right. Help yourselves.

Warhammer MOBA Announced, WAR Going Nowhere


Mythic Entertainment today announced Warhammer: Wrath of Heroes, a lobby-based arena PvP game. As part of the Electronic Arts Play4Free program (you may recognize this from Battlefield Play4Free), Wrath of Heroes will be free to play with a notable cash shop. Judging by the trailer, the game appears to control similar to Warhammer Online, with the exception of trading in a persistent character for an array of heroes. The game will run on 6v6v6 (that’s right, three faction matches) battles centered around destruction and territory control.

Warhammer Online fans may be a little miffed at this announcement, and Mythic rather quickly dropped a new Herald letter on the main website today to calm fears. Kai Schober wants you to know that this is not a death strike for Warhammer, but rather a positive notch. In addition to new armors, Schober also talks the return of fortresses and perks for Warhammer Online subscribers that will cross over to Wrath of Heroes.

We brought in people to develop the new title and actually increased our pool of resources. This means that we can leverage things done for one game into the other. A small example is that the new Mourkain Temple layout was a result of some work done for Wrath of Heroes. There are others and a few we want to share with you as soon as possible. New looks perchance?

It will be interesting to see if these two brothers can coexist, or if Wrath of Heroes being free to play will have any detriment on Warhammer Online’s population.

"Where To Buy" Now Becomes "Game List"


I’ve been working almost all day on improving the Where To Buy section of MMO Fallout, and I have some bits to point out:

  1. The Where To Buy page is now called “Game List.” This is because the page is taking on a more general focus than a simple buyers guide.
  2. The guide now displays developer, publisher, payment model, official website (in plain text), trial option, and where it can be bought.
  3. I no longer update prices. Sorry, but this started turning into a two hour endeavor each week, and I don’t have the time to invest in tracking down prices.
  4. I also no longer post subscription prices. I got so many complaints that I didn’t offer extra information for everything from VAT to exchange rates that it’s not worth maintaining.
  5. I will be adding upcoming MMOs, including many more current MMOs that do not require a purchase. I will talk more about my standards for listing at some point in the near future.
  6. I will add a description for each game with hash-tags for various taglines. For instance, Darkfall would be tagged #p2p, #pvp, #hardcore, while Runescape would be #f2p, #freetoplay, etc.
  7. I finally fixed the broken lists. Aren’t I a great guy?