Set your sonic screwdriver to maximum extermination! Sorry, wrong franchise. As announced last year, Star Trek is Cryptic’s second title to make the transition to free to play, although the wait may feel like forever and a day. If only there was a way for Cryptic to allow past subscribers a chance to get into the game before the full launch and before all the new free players mob the server, so perhaps jaded ex-subscribers can get a decent look at how the game has evolved without server queues, crashes, and lag.
Well I have an answer to your oddly specific request: You can. Starting January 5th, Cryptic will reactivate all existing accounts to enjoy the splendor that is travel across the galaxy. You have to have purchased the game at some point, however. Trial players are not included in this offer.
You can check out the free to play matrix to see what will be available when the update goes live tomorrow.
Is anyone else excited for Neverwinter primarily for the opportunity to create custom dungeons and stories? I hope Cryptic makes a trailer showing off the custom tools next.
I believe I referred to Atari on a website that is not MMO Fallout, as an empty shell of a company that not only couldn’t keep itself on the NASDAQ stock listing, had a failed European branch, and has undergone more cosmetic surgery to change face than any other company in the business. Despite being relegated to the position of publisher for any notable title over the past decade, Atari has been downsized to the elderly man who keeps talking about his youth, and he buys up the younger crowd so he can live through them, even though his limbs are falling off from years of mistreatment.
Turns out John Smedley wasn’t the only creator desiring free to play, cut back by an unseen foe. In an interview, Cryptic’s Executive Producer on Star Trek Online Stephen D’Angelo stated that, “We’ve always wanted the game to be free-to-play,” he says, “in fact we tried to make it free-to-play at the original launch, but our publisher [Atari] didn’t want us doing that so we didn’t do that.” You mean to tell me I could have obtained the entire Original Series cosmetic series without buying multiple copies of the game? What a kick in the teeth.
Of course Cryptic shares no blame in this, after all they were an owned subsidiary of Atari at the time and what Atari said was law. The article goes on to talk a bit about how Cryptic is handling the free to play switch, drastically different than the Champions Online conversion which was met with “mixed results,” according to the article.
Atari publicly dumped Cryptic Studios earlier this year, selling the studio to Perfect World Entertainment. The game is set to switch to free to play in January 2012.
Good news, fervent defenders of Star Trek Online. The guys over at the STOked podcast managed to snag an interview with Stephen D’angelo, Executive Producer of Star Trek Online at Cryptic Studios. In the interview, which you can view below (it starts at 11:20), D’angelo talks about the deadlines that Cryptic faced when developing the MMO, most notably the fact that when Cryptic acquired the license from Perpetual Entertainment (the previous developer that had gone under), they also inherited the game’s due date for completion. For Cryptic, this meant starting several years behind schedule.
So now when time someone tells you that Star Trek Online was rushed because Bill Roper loves money, you can strike them with facts.
It’s amazing how time flies. Fourteen months ago, Cryptic announced what we all knew: A Neverwinter Nights non-MMO game that wasn’t an MMO was being developed as a completely non-MMO coop online, but not massively, multiplayer game that isn’t an MMO. With how in-your-face Cryptic was on reminding us that the upcoming game was not an MMO, a lot of questions were asked. With Atari just recently (at the time) coming out of a lawsuit against Turbine and the settlement papers locked behind closed doors, it appeared to make sense that Atari could continue its Neverwinter game, but could not call it an MMO.
Apparently Perfect World Entertainment, now that Atari doesn’t have the licensing rights to D&D anymore, does not have those same reservations, or the conditions are different, or some other factor we’ll never find out about, because following the news that Neverwinter will be delayed until 2012 to better adjust it, the game is now being touted as a full MMO. It will be an action-based MMO similar to Vindictus or (I’m going to be stabbed for this) Dungeons and Dragons Online, and will likely keep Cryptic’s original vision of session-based gameplay.
I’ve said this before, but I believe Neverwinter to be the root cause behind Cryptic losing money, compounding the loss that Star Trek Online put on the revenue from Champions Online, alongside a less than stellar launch by both titles. I don’t believe that either of the two titles performed as well as Cryptic had hoped they would, and only recently did Champions Online start producing a substantial amount of money. Tracking the reaction that Champions Online and Star Trek Online received is rather easy. Both games were touted as being developed with a system that could easily create large amounts of content quickly and at a low cost. However, when both games released after a very short (by MMO standards) development period, they launched with very little to distinguish themselves from the competition. Players blasted both games for a lack of content, heavy focus on the cash shop (more so during Bill Roper’s phase as leader), and Cryptic’s general lack of attention to the userbase.
At first I joked that Gamersfirst might buy up the game, turn them both into free to play cash shops trashed by cheaters and gold farmers (similar to their other games), but I have a feeling that if Cryptic is bought up and it isn’t by Jack Emmert as rumored, the buyer will be a company none of us have heard of before. Still, that hasn’t stopped the major news websites from speculating on what big name company will pick up Cryptic.
Going by the big names, Sony has enough on their plate at the moment, and I think the acquisition of Vanguard was enough to end any future purchases of games hemorrhaging money. EA/Mythic/Bioware won’t pick up the studio because of their own problems with All Points Bulletin, Warhammer Online, and the major upcoming release of The Old Republic and the possibility of a Mass Effect MMO. EA can’t afford to take on a sinking ship, not when they are already having trouble securing investors over the performance of their past MMOs. NCsoft won’t pick up Cryptic Studios because…well it’s NCsoft. The company has no second thoughts toward severing a limb to save the rest of the body, and this acquisition would be like finding a rotten leg in a creek and asking your doctor to sew it back on. Funcom is a no go, and Blizzard also has enough on their plates with World Of Warcraft, Project Titan, and their other games.
It’s a shame, too, because I have a feeling the Neverwinter MMO won’t be leaving Atari with Cryptic wherever they go, meaning the lack of that development cost will lift a heavy financial burden off of Cryptic’s arms. Perhaps with moving Star Trek Online free to play, as hinted last year, Cryptic could bring themselves back into the green and have two decent if not necessarily heavy hitters in the MMO field.
I’d love to see Cryptic find a new home where they can continue improving upon Star Trek Online and Champions Online. I also hope they can finagle Neverwinter Online to move with them. As I’ve said before, I think Cryptic’s knowledge of instancing can play to their favor in a game that will revolve around heavy instancing.
This article requires a bit of backstory, so if you are already in tune with the Atari Vs Turbine saga, feel free to skip ahead. To start, we must set the stage for the players in this ongoing drama. Wizards of the Coast owns the Dungeons and Dragons IP, and in turn license the video game creation to Atari, who in turn licensed the MMO rights to Turbine. Turbine creates Dungeons and Dragons Online, and pays royalties to Atari, who pay royalties to Wizards of the Coast. Atari owns Cryptic Studios, who were rumored to be creating a Neverwinter Nights MMO, in direct competition with Turbine.
Now this is where the story becomes shady. Turbine sued Atari, claiming that the company had plans to sabotage Dungeons and Dragons Online, in order to nullify the contract with Turbine, take over control of the MMO, and shut it down in preparation for release of a Neverwinter Nights MMO. Given Cryptic being Atari’s chief MMO studio, it was only a given that Bill Roper’s team would be leading the project in some secret underground base, likely in the middle of an active volcano. Although the lawsuit was settled and the terms kept secret, there was a distinct timing between the settlement and Cryptic announcing Neverwinter Online, specifically noting that the game was not an MMO. I theorized at the time that Atari agreed not to make any D&D MMOs as a result of the settlement.
[Backstory over]
I’m a little concerned over how quickly the public took this news and said “phew, at least Atari won’t be trying to destroy D&D Online,” and this raises the question: Is the fighting really over? Or is Atari still adamant in their attempts to shut down Turbine’s MMO, and set up a new title in an environment where they can benefit from more income? Consider this, if you will:
Dungeons and Dragons Online is an action-oriented cooperative combat role playing game where players meet up in a lobby, take quests, and raid dungeons in small groups. The game relies on class-based skills in order to accomplish feats such as disarming traps and finding secret passageways. Each class holds its own place in a team, and in solo will also require different means of play. The game is free to play and supported via VIP and cash shop revenue.
Neverwinter Online will be an action-oriented cooperative combat role playing game where players meet up in a lobby, take quests, and raid dungeons in small groups. The game relies on class-based skills in order to accomplish feats such as disarming traps and finding secret passageways. Each class holds its own place in a team, and in solo will also require different means of play. The game is free to play and supported via cash shop revenue and likely a VIP program. In addition, Neverwinter Online will also feature user-created dungeons and other yet-announced bits and pieces.
So when Cryptic stated that Neverwinter Online will not be an MMO, it’s important to remember that Dungeons and Dragons Online isn’t a true MMO either. The likelihood that the two titles will directly compete is high, simply because the mechanics in both games (at least as they are currently presented) are so similar.
Despite my past differences with Cryptic, I honestly believe that Neverwinter Online could be a great success because the fundamentals play to Cryptic’s strengths. Unlike Champions Online and Star Trek Online, both of which attempted to take a massive world and cram it into a tiny container, Neverwinter Online is in all train of thought built to be a small-scale cooperative game. Of course, given Cryptic’s choice of D&D rulesets to follow, they won’t be gathering in all of the Dungeons and Dragons fans, but if they stay true to the formula and bring the social experience to an online format, Neverwinter Online could be a real contender.
So I call bogus to the idea that Neverwinter won’t directly compete with Dungeons and Dragons Online, and feel that with the right developers behind the wheel, Neverwinter could wind up scooping a good amount of Turbine’s revenue.
I quickly sent an email to Cryptic as to why the standard edition of the game has been removed from every digital distribution source, and received the following in response:
“Since we lowered the prices on the digital deluxe and are happy to offer the DDE value to any customer, removing the standard seemed reasonable, as there’s no compelling reason to confuse customers with two digital SKUs that are pretty much priced the same. I guess another way of thinking about it is that the DDE now becomes the standard, only it grants more perks – we’re giving anyone who buys STO digitally that value..”
So the Digital Deluxe edition is becoming standard, and the standard edition is being retired. At $14.95, the deluxe edition is the price of a month’s subscription anyway. Thank you to Ivan Sulic from Cryptic for the quick response.
In case you hadn’t noticed, I’ve been out in North Carolina for the past week or so (hence the lack of updates) in a period of what I can only refer to as not having the internet, at all. But, now that I’m back, it’s time for a quick wrapup of what I should have written about at the time, but didn’t, so now the news is coming a few days too late. Just like getting a newspaper, right?
1. Enjoying the Rift Beta
I tweeted two RIFT VIP keys before I left, and hopefully those two people are enjoying the current beta event, which was extended to Saturday morning. I hope to have more of these giveaways in the future, so subscribe to my twitter in the right hand side, or follow @mmofallout so you can take part, and so that my internet ego my grow to epic proportions.
2. That Superhero MMO Is A Bestseller
DC Universe became Sony Online Entertainment’s best selling MMO to date, also topping Steam’s sales charts over the past week. In fact, DCU is selling so well that the title is having a hard time staying in stock in many retailers, I imagine partially due to people like myself who put down a few bucks to reserve the game, but went ahead and bought it somewhere else instead.
3. All Points Bulletin says “Two Strikes, and You’re Out”
At least according to Jagex, not having a no tolerance policy on cheating works to keep paying customers who may have gone out of line once, but are indeed salvageable by the great legitimate-promoting gods. So K2 Networks announced on their blog that they will be instituting a two-strike policy when APB goes live. Cheat once and you are temporarily banned, cheat twice and you are permanently banned. Of course, one could glance at Valve, whose previous policy of banning for five years was rescinded because the accounts went right back to cheating, but I wouldn’t want to distill the hope well.
4. That Other Superhero MMO Is Now Free
Champions Online may not be Cryptic’s first MMO, but it is their first AAA title to go partially free to play. Launching on the 25th, Cryptic is reporting large increases in population (most of them free players). Free players will find themselves with access to all of the game’s content, with restricted arche-types, with access to purchase the premium packs from the Cryptic Store. The premium packs are made up of the expansions that were released over the past year or so.
5. No Loving For EA’s MMOs, Say Investors
At least according to Gamasutra. With Star Wars: The Old Republic on its way, investors are a bit scared to support the giant corporation, looking back at the poor performance of Warhammer Online and especially after the two month lifespan that was All Points Bulletin. Bioware may have had successes in the past, but this is the company’s first dive into the MMO genre, and if Richard Garriot has taught us anything, even having a successful past in the field does not guarantee that your current project won’t go directly into the trash bin.
The Old Republic is being backed by a powerful company and developed by one with a name in the gaming business, both of which mean absolutely nothing in terms of whether or not the game will succeed, especially against the odds of its budget.
6. Codemasters Reveals Anti-Hacking Service
Codemasters hates account thieves, and for players of Lord of the Rings Online (in Europe), they are now offering a service for those of you who have had your accounts stolen. Players must be eligible to raise a support ticket, report the incident within seven days of it occurring, and the service also requires GM verification. Meeting these three requirements will reimburse the player and allow them to get back to where they were pre-account cleaning. A word of warning, however, abuse of the system may lead to a permanent ban.
I feel like I’ve been gone for a good month. Oh well, back to the old grind stone!
In most of my articles about Cryptic Studios, I talk about how despite the fact that the company is always rushing up yelling to players to give them more feedback, they usually end up only fixing the issues that should have been blatantly obvious in the first place. Other than the do-or-die fixes, most other feedback is pushed into oblivion, if not completely ignored altogether. In my staple case, I referenced that not only did someone think putting a two hour cooldown timer on the Blood Moon portals was a good thing, but made the exact same mistake going into the winter event. Yes, I’m riding on that example.
In the latest State of the Game, Cryptic wants to make amends…again. Foremost, Cryptic wants to address growing complaints over the game’s cash shop. dStahl has promised us that “coveted items” available in the cash shop will be available in-game as well. When the subject came to the Klingon faction, Stahl promised that the faction would become a full PvP faction with more faction-specific PvE missions and rewards, as well as veteran rewards suited for Klingon players. As for why the Klingon faction will never be up to par with the Federation, well Cryptic just doesn’t have the manpower, and not enough people play the Klingon faction.
There’s circular logic for you. Not enough people play the Klingon faction to warrant spending resources beefing it up to the Federation level, but the reason not enough people play is because the Klingon faction launched with barely any content.
It’s good to see that Star Trek Online is reportedly healthy, with a growing number of lifetime subscribers and normal subscribers, but slightly disappointing to see Cryptic still using their patented circular logic.
MMO Fallout 