Tag: Cryptic

Put Your Money Episode #1: ________ Station Pass


Back in January I asked a pretty simple question: Since Sony has had so much success with the Station Pass, an offer where players can pay the fee of two MMOs to gain access to eight (previously nine) MMOs, why don’t we see more packages where developers or publishers bundle together MMOs to increase subscriber numbers and population?

Put Your Money is my response to people who have been asking me just that: Put my money where my mouth is. If I’m soooo smart, then maybe I should come up with some deals. And deals I have come up with. I give to you, my ideal picks for what individual Turbine, Mythic, Cryptic (above), NCsoft, and Funcom. My goal was to hit a price with reasonable savings, while at the same time reasonable cost, with regards to number of games and their individual subscription price (as not all games have the same price). I did not include any upcoming games.

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Why Even THINK About a Star Trek Online Sequel?


Set Phasers To Nonsensical!

Here at MMO Fallout, I consider myself the “odd man out” as far as MMO-oriented websites go. I’m not a big name, most studios that are not named Quest Online have likely never heard of me, most of my viewers are not the commenting type, and I only occasionally get my articles noted on bigger websites (MMOCrunch, Keanandgreav, etc). That being said, I still strive to be as professional and consistent as possible, which explains why my head spins when I see others who make my snark look professional by comparison. Case in point: Eurogamer’s review of Darkfall and Gamespot’s review of Global Agenda.

MMOs are a long term investment, both for the developer and the player. With a larger-than-norm development budget, not to mention several more years in the oven before it’s finished, a developer has to make back enough money not only to cover the initial costs, but also the maintenance and updates post-launch. With the market ever-changing, presently it is moving towards large updates that are free. Understanding this, it becomes much easier to figure out why developers wait years, usually until the original is no longer a viable contender in the market (See: Planetside 2).

Over at CVG.com, they asked the question on no one’s mind, is Cryptic Studios planning on a sequel to their Star Trek MMO, released just two months ago? The answer, as you guessed, is not just a no, but an absolutely no. Never. Cryptic responded by saying that they have ruled out the possibility of ever releasing a Star Trek Online sequel, barring a future new engine.

“I’m not really sure it makes sense to create a sequel in the MMO market. Typically, you see an MMO called a sequel because either a new team worked on the property or the original team wanted to reboot their IP.”

That’s another for the quote wall.

Star Trek Online: What Bad Information? Have This FAQ.


Stop trolling guys!

I mentioned on the previous article about Star Trek Online’s new advisory board that Cryptic has this habit of making an announcement that is poorly worded, has fairly little description, and serves to gin up all kinds of fears across the community. Following the uproar that results from the announcement, Cryptic ends up releasing more details that put much of the speculation to rest.

So Cryptic announced a Frequently Asked Questions for the Advisory Board. Interestingly enough, the original five (now four) panel members were chosen by a “social networking firm” partnered with Atari. The same old message is still there, however. The panel is for the hundred thousand players who don’t use the forums, the panel members can be impeached, they do not have more sway than the average player, etc. I said “now four” because one of the members has already been impeached, due to comments about shaving a certain body part with her dad’s razor. So at least we know for sure that members can be impeached.

It’s always good to see developers like Cryptic reaching out to their fans, and hopefully the notion that players who did not open up to Cryptic on the forums will open up to these advisory players, comes true.

Cryptic Studios: Subscriptions, Diversions, Neverwinter Nights?


Set Phasers To Diversion!

I get the feeling that, if you want to think of Star Trek Online and Champions Online as brothers, Star Trek Online is the more successful younger brother who got all the love from mom and dad, while Champions Online was forced to live in the cupboard under the stairs when his room was emptied to make room for the new baby.

In a recent interview with Jack Emmert, Jack announced that Star Trek Online has “well over 100 thousand subscribers,” an announcement that is great…until you look at the lack of announcement of Champions Online’s subscriber numbers. I don’t want to suggest that Champions Online is doing poorly, but I have always said that what someone doesn’t say speaks a lot more than what they do say, and this lack of information in regards to Champions Online may suggest that the game is not going as great as Cryptic had hoped. Champions Online today launched Revelation, the latest expansion pack that brings new villains, new areas, and new perks/costumes/etc.

One bit that caught my eye, at the end, was when Emmert was asked which properties he would like to work with, his answer being “Godzilla and Neverwinter Nights.” Godzilla aside, this will likely reignite longstanding rumors of a Cryptic-run Neverwinter Nights MMO, the same title that is actually part of the Turbine Vs Atari lawsuit (If you recall, Turbine is alleging that Atari hoped to crush Dungeons and Dragons Online in favor of a rumored Neverwinter Nights MMO).

More on all of these things as they appear.

Champions In Court? Champions Online Free Weekend


Someone at DC Universe phones their lawyer...

While I don’t receive a substantial number of emails in regards to MMO Fallout, I have had people asking the same question lately: What happened to the Champions In Court subsection? The entire section is gone! That is true. In fact, the latest Champions In Court was released sometime in September 2009. Champions In Court quickly ran into a brick wall of no-content, as Cryptic quickly flew to the scene to start removing infringing characters. The same could be said for the idea that, as players became situated with the game, they settled on real characters rather than superhero lookalikes, and those who did settle on superhero lookalikes generally moved towards some form of parody hero, such as The Shark Knight. Oh and I was notified by someone I won’t name that making regular articles about lookalikes in Champions Online would probably inflame the situation further.

If he stops fighting crime, he'll drown.

With the upcoming free weekend, there will likely be new players creating their own Hulk/Goku lookalikes, and I may do a new Champions In Court special episode. If you want to “conveniently” find your way on to my screen, you can always stalk @Omali when the free weekend begins. I’ll be flying around Millennium City looking for lawsuits waiting to happen.

The free weekend starts on the 26th, players can download the client now over at Champions Online dot com.

Bill Roper No Longer Executive Producer of Champions Online


What does this mean for Foxbat?

Bill Roper is to the MMO genre as JK Rowling is to children’s literature. On one hand, the man had a big role in Blizzard during the glory days of Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft. More recently, Roper’s name has been tied to Champions Online and Star Trek Online, both titles are doing quite well despite comments otherwise by trolls. On the other hand, Bill Roper is also responsible for the train wreck that was Hellgate: London, a game that (as it turns out) was only as good as its launch, and didn’t survive long enough to make those lifetime subscriptions worth it. Roper is also partially responsible for the coined term Flagshipping, named off of the company Flagship Studios, referring to a product being released in a buggy, unfinished state missing many of its promised features.

I should probably get to the point (and why 80% of you clicked this link…I’m talking about the title). Well, to the dismay of some and joy of others, Bill Roper has been replaced by Shannon Posniewski, as Executive Producer of Champions Online. Poz, as he is called on the forums, is expected to take the game in a brand new direction. Shannon has been the lead programmer on Champions Online and has been with Crptic since the City of Heroes days.

Now before you get your pants in a bunch, or start throwing a goodbye party for Mr. Roper, he is still working with Cryptic, just on other things (the rumored Neverwinter Nights MMO? He asked, stirring the pot). This announcement has come alongside the State of the Game, that promises more stitching of the level gaps in content, among other changes.

Poz has had quite a relationship with the community, so hopefully this will bring along the Cryptic I (and others) have been asking for for a long time: one that actually listens to player feedback and stores that feedback for future reference.

Star Trek Doing Something Right: Hello Goldfarmers!


You be assimilate...for low fee instant deliver!

Gauging subscriber numbers in an MMO that doesn’t want to reveal them is difficult. Although it is possible to go through a company’s financial reports and make an estimation based on income, you still won’t end up with a hard number. Gold farmers, on the other hand, are an excellent indicator of how well the game is doing. An easy formula to remember is that as presence and force go up, the population goes up with it. In Aion, for example, gold farmers see the game as such a lucrative market that they are doing everything short of breaking into the NCWest offices armed with pistols, in order to push NCsoft back and keep selling to the community.

So launching to one million accounts aside, if I had to gauge Star Trek Online’s success by how many spam bots I had to put on ignore this morning in-game, I’d have to say the title is doing well for itself. Cryptic also appears to be doing a decent job of banning the bots, as almost all of the accounts I put on ignore were banned by the time this article is coming out.

More on Star Trek Online as it appears. Oddly enough, I don’t remember Champions Online having this issue. Maybe gold farmers hate super heroes.

Cryptic Says: Ask Us Anything


Gustav says: Don't say anything without a lawyer present.

Being the purported Cryptic employee that I am,  I have to take as much opportunity as possible to spread uncertainty among those who would otherwise believe such claims. Granted, a talk with Cryptic will offer more specific results than, say, a talk with Jagex’s CEO Mark Gerhard (Ask him anything about the game, assuming he even acknowledges the question, the answer will likely be “I can’t talk about that at this time.”), but the question still remains as to whether or not Cryptic takes player feedback to heart. Take, for example, earlier last year I reported on Cryptic’s seeming lack of recognition towards their own test servers, not only making the mistake of having a two hour cooldown during the Blood Moon event, but after lowering the time making the exact same mistake on the Winter event.

Ask Cryptic is back, on this forum thread, you can literally ask Cryptic anything you want, on any subject, as long as it is respectfully worded (No, you can’t ask “why are you guys such Nazi nickle-and-dimers”). If the question is related to upcoming content, your odds of getting a straight answer are much more likely. Otherwise if you’re going to be giving a little bit of advice, you may be better off doing it on the feedback forums where you can be ignored on a more fulfilling level.

Not to say Cryptic doesn’t care about its userbase, but they have had something of a breakdown in communications ever since Champions Online, that is yet to have been corrected. Moments that make you wonder who in their right mind green-lighted that move.

Star Trek Online: Expanded Servers And Guinness


The tag on this Borg says...Made in China?

Star Trek Online’s launch feels like it was just yesterday, although that may be because it was in fact just yesterday. Despite the normal outcry from the usual vocal minority, the player response to the title has been great. So great, in fact, that Cryptic is rushing to get better server capacity to the title. The following surfaced on the main Star Trek website.

Hey folks,

We just wanted to update you on our in-game server capacity status. Throughout Head Start we noticed the overwhelming response to the game and we are working on changes to further increase the number of people who can play Star Trek Online at any given time. Our current plan is to have these changes in place sometime this coming weekend. We will, of course, keep you updated on progress as it happens.

Really, we just want to thank you all again for your continued support and patience. If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t be here.

-The Star Trek Online Team

Meanwhile, do you live near London? If not, can you get there on February 14th? Cryptic is holding an attempt to get a spot in the Guinness book of world records for most people gathered in one place dressed up as Star Trek characters (with a fork in one hand, a small dog under the other arm, and two eggs balanced on a drink hat, in case the category wasn’t specific enough). Best dressed cosplayers are up for prizes, including lifetime subscriptions to Star Trek Online.

I think it’s about time to don the old borg outfit and head down to London to start assimilating.

Why Not A Cryptic Pass? NCsoft Pass? Turbine Pass!


So-eeeee.

Whatever you think about Sony, you can’t deny the deal they have going for their titles. For the price of only two MMOs per month, you can access virtually any Sony game you own. Everquest, Everquest 2, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Planetside, Star Wars Galaxies, Vanguard, Free Realms, and that console Everquest game. That’s 8 games for the price of two!

Going over Sony’s station pass got me thinking: Why don’t other developers have a similar deal? I would love to see an NCsoft Station Pass, that could bundle Aion, City of X, Lineage, Lineage 2 in one package. Or possibly a Turbine deal, a package of Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, and Asheron’s Call. How about a Funcom pack, with Age of Conan and Anarchy Online in one deal?

Now, some will say that developers will be losing money on this, but I wholeheartedly disagree. In fact, Sony’s Station Pass has shown to be a way to coerce people into spending more than they normally would on subscriptions. To believe that even a fraction of the players who have the Station Pass would spend the over hundred dollars a month on each game’s subscription separately is absurd to say the least. Having such a pass could also breath life into the older titles on the list.

Jagex has an offering similar to this. Although not an MMO, players can subscribe to Runescape and FunOrb for a discount. When Stellar Dawn is launched, it is expected that players will be able to opt for an additional discount.

This may all be wishful thinking, but I would certainly pay for a Turbine Station pass.