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I am here to get input from the community here. If you enjoyed old school and sandbox style games, t
RKStephens
Member Posts: 6
Hello, as my name suggests my name is R.K. Stephens. I am here to gather information for an upcoming mmo that has been behind closed doors for about a year already. I cannot give out many details as of yet, but can promise that I will be back very soon to provide links, screenshots, and information about what's coming.
My basic question I'd like to ask revolves around the old school high risk, high reward type of mmo gaming presented in the early days on mmo gaming.
If information was to be released that an all new skill oriented vs class oriented was to be released in the not too distant future, what would your response be to this?
Before I ask that, I should give you some more information on such a possibility.
Experience would be given for not only killing mobs, but for helping other players and for killing players on the PvP server that have an opposite "karma" then yourself. Speaking of that, a whole new "karma" system would be implemented to basically separate good guys from bad guys, and the names of such players would show up in either the color red or blue respectively. White colored names above other players would reflect a neutral karma association.
Item drop and tinkering would be available, as would resource gathering skills such as mining, wod harvesting, and blacksmithing. Over 70 skills which you could increase with earned experience points would be in out game. The would be six (6) schools of magic including Conjure Magic which would be a school that would allow a trained user to conjure a time limited assistant from the mob world with a twist however. The conjured pet would come from a list of mobs killed within a pretty wide nearby area in the past hour time. The higher the conjure skill, the more likely a pet would be able to be controlled by the owner of the pet. There would always be the chance that one (especially at lower skills) could conjure a pet from the dead and get a much higher level pet that would not be able to be controlled and might attack the caster himself! This might happen especially if some other player(s) had recently killed a much higher level mob within the past hour in that same basic area.
Another school of magic will be "Illusion Magic" and will, as you might suspect, give the user the ability to cast illusions of everything from imaginary portals that were actually traps (such as a tie up net or root as called in many games) to illusions of another player character!
The other schools of magic will be discussed later but include a fierce magic system to conquer opponents and enemies, a buffing and healing school of magic, and a skill statistic altering school of magic.
No 3rd party applications will be tolerated and will be strongly policed on all servers. This would prevent any possibility for tools to me made that could decipher requirements of components for spells ahead of time. No cheats. Research would actually be required for all avatars that desired to use the all powerful magic schools.
So my basic question is from the information given so far, would you personally be interested in such a game? Ideas and comments are strongly encouraged.
Thanks for your time!
~ R.K.
Comments
Could you clarify the karma system for me? What makes someone a "good" guy or a "bad" guy? If it is Healing vs PKing, what do I get if I Heal a PK?
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If it were AC1 with a graphics upgrade to at least eq2 quality on low settings, I would play it. The major thing is the open skill system has to be left intact. And the random loot generation must be there as well. I never enjoyed grinding as much as I did in AC. When you are slaughtering hundreds of Olthoi at a time. and trying to check every corpse for loot, it's a thrilling experience.
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agreed!
I loved ac. Best game I have ever played. I would quit all other games I currently playes, as would my friends, if a new graphically revamped ac were available. I currently am playing Conan and Wow, but AC was by far the best . I wish however they would get rid of skill sellback, or if they have it, you can do it but loses all xp you have invested in that skill. There must be some sort of penalty for it. Players like to feel special and leveling up a hard template is part of it. If you want to change something reroll. that is part of the fun of it. Builing a really cool charcter that noone else has.
I've never played AC, but I'll most certainly check it out if the loot system is random generated. Also, it will be good to get away from set-in-stone professions. I'm so sick of those ;/
The old graphics might hold me back though ;/
I read this post a few times, because i wanted to fully understand it before saying anything.
I have never played Asherons call in my life, but i am all for new games. But what i couldnt understand is, is this simply a private server/fan group looking to revamp the old hit, or is this actually a serious look at relaunching ashrons call by the company?
Now, I never really fully understood the whole sandbox premise in mmo terms, i am under the impression that sandbox games simply mean that you are allowed to do things at your own pace. Like oblivion, you can do whatever you like without being forced into a track like progression. If i am correct arent all mmos like that?
With that said, there are 3 things that guide me when i decide on a new game, this is just my personal standard which decides whether or not i will play a game.
1. Character customization, this includes my look, whether or not i can choose gender, chance face, hairstyles, Classes, how deep the classes are after choosing them, how different they are. Armor and weapon choices, can i duel weild, can i use a wide array of weapons regardles of my class. is there a wide variety of looks with the weapons and armor or does everyone look exactly the same.
2. Graphics, and delivery, Does the game look like it should be released in this decade let alone this year. Does the engine take advantage of the current technology, physics, lighting, collision detection, etc.
3.. features and gameplay, does the game actually bring something new to the table, does it have pvp, pve, how do those things work together, How much control do i have over the game, over my character, over my progression. Am i forced into anything particular activity to succeed, like raiding, pvp, grouping, dungeon farming, etc.
I would like to add more detail, but i am still not quite certain what would make an MMO sandbox, but i am interested in finding out.
Quotations Those Who make peaceful resolutions impossible, make violent resolutions inevitable. John F. Kennedy
Life... is the shit that happens while you wait for moments that never come - Lester Freeman
Lie to no one. If there 's somebody close to you, you'll ruin it with a lie. If they're a stranger, who the fuck are they you gotta lie to them? - Willy Nelson
Good question. Basically if you attack any white or blue player unprovoked, then your name would turn to a flashing red meaning you provoked an attack and the player who you attacked would have the opportunity to attack and/or kill you without risk to their karma, as well as anyone else who noticed your flashing red status. The flashing red would last about 5 minutes to all players and 2 hours to the player who you attacked, as well as any players that person might be grouped up with at the time of the attack.
Healing a red player (pk) would cause your karma to flash red and give anyone nearby the ability to attack you without risk to their own karma.
Killing/attacking a red player would never cause risk to your karma, and your name would only flash red to the pk player you attack. In fact attacking any red player would increase your own karma.
Healing/buffing a mob that was battling a red player (pk) would again increase your karma, but healing or buffing a mob that was battling a white or blue player would be a pk type of action that would cause your name to flash red for about 5 minutes to everyone that sees you and for about 2 hours of game time to the player you assisted the mob against.
Also note that some npcs would charge double for red players, unless of course it was an evil aligned npc.
More info will come soon, but that is the basic idea.
The skill system would include almost 70 new skills. The graphics would be on the level of Age of Conan,without the high end PC requirements. A random loot system would be our preferred loot system that that you would never know what to expect upon killing a certain type of mob.
For those that dont know, the old ac was non carebear. You earned xp pointa that you could put into whatever you wanted. If you wanted a guy that could run super fast but have no melee defense you could do it. Spend the points as you wish. also random loot was like opening christmas presents. You never know what you might get . It was always exciting to find a rare item with rare stats on it.
AC was awesome, and i didn't get a chance to experience more than a tiny fraction of it the first time around, so i would definitely give it a try.
As long as it has the same loot system as AC1 does then I would definitely play it. So would my wife.
Currently playing:
LOTRO & WoW (not much WoW though because Mines of Moria rocks!!!!)
Looking Foward too:
Bioware games (Dragon Age & Star Wars The Old Republic)
If they stay true to the original design of AC1, using the same or similar skill based system and loot system with new graphics like AC2. I'm all there!
ac1 was a great game I really only stoped playing because the majority of the subscribers left... if i wanted a single player game id play oblivion
Please make this game.
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Personally I would play this game for months if not years.
I played original AC1 back long time ago, and it was my first MMO, and it was soooo fun. I would definately play this new AC and subscribe for a very long time. Please, I do hope you guys do it. It would be a dream come true for me.
How long before it might release?
I would definitely be interested. AC was by far the best game I've ever played, MMO or otherwise. My favorite things about it were the open character progression (you get to advance your skills as you please, without being trapped by a "class") and the ability to loot other players you killed. It made death MEAN something. It was something you actively strived to avoid, and it had more depth than just having a 2 minute debuff and having to run back to your corpse to res. AC had the best and most punishing/rewatrding death/loot system of any MMO that's ever been made. It made you actually have to think and strategize in PvP. Being able to affect and be affected by other players on that deep of a level as actually taking their items and equipment brought a whole new level of involvement to the game that no other MMO (except maybe EVE Online) has been able to recreate. The only bad thing about the PvP system was having lvl 40-60's camping lvl 10-20's and the noob starting areas.
I eventually left AC due to 3 reasons:
1. Outdated graphics
2. The xp chains/xp leeching, which I felt was ruining the game. When someone could gain 15 levels in a day without even being signed on or playing... that's a little off-balance to me.
3. The ridiculous buffs. If you were running around your allegiance's mansion, getting level 7 buffs every 10 minutes which improve ALL your attributes and skills by 50+, along with your weapon/armor stats, you could (easily) go around as a level 10 character wiping out legions of level 30-40 monsters no problem, getting heaps of xp with no real work or effort. This just led to a bunch of level 60 idiot noobs running around ganking low-level players and ruining the game balance. You should have to earn your levels, xp, skills, etc.
But if you're serious and this game is a real possibility, please make it! I gurantee that I and all my friends will be on there the day it comes out.
I would play this.
However, the "Eagle" thing sounds stupid. Let WoW keep their travel system. Portals worked just fine.
My thoughts are:
1) Optimizing code is more important than graphics. They've had rubber-banding forever, and that is more of an issue for me than dated graphics
2) Make leveling require less XP. The main reason people macroed was because of the insane amounts of XP required. Questing should be a more viable way to level.
3) AI needs improvement. Tuskers standing all bunched up in a room endlessley running into a wall does not sound like "intelligence" to me.
4) Make towns useful for something. When towns began to die, the game became a lot less fun. Add something to fight over on PK servers, and socialize around on white servers.
5) Create more money sinks. The economies became soo inflated over time because people could get endless amounts of money from hunting.
(Uzik ibnYaraq in game. Always willing to help.)
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This sounds like an interesting idea and I wish you luck.
I have yet to see an answer to a very important question (maybe I just missed the answer): are the developers of this game cooperating with Turbine or is it manufactured entirely by fans?
For not being able to give many details, you sure gave a lot of details!
And, I love the title of your post.
That aside, I'd sure be interested to hear more about what this game is, and whether it is fan-run or backed by a known entity. Let us know!
PRoblem with this is.... I doubt your turbine... which means you cant sell this or charge a monthly fee, so you would have to be free to play..
Being free to play means limited resources, lots of garbage people as the hackers and banned people can just come right back in. UCMing and speedhacks were pretty common in AC1 where if you were banned you had to buy a new account... on a private server thats free to play it would be rampant.
the eagle thing aint so stupid... it may be also a way to control the speed of the game... and maybe they should put the portals at high lvls or with a specific set of skills
You are absolutely correct. I do not come from Turbine.
Don't be so sure about the available resources however. The new game is being backed up by an old fan of the old school type of games who has more money then he will ever be able to spend. I am not going to go into it, but he has had a rather unfortunate series of life events in the past year.
His dream is to bring back the style of mmo gaming that was only found in the late 1990's. I will say that there is easily over 500 million dollars accessible if needed to bring this to life, and that he has already stated that his cost will not matter, as long as this project is done correctly.
The game will be done correctly, and it will be done in as short a time span as possible. We already have a strong team of some of the best coders, developers, and managers working together and they are being paid not by the hour, but by the overall quality of the finished product with bonuses given if the game is completed before the goal date set. So, just as any employee that wants to make money, their goals of time and quality are of major importance to them.
Not only will this game be free to play, and free to download, it will also be free of hackers and cheaters who try to use 3rd party programs such as UCMers and buff bot tools etc.
Members of our team include people who have brought to you classic mmo games as well as very popular high end games of our time.
Oh. I would also like to mention that this game will have perma death of characters. Perma death happens to any character who is caught cheating or hacking in any way, shape or form. Failing to "not know" will not be excusable since they will be in big letters that must be accepted in terms and conditions prior to playing. (For example, to get through the terms and conditions, a one or two sentence explanation and example will be shown on the screen that you will have to read and accept. There will be over 20 "accepts" needed to begin creation of your first character. Any new characters made will need to go through the same process)
This sounds like an interesting idea and I wish you luck.
I have yet to see an answer to a very important question (maybe I just missed the answer): are the developers of this game cooperating with Turbine or is it manufactured entirely by fans?
Cooperation with Turbine will have to be met. We have plans of buying rights to do this if necessary, however a near finished product will be introduced to them at a later date. We want them to be able to make sure that we will not be "insulting" their product. We also fully understand that we would need to pay them much more then they could ever possibly make off of their existing, but well dated Asheron's Call. Negotiations will be made and if the slim chance comes that it isn't possible to work with them, then enough changes will be made to our world and town names and other basically meaningless items in the game that it will still launch under a different name, but withl all the concepts that made Asheron's Call so much fun to play. This would cause no more then 2 or 3 months delay in a situation where we simply couldn't work a deal with Turbine, Inc as we already have the ability to completely change our world and locations of cities, mountains, deserts etc in rapid time, giving plenty of time in even two months to add attention to detail by hand.
If what your saying is, this is a game designed by gamers for gamers then that alone will be enough for me to give it the benifit of the doubt.
Quotations Those Who make peaceful resolutions impossible, make violent resolutions inevitable. John F. Kennedy
Life... is the shit that happens while you wait for moments that never come - Lester Freeman
Lie to no one. If there 's somebody close to you, you'll ruin it with a lie. If they're a stranger, who the fuck are they you gotta lie to them? - Willy Nelson
Sounds like you guys are actually thinking this through. Sounds like it might be great!
Also, if you don't mind my prying, might the individual backing this have been a fairly well-known player (particularly on Frostfell) in AC, or maybe had a well-known toon? I ask because I knew a guy that was fairly well-known by most and seemed to have loads of cash.