Hmm, think of Xfire as a poll where only a ridiculously biased sample ever get to vote. Well if those votes were on paper I know where they would be most useful, "The Toilet". I love the cheery implication of your post though, why play any game when nothing lasts forever? It doesn't matter if the game lasts another five months, five years or even fifty. As long as whilst they are playing it people feel like they are getting their money's worth that's all that matters. It's a game not a lifetime commitment. (LOL, I almost said marriage but even that's nothing nowadays).
Lol, so true. I mean, shit. I guess we all better /wrists because, I mean hey, let's be realistic here. We're going to die. So why bother? I mean really, it's all going to end someday, maybe tomorrow even. So let's not waste another minute, lets just get it over with here and now. *sarcasm*
As cheesy as that line from LOTRO may be "It's what we do with the time that's given to us." And that's all that matters. You enjoy the good times that you have, and to hell with the rest of them.
Like my favorite quote goes: "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die. "
Nothing is forever. So do what you can now and stop living in constant stagnation for fear of losing something.
It's like: "*cry* They ruined SWG, it'll never be the same, no game will ever succeed, I'll make sure of it. "
Some people do enjoy games still. Yes, a lot are garbage these days, but there are still some gems.
As for WAR. I just built myself a new comp, got a few games (war being one of them) and at first I was like, wtf is this. But then I got in and started playing a Witch Elf (yes I know, shuddup =p) and I'm having a blast killing those horrible Order bastards. For all those years of Albion treachery!
Plus, possibly getting the slayer and da choppa at the end of this month.
It's like with Darkfall, I *want* that game to do well, whether or not I ever play it. Having people happy is a good thing in the world we live in. It's good to smile occasionally, you know.
And this is coming from a huge doom and gloom, pessimistic bastard, believe me. Doesn't mean I don't like having a good time.
Just pull your balls out of your mom's purse for five seconds, drop them a little, breathe deeply, and relax, and maybe...just maybe...enjoy doing something you like.
And hopefully that doesn't include going onto forums and trying to rag on someone's parade, but I guess if that suits you, well I sure can't stop you.
---------------------------- "Hero of Time! Face me!"
As soon as the game hit the budget release price of £7.99 on play.com, before Christmas, I figured the game was in trouble.
The problem with War, and Age of Conan, is that eye candy and gimmicks do not make up for lack of content at the end of the game. I just /facepalm now when beta-testers and the media froth and enthuse about a new MMORPG, because basically the developers put all the effort into the initial stages, to boost the inevitable pre-launch hype, then they realise they've run out of ideas and programming skills for the rest of the game.
Padding out the first 20 to 30 levels with goodies, then skimping on the rest of the levels is gaming suicide. Developers need to maintain their userbase, not bore them to death. Failing to actually include features that were promised at launch or having them so bugged they are all but non-functional just makes it that much worse. That shambles of a game, Hellgate, did all of the above and died because of it. Let's hope "The Next Big Game" actually does something innovative, for a change, and actually delivers what it promises when it actually promises it.
I personally will never trust any new game that doesn't offer a free playable demo before release, not after having been burnt too many times. If they haven't the guts to put a demo out there, no way will I buy it at launch.
they announced today they were also letting go staff members from the madden and ncaa studios. everbody is hurting with the ecnomy in the shape its in.
they announced today they were also letting go staff members from the madden and ncaa studios. everbody is hurting with the ecnomy in the shape its in.
Please the economy has nothing to do with it. This game is a failure because its poorly designed and managed. The economy doesn't seem to be hurting other games. A game that is as messed up as this one would fail in any economy.
The only question is will they let this thing limp along on a skeleton crew like all of SoE's games or will they take a page from the NCsoft playboook and just shut it down completely. I think it will be around for awhile but for anyone looking for some big comeback that just doesn't happen. If you want proof look at EQ2, conan, TR Vanguard and pretty much any other failed MMO. You only get one chance to get it right. WAR failed.
I don't know if someone mentioned this yet, but although there are grossly unequal amounts of people playing WoW vs. WAR , you can extrapolate rough data from the numbers:
~3500 WAR players were running xfire last week
~100,000 WoW players were running xfire last week
WAR population = X
WoW Population = ~11,000,000
that means roughly one in every 110 WoW players is using Xfire.
Now the people playing WoW and WAR are not dissimilar so a similar % of people will also be using xfire, hence around one in every 110 WAR players is also using Xfire. Simple math: 110 x 3500 = 385,000 active WAR players, that sounds about right does it not, if a little high?
I don't know if someone mentioned this yet, but although there are grossly unequal amounts of people playing WoW vs. WAR , you can extrapolate rough data from the numbers: ~3500 WAR players were running xfire last week ~100,000 WoW players were running xfire last week WAR population = X WoW Population = ~11,000,000 that means roughly one in every 110 WoW players is using Xfire. Now the people playing WoW and WAR are not dissimilar so a similar % of people will also be using xfire, hence around one in every 110 WAR players is also using Xfire. Simple math: 110 x 3500 = 385,000 active WAR players, that sounds about right does it not, if a little high?
Xfire only tracks western players, ie US/UE.
So the WoW population should be considered around the 5M mark not 11M. So if you redo the calculations the number of WoW players using X-fire is roughly 1 in every 50.
So 50*3500 = 175,000 players, give or take 20% as margin of error (which is way way too much for the sample size, but got to keep the fanboys happy) and you have an accurate subs number.
Damn it all. I really wanted WAR to be a huge hit, not only to have another option besides WoW, but because I want them to make that Mystery X game with a huge pot of money and experiencebehind them. Oh well.
Damn.
___________________ Sadly, I see storm clouds on the horizon. A faint stench of Vanguard is in the air.-Kien
Please the economy has nothing to do with it. This game is a failure because its poorly designed and managed. The economy doesn't seem to be hurting other games. A game that is as messed up as this one would fail in any economy. The only question is will they let this thing limp along on a skeleton crew like all of SoE's games or will they take a page from the NCsoft playboook and just shut it down completely. I think it will be around for awhile but for anyone looking for some big comeback that just doesn't happen. If you want proof look at EQ2, conan, TR Vanguard and pretty much any other failed MMO. You only get one chance to get it right. WAR failed.
WAR is not without it's problems, but the economy most certainly is hurting other games to some degree. It's the poor economic outlook and reduced profit predictions that are causing EA (and countless other companies) to reduce it's workforce...Mythic is an EA studio now, so they, along with every other studio, are reducing their workforce by approximately 10%. It's as simple as that. The layoffs at Mythic really have nothing to do with WAR's performance other than that a better launch would have made EA's financial outlook for the fiscal year look a little better.
Mythic's GM has clarified the situation by saying his original WAR team was composed of over 400 people, and that the reduced headcount wouldn't hurt the future of WAR. Assuming the studio lost the 10% that EA demanded, that puts their team at 360+, all of which are working on WAR because the studio has not yet begun development on another project. That's hardly the "skeleton crew" that many of SOE's games are on life support with.
I hate to disagree with others, but I really do feel the economy is a big reason that there are layoffs with this company. I also feel that WAR (and all other MMO) lost subscribers with the economy slow down.
YES, there are issues with the game and some people are quitting from frustration. However, we don't know what % of people have quit due to economy and what % are just dissatisfied with the game.
Regardless: why come into a game's forums and give "THE SKY IS FALLING" speech? Some ppl enjoy WAR & some don't. Let's wait it out and see what happens. WAR is still pretty new.
If I remember right, this game had one of the largest beta testing populations in history, the test lasted for months, and the NDA was lifted several weeks prior to release. How in the hell did player dissatisfaction with the endgame not spill out all over the place? Did they withold the endgame from testers?
Is this their base of fickle WoW players turning around to bite them in the ass? Is it all the people who swore by DAoC but never seemed interested in playing it? Or did Mythic just foul something up?
I was there for launch. It was awesome. Everybody was in love. Then one day about 10 days later I just up and quit playing. For me the problem was Order had nothing left worth defending, so there was no joy to be had in defiling it. But I thought I was alone in that sentiment.
einexile the meek Vacuos, Winterlong, Vaciante, Eicosapenta Atlantean, Tyranny, Malton
It appears my original math above deducing that there were ~385,000 or less subscribers was dead on. Mythic finally released their Q4 2008 numbers heres a quote from a yahoo finance article about EA's 2008 Q4 earnings:
* Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning®, an MMO from EA’s Mythic Entertainment studio, ended the quarter with over 300K paying subscribers in North America and Europe.
looks like xfire can indeed be used to extrapolate population as I originally suggested, by comparing xfire users to total player numbers of another game (such as WoW), you can extrapolate the total players of other games by assuming a similar % of players are using Xfire in each game. No longer can anyone suggest the data there is unfounded and useless as just using rough figures I was able to accurately predict the # of WAR subscribers.
You think comparing any niche game out there, and putting it against WoW is fair??.
It was PRed as a mainstream MMO game with Mythic's heads looking squarely at Wow as the main competition. MJ said it plenty of times. Paul Barnett said it plenty of times. Warhammer was not billed to go up against GW or any of the other PvP centric games. It wasn't even said to go up against EVE, which is a oRvR pvp game at heart just like WAR. So I think its more than fair to compare it to the game it was chasing all along.
Look to see more comparisions of Warhammer vs Aion, Warhammer vs AoC (if they can pick up), and probably the big one.. Warhammer vs Eve for #2 behind Wow. That's not even looking down the line too far.
What exactly did MJ and co say "plenty of times". I know they said that it wasn't realistic to top WoW and that they would be pretty happy with 2nd place, which is "best of the rest" if you prefer.
Best of the rest = Best Niche game in other words.
Mjb stated that they don't have to top WoW to be successful and that second place was the realistic target.
Now whether they are in second place, third or last is irrelevant. Thing is they set out to conquer second place, and NOT first.
WoW has by far the biggest number of subs so it's every developer's dream (and goal) to reach that much subs but no one would dare say "We're aiming to overthrow WoW" out loud .
Let's just say Mythic were a tad optimistic, nothing wrong with that. Fact is they're happy with second place, and good luck to them (and others) in getting as much $$ from us poor sods as they can!
So, in your mind, every game that isn't WoW is a "niche" game? You're a funny, funny man. Learn the meaning for "niche".
Comments
Lol, so true. I mean, shit. I guess we all better /wrists because, I mean hey, let's be realistic here. We're going to die. So why bother? I mean really, it's all going to end someday, maybe tomorrow even. So let's not waste another minute, lets just get it over with here and now. *sarcasm*
As cheesy as that line from LOTRO may be "It's what we do with the time that's given to us." And that's all that matters. You enjoy the good times that you have, and to hell with the rest of them.
Like my favorite quote goes: "That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die. "
Nothing is forever. So do what you can now and stop living in constant stagnation for fear of losing something.
It's like: "*cry* They ruined SWG, it'll never be the same, no game will ever succeed, I'll make sure of it.
"
Some people do enjoy games still. Yes, a lot are garbage these days, but there are still some gems.
As for WAR. I just built myself a new comp, got a few games (war being one of them) and at first I was like, wtf is this. But then I got in and started playing a Witch Elf (yes I know, shuddup =p) and I'm having a blast killing those horrible Order bastards. For all those years of Albion treachery!
Plus, possibly getting the slayer and da choppa at the end of this month.
It's like with Darkfall, I *want* that game to do well, whether or not I ever play it. Having people happy is a good thing in the world we live in. It's good to smile occasionally, you know.
And this is coming from a huge doom and gloom, pessimistic bastard, believe me. Doesn't mean I don't like having a good time.
Just pull your balls out of your mom's purse for five seconds, drop them a little, breathe deeply, and relax, and maybe...just maybe...enjoy doing something you like.
And hopefully that doesn't include going onto forums and trying to rag on someone's parade, but I guess if that suits you, well I sure can't stop you.
----------------------------
"Hero of Time! Face me!"
As soon as the game hit the budget release price of £7.99 on play.com, before Christmas, I figured the game was in trouble.
The problem with War, and Age of Conan, is that eye candy and gimmicks do not make up for lack of content at the end of the game. I just /facepalm now when beta-testers and the media froth and enthuse about a new MMORPG, because basically the developers put all the effort into the initial stages, to boost the inevitable pre-launch hype, then they realise they've run out of ideas and programming skills for the rest of the game.
Padding out the first 20 to 30 levels with goodies, then skimping on the rest of the levels is gaming suicide. Developers need to maintain their userbase, not bore them to death. Failing to actually include features that were promised at launch or having them so bugged they are all but non-functional just makes it that much worse. That shambles of a game, Hellgate, did all of the above and died because of it. Let's hope "The Next Big Game" actually does something innovative, for a change, and actually delivers what it promises when it actually promises it.
I personally will never trust any new game that doesn't offer a free playable demo before release, not after having been burnt too many times. If they haven't the guts to put a demo out there, no way will I buy it at launch.
they announced today they were also letting go staff members from the madden and ncaa studios. everbody is hurting with the ecnomy in the shape its in.
Please the economy has nothing to do with it. This game is a failure because its poorly designed and managed. The economy doesn't seem to be hurting other games. A game that is as messed up as this one would fail in any economy.
The only question is will they let this thing limp along on a skeleton crew like all of SoE's games or will they take a page from the NCsoft playboook and just shut it down completely. I think it will be around for awhile but for anyone looking for some big comeback that just doesn't happen. If you want proof look at EQ2, conan, TR Vanguard and pretty much any other failed MMO. You only get one chance to get it right. WAR failed.
It's interesting reading all of the opinions by all of these economics and game industry experts.
I lied.
I don't know if someone mentioned this yet, but although there are grossly unequal amounts of people playing WoW vs. WAR , you can extrapolate rough data from the numbers:
~3500 WAR players were running xfire last week
~100,000 WoW players were running xfire last week
WAR population = X
WoW Population = ~11,000,000
that means roughly one in every 110 WoW players is using Xfire.
Now the people playing WoW and WAR are not dissimilar so a similar % of people will also be using xfire, hence around one in every 110 WAR players is also using Xfire. Simple math: 110 x 3500 = 385,000 active WAR players, that sounds about right does it not, if a little high?
Xfire only tracks western players, ie US/UE.
So the WoW population should be considered around the 5M mark not 11M. So if you redo the calculations the number of WoW players using X-fire is roughly 1 in every 50.
So 50*3500 = 175,000 players, give or take 20% as margin of error (which is way way too much for the sample size, but got to keep the fanboys happy) and you have an accurate subs number.
Damn it all. I really wanted WAR to be a huge hit, not only to have another option besides WoW, but because I want them to make that Mystery X game with a huge pot of money and experiencebehind them. Oh well.
Damn.
___________________
Sadly, I see storm clouds on the horizon. A faint stench of Vanguard is in the air.-Kien
http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2006/12/13/
WAR is not without it's problems, but the economy most certainly is hurting other games to some degree. It's the poor economic outlook and reduced profit predictions that are causing EA (and countless other companies) to reduce it's workforce...Mythic is an EA studio now, so they, along with every other studio, are reducing their workforce by approximately 10%. It's as simple as that. The layoffs at Mythic really have nothing to do with WAR's performance other than that a better launch would have made EA's financial outlook for the fiscal year look a little better.
Mythic's GM has clarified the situation by saying his original WAR team was composed of over 400 people, and that the reduced headcount wouldn't hurt the future of WAR. Assuming the studio lost the 10% that EA demanded, that puts their team at 360+, all of which are working on WAR because the studio has not yet begun development on another project. That's hardly the "skeleton crew" that many of SOE's games are on life support with.
I hate to disagree with others, but I really do feel the economy is a big reason that there are layoffs with this company. I also feel that WAR (and all other MMO) lost subscribers with the economy slow down.
YES, there are issues with the game and some people are quitting from frustration. However, we don't know what % of people have quit due to economy and what % are just dissatisfied with the game.
Regardless: why come into a game's forums and give "THE SKY IS FALLING" speech? Some ppl enjoy WAR & some don't. Let's wait it out and see what happens. WAR is still pretty new.
You just asked and answered your own question there without realizing it apparently.
"TO MICHAEL!"
If I remember right, this game had one of the largest beta testing populations in history, the test lasted for months, and the NDA was lifted several weeks prior to release. How in the hell did player dissatisfaction with the endgame not spill out all over the place? Did they withold the endgame from testers?
Is this their base of fickle WoW players turning around to bite them in the ass? Is it all the people who swore by DAoC but never seemed interested in playing it? Or did Mythic just foul something up?
I was there for launch. It was awesome. Everybody was in love. Then one day about 10 days later I just up and quit playing. For me the problem was Order had nothing left worth defending, so there was no joy to be had in defiling it. But I thought I was alone in that sentiment.
einexile the meek
Vacuos, Winterlong, Vaciante, Eicosapenta
Atlantean, Tyranny, Malton
Many people are turning to MMOs and other video games to pass time while they are laid off.
WoW's subscriptions are growing.
$15 a month is cheap entertainment.
It appears my original math above deducing that there were ~385,000 or less subscribers was dead on. Mythic finally released their Q4 2008 numbers heres a quote from a yahoo finance article about EA's 2008 Q4 earnings:
* Warhammer® Online: Age of Reckoning®, an MMO from EA’s Mythic Entertainment studio, ended the quarter with over 300K paying subscribers in North America and Europe.
looks like xfire can indeed be used to extrapolate population as I originally suggested, by comparing xfire users to total player numbers of another game (such as WoW), you can extrapolate the total players of other games by assuming a similar % of players are using Xfire in each game. No longer can anyone suggest the data there is unfounded and useless as just using rough figures I was able to accurately predict the # of WAR subscribers.
It was PRed as a mainstream MMO game with Mythic's heads looking squarely at Wow as the main competition. MJ said it plenty of times. Paul Barnett said it plenty of times. Warhammer was not billed to go up against GW or any of the other PvP centric games. It wasn't even said to go up against EVE, which is a oRvR pvp game at heart just like WAR. So I think its more than fair to compare it to the game it was chasing all along.
Look to see more comparisions of Warhammer vs Aion, Warhammer vs AoC (if they can pick up), and probably the big one.. Warhammer vs Eve for #2 behind Wow. That's not even looking down the line too far.
What exactly did MJ and co say "plenty of times". I know they said that it wasn't realistic to top WoW and that they would be pretty happy with 2nd place, which is "best of the rest" if you prefer.
Best of the rest = Best Niche game in other words.
Mjb stated that they don't have to top WoW to be successful and that second place was the realistic target.
Now whether they are in second place, third or last is irrelevant. Thing is they set out to conquer second place, and NOT first.
WoW has by far the biggest number of subs so it's every developer's dream (and goal) to reach that much subs but no one would dare say "We're aiming to overthrow WoW" out loud .
Let's just say Mythic were a tad optimistic, nothing wrong with that. Fact is they're happy with second place, and good luck to them (and others) in getting as much $$ from us poor sods as they can!
So, in your mind, every game that isn't WoW is a "niche" game? You're a funny, funny man. Learn the meaning for "niche".