Well stated, but I guess I just have to disagree. Whether the game is playable or not is irrelevant considering it is beta and has not launched. I've played numerous betas including Eq2 alpha, Tabula Rasa alpha, and Wow early beta; those betas were incredibly boring and had no depth as expected. Most of the time we were allowed only ONE aspect of the game and had to repeatedly test it again and again and again. So pointing out the level of unplayability and lack of content makes no sense regardless of how close to launch the game is. As MMOers we already know launch dates get pushed back almost endlessly. Mortal Online has been in development far less then more reputable MMOs from larger companies, not an excuse just an observation. Personally,I could careless the state of beta at this point, but if the game launches in THAT state then I will be gladly to concur with all faults that you may point out on any forum and warn others of the lack of substance for a paying subscription. Their philosophy is relative to someone's point of view. One can easily state that their design philosophy was to resurrect the realism in an MMO along with the PVP open world feel of sandbox games such as UO at their peak. Should they stray from their path of "realism" in a game by adding teleport hubs, adding 3rd person, etc etc, then I could understand feeling upset, and I can understand if players will come to public forums such as these and vent their anger.
As players we all hate to be lied to, why can't people look at the positive things, such as a company that is HONEST about their game's state and development instead of hiding it behind close doors for YEARS and outright lie such as AV did with Darkfall. (No offense to Darkfall, that game has come along way, and I sense big things for them in 2010)
Early betas that test specific aspects of the game in a "closed" environment is to be expected. You can't expect that to be all glitz and glamour. The difference with those betas, as I played WOW's and EQs (not TR so I can't comment there) is that you tested a WHOLE system. It wasn't being written on the fly as you tested it. That is MO's first problem, right there.
Now you jump into OPEN beta -- this is where the whole game is supposed to be presented as a whole. The game is supposed to be finished, and at this point you're only testing for bugs and stability. If your closed beta was run properly, your bugs should be minimal and the game should play well, and then you're just doing parts of your stress test to check to see load with average population, etc. This is important because it allows you to graph and chart your future costs given the number of players, in terms of human resources (customer support) physical resources (disk, cpu, memory) and and extras like backup resources and the like.
When you have a game in development for less than 2 years, have it trying to be more ambitious than games like DF that took 8 years to create, and a development staff whose lead programmer is burdened with the vast majority of the work and he's NEVER MADE A GAME BEFORE, or from the looks of it -- been a programmer at all. He was an Unreal modder and while it's admirable to get involved in a game and build out the parts of it, his being the *lead* programmer tells me exactly what I already thought, that this team doesn't have the ability to make a game of this scope, and should have started far smaller and more focused. Guess how EVE got built?
Their design of "realism" is only the tweaks they make to the systems. There's no CORE design, at all. It's literally taking the engine/suspension/exhaust of cars that work (so to speak) and trying to make a new car. And as I stated before, that simply won't work without an underlying philosophy on the design of the game, from every system, every system interaction, every skill, every skill interaction, every damage calculation, every formula of every damage calculation, all balanced with their counterparts as well as creating an immersive world that acts as a whole and breathes together. They have NONE of that. All I see is the CEO or lead designer spouting about how they want this to be like UO, but then they implement things like manual targetting and age of chivalry combat and then apply autotarget for spells because they didn't think it through. It reeks of failed design as a WHOLE. And that's just stuff I thought off in a few minutes. If I had to sit down and actually pen the design for an MMO, it would take me a LONG time and the design specs would be a few thousand pages. Yea, documentation is important too.
As for not being lied to well... read the features listed on their main website. Read the interviews they have done with MMORPG and other sites. Then compare it to the data they have listed in a powerpoint. It doesn't sync up, because they will hype the game publicly and vaguely give a 'release' feature list, which doesn't go into any detail so it can be construed any number of ways. If you look at their interviews, and the site data... you can look at the "basic myrland continent" to be including everything they talk about. There's no elaboration. Same for epic monsters --> basic AI. Same for amazing PvP -- Base PvP system. List goes on and on.
Whether they are lying or not though, is irrelevant. The game has no long term design, no business plan to keep customer retention, most systems don't work, the majority of things are being coded on the fly with the hopes that they can get it in for launch and try to make a playable game of it all. I don't think it will work, and as a project manager myself (financial systems), I know the telltale signs of a failed project. Granted, I may still be wrong... but I doubt it.
if they get most of it and mostly working by launch who gives a rats i dont see why it failed if it does release alil buggy as long as its playable and they keep patching to improve the game it doesnt matter or it shouldnt
if they get most of it and mostly working by launch who gives a rats i dont see why it failed if it does release alil buggy as long as its playable and they keep patching to improve the game it doesnt matter or it shouldnt
Keep the faith! Just 4 more days until we get our Miracle Patch and show the world what SV has been holding back. Some people don't understand that MMOs are competative and SV couldn't show us anything good early or people would rip it off.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Much is improved since the patch. Even if you need a work around for the loot, which is fine by me.
The combat is really sweet, the pots, bandaids and so on will contribut to really nice pvp, the economy is starting to take shape. For me there is no lag, and it seems it is like that for many. Some have issues still.
It just keep improving, nice work!
I'd hope there isn't any Database lag right after a WIPE.
Weekly server wipe and MO might be playable! Plus with the other changes its taking people longer to get new skills, give it time. They haven't fixed it .
Much is improved since the patch. Even if you need a work around for the loot, which is fine by me.
The combat is really sweet, the pots, bandaids and so on will contribut to really nice pvp, the economy is starting to take shape. For me there is no lag, and it seems it is like that for many. Some have issues still.
It just keep improving, nice work!
yea i think thers a dysync issue at time with some people it might be ping related
Much is improved since the patch. Even if you need a work around for the loot, which is fine by me.
The combat is really sweet, the pots, bandaids and so on will contribut to really nice pvp, the economy is starting to take shape. For me there is no lag, and it seems it is like that for many. Some have issues still.
It just keep improving, nice work!
I'd hope there isn't any Database lag right after a WIPE.
Weekly server wipe and MO might be playable! Plus with the other changes its taking people longer to get new skills, give it time. They haven't fixed it .
At this point, I could honestly see a wipe after released. Since all of it is thrown together, if they add something and mess up the database, they might have to wipe all characters. Its going to be pretty entertaining to see people complain about something like that.
Comments
Early betas that test specific aspects of the game in a "closed" environment is to be expected. You can't expect that to be all glitz and glamour. The difference with those betas, as I played WOW's and EQs (not TR so I can't comment there) is that you tested a WHOLE system. It wasn't being written on the fly as you tested it. That is MO's first problem, right there.
Now you jump into OPEN beta -- this is where the whole game is supposed to be presented as a whole. The game is supposed to be finished, and at this point you're only testing for bugs and stability. If your closed beta was run properly, your bugs should be minimal and the game should play well, and then you're just doing parts of your stress test to check to see load with average population, etc. This is important because it allows you to graph and chart your future costs given the number of players, in terms of human resources (customer support) physical resources (disk, cpu, memory) and and extras like backup resources and the like.
When you have a game in development for less than 2 years, have it trying to be more ambitious than games like DF that took 8 years to create, and a development staff whose lead programmer is burdened with the vast majority of the work and he's NEVER MADE A GAME BEFORE, or from the looks of it -- been a programmer at all. He was an Unreal modder and while it's admirable to get involved in a game and build out the parts of it, his being the *lead* programmer tells me exactly what I already thought, that this team doesn't have the ability to make a game of this scope, and should have started far smaller and more focused. Guess how EVE got built?
Their design of "realism" is only the tweaks they make to the systems. There's no CORE design, at all. It's literally taking the engine/suspension/exhaust of cars that work (so to speak) and trying to make a new car. And as I stated before, that simply won't work without an underlying philosophy on the design of the game, from every system, every system interaction, every skill, every skill interaction, every damage calculation, every formula of every damage calculation, all balanced with their counterparts as well as creating an immersive world that acts as a whole and breathes together. They have NONE of that. All I see is the CEO or lead designer spouting about how they want this to be like UO, but then they implement things like manual targetting and age of chivalry combat and then apply autotarget for spells because they didn't think it through. It reeks of failed design as a WHOLE. And that's just stuff I thought off in a few minutes. If I had to sit down and actually pen the design for an MMO, it would take me a LONG time and the design specs would be a few thousand pages. Yea, documentation is important too.
As for not being lied to well... read the features listed on their main website. Read the interviews they have done with MMORPG and other sites. Then compare it to the data they have listed in a powerpoint. It doesn't sync up, because they will hype the game publicly and vaguely give a 'release' feature list, which doesn't go into any detail so it can be construed any number of ways. If you look at their interviews, and the site data... you can look at the "basic myrland continent" to be including everything they talk about. There's no elaboration. Same for epic monsters --> basic AI. Same for amazing PvP -- Base PvP system. List goes on and on.
Whether they are lying or not though, is irrelevant. The game has no long term design, no business plan to keep customer retention, most systems don't work, the majority of things are being coded on the fly with the hopes that they can get it in for launch and try to make a playable game of it all. I don't think it will work, and as a project manager myself (financial systems), I know the telltale signs of a failed project. Granted, I may still be wrong... but I doubt it.
if they get most of it and mostly working by launch who gives a rats i dont see why it failed if it does release alil buggy as long as its playable and they keep patching to improve the game it doesnt matter or it shouldnt
Keep the faith! Just 4 more days until we get our Miracle Patch and show the world what SV has been holding back. Some people don't understand that MMOs are competative and SV couldn't show us anything good early or people would rip it off.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
"I should point out that no other company has shipped out a beta on a disc before this." - Official Mortal Online Lead Community Moderator
Proudly wearing the Harbinger badge since Dec 23, 2017.
Coined the phrase "Role-Playing a Development Team" January 2018
"Oddly Slap is the main reason I stay in these forums." - Mystichaze April 9th 2018
Haha, and there is the miracle patch talk again, the only thing he can come up with it seems.
The new patch is a improvement for me and many more. Ecen if someones are having troubles, I think it is an improvement for alot!
I'd hope there isn't any Database lag right after a WIPE.
Weekly server wipe and MO might be playable! Plus with the other changes its taking people longer to get new skills, give it time. They haven't fixed it .
I win!!! LOL@U
yea i think thers a dysync issue at time with some people it might be ping related
Short answer.... no
I'd hope there isn't any Database lag right after a WIPE.
Weekly server wipe and MO might be playable! Plus with the other changes its taking people longer to get new skills, give it time. They haven't fixed it .
At this point, I could honestly see a wipe after released. Since all of it is thrown together, if they add something and mess up the database, they might have to wipe all characters. Its going to be pretty entertaining to see people complain about something like that.