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Will Bioware taking over War help it or is it to late?
itbewilly
Member UncommonPosts: 351
Was just reading threw the monthly subscription i have to Game Informer Magazine and came across an interesting piece about Bioware taking over Mythic so obviously since i didn't browse through all the threads on this game i figured i would ask the question.Is it too late to turn this game around and what do you all think Bioware will bring to the game that obviously has lost a lot of subs since its release.I think judging by the success of Bioware things might be looking much better for War in the future.
What do you all think on this situation?
Comments
even if this is true I dont see how it could help. The game is just too badly written/layed out/planned/balanced/overall underwhelming.
Playing polished, lag free, feature complete games is carebear. Whining about a game you hate but still play is hardcore man!
Its not actually a take over as much as it is EA combining the two.I did word it wrong but here is the story so people dont think im just making up stuff .
http://kotaku.com/5302069/ea-combines-mythic-and-bioware-into-a-giant-rpg-robot
The magazine article made it sound like mythic was taking over by bioware but apparently they've just been merged which might mean the same anyways
They are being out under incharge of the same person from Bio. And some of the mythic staff is being pull over to bio to help out with TOR.
So they are left with fewer dev now...
That said, i see improvements in the game and hopefully it will start to pick up from the next patch onwards...
RIP Orc Choppa
WALL OF TEXT WARNING - don't read past the third paragraph unless you are utterly bored. Secondly, this goes on a tangent - the original question was in regards to Bioware possibly taking over War - I am basically saying with a lot of words why I don't think it matters and yes, why it's too late..and heck, why I think the industry is on life support to begin with.
There would have to be sweeping changes. Since we all have an opinion, I'll give mine and a few friends I have who are die hard daoc - and for a short time warhammer fans.
For god's sakes, the Warhammer developers couldn't even mechanically make an archer look normal or give an assassin actual assassin traits - you shoot the blessed sky when a mob is 10 feet away and your damage is a compilation of weak direct dps or cumulative dot damage where you have to kite to survive. In reality, a peasant with a crossbow in 12th century Germany could drop a a fully plated knight at 25 yards. And the assassin, has 30 secs of broken "stealth" that has no real formula for improvement with horrible attack chains out of stealth (what chain? lol). The area of effect dps is a joke - and ruins what's left of the mentality of the pvp side of this game...and that's just a few classes...
What made daoc a gem was the third realm and the non instanced pvp settings and believable character classes with team work based pvp events that were epical in scale. Warhammer pvp does not inspire team work (I mean it attempts to out of logic but...). Spike tv is tv made by men for men...hence, MMA events, Tap Out, Manswers, etc. MMORPGS are mmorpgs made for gamers by, corporate executives and financial investors - hence failed mmorpg attempts and dwindling tiny populations.
In regards to what made DAoC the "reference" for the Warhammer concept: The third realm in daoc was a great tie breaker (frustrating but challenging). Warhammer is non stop stale mates and it lends itself toward increased boredom. Secondly, instanced pvp is a wow thing. The fan base that makes up a warhammer/daoc audience is predominantly anti wow. We wanted real warfare simulation - that's why we came here in the first place.
All the instanced pvp scenarios did was kill pve - place people like automotons in camps waiting for their next pvp event. So you'd have all these folks just standing around doing nothing and then disappearing for their 10-15 minutes of fame.
Thirdly, all that warhammer pvp reminded me of was why a P.U.G. (pick up group) was tortuous at best. Warhammer pvp is a non stop example of healers not healing, dps'ers charging and over extending to their death, and folks beating on tanks in front of laughing enemy healers while their dps wave over extended into your healers. This game brings out the worst in what makes people so frustrated with pvp to begin with and advertises the weakness of disorganization.
Anyway, I don't see bioware being the nerdy hard core gamers that made sitting around a dungeon master on a Wednesday night so much fun back in the day (pen and paper dungeons and dragons, or even warhammer fantasy battle, circa, late 1980s). MMORPGS aren't made by gamers for gamers - hence they are not fun. Most of the time I am only enjoying a given game because of the people I know - not the frustrating game mechanics itself.
Don't believe me? You want to tell me how much fun you are having in your particular mmorpg? Finding yourself in a small population niche audience and thinking because you defend your game whole-heartedly that somehow the numbers don't reflect the truth? The industry has made some weak attempts - and other than warcraft is basically on life support. Here's some examples:
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Everquest and Ultima Online and even Asheron's Call - for many got the mmorpg ball rolling. You had on select servers, role-playing and or pvp. While I won't bother talking about the dead concept that is role-playing (other than Moonguard server Warcraft?) pvp is existent to this day, its very concept continues to confuse and baffle programmers and financial advisors alike. Do we include pvp? Do we just say go at it in some pve zone and call it pvp? What is this castle siege stuff - do gamers really miss it if most never had it? How much will it cost us to implement organized pvp? Can't we just lift some coding and make it so you can kill anyone? Does that idea even profit? What do the numbers show? Oh, is Warcraft the best guide on the "how to" of mmorpgs? These games are still out there - and on life support. Devs have no interest in redoing any of these to meet today's standards. Crysis graphics engine anyone? Tiny population.
EQ 2/Vanguard Saga of heroes: Same designers for the most part - Vanguard was a total flop and an example of the craptastic allowances that are made by game designers these days. EQ 2 had a lot of potential, but if you like pvp then it's all rather silly looking and there's no epical struggle. Just some lifted coding makes it possible for 1 side to be red to another. But hey - at least these guys have two sides - age of conan couldn't even figure that out a few years later! Decent pve end game - a lot of lonely experiences grinding up if you don't have friends. Horrible pvp on the few servers that allow it. Tiny population.
DAoC - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjPi3gHUM3I Took pvp to a new level. The gem of this game as afore mentioned was the 3rd realm concept. Also, the sense of us vs them and the fact it really was a different realm architecturally and culturally that you fought against. You couldn't talk to em - or understand em. They looked different, and had different tools. Castles abound throughout massive frontiers. A huge labyrinth exists with choke points and instant gratification pvp for those who can't organize for the open battle-field. Stealth is a reality in this game - snipers and assassins galore fight against one another while visible groups with speed classes tear through the mazes and countryside alike. Towers can crumble, walls can get holes in them from massive trebuchet attacks. The game is epical - however it runs on an old crappy graphics engine. The population is filled with exploiters and gold farmers (and ignored by the Mythic community who can't afford a staff let alone to police this game). For many, however, it's the last bastion of mmorpgs with meaning, for most it's just an old game with some interesting concepts - that's if they even know about it to begin with because Mythic was horrible at advertising. Crysis graphics engine anyone? Tiny population.
World of Warcraft - took mmorpg success to a new level. It's easy design and game play led millions from the rpg diablo universe into their first mmorpg experience. However, it's very processed and gear grinding heavy. Massive population if you include the Asian market. Still huge in N America (4 million players?) - place the rest (out of 11 million) over the world and you have your real numbers.
Lord of the Rings Online! Just like the books right? No, again devs have no clue and even though wow showed us even a kid's mmorpg can have two realms - here again - you cannot. PVE driven quest game where you are out of the loop if you aren't on quest number 32.42.2 when you finally do get a group.
Like warhammer, lots of empty zones where unlike warhammer it's beautiful to look at - as long as you don't mind being alone. This game could have been the next daoc - with full out siege warfare and epical good v evil battles. But, in reality, you can make a monster character at ten and just kind of level up in a rather boring disorganized pvp zone, i.e., The Ettenmoors.
The classes themselves vaguely resemble anything out of a book - the game has an ok population on some servers - but this is no gem. If you like an EQ 3 alternative and end game pve - this is it and possibly the best alternative to warcraft on the market for the gear driven player.
Age of Conan - lazy developer team took laziness to a whole new concept. If you defend this one you are in a very small population. Three races, all from the same beach where your ship wrecked. All 3 races end up in various clans fighting it out in random pvp. When you see pvp in this game it looks like what would happen if you took all the imagination out of daoc but added somewhat decent graphics! Where daoc had three separate realms of classes and races fighting for territory, in aoc you have - just 3 races lol. Don't even want to waste time on this p.o.c. Robert E. Howard turned over in his grave on this one.
Warhammer - well we already know, right? They removed what made daoc a brilliant albeit short lived gem - treated her like a red headed step child and attempted to borrow from warcraft gaming mechanics. Utter failure - I spent hours listening to folks on three servers I played on saying, "this game makes me miss Dark Age of Camelot.." or "Man, daoc had it right, I wonder if it's worth going back." or "I left wow to escape this instancing crap!! wth is going on here?"
Will bioware have a clue? No..it's not how the industry works. Hire some geeky out of shape overly imaginative gamers who remember what gaming was all about to fix your mmorpg - instead of some corporate 21 year old fresh out of an undergraduate business and marketing degree program who was 15 years old when Warcraft hit the shelf and maybe the industry will change. Listen to actual player feedback...and finally, ask yourself as a developer, if what you are creating can compare to what Tolkien, Howard, Burroughs, Moorecock, Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, Gary Gygax, and others created with an old typewriter in a dimly lit room. And, will players actually envision themselves as heroes or just a number in a long line of processed and overly replicated fantasy archetypes that "break the mold" to such extent from the above authors that we have no idea where to place them (shadow warrior, tempest of set, and burglar anyone?)/
With an IP like warhammer there is always hope. The property isn't going anywhere so if a game fails it's not like there won't be another in the future. Licenses expire so it's just a waiting game.
They are not taking over, they merged into a new MMO house for EA. Just like EA Sports, together Mythic and Bioware formed a new EA MMO division. Both work on their own stuff, and share ideas at times but are not one company, they are under one publisher.
On the flip side, WAR is getting better, it has a major patch coming, most of the things people were complaining about have been fixed, with other fixes in the works. Try it again, and enjoy WAR!
Owner/Admin of GodlessGamer.com - Gaming news and reviews for the godless.
WAR is starting to look bright again with this upcoming patch. Who knows maybe the sharing of ideas is gonna help build more better patches for the game. Its like the old saying its better to have 2 heads than one. Mythic and Bioware are both gonna help each other out.
What's cool about the new EA MMO department is that companies will be able to share tech and switch out employees. It's actually a good thing for the employees because instead of losing their job after a project or just not working out on a certain project can usually get picked up by another sister company and not lose their stock options etc. I mainly left war because of the class inbalances. Does anyone know if the class balance has been fixed up a bit? Are Bright Wizards still the main ownage class?
Way too little, and much too late. They could make the game perfect now (NO chance of that happening), and they would never regain enough subscribers to make it a success in relation to what it cost and the cachet of the IP.
BTW, OP - that merge took place months ago.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
Spyder, you just continue with the lies about this game.
Performance isn't fixed. End game isn't fixed.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2
The hole bad thing with EA atm is there are rumores that microsoft is in talks to try and Buyout EA.
Sic semper tyrannis "Democracy broke down, not when the Union
ceased to be agreeable to all its constituent States, but when it was upheld, like any other Empire, by force of arms."
I just think it's funny anyone even thinks Bioware are going to divert any of there staff or time to WAR when they have there hands full with there own game.
LMAO....don't expect anything worthwhile to improve in War anytime soon, goning to have to wait till after SW:TOR is finished.
Spyder, you just continue with the lies about this game.
Performance isn't fixed. End game isn't fixed.
Spyder is a great example of that guy that works at an mmorpg developer's office - and on his list of things to do other than get coffee for his supervisors (which is everyone) - he is instructed to go online and throw these posts out in order to give a "voice" to their sale pitch. It would be like if I worked at Dodge, and even though you know a transmission falls out of a neon at 65k miles I come on and post how the Neon is just getting better so c'mon and buy one! lol..hilarity. Warhammer is a game where they naively advertise their new halloween mask patch and yet at the same time on their forums tell White Lion players how it will be months before they get a chance to resolve their pet pathing and character ability concerns.
GTFO>you ridiculously atrocious game
the game released in a craptastic state I am well aware of that (I was one of the dumb person that pre-ordered the game). I skipped playing it for about 8 months and came back now and most of my issues with the games are gone like Skype said. End-game may not be fixed but that's not what made 80-90% of the population cancel in the first month, performence is not perfect but it's much better (at least for me) the game is still a bit demanding for what it does but now I can play in huge RvR fights.
I got tired of telling them that over at WHA.
"" Voice acting isn't an RPG element....it's just a production value." - grumpymel2