This is what happens when you dare to be different - This game was amazing. I really hope Someone will resurrect it and publish it properly. Greedy publishing deals and stupid ip bans were the ultimate death of Spellborn.. Such a real shame it never even got a chance. Though i enjoyed every second playing this game..
meh the game was garbage from the start, thats what happens when you hype the crap out of a game and then release it half finished just to get it out the door. I am not surprised.
This is what happens when you don't know how to run a mmo. The game might be good but mmo is a service and if you don't know how to run it then you deserve to go bancrupt.
I also followed development of this game for years until Beta began. The failure of TCoS can be pinpointed to the publisher choices the management of this MMORPG made. Without much marketing and odd release stages for different countries, the game never had a chance to really grow a playerbase. I think the next big thing on the market will be Star Wars: The Old Republic by Bioware. At least this game has an experienced development studio and huge support by LucasArts behind it.
I am sad to see it go but it was flawed, the combat whell was a good idea but hard to understand, the effects of combos was hard to understand or clarify, you got acess to the full wheel way to late. On top of that the itemization of the game totally blew (there was almost none) the much hyped sigils had effects that was at best minimal and the biggest grip of all no endgame and a lack of content in some levels. I remember how everyone was excited when the pics of the house armor was released and the one House guild became common, unfortunately the house armor was never wearable by characters. The game had lots of problems like that and everyone should remember that for all the anger directed against Frogster and Akklaim the game had a pretty solid playerbase for about 5 months, then people left. The game itself had way to big problems for it to be successfull.
I am sad to see it go but it was flawed, the combat whell was a good idea but hard to understand, the effects of combos was hard to understand or clarify, you got acess to the full wheel way to late. On top of that the itemization of the game totally blew (there was almost none) the much hyped sigils had effects that was at best minimal and the biggest grip of all no endgame and a lack of content in some levels. I remember how everyone was excited when the pics of the house armor was released and the one House guild became common, unfortunately the house armor was never wearable by characters. The game had lots of problems like that and everyone should remember that for all the anger directed against Frogster and Akklaim the game had a pretty solid playerbase for about 5 months, then people left. The game itself had way to big problems for it to be successfull.
I agree and disagree with what you're saying. I never had any trouble understanding what the moves or combos did, and the wheel coming in as it did was a good idea to ease you into the system, although I would've liked the finished thing earlier, by say the mid-20's. Also, as far as the solid playerbase goes, what server were you on? I was on the international PVE server from Frogster and it was dead from the beginning. I would player for several hours a day and be lucky to see one to two other players during that time. The staggered release is what did the game in. The people that were excited for the game were locked out by Acclaim and got bored waiting so they moved on to other games and when everyone could play there was no one left to do so.
The game definitely needed some work though. A bank would've been great and seems ridiculous that there wasn't one from the beginning and there needed to be end-game content for sure. The few dungeons they did were cool though, with interactive enviorments and such. Oh well. I'm sad to see it die. I was hoping they were going to finish their re-release as f2p and I was going to go back and try it out again. I guess that'll never happen now, though. It's a shame is all.
The game wasn't released too early. If anything, it was released too late. The publishers could leave the game's developers alone and three years later we'd still not have a finished, content-rich game.
Anyone who was in the beta from the very early stages knows how slow the developers were in implementing new stuff and adding content - we went months before even a simple thing high on their list would get implemented. In fact, the beta itself went into months and months of interruption and came back without enough progress to show for it. All the signs said that these developers just didn't have the finances and/or manpower to fuel the development process of a game like this, and sadly that turned to be true.
It was a pity, because they had some refreshing ideas. I loved how the spell deck worked, and the world design was beautiful - same goes for the music. It was a world I loved stepping into, exploring and even grinding mobs for some time (who can forget those vicious low level bears, lol), but I always felt a lack of content and more importantly a lack of overall vision as to what they wanted their game to be other than a straight out quest-a-thon. All the ideas about the Houses and PVP felt more like sketches, early concepts never fully tried out.
No, if they'd waited for this game to be really ready, they'd probably not launch till 2012... Whereas this is the sort of game that should have come out around 2006, in my opinion. It would pique one's interest with its fresh ideas and compelling world, and the playerbase would be more forgiving of its mistakes.
Now that I think of it, Fallen Earth has similar problems to this game due to scope versus finances, but it's at least got the crafting system and the not-overly-saturated post-apoc setting to keep it afloat... for now. Let's hope that one manages to stay alive.
I was in the closed beta pretty much from the start, and I agree with you fully. I can remember leaving for 3+ months when it was taken down to make a new build, then coming back to see if it was up again only to find out they STILL hadn't mmanaged to get the build up they took it down for 3 months prior. Devs were pure amateurs.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.- -And on the 8th day, man created God.-
The players of The Chronicles of Spellborn were recently informed the game will be closing at the end of this month.
Since Acclaim sold out to Playdom months ago our community has been ignored by all administrators/moderators/support team and have been fighting keep the game going by contacting all the companies involved.
Acclaim did not reply to any e-mails.
Playdom replied stating they have no involvement in the game.
Spellborn NV did not reply.
Frogster directed us to their German site even after being told the correspondent was English and therefore unable to use a German site.
This latest news about the game's closure was not received by Playdom, but by a Games.com writer who received an e-mail from Playdom informing them of this decision, this seems strange as they informed us they are not involved in the game.
Unfortunately it could be seen coming from the moment asia gave up on redeveloping the game.
Spellborn was a brilliant game, with great potential. I would have given a lot to see it prosper even through all the other problems. I wil mourn the loss of this great and original game for a long time to come.
My suspicions about ack-lame only seeing the game as a potential milk cow seem to have been right. Cut the losses by giving it to someone they know will shut it down. So they don't look quite as horrible.
Shame how it only makes them look a million times worse now, after all the trouble the seperate publishers caused from the start. I have been suspecting this was all on purpose. Not so much by the people who loved the game and dedicated so much time, effort and love into the game, but from somewhere higher up. Suspicions however will be just that, suspicions.
I wish I had the funds to make the game stay myself.
I know there will be many that gave up on the game just over a year ago, upon the notice of the bankrupcy of spellborn N.V. (even though but weeks earlier we had been told there were still plenty funds) will mourn this. Our hopes and love for the game never did die, even if most of us did not wish to play a poorly moderated F2P version (which is what Ack-lame turned it into)
Chantal van Dijk
A.K.A.
Chista of the Forsaken Prophets
A.K.A.
The one who brought cookies.
For those who understand: I never stopped working on that dream of mine. I just need to work on the skills, they are hard to get a hang of for me ^.^;
It's sad to see a game that wasn't a blatant WoW clone fail. Someone finally tried to think outside the box and this is the outcome. It will shy some devs away from doing the same.
Comments
Devs don't release ... publishers do.
And it was unfinished, but not garbage. It might have had a chance if it wasn't for the silly ip-separation.
Another great game gone...
As someone else said, it was a diamond in the rough.. The promise was there but it really needed another year of dev.
Of all the failed games out there, this is the one I feel most unhappy about dying because it had it's own 'soul'.
Not many games can say that.
This is what happens when you dare to be different - This game was amazing. I really hope Someone will resurrect it and publish it properly. Greedy publishing deals and stupid ip bans were the ultimate death of Spellborn.. Such a real shame it never even got a chance. Though i enjoyed every second playing this game..
meh the game was garbage from the start, thats what happens when you hype the crap out of a game and then release it half finished just to get it out the door. I am not surprised.
This is what happens when you don't know how to run a mmo. The game might be good but mmo is a service and if you don't know how to run it then you deserve to go bancrupt.
I also followed development of this game for years until Beta began. The failure of TCoS can be pinpointed to the publisher choices the management of this MMORPG made. Without much marketing and odd release stages for different countries, the game never had a chance to really grow a playerbase. I think the next big thing on the market will be Star Wars: The Old Republic by Bioware. At least this game has an experienced development studio and huge support by LucasArts behind it.
"Fire is never a gentle master..."
I have read this now for the 2nd time and it makes me chance.... that this rough diamond didn't get a 2nd chance.
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
I am sad to see it go but it was flawed, the combat whell was a good idea but hard to understand, the effects of combos was hard to understand or clarify, you got acess to the full wheel way to late. On top of that the itemization of the game totally blew (there was almost none) the much hyped sigils had effects that was at best minimal and the biggest grip of all no endgame and a lack of content in some levels. I remember how everyone was excited when the pics of the house armor was released and the one House guild became common, unfortunately the house armor was never wearable by characters. The game had lots of problems like that and everyone should remember that for all the anger directed against Frogster and Akklaim the game had a pretty solid playerbase for about 5 months, then people left. The game itself had way to big problems for it to be successfull.
Chi puo dir com'egli arde é in picciol fuoco.
He who can describe the flame does not burn.
Petrarch
I agree and disagree with what you're saying. I never had any trouble understanding what the moves or combos did, and the wheel coming in as it did was a good idea to ease you into the system, although I would've liked the finished thing earlier, by say the mid-20's. Also, as far as the solid playerbase goes, what server were you on? I was on the international PVE server from Frogster and it was dead from the beginning. I would player for several hours a day and be lucky to see one to two other players during that time. The staggered release is what did the game in. The people that were excited for the game were locked out by Acclaim and got bored waiting so they moved on to other games and when everyone could play there was no one left to do so.
The game definitely needed some work though. A bank would've been great and seems ridiculous that there wasn't one from the beginning and there needed to be end-game content for sure. The few dungeons they did were cool though, with interactive enviorments and such. Oh well. I'm sad to see it die. I was hoping they were going to finish their re-release as f2p and I was going to go back and try it out again. I guess that'll never happen now, though. It's a shame is all.
I was on Akklaims US PvE server that had a good population for some time.
Chi puo dir com'egli arde é in picciol fuoco.
He who can describe the flame does not burn.
Petrarch
Just found out that before all this happened, Disney bought out Playdom. So maybe Disney has something to do with this. http://corporate.disney.go.com/news/corporate/2010/2010_0727_playdom.html
When we get back from where we are going, we will return to where we were. I know people there!
I was in the closed beta pretty much from the start, and I agree with you fully. I can remember leaving for 3+ months when it was taken down to make a new build, then coming back to see if it was up again only to find out they STILL hadn't mmanaged to get the build up they took it down for 3 months prior. Devs were pure amateurs.
-Letting Derek Smart work on your game is like letting Osama bin Laden work in the White House. Something will burn.-
-And on the 8th day, man created God.-
this was by far the best game
that artwork, the athmosphere, the different way to use skills, and far far far more..
i definitely hate peopel who shut down such games, cause there are thousends of clones of clones, TCOS was NOT one of them.
Have to say that I'm a little surprised to hear it's closing down, given that it was relatively new in the MMO world.
While the player-base is a key componant, I bet the economy doesn't help much, either.
-----------------------------
Blog -Transcendent''s Tomb - Reviews, Polls, and tortured opinions from the minions of MMORPGS
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Hhussk
The players of The Chronicles of Spellborn were recently informed the game will be closing at the end of this month.
Since Acclaim sold out to Playdom months ago our community has been ignored by all administrators/moderators/support team and have been fighting keep the game going by contacting all the companies involved.
Acclaim did not reply to any e-mails.
Playdom replied stating they have no involvement in the game.
Spellborn NV did not reply.
Frogster directed us to their German site even after being told the correspondent was English and therefore unable to use a German site.
This latest news about the game's closure was not received by Playdom, but by a Games.com writer who received an e-mail from Playdom informing them of this decision, this seems strange as they informed us they are not involved in the game.
We love this game, and do not want it to end.
The players have created a petition here to keep the game online - http://www.petitiononline.com/tcos/petition.html
We have appealed to Playdom to review their decision but are not hopeful of a reply.
We think the online gaming community has a right to know about how these companies treat their players.
thank you for reading this
player name Debbilicious
Michelle Dodds
~x~Fake Friends Killed on Sight~x~
Unfortunately it could be seen coming from the moment asia gave up on redeveloping the game.
Spellborn was a brilliant game, with great potential. I would have given a lot to see it prosper even through all the other problems. I wil mourn the loss of this great and original game for a long time to come.
My suspicions about ack-lame only seeing the game as a potential milk cow seem to have been right. Cut the losses by giving it to someone they know will shut it down. So they don't look quite as horrible.
Shame how it only makes them look a million times worse now, after all the trouble the seperate publishers caused from the start. I have been suspecting this was all on purpose. Not so much by the people who loved the game and dedicated so much time, effort and love into the game, but from somewhere higher up. Suspicions however will be just that, suspicions.
I wish I had the funds to make the game stay myself.
I know there will be many that gave up on the game just over a year ago, upon the notice of the bankrupcy of spellborn N.V. (even though but weeks earlier we had been told there were still plenty funds) will mourn this. Our hopes and love for the game never did die, even if most of us did not wish to play a poorly moderated F2P version (which is what Ack-lame turned it into)
Chantal van Dijk
A.K.A.
Chista of the Forsaken Prophets
A.K.A.
The one who brought cookies.
For those who understand: I never stopped working on that dream of mine. I just need to work on the skills, they are hard to get a hang of for me ^.^;
si i really think..
yo uwere one of the developers who started that great game originally, true?
if yes: congratulations for doing so many great things
It's sad to see a game that wasn't a blatant WoW clone fail. Someone finally tried to think outside the box and this is the outcome. It will shy some devs away from doing the same.
thats what i am afraid of..
most game look more or less the same, and at least PLAY like that.
TCOS was different, but very very playable.
i think its really big fail of the PUB. not the DEV.
Nice game but it has been in trouble since day one. Had some good ideas going for it though.
so lets resurrect it!
there are dozens of f2p publishers out there
(publishing dozens of dumb games)
if anyone knows how to start a campaign.. (including holy facebook or whatever)
plz do so.. the whole world of tcos lovers will appreciate it.
mm why did playdom buy the game if they wanted to permanently shut it down !i dont buy it .they ll polish it and rerelease it
graphic engine?it is dated!
oh acclaim was baught not just the game but the full corp
oh then it make sense for them to shut down stuff lol!
i thot they had baught cosb just to shut it
The last the TCOS needs is a graphics overhaul at this point. The game may be dated but it still can look very nice from what I remember.
dated.. but much more beautiful then most recent games..
even the huge world..
btw: playdom is only hosting horrible silly nonsense games