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What is needed to get MO back on track
Yamota
Member UncommonPosts: 6,593
These are ofcourse only my opinions but this is what I think needs to be done if this game is to have just 50k subscribers:
Hire talented programmers who has experience in the Unreal 3 engine, Epic and whatever else third party technologies you are using. This should also help fixing the many exploits that are in the game.
Hire talented 3D artists and improve the animations and choreography of the characters. They are simply put terrible.
Add some elements with value in the world to fight over. This could be PvE mobs with some valuable loot or just rare resources which can be used to craft something of value. Make some areas more valuable than others to make terrotorial control mean something.
Add more and better PvE. A 3D world with just PvP will just become a pointless FPS fragfest.
Remove the forced first person view. It is pointless, unless you think making it easier to gank someone is a "point", and only a very, very small fraction of MMORPG players prefer 1st person view over 3rd person view.
Improve the UI. It is simply put horrible.
My 2 cents, because really this game can never really evolve with sub 10k subs.
Comments
I would sub again if they just fixed he lag, exploit issues and server crashs. From there everything else would develope but if they conintue to ignore game mech's then all the PvE context is useless.
Will never happen, and next post will probably tell you to go back to WoW. Just saing
I very much doubt they have the money to hire experienced devs, so I think they're on their own for this one.
In terms of what needs to be done: first they need to get a grip of their own code. Evidence shows they don't really know how everything links up which is why they always break stuff when they make changes. A complete technical redesign and build may be necessary so that everything is organised. This has to be applied to epics code as well.
Second, they need to stop shooting their mouths off. This mostly applies to Henrik. The bigger the claim, the less professional and more stupid you look when you fail to deliver it. See John Romero and daikatana for a non-MO example of how not to do it. Learn to manage expectations.
make it 3rd person.. so i dont feel like throwing up every time i log in. or atleast gears of war 3rd person. lol
They need a real project manager. Henrick would have to step back and let someone else run the show. That person would have to be strong enough to know the difference between what Mats puts on paper and what the engine and their programmers can make reality. That person would also have to keep the team focused. I think if you honestly go through the game you will find hundreds of things that were started but not finished. There are very few items that can be pointed to as fully functional but lots of items that were started but not finished. This is a sign of a poor development plan / weak project manager. Honestly at this point I do not know if there is enough time for a project manager to even make a difference. The company is hemoraging cash (see their annual report) and are going to be dilluting their stock (currently valued at 6 cents US) to issue new shares in an attempt to get some additional liquidity. Given their current burn rate (from the report) that new cash will not last very long. This free trial was their last chance to make a big splash but was severely hampered by server issues during the first week of the trial (crashing as often as 3 times an hour). As a result, the highest number of trial players that I have seen bandied about on the Mortal Forums was 100, with a population of 400 to 500. That just is NOT going to cut it in an MMORPG especially during the first 2 weeks of a Free Trial promotion. I am honestly shocked by how small the interest level appears to have been. Remember, Henrick himself stated that they needed an extra 1500 subs to start breaking even (and I think that was lowballing it). I'm not sure how they can get there, but I do think that replacing Henrick (he can stay as CEO.. just step back) is a start.
Well, I guess on that subject they would also have to remove Maerlyn the so called Community Manager who dissapears from sight for weeks at a time and turns over public relations to unpaid volunteer staff. This is the guy that should be leading the way. He should be on the forums every single day responding to posts and developing and advertising events. These events shouldn't be rare. Heck, I don't even know if he has run any in 9 months.
Anyhow.. that's where I would start. Get a real Project Manager and a real Community Manager... see where that takes you.
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
I posted this before in another thread, but it bears repeating:
Money isn't going to fix this game at this point. I can insert a little bit here from experience; I am an enterprise architect and the design and flow of software (hardware and other things) is part of my job.
Programming is like art. You start with a foundation, your canvas -- a backdrop. You paint your trees, your grass, your sky. Then you start bringing it to life, adding birds, and more detail. Then you add foreground stuff like people walking around, cars driving, whatever. You have painted your scene.
The problem with SV's painting is that they have already painted the foreground, and realized now that they have done so, that almost everything in their painting is screwed up. The backdrop (network solution, game engine optimization, server sync, account code) is subpar or poorly written. Additionally with the fact that the lead programmer isn't a programmer by training, most of the code is probably not written in an optimized, object oriented format. So for example, if you wanted to use "programming" to "call" the foreground elements, they have to call that specific element. In proper object oriented code, say there was a "bird on the tree" (to use my painting analogy), but your work really needed to have the tree 5 feet lower than you made it. In proper OO code, you make the tree 5 feet lower, and the bird will adjust downward because it's anchored to the "object". But the way people that are not taught code, the tree will move five feet lower and the bird will be in midair, because it's not linked to the object of the "tree". Hope you can follow that
Using that example, apply it to what SV has done. Their game is broken, but every time they "fix" one thing, they break several more. That's the bird, sitting on a non-existent tree. Now the only way to really fix this problem is to repaint the entire canvas; and that means almost a total re-code of the game. And that sadly, is something only a HUGE amount of time will buy them. The money will be necessary too; you'd need to hire proper architects (somebody like me, but familiar with gaming as I am not), build a proper roadmap, figure out the milestones, and have an ER diagram for basically the whole game in an "object" state. It's called an Object model, and it's something that I am very positive SV has no idea about. The amount of time alone makes it unfeasible, but the money would be significant because in an industry like this, you attach your reputation to the work you take part in. This is why after MO falls apart, Sebastian, Henrik, Mats, and the rest of the gang will have a *very* hard time getting their foot in the door with anything even related to gaming.
Until then, you will continue to see them try to fix the height of the tree, and every patch will bring you more birds floating in the air.
So in conclusion, nothing will save MO at this point because if they start making the steps to really make the game a winner, they will be so far behind that nobody will bother.
People aren't going to wait years for the game to get fixed, they will latch on to the next thing and leave. And by that time, this game's graphics and everything else will be very yester-year.
Change the owners.
Inject some money into it.
Hire a competent dev team and tech/hardware guys.
Don't take holidays whilst the games breaking down.
Make server stability the number one priority.
Follow with a full and extensive bug/exploit bash/fix.
Work on the games miscellaneous features.
{mod edit}
Remove the sub fee until it is in a stable state with a cap on numbers (lol as if it would need it anyway).
IB4 the usual suspects start proclaiming it's all working as intended.
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."
[quote]
Originally posted by Yamota
I couldn't disagree more with this opinion. It's so easy to adjust to this and, for me, adds so much more of an immersive feel. For instance, you're running to where ever it is you're going, and suddenly you're vision flies forward and toward the ground you. If you're like me, you react, "Fuck! Turn around and see who and how many people are behind you". I don't feel like I'm playing a character, but I feel like I'm really in a world and I've just fucked up by not looking behind me.
If there's anything that I think Starvault has nailed, it's immersion. Taking away first person would lose my interest in the game forever.
I derive my strength from passion. Do you feel that? That is what seperates you and I, Jedi!
remove SV from the picture and put a competent ,well funded, experianced development team behind it. it's the only thing that will save this game.
No competent, well funded, experienced development team would even touch MO with a long stick.
It'd be a lot easier for them to simply rip off the basic foundation (like SV did with UO) and make their own, functional game.
I said remove the forced first person view. You people who like that can keep using it, but us who like 3rd person view could use that.
The argument to not do that is quite funny actually: It gives too much advantage to 3rd person view. Which is quite funny as it proves that 3rd person view is superior for PvP.
My gaming blog
Easier =/= better.
Most of these suggestions would likely improve the game.. but they arent going to happen
Remember Old School Ultima Online
Actually 3rd person view is more realistic than first person.
In real life, you have something called peripheral vision. Because of the way monitors are designed, a video game in first person takes away your peripheral vision. This is why widescreen is being developed, because it's more natural to the human eye.
3rd person view gives back the peripheral vision.
[quote]Originally posted by SHOE788
Humans also have a sense called "Proprioception". It's basically the sense of where your body is in space and where all your body parts are in relation to each other. With a first person view, you get none of that. With a third person view, you get some of that from your avatar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proprioception
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Per Henrick the Network Solution has been fixed now. I currently play MO again after quitting in the beginning and agree with this. Also per Henrick the people who were trying to fix the network solution problems can now work on added features(tools, sand). There are still a few things that can be changed (rules and mechanics of certain things) but the game runs smooth.
I realize that MO had a rough start and alot of the frequent posters on mmorpg.com were angry at one time at SV for various reasons but I would suggest trying the game out again especially once more tools go in. Right now the game is how it should of been released.
Oh, and I like the first person view only.
Real PvE. No not raids, but something more than now. It seems like if your not a crafter/gatherer there is no way for someone to make it in Mortal Online. Also, something needs to be done about the sluggish performance.
AFK resource gathering as the primary way for newer people to join the game is not going to attract an audience.
I found this game to be extremely boring.
Honestly, i just want basic mmo features. Trade tools, better guild tools, better communication tools, ect. If it had this, it would be enough to bring me back for at least a while because i really love the atmosphere of the game and the feel. After this, the biggest concerns would be adding pve content, fixing sieges, and stabilizing prediction system.
But, the games current community related tools are pitiful. Also, it annoyes me that they're trying to be realistic with some stuff, when the community just bypasses it all anyway. Like voip, gamma settings, ect. So they really need to stop them from bypassing stuff , like darkness, and implement more cummincation tools.
edit: also, if u don't like first person view, this game is simply not for you in anyway. If they removed forced first person view, it would be the exact same as just creating a forced third person view because it gives obvious advantages to people in pvp. The game functions around first person view, being able to see all around your character, watching your back constantly, would completely ruin the feel of MO, and make its combat feel 10x worse.
Third person view doesn't imply being able to see all around the character
You know what, you can buy 3 screen if you want to make your fps game more realistic. This is what rich hardcore gamer do.
And real life or not, i dont think i can see a missing spot on my back when i washe myself.
In response for the OP, its either FPV or third person view. If you add TPV as an option, who the hell will go back to FPV and stay at disadvantage against the adversery?
I got a question for any ppl who want TPV and think it would be more realist. Did you ever tried to fight in real life, sport or not? Trust me, its worst then the FPV in a game if you combine the andrenaline rush.
Last thing, mortal online is far from dying. They dont even advertise yet so they wont run out of money. In fact, the player base they got is just enough. If they do what the OP want them to do like highering more artist and stuff, then they will simply jump on the fast track to the death of MO. I also dont think that we got load of artist out there interesting in the idea of full loot, open world pvp. Its something that many dont see as a realistic project. Thats why we got load of wow clones.
C:\Users\FF\Desktop\spin move.gif
Sorry but that statement is just patently untrue. The company lost money for the full year 2010 and it's losses in Q4 were vastly accellerated. The CEO said they needed to cut costs AND get an additional 1500 subs to break even. The company is in the process of trying to sell more stock to raise money to cover debts... Those are all proveable FACTS. Simply scan the previous threads on here. This is why many of the posters mention the financial state of the company in response to the OP. There are a lot of things that need to happen to "get MO back on track" but no resources to make that happen.
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