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Is it possible to resurrect a MMO?
Ozean77
Member Posts: 23
you have seen alot of companies try and try again to resurrect an MMO, we all saw it. Square enix trying to do it with FFXIV but we know it wont ever have the true player base it could have if the game was good at release. is it ever really possible to have a old MMO or a bad release and come back? or have you saw it?
Take a game like DAoC if your familiar with it, they appoint you to resurrect the game from 2,500 playerbase it holds now to 25,000 what do you do with the entire team at your disposal?
Side question: why wont a game like DAoC go f2p?
Comments
What do Sony and FFXIV have to do with one another?
edited my bad
It is still possible for SE to "fix" FFXIV and while not necessarily bringing back the playerbase it had, to bring more players in general. They're working on it, the next patch scheduled for late summer is hinting at some great changes that could potential adress a lot of problems the game has been suffering. Obviously it's still a work in progress, but if SE works enough I think they'll be able to get a good playerbase within 1-2 years after the official "re-launch". Provided that their 3rd upcoming MMO doesn't steal the show of course.
Albeit of a different genre, CCP did an awesome job with EVE to get the playerbase it has today. Launch was quite harsh and things didn't go well, but now EVE has 300-350k+ subs. I'm not saying that Square will be able to get that many players, I really don't think so, but I think they should be able to bring at least 50k a couple of months after a "re-launch".
As for DAoC, I think it would do great with the same model as Funcom's Anarchy Online.
All anyone ever asks for is to have their favorite mmo updated with new graphics and a few tweaks. Youd think more devs would catch on.
This.
What a lot of people REALLY want is an MMO that feels very similar to the first MMO's they played and loved, only with updated visuals and the core features slightly improved upon without losing that core mechanic.
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
oh really?How many times has a developer done that for WoW? Never works. We call them WoW clones.
Philosophy of MMO Game Design
So true. I wouldnt mind an Ultima Online with todays high-end graphics.
How many times has a developer done that for WoW? Never works. We call them WoW clones.
WHooooooooosh
To give a better example: I bet that a lot of current and former WoW players wouldn't mind if Blizzard would open up retro servers that went back to WoW vanilla just like happened with EQ, but then with updated graphics. In fact, I think that even more players would cheer if Blizzard announced that with their next expansion they would go back to how WoW was shortly after launch in feel and mechanics and if they would make all the right decisions to make it work
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
Best example would be what CCP did with EvE a couple years back. I wish my favorite mmo got that kind of treatment.
You mean ramping up the poly count and texture detail of its visuals ingame?
The ACTUAL size of MMORPG worlds: a comparison list between MMO's
The ease with which predictions are made on these forums:
Fratman: "I'm saying Spring 2012 at the earliest [for TOR release]. Anyone still clinging to 2011 is deluding themself at this point."
I would be all over DAoC if they would update the UI. The outdated graphics don't bother me much at all but the clunky UI with all of the slash commands is just extremely outdated. I actually reactivated my account for a month about 6 months ago and it was still pretty damn fun with the exception of what I just pointed out.
It's gotten to the point where some MMOs have been reduced to little more than success dispensers. Don't think. Don't challenge yourself. Do as little as possible... but still be rewarded for it. Yeah.. *that's* fun.
-- WSIMike
The problem is that people don't like to join up MMOs late in the game. If you don't get in at launch with a lot of MMOs, you're forever behind. Because of the way themepark grind MMOs work, it's very hard to catch up. Since WoW has been used, I'll use it again. Say you like to PvP, and you loved levelling and get all the way up to 85. Awesome, I can play with the big boys now! Wrong. Now you need to do a month's grind to get a suit of PVP gear, while doing dailies/heroics/whatever is fun to get your reputations/offpieces to be competitve. Got all that? DANG, SORRY. Everyone else who was ahead of you? They already have the next set of arena gear and will still be rolling over you.
This is a specific example of what late-joiners will face in almost every game with this sort of progression. If you're there at launch, though, you know all the areas, you beat the path that those behind will follow. You learn the tricks, you watch the economy as it forms, you know what is or isn't valuable. You can learn all these things if you join later, yes, but you will have to sink a lot more time and effort into it than a launch player. This is why I only play games from launch, and why I no longer play imports that get updated more than 3-6 months after their home release (Aion, most PWI games, got my fingers crossed for ArcheAge though...)
Honestly, I don't think there's any hope of even paying the bills for FFXIV unless they shut it all down and go back into a development stage. It was so bad that it was the first MMO I've ever gotten a refund on. And I played pretty much all the AAA titles that have come out since the Combat Upgrade of SWG.
Edit: As far as shutting down, wiping everything, and starting from scratch, I think it could be possible but there would have to be heavy marketing involved to spin it in a really positive light rather than "We fucked up, pay us for making it right the second time!" I'd play SWG Classic server in a heartbeat if it launched, even after my vow never to pay SOE another cent.
I really miss the original EQ. No other MMO has even come close. The sense of community and the friends that I made alone made that game a treasure for life. I have never felt that in any of the 6 MMO's I played after leaving EQ. I just got my second 50 in Rift and am about to cancel. Compared to EQ, it's just blah. I know people will disagree, but doubt anyone who was pre-Kunark will. Never again will I stand in a cave (East Commonlands) for eight hours doing absolutely nothing and be totally enjoying myself.
yeah
IDK but i wish some company would resurrect Tabula Rasa !
It's entirely possible to resurrect an MMO, but it's usually financially much better solution to build a completely new game. Old game doesn't have the mass media appeal of a new game no matter how well it's recurrected, and often updating a code is more expensive than writing a completely new code without the problems caused by original solutions made 15 years ago. The few thousand fans who might come back to check out the new graphics just aren't enough when a completely new game will get a few hundred thousand people buyng boxes to check it out.
You can fix any MMO, but it would take time and work. Your best bet would be to shut it down and re-open it after all improvements have been added. You would need to survey or atleast assest the problem and change it. If it was crappy concept, change the concept. Crappy graphics, upgrade the graphics. After re-releasing it , just hope your old player base and more returns.
I can agree with this wholeheartedly. Though for me it wouldn't be my very first MMORPG.
Edit to add: OP, I'll add my 2 cents that EVE is an example of an MMORPG making a successful "resurrection." But a comeback, much less a successful one is a rarity in this genre. The old saying of, "You have one chance to make an impression" holds true in this genre. It's also pretty unforgiving. What CCP did with EVE makes it that much more special because of these things.
"I have only two out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold." (First Lieutenant Clifton B. Cates, US Marine Corps, Soissons, 19 July 1918)
I really do not see why people consider EVE to have had a 'resurection'. I played EVE in its first year and when I came back to the game a few years later, it still played the same. They added features and revamped some of the systems but the core gameplay did not change. You still fought the same way, mined the same way and manufactured the same way. There were new ships and items and corporations had a lot more tools to use to hold territory but that is just a basic expansion of the game and not a 'resurection'. It is still basicly the same game as it was at release.
Daoc wont go free to play because there still is a playerbase, so they can still make lots of money out of it.
not really a mmo but i think apb reloaded is doing alot better then apb
No.
a) the main audience will not come back because they had their personal issue why they left
a1) maybe a relaunch would do so, when promissed new content. but from imho not. speaking of 10yrs mmo xp...
b) ressurecting with brand new grafics and additional gameplay will still not bring back the main audience, because they have their personal memories in their minds. if you would give them a free try, you would hear things like "it does not feel that way it did years before" etc
b1) brand new grafics and additional gameplay will attract mayyybe new players. but I do not think enough to let the game be an strong competition for other MMOs.
People need to learn: Nothing lasts forever - Enjoy it while it lasts.
Rgrds.
Edit @ Onigod: An almost empty Server yesterday at 21h GMT speaks for itself.
Sure you can resurrect an MMO but you must be a cleric or a high level paladin ....
and the mmo must make its System Shock survival saveroll !
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