Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
A fair warning for those looking at DDO
mrwarp
Member Posts: 8
Before I get started....I want to make one thing clear. I have been a LOYAL Turbine customer for the last 5 years. Prior to the last couple of days, I would have defended Turbine Games to the death...but there is something all those looking at DDO NEED to know about.
It has become apparent that the powers that be at Turbine Games no longer care about their player base. A devastating blow has been dealt to the players of Asheron's Call 2. Less then 4 months after the release of their newest expansion pack, Legions, despite a growing player base, is shutting the game down. No real or least straight answer was given as to why this was being done. It is very odd that this is happening considering by terms of any MMO, this game was still very young. Granted the game was quite lacking at its original release, but the devs worked very hard giving the game the balance and content it needed to prosper. I would have to say the player base feels very much cheated out of money due to it's cancellation so soon after an expansion release. The official forums are currently in total chaos with no real response from Turbine with answers. Turbine also has the gall to continue selling the expansion on their website despite the cancellation announcement, which leads most of us to think they're trying to rip off as many people as they possibly can. The situation is so bad that the producers for both AC2 and AC1 have left Turbine. Also Turbine as of this post has offered NO concessions to the players who have spent hard earned dollars on the expansion and based off of their lack of response are not going to. The original Asheron's Call also just released its 2nd expansion, Throne of Destiny, and is now being watched closely as panic mounts with that player base as well in fear of a similar announcement. As days pass, it becomes more and more evident of Turbine's HORRID mis-management of these games. At this point, Turbine isn't even allowing people to create a forum account for AC2 to express their concerns and comments. Sure you can set one up...but good luck getting it activated. 
I bring this to you because AC2 was hyped by Turbine in the same manner DDO is. I know that a MMO version of the all time classic pen and paper game sounds very irresistable, but I would hate to see new and returning Turbine customers get burned in the same manner. I myself was eagerly awaiting DDO's release, but after the way I and many many others have been treated by Turbine, there's no way they are getting another dime of my money.
In conclusion, if your looking to invest in a Turbine game....DON'T. Your putting yourself at risk for wasting a lot of time and money. If you choose to go ahead and buy...at the very least hold out until a month or two after launch...proceed with much caution.
Comments
What I find funny is that you act surprised that this has happened. Turbine decieved no one by releasing an expansion to AC2, then cancelling shortly thereafter. It is obvious that with the expansion, they were hoping to make some last-ditch impact in subscriptions, which did not work. Seeing this, cancellation was the next logical step.
In all honesty, I'm surprised they kept it afloat for as long as they did. While it sucks that you lost your game, you have to realize that this happens to every game eventually. AC2 has pretty much had the smallest playerbase out of any of the 'major' MMOs for a while now. How did you not see this coming?
maybe SOE will buy it
Hate to "act a donkey" but maybe they cut ties with that mediocre game to direct full uninterrupted attention to DDO.
Like ^^that guy said...the games fan base (as you call it), although loyal, was very small. At best. It was probably costing more to keep it running than the revenue coming in from the players. It was a matter of time. Sorry for your loss.
P.S. I'm surprised UO hasn't been shut down yet and I bought their last release.
1. Hasbro wouldn't have sold the D&D online name to Turbine without a pretty specific contract
. that and DDO will have a much larger playerbase the AC2 ever could. Though, Im sorry that the game got shut down, It was bound to happen.
_____________________________
Leerooooyyy nngggJJennkkinnss..
A Legend was Born
_____________________________
Leerooooyyy nngggJJennkkinnss..
A Legend was Born
Depending on the publisher, and previous companies behind it. They made a huge mistake with AC2, the playerbase was small, and they prolly did lose a lot more money then they made. It would have hurt them finacially, and it would end up draining their funds, that they could use on a different game. Or, they could have kept it open, and lost the money, and created a less amazing mmo, that would have the same release that AC2 did.
I doubt they could have done it any other way then they did to get a better response. They couldn't have refunded the money for the expaks. plain and simple, they made a smart choice for a business. Its a choice you have to make no matter what it is that your buying. Like now, I wouldnt spend 1$ on a game like UO, theres a good chance a game like that would go downhill, due to the low populations. Now then, WoW on the other hand, which isnt near the game that UO is, But, I would still rather spend money on that then on UO. In which case, its the person who made the bad decision to spend their money supporting a dying game.
_____________________________
Leerooooyyy nngggJJennkkinnss..
A Legend was Born
Yes. The player base for AC2 was low...I won't argue that. Perhaps I should clarify a bit further. Turbine stated about the AC franchise "as long as there are active subscriptions and growing interest in the game, we have no intent of shutting it down." This is what kept the current player base in the game, including myself. Then the announcement of the xpack came...in light of the announcements Turbine made to comfort the existing players, we chose to go with the expansion. Mind you it was TURBINE telling us not to worry. It wasn't a blind choice made by the players...it was based off of the assurance from the Turbine suits. Whether it was sincere at the time or just a flat ploy to gather extra dollars...I cannot say directly...but it looks really bad on their part. The part that really makes me wonder is after the xpack release...the player base WAS growing. There was a new intrest in the game and populations were on the rise. I was seeing more and more new players coming in daily. The announcement of shutdown was speculated...but contradicted by Turbine statements. In other words...Turbine flat out lied to its players to make an extra buck. Had there been statements otherwise...we could have just left it to die...but Turbine kept assuring us "we're not going anywhere".
You see...it's a matter of dishonest business. If they knew it was going to end soon...why did they even release the xpack in the first place? I don't know if you've actually played AC2 in its later days or not...but they shaped it into a very good game. I've tried a lot of stuff...WoW, EQ2 and others...but they just didn't measure up...and that goes for serveral people...they would go away for a month or two to try something new...and ended up right back where they were. I'm not saying DDO will be a bad game in itself...but the wishy-washyness of Turbine's management will drive it right into the ground...this has been proven. It's evident that the original Asheron's Call made it because of Microsoft...not Turbine. Yes Turbine created it...but Microsoft managed it. Turbine is clearly not ready to solo on the market. This is what greatly concerns me about DDO. They have very talented developers...no doubt there...but it's the suits behind them that ruin the devs hard work. DDO is nothing more than AC2 with the D&D enviroment laid over it. It uses an updated version of the same engine AC2 was built on. The engine looks great....but as proved with the original release of AC2...looks aren't everything. I have firm reasons to believe that DDO will be pushed out the door before it's ready...just as AC2 was. Therefore...it will suffer the same fate...I don't care how big of a name is on the box.
"If they knew it was going to end soon...why did they even release the xpack in the first place?"
It obviously was a last-ditch effort to make some money...
Nothing dishonest about that. In fact, you keep blatantly calling them liars, yet I've yet to see an actual promise that they made that they broke.
When you bought the game, you were promised a game that they, according to their TOS, could change at any time to anything they wanted. And you agreed to it. Therefor, you got exactly what you were promised.
I think you're just a little too overcaught in your emotions of the game quitting... They aren't liars, or bad business people.
As far as DnDO and LoTRO go, I think they were extremely smart to grab these licenses... fight fanboys with even more fanboys, if anybody can catch my drift.
One last thing... To AC2, I give my last condolences. It was the best game I never subscribed to. To this day, I don't know why I never bought the game after having so much fun with the trial. Just let it rest in peace.
_____________________________________
"Io rido, e rider mio non passa dentro;
Io ardo, e l'arsion mia non par di fore."
-Machiavelli
So.... why are they going out of business again?
I'm not saying they're the best business people, either. But they handled their situation wisely by just cutting it off, rather than holding out and going bankrupt before they even release DnDO or LoTRO.
_____________________________________
"Io rido, e rider mio non passa dentro;
Io ardo, e l'arsion mia non par di fore."
-Machiavelli
Ok, I do see where you are coming from, but you're only really thinking about it from your perspective. People are so quick to cry 'conspiracy' and call Turbine a bunch of money-grubbing liars. Truth be told, I'm sure Turbine was just as upset to shut down AC2 as you were when they actually did it. Does it seem like they lied by constantly assuring you that the game would stay afloat as long as there were subscribers? Sure it does. But if you think about it, from a business perspective, the last thing you want to do to your customer base is to make it sound like you are unsure of the future of your own product. I can pretty much guarantee that while they were telling you guys that 'everything will be ok', that they were trying their best to make sure that everything DID turn out ok. A lot of heart and soul goes into these games, and I'm sure the decision to cut off AC2 was made after no other options were available.
I think that by constantly reassuring the fanbase, they were simultaneously trying to reassure themselves as well. You can't develop games as complex as this and not give a shit. While money may be the ultimate deciding factor in the long run, I think it says a lot for Turbine that they allowed themselves to lose money on AC2 for as long as they did. They didn't want this game to go under any more than you did.
They do make them for players to entertain a happy players/customer base. The objective is to developed a profitable game that people enjoy to play. Can't have one without the other.
Just like fastfood, if a bigmac secret dressing was a mixture of relish and cat piss then they wouldn't have served 10 billion customers.
like I stated can't have one without the other, if they don't have the customer base to support the game then they need to do something about it, even if it comes to the discontinuation of the game.
Sucks for what players they do have. breaking up is never easy but no worries, i'm sure you'll find a new love and forget all about how ac2 left you high and dry.
As for DDO I doubt any have to worry about a small subscriber base to put the game to a halt. I would be more concerned about the overall product and will they have the ability to keep the servers running smooth.
Dray
They do make them for players to entertain a happy players/customer base. The objective is to developed a profitable game that people enjoy to play. Can't have one without the other.
Just like fastfood, if a bigmac secret dressing was a mixture of relish and cat piss then they wouldn't have served 10 billion customers.
like I stated can't have one without the other, if they don't have the customer base to support the game then they need to do something about it, even if it comes to the discontinuation of the game.
Sucks for what players they do have. breaking up is never easy but no worries, i'm sure you'll find a new love and forget all about how ac2 left you high and dry.
As for DDO I doubt any have to worry about a small subscriber base to put the game to a halt. I would be more concerned about the overall product and will they have the ability to keep the servers running smooth.
Well, That happens to be wrong, you can have one without the other, Look at SoE? Prime example. They have a growing playerbase, despite their games to be horrid, and they continue to get worse. (This is coming from an EQ/SWG player.) Yet, they still bring in more profits, they are a good business, who knows how to make money. They don't know how to make a customer happy. plain and simple. Turbine did what they think is right. They didn't go out of business, two old games went out. The company is still alive.
_____________________________
Leerooooyyy nngggJJennkkinnss..
A Legend was Born
-----------------Censored------------------
As of last week you could still buy the game. turdbine hasnt even done a full recall on it. This a company you want to support?
They released the expack because it had been in the works for a long time and they wanted to wring more money out of the gammers.
Obviously
You need to open your eyes, wait a little longer when the new game comes out .. You will see
You dont get to read the TOS untill you have bought the game, and installed it AND then its not refundable. So its OK for them to shut down DDO a couple months after release?
They are liars and bad buisness ppl. Ask some of the people who play there games. The only reason we played is because the games were good dispite what turdbine did to them
SOLD to the lowest bidder. SMART had nothing to so with it
You dont have enough experiance playen a turdbine game to defend them ...shut up