Following the GLOWING path with ARROWS in the likes of Everquest, EQ2, WoW classic, Lord of the Rings Online, City of Heroes, Linage II, and even Rift Prime as short as it lasted and make a classic/progression server of any of these games! The MMORPG genre is stale right now with no fun games in sight for the next 2-4 years (My opinion obviously). So take your already completed code, adjust it (yes it will take some work..but nothing like building a new game) to back as close as you can get to when you launched. Advertise that you are creating a progression server (don't do just classic, release expansions slowly over time), make a few welcome back packages to sell (29.99, 59.99 and 79.99) and either make it buy to play with maybe a 5.99 sub that gives bonus xp or make it a 14.99 sub with no Buy to Play and watch the profits come in.
City of Heroes came back and had 10's of thousands of players come back on a emulated server. They seem to be close to buying the IP and have 2000+ people online during peak hours because of their playerbase. They launched for FREE. EQ/EQ2 have been pushing on progression servers for the last 6 years and it is what is keeping the game alive. WoW Classic just made as much if not more then a normal WoW expansion does for blizzard. Lord of the Rings online launched a legendary server and the game has funding now to push expansions and a legit player base again. Rift Prime made a lot of money on a cash grab for a year with Rift Prime (gamigo is just bad for MMO's)...they took it down and now are failing...so just don't take it down (that seems easy). But they are doing the samething with Archeage and apparently will be successful at it again, even thou their track record. Why? Because people want the games the love to succeed, even if it's OLD!
Greedy developers jumped onto the Battle Royal cash wheel like they were buying tickle me Elmo dolls for Christmas, how hard is it to see that classic/progression servers are the way to go right now. Stop messing around and re-release these older games we all have a history with and want to play again. In the process you can make a quick million or two from our addictive needs. Yes I know Vanguard/SWG/Warhammer no longer are active but the IP is owned by someone, throw a supported license IP up and watch how stupid you feel after a month of launched that you didn't do it sooner. Aion, DAOC, UO, AoC, AO you guys just have no excuse. You have a fan base that threw money at games like Camelot Unchained, Darkfall, Legends of Aria, Astellia/Bless because they wanted to have that feeling like they did when they played UO, DAOC, Aion but can't find it anymore in the games because the playerbase is empty or the game is a shell of itself.
Even if you have zero funding to support this just make a kickstarter and let us get you on your way. Someone just gave 2 million to an old creator of UO to start a new MMO. Pantheon has made millions to support their game Pantheon because it's going to be the closest thing to Everquest original since...EQ. Fracture MMO took in a lot of funding just because it has a UO feel. Heck, Project 99 and Dawn of Light (DAOC) player emulators on launch had more players on their first month then on the real live servers.
How many signs do you need to make it more obvious for you. We aren't asking you to leave these servers up for 10 years. Just launch a supported legit registered IP server for the next 2 years and see where it goes from there. There is no way you don't make a profit and it gives the players what they want until the MMO genre finally creates something new and good for the community (Maybe MMO VR? Who knows).
In the words of Shia Labeouf;
Just Do It
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Mostly a trip down memory lane, rather than a hope for any lasting success.
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Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
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Vanguard is another one. The finished product of the game (years later) was one of the better games on the market when it came to diversity and content, but by then the players had moved on from one if not THE worst launch in history. I played that game at launch and was the second cleric to reach 50 on the server (guildy was 1st). No joke at level 30 there was only about 15 quest and had to grind to 40 by mobs. At 40 the mobs didnt even cast spells, they only meleed. I would be fighting NPC mages and they would be meleeing me. At level 50 the named mobs didn't have a loot table. They would disappear and drop zero loot. You could also charm the town NPCs and use them to kill anything in 1 hit. Was ..crazy but kinda fun lol. But 2 years later the game had a full quest line, side quest, dungeons, raids, loot table ect. If that game launched it would of been a different story. ....So why not try it for round two (Daybreak...maybe?)
That's just, like, my opinion, man.
Already played one in 2016:
"The simple is the seal of the true and beauty is the splendor of truth" -Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Authored 139 missions in Vendetta Online and 6 tracks in Distance
A well designed game isnt an archievement of any kind.