We Fly Spitfires – MMORPG Blog

EQ2X. The ability to pay the same and do even less.

When I first read the news that EQ2 was going free-2-play I was pretty excited. I’m a huge fan of the Everquest franchise having played the original Everquest for five years and the sequel for over three and was looking forward to the idea of being able to dip back into EQ2 without having to pay the full monthly fee. Plus, being a strong supporter of the game, I also liked the idea of it attracting some much needed publicity, attention and new blood. However, instead of following the sensible F2P model that Turbine are introducing with LotRO, it seems that SOE have gone with a system specifically designed to deceive unknowing new players and extract even more money than the current monthly subscriptions.

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Real ID: Making stalking more rewarding than ever before

As a lot of sites are reporting at the moment, Real ID has hit Battle.net and will be coming to World of Warcraft very shortly in it’s next patch. For those of you that aren’t familiar with it, it’s basically a cross-game chat system that lets you keep in touch with, well, anyone you want to really (provided they’re playing either WoW or Starcraft 2… for now). Initial reaction seems to be quite negative as folk aren’t very keen on the idea of fellow players finding out their real names (Real ID is linked completely to your Human Name and has nothing to do with character name or nickname) or tracking them wherever they go. I don’t blame them.

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In Japan, the RAH is being charge at 5 billion Yen per month

How much is a dollar worth? Well if you’re Blizzard about 25% more than the foreign exchange market deems it to be worth. Yep, the Remote Auction House which costs $3 per month in the US is being charged at £2.5 and €3 in Britain and the rest of the Europe respectively, a not insignificant 25% increase over the correct £2 and €2.5 when calculated at the average, stable conversion rate.

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These cats can smell the money

Well, it was bound to happen at some point wasn’t it? Today a nice little email popped through my cyber mailbox promoting SOE’s new purchasable mount for Everquest 2 called the Prowler (there are actually three varieties, Ethereal, Ulteran and Sinister). And guess how much it costs? Yep, $25.

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Need a way to make Lord Of The Rings even better? Create a musical version!

I got an unexpected email from Codemasters today telling me that my Lord of the Rings Online account will be reactivated for a week, from 10th May 10th until 17th May. As far I know this is for the European version of LotRO only and doesn’t affect US players as they already had a similar offer recently at the end of April.

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Yesterday Massively posted an article about how BioWare and EA not only expect 2 million plus subscribers for Star Wars: The Old Republic, their upcoming MMORPG, but also how they need at least 1 million to make it ’successful’. Anyone else getting a feeling of deja vu? *cough* Warhammer *cough* Online. Geez, I should really get that cough seen to.

This is not the job you're looking for

The whole thing’s got me slightly worried. When a company talks about how amazing, large scale and grand their game is and then comes out with statements that it needs an entire country sized playerbase in order to even begin being successful, it just seems like they’re setting themselves up for a fall. In an industry were only one Western MMO has ever succeeded 1 million players, there isn’t exactly an achieveable precedent for setting such a loafty target.

By publically stating this goal, every critic on the planet is going to be watching BioWare and EA like a Korriban hawk. If the game doesn’t hit that magic 1 million number, the entire spin on the game is going to go from positive to negative and the result could be an unrecoverable spiralling downfall. We’ve seen it before with games like Vanguard and Warhammer and as soon as staff start getting laid off, the game becomes a dead duck in the eyes of the players.

Considering that BioWare/EA have also already starting discussing additional and further payment models, I’m starting to get the feeling (justified or not) that the main motivation behind the MMORPG is more money than anything else. Yeah, I know that’s the founding principle of any company but at least most have the good grace to try and hide that fact and let the product speak for itself.

I’m still looking forward to SW:TOR and will judge it when I play it but all of this talk about subscribers and payments is making me a little uneasy. I just want to play a game and for it to be fun. I don’t want to be thinking about money and its success as I’m doing it (or before it’s even come out).

Honestly, I can’t help but think that BioWare/EA would’ve been better keeping their mouth’s shut about it all. I’m not sure what they were trying to achieve.

-Gordon

A few days ago the news broke that Bigpoint, a German developer, will be launching a Battlestar Galactica MMO later on in the year. My immediate thoughts were that they were talking about a full blown sci-fi MMO like EVE or Jumpgate Evolution but it turns out it’s just a free-2-player browser based game.

Nothing I can say can be as funny as this photo

I say just as if I’m sneering and, well, I probably am (I’m a MMORPG snob after all) because honestly I was expecting the usual Triple-A endorsement followed by months of hype, months of delays and then months of players realising the game hasn’t held up to their expectations and that it was actually rushed out the door like a pig in a tarted up prom dress. Yeah, I have no idea what that means either but I’m sure the imagery gives you the gist of my sentiments.

Upon further reflection though I think a browser based BSG game might actually be for the best. Let’s not forget Quake Live is browser based and it’s pure excellence in a Java app so there’s really no reason to dismiss this one before we’re played it. Plus, as much as I like the TV show, I’m not sure the Battlestar Galactica IP really has enough depth to stand up as a proper MMORPG. The story is pretty limited, there isn’t much room for exploration and most of the drama comes from tension rather than action.

I am skeptical about the whole “MMO” claims though and I imagine the game will turn out to be a fun little browser shooter that lets you compete in tournaments against a few other folk at the same time. No doubt Bigpoint are yielding the MMO acronym in its broadest sense and I’ll be utterly flabberghasted if we end up seeing a game that lets player compete and interact with thousands of other players in the same environment. In fact, if I had a hat, I’d promise to eat it.