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MMORPG's anything new coming?

The expansion for Guild Wars is coming out in a few months. Next weekend (January 20-22) there is going to be a free (for ALL players and not just those with GW accounts) beta event to test out the two new professions.


Press Release here:
http://www.guildwars.com/press/pr13-10-01-06.html


NCsoft, ArenaNet Announce Guild Wars: Factions

Free Player-versus-Player Event to Provide Sneak Peek for Players All Over the World

Bellevue, Wash., Jan. 10, 2006 — NCsoft®, the world's leading developer and publisher of online computer games, announces Guild Wars®: Factions™, the next chapter in the critically acclaimed Guild Wars franchise from ArenaNet® studios. The Factions campaign will release in the second quarter of 2006. It offers players an incredible gameplay experience with many new choices, including new regions, professions, skills, missions, and monsters, along with expanded options for both Cooperative and Player-versus-Player (PvP) play, and enhanced features for guilds.

Players will get their first chance to experience the new campaign when ArenaNet opens its servers to everyone for the Guild Wars: Factions Global Free-for-All PvP Weekend. This worldwide event—scheduled for January 20 through 22—is open to both existing Guild Wars players and to those who do not have a Guild Wars account. ArenaNet is distributing free access keys to the event at http://www.guildwars.com.

The event will enable players to experience two new professions being introduced in the campaign, the Assassin and the Ritualist. Participants will also be able to try out a number of the skills added to Guild Wars: Factions, including some of the deadly skills of the Assassin and the arcane spells of the spiritual Ritualist. They will also be able to get familiar with the new PvP continent, Battle Isles. Battle Isles will introduce players to new PvP experiences, new and expanded arenas, new quests, and a new explorable area as well.

Another feature available during the Guild Wars: Factions Global Free-for-All PvP Weekend is Observer Mode, where players who aren't participating in a battle can view the proceedings and check out the strategies and tactics used by top-ranked guilds as they fight for supremacy.

"We're excited to be offering this free preview of Guild Wars: Factions to players throughout the world," said Patrick Wyatt, co-founder of ArenaNet. "Factions is a huge step in the continued evolution of the game, and I think gamers are really going to be excited about the new features they're going to see!"

In September of 2005, Guild Wars surpassed more than one million units sold in North America and Europe, a milestone reached in less than five months. Guild Wars is a competitive online roleplaying game that rewards player skill more than time played. Players explore a rich fantasy game world, acquire skills, build personalized characters and compete in head-to-head guild battles with players from around the world.
 
"The expansion for Guild Wars is coming out in a few months. Next weekend (January 20-22) there is going to be a free (for ALL players and not just those with GW accounts) beta event to test out the two new professions."

He was asking about MMORPGs.


There's not much on the horizon worth noting.

Pirates of the Burning Sea could be *really* cool, that's the only one I'm really paying any attention to.

http://www.filecloud.com/files/file.php?file_id=2680 -- POTBS video.
 
Age of Conan is definetly the next big thing.
Atleast quality wise.

It has already won several 'Best mmorpg @ E3' awards.

Pretty original too. Original universe: no firebreathing dragons, magic is not a cozy common thing, barbaric world, woman are sex objects(oh dear lord)..etc. Melee combat is 'hands on', formation combat important in larger pvp wars where one side can be defending a castle. Catapults, heated oil..etc

The first 20levels of the game is singleplayer with a deep story and when you hit 20 the gameworld suddenly opens up into this big mmorpg. It's like coming out of Midgar in FFVII only with other real people running around.

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I think both WOW and FFXI are going very strong right now. Constantly being updated.

I'm not sure if EQ2 was a commercial success or a failure yet?
 
I heard EQ2 was close to the original EQ in numbers of subscribers but I may be wrong.
Didn't the original have about 500 000?
 
man id love for a great cyberpunk mmo like shadowrun/blade runner/ rise of the dragon theme.


I like neocron, its just buggy, no one plays it, and I couldnt get into A.O.
 
No way EQ2 has 500k subscribers. 200k possibly.

There aren't really any upcoming MMO's I'm really looking forward to. Most of them look to be the same ole fantasy crap that we've all played before.
 
Wollan said:
Age of Conan is definetly the next big thing.
Atleast quality wise.

It has already won several 'Best mmorpg @ E3' awards.

Pretty original too. Original universe: no firebreathing dragons, magic is not a cozy common thing, barbaric world, woman are sex objects(oh dear lord)..etc. Melee combat is 'hands on', formation combat important in larger pvp wars where one side can be defending a castle. Catapults, heated oil..etc

Original universe?? Isn't it set in Hyborea? (that is, a northern land set on Earth in the time of Atlantis)

It would be really cool if you could travel down to some of the southern areas into ancient Europe..
 
argon said:
Original universe?? Isn't it set in Hyborea? (that is, a northern land set on Earth in the time of Atlantis)

What I meant was, the universe of Conan is pretty original. It ain't your standard D&D fare.
It's much darker with more eastern influence. No fire-breathing dragons or khobolds around every corner. Men are allowed to be vile anti-heroes and women are usually looked upon as sex objects. And lots of gore and brutality. It's harsh, but it's Conan.
 
Teknopathetic said:
"The expansion for Guild Wars is coming out in a few months. Next weekend (January 20-22) there is going to be a free (for ALL players and not just those with GW accounts) beta event to test out the two new professions."

He was asking about MMORPGs.


There's not much on the horizon worth noting.

Pirates of the Burning Sea could be *really* cool, that's the only one I'm really paying any attention to.

http://www.filecloud.com/files/file.php?file_id=2680 -- POTBS video.
Too bad the navigation map looks to be poorly implemented (both scale and visuals) and the game has NO day/night cycle, just predetermined lighting looks for different locations. Game looks good, but come on.
 
brocke said:
Isn't FFXI about due for a new mmorpg like EQII?

There was that video the FFXI team showed at MS' pre-E3 conference, which is supposedly from a new MMORPG, although whether it'll be a new FF MMORPG or a new series is unclear.

Meanwhile there's a new FFXI expansion pack due sometime soon.
 
"Too bad the navigation map looks to be poorly implemented (both scale and visuals) and the game has NO day/night cycle, just predetermined lighting looks for different locations. Game looks good, but come on."

But come on what, who's talking about just graphics here?

Edit: And besides, unless there's more to a day-night cycle than this:

http://www.flyinglab.com/pirates/logs.php?log_select=56

"My work the last couple days, besides general bug testing and complaining, has been to get our first real day-night cycle done. (Well, real enough for E3 anyway!) This is essentially an art direction chore: sequencing a set of sky textures; adjusting the direct, ambient, and specular lighting colors for each minute of the cycle; tweaking the way light falls on the ocean; and making sure that the sunrise looks sweet. Heidi has been a real champ this week, both fixing bugs and enabling day-night features for me that we hadn't planned to do until next milestone."

Then I don't think I'd notice it. It's an MMORPG, not a tech demo.
 
Die Squirrel Die said:
There was that video the FFXI team showed at MS' pre-E3 conference, which is supposedly from a new MMORPG, although whether it'll be a new FF MMORPG or a new series is unclear.

Meanwhile there's a new FFXI expansion pack due sometime soon.

Do you have a link to the video? I'd like to see what it looks like. I'd really like to see square's next attempt at an mmorpg now that they have experience from ffxi under their belt.
 
RF-Online. Its been out in Japan, Korea and stuff for awhile but its coming to Europe and America thanks to Codemasters and its coming out in like a month or so.

Its looking pretty cool. Nice anime-ish artstyle. Sci-Fi Fantasy type stuff. Blends elements of Lineage, Dark Age of Camelot, and WoW with big guns and gundams you can drive :lol

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RF Online is a MMORPG created by CCR (A Korean Online Game Software Company). It was released in Korea in 2004 and has quickly become the #1 MMORPG in its native country. The game has since been translated for local releases in Japan, Taiwan, Phillipines, China and now Europe & North America. CCR has adopted a distribution method in reaching its international demand for the product. As a result, different companies have acquired the license/rights to translate and distribute the game in their local.

RF Online is an epic mix of traditional fantasy MMORPG mixed with unique futuristic sci-fi action to bring an entirely new and original take on the existing MMORPG genre. Set in a deep space galaxy known as Novus, take your pick from three all-powerful warring factions leading your character into the final battle for total control over the entire Novus galaxy. Chose from either the Bellato Union, taking control of individual robot battle units like never seen before within any MMOG, Holy Alliance Cora, the mystical and fantasy orientated race utilising the power of magic and finally the mighty Accretia Empire, a futuristic alien race intent on spreading destruction across the entire sector with their advanced weaponry systems.

They are planning to add Space Ships and space battles also in the Korean version, but the game is just starting to hit other parts of the world
 
Is RF-Online coming to US? That actually looks good... Thing is I dont play MMORPGs when I get them to much... So im about a level 5 for a month.. I take em nice an easy. Thats why I love PSO, since its a nice an easy going game were you dont have to play it so much.

which brings me to



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I dont know if its consider an MMORPG but it is something like it. And its hella good
 
Yes RF-Online is coming to US> I think its coming out in mid Feb. Its in the same vein as Lineage so you can expect HEAVY grinding as some people who have played the KOrean version said. I believe Codemasters said they are going to make it easier to level though so it wont be that bad hopefully, it looks really cool.
 
Teknopathetic said:
It's *very* much in the same vein in Lineage 2. Don't get your hopes up.

I dont mind Lineage 2, I played it for almost a year. People who diont like 1000 million hours of grinding wont like it though. Plus, with all the fantasy type MMOS come out, this looks at least interesting enough to play for awhile to check it out.
 
WoW expansion, that's about it...

I like WoW but I don't know, it's nothing like the original EQ for me in terms of excitement :/
 
DonasaurusRex said:
ohh now if RFO is open pvp im there.

After you hit like around lvl 25 and leave the safe area its an all out war between the 3 factions (Humans, Magic Elfs, Cyborgs), or so Ive read. The game is heavily focused on PvP.
 
rfo playing like lineage is a mega bummer.

I dunno, why are companies making mmos these days anyway? WOW is all you need.
 
I played the JP open beta version of RF-Online, totally ass. It has some decent concepts but it's like every other korean MMO out there. It has extremely good graphics though, very pretty in game but very limited equipment sets and player models.
 
Shouta said:
I played the JP open beta version of RF-Online, totally ass. It has some decent concepts but it's like every other korean MMO out there. It has extremely good graphics though, very pretty in game but very limited equipment sets and player models.

Someone said that the Asians aren't into customizations in MMO's as much as others. Forgot where I heard it, maybe CGW
 
Has any other MMORPG ever touched upon a 'community' aspect like Ultima Online had?

I thought it was really cool how you could travel around and encounter other players' houses and go inside and see what they had and stuff. Gave you something to do besides killing stuff. I play WoW now, but there's not too much of that kind of stuff.

Man, I still remember being in a castle on one of the older servers. It was cool.
 
It's kind of true and kind of not. Most Asian MMO players don't really care as much for customization like we do since they primarily focus on statistics. While this is true, the option to customize isn't looked down upon. The real problem is that the designers are ignoring customization for other things but all of those "other things" aren't very good at all. I can forgive bland customization for good gameplay but games like RF-Online and most Asian MMOs play like garbage.
 
Hero said:
Has any other MMORPG ever touched upon a 'community' aspect like Ultima Online had?

I thought it was really cool how you could travel around and encounter other players' houses and go inside and see what they had and stuff. Gave you something to do besides killing stuff. I play WoW now, but there's not too much of that kind of stuff.

Man, I still remember being in a castle on one of the older servers. It was cool.

Can you enter someone else's room in FFXI?

The major MMOs with player housing are UO, FFXI, EQII, and SWG. Both UO and SWG have similar systems where you place a house and fill it with stuff, while FFXI and EQII are basically instanced rooms you have for a house.

Here are some SWG houses:
http://starwarsgalaxies.station.sony.com/content.vm?page=Galactic Home Show

As for the topic, I'll be playing DDO next month for sure (Eberron is a great setting), and then there's Vanguard coming. That's the next one I want to play after DDO.
 
Shouta said:
It's kind of true and kind of not. Most Asian MMO players don't really care as much for customization like we do since they primarily focus on statistics. While this is true, the option to customize isn't looked down upon. The real problem is that the designers are ignoring customization for other things but all of those "other things" aren't very good at all. I can forgive bland customization for good gameplay but games like RF-Online and most Asian MMOs play like garbage.

Indeed. I remember firing up the Lineage 2 Beta and seeing about 5 different selections of faces...... Too bad, looking at the shots and concept you'd think RF was dynamite
 
Slightly off topic, but I tried out EVE's 14 day trial tonight and I can't believe how bad it is. The GUI is the biggest clusterf*ck of an interface I've ever seen and the game is basically a chat room with pretty graphics.

In the few hours I played, the most exciting thing I did was plot waypoints on a 3d virtual map to deliver a letter to a NPC 12 jumps away. I won't even comment on the combat...
 
New FFXI expansion looks really good actually.
There's rumours now of Sage and Geomancer being the other two new jobs (besides Blue Mage). If true, it's nice to see a bunch of mages being added. I imagine it's hard enough to balance the current melee classes without adding new ones :)
 
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