balut
1661
The line must be drawn HERE. THIS FAR! NO FURTHER!
Dejin
1662
Isn’t Star Wars Galaxy still going? I would say Star Wars is far more comparable to Star Trek than Warhammer is. Warhammer is still fairly niche as far as the general populace goes.
While SWG might not be particularly popular, I’m sure the popularity of the IP had a significant impact on it staying at least at minimal life support levels. Now even for a popular IP there is the possibility of the company doing something stupid that puts them in bankruptcy. But still arguing that there is no correlation between the popularity of an IP and a games chances (regardless of game quality) is just foolish.
As far as how much is going to get added to STO, of course there’s no telling how much resources will be devoted to it in the future, but I will say that I think the developers have done a remarkable job for only two years worth of development.
Careful when you use absolutes like fail or die.
A mmorpg with backing can stay on life support where it is dead in all but name for a long time. Very few mmorpgs have really closed over the years, most of the stinkers end up so empty that they are basically not worth playing, but the lights still stay on.
idrisz
1664
if someone release a Star trek non-mmo game, I might agree that it will do well regardless of the quality. for MMO, quality matters in long term over IP.
Dejin
1665
I’m not particularly convinced this game depends on playing with others. The end game raiding will require a team. But an awful lot of the game content is fun playing solo.
Foxstab
1666
Indeed Murbella.
It’s very cheap to keep a dead MMO running. You can even run it off your company’s webserver if it’s down to 50 people logging in at peak times.
MMOs only really cost a lot of money if they have hundreds of thousands to millions of players which require a lofty server-farm lot or if they’re active enough to justify retaining a development team which nibble at a large cut of the revenue.
ydejin, just like SWG, STO via its IP name has drawn many to the game.
However, should the game tank/get boring in the long run, just like SWG, it’d lose its userbase and end up with just the diehards (like what, 50-150k people? It may be a success for EVE but for a major IP-backed MMO with a large dev team this is…disaster is an understatement…more like TeH ApOCalyPsE!).
And Mystic, if you’ll still be playing this game for 16 months, then say praise.
A year is a very long time to play the same MMO in today’s market, its conditions and in particular the state of STO and given this is cryptic and not perpetual and the concepts they’re bringing to the table are nothing all-too-renovation or innovative (in particular since it doesn’t seem like they’ve got any new bright shiny money maker ideas since the days of City of Heroes) or very startrek like even at that.
Anyway, best of luck driving your money’s worth out of this game. Enjoy.
Way to turn my simple phrase, “STO will not be allowed to fail,” into an irrational rant. Then again, that’s just you being you, so it’s expected.
I couldn’t have said it better, ydejin, in reply to idrisz’s dramatic reply.
YMMV, but for me, when a mmorpg is extremely solo centric to such a degree that i am almost playing a single player game, i may stay interested for a month or two, but there will come a point when i ask myself why i am paying a monthly fee for a single player game. Shortly after that i will likely get tired of the game.
I like grouping in sto for space combat probably 70% of the time on the standard 3 person missions. When people work together even a little it can be quite fun and they generally have for me in those specific missions. The thing i hate about grouping is not being able to use my bridge officers and that is why i solo a decent amount. After spending all of this effort maximizing the effectiveness of my minions, i want to use them damn it! I never got a chance to group much with my heavy cruiser, but from tier 1 stuff, i do hope grouped players offer abilities to support each other more than just another X guns.
if if if if if if if if if if cryptic fixes the problems with fleet actions and other ungrouped but many player situations (don’t encourage loners to sit in an escort waiting for someone else to tank groups, possibly even force group everyone and support fleet only fleet actions), i think the game could have a promising multiplayer future.
Foxstab
1671
Say what better? His entire argument’s stool legs being based around SWG still going…on life support???
Except the miserable addicted StarWars diehard fucks who actually sub for that post NGE catastrophe no one want to touch that game.
And they’re playing an essentially little to no development dead game that isn’t going to go anywhere, barely if ever get new content and the only reason it does walk what little mileage that it does on the dev cycle is because it’s being operated by SOE who’re masters at shuffling crew around their dead MMO portfolio as they struggle to survive with what funds they got off their Sony Motion Pictures mommy (or did Smedly move the division under someone else again in a scramble for a buck).
Any other development house, which essentially operates just one MMO as most of those are, would’ve said “bye-bye” and shut it down by now or more probably cut out all dev and any future content/update/feature.
I may be wrong, may be SWG is getting some more love. Eitherway, SWG is in no way in good a shape as a MMO should be, and one based on a strong IP at that.
If whoever bought hellgate wanted, they could probably keep its server running very cheaply and maybe even make little money out of it, but as time pass and no updates ever made out, and the content get consumed entirely, twice over, players will kick the bucket and quit.
This is life support.
Being on life support is in by no means a good thing or something that’d excuse a lifetime subscription or as a measure of support to the positively in an argument.
Tier 2 has an extra X console slot, depending on which class of ship you take.
Dejin
1673
What is a disaster for the development team isn’t necessarily a disaster for a player. Sure a healthy MMO is a lot better for everyone, as it (hopefully) means continued content being added. But a player can enjoy a game regardless of whether or not the owners are disappointed with their return on investment.
SWG’s Starsider server is a case in point. It’s a packed server. Others, aside from Bria and Bloodfin, may be near ghost towns but this one is alive and thriving mainly due to the RP and space combat communities. In fact, it’s probably the most fun and interesting MMO server I’ve run across as a roleplayer simply because there are so many of us concentrated there. Only LoTRO’s Landroval comes close.
I suspect that between Trekkers and roleplayers there will be quite a thriving community that settles in for long term regardless of the gameplay and the gameplay is actually pretty kickass.
Give me Fleet Starbases (already in the works), player generated content (a distinct probability) and an expanded Genesis engine and I’m golden. As it is I’m getting more honest enjoyment out of STO than I have any MMO in years.
Foxstab
1675
For over a period of 16 months? Because this is what we’re talking about here, really. A life time subscription which, if to take Mystic’s word for it, is worth pre-paid-for 16 months.
Please, go buy Tabula Rasa life time package, I hear they’re still selling at wallmart. I’ll spam NCSoft and get them to run a tiny app version of the server, a 1man version, just for you. It’ll cost them the peanuts for the innocent squirrels at cages in the QAers’ dorms, but hell it’ll be worth it. Enjoy your life support!
Spect
1676
Why would you care so much about what someone else does with thier money? It’s not affecting you in the least, yet you clamour on about it as if your day job were some how now in jeopardy over it.
And it’s Mysterio, ffs.
Personally, I wouldn’t touch this lifetime sub either. But if others want to, so be it.
Dejin
1677
Foxstab, it sure seems like you are on a personal vendetta against this game. Did Cryptic turn you down for a job once? Did the Cryptic CEO run over your dog? I realize being negative is kind-of your shtick, but this is getting ridiculous.
You’re comparing STO’s yet-to-be-determined success to Tabula Rasa’s failure? You’re out of your mind, Foxstic, and your ability to debate an issue is laughable. I’ll be enjoying STO 16 months and 1 day since it launched, subscription free. Don’t be jealous.
I wouldn’t consider it subscription free if you paid upfront for it :p
If you end up playing over 16 months, it was a good deal, if not, not so much. For the average player i’d recommend against it due to how few people play any mmorpg that long. Also Champion online’s situation and the quick development time of STO don’t lend a ton of confidence. It is a gamble for sure, but sometimes you win.
