All Posts by Skooma2

"1. Wrath WAS just released.. and the market share that is Darkfall doesn't overlap with the market share that is WoW.
2. Same for LOTRO
3. War.. might have managed to grab a small segment of the DF population (or would be darkfall pop).. but WAR dropped the ball by making an instanced PvP game. Might as well as had a lobby with a chat room..
And to respond to your last statement... Well.. really no point because your prior 3 statements are all wrong."
 
A couple of points:
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Where is your marketing/polling evidence to establish that the playerbase of WAR, WoW and LotRO are not amongst the potential playerbase for this game?  You obviously have none, because you posted none.  I do not mind being called on the carpet for errors, but at least have some proof before you vent your spleen at me.
 
 

I have been following the progress of Darkfall only for the last six months or so.  So, I cannot say that I have been lied to, etc.   However, let us consider the realities of the marketplace before we start criticizing.  Even if the game were 100% bug-free and ready to roll, would YOU release the game now?  I certainly would not.  Why?

      1.    Wrath of the Lich-King was just released.   Of the many millions of people who purchased that expansion, I daresay none of them have finished the new content, have become bored with the game and are looking for a new MMO to entertain them.

      2.    Mines of Moria expansion to LotRO was just released.  Of the many hundred of thousands who purchased that expansion, I daresay none of them have finished the new content, have become bored with the game and are looking for a new MMO to entertain them.
 

      3.     WAR was recently released, and despite the protestations of some of the playerbase,  I daresay that most of the players who enjoy that game, have not yet become bored with the game and are looking for a new MMO to entertain them.
 

     So, if you are seeking to make money off of Darkfall, would you release now, when the vast bulk of your POTENTIAL market has settled into their winter diversion?   Or, would you rather wait until (perhaps) Spring, when a greater number of the aforementioned people may be looking for a new outlet for their monthly subscription fee?

I've played Guild Wars (still do for some pvp), LotRO, CoH, CoV and AoC (first month only).  A lot of my GW friends ask how I can pay monthly fees for other games.  I compare it to cable television.  You get basic cable, and if you want premium service (e.g. HBO, Showtime) you pay extra for it.  I view MMOs as a premium entertainment source, and, therefore, I find the $15 per month fee as a worthwhile entertainment expense.

For now, the best way to make money is to be one of the first to get to the end of the Moria content and sell ultra rare legendary equipment and tier 6 ore.  But, of course, once more of the population reaches the end of the Moria content, there will be more and more competition and reduced selling prices.   If you're just starting LotRO the best way to make cash is prospecting and getting to T6 grandmastery in jeweller, armorsmith and/or weaponsmith. 

How about a class where you stealth, do additional damage from behind, can dual-wield daggers and other one-handers, start group cooperative moves causing massive damage,  and debuff the enemy while you do it?  Then I recommend LotRO and being a Hobbit Burglar.  Laugh if you will, but my hobbit Burglar is a "badass."

There are 2 entrances to Eregion from the Trollshaws.   The first is the heretofore locked gate in Giant Valley.  The second is in Tal Bruinen up the ramp with the broken down cart.  The ramp currently ends at a waterfall, but they will put a bridge there to allow access. 

See you in the MInes!

The three largest servers are Brandywine, Elendilmir and Landroval.   However, since they have had a welcome back weekend for old players and +25% xp until MoM comes out, there have been queues to get into Brandywine.  Once MoM launches, I have a feeling that the queues to get onto the larger servers are going to be nuts.  

Also, this would be a perfect time to start a new character.  Many established players will be doing 2 things for the next few months.  1)  Taking their max level characters through Moria; and, 2) leveling up characters from the two new classes.  Therefore, contrary to the opinion of some others, I believe that the "newb areas" will be thriving.

In any event, welcome, have fun and good hunting to you.

Huorns are mentioned twice in LOTR.  In the Two Towers, chapter IX, Flotsam and Jetsam,  Merry relates to Gandalf of the attack on Isengard by the Ents.  He states, "There is a great power in them, and they seem able to wrap themselves in shadow; it is difficult to see them moving.  But they do.  They can move very quickly if they are angry. ... They still have voices and can speak with the Ents ... that is why they are called Huorns, Treebeard says- but they have become queer and wild.  Dangerous." 

They are mentioned again in Return of the King, Chapter II, The Passing of the Grey Company ... "The Death Down already stood there, black and tall and stony, and the great trampling and scoring of the grass by the Huorns could be plainly seen."

Make of those references what you will, but these passages can be used to include "evil Ents" in the game.   Also, I am not a complete Tolkien nerd.  There is an index at the end of the book.

Or, rather than having the developers spend valuable time coding that, you could, perhaps, just log into all your characters once per week.  Then, you wouldn't have to worry that old mail (15 days) is going to get kicked back.  How long could it possibly take to log into a maximum of 5 characters?  Other than Auction House mail containing your cash (or unsold merchandise) what kind of mail are you worried that you are going to miss?

If you are looking for pvp and engrossing pve, do not overlook Guild Wars.  (Please, no flames on whether GW is a "real" MMO).  In terms of pvp, there 4 v 4 random arena, 4 x 4 team arena, 8 v 8 Heroes' Ascent and 8 v 8 GvG; and, if you get factions there is always the neverending battle between the Luxons and the Kurzicks.    Guild Wars also sports an engrossing pve story in all 3 versions.  There is still plenty of people playing GW, and plenty of guilds are recruiting new members.     You should at least take a look at it.

Before I get into the meat of my reply, allow me to state that I have played the following games for various periods of time:  CoH, CoV, Guild Wars, Age of Conan (one month), LotRO, and a variety of the Asian ftp grinders:

     1.  I believe that the median age of the players in this game is likely the highest in the MMO world.  Why?  Many people, players and not, have read LotR many, many times since they were children.  Therefore, this MMO offered them a chance to delve into Middle-Earth, which they have been waiting to do since childhood.  No other game can offer that.

     2.  Due to the greater age of the players, the median level of civility to each other, and especially to new players, is likely the highest in the MMO world.  While many of you will argue that age is not necessarily an indicator of maturity on an individual basis, in a group politeness and a general willingness to be helpful pervades here.

     3.  There is undoubtedly a huge female player base in this game, to which other games can only aspire.  There are numerous husband/wife teams playing this game. 

Based on the foregoing, it is no surprise to me that people find this community the easiest to enter into as a new player, and find others willing to help.  

PS:  To the poster who noted that a lot of groups do not proceed unless there are one or more max level characters helping out:  a few of the servers have lowered server populations, requiring the occasional call to the kin (guild) for bodies to fill out the group.  That is not the case on Brandywine, one of the larger server populations.  Also, in order to make sure that players who arrived "late to the party" can complete epic (storyline) quests, more experienced players are awarded  "marks of triumph" on a selection of those quests (once every five days) so that those newer players are never "stuck" in the middle of nowhere unable to proceed in the epic storyline.  There is usually someone willing to help for one more "mark of triumph" to trade for potions, rare recipes, etc.

IMHO if you have 1 gig of RAM and are running VIsta, I do not see how you can possibly get this game to run at anything but the lowest possible graphics settings.  Heck, with Vista and only 1 gig of RAM, I don't see how y ou are getting anything to run at all.

Recently, LotRO had server wide quests requiring 70,000 pieces of "ring lore" to be recovered and returned to Rivendell so as to unlock the final epic quests.  I believe it is reasonable to assume that the larger population servers finished first and lesser population servers finished last.    Based on the foregoing, the largest US servers are Brandywine,  Landroval and Elendelmir.  These 3 servers finished first and within a few days of each other.  

Also, during the recent "welcome back" weekend, Brandywine had queues to get into the game.  I can only imagine that this will get worse when Mines of Moria is released.  So, while Brandywine may be the largest population server, you may want to pick one that is a little less populated now.   Also, you should keep in mind that a larger population server makes it more difficult to harvest resources as you have more competition for those resources.

Server merges within 4 months of release????

Yis'gadol, v'yisgadash sh'may rabah .....  (Hebrew prayer for the dead)

I played AoC beta and canceled before I had to pay for a month.  Maybe I'll go back, maybe I won't.  Nevertheless, the Bear Shaman and Assassin were taken almost directly from Guild Wars.  Conquerors, were, if I recall correctly, just another melee class.     However, the fatality animations were good, especially with the robe wearing 2-handed weapon using mage class.  Decapitations were fun, the first few hundred times.  (I forget the name of the class.)

To the OP:

Are you playing on American, Asian or Euro districts?  If you are playing Asian or Euro districts, try the American districts.  They are hugely more populated districts.  And, I am sorry that you choose not to do the missions with people from your guild because they are maxed out.  It, unfortunately, is a common occurrence in established MMOs (no flames please as to whether GW is a true MMO), that when you first start playing 3+ years into a game's release that you are going to find a disproportionate number of "end-game" players vis-a-vis newbies.

And, as to pvp play, do not be afraid to adverrtise that you are looking for a pvp training guild.  They are numerous and will teach you how to pvp effectively.  Unfortunately, you are not going to find a r9+ HA guild recruiting newbies.  But, the odds are greatly in your favor in finding a training pvp guild.

Good luck and good hunting.

Q:  How many players will AoC lose to WAR?

A:  The rest of them.

Originally posted by Evasia

Originally posted by metalhead980

Originally posted by Rayana

Neither one of them...You forgot to add GW.

 

I'm on the fence on weather GW is skill based or not.

 

 

you just get skills you dont train them put 8 on action bar thats it.

True skill based is through progressing, through advancment in the game and train all kinds of skills you gain more powerfull attacks or other upgrades so you become stronger not through lvls or just buy a skill and click it in your action bar  to activate skill hehe.

The only games of any sort that I am aware of that has the level progression you seek are the Elder Scrolls games, Morrowind and Oblivion.  Too bad that Bethesda has repeatedly stated that they will never make an Elder Scrolls MMO.

"Lotro is a fine game. But given that you left Lotro to try out Aoc, tells us something, you were tired of Lotro and wanted something new."

It wasn't so much that I was "tired of Lotro", but, I must admit, I got caught in the hype for AoC (a mistake I will not make again).   Just because you like prime rib doesn't mean you are abandoning it because you wanted to try the rack of lamb.  In this case the rack of lamb (AoC) was undercooked, ill-prepared and served up by moron waiters (FailCom).