Profile: Ambikan
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• • The only thing that would stop me from playing this game

  • Originally posted by Ephimero
    There's a point where devs put a carrot on a stick, and people will focus on that and only care about that until they are done. In a game with levels, people see them as the ultimate goal (even if they aren't) and they are way more affected by it than by any other kind of death penalty.
    

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    Originally posted by Ambikan
    I'm not sure if you are referring to me, but its not the leveling part of MMORPG's that I enjoy, although that has become a big part of it. I scored 100% on the explorer section on the the Bartle MMO quiz, so to me its more about exploring areas than it is just taking the "shortest route to the carrot" to become powerful as quickly as possible.

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    Originally posted by Ephimero There's a point where "harsh resurrection penalties" would become meaningless, and that's when I want to travel back to the city and stay there to buy stuff or something, the debuff would fade eventually. Specially in quest based leveling such as Aion's, most of the times you don't need to fight in order to keep up advancing.
    

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    Originally posted by Ambikan
    Even if you don't have to fight to advance, there could always be death penalties incurred. For example, if you die, instead of losing exp, your exp gain from doing anything would be reduced.

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    Originally posted by Ephimero
    About harder mobs encounters, they can always be zerged down in a seamless enviroment, people would use that just like they are using it now in the elite mobs areas, I've seen forces of 12 people zerging a level 20 elite mob, when I can solo them being level 24.

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    Originally posted by Ephimero
    As hellrose described in aionsource, DP is a slap in the wrist in this game, like a "shit, I died, *tsk tsk*" and you keep going, it's not harsh enough to turn you down since you can always recover most of the xp loss, but harsh enough to leave you out of money fastly if you keep dying, I've died enough to spend over 70k already, and trust me, money doesn't come easy when you don't understand korean (buying useless skills, for example) :P

    
    Originally posted by Ambikan So if exp loss is already just a "slap in the wrist", and the money you spend to regain the lost exp is the real pain to deal with, why not just forget exp loss altogether and make a death/ressurection penalty in which who you have to spend money to regain that sickness?

    Originally posted by Ephimero
    If you don't enjoy death penalties and becoming affected after a death, skip this one, I'll enjoy it for the both of us.

    I'm glad you will be enjoing the game for the both of us, but how about the thousands or tens of thousands of gamers who will shun this game looking for a death penalty that is so old it has been around since 98/99, and longer than that if you include MUDs?

  • Posted: 11/21/08 6:07 PM
    Aion
• • The only thing that would stop me from playing this game

  • Originally posted by Ephimero

    There's an easy way to advoid it though, what about not dying? OP and players alike are so confortable in the easy mode status that their requests ruin the fun for those who want to feel the game as something challenging.

    Comfortable in my easy mode status eh? You feel that an exp penalty is the only way to make death harsh? How about harsh death resurrection penalties, that keep you from being at full power even with the aid of a cleric or NPC? Or, how about a game that is so difficult, that dying is flat out easy, where you have fight a mob encounter over and over again before you get the strategy "right".

    You mention simply "not dying" as an option to avoid the death penalty. Well, what if every mob encounter that has the potential to yeild decent rewards has the chance of killing you? Would you not call that challenge?

  • Posted: 11/17/08 6:20 PM
    Aion
• • The only thing that would stop me from playing this game

  • Is the most out-dated and fun-depriving feature of any MMORPGs, and that is exp loss on death, especially when you can actually lose levels from it. If that feature makes it in to the final release, you can totally count me out of this game, and I think there will be many others that feel the same way.

    I have been looking forward to this game moreso than any fantasy based MMORPG for quite some time now. Now that i'm starting to hear that there will be exp loss from the open beta, its crushing to me that that is even be a possibility NCSoft is considering. Don't they understand how many other ways there are to penalize players for dying, or even reward them for not doing so? Totally erasing gameplay time by causing exp loss upon death is the worst concept ever implemented in MMORPGs, and its good to see most modern MMORPGs have come up with more creative ways to penalize death than this.

    I know that I am not alone on this one, and its pretty obvious that most players that aren't stuck in the mindframe of older MMORPGs would shun a game simply for this feature alone. I am really looking forward to playing this game, but the sad thing is if there is exp loss, especially with the possibily of losing a level because of it, you can count me out.

    I feel that this game easily has the potential to become the second most popular MMORPG to WoW in terms of active subscriptions. I can't speak for anyone but myself, but there is a reason fewer and fewer games have exp loss as a death penalty nowadays. Its just that "sinking" feeling you get when you lose exp, knowing that in one way or another you just lost a certain amount of time invested into doing one of the most important things in any MMORPG, leveling up. Even though it doesn't happen as often, losing exp can completly negate the fun of gaining exp and levels. Its just an outdated mechanic that was used early on because developers lacked the tools and intuition to create a better death penalty system.

  • Posted: 11/14/08 10:40 PM
    Aion
• • LF an MMORPG with action/twitch style combat and challenging PvE

  • Ok here are my initial thoughts on the game, and they a mostly positive.

    1. It completely satisfies my desire for action/twitch based combat, moreso than i thought it would. Managing your characters positioning in the environment is paramount, and you must manually aim every attack before you acquire a "lock" on an enemy. It seems i don't have the accuracy or damage with my weapons unless I am kneeling, which makes finding a balance between positioning and movement very important.

    2. The idea that you are in the middle of a war is very realistic. The enemy race you are fighting doesn't just spawn or wander randomly about the map, they are dropped by dropships, and will intelligently hide and ambush you. Neutral but hostile creatures will also attack the enemy race, and you can often avoid the brunt of a firefight by letting them fight each other before you decide to pick off the survivors. Also, the enemy race will regularly attempt to and sometimes capture your control points in the common areas, and defending them or taking them back is a different and rewarding PvE experience for me. Your ally NPCs will also intelligently enter and compete in the battles against the enemy race, adding to the feeling that you are truly in a war and never alone in the map.

    3. I have not had a chance to run the instances yet, as they seem tailored for groups and I have not had the urge to group yet. Crafting is also diverse but not complex, I have found many ways to modify my equipment to suit my particular character build. It is hard to explain the character customization options, but they are very diverse, and you are not bound to any particular path of skills, armor, or weapons, no matter what class you choose. You can always respec your skills and attribute points in town if you make a mistake, provided you have the prestige points.

    4. I cannot seem to find a way to "grind". There doesn't seem to be any place in the game where you can just run around and farm mobs for exp. The enemy race will be in place for an ambush, or drop from dropships as you travel. Neutral-hostile mobs will be found in their respective environments, but i have not found a single spot that you can just keep killing the same thing over and over for exp. This is both good and bad, because it dilutes a player's ability to farm and grind, making the game seem more realistic. On the other hand, sometimes I need levels to complete my quests or explore new areas, but can't find things to fight without traversing large distances.

    5. The game seems very tailored to the "explorer" type of player, which I consider myself. It does not seems that you can progress very far in the game without thoroughly visiting almost all of the areas on the maps. This is a welcome change from WoW style games in which to level efficiently your are encouraged to grind or farm in a specific area, then move to another area once you have gained a certain amount of levels, skipping much of the content.

    6. I'm level 13 and have entered the second common area, The Divide. I feel I am hitting a proverbial wall in the PvE content because I get my ass kicked while trying to explore the areas I need to for my missions. I'm not sure if its because I'm trying to solo everything and missing an easier way to gain exp while soloing. At this point I might be forced to group before getting much further.

    EDIT: 7. I chose the Orion server, one of the 2 US "West" servers, despite the fact that I live on the east coast. There is only 1 server listed as "East". I have not checked server population at US prime time, but they are all listed as green (low) population. The EU server had a "mid" population during their prime time. The general chat almost always has plently of people talking, leading me to believe that server population is not a problem. However, I have not seen much chat on the trade or LFG channels. I will have to check the server population at US prime time to see which ones are most heavily populated. I have asked several questions in general chat, and every question was answered eagerly by someone willing to help a new player.

  • Posted: 10/30/08 6:31 AM
    General Discussion
• • Hellgate to Possibly Live ?

  • After reading over the official server shutdown thread, I found some posts of interest made by the only official Namco-Bandai representative, Tiggs. What is most interesting is how little she knows about the state of the IP, and as to whether or not Hanbitsoft has any intention of re-opening US/EU servers. Here's a summary of what she has said that I felt has relavence. This will save anyone who's curious from digging through the official forums. I removed the names of the original posters because I didn't feel they would be relevant and didn't want to infringe on anyone's privacy.

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    Tiggs
    NAMCO BANDAI:
    I have no idea what is going to happen with the IP since that is up to the IP holder to determine. NAMCO BANDAI is ending our support on Jan 31st.

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    Quote:
    Originally Posted by -edit-
    Something else could happen between now and then, though, right? Namco is just the server provider (though you guys have done a great job!), EA still "owns" the game and the IP rights to develop it are still... well, a mess.
     

    Tiggs
    NAMCO BANDAI:
    No, the IP was owned by a bank. After that I am unclear where it is at.

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    Quote:
    Originally Posted by -edit-
    Now i have to ask and i dont know if this was previously stated.

    January 31st 2009 Namco/bandi will stop "support" of the servers. Now does that actually mean that, that is the end date for the game OR is someone else picking it up at that point/that is the date in which ownership/control of HGL is turned over to another company.

    Tiggs
    NAMCO BANDAI:

    The server and forums will shut down on that day. I have no idea what the owners of the IP will do with it and that is up to them to decide. I am guessing here but if they were going to keep the server up a plan for transition would have been announced not a server shut down date.

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    Quote:
    Originally Posted by -edit-
    Can you tell us how they were resolved, or is it some sort of state secret?

    I'm assuming Hanbitsoft has acquired the IP. Is that correct?

    Edit: or maybe T3:

    http://translate.google.com/translat...N%26as_qdr%3Dw
     

    Tiggs
    NAMCO BANDAI:

    I think Hanbitsoft has acquired it, I am not 100% sure. I was not apart of those meetings so I really don't know.

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    Quote:
    Originally Posted by -edit-
    so just a thought of mine in a worse case scenario. if the game does bite the dust, or for sum odd reason the new owner of the IP dosent feel like sharing with us Americans, say that the rumors of Hanbitsoft buying it out and planning to keep the future of the game local only in Korea. what are the odds of at least creating a patch for the single player mode of the game that adds all the subscriber content? at least if im stuck with only single play mode and never getting new content could i at least have ALL the current content for my single player? i feel like this is not imposable and too much to ask for to at least be able to enjoy ALL of the game in single player. please
     

    Tiggs
    NAMCO BANDAI:
    There is no one to create this single player patch.

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    Quote:
    Originally Posted by -edit-
    This is not true.
    I know its not legal or whatever to talk about or somethign, however, this is not true.

    It is already being done.
     

    Tiggs
    NAMCO BANDAI:
    It is true. It is not being done by NAMCO BANDAI because we do not have the team to do this. It may be done by Hanbitsoft for Korea but I don't know since I don't work for them nor do I speak Korean.

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    Quote:
    Originally Posted by -edit-
    not really...? a agreement is sum thing made by more then one party. so if a "an agreement made on how long servers run for and all that happy legal stuff" who was this "happy legal stuff" agreement made with, the new IP holder?
     

    Tiggs
    NAMCO BANDAI:
    My best guess would be the new IP holder and NAMCO BANDAI

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    Quote:
    Originally Posted by -edit-
    I feel sorry for the peeps just now buying the game to find out its pulling the plug on the servers in 3 months. i feel the game should be pulled of the shelf in stead of doing bad business by screwing people. on my box it shows Flagship,Bandai namco, EA. Now 2 of the companys are still in business so why dont they pull the copies off the shelf knowing this is shut down. they put there name on the box but dont stand behind the game.i myself enjoyed the game with a few issues and would of paid to download the 2.0 as an expansion so the other 2 could of made money but it seems like they made enough and still making money on a dead horse. kinda like selling something and telling the buyer after you got the money that it has 90 days or less before it dies. you would be in court in a flash. nice support by the other 2 companys that could keep it updated and going. not clear on why namco dont stand behind a product that they must of something to do with in the start or there name wouldnt of been on the box. by the way if anyone interested i have a bunch of stuff ill be giving away free for engineere,marksman,blademaster . nice hidikas and nice lees on sunday the 2nd in stonehenge. dont mean to upset you tiggs its not your fault and not pointing fingers at you personaly but im upset with namco and EA for not stepping up backing the game. im done and will move on and wait for diablo 3. thank you for the short but fun times i had here...
    
    Tiggs
    NAMCO BANDAI:
    From what I gather information was sent out to all distributors of the game. It is up to them to now change pricing on the game or pull the game from the shelves.

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    Tiggs's job seems to be to report on the state of the US/EU servers operated by Namco-Bandai. Other than that, she is totally clueless as to the state of the IP or any possible continued development. So who knows, maybe we will see a revival of the game under a new developer. I won't hold my breath, but I will certainly wait and see.

  • Posted: 10/30/08 5:36 AM
    Hellgate: London