Green Monster Games - Curt Schilling

Guess we are tit for tat-ing ;p

Old Man Potter said:

Don"t get me wrong, I believe that WoW has many serious and critical flaws which 38 Studios can learn from if they do their homework. There is a growing rumbling in the ranks of WoW players that the direction of that MMO is starting to go down the very same road of elitism that EQ ended up with. There"s going to be a great opportunity for a smart company to take many subscribers from WoW in the near future.

To dethrone WoW it will take nothing less then a leader of a company with courage to think outside the box and usher in a revolution for the MMO world. I read this interview with Curt Schilling where he was not taking "NO" for an answer and challenged his staff as to why they thought things were impossible. That"s exactly the kind of maverick we need in the MMO business! Every invention throughout history was considered "impossible" and laughed at by the so-called experts until someone stood up and dared to think differently. I"m really hoping for something extraordinary from 38 Studios.

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Couple of things. To set out developing a game with the idea behind it being "To dethrone WoW" would be a mistake of epic proportions. I don"t think you are implying that, but just being clear.

I disagree with "serious and critical flaws" as well. Anything I deem to be serious or critical is purely opinion from me as a player. Now remember, I came to the WoW party very late. I played early on but at that time was so immersed in EQ2 I didn"t have time. I am now into my 50s on a toon I started a month or so ago and the game is pretty damn fun for me. Though I am starting to see design flaws in the genre rather than the game itself.

The great part from where I sit is that the flaws, and again I am not talking WoW specific flaws, are things we have been in tune with since the conception of the company, even before the game stuff got intense and serious.

No doubt there is, and I think HAS to be, a contingent of "doubters" in every company when it comes to bleeding edge ideas and product, they have to be in place so the freaks don"t end up publishing a game called "feature creep". Lord knows if I was to go unchecked in a design meeting it could turn ugly fast. I also know that you cannot yield the floor to the "experts" every time as well.

My view has always been that if you"ve never been in on a #1 world wide best seller, then you still have something to prove.

I def see in the next ten years the mmo market flooding with bad mmo"s. It happens with anything good.

To stand out in the flood I would like to see more mature oriented games. Darker worlds is something very much needed in the world of online games. I dont wanna see cute furry companions that follow me and say stupid things or make stupid noises. I want an evil mutant that doesnt always obey or a blood soaked wolf that can only live by feading on the carcasses I leave behind.

I would like to see higher end characters changing the game world in ways other than combat. Also why not let server history be implemented in the game. To have Librarys or npc"s that keep history on server kills, quests, and deeds done would be a nice touch.

xregg said:

I would like to see higher end characters changing the game world in ways other than combat. Also why not let server history be implemented in the game. To have Librarys or npc"s that keep history on server kills, quests, and deeds done would be a nice touch.

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I LOVED this concept with Wish Online. If only it had actually worked (and the game had actually survived early beta ), it would have been awesome. Mobs that could never be killed again, public monuments documenting these heroic achievements...it sounded so awesome.

I would love to see that idea carried out in a modern and well executed MMO.

Traldan said:

I LOVED this concept with Wish Online. If only it had actually worked (and the game had actually survived early beta ), it would have been awesome. Mobs that could never be killed again, public monuments documenting these heroic achievements...it sounded so awesome.

I would love to see that idea carried out in a modern and well executed MMO.

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Back when I was in VG beta and they were announcing the addition of BoA and BoE stuff, a couple of us had what I consider a pretty cool idea that added to server history and was a bit more flexible that straight BoE and BoA.

Instead of items automatically being made BoA or BoE, some items would only be tradeable X number of times, degrading slightly each time. In addition to that, the weapon would retain the names of its previous owners and possibly any notable kills the item was involved in (slaying an epic boss for example) in a flavor text type of situation. I think it would really add a lot of tangible server history to the game and make otherwise less useful items potentially more popular by their use by certain people and in certain actions.

Lonin said:

Back when I was in VG beta and they were announcing the addition of BoA and BoE stuff, a couple of us had what I consider a pretty cool idea that added to server history and was a bit more flexible that straight BoE and BoA.

Instead of items automatically being made BoA or BoE, some items would only be tradeable X number of times, degrading slightly each time. In addition to that, the weapon would retain the names of its previous owners and possibly any notable kills the item was involved in (slaying an epic boss for example) in a flavor text type of situation. I think it would really add a lot of tangible server history to the game and make otherwise less useful items potentially more popular by their use by certain people and in certain actions.

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Yeah, that"s a great idea - in the same vein as the Wish concept.

The problem, of course, is that it would require a very active dev commitment to introducing new content, as not only would things become boring and unused, but they would actually expire.

Tradeable X number of times was discussed in a few other games like EQ etc... every time it"s been the same thing - too much work on the database side.

Borzak said:

Tradeable X number of times was discussed in a few other games like EQ etc... every time it"s been the same thing - too much work on the database side.

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I don"t see how it would be any more intensive than armor degradation. Say each piece of equipment with this effect starts with a tradeable stat of 5. Any time the item is traded the database would just do a tradeable stat -1. When items tradeable stat equals zero, it can no longer be traded. Item repair works in exactly the same way. Dieing and or combat lowers the durability stat, when durability equals zero, it"s no longer usable.

Not to mention, I"d only put this on items worth the effort, things like boss or rare drops. Sounds like a cop out to me. Then again, I"m not a programmer or a database engineer, so there may be something over my head that I"m not taking into account.

Durabilty isn"t nearly as complex. It"s just a single variable that lowers and raises. When it hits zero then the item is ineffective. Tradable decay with different max stats changes every item stat from a set value to a variable. So instead of being able to simply reference an item ID and expect it to be the same, each item in the world would have to have a unique ID.

Sure it"s doable, but it"s a good candidate for server lag, errors, high maintenance and increasing manpower needed, and more every day that passes since the database increases as well.

I have yet to see where not having BOP/Soulbound really would mean squat in a game. Just use it for super rare/uberpowerful items. everything else should be tradeable.

xregg said:

I def see in the next ten years the mmo market flooding with bad mmo"s. It happens with anything good. . . ..

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Irony is that has always been the case, the top dog just changes. When EQ was "king" how many times did people say about new MMOs as potential EQ killers. People would try, realize EQ was still the better game and went back to it. Finally when WOW hit the market, it really was the EQ "killer" and became top dog. Now we hear about new MMOs as being the next WOW killer. So far nada. People try em realize that WOW is still the better game and stay with it. There will always be bad MMOs, niche MMos etc.. Just a matter of time until we have a new top dog. The only question is, in "what form?"

Twobit Whore said:

Durabilty isn"t nearly as complex. It"s just a single variable that lowers and raises. When it hits zero then the item is ineffective. Tradable decay with different max stats changes every item stat from a set value to a variable. So instead of being able to simply reference an item ID and expect it to be the same, each item in the world would have to have a unique ID.

Sure it"s doable, but it"s a good candidate for server lag, errors, high maintenance and increasing manpower needed, and more every day that passes since the database increases as well.

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I was just referring just to the tradeable X number of times. I"d agree that item degradation with trades along with that would be pretty intensive, but I still think it"s entirely doable with efficient coding.

Frax said:

I have yet to see where not having BOP/Soulbound really would mean squat in a game. Just use it for super rare/uberpowerful items. everything else should be tradeable.

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I totally agree. I"d take it a step further though and do the same with BoE. I think the whole "gotta stop mudflation no matter what" stance really ruins the awesome power of player economies just as much as it helps them. Not to mention most of the recent MMO"s just turn around and add to mudflation by making every mob in the game drop equipment 50% of the time.

I"d rather have minor economic limits and suffer the mudflation until a dev team comes up with a creative new way to combat it without the harsh penalties.

Ngruk said:

. . . . I am now into my 50s on a toon I started a month or so ago and the game is pretty damn fun for me. . . .

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Hey Curt, just curious, what race and class are you? Somehow you strike me as a tauren Shaman heheh.

I"ve got my money on human rogue or human warlock.

Curt you on Doomhammer? Thats where the WoW branch of Drow is ;p

Maxxius said:

Hey Curt, just curious, what race and class are you? Somehow you strike me as a tauren Shaman heheh.

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Wow, first guess nails it. My main, initially, is a Tauren Shaman. I have since moved to an Orc Hunter. Will be going back to the Shaman on and off but the Hunter is my main atm.

It"s all about the Orcs. Taurens are about as pretty as a train wreck full of fat ugly people. With horns. I"d suggest sticking with the Hunter, or if you must go back to a Shaman, rerolling as an Orc Shaman. It only makes sense.

Ngruk said:

Wow, first guess nails it. My main, initially, is a Tauren Shaman. I have since moved to an Orc Hunter. Will be going back to the Shaman on and off but the Hunter is my main atm.

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A wise choice. Tauren Shaman are awesome and mine has been my main for 2 years now. The most fun class I have played and the racial choice is good for pvp (5% hp and warstomp).

Malfurion btw, where the Horde that is 38 Studios resides.

Ngruk said:

Malfurion btw, where the Horde that is 38 Studios resides.

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The stalkers will be sent out in T-minus 30 seconds

Hopefully you"re enjoying the Hunter