Pan'Theon: Rise' of th'e Fal'Len - #1 Thread in MMO

rhinohelix

rhinohelix

Dental Dammer
<Gold Donor>
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Look, I don't have anything against Brad; he was a driving force behind making a game we loved (and loved us black and blue back), he had some troubles, and now he is working again. I sincerely hope he makes a great game. Anyone calling on him like MMOheyzeus, though, needs a serious dick-punch for clarity.

Itz is right, at least, about all of the abused MMO-spouses waxing nostalgic about "how great the risk/reward was, and how a death penalty will make things exciting again, and you know, all of the downtime and forced grouping and spawn camping was great for community and socialization, and I know that they out-and-out lied about the effects stats had for the first year, and Fiery Avenger wasn't really in the game but it was still exactly what I want in an MMO" will all be in one thread.
 
OneofOne

OneofOne

Silver Baronet of the Realm
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Hey, the plus side, this has a good chance of coming out before EQNext - those fucks are still trying to figure out what kinda game they want to make /shrug
 
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gogojira_sl

shitlord
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I fully get being reserved with hype, but I'm not going to lie and say I'mnotexcited as shit. At the very least, it represents another attempt at someone trying something outside of the standard, dull ass MMOs we see year in and year out. Who knows if it's going to work out, but I love that someone is trying (and sure, having it be someone closely tied to EQ1 is a huge plus for me).

Based purely on what Brad has been tweeting about for a while now we can assume it's going to be targeted at a niche and made on a lean budget. Good. Fuck yes, even. Most of the best games I've played this year were created with this mindset. It doesn't always work out, but the demand is there for this mindset that cranky older gamers (late 20s and older are grandpas in gamer years) are cursed with. Everyone uses Dark Souls as an example and that's well and good, but Kickstarter is proving it, too. Keiji Inafune isannihilating Kickstarterwith his old school Mega Man clone Mighty No. 9. That could have been Capcom money but they were too stupid to understand that there's a demand beyond AAAAAA and shitty iOS games.

Prediction: Brad is leveraging his contacts and close friends at SOE to create this game using EQN tech and maybe a buck two of Smedley dollars. It's going to be designed with a fantasy world and aim for what people want out of an "EQ3." Smedley will probably get first option to fund and publish this project if it looks good enough to make money and it'll get the EQ coat of paint. I don't see this going to Kickstarter unless Smedley completely passes in the end.
 
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iannis

iannis

Musty Nester
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This is what jumping to plaid feels like IRL.

This shit is... mind blown. Did someone slip me some acid? I mean we're in Wonderland now, right?
 
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Dumar_sl

shitlord
3,712
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gogojira_sl said:
Prediction: Brad is leveraging his contacts and close friends at SOE to create this game using EQN tech and maybe a buck two of Smedley dollars. It's going to be designed with a fantasy world and aim for what people want out of an "EQ3." Smedley will probably get first option to fund and publish this project if it looks good enough to make money and it'll get the EQ coat of paint. I don't see this going to Kickstarter unless Smedley completely passes in the end.
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Are you trying to get me to masturbate on purpose?

I have very little faith in Brad, but compared tothe rest of the utter shit in this industry, he's like a fucking beacon of light.

That doesn't so much speak to him, but the the level of utter disgrace this whole industry is in.
 
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gogojira_sl

shitlord
2,202
3
It's just a little guesswork based on the nature of his tweets. He loves the tech, but says he reserves judgement on the actual game. Brad is incredibly close with Smedley and SOE and he served his time developing on Vanguard and EQ1 for the past year or two. It works out for everyone, I'd think. Brad McQuaid gets a shot at redemption, Smedley gets to keep the project within reach and could snap it up if he likes what he sees.

People are way too black and white about what the MMO genre needs or doesn't need. There's room for the big boys to slug it out with obscene amounts of money, but the safer option is sometimes what's perceived as the riskier option. A smaller audience can sustain an MMO with a lean budget. I'd think the risk for company-altering failure with a project that costs 100s of millions of dollars would be a lot scarier, but it seems most publishers think the opposite is true.
 
Leadaas

Leadaas

Dindu Nuffin
436
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I'll call in favors with every goddamn pharmacist I know if it'll help get whatever this is released in under five years.
 
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etchazz

Trakanon Raider
2,707
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Rogosh_sl said:
Probably told them that EQN was fail and it wont have any longevity.
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agree 100%. people can hate on brad all they want, but as broken as vanguard was, it's still better than just about anything that's currently out. EQN is just another WoW clone. brad knows that, and he's smart enough to know that it will more than likely fail a few months after launch and that a true successor to the original EQ is what a lot of people want (i know i do).
 
wolfshead

wolfshead

Molten Core Raider
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I have far more faith in the vision of Brad McQuaid than I do the vision of some of the Sham-WoW hucksters out there today (Georgeson and Dariani) selling so-called "next gen" MMO snake oil. Unlike them, Brad has an authentic depth of knowledge and passion about what makes a great MMORPG experience. I'm also disappointed in Jeff Butler for the fact he ignored the legacy of EQ and dismissed the EQ community with EQ Next -- Jeff knows better too. The MMORPG community truly needs a worthy successor to EverQuest instead of just another WoW clone with some "revolutionary" bells and whistles that nobody will care about 6 months after release.

Despite his past failings, Brad's heart and soul is in the right place. Failure is only bad if you fail to learn its lessons.

Now that Brad is no longer with SOE and shackled to their dysfunction, I'd like for him to start posting again on his blog or do some guest articles. I'd like to hear what his vision is today and how he feels about the sorry state of the MMORPG industry. His commentaries were some of the most inspirational the MMORPG has ever seen. I just hope this time he can get the execution part right.
 
Quaid

Quaid

Trump's Staff
11,859
8,265
Don't mean to be too much of a downer (badum ching!) but this is an Aradune quote from 2010:

"After a needed three[-]year break from 11 years of working on massively multiplayer games with the large teams, budgets, and 3-5 year development cycles[,] I think this will be a nice change of pace. I'm also very excited to be involved in a genre that is relatively new to me. I look forward to bringing MMO design principles to casual/social gaming,"

I'm not really sure what the context is so maybe it's nothing. Was he working for some FarmVille company a few years ago or something?

Edit: nvm found it:

Brad next co-founded in May of 2010 a new start-up in the San Diego area. The new game studio focused on next generation sophisticated casual and social games. Unable to find the right amount of funding, but learning a lot about free-to-play gaming, Brad left the start-up in January 2012
 
Miele

Miele

Lord Nagafen Raider
916
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To make a "hardcore game" for lack of a better description, one has to take risks. To make a random shit game, one just copies. Both are potentially profitable. Copying is just easier.
This is pretty much why we will never see another game going backwards in terms of design, but they are going forward (in money terms, mind you) towards the new age of facebook games, more or less complicated, good for a public of braindead people that need to play farmville, candy crush or shit like that even when sitting on the toilet.

The videogame industry is too big, too much money involved, little propension to risks (still huge room for idiocy or incompetence of course).

Brad had a lucky moment, good idea, mid to poor execution, but being innovative was enough to get money. I remember reading that EQ costed 9 million dollars.
Today with 9 million dollars you won't make a super AAA title, maybe one with shit graphics or ugly animations or unresponsive UI and with a ton of other issues.

I gave up on waiting for the next saviour MMO, there won't be one. We have to deal with the fact that games are what they are and enjoy them for what they are. I'm almost 40, I don't really care about poopsocking on a game, certainly I could use a more challenging one, but when I look hard enough for it, these games are there. Even WoW with challenge modes, hardcore raids, etc is okay in small bites, what's missing is a bit of the old human interaction. People nowadays flame you if you chat or tell a joke, no matter if recount is saying you're better than them (for what is worth).
 
Rogosh

Rogosh

Lord Nagafen Raider
897
232
Fine I'll buy in, if I was Brad McQuaid I would build a hardcore mmo that was accessible to all but hard to master. My game would have an EQ class and role system, faction through actions(kill a guard lose faction with his city), some form of alternate advancement, a unique take on combat that is more fast paced then EQ, housing, raids that are not just the kill the same npc every week, pvp with arena/bg, siege warfare and open world advancement, non linear leveling that includes open dungeons with no static spawns and last bot not least take the best of EQN and throw it in for good measure.

Seems like a lot of work but I am sure Mr. McQuaid can pull it off.
 
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