Rhomal

Ignorance is bliss it seems...

Get me up to speed any reason stated why she left and where is she now? She was the bomb, did a interview with her on nwn2news and she really did a fantastic job and very pleasant to chat with.

Sorry to hear you failed at your attempt at such. Does not mean however it can not happen and can not be of high quality. The RP I had in serpents Inn on the wiccana server in age of conan was fantastic. Many fantastic RPers on that server.

I agree the setting was quite nice and very respectful to conan lore and feel. Visually and atmosphere wise they did a great job. My issue was simply gameplay and as you stated how the game started to take a downturn on that level after lvl 20.

Only if people role-play, and you have to hold a gun to peoples heads to get them to RP in an MMORPG. Clearly your experience and mine are very different. I found some great RP in AoC, nwn and UO. Of course you have to look around to find the right server, place but once you do theres usually a great rp community. And its a little contradictory saying you shouldn't rp in a mmoRPG...

I suppose, but the same can be said of almost any game that just started production with little info released. However I have talked to one of their staff (who actually approached me about starting the site) and from the very limited info he could tell me I feel pretty good about the vibe I got. From the limited interviews made WW has a direct hand in this and to me that's reassuring. Plus the CCP folks who does eve online, they have the mmo experience. So combined I get the impression they will do a good job. Of course time will tell and I could be wrong. But I am willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, just like I did to Obsidian and nwn2 when the bio fanbois were all over me for jumping ship says nwn2 was going to 'suck'. I certainly don't regret the 3.5 yrs I spent on nwn2news nor the friendships I made at obs.. I certainly don't regret the game they put out. It was worth my invested time IMO. Point being, you never know and just go with your gut.

Those are hopefully place holders.. I am looking to find a photoshop guru to help me out on this level, I am not so skilled in computer art sadly as you could tell.. if you know any please do send them my way! Yes the concept sounds quite interesting and fail-proof, I would say 'how do you screw up a vampire MMORPG based on a solid game/mythos?' Then I think of conan and think... yes its possible. heh... But the redeeming element in this is White Wolf has a direct hand in its development. So thats a good sign. And make sure the fired project lead of the conan mmo does not get hired to the team.. that too.. :> None the less thanks for the kind words, this time next week we should be firing all all cylinders on the site, hope you pop by often

This is the big question. And I predict the answer is "yes". Cat is clearly now out of the bag.. so 'yes'. www.wodonlinenews.net Still under development, few days away from the site being finished but you can get the idea. I'll post again when the site opens officially.

I always tell my gf's.. clothes are over rated. Back on topic... any artsy folks skilled in photoshop or the like? need a little help with creating a cool banner for my web site.

I agree the mmo model is a legit model. It is required of you need to maintain a backend of any size to offer the game/service. Thats like dining out and not tipping if you got good service. Without the waitress/cooks you might as well stay home and eat. Side note: I don't get the whole 'register under a new handle every other month' hobby many partake in here... hard to keep track who's who.

Well the issue with your argument is they (the service providers) have to pay for server fees and staff fees for additional content. if the mmorpg in question wasn't adding or upgrading the game then you would have a possible argument, but since that's not the case the argument holds little water. Unless you can provide a way for them to pay for the server admins, hardware and support staff in a different way.

As someone who gave AoC almost 3 months and became a in-game 'Follower' (staff who addressed player trouble tickets and bug reports) I can say AoC, if you were a RPer was VERY enjoyable. If all you were into was the H&S aspects and l33t l00t then yes it got quite repetitive after the first 8 weeks due to some poor design decisions. (The fact you can grind your way to max lvl in a matter of 2 weeks (or less) and then little 'end game' content was a biggie). Then many of the major features were not buggy but simply broke on release didn't help. However if gaining lvls and l00t wasn't your #1 reason for playing the RP community was fantastic (on the right servers). And if you played as a RPer first then you could get a lot more out of the game then a non-RPer. It wasn't a cure all but it make the game a lot easier to enjoy. I had some fantastic RP encounters, meet some great people and overall enjoyed my time and don't regret giving it a shot. However the direction they were taking the game and the slowness to address certain major issues (like the craft system that spills over in the RP community as without a living player economy that hurts RPers and non-RPers alike) just made me loose interest. It is a good game as a whole, and getting better, but I rather take a step back now, and check it out again in 6-12 months. If they addressed the issues that effected me the most I'll give it a shot again perhaps. But to use a blanket statement to say AoC was a failure isn't too accurate in my view. On some levels it certainly didn't get off the right foot or make the best design choices, however there were just as many aspects they hit the nail on the head. Its a mmorpg that has promise at the very least and some of the RPing I did rivaled 80% of the 'RP' nwn servers out there to be blunt. So its certainly has merit if you are a RPer at least.

That's a sad state of affairs. I kinda liked sand, he grew on me just like V did.

hhmm that now is going to make me ponder... just like the theory of advanced physics that says we are not really where we think we are, just more likely to be there then somewhere else... Puzzles of the universe aside thank you, glad to see I am not totally forgotten. I however don't recognize many of the names anymore sadly... What ever happened to the old crew?

Wouldn't touch or waste my time on a console game site with a 10' pole. Just saying.

I should have the site up and go public by new years or there abouts. I'll certainly post here when it does!

I'll take that as a compliment, thank you.

Greetings all, long time no post I know. Been busy with many things both offline and on as of late. As some of you may know I ran nwn2news.net for 3.5 yrs, the most successful* non-commercial nwn2 news and community site. Been out of the news site scene for awhile as some of you know. Needed a little break, time to delve into other interests and games. However I have been approached about starting a new news/community site off the ground for an unannounced mmorpg by a major brand name in the gothic-punk setting. I am seeking staff to help me with this endeavor. As some of you may recall I lead nwn2news to break many exclusives in the years we were online to become a "community leader". To be upfront since this project is unannounced currently (I expect it to go public before the summer, its in early dev currently) there won't be a huge amount of news or work to start with until the official announcement. However I want to get everyone onboard now, get the site up and start to get the site traffic, community forming for when it does. We will have access to the dev team and I am sure partake in a close relationship with them as time goes on as we did with nwn2. Positions I am looking for: News Hound (3 positions) - Scan the net for latest news on the game, post that and articles relating to the game both pre and post release Interview Manager (2 positions) - Conduct interviews with both the dev team and community leaders, write and post such on the site Community Manager (2 positions) - Post and update database of community guilds, conduct interview with guild leaders IRC OPs (6 positions) - advertise and monitor the irc server/room If interested please send me a PM here, your name, contact info, what position you'd like and basic background as it relates to what you are applying for and any info you feel I should have for consideration. Please note I can NOT tell you anything more about the game then I have posted at this time. Thanks for your time and interest! -R * On average 15,000 unique IP hits and 4.5 million page views a month in my final year

As they say, poor artists borrow. Great artists steal. The difference between Middle Earth and Forgotten Realms isn't that one borrowed from other sources and one didn't. The fact that Tolkien based his stuff on other sources is something so well-known, it's painful to keep reading it. No, the difference between Middle Earth and Forgotten Realms is that one was the lovingly detailed backdrop to a series of literary works written by a giant of the genre, and the other was unimaginative junk dreamt up by a hack D&D writer because TSR wanted to break from Gygax's (superior) Greyhawk setting. The fact that both borrowed from other sources doesn't mean that one nonetheless arrived at something distinctive and original and the other hopelessly derivative and shallow. I'll leave you to figure out which is which. newc0253 wins this discussion.

Such as...? if you mean mythology then I find it odd from all the various cultures and versions of mythical creatures the ones that ended up in FR are, for the most part, idential to the versions found in LotR. I am sure you are going to say that's just happenstance. I'll save you the reply. FR took - Elves retreating (LotR) Drow (Greyhawk) Torm and a few other deities (earth counterparts down to the same name) Elmister; clearly poor mans Gandalf I used to have this list memorized but thats just off the top of my head what I remember, plus, the fact the creator of FR ADMITTED in a interview many moons ago he mostly borrowed from other sources as that was his intent. He wasn't going to original he was going to make a mixture of his favorite fantasy sources and writers. FYI

I doesn't look like a spiritual successor to BG because it look like generic lets-do-it-like-LotR fantasy and not unique like BG. Well the Forgotten Realms are at least more unique than the usual beaten-to-death Tolkin fantasy. But we will see, the important parts are the story and characters I agree it looks like a, poorly done, rip off of LotR. The FX was ok, but I have to agree it looked VERY instanced and some what plastic like. As for your FR comment, you do know FR -STOLE- a ton from LotR as well as other fantasy and real life mythical sources? There is VERY little original about FR. The only reason LotR seem cliche is because past 50 yrs its been copied to death in various ways. When it was released it was quite unique and fresh.

Hoping for the best, but...

How many European outfits promised something like that and managed to deliver? Oh right. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Buzzkill But entirely true. And the site no longer exists... enter next over reaching eastern European CRPG to become vaporware...

I see your point and don't 100% dispute it. However see my previous post for specifics as it applies here as well.

And that my friend is a case of rose colored glasses. I was on board with one of the first PWs for nwn1. And it was a NIGHTMARE the first 18 months of its existence. The memory leak bugs causing the server applet to crash every hr or two, very bad lag, instability when more then a dozen ppl logged in and so on. It took bioware about 18-24 months and many patches later to make running a PW or even a long mp session fairly reasonable hobby. > But the gameplay is pretty much the same. Same combat system, some updated graphics, still has a toolset, still has the multiplayer support, still continuing the tradition of a strong general support for the game. I respect Obsidian for that. Their overall direction for the sequels as of yet (KOTOR2 and NWN2) is pretty much spot-on I think. They feel like they are part of the same series. Agreed. > But compare the jump that Bethesda does with Fallout 3, and it just does not make sense to me why they didn't develop their own license. Gameplay has to be judged first and foremost IMO when talking about game sequels, and Fallout 3 has a completely different focus than the previous games. Are we not jumping the gun a bit? We have a handful of screens so go by. Many of which which I am sure contain place holder art or designs that are going to change. Granted they are trying some new concepts/ideas and I say good for them. So you want to play FO3 or FO1:Redux? At least they are TRYING to do more then just make a clone game. Do I agree with all the changes? Not really but I give them A for effort and will reserve final judgment until I see a finished product. Who's to say the things they do try that don't mesh well with the game/setting will be continued in FO4? This is a new franchise for them and I think they need to learn by doing as it were. I think, if they learn from their follies with this title and take those lessons to FO4 that title will perhaps be a bit more to the old time fans liking. Before someone asks they have the option with the license to do up to FO6 If I recall. To be honest as a WHOLE I like the idea of getting out of cali, different theme, places and people. If I wanted to play FO1 with better graphics (back to FO1:Redux) I'd play one of the total conversions of a more modern game. > It's not surprising to me why Fallout fans (as in the "angry ones!11!") are bitter about Fallout 3. Any fanbase of a game that I can think of would be very pissed off if that particular license did a similarily big change of gameplay. I will give you that Fallout fans are vocal though, and I think that's a fair point for anyone. But I honestly can't understand how anyone can not see why. It's not hard to understand at all. And sure it would be hard to sell a Fallout game to the mainstream. But why buy the thing and then make it a huge budget game then? Noone is forcing studios to do this, noone is forcing them to make games that have to become blockbusters in order to make their money back. Fallout itself was largely a B-title, and a lot of its design values was definetely *not* the same as the mainstream of 1997. They bought it to make money. period. As a secondary reson I do beleive there are some real FO fans in their midst so thats a bonus. However, they think some of the changes will bring in new fans which they will need. I hate to break it to you but if they make a game for only the remaining old time FO fans this will be a loosing venture. They need to make the game interesting to get new blood into this VERY stagnant, dying fanbase and bring some mass appeal to it. Its a bitter pill but one that needs to be taken if the series is going to move forward. I don't know about you but I rather have a game that changes with the times but survives in essence then ceases totally because people were too meek to accept times have changed. Would you rather have a bit of a re visioned FO to play or none at all? Simple choice. On a final note, the FO community cant event come to agreement except in the very BROADEST terms what in FO makes FO. SPECIAL, post appoc, black humor, 50's retro and vault/pipboy. Anything else is debatable. So if FO3 has those things in them then its starting on the right foot. ANYTHING else a person says 'this makes fallout...' is mere opinion and I am sure can find someone in the FO community to dispute such. I find it humorous ppl start thumping their FO bibles yet these same people cant even agree beyond vague themes what makes FO FO.