Alternative MMOG Updates

Heartless writes "If you aren't an Evercrack addict or a World of Warcraft fanatic then chances are you may just be interested in some of these updates for non-mainstream MMORPGs. First off we have Pirates of the Burning Sea accepting beta applications. Darkfall Online has a leaked gameplay video that they are not stopping and has also started taking clan applications for their beta test. Horizons has announced a Military appreciation program. Codemasters has announced that RF Online will make a North American debut. Finally we have Irth Online freshly into its Beta 3 semi-open beta phase with its first review up at Gamergod.com. Keep an eye out on these titles as they further advance the smaller MMORPG market." Some other (more mainstream) games have updates as well, with GamerGod offering up a review of the new EQ2 expansion, and Next Generation interviewing a DDO developer.

Comments

Is it just me...

[Auraiken]

Or does Irth Online look like an upgraded, standalone, version of runescape? Not a flame... just making observations. If it does indeed have the same gameplay value of runescape... I can see this becoming a very popular game. That is, of course, if they expand more on the graphics side of the game. They look very bland at the moment.

Re:Is it just me...

[Meagermanx]

The only people who like Runescape like it because they can play it on library computers.
You've seen them. Sitting, crowded around two or three computers, laughing nerdily and pointing like mentally challenged apes.
I don't care what anyone says, it's not worth playing, let alone paying $5.00 a month for.
That's just silly.

Other MMOGs

[0rionx]

Just a brief footnote regarding some other lesser known but (IMO) still very fun MMO games:

Rakion, the newest online RPG from Softnyx (makers of Gunbound), just recently finished its open beta. It's slated to be back online some time in November with a number of enhancements and adjustments regarding balance issues.

Same thing for FlyFF, a Korean MMORPG. They've just finished open beta for the U.S. version of the game; the game servers are currently down while they move them all from Korea to the U.S. and start gearing up for the U.S. release.

Finally, Martial Heroes (previously known as DO Online) has recently gone through a number of cool upgrades, so anyone who was following the progress on this previously might want to take another look at it.

Re:Other MMOGs

[Soul-Burn666]

Gah, i've played flyff for about a week and got really tired of it. While the graphics are nice, and many enemies are well done, the game is just grind. Even the flying part isn't that fun. And that's all ignoring the horrible Engrish...
If at all, then MapleStory is better. It's at least interesting with the cute 2D graphics and more arcadish gameplay, but as most MMORPGs and Korean ones in particular, it's mostly grind.
All these "grind" games can be great timesinks and a glorified chat client with a small game to play while chatting with friends.

Why does no one release an MMORPG with at least some complexity and less grind....

Re:Other MMOGs

[C0rinthian]

Why does no one release an MMORPG with at least some complexity and less grind....

*cough* http://www.eve-online.com/

Weird Logic

[afabbro]

If you aren't an Evercrack addict or a World of Warcraft fanatic then chances are you may just be interested in some of these updates for non-mainstream MMORPGs

Because of course, everyone must be interested in some kind of MMORPG.

Yawn...

Re:Weird Logic

[chrish]

I wasn't interested at all until some friends "made" me try City of Heroes during a free trial period. I haven't played much of anything else (except my GameBoy Advance) since then.

Re:Weird Logic

[Supercrunch]

You're the one using weird logic. The writeup said "chances are you may just be interested". It didn't say "you MUST be interested".

Re:Weird Logic

[WillyMF1]

Good point.

Also, if someone is reading a story called "Alternative MMOG Updates", "chances are [they] may just be interested".

Didn't mention WW2Online

[HycoWhit]

No mention of the coming update to World War 2 Online? http://www.wwiionline.com/ WW2Online is one of the best military simulations out there. The only place for large scale, combined-arms warfare with realistic vehicles. The realism requires more of a thinking gamer then a twitchy button masher.

More to come

[mparaz]

MMOGs here in the Philippines are almost all Koreans due to the licensing model where the LAN/Internet shop owners need to pay for the access. Players pay for their own access. Still, it's money going out of the country. There's hope that emerging local companies would come up with MMOGs for the local market.

What about me?

[Stephen H-B]

For those who don't go ga-ga about fantasy MMORPGs, I suggest EVE Online.

It's far smaller than WoW/GW (we just hit 70,000 subscribers) but there is no sharding - everyone who is online is in the same world (top so far is 15000 online at once).

There is also a free 14 day trial program, any current subscriber can send you a code. Drop me a reply/email if you'de like to try it. If we're in the same area of space I may even drop by and run you throught the basics.

Re:What about me?

[MBraynard]

The problem I found with Eve is that is is extremely SLOW and it is hard to get information on how things work. There are about a million different weapons you can put on your ship - fine, but I have no ability to really determine which is better than another.

It's an alright game, and I may yet return - and it has no grind - but no grind also means that it takes forever to get the skills you want to have. Months.

Re:What about me?

[Nikkos]

Eve is soooo slow. It will take you months to be able to compete with other players or even NPCs.

Sure, If you have high aspirations, you could have a big mf'ing ship or even a space station. But it will take a years worth of dedicated play (and/or $$$) to reach that point.

Re:What about me?

[phxbadash]

In the spring when they introduced the "Cold War Edition" of EVE, they completely re-did the tutorial and made it much better than it was, it's got full speech and everything.

As for modules, yes there are tons, which is one of the great things about the game. As for knowing which are better than the other it goes tech1 -> named items -> tech 2 - uber rare ultraviolent officer/commander loot. And each of the 4 races has a particular weapon type that they get bonuses for.

The game is only slow if you are trying to play it like a typical MMO, if you can get past that then it really doesn't seem all that slow when it comes to advancement.

As for being able to compete with 2-year old players, it is not impossible and doesn't take years to do, but you have to specialize in a particular line of ships/skills in order to become effective in a short time. Us oldtimers have the advantage of variety of ships we can fly more than anything. But flying the biggest ship doesn't necessarily mean instant victory anyways, and all ship classes have thier uses.

One more thing, this past sunday EVE passed 16,000 concurrent users online at one time, and it seems to be going up about 1,000 every couple of weeks or so. They figure they will pass 20,000 by the end of the year. There's something to be said where everyone in the game is on the same shard and 95% of the goods on the market are player-made. It makes for a tight-knit community.

Re:What about me?

[MBraynard]

Here's my other frustration with the game - I wanted to be an industrialist. I started off by learning to pilot the big shipment vehicles with containers, etc. and moving items from one place to another, usually making a million or three each trip.

I would also have factories setup making ammunition. Not really much of a markup at all. I had spreadsheets and what not to determine what was most profitable. But there really was very little profit at all because it was so easy for someone else to also get manufacturing ability and just make their own stuff.

That's really the angle of the game I wanted to be involved with - manufacturing and marketing - but it just didn't seem to pan out into anything profitable.

Re:What about me?

[Oveur]

Getting into the Manufacturing and Marketing arena of EVE right from the start can proove quite hard if you are doing it inside Empire space. It's something we need to address, especially being more than 2 years into the game, the low end starting points are quite saturated.

It's best to start off with inter-system trading, buying low and selling high player created items. I'd also suggest you team up with some of the many Industrialist corporations, they can give you a head start and a lot of pointers which of the markets are profitable at any given time.

Cheers ;)

Oveur
Senior Producer - EVE Online

Re:What about me?

[MBraynard]

Hi, Thanks for the reply. One thing I thought was missing was the technology tree for manufacturing stopped at five - and I got there - but it didn't branch out further into specialties - like ammo manufacturing, blaster manufacturing, etc. - so you could have more specialization and greater efficiency. I realize there was some skill that allowed for more efficient ship building, but that was it.

Anywy, I may revisit the game. Thanks for taking the time to reply to my post.

Thank You

[dracocat]

I have to admit, this is just was I was looking for. I really enjoy MMOs but enjoy trying different ones, instead of just one. Thanks!

No good MMOGs

[www.zerohq.com]

The last MMOG I played was PlanetSide, but Sony Online Entertainment royally screwed it over. I'm not into the whole "spend hours killing rats with the sword of minor destiny" business. One of these days I hope a studio will make a successful MMOFPS...until then I guess I'm stuck with Battlefield 2.

Puzzle Pirates

[Anonymous Coward]

I know they haven't released any groundbreaking news lately, but, well, you should play Puzzle Pirates. You just should.

DarkFall: Hands on Windmill

[nacturation]

Just watched the DarkFall video and I really hope they fix the hand movement. It looks like the hands are stuck on some kind of windmill that they have to bob up and down sequentially right in front of the guy's face. Even when the character is on the bridge and moving *sideways* the hands still bob up and down... in the front... at the same rate. Regardless of the merits of the game itself, that one quirk turns me off of this game. For an example of realistic hand movement, check out the Project Offset demo video #2. Most of the time you don't see the hands -- only the weapon -- and when the guy moves sideways (after seeing the dragon, before seeing the ogre) the weapon appears to move realistically.