Any info on how this will affect those that bought the lifetime deals they offered? (not that we haven't already got our money's worth in Turbine Points as well as free expansions)
They did state in the FAQ I linked in a previous post in this thread that all Lifetime subs would still be honored.
Only thing that bothers me is the link of Standing Stone with with Daybreak Games (and a possible transition to them). As lifetime subscriber to LotRo I wonder how DBG is gonna fuck that up.
Aside from that, I think it's a good thing that Turbine is removed from LotRo and DDO because they've kinda given up on both of them for the last 2 years. Lets hope Standing Stone will bring new life AND multi-player to the game!
LOTRO and DDO get sold to another company (because Turbine is no longer an MMO company) License does NOT get renewed. I knew the company was going to be worse, a no name company that only cares about money. Daybreak Games might not be that, but their investment company only cares about money.
LOTRO and DDO get canned/licenses not renewed, Asheron's Call 1 and 2 as well get shut down. Likely Asheron's Call gets shut down first.
Daybreak Games then gets shut down, and either the licenses get sold (or more likely) the entire operation is down. Which would be the most MMOs shut down in history in a single year
If the licenses are sold, its more likely to be spread out to different crappy companies. Imagine Everquest series being owned by Perfect World Entertainment? I'd rather have the game be shut down instead of that crap. And an investment company won't care who they sell the licenses to (if they do at all), because its all about the money for them.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
pushy monetization? Compared to Turbine? really? ...
DBG has been squeezing EQ2 players over the last year pretty hard. I'm worried about that with LotRO.
Yep, that is a real concern. LotRO's model is really good from any approach (sub, totally free, or a mix between the two), while SOE/DBG has only one part which is nice, the All-Access. The rest varies from unfriendly to straight-out hostile or alienating. (actually I was puzzled the quite vehement post of syrinx... how would some reminders worse than the hard restrictions in DBG's models? Not to mention, if the only issue is the "constant store reminder" just hide it with an add-on... )
In this sense I raised an eyebrow on this part of the FAQ: "The cost and value of the VIP program remains unchanged, although it's
possible we may offer additional benefits or tiers of subscription in
the future." More value to the sub is great, and they're doing it since years (post-HD). But doing it under DBG... hope it won't mean added restrictions or any of those crap from their other models.
I loved the dragonlance series I read them when I was younger which considering I'm 56 next year is not saying much. I actually love all these dungeon and dragon books from so many settings but of course our favourite Drow too.
pushy monetization? Compared to Turbine? really? ...
DBG has been squeezing EQ2 players over the last year pretty hard. I'm worried about that with LotRO.
Yep, that is a real concern. LotRO's model is really good from any approach (sub, totally free, or a mix between the two), while SOE/DBG has only one part which is nice, the All-Access. The rest varies from unfriendly to straight-out hostile or alienating. (actually I was puzzled the quite vehement post of syrinx... how would some reminders worse than the hard restrictions in DBG's models? Not to mention, if the only issue is the "constant store reminder" just hide it with an add-on... )
In this sense I raised an eyebrow on this part of the FAQ: "The cost and value of the VIP program remains unchanged, although it's
possible we may offer additional benefits or tiers of subscription in
the future." More value to the sub is great, and they're doing it since years (post-HD). But doing it under DBG... hope it won't mean added restrictions or any of those crap from their other models.
"tiers of subscription"... having Anarchy Online flashbacks. Do you suppose they're thinking about a lesser, cheaper sub to add or a new super-sub that lifetime subs don't qualify for? ... hmm.
Anyway... very fitting that Columbus Nova's gaming branch doesn't develop shit and just acquires MMOs.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
Those lifetime subs on hindsight was a horrible decision by Turbine, it was a short term influx and they would have made more money in the long run on normal subs.
Those lifetime subs on hindsight was a horrible decision by Turbine, it was a short term influx and they would have made more money in the long run on normal subs.
Exactly why I speculated about new sub tiers being something that excludes them. It has been a great thing for the players who bought into it and I'm sure much regretted by Turbine after they went freemium.
"Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community ... but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It's the invasion of the idiots”
― Umberto Eco
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?” ― CD PROJEKT RED
LOTRO and DDO get sold to another company (because Turbine is no longer an MMO company) License does NOT get renewed. I knew the company was going to be worse, a no name company that only cares about money. Daybreak Games might not be that, but their investment company only cares about money.
LOTRO and DDO get canned/licenses not renewed, Asheron's Call 1 and 2 as well get shut down. Likely Asheron's Call gets shut down first.
Daybreak Games then gets shut down, and either the licenses get sold (or more likely) the entire operation is down. Which would be the most MMOs shut down in history in a single year
If the licenses are sold, its more likely to be spread out to different crappy companies. Imagine Everquest series being owned by Perfect World Entertainment? I'd rather have the game be shut down instead of that crap. And an investment company won't care who they sell the licenses to (if they do at all), because its all about the money for them.
I dunno, I don't think the games have enough resources to be worth plundering... Run with a skeleton crew to get in as much money as possible is an option but I don't see them canning both games in the next few years.
Of course could they just be after one of the games (likely LOTRO) and can the other, doing a scuzzbag move to get the license and then close down the other once it is too late.
I thought AC2 was canceled over 10 years ago? They did not mention the IP at all in what I read.
Except that's just MMO gamer fantasy material. It's nice, but full of irrational assumptions and improbabilities. It isn't how it works and if an old game holds an IP back from making millions then the old game gets axed, reference SWG for our one and only example.
So what's really more selfish? Asking for an old game to remain so those who like it can have their world to play in, or wishing it would all burn so you may or may not on some miniscule and remote possibility get this game "some of you want". When in reality it will come out having met all the latest buzzword feature list items (open world, survival, "choices matter", blah blah blah) and end up being the scorned and panned failure of a once beloved hype train that will save the genre.
True. Now if they had an AAA developer willing to spend big money and signing a contract things would be different even though I don't see why IPs like LoTR, SW and Forgotten realms can't have more then one MMO, the IPs should be big enough for that.
As a DDO founder and founder of eight year old casual adult guild Tyrs Paladium, I'm very happy with the current news. This decision breathes NEW LIFE (cash) into DDO and LOTRO. The two ex-Turbine staffs are very talented, and understand the gaming market and their playerbases better then WB and ATARI combined.
These gaming sites spread too much doom, without lack of facts. DDO and LOTRO are going nowhere for many years. Mark my post. We'll talk!
We are about playing, and welcome anyone 30 years of age or older who wants to come back to DDO or give it a shot to fill out an application on our site. I cant promise you membership, but we are always on the lookout for the very best personalities. We dont care about you being brand new. As long as you have a yearning to play together with mature adults, head over to our guild site to fill out an application. http://tyrspaladium.com
As a DDO founder and founder of eight year old casual adult guild Tyrs Paladium, I'm very happy with the current news. This decision breathes NEW LIFE (cash) into DDO and LOTRO. The two ex-Turbine staffs are very talented, and understand the gaming market and their playerbases better then WB and ATARI combined.
These gaming sites spread too much doom, without lack of facts. DDO and LOTRO are going nowhere for many years. Mark my post. We'll talk!
We are about playing, and welcome anyone 30 years of age or older who wants to come back to DDO or give it a shot to fill out an application on our site. I cant promise you membership, but we are always on the lookout for the very best personalities. We dont care about you being brand new. As long as you have a yearning to play together with mature adults, head over to our guild site to fill out an application. http://tyrspaladium.com
No Drama. No Zerg. Lets PLAY.
Thanks for taking the time to give us that information (yeah, more then a few people wont believe you). It is always great to get a little information besides a press-release or newspost at the games webpage.
As a DDO founder and founder of eight year old casual adult guild Tyrs Paladium, I'm very happy with the current news. This decision breathes NEW LIFE (cash) into DDO and LOTRO. The two ex-Turbine staffs are very talented, and understand the gaming market and their playerbases better then WB and ATARI combined.
These gaming sites spread too much doom, without lack of facts. DDO and LOTRO are going nowhere for many years. Mark my post. We'll talk!
We are about playing, and welcome anyone 30 years of age or older who wants to come back to DDO or give it a shot to fill out an application on our site. I cant promise you membership, but we are always on the lookout for the very best personalities. We dont care about you being brand new. As long as you have a yearning to play together with mature adults, head over to our guild site to fill out an application. http://tyrspaladium.com
No Drama. No Zerg. Lets PLAY.
I seriously hope you are correct. I'm just as passionate in my love of LOTRO but, lets face it, these large scale MMOs are entering their dotage. Where are the new ones to take their place. Let us just hope we have a few good years left.
Never played DDO but you make me almost want to hop over there and see what I have been missing.
Well, I wish them a the best. LoTRO is a great game with a wonderful population. I don't play it regularly anymore but every time I log in it always seems welcoming.
As a DDO founder and founder of eight year old casual adult guild Tyrs Paladium, I'm very happy with the current news. This decision breathes NEW LIFE (cash) into DDO and LOTRO. The two ex-Turbine staffs are very talented, and understand the gaming market and their playerbases better then WB and ATARI combined.
These gaming sites spread too much doom, without lack of facts. DDO and LOTRO are going nowhere for many years. Mark my post. We'll talk!
We are about playing, and welcome anyone 30 years of age or older who wants to come back to DDO or give it a shot to fill out an application on our site. I cant promise you membership, but we are always on the lookout for the very best personalities. We dont care about you being brand new. As long as you have a yearning to play together with mature adults, head over to our guild site to fill out an application. http://tyrspaladium.com
No Drama. No Zerg. Lets PLAY.
I seriously hope you are correct. I'm just as passionate in my love of LOTRO but, lets face it, these large scale MMOs are entering their dotage. Where are the new ones to take their place. Let us just hope we have a few good years left.
Never played DDO but you make me almost want to hop over there and see what I have been missing.
Bring it. I'll see to your application personally Flizzer. The game
offers SO many options to create your characters and gear them. The
"secret" to DDO's longevity is people actually CARE about what they
built. They aren't just cookie cutter builds, unless that's what you
want to play. With so many ways to build, and so many ways to combat
the monsters, and the built in VoIP, its the closest thing to D&D on
a computer that money can buy. Joining a good guild in DDO can provide
you ALL the help and camaraderie you could ever want or need!
LoTRO has hit a slump and I think this transition just may help.
I believe that by SSG acquiring the games, they see something to be made of it and just might fork over the money to retain the rights to the IP.
It's smart to keep the IP if they are willing to put in the work to turn the game around and make it similar to what it once was.
I'm curious about the devs they have that have worked on these games.
Are they from SoA days? MoM days or when it went downhill with the Mirkwood expansions and such?
They are not being acquired though. WarnerBros. - to their credit I suspect - have offered the existing team(s) the opportunity to take over the running of the games under a new company that they have probably set up for them. The alternative? Probably closure at some point in the future.
So WarnerBros. have basically done what EA did with DAoC (who set up Broadsword for the DAoC team).
Now in the case of DAoC EA continued to collect subscriptions for Broadsword making things very easy. And DAoC has continued.
Could be that WarnerBros are cutting the cord though given the announcement that they will be partnered with DBG for publishing (PotBS did the same and said they regretted it.)
As far as any future IP rights go maybe something has been arranged. If not it sends a very clear message that there is no big pot of WB money to be had.
WB is finished with the LOTR IP. They have made the Movies, both LOTR and Hobbit. So there is nothing to be done anymore Cinematic wise and as such nothing of interest game wise either for them.
So I am not suprised letting former Turbine employees walk away with LOTRO. It's and old game anyway and no gold pot for WB in grand scheme of things.
They can only continue to run and update LOTRO within the boundaries of the License. They cannot develop any new game, without acquiring a new license first.
Basically the starter point of the split was when WB steered Turbine towards mobile as the main focus. It was a tedious legal work ("whack-a-mole" they said), but at the end the transition was really smooth, both from player's perspective (we only had a small patch replacing the intro anim and the TP - LP rename), as the team's perspective (they're sitting at the same office, servers too, and kept everything related DDO and LotRO). SSG is in practice everyone (and everything) was on those two games, Turbine kept the peeps who were already assigned to the mobiles, and kept AC (with its sad fate). SSG will have the full responsibility of the games, DBG won't interfere to the games and will only give publishing services (they said for example billing, hr, that kind of stuff) while SSG develops. They will also use some DBG tech, wasn't detailed, an example was that the launcher will change, but nothing more in this. (Hopefully not something from DBG's crappy f2p model ) No plans on merging with them, so no unified accounts, shared points between DDO and LotRO, no All-Access with the DBG games, and they won't use Daybreak Cash.
About DDO, and expansion(-sized) update is coming, but only after Mordor (that's the priority right now ), so it will arrive towards the end of the year. There will be the Anniversary (dragon-themed), and a new playable race too. About LotRO, U20 coming in March, the battle at the Black Gate. There will be the 10th Anniversary, and then Mordor. It will be huge (no surprise, it is pretty large on the maps too), there will be at least 4 sub-regions behind the Gate, probably they won't cover it with just one expansion. It won't be the end, after the Ring-dropping there are still plenty of things to do, interesting places to visit. (there was a funny story about the license issue - which is a "non-issue" as they've said )
pushy monetization? Compared to Turbine? really? ...
DBG has been squeezing EQ2 players over the last year pretty hard. I'm worried about that with LotRO.
Yep, that is a real concern. LotRO's model is really good from any approach (sub, totally free, or a mix between the two), while SOE/DBG has only one part which is nice, the All-Access. The rest varies from unfriendly to straight-out hostile or alienating. (actually I was puzzled the quite vehement post of syrinx... how would some reminders worse than the hard restrictions in DBG's models? Not to mention, if the only issue is the "constant store reminder" just hide it with an add-on... )
In this sense I raised an eyebrow on this part of the FAQ: "The cost and value of the VIP program remains unchanged, although it's
possible we may offer additional benefits or tiers of subscription in
the future." More value to the sub is great, and they're doing it since years (post-HD). But doing it under DBG... hope it won't mean added restrictions or any of those crap from their other models.
"tiers of subscription"... having Anarchy Online flashbacks. Do you suppose they're thinking about a lesser, cheaper sub to add or a new super-sub that lifetime subs don't qualify for? ... hmm.
Anyway... very fitting that Columbus Nova's gaming branch doesn't develop shit and just acquires MMOs.
Final Fantasy 14 also has tiered subscriptions. They don't talk a lot about that or their website only cash shop, but it's built that way. I don't like it, but that's the way it is.
I'm going to do a 3 month sub soon before prices can change. I seriously doubt they will lower them and $10/month + 500 credits is a pretty good deal as 1500 credits are $20 and the sub unlocks nearly the entire game (except a couple of classes).
I really liked the $10/month three month sub +credits (I used that when I played DDO), thought that was great value.
Comments
This isn't a signature, you just think it is.
Aside from that, I think it's a good thing that Turbine is removed from LotRo and DDO because they've kinda given up on both of them for the last 2 years. Lets hope Standing Stone will bring new life AND multi-player to the game!
LOTRO and DDO get sold to another company (because Turbine is no longer an MMO company)
License does NOT get renewed. I knew the company was going to be worse, a no name company that only cares about money. Daybreak Games might not be that, but their investment company only cares about money.
LOTRO and DDO get canned/licenses not renewed, Asheron's Call 1 and 2 as well get shut down. Likely Asheron's Call gets shut down first.
Daybreak Games then gets shut down, and either the licenses get sold (or more likely) the entire operation is down. Which would be the most MMOs shut down in history in a single year
If the licenses are sold, its more likely to be spread out to different crappy companies. Imagine Everquest series being owned by Perfect World Entertainment? I'd rather have the game be shut down instead of that crap. And an investment company won't care who they sell the licenses to (if they do at all), because its all about the money for them.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
(actually I was puzzled the quite vehement post of syrinx... how would some reminders worse than the hard restrictions in DBG's models? Not to mention, if the only issue is the "constant store reminder" just hide it with an add-on...
In this sense I raised an eyebrow on this part of the FAQ:
"The cost and value of the VIP program remains unchanged, although it's possible we may offer additional benefits or tiers of subscription in the future."
More value to the sub is great, and they're doing it since years (post-HD).
But doing it under DBG... hope it won't mean added restrictions or any of those crap from their other models.
Anyway... very fitting that Columbus Nova's gaming branch doesn't develop shit and just acquires MMOs.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
Of course could they just be after one of the games (likely LOTRO) and can the other, doing a scuzzbag move to get the license and then close down the other once it is too late.
I thought AC2 was canceled over 10 years ago? They did not mention the IP at all in what I read.
Hopefully they will keep the games going..
These gaming sites spread too much doom, without lack of facts. DDO and LOTRO are going nowhere for many years. Mark my post. We'll talk!
We are about playing, and welcome anyone 30 years of age or older who wants to come back to DDO or give it a shot to fill out an application on our site. I cant promise you membership, but we are always on the lookout for the very best personalities. We dont care about you being brand new. As long as you have a yearning to play together with mature adults, head over to our guild site to fill out an application. http://tyrspaladium.com
No Drama. No Zerg. Lets PLAY.
Never played DDO but you make me almost want to hop over there and see what I have been missing.
What other non Pay 2 Win publishers are even out there?
WB is finished with the LOTR IP. They have made the Movies, both LOTR and Hobbit. So there is nothing to be done anymore Cinematic wise and as such nothing of interest game wise either for them.
So I am not suprised letting former Turbine employees walk away with LOTRO. It's and old game anyway and no gold pot for WB in grand scheme of things.
They can only continue to run and update LOTRO within the boundaries of the License. They cannot develop any new game, without acquiring a new license first.
Chris had an interview yesterday http://mmoreporter.com/lotro-reporter-316-interview-with-cordovan-and-severlin/ and there were some nice tidbits in it.
Basically the starter point of the split was when WB steered Turbine towards mobile as the main focus. It was a tedious legal work ("whack-a-mole" they said), but at the end the transition was really smooth, both from player's perspective (we only had a small patch replacing the intro anim and the TP - LP rename), as the team's perspective (they're sitting at the same office, servers too, and kept everything related DDO and LotRO).
SSG is in practice everyone (and everything) was on those two games, Turbine kept the peeps who were already assigned to the mobiles, and kept AC (with its sad fate). SSG will have the full responsibility of the games, DBG won't interfere to the games and will only give publishing services (they said for example billing, hr, that kind of stuff) while SSG develops.
They will also use some DBG tech, wasn't detailed, an example was that the launcher will change, but nothing more in this. (Hopefully not something from DBG's crappy f2p model
No plans on merging with them, so no unified accounts, shared points between DDO and LotRO, no All-Access with the DBG games, and they won't use Daybreak Cash.
About DDO, and expansion(-sized) update is coming, but only after Mordor (that's the priority right now
About LotRO, U20 coming in March, the battle at the Black Gate. There will be the 10th Anniversary, and then Mordor. It will be huge (no surprise, it is pretty large on the maps too), there will be at least 4 sub-regions behind the Gate, probably they won't cover it with just one expansion. It won't be the end, after the Ring-dropping there are still plenty of things to do, interesting places to visit.
(there was a funny story about the license issue - which is a "non-issue" as they've said