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[Interview] Albion Online: A True Cross-Platform Sandbox MMO

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Comments

  • General-ZodGeneral-Zod Member UncommonPosts: 868
    Originally posted by bubbabill
    Pve crowd just give them this game.  let them have the full loot ow pvp.  the 10k players will have a ball and hopefully leave the others games alone

    As if PvP centric players could ruin the fun for PvE'ers in a PvE game ....

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  • VoqarVoqar Member UncommonPosts: 510

    Sorry but AO = Anarchy Online.

     

    This doesn't sound like my cup since MMORPG PvP is just grief-based garbage but it sounds like something griefers might get into.  Full looting on PvP death probably still appeals to a very small number of people.

     

    Add in the fact that they are developing for iOS/mobile and the game will have to be ultra simple to the point of comedy.  Anybody who develops games for Linux is goofy since Linux market share is microscopic and the number of gamers out of that sliver is even smaller.

     

    Developing a niche game for platforms unsuited to complex gaming seems brilliant.

     

    I'd imagine this game will be F2P as well, compounding the fail.

     

    Premium MMORPGs do not feature built-in cheating via cash for gold pay 2 win. PLAY to win or don't play.

  • time007time007 Member UncommonPosts: 1,062

    This sounds great.  Though this part I don't agree with "On the other hand, we never liked the fact that nowadays most MMORPGS force you to grind for a very long time before you have a character that can compete in PVP or boosts your stats." 

     

    Actually, you can play most MMO's and hit the level cap alone within a week or two hehe.  That's not a long grind in my book. 

    IMPORTANT:  Please keep all replies to my posts about GAMING.  Please no negative or backhanded comments directed at me personally.  If you are going to post a reply that includes how you feel about me, please don't bother replying & just ignore my post instead.  I'm on this forum to talk about GAMING.  Thank you.
  • archisisarchisis Member UncommonPosts: 58
    Originally posted by Voqar

    Sorry but AO = Anarchy Online.

     

    Absolutely! :)

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  • time007time007 Member UncommonPosts: 1,062

    Also, to the developers, don't be discouraged by all the people being turned off by the full loot aspect.  Keep the full loot aspect in place!  This is fine.  I think a handful of people posted "oh I stopped reading after full loot pvp" etc etc.  But don't worry about these guys since they didn't bother to read the whole article or read about what other things you put in place to make this game different from other games. 

     

    Point number 2.  A lot of people are worried about the pvp.  Did you guys read the part saying that you can craft and stay in your guilds safe zone and still contribute?  And their are bonuses to defense for peaceful guilds.  So it's not like you are going to be getting griefed 24/7 in your guilds territory.  Also he mentioned the guild vs guild wasn't 24/7.  The time slot is designated by the DEFENDING guild.  Please read the article carefully before making quick judgements about what you "feel" is going to happen. 

     

    Keep up the good work!  Keep doing what you're doing!  Don't try to cater to the "oh you better not do this or I'm not playing" crowd.  These guys have tons of games to choose from that match the cookie cutter stuff they like.  Keep on making the unique game you have in mind!

     
    EDIT:  One note to the developers, please don't water down your game at all to cater to any of the mainstream crowd.  You have good ideas, so please don't dilute them.  If you are going sandbox keep it sandbox and complete your game the cutting edge way you want it.  If you try to cater/adjust your sandbox and dilute/water down the hardcore/tough elements it will turn off both the sandbox fans and themepark fans.

    IMPORTANT:  Please keep all replies to my posts about GAMING.  Please no negative or backhanded comments directed at me personally.  If you are going to post a reply that includes how you feel about me, please don't bother replying & just ignore my post instead.  I'm on this forum to talk about GAMING.  Thank you.
  • jbombardjbombard Member UncommonPosts: 598

    I don't know... this game is probably just not for me but I will list my concerns anyway.  I am sure it does have it's own niche though.

     

    Full loot PvP is something I don't particularly care for, but depending on the surrounding systems can be tolerable.  The problem here is that your entire character appears to be based on your gear.  So you don't simply lose your gear, for all intents and purposes it might as well be permadeath, because starting over would probably be just as fast.

     

    My other concern is that while I love sandbox aspects that allow you to affect the world around you, I am having trouble understanding what creates the bond between the player and the character in this game.  There doesn't seem to be any progression system other than gear, which can be lost at a moments notice, and personally I like games with complex character building and planning where you must make sacrifices to become the character you envision and not simply swap some gear on a whim.  Once again it's probably just not for me.

  • LacedOpiumLacedOpium Member EpicPosts: 2,327

    Nothing spells "niche" better than the words "full loot PvP."  On the other hand, you gotta admire an MMORPG company who doesn't care about maximizing profits.  Do your investor's know though?

     

     

  • stevebombsquadstevebombsquad Member UncommonPosts: 884
    I dig this because the devs seem to be making a game that they want to play. I don't mind the FFA full loot as long as the game is engaging and challenging.  If you are looking for gaming socialism and carebear PVP then go log in to GW2..........

    James T. Kirk: All she's got isn't good enough! What else ya got?

  • mysticalspammysticalspam Member Posts: 64
    Originally posted by stevebombsquad
    I dig this because the devs seem to be making a game that they want to play. I don't mind the FFA full loot as long as the game is engaging and challenging.  If you are looking for gaming socialism and carebear PVP then go log in to GW2..........

    the problem is most people will go log in to gw2 or some  other game... not many people like getting beat down and everything taken in a unfair 1 way fight... i was real big into shadowbane and UO and getting ganked by random roaming zerg is just lame... the whole ffa loot thing needs to be reworked...  lose everything you carry gold, craft materials... etc. but leave the armor and weapons alone... they will get hella more players that way...

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  • EhliyaEhliya Member UncommonPosts: 223

    As someone who played Shadowbane for three years, some questions:

    1.  Given the emphasis on equipment, will there be item decay and damage?  How do you intend to make it so the game world doesn't become glutted with crafted items and ensure a healthy economy?  

    2.  Regarding full loot, how do you intend to make it attractive for people to craft?  Won't they be massively outnumbered by the lazy bums who plan to live by killing and taking what they need from the producers?  No one in their right mind will want to take their toon out with tier 7 armor knowing a pack of naked mages is waiting to pounce.  Isn't it more likely the game will devolve into high DPS glass cannon stealthers running around in robes?

    3.  Shadowbane suffered from the phenomenon of massive guilds forming and reforming until there was only one zerg left and the server was shut down.  The herd instinct is powerful when there is the possibility of risk and loss.  How do you plan to prevent a zerg from engulfing the server?  Will it be possible for small and medium size guilds to exist and prosper?

     
  • MahavishnuMahavishnu Member Posts: 336

    This is the perfect sandbox-hardcore pvp mmo eveybody was asking for. Funny how so many find something to complain already. This game has a lot of potential. And it will be a wonderful counterargument to end all "this is too casual-themeparkish" discussions: Just play Albion Online!!!

    However, there will be an ingame shop, where Players obviously can buy all the stuff with real money - THIS is the interesting part.

    Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need.

  • time007time007 Member UncommonPosts: 1,062
    Originally posted by Mahavishnu

    This is the perfect sandbox-hardcore pvp mmo eveybody was asking for. Funny how so many find something to complain already. This game has a lot of potential. And it will be a wonderful counterargument to end all "this is too casual-themeparkish" discussions: Just play Albion Online!!!

    However, there will be an ingame shop, where Players obviously can buy all the stuff with real money - THIS is the interesting part.

    I know.  When ever a sandbox pvp mmo is on the horizon, and the devs haven't sold out yet, waves and waves of players of themeparks come and start trying to turn the game into every other MMO out there.  I don't get why these guys take an original game, with FFA aspects, pvp, territory and other cool aspects, and try to "wow-ify" it. 

     

    Ok, we get it, you guys don't like FFA with pvp and territories.  Ok, go play every other mmo out there and don't try to change this one into another GW2/RIFT/Age of Conan/Wow/Tera ok?  Those games and tons more like it already exist.

    IMPORTANT:  Please keep all replies to my posts about GAMING.  Please no negative or backhanded comments directed at me personally.  If you are going to post a reply that includes how you feel about me, please don't bother replying & just ignore my post instead.  I'm on this forum to talk about GAMING.  Thank you.
  • BercilakBercilak Albion OnlineMember Posts: 108

    Hello everyone,

     

    my name is Stefan and I am the guy from the interview ;). Let me say first of all I am impressed by all the comments and feedback we got here, may they be positive or negative. In general we are always trying to work very closely together with the community. In our previous Alpha tests we made a lot of changes to gameplay or game mechanics according to our testers feedback.

     

    Let me answer a few questions real quick and eventually also try to clearify a few issues. 

     

    General Comments about FFA PVP Full Loot

    • The thing we dislike the most about games like EVE or DF is the blobbing/zerg, we implemented several mechanics to allow smaller guilds to play a significant role. 
    • One example for the above is linear progression (and not exponentially). E.g. 5 players with Tier 3 gear are still a threat for one player in Tier 7 gear. When I have the right counter I easily beat a player one tier above me, against two tears it at least gets close
    • You never have to engage into PvP if you don't want to
    • If you are peacefull and never attack someone else you also get extremely strong defender bonus
     
    Some comments about Crafting
    • You can become the most powerfull men just by trading or crafting
    • We even added a mercenary feature which will allow you to hire known PvP players for you to defend your territory (including a "Win Bonus" which only gets paid out in case they are successful)
    • We have an extremely large Achievement System (compare it to the Sphere Grid from FF10 or the board from Path of Exile), it features 3 tress: PvP, PvE and Merchant/Crafter.
    • Yes we have a durability system in place to avoid inflation
    • In general the economics of AO are very important to us. A high tier weapon will really be rare one and only a few people will be able to create such weapons or armors.
     
    Thoughts on Free2Play
    • For a game like this the amount of people playing is very important that is why we have gone for free2play
    • Actually our model is quite similar to EVE Online one just without the monthly fee
    • We as a company do not sell items to other players (except for vanity items who don't give you any stats or other advantages)
    • You can only buy them from other players in the game
     
    Concerns regarding Cross-Platform
    • As I posted previously we have all the features a normal sandbox MMO does have
    • In addition I think we added a lot of mechanics you have not seen before in any MMO
    • We've meet a lot of sceptical people regarding the fixed camera but most of them after playing perceived it actually as refreshing experience. (FYI: Diablo and UO had fixed cameras)
    • And yes the PC is always the prefered choice when it comes to Pro PvP. However like I said it in the interview, we do no see it as "Tablet vs PC", but rather as "Tablet & PC"
    • No matter where you are you can decide on which device you will play on. Eventually you are in the train just harvesting some resources while playing on your Nexus 7 but for the big siege in the evening you are playing at your desktop PC at home.
    • Our developers have done an awesome job bringing the tablets to their limits. Please note that the min requirement for this game is an iPad3 (or similar for Android). 
     
    Please let me know if you have more questions. We are always very happy to get your feedback and to explain every one of our design decisions we made. We are aware that we are producing a niche game, but as an independent team this is exactly what we want to do, otherwise everyone of us would work for one of the big productions.
     
    Kind regards,
    Stefan
     
    PS.: Feel free to ask as many questions as you want we will be here to answer them!
     
     
  • Adam1902Adam1902 Member UncommonPosts: 537

    I've been following this game for quite a while, I even posted about it a while ago here.

    This just ticks all boxes for me personally, top down view, gear based progression, full loot PvP, territory control, a single open world and mobile! I'm pretty excited for this to be honest... Everything about this game just seems like a step in the right direction.

    I think the barriers described around guild territory are essential to maintaining popularity amongst the mainstream crowd, so this is definitely a good feature for the game.

    However, one thing strikes me: Guild wars currently 5v5. At first I was disappointed, as I have always thought of guilds in MMOs to be large forces of players and I would've thought guild wars would be far bigger (and unrestricted) than 5v5 battles. However, that got me thinking. I'm imagining guilds in Albion to be small, persistent "groups" of players probably containing no more than 25 people maximum, most likely consisting of local territorial neighbors (as people would have to come back to certain blocks of territory to store their shit at in their house and maybe craft in their buildings if they're lucky enough to have got that far solo). And when preparing for a battle gear up your top 5 players as best as you can, or just pay and hire mercs. This sounds fucking awesome as it would make territory control (you know the feeling of "owning" that pocket of land in a virtual world) available to everyone.

    THEN, you mentioned castles, large sieges and taxes. Yes fucking please! Guilds become members of alliances who fight for ownership of castles in unrestricted sieges? If this is the case, in my mind you've built the perfect game (feature-wise).

    I have one question though: Why would I build in neutral territory and leave my structures open to attack when I can join a guild? Or is this a non-issue, as guilds are so small (I assume) everyone is expected to get involved in one eventually?

    Ok I've wrote enough, I'm glad to see you're updating your website more frequently now, but I do ask one thing: Please make an official forum or something along those lines! I don't want to discuss this on Facebook and reveal what a massive geek I am to be honest, haha.

    EDIT: Really nice to see the developers getting so involved with their potential future players, that's something you don't see too often anymore...

    _________
    Currently playing: Black Desert Korea (Waiting for EU)

    Always hating on instances in MMOs! Open worlds, open PvP, territory control and housing please. More persistence, more fun.

  • BercilakBercilak Albion OnlineMember Posts: 108
    Originally posted by Adam1902

    I have one question though: Why would I build in neutral territory and leave my structures open to attack when I can join a guild? Or is this a non-issue, as guilds are so small (I assume) everyone is expected to get involved in one eventually?

     

    In general you would not want do this. Your main infrastructure would be in protected territories.

     

    However there are a few reasons that you want to build special infrastructure near resource hotspots to create a better production queue. Or eventually build a storage near some heavy resources, cause you need a few people to carry them home. 

     

    Sidenote: It maybe got lost but in AO also the buildings are player crafted. E.g. so if you want to build your Tier 6 Sword you first need to build a T6 Forge, or use another guilds Forge. Of course they can charge you for using their Forge. 

     

    We have a forum for the alpha testers and hopefully make it public soon. And thx for the kind words, good to hear we are not completely on the wrong track.

     

    Kind regards,

    Stefan

     
     
  • chakalakachakalaka Member UncommonPosts: 291
    Everything about this sounds incredib le!!!! Hybrid class set up and, the crafting and adding stats!!!! 5v5 GVG sounds amazing!!
  • ScotScot Member LegendaryPosts: 22,824
    Anyone actually played this, I think MMOs which can be played on a mobile/cellphone are another nail in the coffin for the genre. But it would be good to see what players think, what concessions did they have to make to the UI, graphics and so on to allow the game to be on a mobile? Or do mobile players simply play at a disadvantage? Or do they keep all the platforms separate?
  • AstrinaAstrina Member UncommonPosts: 46
    Full-loot PvP took this game right off my radar. The rest looks like it would be quite fun, especially the crafting. Sadly, I won't be checking it out, but I do wish you luck with your game. We need more old school in gaming again.
  • CaldrinCaldrin Member UncommonPosts: 4,505
    Originally posted by Razeekster

    It sort of seems like the development team is coming onto the forums and asking their players to come onto these forums as well to discredit any concerns... However it stands to reason that there is a valid concern in the fact that this is a full loot PvP game. It has been proven over and over again how little success these games have (I swear if someone mentions EvE, one of the only games to have significant success...), and my concern is that new players will be overpowered by people who have been playing longer.

     

    MMORPGs without full loot pvp are just missing somthing.... After playing Darkfall from start to finish I find it hard to play a MMORPG without some kind of PVP loot.

  • AffordableAffordable Member UncommonPosts: 41
    Love everything about this. I hope the big sieges are way more than 5v5 though.
  • BercilakBercilak Albion OnlineMember Posts: 108
    Originally posted by Scot
    Anyone actually played this, I think MMOs which can be played on a mobile/cellphone are another nail in the coffin for the genre. But it would be good to see what players think, what concessions did they have to make to the UI, graphics and so on to allow the game to be on a mobile? Or do mobile players simply play at a disadvantage? Or do they keep all the platforms separate?

    Hi Scot, 

    Here some thoughts regarding your concerns:

     

    • when using the word mobile we mean tablets with the power of an ipad3 or better as min requirement. AO will not be launched for smart phones since the screen would be to small to display the UI (buttons would be tiny^^). 
    • with streaming you can get UO onto your iPad and then you might see that it actually is quite playable and enjoyable with the touch interface
    • Of course we do NOT keep the platforms seperated. It is all one massive world. 
    • But of course when it comes to hardcore PvP "Mouse + Keyboard" is always best choice compared to tablets BUT the difference is not as big as for instance with Xbox controller vs Mouse/Keyboard when it comes to FPS games. 
    • Knowledge is the key in AO, it is more important when and which button to press instead of having these ultra hard reaction times. If we would play tonight 1vs1 I would easily kill you (while playing on a tablet and you on PC) just because I know the game better then you do. Still reaction times aren't bad as well
    • We just recently ran our 15 Alpha Test. All of these tests where done with guilds we have never met before. A few of the guild members posted here already. Have a look at our FB page to see which guilds these have been eventually you know someone and can ask him.
     
    Kind regards,
    Stefan

     

     

  • BercilakBercilak Albion OnlineMember Posts: 108
    Originally posted by Affordable
    Love everything about this. I hope the big sieges are way more than 5v5 though.

     

    The 5vs5 happens only when you fight for your small territories where you have most of your buildings. mWe are also having a timeslot mechanism (a bit similar to EVE) to avoid everything being lost over night while you were sleeping. And the 5vs5 sounds a bit awkward I can understand but feels very good in the game.

     

    But in addition there will be different castle sizes which will have normal sieges with no restrictions. Owning these castles will of course give you interesting advantages. You get access to different crafting items as well as you have the possibitlies to put taxes on surrounding/adjacent areas (depending on the size of the castle).

  • BercilakBercilak Albion OnlineMember Posts: 108

    Why did we go for Full Loot?

     

    We think that most modern MMOs are part of some ‘noobification’ trend, becoming too easy. It also seems as if most of today’s games want to avoid any form of negative emotion or real setback for the player.

     

    But without negative emotions, how can positive emotions have a meaning? And without true setbacks, how can a success feel truly rewarding?

     

    If you've played other games with Full Loot you can clearly see that player behave completely different in PvP situations. Dying really has a meaning so you want to avoid it. Killing another player becomes an even better experience since you did that at the risk of loosing everything you are wearing.

     

    However let me point out that we hate "zerging/blobbing" and although it is something you can never avoid by 100% we have lots of mechanics in place making it less a factor then in comparable games

     

    Kind regards,

    Stefan

     

    PS.: Full Loot and Durability and limited resources are also part of AO and guarantee for an interesting economy and crafting part!

  • BercilakBercilak Albion OnlineMember Posts: 108
    Originally posted by Robokapp
    Originally posted by chakalaka
    Everything about this sounds incredib le!!!! Hybrid class set up and, the crafting and adding stats!!!! 5v5 GVG sounds amazing!! in a MOBA. in an MMO it needs to be 500 V 500.

     

     

    Which we will have as well! Not sure if it is 500vs500 cause I do not want to make any wrong promises, since we have not tested these large amounts yet and it surely is a challange but from a design perspective there will be also large sieges.

  • MahloMahlo Member UncommonPosts: 814
    Put me down as another player looking for a sandbox MMO with crafting at its core and a meaningful economy but NOT with full loot. You just end up with a community like Deadfall's. Sandbox does not = full loot.
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