Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
I guess the end is near.
JeroKane
Member EpicPosts: 6,965
The game is now officially running on it's last few remaining thin threads.
What is actually left from the original dev team? Seeing what little they have accomplished since launch almost 10 months ago?
They only swinged with the nerfbat here and there, from wich they focussed on the ranger class for over 6-7 months lol.
They added ONE instance and that's it.
Remember Richard Garriott talking about PAU's and NPC controllable squads as form of high level obtainable content last year november?
It's just become vapourware and the whole game is now just put into the fridge on life support.
Especially now the latest financial report has come out from NCSoft Austin. They're almost broke. Had to lay off many devs (Dungeon Runners ...another flop).
And they sure don't have to expect any more $$ from NCSoft Korea. Not after what Richard Garriott has pulled of with this Tabula Rasa debacle that has costs them millions and millions of $$ loss in wasted investment.
Tabula Rasa had great potential, but it launched with barely any content. Just like Age of Conan. Just like Vanguard. Just like so many other failed MMO's.
Such a shame, as I really enjoyed the whole setting of Tabula Rasa and the ideas that unfortunately never made it into the game. It was a fresh different setting, trying to break the mold.
Guill.
Comments
I hear some time ago... that this game cost ncsoft korea around 100 millions.. and they only manage to get around less than 5% of that cost... this game was a real flop, a total failure....
Something bad happen here... I mean... How can you invest 100 million bucks and 5 or 6 years later come with this piece of crap...
Guess we don't want to know how much of that money ended up on Richard Garriott's own bank account.
This space trip of him isn't a cheap ride. That's for sure.
Just face it. He ripped off NCSoft Korea BIG TIME.
And what's worst in all this. He got away with it.
He hurt the MMO market a lot. Just like his pall Brad McQuad with Vanguard. Just like Funcom with Age of Conan.
After all the crap that happened the last few years, there will be less and less investors that are willing to put their money in a new MMO.
Guill.
I rarely defend TR but your post has forced me into it.
They have added more than 1 instance. The last couple of updates have each had either new instances or revamping of an old one. I am pretty sure they added a level 30ish as well as a couple new 50s.
TRs dev team was not affected by the layoffs. Dungeon Runners team was decimated they lost 13 of the 18 employees.
Yes TR has failed miserably at adding high level content and especially the two items you named. Both happen to be among the reasons I quit TR. Both were mentioned back in November 2007 as being worked on and both have failed to be implemented since then.
I think they spent too much time post Beta balancing classes and fixing skills, those things should have been done in beta and not after release. Balancing always needs to be done but broken skills and useless skills were too high a % of the TR skill tree.
The dev is working hard but TR should have kept the large beta size team together longer and actually cranked out content to go with the fixes they have done. They have done a good job with the fixes but at the expense of real content being added.
As for officially running on its last few thin threads,Are you aware of what officially means? Somehow I do not think you have the knowledge to make any official declarations about TR. I do not think that word means what you think it means.
There was never an official number of what the game cost, but according to what was said by NCSoft 100 million was way over the costs. I believe they said 80 million was too high even, but the actual number I have never seen.
Guess we don't want to know how much of that money ended up on Richard Garriott's own bank account.
This space trip of him isn't a cheap ride. That's for sure.
Just face it. He ripped off NCSoft Korea BIG TIME.
And what's worst in all this. He got away with it.
He hurt the MMO market a lot. Just like his pall Brad McQuad with Vanguard. Just like Funcom with Age of Conan.
After all the crap that happened the last few years, there will be less and less investors that are willing to put their money in a new MMO.
Guill.
RG hurt the MMO market? Really, have any backup for that? Do you know how many MMOs go to beta and never go to marlet? Those games hurt the investors a lot more than a game that actually goes live and makes back some of its costs.
Vanguard has lasted this long and by now is probably making a little profit. AOC has time to turn it around and still show a profit as well.
I have followed the patches.
- They wasted 6-7 whole months on balancing ONE darn class. The Ranger!! For crying out loud!!
Only that costed them a jitload of subs, because people got fed up by it. Not to mention bored, because nothing else was happening.
- They added ONE new instance, revamped the starter area (wich they made it a lot lot worse as the old one was far more immersive and thrilling) and revamped some other zones.
- They revamped the CP's a bit here and there as well. Have to admit that too.
But seriously. We are now 10 months further since launch and there is basically still no endgame whatsoever. No real reason to PVP as it's boring as hell. From RP perspective still a joke!
The PAU's and controllable NPC squads were RG's last desperate words on the whole game to retain some subs after the first month.
And now after a year they have putted both PAU's and controllable NPC squads on indefinite hold.
You know what that means? Indefinite hold? That means they don't bother anymore. That means they have given up.
They have maybe around 30 - 50.000 subs (wich is about the same as Vanguard at this moment), altho I wouldn't be suprised if it's even lower.
They just keep enough devs in the team now to fix the current content in the game, maybe add a little here and there. All because they still have some paying subs and thus obligated to do so.
But you can forget any REAL new content, not to mention any Expansion Pack. Forget it.
And that my friend. Is an MMO that is on life support. Just like Matrix Online and Vanguard is on life support at SOE HQ.
Have a nice day.
Tabula Rasa will NEVER turn into profit. They now have barely enough subs to keep the servers running and retaining a small dev team.
Age of Conan is costing Funcom a jitload of money! They sold a lot of boxes, but got only about 6-7million euro worth out of it. On a game that has costed them over 40 million euros to develop!
Age of Conan subs have plumeted. As the figures released with the Q2 report were from the end of the first free month. Funcom was very smart in that.
The financial truth about Funcom and Age of Conan will come out with their Q3 report. And trust me. I live here in Oslo. It will not look good.
Vanguard same. SOE only put a minimal dev team on it. They use this game as training ground for new young aspirant developers and artists to grow in the industry. But difference here is that Vanguard has a real loyal fanbase that keeps the game going. That's for sure and I have to admit.
Cheers
I have followed the patches.
- They wasted 6-7 whole months on balancing ONE darn class. The Ranger!! For crying out loud!!
Only that costed them a jitload of subs, because people got fed up by it. Not to mention bored, because nothing else was happening.
- They added ONE new instance, revamped the starter area (wich they made it a lot lot worse as the old one was far more immersive and thrilling) and revamped some other zones.
- They revamped the CP's a bit here and there as well. Have to admit that too.
But seriously. We are now 10 months further since launch and there is basically still no endgame whatsoever. No real reason to PVP as it's boring as hell. From RP perspective still a joke!
The PAU's and controllable NPC squads were RG's last desperate words on the whole game to retain some subs after the first month.
And now after a year they have putted both PAU's and controllable NPC squads on indefinite hold.
You know what that means? Indefinite hold? That means they don't bother anymore. That means they have given up.
They have maybe around 30 - 50.000 subs (wich is about the same as Vanguard at this moment), altho I wouldn't be suprised if it's even lower.
They just keep enough devs in the team now to fix the current content in the game, maybe add a little here and there. All because they still have some paying subs and thus obligated to do so.
But you can forget any REAL new content, not to mention any Expansion Pack. Forget it.
And that my friend. Is an MMO that is on life support. Just like Matrix Online and Vanguard is on life support at SOE HQ.
Have a nice day.
I absolutely hate TR PVP. It was added in as filler because the game launched with nothing to do at high levels, sadly as we sit here today that situation has only improved by the tiniest bit. PVP might be good if they added the ability to make real decisions in the war. Let me decide who I side with and let me make my own alliances. Instead we have a linear story arc that has had no additions since release. The bane army is a joke and the PvP is worse.
Yes a couple of the things I wanted most, PAUs and my own squad to control are either dead or in a coma not likely to come otu any time soon, and unless those things are added and a lot of high level content with it I will never be going back again. I went bask last month and was bored in 2 weeks. I do not like multiple alts I like MMOs with months worth of things to do.
We generally agree but since Release they added Sanctus and the Level 30 instance I dont recall the name. They just added a level 50 and revamped Dybukker caverns I believe and they supposedly have another level 50 instance coming soon. Problem is instances are the barest of content, they take too long to create for minimal gain. This game IMOP needs epic warfare and battles to keep players interested not instances that take months to create.
Tabula Rasa will NEVER turn into profit. They now have barely enough subs to keep the servers running and retaining a small dev team.
Age of Conan is costing Funcom a jitload of money! They sold a lot of boxes, but got only about 6-7million euro worth out of it. On a game that has costed them over 40 million euros to develop!
Age of Conan subs have plumeted. As the figures released with the Q2 report were from the end of the first free month. Funcom was very smart in that.
The financial truth about Funcom and Age of Conan will come out with their Q3 report. And trust me. I live here in Oslo. It will not look good.
Vanguard same. SOE only put a minimal dev team on it. They use this game as training ground for new young aspirant developers and artists to grow in the industry. But difference here is that Vanguard has a real loyal fanbase that keeps the game going. That's for sure and I have to admit.
Cheers
I never said TR will turn a profit. I really do not see how they can to be honest. AOC on the other hand can one day because the Conan name has a fanbase and if Funcom gets things right AOC could survive and in a couple of years be out of the red.
AOC still had 400k subs on August 14th. That was long after the free month.
The whole problem with PVP in TR lies with it's initial design.
The Bane should have been a playable race from the get go!
Then you would have had REAL PVP and a REAL meaning to PVP.
Then they could have expanded more on the whole Control Points.
Throw in PAU's and NPC controllable squads.
And TR could have been a really great and fun game.
Sadly none of the above has been done and won't be done.
Cheers
Read the Financial Reports again! They tried to fool the investors in the Powerpoint Presentation by throwing in August 14th and the 400k subs.
But when you look in the report itself, wich is by law FORCED to contain the truth! Then you will see this 400k sub figure was based on End of June and NOT August 14th!
Because the Second Quarter ends 30th of June. So they didn't have to come up with real figures after that.
Cheers
The whole problem with PVP in TR lies with it's initial design.
The Bane should have been a playable race from the get go!
Then you would have had REAL PVP and a REAL meaning to PVP.
Then they could have expanded more on the whole Control Points.
Throw in PAU's and NPC controllable squads.
And TR could have been a really great and fun game.
Sadly none of the above has been done and won't be done.
Cheers
I never wanted the Bane playable because then you just have WOW in space or a poor Planetside ripoff. WHat I wanted to see was factions and alliances between the humans and other forces fighting the Bane and the ability to play as or against them as I saw fit. Instead you have a story based MMO and the story has been stuck for 10 months.
Control Point fights are TR best part, and even those they screwed up by making the control of them meaningless. Other than a mission or two CPs in and of themselves serve no purpose in the war effort. Having them gives you no strengths and losing them weakens you not at all.
I was a big enthusiast of TR, waited for it for nearly a year with great expectations. The disappointment I experianced is monumental. I agree with the OP overall, the game has failed and I dont see it hanging around for much longer. But, I not only hold the dev team accountable for its failure. I beleive the TR community bears responsibility as well.
Hanging out at one of the more popular forum fansites of TR I saw several things that make me beleive the Devs were influenced negatively by some of the more vocal in the TR community, mainly casual players who did not wish to see raiding implemented and the accompaning gear that raiding provides. Due to thier own insecurities and gear envy they insisted that gear not be an element in the game that counts towards character improvement and progression. Being that many of them could not participate in raiding they did not wish to see others get to raid. THey made this argument compulsively and regulaly, basically bombasting any one with a different opinion. Some even began to push PVP, when TR was essentially planned to be a PVE game. PVP is its own ball of wax, some love it, others do not. But by stressing PVP the Devs latched on to an easy way out, clearly avoiding the fact that the game NEEDED CONTENT!
SO those in the TR community are welcomed to the POS that is now TR and they can be proud of themselves for assisting in its demise. I do hope the game turns around, I still love ceratin elements within it, however after recently resubbing and running around deserted zones, I have yet again cancelled and this time for good. Nothings changed significantly, the game lacks replayability of instances, and theres nothing for High levels to do. I love how my level 48 Medic's gear looks just like a level 15 Biotechs! /sarcasm I refuse to play a game with no recognizable rewards other than some hot pink armour dye.
TR RIP and next time, stop listening to the idiots on the TR forums. Put some measurable rewards (gear, status, weapons, etc.) into the game so people have something to work towards and feel proud to have accomplished. As it is, anything you do in TR amounts to absolute ZERO.
Current Games: WOW, EVE Online
I dissagree. WoW is flawed when it comes to World PVP. All PVP is confined into BG's and Arena's and the worse in all this. Its all gear based!
Tabula Rasa is far less gear based and it's all open world. So you would have had actual World PVP. Especially with Control Points involved.
This way it wouldn't have been that bad if the Bane was a playable race.
But your idea would have worked as well. At least something then just humans (and now hybrids). Doesn't make any sense when it comes to PVP.
No real goals, no real lore behind it.
I dunno if TR is on its last legs or not.
I just notice that I see four oranges more often when I log in now.
And all the maps up to Plateau have enough people around to capture a CP when I need one.
Lets face it in comparison to WoW all other MMOs are failures. But that wont stop people trying to be the next WoW.
Ehmm WoW is something unique and an exception. Won't happen again. Only a new MMO by Blizzard and then again I doubt it will be 10 mill subs again.
A succesful MMO has around 250k-350k subs, like EverQuest 1 and 2, LOTRO, EVE Online (altho it took them some time as they started off as an intended Indy MMO), etc.
Tabula Rasa is now on sustain mode, just like Vanguard and Matrix Online are. With barely 50k subs. (altho MXO is even far below that, as it won't run anymore on the newer PC hardware lol).
So yes that's a failure. BIG difference.
It kills me to see people yap about things they don't know...
NO ONE externally knows how many subs TR has. All we know is the revenue TR brought in over the last quarter.
This whole "It's near the end" and other apocalyptic threads have been going on for the last 6+ months and hey... look at that... TR is still here!
Not only is it still here, but in my opinion, there seems to be a net gain on subs over the past few months.
<---Net Gain
You are right no one knows the exact subscription number, but anyone with some math skills can take their quarterly report and come up with a close guess. Revenue from the game went up 7% last quarter, but the royalty went from a positive to -500 million kron.
TR is still here and most likely will be for a while but it will never be what RG said it was supposed to be and that was a real competitor to WOW.
TR blew its chance for big numbers by failing to deliver content in a timely manner. Balancing and skill changes while needed were not nearly enough for a game that has nothing for high level players.
PVP is a joke when tossed in like it was, it was an afterthought when they realized they had built a fun 2 month MMO. The game needs constant story related updates of content ot epic battles to keep high levels playing. You can only get so many people to buy the game and if too many quit then the game fails.
Alright, so let's come up with a close guess.
In Q2 TR generated USD$1.84 Million in sales.
Assumptions
15% Box Sales
20% EU Memberships (USD$19)
65% US Memberships (USD$15)
TOTAL Average Subscriptions in Q2 = 99,255
Now back in Q1 TR generated USD$1.72 Million in sales.
So assuming that there were more box sales in Q1 (closer to release date) we have:
Assumptions
25% Box Sales
18% EU Memberships (USD$19)
57% US Memberships (USD$15)
TOTAL Average Subscriptions in Q1 = 81,548
As for royalties, I don't see TR listed anywhere in the quarterly report of having lost or even being listed in that section.
Alright, so let's come up with a close guess.
In Q2 TR generated USD$1.84 Million in sales.
Assumptions
15% Box Sales
20% EU Memberships (USD$19)
65% US Memberships (USD$15)
TOTAL Average Subscriptions in Q2 = 99,255
Now back in Q1 TR generated USD$1.72 Million in sales.
So assuming that there were more box sales in Q1 (closer to release date) we have:
Assumptions
25% Box Sales
18% EU Memberships (USD$19)
57% US Memberships (USD$15)
TOTAL Average Subscriptions in Q1 = 81,548
As for royalties, I don't see TR listed anywhere in the quarterly report of having lost or even being listed in that section.
You failed math I guess? 1.84 is for the quarter or 3 months. Thats 600k per month divided by $15 or roughly 40k subs.
Is TR countoing boz sales when they sell or when the store selling them bought them? Right now TR is selling for $19.99 or less. The retailers are no longer making money on them and my guess is TR counted that money at the end of last year when the boxes all shipped.
I guess I was a bit hasty with my calculations, thanks for pointing the error out.
NCSoft would be calculating box sales at the time and price they sell them to retailers. Which is why box sales are probably very low during Q2 because there is an abundance still at the retailers.
Whether the end is near is rather meaningless to me. I found the collectors edition for 10 bucks online. I found 2 game cards for half price. Meaning I get 6 months sub time for less then a normal game Lol. Win win in my case. I did the same thing with Earth and Beyond. Came in the last year. Had a blast. Paid almost nothing
Now to be honest Anarchy Online did prove a point. Mmorpgs can pull out of the dumps Loooong after there release and make a profit. Which ironically was made by*Gasp* Fc!
Which I think is a pretty good sign FC will pull out of the duldrums, eventually with AOC. Could be years but they seem to have the balls to outlast the bad press. Not a easy thing to do.
Not sure about TB. Since its owned by such a behemoth they may decide to keep it on lifesupport for a decade and ilk out some profits for there mistake. As long as the income is more then the upkeep that is.
I just want to say two things to touch on your points [both of which I think are well stated]
I just want to know where you got the time cards for half the price!?
.. .... .- - . - .-. --- .-.. .-.. ... .-- .... --- .-. . .--. --- .-. - .-.-.-
--------------------------------------------------------
Promote what you love instead of bashing what you hate.