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What would revive this game?
ZachMeyer
Member Posts: 3
Hello Everyone,
I come to you today to wonder what exactly would revive this game. Besides the obvious answers (that being, a graphics upgrade, an engine upgrade, etc.), what do you think could truly make this game shine again and return to its former glory? The reason why I ask is because I have embarked on a seriously huge project to help revive this game and I want some feedback from various communities on how to do it.
One thing to note, that while the graphics are old and the game outdated and lacking exposure, it still seems to fit a market that is blossoming even in this age of theme park cookie-cutter mmos. There are still thousands and thousands of people that play games like EverQuest 1, Ultima Online, etc. Games that are extremely old who's graphics really don't have that much on Asheron's Call, but yet they still capture players.
My goal to launch my revive asherons call project is by January of 2011 after the big April and October updates that are planned for this year. So I would appreciate any feedback I get and here's to hoping that one day this game will shine again!
Comments
Make it F2P.
Seemed to work for DDO.
Maybe sell Scint gems, Pyreal bars, and Pack dolls in the CS lol.
MMO Strategy Guides
What do you mean by "revive"?
If you think it will ever get to a point where the subscriber base is on par with the top MMO's today, it will never happen.
I'm not saying its not a great game, because it is. It has its niche, and the loyal customers who still enjoy it will certainly stay. Do you really see them dropping loads of money to re-advertise this game, in its current state? I hate to say this, but it would be embarrassing. I think we both agree game play is superb, but if even a screenshot made its way on TV or into print, it would be laughed at by today's players. And no, I don't think eye-candy is the most important thing, but there are a heck of a lot of people who do.
I think its fine the way it is. The players who love it will continue to do so. Any outreach to new players will attract the same types, and perhaps they will find a home. Perhaps some will remember playing it years ago and might come back for a while. But it will never "return to its former glory" ever.
F2P or partially F2P is the only realistic option to actually increase the populations. They could drop some money on online ads, but it isn't going to bring in a huge number of new players. Many people suggest "updating the graphics", which isn't going to happen. That's a huge task. Also some people suggest additional content or changes to existing content. That isn't going to bring in a lot of new people. There have been huge changes to the game recently (socities, new loot tier) and it hasn't done much to revive the game.
Making the game F2P while adding RMT would do wonders for AC. There's plenty of things they could add to the store, such as the new playable races, respecs, perhaps some housing features, just to name a few ideas.
Taking the game and completely updating graphics to a 2005 game. I am not asking for age of conan graphics, but maybe on par with EQ2. Ofcourse keep the graphic style.... no cartoony stuff. That would bring more subscribers.
Every person I have gotten to try the game in the last 4 years just can't get past the graphics.
The graphics are far from great, but they aren't THAT bad. Example: http://jaguargames.com/images/knorr.png
The game always sounded cool to me. I got it the day it came out and I just couldn't get into the visual aspects of the game. I thought it looked bad back then. So a graphics overhaul, even up to the level of AC2 and I'd be there.
Totally different style of games...
I'll tell ya what won't revive it. I just DLed and tried the 14 day trial. To activate the trial you have to put in a card number, and then cancel the payment before they charge you after the 14 days.... NEXT...
Sorry but either the game need a total makeover or a huge retro trend.
The game reach it top a long time ago and you just can't turn back the clock. A remake of the original game with some added feature might or might not work but I doubt Turbine is working on something like that right now.
Of course are trends hard to predict and a real retro MMO trend could give the game some new subs but I wouldn't hold my breath...
This isn't that uncommon. I know other games do it for sure. I do agree it's crappy to have to cancel otherwise you will get charged. I'm not against requiring a credit card though because there are a lot of kiddies who have no intention of really paying for the game. They just want a new diversion for a couple days.
Never thought I would see a post like this about such an old game. AC was my fitst MMO and I really enjoye it for years and years. I would have rather they upgraded AC than make such a crappy sequel like they did. I liked the combat system with the ability to change the angle of attack and mix it up with faster weaker attacks or slower stronger attacks in relation to character endurance. The open sandbox-ish world was interesting for such an early MMO game (suprising how this type of game world diminshed in favor of all out themeparks and heavy instancing). AC would definitely need a major graphics overhaul, they weren't bad back in the day but they are pretty poor by today's standard (although I think I still prefer AC's art over WoW's cartoony anime art). Melee skill sets would aslo need an overhaul as melee toons didn't get anything in the way of special skillsets or abilities. The classeless character development system was still one of my favorites ever, I am weary of class based stuff. Basically those changes right there would probably get me to come back to the game after not having played for years. Making it F2P may or may not be a good idea, but with the ever growing trend of P2P games ading microstransactions, I would rather just see it go F2P.
Too bad there won't be any upgrading of AC, I just don't see it ever happening. The fact that the game is still around suprises me.
I'd go back if they did a complete graphics update.
would have to agree on the graphics, i did try the trial a little while back and while it is 'nostalgic' to play it again, the game does look severely dated, im guessing though that a graphics update is entirely unlikely, which is a shame. Personally, i thought the magic system in the game was its most outstanding feature though. though they have made it a lot easier, you dont have to research the spells anymore before you can use them.
Add Darkfall style play control with no target and actual aiming. Remove mobs and other players (unless in a clan or party) from the map.
Allowing swimming. Add water content.
Allow for player control cities to be fought over. Maybe a CTF captures the the city or something.
Add some more pvp elements to the game.
Do something to control the afk macroing and ad-ons that took over the game years and years ago. The masses don't want to have to DL and install mass add-ons to compete or run their PC for hours when they aren't actually playing the game.
Keep allegiance XP inline with a fashion that doesn't allow mass level gains for little work. But keep it so if someone above someone is helping them they do get some XP out of it to encourage vets to help newbs.
Dark tide would repopulate if you did these.
If this went FTP I would be back in an instant. With a CS and the graphic update i'm sure this would do just as well as DDO.
I'd be back in an instant, happily paying the fee, if the connection code and technology were updated to allow for modern broadband and cable setup. The NAT vs NAPT problem has stopped me getting back into it and with the state of games nowadays, AC is still the best thing out there by a long shot.
You hear me Turbine?! Sort out the connection problems - I and dozens of others on forums everywhere want to give you money!
This is your best bet. People WILL NOT tolerate P2P with extremely old graphics. They simply won't I am sorry but there is no way around that.
But for F2P since people are not made uptight by that "buying decision" they tend to be much more open minded about game mechanics and bugs.
If AC1 truly has superior game mechanics your only hope, IMO, to show this to people is to go F2P.
You say people won't tolertate it, but I think you mean you personally won't tolerate it.
UO, EQ, AC are all still running at a profit, clearly enough "tolerate it".
I'm going to have to agree with this.
At first I was against the F2P scheme and RMT, but it just seems to be a financial model that works.
~ Ancient Membership ~
The server code is fine. What AC needs is for Turbine to dump the client code and write a brand new client from scratch that operates like the original. With what they know having developed AC2, LotRO, and DDO, this should be a snap. They'd have a new product with only half the work.
Real Keypunch Operators use grapeshot!
Wrong. I am playing AC right now. The graphics are primitive and the UI, frankly, sucks ass. But I do fine. AC is still profitable I believe and it has just hit its 10th anniversy. But its not popular by any stretch and it has lost a lot of people over the years.
Most people wil not pay a subscription for primitive graphics and a burdensome UI that most current players heavily rely on third party, not very supported, apps to make bearable for them.
Yes some people will tolerate it. I used to know a guy who liked to have women shit on a glass plate right above his face because it turned him on. So what? I will probably get banned for that bit of truth but I don't really care.
You want to revive a game you need to talk about "most" not "some". Another poster is correct they need an entirely new client probably something like the DDO client since they share some mechanics like spell dodging. Also they need to get rid of or alleviate certain silly mechanics like people standing around for 3-5 minutes doing nothing but buffing. What the hell is that meant to accomplish? Nothing and people do it all the time. Its pointless time waster that almost every single person uses macro programs for.
Asheron's Call's numbers are HIGHER then they were a year ago, but continue to put your PERSONAL views onto everyone else and state that as the facts.
Sometimes I wonder why people who have everything figured out so well in their own minds, don't go and start a company so they can put all that amazingly correct information to use and show the industry how it is done.
I'm not taking sides on the issue, I'm simply curious as to how you know this, and where your numbers are coming from.
Simply because I would be interested in seeing them for myself. Are they made available by Turbine? I've never seen a company post actuals.
Are you getting them from a third-party site?
Or is this simply your opinion based on playing and seeing the numbers of people around you?
Turbine doesn't release the subscription numbers. There is a Decal plugin however that dispalys the number of people logged in.
I've come up with another method. I've been tracking the number of houses available on Leafcull on and off for the past year.
This is the number of houses available or not owned by players. I believe it reflects the trend in subscribers (not theactual number of subscribers) on Leafcull.
There are some problems with housing data. For example, some people don't own a house, some people pay rent for other people houses, and some people own houses on multiple servers. However, if the number of open houses continues to rise, then I think it's safe to say the server is losing subscribers.
Again this on Leafcull. It's possible the trend is stable or reversed on Darktide and Frostfell.
The graph is a bit exaggerated too. There are only 26 fewer houses owned now than a year.
Also tthe big dip in the middle occured after the 10th anniversary patch.