The List: Five Scariest MMO Launches

[Aragoni]

http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/feature/3679/The-List-Five-Scariest-MMO-Launches.html

I don't think Darkfall deserved the second spot. The release of Darkfall was silly to say the least, but for example Age of Conan had a waaaaay worse release.

[dinkfall]

DF would have deserved the first spot, the world is permanently out of balance until the release of DF is undone.

[Teth]

No World War II Online on there? Fucking neophytes. WW2O's launch was almost as bad as Anarchy Online. Almost.

"Honourable mention" my ass. That shit was nightmare fuel and I was there for it; it had nothing to do with the planes either (they flew, but getting them off the ground in one piece was a fiddly chore of obscure keystrokes). Plenty of FALLING THROUGH THE WORLD FOREVER AS THE SKIES TURN PURPLE. "Purple skies forever" is still carved into my mind. Still, it was fun in its own way.

[Brother Justin]

No World War II Online on there? Fucking neophytes. WW2O's launch was almost as bad as Anarchy Online. Almost.

QFT

ww2ol should be at the #2 spot.

[Honorius]

No Vanguard?

[GRCPan]

Strange that there is no WoW there. I played it 5-6 months after launch and the server crashed many times a week for hours. Blizzard gave tons of free time to the players because of these issues. Also the server I was playing had a ridiculous queue, at prime time you had to wait for over 2-3 hours to log in. And all these problems were 5-6 months after launch, so I can imagine how much worse it was at launch.

[Aragoni]

No Vanguard?

.......... So true. That was the worst piece of shit release I have ever put my eyes on. I had a pretty good computer at that time and could only squeeze out 20 FPS in the Goblin starting-zone. :ohno::bang:

[SSguy]

Maybe it's a good thing no one can get in. Beta testers had this build for all of one week, with Wolfpack ignoring bug reports and balance issues in favor of building their own cities, making level 100 characters, and killing everyone. But what else should we expect from "Play 2 Crush"?


Priceless, how the fuck does SB not make it to #1 with that kinda shit going on?
I still remember when they left the dev tools in for the client and someone managed to hit a random key combination and unlock them.

[Gunther TheBlack]

Priceless, how the fuck does SB not make it to #1 with that kinda shit going on?
I still remember when they left the dev tools in for the client and someone managed to hit a random key combination and unlock them.

Trust me, Shadowbane release was smooth compared to Anarchy online.

[SSguy]

Trust me, Shadowbane release was smooth compared to Anarchy online.

But AO got better. Part of the criteria should be actually getting through the release stage.

[Gunther TheBlack]

But AO got better. Part of the criteria should be actually getting through the release stage.

Shadowbane also got better ... eventually :)

[Nevron]

I replied over there. I don't get how some of these people get into the positions they do.

[Signus]

DF would have deserved the first spot, the world is permanently out of balance until the release of DF is undone.

You must not have been around MMOs long if you thought the Darkfall launch was bad. At least after the first day people with an account could play pretty much without issue, and almost all the major features were in game and working, unlike the MMO that had launched the last year (AoC)

I'd list SWG, Age of Conan, and even maybe Vanguard way above Darkfall in terms of bad launches. NOTHING worked in SWG and NOTHING was in AoC, and everything was bugged to hell in Vanguard.

Oh God, and WWII Online and Asheron's Call 2 aren't on the list? I find a new reason to lose respect for MMORPG every day.

[Kuruptix]

and almost all the major features were in game and working

were we following the same game ?

[Signus]

were we following the same game ?

Twitch combat, aiming spells, aiming arrows, naval combat, city building, city sieging, full loot, PvP anywhere, I'd say that covers the main features, and all were in at launch.

[Vessol]

Strange that there is no WoW there. I played it 5-6 months after launch and the server crashed many times a week for hours. Blizzard gave tons of free time to the players because of these issues. Also the server I was playing had a ridiculous queue, at prime time you had to wait for over 2-3 hours to log in. And all these problems were 5-6 months after launch, so I can imagine how much worse it was at launch.

Yeah I played WoW Beta and at launch. It was bad, but at least they offered free time and it got hell of a lot better stability wise pretty fast.

[Kuruptix]

Twitch combat, aiming spells, aiming arrows, naval combat, city building, city sieging, full loot, PvP anywhere, I'd say that covers the main features, and all were in at launch.


For every one of those features you named, im sure we can all find a feature that was left out or incomplete.

Twitch combat, aiming spells, aiming arrows

all part of the basic combat that is suppose to be the core of the game. nothing impressive, you might as well put the WASD keyboard movement as well.

naval combat

Yes it was in, but it was incomplete, i don't even want to get in to everything that was wrong with it. But props for them actually improving ship building and naval combat


city building, city sieging

Can't say anything about these, it was in, they did a good job except for the performance issues


full loot, PvP anywhere

this was in as well

[Villa]

Shadowbane also got better ... eventually :)

I want to play SB again, but with WASD movement :(

[PirateGlen]

I really don't get how darkfall hits number two. Even based on their explanations... Most of the issues all of these top 5 are issues WoW experienced and got a free pass for: unexpectedly high demand.

Stop bringing stupid articles here, it makes it harder for me to avoid them.

[Villa]

I really don't get how darkfall hits number two. Even based on their explanations... Most of the issues all of these top 5 are issues WoW experienced and got a free pass for: unexpectedly high demand.

Stop bringing stupid articles here, it makes it harder for me to avoid them.
I think WoW sorted itself out fairly quickly.

[xpiher]

DF would have deserved the first spot, the world is permanently out of balance until the release of DF is undone.

Believe it or not other games have had worst launches. AO does deserve the 1st spot.

were we following the same game ?

Apparently you are one of those people who stopped following the game in like late 2006 and got pissed when the game changed a lot in 2years. Every feature they said would be in at launch in their interviews just prior to beta and during beta, except soft cap + decay and racial abilities, were in the game. See the darkfall beta videos? Same game

[Dyrrn]

Plenty of FALLING THROUGH THE WORLD FOREVER AS THE SKIES TURN PURPLE. "Purple skies forever" is still carved into my mind. Still, it was fun in its own way.


sounds like most of my teenage years... or what we used to call tuesday. :D

[calacity]

Well, at least Blizzard knew how to treat their costumers when they launched WoW, unlike many companies.

[Kuruptix]

Apparently you are one of those people who stopped following the game in like late 2006 and got pissed when the game changed a lot in 2years. Every feature they said would be in at launch in their interviews just prior to beta and during beta, except soft cap + decay and racial abilities, were in the game. See the darkfall beta videos? Same game


but im not .. :cool:

[Tenebrion]

I'm completely flabbergasted that Age of Conan wasn't on that list.

[Villa]

I'm completely flabbergasted that Age of Conan wasn't on that list.
The whole 'horse kicking people off the side of a cliff/bridge' thing accompanied by Benny Hill music completely let AoC off the hook.

[Carnagel]

The lesson for everyone? If you’re going to limit the number of players to ensure a smooth launch, it’s generally good PR to have said smooth launch.

Best line of the article ;)

You must not have been around MMOs long if you thought the Darkfall launch was bad. At least after the first day people with an account could play pretty much without issue, and almost all the major features were in game and working, unlike the MMO that had launched the last year (AoC)

Regardless of how much of the game was actually in working order for those that could play, there were thousands of people who couldn't play Darkfall at launch because of the purchase restrictions. There is really no distinction in a persons mind between having a buggy launch and not being able to play at all, it still results in anger, frustration, and ultimately not bothering to play the game at all

[Banok]

wow no aoc

[Teth]

Best line of the article ;)



Regardless of how much of the game was actually in working order for those that could play, there were thousands of people who couldn't play Darkfall at launch because of the purchase restrictions. There is really no distinction in a persons mind between having a buggy launch and not being able to play at all, it still results in anger, frustration, and ultimately not bothering to play the game at all
Happens with new games & consoles all the time, man.

[Haeso]

Vanguard
AO
WW2O
DF
AoC

I'd say SB was close, but I actually enjoyed SB despite it's problems the most.

DF and AoC could switch places really.

[t1337Dude]

Call me retarded, but didn't Darkfall's launch consist of...

- Nobody being able to play it for weeks until after its release
- Nobody could buy the game
- Barely anybody could get into the game.

How does a launch get worse than preordering a game and not being able to play it?

[Signus]

Call me retarded, but didn't Darkfall's launch consist of...

- Nobody being able to play it for weeks until after its release
- Nobody could buy the game
- Barely anybody could get into the game.

How does a launch get worse than preordering a game and not being able to play it?

Because most of the things you said aren't true?

The only day I couldn't play was the first day.

Thousands of people could buy the game, it's called a "limited release" for areason.

And your third point is just your first point (which was incorrect) said a second time...

If you think the Darkfall launch was bad, you really haven't been at many MMO launches.

[t1337Dude]

Because most of the things you said aren't true?

The only day I couldn't play was the first day.

Thousands of people could buy the game, it's called a "limited release" for areason.

And your third point is just your first point (which was incorrect) said a second time...

If you think the Darkfall launch was bad, you really haven't been at many MMO launches.

All I remember was that Darkfall came out and I couldn't play it for 3 weeks no matter what. Maybe it was because it was a limited release but that's a stupid fucking thing to do because they made no mention of a limited release until after the fact. I lost interest because by the time I could play, the balance of everything was ruined.

I played the EQ Launch, the AoC Launch, the Matrix Online Launch, City of Heroes Launch, and the WoW launch. They all were fine.

[Signus]

Maybe it was because it was a limited release but that's a stupid fucking thing to do because they made no mention of a limited release until after the fact.



They said there would be a limited launch in November. They then reminded everyone it was a limited release in just about every news update leading up to the launch.



I played the EQ Launch, the AoC Launch, the Matrix Online Launch, City of Heroes Launch, and the WoW launch. They all were fine.

Age of Conan didn't have any features at launch, and it didn't even have a game world functioning outside of the tutorial zone.

EverQuest was extremely buggy at launch, with most things broken or only half functional.

The other two I cannot speak for.

[t1337Dude]

They said there would be a limited launch in November. They then reminded everyone it was a limited release in just about every news update leading up to the launch.



Age of Conan didn't have any features at launch, and it didn't even have a game world functioning outside of the tutorial zone.

EverQuest was extremely buggy at launch, with most things broken or only half functional.

The other two I cannot speak for.

AoC worked fine for me. The tutorial zone was huge and I spent at least a day there so I had no problems by the time I got out.

[Nunz]

Leetdude has to be a troll...


I was there for matrix, wow and aoc...


Wow servers came up when they were supposed to but the game was sold out at many places for days *limited release* and still suffered horrible Q times and lag that made simple tasks like mining impossible. Also servers were not stable for months.

AoC had nothing in game, like was already pointed out. Every boss could be bugged and killed over and over for the first month... Something I witnessed and took part in. There was no crafting at all for months into the game.. no sieges.. and pvp was broken. The best part of that game was grinding up lowbies in kesh at the large spawns. Launch was also delayed for hours... Go here: http://www.myspace.com/omgnothx and listen to Vent Music. That's what we did while waiting for AoC to go live.

Matrix was just a horrible game that no one played and honestly, I only played it for a week before I quit. I'm not sure if the game was buggy or if it was just shit. Couldn't tell the difference.


Edit: AOC didn't even have names or class specific gear on any bosses. The only way you could tell if it was for your class was if it had an orange background or not....

Edit2: How can you say AoC Was smooth? There was a bug that kept people in a cut scene for days or until a gm finally got around to fixing the issue for them.. It was horrible.

[t1337Dude]

Leetdude has to be a troll...


I was there for matrix, wow and aoc...


Wow servers came up when they were supposed to but the game was sold out at many places for days *limited release* and still suffered horrible Q times and lag that made simple tasks like mining impossible. Also servers were not stable for months.

AoC had nothing in game, like was already pointed out. Every boss could be bugged and killed over and over for the first month... Something I witnessed and took part in. There was no crafting at all for months into the game.. no sieges.. and pvp was broken. The best part of that game was grinding up lowbies in kesh at the large spawns. Launch was also delayed for hours... Go here: http://www.myspace.com/omgnothx and listen to Vent Music. That's what we did while waiting for AoC to go live.

Matrix was just a horrible game that no one played and honestly, I only played it for a week before I quit. I'm not sure if the game was buggy or if it was just shit. Couldn't tell the difference.


Edit: AOC didn't even have names or class specific gear on any bosses. The only way you could tell if it was for your class was if it had an orange background or not....

Edit2: How can you say AoC Was smooth? There was a bug that kept people in a cut scene for days or until a gm finally got around to fixing the issue for them.. It was horrible.

AoC worked perfect for me. :sly:

[Nunz]

AoC worked perfect for me. :sly:

Dude, this isn't a debate. We're talking about actual events in the AOC launch. If you consider that perfect you have very low expectations.

[t1337Dude]

Dude, this isn't a debate. We're talking about actual events in the AOC launch. If you consider that perfect you have very low expectations.

What I remember about the AoC Launch: I bought the game, I logged in, and I played. The worst thing that happened what an occasional crash that happened once an hour, but that was my hardware and not the server.

[Nunz]

What I remember about the AoC Launch: I bought the game, I logged in, and I played. The worst thing that happened what an occasional crash that happened once an hour, but that was my hardware and not the server.

Ya well you played a broken as shit game that you were just too horrible at to realize.

And playing a game at launch isn't buying it a month after release and logging in asking where the bank is in /1 until someone gets tired of seeing your screen name and finally answers you.

It usually involves having the game prior to release and sitting in vent watching the time tick by and bitching with your homies about how bad the devs are because they said servers would be up at 12:00pm and its 12:45 and they still haven't updated you.

[t1337Dude]

Ya well you played a broken as shit game that you were just too horrible at to realize.

Maybe the game didn't work outside of the tutorial zone, but I was too busy camping people on the newbie island to find out.

[Rossco]

What I remember about the AoC Launch: I bought the game, I logged in, and I played. The worst thing that happened what an occasional crash that happened once an hour, but that was my hardware and not the server.

Leave, your annoying.

EDIT: Ahem. Brannoc.

[t1337Dude]

Ya well you played a broken as shit game that you were just too horrible at to realize.

And playing a game at launch isn't buying it a month after release and logging in asking where the bank is in /1 until someone gets tired of seeing your screen name and finally answers you.

It usually involves having the game prior to release and sitting in vent watching the time tick by and bitching with your homies about how bad the devs are because they said servers would be up at 12:00pm and its 12:45 and they still haven't updated you.

I had work and shit so I can't really claim I was sitting there at midnight waiting to play the game. But it still worked, and I could play it. The only thing that didn't make it until later was besieging guild fortresses I believe.

[GRCPan]

Twitch combat, aiming spells, aiming arrows, naval combat, city building, city sieging, full loot, PvP anywhere, I'd say that covers the main features, and all were in at launch.


Age of Conan didn't have any features at launch, and it didn't even have a game world functioning outside of the tutorial zone.


It had a target system, directional attacks, classes, city building, pvp anywhere, quests.

You see what I did there?

[t1337Dude]

Leave, your annoying.

EDIT: Ahem. Brannoc.

Lmfao, get out of here kid. *points at join date*.

You too, Signus.

[Nunz]

I had work and shit so I can't really claim I was sitting there at midnight waiting to play the game. But it still worked, and I could play it. The only thing that didn't make it until later was besieging guild fortresses I believe.

Crafting wasnt in. Gems weren't in. I'm not sure if they ever put in private stores. Every instanced boss in the game was bugged. Some didn't drop loot. Some could be bugged with necro pets. There was no cooldown on instances bosses. Well there was but if you switched out the raid leader you got him up again. Necro pets tanking the worm all night long allowing you to kill it 30 times a day... Dragon not dropping his tooth.. Dragon being bugged into the forward wall and slowly killed from the window over and over? (LOL WORLD FIRST)

Barbs cyclonex3... charge 1 shots?

Do you even remember the lowbie pyramid instance? It was broken as fuck..

Then came the fixes.. The one mob in the game that was cool (Spell gazer??) could one shot a whole raid party if it wasn't kept CCd while every other mob was killed in the room... They nerfd the shit out of it and made it boring as fuck...

I wont even go into grinding with 1 shot specs.. Killing 20 mobs at a time leveling your whole guild to 80 in a week...
And yes.. the 1 supposed saving grace of the game. Sieges. They came a year later...

[t1337Dude]

Crafting wasnt in. Gems weren't in. I'm not sure if they ever put in private stores. Every instanced boss in the game was bugged. Some didn't drop loot. Some could be bugged with necro pets. There was no cooldown on instances bosses. Well there was but if you switched out the raid leader you got him up again. Necro pets tanking the worm all night long allowing you to kill it 30 times a day... Dragon not dropping his tooth.. Dragon being bugged into the forward wall and slowly killed from the window over and over? (LOL WORLD FIRST)

Barbs cyclonex3... charge 1 shots?

Do you even remember the lowbie pyramid instance? It was broken as fuck..

Then came the fixes.. The one mob in the game that was cool (Spell gazer??) could one shot a whole raid party if it wasn't kept CCd while every other mob was killed in the room... They nerfd the shit out of it and made it boring as fuck...

I wont even go into grinding with 1 shot specs.. Killing 20 mobs at a time leveling your whole guild to 80 in a week...
And yes.. the 1 supposed saving grace of the game. Sieges. They came a year later...

Instanced bosses worked fine for me. The rest you listed are small things that apparently didn't stand out enough for me to care. And besides all this: at least Age of Conan let me play at launch. Which is more than I can say about Darkfall.

EDIT: And sieges came out a year later? That explains why the first siege was held 2 months later? Hmmm...

[Nunz]

Instanced bosses worked fine for me. The rest you listed are small things that apparently didn't stand out enough for me to care. And besides all this: at least Age of Conan let me play at launch. Which is more than I can say about Darkfall.

Did you get a copy of darkfall at release?


EDIT: Because the siege system was brokennnnn.. You couldnt take cities.. It bugged out. Gratz on not playing the game though.

[t1337Dude]

Did you get a copy of darkfall at release?

Nope, procuring a copy of the game was almost impossible. In the end I stopped caring because the beta was too lackluster.

[xpiher]

Lmfao, get out of here kid. *points at join date*.

You too, Signus.

DFO launch > AoC launch. I even defended AoC but the launch was terrible. Zones not working, tool tips not present, people falling through the world for taking stairs, people being stuck in cut scenes, mobs not dying, quest not working, sieges not working, massive lag, etc.


Edit: Almost forgot about charge spam. That shit was funny

[Nunz]

Nope, procuring a copy of the game was almost impossible. In the end I stopped caring because the beta was too lackluster.

So you didn't get a copy of the game during limited edition release and couldn't play it?

I mean... You cant really compare darkfall release and aoc release if you didn't get a copy of darkfall for release.

I got a copy for release.. Was online the first day.

[t1337Dude]

So you didn't get a copy of the game during limited edition release and couldn't play it?

I mean... You cant really compare darkfall release and aoc release if you didn't get a copy of darkfall for release.

I got a copy for release.. Was online the first day.

Exactly, I couldn't even play Darkfall if I wanted to. A good launch at least lets you buy the game with minimal hassle.

[t1337Dude]

DFO launch > AoC launch. I even defended AoC but the launch was terrible. Zones not working, tool tips not present, people falling through the world for taking stairs, people being stuck in cut scenes, mobs not dying, quest not working, sieges not working, massive lag, etc.


Edit: Almost forgot about charge spam. That shit was funny

Oh no, not the tool tips!

[xpiher]

Exactly, I couldn't even play Darkfall if I wanted to. A good launch at least lets you buy the game with minimal hassle.

Limited release doesn't mean the launch is bad. DFO's launch was bad for other reasons, but that wasn't one of them.

[t1337Dude]

Limited release doesn't mean the launch is bad. DFO's launch was bad for other reasons, but that wasn't one of them.

It's pretty bad if by the time you can actually play the game : there's already established guilds and people already have a footing in everything. In a game as competitive as Darkfall, only letting certain people into the game is pretty weak. It's a bad idea and was discouraging as fuck.

[Signus]

Oh boy... this seems like it'll get ugly.

[Nunz]

Exactly, I couldn't even play Darkfall if I wanted to. A good launch at least lets you buy the game with minimal hassle.

You either got the first few thousand copies or you didn't. Pretty simple.

And you're not a hardcore gamer. It's pretty easy to spot by your description of AoC. Why would 3 weeks make the difference for you? Why would 3 weeks make the difference to anybody?

Were, what, 8 months into this game now? I've probably played about 4 of those..

And even if I didn't get darkfall on release I would have when I could. I don't understand this Christmas morning bullshit, sitting up waiting for Santa to come. I'm pretty sure you're an adult male. Might want to get over the whole give me now thing. Especially 8 months later.


Edit oh and there were established guilds coming into darkfall 8 years prior to release.

[t1337Dude]

You either got the first few thousand copies or you didn't. Pretty simple.

And you're not a hardcore gamer. It's pretty easy to spot by your description of AoC. Why would 3 weeks make the difference for you? Why would 3 weeks make the difference to anybody?

Were, what, 8 months into this game now? I've probably played about 4 of those..

And even if I didn't get darkfall on release I would have when I could. I don't understand this Christmas morning bullshit, sitting up waiting for Santa to come. I'm pretty sure you're an adult male. Might want to get over the whole give me now thing. Especially 8 months later.

If by hardcore gamer, you mean "defender of Darkfall", you're right, I'm not a defender of Darkfall. If MMORPG.com gave this game 2nd place in worst MMO launches of all time, I'm sure it must've been worse than AoC. Especially considering AoC didn't even make that list.

You guys complain that boss AI or some shit didn't work. Darkfall's AI for ALL monsters was out of sync. Talk about fuck up.

[Nunz]

If by hardcore gamer, you mean "defender of Darkfall", you're right, I'm not a defender of Darkfall. If MMORPG.com gave this game 2nd place in worst MMO launches of all time, I'm sure it must've been worse than AoC.

I guess you are what you eat.


Like if someone on here came out and made a list of the actual issues of darkfalls release.. I wouldn't have said a word. But this article and you're reasoning are just ill-informed. I love this game and I could make a list a whole hell of a lot more cynical and informed about darkfalls screwups than you or this idiot at mmo-whatever.

[Signus]

AoC worked perfect for me. :sly:

And Vanguard worked perfect for me except for one bugged quest. But this was not the case with the vast majority of people.

And he's right, certain things are not up to debate. Crafting wasn't in game, neither was city building, DX10, PvP wasn't working, sieging wasn't working, no drunken brawling, no spell weaving, nothing worked. They had the tutorial zone, that was it. If you enjoyed paying 50 dollars for a tutorial... more power to ya I guess.
It had a target system, directional attacks, classes, city building, pvp anywhere, quests.

You see what I did there?

Actually... the directional attacks were not fully in. They said 8 directional attacks, but instead delivered 3 directions. City building was broken for months. You could not PvP because there were no cities to siege because city building and PvP was broken. 4 months later when they finally had the first siege it was limited to about 40 people in an instanced zone. PvP anywhere, right?

And most quests were broken, and outside the tutorial zone, they almost didn't even exist.

It's pretty bad if by the time you can actually play the game : there's already established guilds and people already have a footing in everything. In a game as competitive as Darkfall, only letting certain people into the game is pretty weak. It's a bad idea and was discouraging as fuck.


It was that, or absolutely NO ONE played. Only the selfish would pick the latter option.

Limited release doesn't mean the launch is bad. DFO's launch was bad for other reasons, but that wasn't one of them.


Truth. It wasn't the smoothest launch in history by a long shot. But it wasn't anywhere near as bad as AoC.

[t1337Dude]

It was that, or absolutely NO ONE played. Only the selfish would pick the latter option.



I'd prefer a delay to a shitty launch. Especially considering that this entire time Tasos was claiming that they spent months of time to asure Darkfall would have the smoothest launch possible.

[t1337Dude]

I guess you are what you eat.


Like if someone on here came out and made a list of the actual issues of darkfalls release.. I wouldn't have said a word. But this article and you're reasoning are just ill-informed. I love this game and I could make a list a whole hell of a lot more cynical and informed about darkfalls screwups than you or this idiot at mmo-whatever.

:rolleyes:

I'm sure you could. I'm not going to doubt that. But AoC's launch wasn't that bad. At all.

[Signus]

I'd prefer a delay to a shitty launch. Especially considering that this entire time Tasos was claiming that they spent months of time to asure Darkfall would have the smoothest launch possible.

This coming from you, who told me that they "didn't say it was a limited release until after the fact!" You realize you have absolutely NO credibility left, right?

Do you also realize that no delay would have allowed 300 thousand people to enter the world all at once? Unless someone dropped like, 50 million dollars on them, to afford them months of extra development and building several brand new server farms.

[Nunz]

:rolleyes:

I'm sure you could. I'm not going to doubt that. But AoC's launch wasn't that bad. At all.

Compared to what other launch?

[t1337Dude]

This coming from you, who told me that they "didn't say it was a limited release until after the fact!" You realize you have absolutely NO credibility left, right?

Do you also realize that no delay would have allowed 300 thousand people to enter the world all at once? Unless someone dropped like, 50 million dollars on them, to afford them months of extra development and building several brand new server farms.

Aventurine should have taken the 300,000 sales. Then they could ditch and they'd be in better off condition than they are in now.

[Signus]

Compared to what other launch?

Nevermind, no point in arguing with him. I can't tell if he's a Funcom fanboy (those exist?) or a troll but whatever it is, he's just shooting down arguments by going "nope, didn't happen to me! I stayed in the tutorial zone, and it worked, therefore the launch was perfect!"

The funny is, his logic is, if Aventurine had given the players only a 5 by 5 yard box to play in, and turned a limited form of combat on, and nothing else, it would have been considered a good launch. Having a good tutorial != a good launch

[Nunz]

Aventurine should have taken the 300,000 sales. Then they could ditch and they'd be in better off condition than they are in now.

GG


Peace

[t1337Dude]

Compared to what other launch?


Compared to any other of the launches I listed originally. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't terrible. A few minor problems that occured to only some people doesn't qualify as a "terrible launch". A terrible launch would consist of a launch where couldn't even play due to all of the problems.

[t1337Dude]

Nevermind, no point in arguing with him. I can't tell if he's a Funcom fanboy (those exist?) or a troll but whatever it is, he's just shooting down arguments by going "nope, didn't happen to me! I stayed in the tutorial zone, and it worked, therefore the launch was perfect!"

At the launch of Age of Conan, they had working forums.

Can't even give that to Darkfall. :sly:

[Tibernicus]

At the launch of Age of Conan, they had working forums.

Can't even give that to Darkfall. :sly:

Actually, they banned most of the users from their forum for submitting bug reports. Anyone reporting a bug or asking for help or asking for a GM to help them got banned.

There's a reason Funcom's partners went bankrupt and the CEO behind Age of Conan got fired. (hint, it's cause the launch was an abomination)

[t1337Dude]

Actually, they banned most of the users from their forum for submitting bug reports. Anyone reporting a bug or asking for help or asking for a GM to help them got banned.

There's a reason Funcom's partners went bankrupt and the CEO behind Age of Conan got fired. (hint, it's cause the launch was an abomination)
Never got banned myself for submitting bug reports. Ok, let's say the launch was complete shit, it still wasn't as bad as Darkfall's.

[xpiher]

It's pretty bad if by the time you can actually play the game : there's already established guilds and people already have a footing in everything. In a game as competitive as Darkfall, only letting certain people into the game is pretty weak. It's a bad idea and was discouraging as fuck.

In other words you aren't confident enough in your ability to get established in already established game. Got ya.

Seriously though, EvE has been going on for years and new guild pop up all the time that get top tier.

If by hardcore gamer, you mean "defender of Darkfall", you're right, I'm not a defender of Darkfall. If MMORPG.com gave this game 2nd place in worst MMO launches of all time, I'm sure it must've been worse than AoC. Especially considering AoC didn't even make that list.

You guys complain that boss AI or some shit didn't work. Darkfall's AI for ALL monsters was out of sync. Talk about fuck up.

MMORPG didn't one of their bloggers did and he didn't mention any of the games that were worse. VG should of gotten second easily, AoC should be 4th the rest I agree with but Aion.

FYI AI and sync issues are two different things. The sync issues were fixed day 3 if I remember correctly.

Seriously, Darkfall had its issues, but it didn't have more issues than AoC or VG

Compared to any other of the launches I listed originally. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't terrible. A few minor problems that occured to only some people doesn't qualify as a "terrible launch". A terrible launch would consist of a launch where couldn't even play due to all of the problems.

AoC's launch was worse than DFOs. I was there for both. At least DFO worked execpt for sync issues. AoC barely worked outside tortage.

[t1337Dude]

In other words you aren't confident enough in your ability to get established in already established game. Got ya.

Seriously though, EvE has been going on for years and new guild pop up all the time that get top tier.



MMORPG didn't one of their bloggers did and he didn't mention any of the games that were worse. VG should of gotten second easily, AoC should be 4th the rest I agree with but Aion.

FYI AI and sync issues are two different things. The sync issues were fixed day 3 if I remember correctly.

Seriously, Darkfall had its issues, but it didn't have more issues than AoC or VG



AoC's launch was worse than DFOs. I was there for both. At least DFO worked execpt for sync issues. AoC barely worked outside tortage.

If AoC's launch was so bad, then why were the review scores so good? Don't you think they would've bombed the game a little harder?

[xpiher]

If AoC's launch was so bad, then why were the review scores so good? Don't you think they would've bombed the game a little harder?

Because game companies pay mags for reviews.

Its obvious you didn't play the game outside tortage for the first month or else you would of fallen through the world just walking around a city

[Tibernicus]

If AoC's launch was so bad, then why were the review scores so good? Don't you think they would've bombed the game a little harder?

Because it was high budget, pretty, had a TON of marketing behind it, because Funcom very likely dumped money into reviewers laps, and lastly, because they probably only played the tutorial thinking the whole game would be like that.

[xpiher]

Because it was high budget, pretty, had a TON of marketing behind it, because Funcom very likely dumped money into reviewers laps, and lastly, because they probably only played the tutorial thinking the whole game would be like that.

pretty much sums it up. All the reviews were based on the tutorial and the reviews after month 3 were shity. I know, I defended the damn game because I enjoyed all the until the point DFO came out.

[t1337Dude]

Because game companies pay mags for reviews. And the reviews for AoC didn't hit until 3months after launch.

Its obvious you didn't play the game outside tortage for the first month or else you would of fallen through the world just walking around a city

The first string of reviews that came out within weeks of the game's release gave the game VERY good scores. I did play the game outside of Tortage, and like I said, it worked fine.

[t1337Dude]

Because it was high budget, pretty, had a TON of marketing behind it, because Funcom very likely dumped money into reviewers laps, and lastly, because they probably only played the tutorial thinking the whole game would be like that.

Yea, since high budget games never fail with the reviewers. :rolleyes:

[xpiher]

The first string of reviews that came out within weeks of the game's release gave the game VERY good scores. I did play the game outside of Tortage, and like I said, it worked fine.

I don't believe you. My friend had a top rig at the time and he feel through the world on like day 5 in a loop.

Yea, since high budget games never fail with the reviewers. :rolleyes:

They generall don't. Look at the games released in 2008

AoC - Good reviews, horrible launch
WAR - Good reviews, no content to speak of

Both games were pretty much shit.

[t1337Dude]

I don't believe you. My friend had a top rig at the time and he feel through the world on like day 5 in a loop.



They generall don't. Look at the games released in 2008

AoC - Good reviews, horrible launch
WAR - Good reviews, no content to speak of

Both games were pretty much shit.

What would having a top of the line rig have to do with falling through the world? A shittier system isn't going to make you any more or less likely to do so - that's an issue that is server side and client side. And I wasn't speaking strictly MMOs, but whatever floats your boat.

[xpiher]

What would having a top of the line rig have to do with falling through the world? A shittier system isn't going to make you any more or less likely to do so - that's an issue that is server side and client side. And I wasn't speaking strictly MMOs, but whatever floats your boat.

Both of those games I listed were MMOs...

[t1337Dude]

Both of those games I listed were MMOs...

Exactly, and I said I wasn't speaking exclusively of MMOs. There are plenty of games that are hyped with a shitload of marketing with pretty graphics and fall flat on their face. Age of Conan didn't get good scores because of marketing.

[xpiher]

Exactly, and I said I wasn't speaking exclusively of MMOs. There are plenty of games that are hyped with a shitload of marketing with pretty graphics and fall flat on their face. Age of Conan didn't get good scores because of marketing.

Yes it did. Look at the 3month and 6month reviews. The mags changed their tone from wow this game is awesome to "can this game be profitable again?"

[t1337Dude]

Yes it did. Look at the 3month and 6month reviews. The mags changed their tone from wow this game is awesome to "can this game be profitable again?"

The 3 month and 6 month reviews still point to a grade of at least 80% on average.

[Zarithas]

Yes it did. Look at the 3month and 6month reviews. The mags changed their tone from wow this game is awesome to "can this game be profitable again?"
If you looked at AoC from levels 1-20, the game actually seemed pretty innovative and good, which is probably why it initially got so many good reviews. Then it was quickly realized the devs spent most of the developing process up to level 20 and then sort of forgot about what was supposed to happen after that, other than some filler quests and dumb storylines.

I think if another company took over AoC, and if they were given a year or so to spruce it up and add in a real PvP system, siege system, and territory control bonus system, then the game would actually be damn good.

[t1337Dude]

I think if another company took over AoC, and if they were given a year or so to spruce it up and add in a real PvP system, siege system, and territory control bonus system, then the game would actually be damn good.
Didn't this already happen in a sense? They replaced a shitload of staff and vowed to rebuild the game to how it should of been - and I keep hearing how AoC is better now.

[xpiher]

If you looked at AoC from levels 1-20, the game actually seemed pretty innovative and good, which is probably why it initially got so many good reviews. Then it was quickly realized the devs spent most of the developing process up to level 20 and then sort of forgot about what was supposed to happen after that, other than some filler quests and dumb storylines.

I think if another company took over AoC, and if they were given a year or so to spruce it up and add in a real PvP system, siege system, and territory control bonus system, then the game would actually be damn good.

After they fired the original game director and replaced him with the current one, the guy who brought AO back from the brink, the game started to get turned around. Its actually much better now, but so many new games are coming out with full FPS combat mechanics that I just can't go back.

Didn't this already happen in a sense? They replaced a shitload of staff and vowed to rebuild the game to how it should of been - and I keep hearing how AoC is better now.

They fired 1 guy.

[Crazy Hermit]

In other words you aren't confident enough in your ability to get established in already established game. Got ya.


If you mean that he isn't established in darkfall then you are probably right, more than 90% of off-topics regular posters dont actually play darkfall, although a lot of us were beta testers. One positive thing I can say about the beta was that the falling from high places in game gave me the feeling I was falling.

[t1337Dude]

After they fired the original game director and replaced him with the current one, the guy who brought AO back from the brink, the game started to get turned around. Its actually much better now, but so many new games are coming out with full FPS combat mechanics that I just can't go back.



They fired 1 guy.

Must've been a real asshole.

[ejnomad07]

Where is Dark & Light?

[Zaffax]

Stability wise, AoC was an amazing launch. Content wise, it was complete fail. PvE cities were destructable, a heavily spread dupe was in the game, the "economy" was permanently destroyed with a flood of epic weapons, all raid bosses were intentionally bugged/unkillable, guards designed to defend noobs were killable and did 1 dmg to high lvl characters, destiny quest system was broken, loots from quest didnt match classes (epic dagger for hox's which couldnt even use the weapon), useless mounted "combat", spell weiving would auto crash zones when done in proper combination, etc.
The game was a complete fail at launch. Was it stable, yes. Was tortage fun, yes. Was everything past the first 20 lvls complete fail, absolutely.

[Haeso]

If AoC's launch was so bad, then why were the review scores so good? Don't you think they would've bombed the game a little harder?

Actually I remember at least one reviewer that the community raided their sites/blogs etc until they made a second review of the mid-end game. I can't think of the name right now but the guy who had been an absolute fanboy and posted an amazing positive review and then made another review and admitted the game was fucking awful other than tutorial-island.

[Zaffax]

The irony.
http://forums.darkfallonline.com/showthread.php?t=203484
(Yes I am aware this refers to NA)

[Rhade]

And Vanguard worked perfect for me except for one bugged quest. But this was not the case with the vast majority of people.

And he's right, certain things are not up to debate. Crafting wasn't in game, neither was city building, DX10, PvP wasn't working, sieging wasn't working, no drunken brawling, no spell weaving, nothing worked. They had the tutorial zone, that was it. If you enjoyed paying 50 dollars for a tutorial... more power to ya I guess.


Actually... the directional attacks were not fully in. They said 8 directional attacks, but instead delivered 3 directions. City building was broken for months. You could not PvP because there were no cities to siege because city building and PvP was broken. 4 months later when they finally had the first siege it was limited to about 40 people in an instanced zone. PvP anywhere, right?

And most quests were broken, and outside the tutorial zone, they almost didn't even exist.




It was that, or absolutely NO ONE played. Only the selfish would pick the latter option.




Truth. It wasn't the smoothest launch in history by a long shot. But it wasn't anywhere near as bad as AoC.

To be totally honest, Signus, you couldn't siege when Darkfall launched either.

Our alliance was the first to drop a challenge shard in Darkfall retail; we waited the 4 hour timer, only to find siege hammers didn't effect clan stones! We paged a GM, he told us siege hammers "weren't designed" to attack clanstones, yet it said they were in the description. Months after that, Hyperion attacked Tiquiya, and their cannons nor their hammers were able to damage the stone when it went vulnerable.

Let's keep things honest here, and present the full picture, not just one side.
Hell, by your logic, I could say PvP didn't exist early on because sieges were not possible due to siege equipment not damaging stones, making PvP meaningless, but I'm not out to make Darkfall look bad... or good.

[xpiher]

Where is Dark & Light?

I think he said that game didn't count because it never really launched. For that matter where is Mourning :lmao:

[Gunther TheBlack]

What I remember about the AoC Launch: I bought the game, I logged in, and I played. The worst thing that happened what an occasional crash that happened once an hour, but that was my hardware and not the server.


I could login on day one of Darkfall and actually managed to get gold and get our guild created(without any keys). The 20th clan that got created so there were a lot of others that had a decent day as well.

So to me Darkfall release had np's apart from the desynched mobs.

With every release some people have it good and some have it bad.

[Jangang]

I didn't have the described problems w/ either Shadowbane, or Aion... I remember good ole' Play to Crash... But never had any billing issues or anything of the like...

Tho the dreaded Error = 2 thing still haunts my dreams that wasn't exactly a launch issue.

As for Aion I've never seen a queue. If people try to pull an Archimonde and all play on the same server than they should expect queues... Not a launch problem, more of a "people are stupid" problem.

Two games more deserving than any on that list would be...

Mourning... LOL Failure to Launch is more like it.
&
Asheron's Call 2... You know the one where they forgot to make the game.

[Brannoc]

I've played most every MMO that has launched since the late 90's, and I can't think of a single one that didn't have monumental problems at least in the first seven days. Everyone has problems going into these things, picking five at random is just entertaining writing. :)

[Rhade]

I've played most every MMO that has launched since the late 90's, and I can't think of a single one that didn't have monumental problems at least in the first seven days. Everyone has problems going into these things, picking five at random is just entertaining writing. :)

When comparing which launch is the worst, just because you don't make the list doesn't mean your launch is good.

Yes, almost every MMO launch is "poor" in some manner, it's a huge undertaking.

Some people just fail a bit harder than others, but it is all subjective.

[88Chaz88]

I've played most every MMO that has launched since the late 90's, and I can't think of a single one that didn't have monumental problems at least in the first seven days. Everyone has problems going into these things, picking five at random is just entertaining writing. :)

Yes but most people are at least able to buy the game at launch, and even a few weeks afterwards.

That's more than I can say for Darkfall's launch.