f13.net

Choose to believe in one of the Gods and watch its power grow. Fight heretics and burn their temples to rob their Gods of power. Or start a new cult: with enough believers your God might be powerful enough to enter the Pantheon.

I don't trust game websites that look like a *nuke derivative.

Zero = zero + zero?

Which one, Taonas?  Mourning?  If so, oh dear! 

It's like they took Peter Jacksons films, stripped out all of the combat and dialog, and quadrupled the length of time watching them walk (granted, the hardcore fans of the books would have applauded the authenticity... )

They've recently updated the website with more information, screenshots a single picture and so on.

How exactly is it that these projects keep finding funding? I have to imagine that they get funding, as the people working on the things can't subsist off air. If they even exist. And I'm pretty sure they're never funded by the developers themselves. It just seems to me that after so many micro mmo's like this have either bottomed out or 'released' and flopped, people would stop giving out money to these projects.

If you look at small businesses that have external investors, a lot of them fail too. However, it is the chance of success that drives further investment.

Also, all you need is a rich sugar daddy nerd who wants to get into the games industry and you've got your line of capital.

Except the chance of success in these cases is pretty much zero? And I can only think of one rich sugar daddy nerd who wants to get into the games industry, and he already has GMG.

How exactly is it that these projects keep finding funding? I have to imagine that they get funding, as the people working on the things can't subsist off air. If they even exist. And I'm pretty sure they're never funded by the developers themselves. It just seems to me that after so many micro mmo's like this have either bottomed out or 'released' and flopped, people would stop giving out money to these projects.

Well this might come as a bit of a shock, but there is a guild with about 100 fans that are buying around a £1000 worth of shares in the company, with other members buying lower amounts.

Crazy.

Is it Ebonlore? It's brilliant! They buy their way into beta to figure out all the exploits first hand.
 :grin:

Is it Ebonlore? It's brilliant! They buy their way into beta to figure out all the exploits first hand.
 :grin:

Lol--haven't heard that name in a while. EL was the only guild to go to the Fear server straight out of beta in Shadowbane ;) We pushed 'em off, then proceeded to have some real fun.

huh

just stumbled onto this title and after having read a little about it, it certainly seems great. Of course one needs to take all the devs bullshit with a grain of salt, but this game sounds like UO in a modern form

huh

just stumbled onto this title and after having read a little about it, it certainly seems great. Of course one needs to take all the devs bullshit with a grain of salt, but this game sounds like UO in a modern form

The balance of Mortal Online’s open-PvP relies heavily on its flagging system. Each player and NPC (Non-Player Characters, Creatures etc) in the game has a flag (color) that is visible to you when you highlight or target them. The color will tell you some basic facts about that player, for instance if it’s “ok” to attack him/her or not, although you will never be forbidden to do so by the system. You too have a flag of course, visible to yourself at all times.

Getting to know the basics of the flagging system is easy when playing the game, but unfortunately rather complex to describe. However, when you first start playing, all you need to know is:

    * Neutral/Blue players are innocent (well, as innocent as they get) and it’s not ok for you to damage them. You may not steal from them, or cast suspicious spells on them either. Nor poison them. If you do so, you become Allowed/Grey. Kill enough of them and you will eventually be flagged as a Murderer/Red.

    * Allowed/Gray players have behaved badly in some way against you or someone else in the last few minutes, meaning you can attack them without becoming Grey for everybody else. But remember, if you attack them first, they have the right to attack you back! (Meaning they see you as Grey.)

    * Murderers/Red players have committed several murders, and you better look out for them. You can attack them without turning Grey for everybody else, but if you attack first, they have the right to attack you back! (Meaning they see you as Grey.)


Loot from other players and specific objects in the world share this system as well and will be colored accordingly. That means it’s ok to loot or interact with all Red and Grey stuff you see, but if you mess with Blue stuff you will become Grey yourself.

If you decide to join a Player Guild that is at war with another Player Guild, special rules apply. You will still see their flag/color, but they will be treated by the system as Grey – and so will you for them!

As the system itself will always allow you to attack, steal, enchant, poison or kill any color/flag you like whenever you want, you might ask what the colors/flags are for except decoration. The main reasons are:

    *

      Cities and villages may have guard zones, where it’s possible to call for the guards to capture or kill any Grey or Red player, if they’re not already doing so.

    *

      Certain merchants may choose not to trade with Grey or Red players.

    *

      Players of every color may take the opportunity to attack Grey or Red players, as they can do so without getting “Grey for all” themselves.
    * Red players may loose stats if they resurrect too soon after being killed. Also, most healers will simply refuse to resurrect murderers.

This is probably all you will need to know when first starting to play Mortal Online. However, the flagging system goes much deeper than this as it is the foundation for balanced conflict in the game. This section will be updated with more stats and specifics later on.

    * Red players may loose stats if they resurrect too soon after being killed. Also, most healers will simply refuse to resurrect murderers.

Star Vault AB: Mortal Online Alfa release
As previously announced the internal release of the Alfa-version of Mortal Online has
been completed on Monday December 1st and Mortal Online has now been listed on one of
the major game rating sites mmorpg.com
Together with the development team and Henrik Nyström, CEO, 7 invited guests were the first gamers to
actually test the Alfa version of Mortal Online. As expected there are a number of bugs and not all the
features are implemented, but overall the Alfa release performs as expected. More information about the
Alfa will be released in the Mortal Online Newsletter in December.
During December the Alfa testing will be completed together with the preparations for the Beta-phase.
Beta development will start in January 2009.

They probably are staged to some degree, like most pre-release screenshots :heart:

I don't know what "Dawn" is though.

I get this eerie dawn feeling from those screenshots. They look terribly staged.

(http://www.mmoginfo.com/imagenes/foto_dawn.jpg)

Dawn=MMOG announced by Glitchless in 1999, promising everything any MMOG player could imagine, from fetus tossing catapults to a terraformable planet with 180 million square miles.  Stirred up a lot of fanboy froth but, of course, never produced anything except for a web based thing called Race Wars.  Even today it is the subject of much ridicule...

Google Lum Dawn  It's pretty amusing.

For the life of me I cannot understand how or why fanbois exist in the first place in this industry.  I mean, even if you are excited about the concept of a new game, why do people defend it as if they are a member of some strange cult.  And more importantly, in a world where we have seen over-hyped failures crash and burn constantly, how is it that people aren't more skeptical?  If I hadn't already lost all faith in humanity, I'd lose it again.  Other than politics, I can't think of another industry that regularly promises so much, rarely ever delivers, and still has people willing to fight to the death to defend them.

For the life of me I cannot understand how or why fanbois exist in the first place in this industry.  I mean, even if you are excited about the concept of a new game, why do people defend it as if they are a member of some strange cult.  And more importantly, in a world where we have seen over-hyped failures crash and burn constantly, how is it that people aren't more skeptical?  If I hadn't already lost all faith in humanity, I'd lose it again.  Other than politics, I can't think of another industry that regularly promises so much, rarely ever delivers, and still has people willing to fight to the death to defend them.

There's a countdown on the website now. Not sure what it's for though;

http://www.mortalonline.com/

Not what I meant, not even a little.

I know why LC follows stuff like this. I can grok that.

I'm trying to understand why someone else would.

You know what, this game looks promising.

Dawn ... Even today it is the subject of much ridicule...

If you paypal me 40$US I'll give you a alpha key to my new MMOG. 

There's a countdown on the website now. Not sure what it's for though;

http://www.mortalonline.com/

Q: What game engine does Mortal Online use?

A: Unreal Engine 3, together with other third-part technologies.

 
Q: We know from the Mortal Online website that it has an expansive and intriguing back story. How will the quest lines in the game follow it?

A: First of all, I want to make it clear that there are no regular "quests" in MO, just like there are no "levels" or generic "experience points". We have chosen to embed the majority of the lore in the world itself for you as a player to discover, if you are interested, instead of reading about it beforehand or getting it fed to you by NPC’s with flashing exclamation marks over their heads.

What we do have, are very big quests in the form of riddles and chains-of-events spread about in the world that will often involve several players or guilds, and from time to time affect the development of the world. These quests will start slowly even from day one, and we have some deep events planned for the players - where their actions will get reflected back upon the world and the rest of the future players. We’ve even presented clues for some of these events before the game starts, one is embedded in the countdown image on www.mortalonline.com


Q: How much of Mortal Online's game play will be focused on PvP?

A: The entire game is developed with PvP in focus. This doesn’t mean there is no PvE only that our game is built on PvP with added PvE - not the other way around which is very common in other MMO’s. In other words, we make sure every game feature works well with the open PvP.

Regarding PvE, we have not put that much effort into AI, and as I stated before there are no "pick a hundred apples"-quests to guide you through the world. However gathering, mining, exploring, hunting, crafting and the like are important to us and make for a lot of PvE content.


Q: How "hardcore" will the PvP be? Will players be able to "loot" the corpses of the players they defeated?

A: There will be full PvP and full loot for all players everywhere at anytime. This means there are no areas where you can or can’t fight other players, although attacking innocent players in towns that have guards will have consequences. Also, the flagging system means that you are free to kill anyone you like, but if you go about murdering innocent people you will be labeled as a murderer for anyone else to see.


Q: What kind of death penalty if any will there be in Mortal Online? Will a PvP death hurt more than a PvE death penalty wise?

A: No matter how you die (in PvE or PvP) the penalties are the same. You will drop all your items for anyone to loot (you may of course try to retrieve them yourself if there’s time). You are dead, meaning you will have to get back to the world of the living, and that’s not always easy. Moreover, if you are flagged as murderer you will have special penalties when you die, but we are currently experimenting with the specifics.


Q: Risk versus reward is always an issue in games that contain a PVP element. What kind incentives are there going to be to entice players into getting involved in PVP?

A: Full loot. Fighting over resources. Protecting or attacking trade-routes and caravans. Guild wars. Bounty-hunting. To name a few.


Q: About crafting, will most items used by players in the game be craftable? If so how will they compare with looted items and equipment?

A: Our goal is to have ALL usable items craftable by the players. Crafted items will be better than the vast majority of items dropped by mobs or found in the game - however you will have to learn how to craft certain items by studying items dropped by mobs to be able to copy the design and/or refine it. There will also be unique items in the world, sometimes very powerful, but it’s up to the players if it’s worth the risk to actually carry around and use those items.


Q: Again about crafting, what types of items will be able to be crafted?

A: Again, our goal is to have everything that can be used by the players craftabe. We have started with weapons and armor and will soon move on to the large number of tools (used for gathering, mining, refining crafting etc). Next up will be clothes, food and decorative items. Also, we are working on player housing.


Q: Can you elaborate more on "Deva Skills"?

A: We don’t want any single player to be able to have all skills at the same time. This would make the game more character-skill oriented and grind-based than player-skill oriented, and it would reduce the need for communication and cooperation among players. At the same time, we don’t want you to be stuck in just one piece of the game - we want you to be able to train different races and character builds on your account. This is where the Deva skills come into play:

The Deva is essentially your account and your characters "shared soul". Some of the skills in the game are Deva-skills, meaning they are shared between your different characters. This means that instead of having to grind through the same tasks you have already done with your other character over and over again, some skills (mostly those of learning-skill type) will be shared between your characters.


Q: How large is the game world going to be? Will it take a long time to go from one end to the other?

A: The first continent we are launching is about 64km2, not including undergrounds and dungeons. It’s pointless to compare "scale" to other games if you don’t know their speed and means of travel, but in MO, jogging from one end to the other (horizontally across) in a straight line, if that was possible, would take you approximately.. 40 minutes? And although it’s hard to say how large the world will feel until it’s filled with real players, right now it feels very big. The 64km2 is currently entirely seamless and has no instances, something we really hope we will be able to keep for release. The rest of the documented world consists of 5 more continents of similar size.


Q: You say that your flagging system is very "complex". Are you planning to simplify or refine it in Beta?

A: The game is built around the flagging system and it is very complex on the inside, as it has to cover all kinds of weird situations and exceptions. It is pretty basic and self-explanatory ingame though. The flagging system is there both to keep order and excitement in the game for the players, without it the game would end up playing more like an Unreal match. We want people to think one more time before killing someone else. Is it worth it? Can I do it or will I get hunted after this action? This is what the flagging system helps out with.


Q: "You decide the path and goals of your progress, and where your actions are reflected back upon the world." Is that not what every other MMO claims? How is Mortal Online different from the others?

A: I think every MMO says that your actions will be reflected back on your character, but I can’t recall many that claims you will affect the world? I guess there are a lot of ways to simulate that, like having the different NPC’s in the world say different things to you depending on your alignment for instance. Or by having quests were you are "the chosen one" supposed to "save the world", although all other players are also the chosen one and are doing the same thing. However, that kind of feedback is mainly client-sided, meaning it doesn’t really affect other players or the actual world.

In MO we have a "persistent" world, a world that globally remembers events and affect all players. If you kill the big monster it will be dead for all other players too, forever. If you build a house, every other player can see it and interact with it. And so on. That said, the main focus of MO is the gaming experience and excitement, and it cannot be compared to "simulator/virtual worlds"-MMO’s like for instance Wurm Online or Entropia Universe, although persistence-wise it’s definitely a big step in that direction.


Q: Is the game on schedule and could you tell us if you have a release date in mind yet?

A: The game is on schedule but we do not have a release date yet. As an independent company we have always planned on first releasing only the fundamental core of the game to make sure there’s an interest in it, thereafter immediately continue the development with the rest of the large number of planned features. As things look now, with the interest in the game and our rapid progress in development, we find ourselves wanting to add more and more of that planned stuff in before releasing the game. But we’ll see.



Q: Finally, is your company working on any other projects they could tell us about at this time?

A: At the moment, and hopefully for several years to come, we are only focusing on Mortal Online.

 
Once again, thank you Henrik. We look forward to a long relationship between GameSNAFU and your studio and wish you nothing but the best for Mortal Online.

Is the dungeon crawl back?

Yea, and it's on the PS3.

Demon's Souls.

Edit: Looks like a shitty Oblivion.

Hell, I'll take a shitty Oblivion. I'd even take the shitty Morrowind that Darkfall looks like.

Q: Can you elaborate more on "Deva Skills"?

A: We don’t want any single player to be able to have all skills at the same time. This would make the game more character-skill oriented and grind-based than player-skill oriented, and it would reduce the need for communication and cooperation among players. At the same time, we don’t want you to be stuck in just one piece of the game - we want you to be able to train different races and character builds on your account. This is where the Deva skills come into play:

The Deva is essentially your account and your characters "shared soul". Some of the skills in the game are Deva-skills, meaning they are shared between your different characters. This means that instead of having to grind through the same tasks you have already done with your other character over and over again, some skills (mostly those of learning-skill type) will be shared between your characters.

Landscapes looked fantastic but the animations were shoddy. Better than darkfall, but that does not say much.

As for the amount of characters, that's always been a big and maybe unfounded fear I've had with the Unreal Engine. My alliance op in DF last night had over 200 people participating at once in the same area, and I maintained 60-80 fps throughout the duration of it. I don't want to take a step forward with my left foot, and one backwards with my right.

A lot of stupid there.  :uhrr:

God, is anyone ever going to make a better first-person camera metaphor? Is the answer going to HAVE to be friggin' VR?

Amen!  Hallelujah!  Pass the salt.

Third person is more immersive for me, because a first person perspective loses all my peripheral vision which I depend on a lot.

Yes it was rash, it was unprofessional, but I wouldn't say it was necessarily immature. I think everybody with a job they take pride in would take offense and that's not immature - the "immaturity" in this case lies in actually showing it in public.

But I gladly do, once in a while. Actually I think it's better to vent these feelings out in the open (unprofessional as it may be) than having a forum where I just pretended to care about "our beloved fans" while at the same time laugh at "those idiots on the forum" behind their back, like most companies I've worked for before do. And that is the standard.

I'm sorry if I come across as that (rash, unprofessional and immature). In another company, I would have thought the same but wouldn't have been allowed to post it. And keeping a nice surface is the key to success, yes?

There's a reason for my "rash" and "immature" posts: When reading certain threads (most threads really do have a very high standard) I find myself getting more and more frustrated about (a few) people posting bs about game development, about MO or about us as developers, and now and then I pick some unfortunate post that just happen to "sum it all up" (at least in my mind), and flame it. Most often my answer includes and is directed to a lot of other posters, not necessarily the poster him/herself. I agree, that's not very mature, but at least it hopefully gets some attention - meaning I hopefully show some people that I (we) are actually flesh and blood devs with a passion, and that we do take comments about for instance our would be "laziness" personally. They also, hopefully, show people we do care about what is posted in our forums and that we don't like bullshit. And they do contain some truth about actual game development, from time to time.

I work insanely hard for MO and I really personally care about our project. That doesn't mean you have to like the game, or me, and I most definitely don't expect you to suck up to me as a dev. I like criticism about the game and it's features, but when it comes to accusing me personally about my intentions and working habits, or make posts on how it's like to make our game when you obviously don't know anything about it, I feel I have an equal right as anybody else to bite back. Be it professional or not.

I've always felt it depended on the rendering engine. I really can't give any precise reasoning here other than EQ was a bitch to play 3rd person and AC was a bitch to play 1st person. There was something about how each engine handled perspective that made either 1st or 3rd person good or bad. With that in mind, I think the only way 1st person is going to be 1st person done right is either VR or a concave screen that would simulate 3D space in front and to the sides of the player. I saw a demo of a system like this being developed by a fellow in one of the Scandinavian countries. It involved a collapsible screen and a rear mounted projector. The other alternative would be that reverse Wii tech where the player wears the sensor bar and the controller tracks the movement of the player's head simulating 3D in the game. I don't have time to post links right now but I'm sure some/most/all of you have seen what I'm talking about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvzATD4vxn8

Devs posted an april 1st video


positives; They're not afraid of showing their shit.

negatives; fucking rick astley

new interview;

Our goal from the beginning has been to release only the fundamental core of the game to begin with, to make sure there’s an interest in it.

They don't do chat channels in this game? :awesome_for_real:

http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/5695-chat-interface.html#post124386

Whoa, it's like they're really trying hard to one-up Darkfall. Surprised there' no promise of being able to shoot down the pigeons to intercept messages there, that'd be one extra needle for the players' yearning cocks...

edit: oh wait, they discuss that too two pages down :ye_gods:

Whoa, it's like they're really trying hard to one-up Darkfall. Surprised there' no promise of being able to shoot down the pigeons to intercept messages there, that'd be one extra needle for the players' yearning cocks...

edit: oh wait, they discuss that too two pages down :ye_gods:

Come on already. This ridiculous wheel reinvention (http://www.dailydemotivators.com/pics/fail_square_wheel_tricycle_gtfo_n00b.jpg) is only going to get stupider, long before it gets better.

SWG's big failure point was NGE.

I never played the game after beta, but I thought this was a generally accepted statement? If not THE failure point, it was at least one of them? Not true?

This seems to be a VERY open beta processes, they did not have to tell anyone any of this. Some of that is also quite sexy. Can they keep this up (The transparency), should they?

Is some of the things they want to implement crazy town? Do they have the chops to deliver?

Hummm....

We are showing you a sneak peak of two playable races in Mortal Online.

Sometimes I wonder if you were born yesterday.  :oh_i_see:

Say what you want about the game, but the combat looked suprisingly fun. When that monster picked up a player in its hands and shook it like a doll, well, that looked pretty neat. Same thing with the minotaurs tossing players around like it's nothing.

Rather sceptical about it, given it's somewhat different to watch someone else being picked up and unable to do anything until their neck is snapped, vs being in that spot yourself. I mean, if that's fun then it should be equal fun to get rooted by magic class NPC and nuked to death never able to return a hit. But is it, in practice? Players seem to hate when the controls is taken away from them.

The Troll holds the player, but may be interrupted by other players while doing so (the cameraman just happens to be very passive :roll:). The Minotaur on the other hand is extremely aggressive, and even if the cameraman had acted, it would probably have won the fight. Please know though, that none of them are one-hit-kills, and that there are ways to beat them. The combat just happens to be very different from the point-and-click (I am a higher level and have greater equipment than this mob) way.

MO Flagging system (PDF) (http://www.mortalonline.com/files/flagging/MO_Flagging.pdf)

lol

Have they taken into account AOE spells?

Mortal Online Beta phases
The closed Combat Beta is going as planned, we’ve been inviting players from the community each week since beta started. If you haven’t got an invitation yet please be patient, so far we are doing this in a relatively small scale.

The test phases have been great for Mortal Online; we are getting a lot of good feedback on combat, movement, crafting, balancing, latency and stability. We are very happy with the stability of the server and the clients.

Even though our movement prediction system is not yet in place we have also got very good test results from US players on our EU server. We didn’t expect US players to actually be able to compete in our real time combat system, but they have shown it’s very possible, so far.

We’ve had some great testing sessions, and it’s been lots of fun for us to see what kind of crazy gears/weapons people come up with on the battleground. We’ve also had our a* kicked by some real skilful players. Here’s some screenshots from the beta.

Within the next few weeks we are going to switch to our release build, which is the next step in our testing phase. As this build contains the complete prediction system we will soon have some information about what kind of ping players will need to be able to compete at the same terms as the rest in our real time combat.

Don’t forget to still sign up for the beta if you haven’t done so yet, it’s not too late to be part in the different beta phases.

Mortal Online Release Plan – Shop Opening Soon

PRE-ORDERS AND BETA

For several weeks the Combat Beta has been up and running on our first server with very good results, and now we're excited to announce the release plan for Mortal Online. On June 29 we will open up our shop for pre-orders of the game, also giving you access to the Beta Phases.

Our goal from the very beginning has been to develop Mortal Online with a close and honest connection to the community on our forums. With the Combat Beta showing good and stable performance we have reached the point where we feel it’s time to take the community interaction to the next level. It’s important for us as an independent company to know how many of you are committed to buy and try out the game, and we also want your feedback during the next crucial steps in development. All 10.000 users pre-ordering the game in any of the formats available will be given free access to the Beta Phases until the official launch of the game.

Please note that the Beta Phases will run on a server in Europe only. It’s fully possible to access this server from all countries; however we can’t guarantee the speed and performance over long distances.

During the coming Beta Phases, users with a pre-order will be able to follow and participate in the further development of the core features for release. They include, but are not limited, to:

- The full Myrland continent
- At least 9 races, male and female
- Blood mix and character customization
- Main features of the skill system
- Full PvP, full loot
- Full melee and ranged combat
- Basic magic combat
- Mounts and mounted combat
- Basic GUI for the crafting system
- Resource gathering
- Basic Guild mechanics
- Basic player housing
- Basic NPC mobs and wildlife
- Hidden/secret features

We strongly feel that we want these features to have reached a “polished and proper” state before starting the monthly subscriptions, but as always when it comes to game development it’s hard to estimate how long this will actually take. That said we are aiming to reach this state (and start the monthly subscriptions) in Q4 2009, when all the core features above should be in place and thoroughly tested.

BETA QUEUE AND GAME VERSIONS

We have decided to make 10.000 copies of the game available on June 29. The Beta spots will be divided into blocks of 2.000. Every second week, starting July 6, we will accept a new block of 2.000 players into the Beta until we reach 10.000 accounts. This will be done on a first-come first-serve basis, meaning the earlier you book the earlier you’ll get in.

There will be three different versions of the game in the shop:

1. Digital Download Only
2. Boxed Version
3. Limited Edition (999 numbered copies)

All versions give you free access to the Beta phases. Access to digital download is not limited to the Digital Download Only version. More info about the different versions will be made available in the shop before it opens.

Mortal Online Races
We are showing you a sneak peak of a playable races in Mortal Online.

Ending notes
That´s all we have to offer this time. Don’t forget to check the for upcoming releases and other fun stuff. We developers are active on the forums whenever possible, to read or answer your questions and comments.

I heard vomiting blood is a side effect of the Darkfall experience, not necessarily related to disconnections. Me, it's when I realized I was scratching my ears to the point of flaming pain that I decided four hours were more than enough. Darkfall is like taking expired antibiotics to cure the wrong illness.

Two of our Combat Beta players have provided us with reviews on the game this far. Read them here (http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/14365-combat-beta-review-1-a.html#post325062) and here (http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/14366-combat-beta-review-2-a.html#post325067). Please note that this is an exception to the NDA, and that the NDA still isn’t lifted.

To put it simply, melee combat is a lot of fun. Circle strafing and spamming the left mouse button is definitely not the strategy to use in this game, as you will run out of stamina very quickly and be rendered helpless.

spamming the left click probably a no, but circle strafing? guaranteed to happen.

If that's true, thank fucking god. I hate circle strafing in MMOs with a passion.

Ditto.

If that's true, thank fucking god. I hate circle strafing in MMOs with a passion.

At one point, I broke off from the group to do a little solo exploring, and I quickly realized that I had no idea where I was. For me it was a really unique experience in an MMO because there was no radar in the upper corner showing me where I was on the map. There was no arrow pointing the way to go. I was actually lost, which made for a truly immersive experience, and this was only on the tiny test island we were placed on. I can only imagine what the immersion of being lost in a much larger and inhabited world would be like.

Q&A Grab Bag 1:

Q: Will you be able to buy more than one game with single unique credit card?
A: Yes, but there are some limitations in doing so(more detailed answer in the recordings).

Q: Will you be able to pickpocket in MO?
A: Pickpocketing and stealing are in, the system is pretty similar to Ultima Online system.

Q: How does healing and resting work?
A: You can use rest skill when you're out of combat to regenerate hit points faster than normal. In addition to resting skill there are healing spells and potions.

Q: Will there be magic implemented already in the beta preorderers get into?
A: There will be one magic school revealed to the players which is the basic combat magic school. Players will be able to explore the world to find out about magic and eventually reveal more magic schools by themselves.

Q: How dark is dark in MO?
A: Pitch black. You will really need to have a light source with you to go to a dark place.

Q: What's your stand on players who use macroing programs to train skills afk?
A: We're trying to make the skills work so that afk macroing skills has no significant advantage over training skills "the regular way".

Q: What happens when you die? How can I get back to the book of living?
A: When you die you turn into a ghost that moves in the ether world. You will either have to find a healer or a shrine to get back to the normal world alive. Also other players can resurrect you if they have the skill needed for resurrecting other players.

Q: Does money weight in MO?
A: Yes, you can only carry gold up to a certain limit by yourself. You can use for example caravans to move your goods.

Q: Will tamed pets need food, do I need to feed them?
A: Yes, you will need to feed your pets.

Q: Can I go and tame a dragon if I want to?
A: You can always go and try, but I can't guarantee you any results.

Q: Can you steal or loot a key to a house owned by another player and then take his house for yourself?
A: This is still under development and we are discussing what kind of level of security players should have in their houses. At the moment you can steal the a key to some others house, then go in and lock the doors in order to prevent others entering the house. The true owner of the house can go and have his locks changed if he can find someone to do it for him.

Q&A Grab Bag 2:

Q: Did you think the E-bay auction would go over 5000 $?
A: No, I was guessing it around 3000 $ or so.

Q: Why did you choose Doctors Without Borders as a charity target for the E-bay auction?
A: DBW helps saving lives and we thought that was pretty cool.

Q: Will DirectX 10 be supported?
A: Yes, but at the moment DX9 and DX10 have the same looks in game.

Q: When will NDA be lifted?
A: We haven't decided a final date for it yet, but we will be lifting it soon. We will post info about it on the website when it's time.

Q: How does races and bloodmix effect besides looks in character creation?
A: Besides looks, the cap on attributes. It's mostly those two.

Q: Can people place their house anywhere there's room?
A: There will be a few limitations to placing a house depending on some different things. One will be for people occupying a certain area during certain game moments and of course not too close to pre built cities as well. But over that we will always try to make it so that players can place their house as close as possible to the spot they want to place it.

Q: Can I have a summer vocation house in the dragon's lair we saw on the teaser and have him guard my house?
A: Yeah that might be a good spot. *laughs*

Q: Are you going to sell 10k copies at the same time or in 2k blocks?
A: We will sell all 10k when shop opens.

Q: How many bigger spots there will be for player cities?
A: It's hard to say, there's a lot of empty spaces in any continent we are going to release at the beginning. It's very hard to calculate how many, it obviously depends on what type of houses you are building. But we are trying to make sure there will be enough space for the huge castles where you will actually be able to control a country in our next biggest step of development. We think it will be hard for everyone to have a huge house, but we do try to create a lot of empty space for the players so as many as possible will be able to build their houses.

Q: If you want to have your guild as a roaming guild instead of city building guild, will it be viable?
A: We are developing an artifact system for guilds tied to the religion system and gods. In this system you can tie an artifact to a guild stone and it will give a small bonus to entire guild. These artifacts can be found in the world, although you might not understand what it is. If you carry this object you could have quite a huge bonus on the carrier. But you can't place the object in your bag or log out with it. You can give it to another player or try to hide it until you log back on though. We are also possibly making a system so that other players could get a hint that someone is holding an artifact. So players have a choice, they can either try to play with the artifact in their pocket or it can also even be a weapon. Other way is to tie it to the guild stone for smaller guild wide bonus. This is something pretty interesting we are experimenting, but this will not be up for launch, something for later.

Q: How about religion system, will it be implemented for launch?
A: It will be in partly, not something you can control from the beginning though.

Q: How many character slots per account at launch?
A: We haven't decided yet really. First we thought around 4-5 slots, but I think we will be lowering it to 2-3 slots. We will also be testing this in the beta phase, since we don't want a single person to be able to master all the crafting skills themselves. This way there will be more interaction with other players. You have to rely on others services in MO.

Q: Are you going to implement recall runes?
A: At first it was pretty obvious choice, because I couldn't imagine of playing UO without them. In you could get instant action by using them. It worked for 10 years for me and I thought it was an obvious choice for me. But then we started to look at the reactions from the community and discovered that a lot of people didn't enjoy these. We know recall runes brings problems to feeling of big world, things come closer with recall runes. We are inspired from EVE Online where transporting of resources are in important role and recall runes could ruin some of these interesting areas. So we took a big step back from recall runes and we are looking for some limits on the transport, but we are looking at having marked runes near guild houses for example. So it's very limited at the moment to use recall runes.

Q: What about stealth system, will you have sort of magical stealth system or physical(line of sight) stealth system?
A: In first person view games you can't hide like in real life you could, you don't have full control of your limbs. We need to add something that will help you hide more easily. At first we were pretty comfortable of having ”transparent” hiding system, but the more we played the beta we found out that it's pretty easy to hide in the environment without any artificial skills that help you. We are still thinking about how to do this. We think there should be some kind of magic that will make you totally invisible, but in this state you cannot move or do anything.

Q: How do you build a house in MO?
A: At this point you will need some different things. You need resources, skills for building buildings and transport for the resources.

Q: What kind of building variety the game has?
A: At the moment you can only build a house type with 3 different sizes. We also have keeps, towers and castles. But at the moment you can't build walls. So it's only one pre house with an option to upgrade it to something different. The next step will be having walls, because it's interesting for the players to design cities with walls.

Q: What kind of crowd control and escape mechanic MO has?
A: We don't have a lot of different spells or skills that effect you a lot. We do have attributes to effect your speed, so there will be huge variety between players. But it's not like you're running 10 times faster or so. It's hard to say yet how the mechanic will work in the end, we need a lot more testing in this matter.

Q: Do you have more trade skills in the game at the moment besides weapon crafting and armor crafting?
A: Yeah, we have a huge list of trade skills. It's actually too long for me to remember, so we have a lot of skills in the secondary skill tree. There will be so many trade and crafting skills that it will require a lot of players to cover all those skills.

Q: What if all 10k copies are sold out in a matter of hours, what actions will be taken?
A: We don't know yet how many players our server can hold, so we will know more about that when we enter this next beta phase with all the preorderers. Then we will know if we need another server. We need to also find out if we should start NA server as well. Although it seems that EU servers are very playable for NA based players, so we will need to think about how to deal with this if the demand is higher than what our first server can hold. [This answer is way longer than what I wrote here]

Q: But what will you do if the game sells out within first couple hours, really quick?
A: We will probably bring up some champagne. On a more serious note we will probably be very busy at handling all the players with the resources we have. It's a huge task for us, so we will be very occupied handling everything. But of course if we see that things are running smooth and we can handle the pressure we will continue selling more copies.

Q: How does taming work in the game?
A: It's quite similar to UO taming skill. So you have a taming skill, but we take a step future where you have to learn about the animal before you can tame it, such as different animal families and what kind of group they are in. But otherwise it's quite like in UO where you have to talk to it and make it calm and get it to trust you.

Q: There wont be any instant messaging?
A: Yeah we do have some different methods of communicating. There's the normal local chat and then there's pigeon birds that you can use to send a delayed message to someone. Then you have guild communication in which you can talk to anyone in the guild instantly.

Q&A Grab Bag 3:

Q: Will there be different kind of creatures in the night compared to daytime?
A: There's a lot of gameplay features affected by daytime cycle. There are a few resources like flowers or so which can only be picked up during daytime or moonlight. There are also different mobs that are awake during certain time of a day. Also the combat and pvp is affected, since you have to use light sources during the night.

Q: Will there be a chat bubble over people who talk near you?
A: The text others say will be shown in the local chat window and also above player heads like in UO.

Q: Is there summoning or teleporting spells?
A: We need to be careful with this, because it affects the entire travelling system. We don't want people to avoid trading routes by using that kind of travel. However there could be some sort of teleportation close to the guild stone at some point.

Q: What game feature is the most worried about at the moment? Something that could go wrong.
A: Well I was worried at some state about the real time combat system, but after we ran testing over years We feel and I'm confident that we have very good real time combat system. I'm not sure if we have any other feature that we're worried, but it could be the minigame system for crafting. It might be that we can't get that minigame ready for launch. Because it's really difficult to implement into our system. It's unreal engine that's really limiting us in some ways and we will have to develop a new pipeline for the engine and that task is not simple or quick.

Q: What kind of minigame is this for crafting?
A: We haven't released much info of it yet, but it will be nothing like some other games have. It's really unique and very cool. It has puzzle elements in it and experimenting.

Q: Does MO have a system that can be updated visually after like 10 years?
A: The Unreal Engine is very flexible graphic engine and yeah, it can be updated well.

Q: Will players have to pay extra for large updates and expansions?
A: We believe in having a loyal customer base and for that we have to give something back for the community. So at the moment we are aiming for having these as free updates.

Q: What arc type are you going to play in MO?
A: I enjoy the half orc race and I'm going to be on the battle field a lot. If you enjoy the pvp you will see me probably some time. I enjoy the magic also so I will probably be using magic.

Q: Will hybrids be best in MO pvp?
A: I don't think that mixing melee, archery and magic will be the best way to pvp because each of these require a lot of skill from the player. I think the best combat style for a player is the one he likes the most. So a quick answer to the question is no.

Q: Will I be able to get married and have kids?
A: We're not sure about that step, but it's a possibility if it's wanted by the players. We're not restricting ourselves in lore or so however, so it's possible.

Q: Will there be caravans for trading, chariots etc?
A: Yeah, well that's actually a must if you want to build a castle or a city. You will need wagons and mounts to carry the resources, same goes with building siege weapons.

Q: How cartography skill works?
A: We're looking into this still how to do it. There are two ways. One very interesting way is to make players paint the map with a digital pen on their own. But this requires a similar interface system like the crafting mini game needs. So it wont make it to launch. Cartography will be more generic at first where you can't do so much on your own.

Q: If and when you get the system for the crafting mini game and others alike, what else can it do?
A: You could draw your own paintings, guild logo for crafted armor and guild logo for banners hanging from the walls and such. This is quite high priority after launch because it opens up so many new features. Hopefully we get to work on this system in the near future.

Q: Will you be able to upload your own guild logo image?
A: At the moment we have pre set of images and logos. We have looked at the possibility of players to upload them, but we're not sure about the administartion for that. We still have limited resources, but if things run smooth and we can increase our resources things like that will be looked at.

Q: Is there any anti cheat system for the game?
A: Epic Games have been working for an anti cheat system for us. It's not so simple thing though, because we always have to be careful when we're implementing different systems so it will easily support the anti cheat system. We do have a system at the moment and tools to track down cheats and instant ban them. Hopefully it will be efficient enough for what we are going to face.

Q: Does banking have item limitation?
A: Yeah, there will be item limitation. This is because we need to control the size of our database. But you can also store items in a house you own.

Q: How will murder flagged(reds) bank?
A: There will be a few towns that will be guardless so reds can bank there. We're still forming the rules for the reds, but they will have access to banks.

Q: Is there a way to reproduce books and maps in a fast way?
A: You will be able to copy books and maps with right skills and resources. I'm not sure how fast it will be.

Q: Is there treasure hunting system?
A: Yeah, you will need cartography for that.

Q: Will paypal be supported as payment?
A: Yes, we will support it.

Q: How much will Mortal Online cost?
A: It will be cheaper than for example Darkfall was. The price will always be cheaper for the non-EU players because of the 25% VAT. But it will be cheaper than Darkfall for both EU and non-EU based.

Q: Will there be flying mounts?
A: No, there wont. We did have some nice design for it, but we ran into too many problems and we are ditching it probably for good.

Q: What inspired you to start Mortal Online project?
A: It has been a long journey to start the company etc. I've always been a ”doer” type of a person, it really started from UO beta stage when I felt that this is something I really wanted to do in the future. At that point technology was restricting to create a game like MO, but now we're here.

Q: What's your favorite color?
A: That would be green. Good question!

Q: Will the animals be nude?
A: Yeah, they're nude.

Q: Will you be able to reproduce tamed animals?
A: Yeah, you will be able to breed animals.

What?  Seriously?  People make no sense sometimes.

I was actually lost, which made for a truly immersive experience, and this was only on the tiny test island we were placed on. I can only imagine what the immersion of being lost in a much larger and inhabited world would be like

I could understand where he is coming from to a certain extent.  Most of the time you have a perfectly 100% accurate "You are here" sign with you at all times.  Having to actually know terrain to get around would have a certain appeal to it.  

Wandering around by yourself to discover some secret nook is one of my favorite solo activities. Assuming the terrain is varied and there are actually out of the way places to find. Random encounters with rare loaded mobs off the beaten path is something Ive missed in MMO's.

Just to provide an update, Mortal Online has started selling boxed copies and limited editions of their game on Monday the 13th Account page link (https://account.mortalonline.com/).

There are 10,000 to sell and, as far as I know, there are still many available. The boxed copies are the only ones available now and are going for $75 (including shipping) if you live in the US, apparently more if you live elsewhere. Pretty expensive. Specially when you consider that you're not putting a deposit on a preorder but paying the full price for an unrefundable game.

All of those who do will be admitted into the beta test that starts in 2000 person waves beginning July 20th and extending every 2 weeks until all 10,000 are in. From the description of what's available, I'd actually say that the game is in more of an alpha phase but that's just me.

I guess we will find out on monday when the first block of testers get into the world.

The game itself is ready to go

Honestly, what's the point? People will talk and leak. The worst is when the game is performing badly in the beta and the NDA isn't dropped or dropped very late. It's a sign that something is going wrong.

Can't win with Schildy I guess.

So you are playing it right now?  :oh_i_see:

Why was I invoked here? And with a pet name?

Combat Beta Review 1
Please note that the NDA is not lifted, and that this review is an exception to the NDA rules. The reviewer is not entitled to answer any questions regarding the game until the NDA is lifted.
/Mats

Mortal Online Combat Beta Review
by Lachrymose

Character Creation
Upon entering Mortal Online’s combat beta, I was first prompted to create a new character. The character creation allowed me to first choose a race, and then combine that race with one of the other available races via the blood mix system. I tried out some of the many combinations, and some mixes were clearly more noticeable than others. For instance, mixing a Half-orc with a Tindremene will result in a relatively unique look, but the effects of mixing a Tindremene with a Kallard aren’t quite as noticeable. However, once racial attributes are unlocked, I imagine the less cosmetic mixes will prove useful.

There are many different types of faces, hairstyle, tattoos, etc. to choose from, and several customization options can be used, such as changing the size of the nose, ears, mouth, forehead, etc. Overall, I was impressed with the character customization, as it offers quite a bit to make your character appear unique. In addition, players are able to select from a range of heights. At the moment, I see no reason to choose anything other than the tallest height, as the benefits gained from having a large character greatly outweigh the benefits of choosing a smaller character. Henrik has explained, however, that this is only because attribute points have not yet been unlocked. Increasing your character size will cost attribute points that could be used to increase your dexterity, for example. In addition, you will be able to create a smaller than normal size character to gain more than the default attribute points, which allows for even more variability when creating your character.

First Impressions
The very first thing I noticed after finally logging into the game is that the first person view is absolutely incredible. I think Star Vault has really succeeded at creating a more realistic first person view than any I’ve ever seen. I spent my first couple minutes in game just admiring the unique perspective and the motion blur as I looked around.

The small island we were placed on looks impressive, especially for being a temporary beta test island, and for some reason, I just can’t get over how incredible the sky looks (something I don’t think I’ve ever really noticed in an MMO). Some of the other beta testers and myself had a lot of fun exploring the island and finding a few hidden ruins. Traversing the island is no easy task, so although the island is relatively small, it certainly seems large. Not only are there mountains and other land formations obstructing any straight paths across the island, but navigating the island is very difficult until you’ve walked around it enough to really familiarize yourself with it. At one point, I broke off from the group to do a little solo exploring, and I quickly realized that I had no idea where I was. For me it was a really unique experience in an MMO because there was no radar in the upper corner showing me where I was on the map. There was no arrow pointing the way to go. I was actually lost, which made for a truly immersive experience, and this was only on the tiny test island we were placed on. I can only imagine what the immersion of being lost in a much larger and inhabited world would be like.

Armor & Weapon Creation
Weapon creation at the moment is impressive. Crafting itself hasn’t been unlocked to players, but NPC crafters allow us to choose which type of material to use for each piece of a weapon (handle, core, blade, etc). In addition, when creating armor, not only do you choose which type of material to construct the armor out of, but you also choose how much material to use when creating the armor. Using less material obviously makes the armor lighter and less cumbersome, but it also provides less protection.

Needless to say, there is a seemingly endless amount of combinations to choose from, but the trick is to determine which combinations are most effective, as some combinations just aren’t very practical. For instance, attaching a great blade to a dagger handle will result in a strange looking and ineffective weapon, and although creating a sword made out of pure gold certainly looks fashionable, it will do little damage and require the majority of your stamina to swing it (if you’re able to swing it at all, that is). The amount of options given to the player is incredible and really adds to the involvement of player skill, as players will have to determine the best gear compositions for their particular playstyle.

The only ranged weapon that can be created in the current stage is a recurve short bow. I learned from talking with Henrik that the bow should be constructed realistically to achieve the maximum effectiveness. I began scouring the internet to find instructions on how to create my very own recurve bow, and I found a very useful online guide and applied some of the same construction concepts to my in-game bow. The result was a bow more powerful and stamina efficient than any other bow I had managed to construct up to that point, which I found amazing. I am excited me to see what other realistic concepts like this will be used elsewhere in the game.

Melee Combat
To put it simply, melee combat is a lot of fun. Circle strafing and spamming the left mouse button is definitely not the strategy to use in this game, as you will run out of stamina very quickly and be rendered helpless. Attacks can be “charged” so that you can release at the precise moment to hit your enemy, which adds to the skill based strategy of combat. Furthermore, blocking can be very effective, as achieving a perfect block (aiming directly towards the incoming attack with a block) will mitigate a very significant amount of damage that would have otherwise been dealt by the attack. The current prediction system needs a considerable amount of work to ensure that the client side location of players match up with their server side location. It has been frustrating to attack an opponent directly in front of you, only to have the attack miss him. Fortunately, I’m told that the prediction system has been fixed and the corrected system will be implemented in the next build.

At the moment, weapons are imbalanced, so some weapon types are far more effective than others. However, I imagine weapons and armor will be balanced throughout the remainder of the beta.

Ranged Combat
Again, we only had access to one type of bow, so I have little exposure to all that ranged combat has to offer. At the beginning of the beta, kiting was extremely easy to pull off, but by the second build, that was taken care of. However, I feel that at the moment, archery is a little too underpowered because bows drain a bit too much stamina in my opinion. Again, I expect an appropriate balance will be found during the beta process.

Barring any balancing issues, I think ranged combat is fairly good. There is a circular targeting reticle that gets smaller as you pull back the bow string. The circle indicates where your arrow may fly, so the smaller the circle, the more accurate the shot will be. I’m told that the targeting reticle is still being worked on, however, so this likely won’t be exactly what we see on release.

Overall Conclusion
My overall impression of Mortal Online’s combat is that it still needs a considerable amount of work on gear balancing and the prediction system, but it has a tremendous amount of potential once those things are perfected. However, even with those imperfections, melee combat was still very enjoyable overall. Ranged combat shares that same potential, but again, I feel there is still a bit of balancing to do before it is perfected.

Character creation is better than the majority of MMOs I’ve played, and so far we haven’t even seen all that there is to offer, as attributes have not been added to the beta client thus far, and only cosmetic changes are available.

The aesthetics of the game are very impressive, and again, the first person view is absolutely amazing in my opinion. Despite the graphical settings being locked below the maximum settings (for beta only I’m sure), Mortal Online is definitely one of the most visually appealing MMOs I’ve played.

Other than a few other minor bugs and tweaks, the little amount of gameplay that we were given access to gives me very high hopes for Mortal Online. I’m very excited to see the improvements that are made in the next client and gain access to more features and a large portion of the actual world.

Combat Beta Review
by Shinzon

Introduction
Starvault has certainly made a lot of claims in what Mortal Online is going to contain, and especially after the resounding agreement about the sub-par quality of Darkfall, all eyes are on Mortal Online and in turn Starvault to deliver. The bar is certainly set fairly high with expectations coming from "Old school" players of Ultima Online, the more recent defectors of WoW, and the spaceship hating escapees of EvE Online. The pressure is on, and it's now up to Starvault to appease the ravenous masses. One thing to keep in mind when talking about Mortal Online is that it's an MMO, even though it might seem like an obvious statement, things start getting more complicated as you go along.

Character Creation
Let's begin with something every MMO has and is the very first thing any player has to do before entering the game; the character creation screen. The first thing that will hit the players is the davincian accuracy of the player model; that's right the availability of full frontal nudity. The initial shock value aside, everything as it should be and the multitude of sliders for facial features remind of Oblivion, though nowhere with as many sliders, though fortunately just as many styles of hair and even facial hair to choose from, even a mustache befitting of a German porn star. Then come the tattoos, a wide assortment ranging from scars, to tribal markings, this is where you see some of the features of the Unreal 3.5 Engine, instead of "Popping" into view; the tattoo begins as a blurred version of itself, gradually sharpening as the texture loads.

From what is presented in the beta, it seems that there are 5 character slots available per account, though this number is very probable to change around before the final release. The character creation is split into three screens. In the first you select your Species, then your primary race, and then finally gender. The next screen is where all of the appearance sliders and such are contained, and at the bottom the race sliders where you can slide away your genetic history. Everything works perfectly, if you chose a half-Orc as your primary race and you start to wiggle the Khurite slider, your character will smoothly warp to resemble a Khurite with the facial features blending instantly and smoothly. Since half-Orc is your primary race in this instant, it’s impossible to slide any other race more than half way up. You can also have a mix of every race, but the half-Orc slider will never fall below 50%. The next screen is supposedly where you will pick your starting Attributes and abilities, though currently it's only limited to Age and Size, which both alter your character accordingly. The character creation is flexible, large and was certainly built to please. I have seen people build characters that will make you burst out loud laughing, resembling imps, or some that are cringe worthy scarred and old, looking as if they have seen one battle too many.

Environment
The graphics present the player with a lush jungle environment, with vegetation so thick in some parts, making navigation a feat in itself, without the slightest hit on performance; though granted you will not be able to run Mortal Online with a lower end machine, so it's probably wise to upgrade. The current build despite the entire vegetationial prowess of Mortal Online, still lacks grass. Something which will no doubt add even more visual eye candy to an already impressive sight. There are truly some vistas within the current build that could rival a screenshot from Crysis, with crawling vegetation and distant mountains, complete with a sun that will wane as if hiding behind clouds and then coming back out. The game handles large amounts of players honorably, capable of displaying some 20-30 characters on screen all wearing different custom made armor and weapons without the slightest notice of slowdown. Though granted, once the bloody ragdolls start covering the ground, things do slow down, though it has been noted this is a concern point, and is probably going to be alleviated in the very near future.

Combat
The combat in Mortal Online even though still far away from commercial quality without a proper prediction system certainly delivers on the claim of skill based combat. Testers that logged in for the first time or relatively new were absolutely slaughtered by the more experienced ones, though some adapted very quickly and became proficient after a single fight. The combat, though only limited to Melee and Minimal Ranged, is designed so that it can accommodate a multitude of play styles, from aggressive to defensive it is all there. The closest comparison would be the Half-Life 2 MOD Age of Chivalry, as they share a lot of features and dynamics. Attacking and Blocking cost stamina, and stamina regenerates relatively quickly, but not fast enough to make you forget about it. During fights it's important to balance sprint, block and attack otherwise you will run out of stamina in the middle of a battle and will be a sitting duck. You can press and hold the attack button in order to "Charge" an attack and release it at the right moment, but it continuously drains stamina making it unwise to hold down attack forever. In a similar fashion you can hold a block for as long as you want, but it also drains stamina, so precisely timed blocks are advised less you want to drain all of the stamina. It must be stated that characters wearing poorly thought out equipment will not do well on the battlefield. Even if the difference is not that large, it still makes an impact when in battle, as you try to cling on to every possible advantage you can get.

Crafting
The crafting system presented in the Beta version is said to be not fully complete, with some pieces missing, but already it is absolutely massive. Weapon balance aside, it is boggling as to what type of weapons can be made, practical ones and even comical ones, like a two handed great sword handle combined with a spiked ball, make for some interesting weapons with their practicality in question. Each material has an impact on the texture of the final product; it's possible to say that on top of this a dye system can be implemented. When crafting, everything is as described in the power point presentation, with many of the handles and armor requiring a combination of two materials. On top of this the player is presented with the choice of how much of a material to put into the armor. Weight plays a huge role in Mortal Online, a player wearing the heaviest gold armor, even though well protected will move at a snail's pace, and his golden great hammer will take out all of the stamina bar in one swing, making extremely heavy weapons and armor while powerful absolutely useless in any real combat situation, as every action requires stamina. A smart crafter will pick the materials and their proportions used wisely to achieve the maximum effect, making the weapons light and heavily specialized, and in turn a smart player will pick weapons and armor that are a direct reflection of their playstyle.

Armor and Combat
The armor crafting system is worth mentioning because it's nothing like we have seen before in any other game, the paper doll is divided into several slots: Head, 2x Shoulders, 2x Sleeves, 2x Gloves, Torso, Grieves, and Boots. The armor is broken down similarly, with each individual piece custom crafted and placed into each location on the body. So it becomes important to put the most armor in the places that are most exposed with your fighting style. This means a player could potentially place all of the protection, in the torso while leaving everything else relatively unprotected, or spread out all of the armor to provide reduced protection all over the body. A good weapon can take out a naked character with 3-4 swings depending on the health, since body size determines the amount of health, while a fully armored character can take anywhere between 4-6 direct swings depending on health, and armor used. A usually battle can have 4-20 swings in it, because both players will be actively dodging, blocking and sometimes hitting each other’s swords or shields causing reduced damage. It's also a fact that two experienced fighters will battle much longer than inexperienced ones due to this. Also, no healing potions or spells are in at this point, so it's hard to say how this number will be affected. What is obvious though is that the skill of the crafter will be directly reflected in combat on top of the combatant, and it's impossible to separate the two, good items will be determined not by their "Max/Min" damage, but by the use they were designed for and personal preferences of each player, as certain weapons will be heavier, draining more stamina and in return doing more damage, or light weapons that do less damage, it's really up to the player to decide how they want to fight.

Ending Notes
In conclusion from what has been seen in Beta Starvault has defiantly hit the mark with everything they wanted to achieve and promised to the general community. The level of thought taken can be seen in everything you do. Bugs that were posted by the testers were always quickly found and eradicated at alarming speed, which sometimes put up the question if the guys at Starvault even sleep. Games that were mentioned in discussions during beta testing were nearly always single player, or small multiplayer games, and it was very easy to start criticizing Mortal Online for being worse than Crysis, Oblivion, Mount and Blade, Age of Chivalry or any other game, but the fact that this is an MMO must always be remembered, because when contrasting to other MMO's, you quickly realize that Mortal Online is on the bleeding edge. The response from the developers both during testing and the forums makes it clear that this is simply not just a game, but their game, their dream project, something done with love and care. I am sure there are many of us amongst us with such aspirations. Mortal Online stands as a beacon to not just MMO Buffs but other startup developers, and as such it's not a question if Mortal Online becomes successful, but how much of a success it will be. Time will tell.

the little amount of gameplay that we were given access to gives me very high hopes for Mortal Online. I’m very excited to see the improvements that are made in the next client and gain access to more features and a large portion of the actual world.

Mortal Online stands as a beacon to not just MMO Buffs but other startup developers, and as such it's not a question if Mortal Online becomes successful, but how much of a success it will be. Time will tell.

:oh_i_see:

:nda:

MMORPG.com:
For those who might not be familiar with the game, can you tell us a little bit about Mortal Online?

Mats Persson:
   

Mortal Online is a first-person sandbox MMO set in a believable fantasy environment. Although the game is not necessarily about PvP, its core is built around player skill and PvP as opposed to experience points, levels and a PvP-mode glued on top. Mortal Online revolves around player-to-player interaction more than solo-journeys and quests; it has full loot, sandbox crafting, housing and very seldom follows the streamlined design-rules and automated systems of modern cookie-cutter MMO's. In short, it's a niche skill-based fantasy game for a mature audience. The game is currently in Beta stage with nearly 10.000 accounts.

It's very difficult to describe Mortal Online in a few sentences as it is very different from most of the MMOG's out there. Now please understand I don't use that cliché for marketing purposes, it simply is a niche game that some will like because of its unique approach and some won't because it's too different from their style of play or what they are used to. The game does not necessarily build on or "learn" from the errors or the steps taken by big-name MMO's; it's designed from scratch simply because we want to evaluate each design-choice from the questions:

    * How does it affect player skill and player interaction?
    * Is it believable and immersive?
    * While staying true to the above, what's our take on it and how do we make it fun?

It's very easy to see that many of the systems in modern MMO's are there to actually take away from the amount of player skill and player-to-player (PtP) interaction needed, whether it is minimaps, auto-maps, levels, quests, auto-loot, auto-loot-distribution, auction-houses, global chat etc. It makes them fun and gives them a flow, but it also makes them casual as anyone can play without much thought (and that's also where the big money is). Now obviously we want Mortal Online to be fun to play and successful, but we're not ready to make compromises on our design principles: Player Skill, Player Interaction and PvP, Immersion and Believability. Therefore a lot of the features one would expect to see in a modern MMO are different, or we have simply removed them.


MMORPG.com:
Why the decision to make the game fully first person POV?

Mats Persson:
   

There are several reasons behind this decision. During the prototyping of the game we experimented a lot with different view-options, but it soon turned out that the aim-based combat we strived for was next to impossible to implement in third-person view without a lot of immersion-breaking graphical gizmos (Mortal Online is aim-based and features several hit zones just like Age of Chivalry, Unreal etc.) Furthermore it became close to impossible to sneak up on people for stealing from or an ambushing them, it became too easy to look around corners etc and all this took away a lot of the tactical elements of the game not to mention immersion. Additionally, I personally wanted a game where I didn't feel like I was watching my character and giving orders by pressing buttons; I wanted to be the character.

In the end we went all-in on first-person view and built the game around it; from aiming in combat, first-person footsteps synched to movement, double-vision when getting exhausted, blood and sweat in your eyes, first-person spell-effects etc, to mounting a horse by taking the reins and getting tunnel vision at high speeds. This is also fundamentally different from MMO's that offer a "first-person view" by zooming the camera all the way in, where you just feel like a bodiless levitating camera and get a ton of graphical glitches as the game is not meant to be played that way.

Many people, some of them on our forums, say they like third-person view more and want us to include an option for it. Although I do understand them it would become impossible to balance out the differences between the two modes due to the reasons stated above. I also think that request has to do with the play-style of the games they have previously played in third-person and the assumption that Mortal Online is somewhat like those games. It isn't, and to me it's like suggesting a third-person view for Counterstrike; it would perhaps work if you solved the aiming-issue, but it would nevertheless be a totally different game.
MMORPG.com:
   

Are you concerned that as an independent development studio looking to break into the MMO market that your game will be overshadowed by big studio games?
Mats Persson:
   

No. Mortal Online is a niche game and we don't see ourselves as competitors to the big names out there. To be big you have to have mass-appeal, and to have that you will have to cater to casual players, in turn meaning lowering the difficulty of everything from combat, PvP and crafting, and introduce a whole dimension of solo-play features such as quests and story progression, not to mention easy-to-understand concepts like levels and classes. And that's the opposite of our game.

Instead we hope to attract a core audience and grow slow but steady by delivering something different, and I come to think of EVE Online that I have very much respect for. I do think we will have an initial inflow of players (small for the other companies but big to us) from other games wanting to test our game, but I honestly think most of them will go back to whatever it was they played before. We hope to be able to keep those who are looking for sandbox game play, PvP based on player skill, or simply something genuinely different - but those who just want another cookie-cutter MMO with different graphics (this time set in first-person) will probably be disappointed.


MMORPG.com:
Can you tell us about the advancement system in Mortal Online?

Mats Persson:
   

Mortal Online has no levels or generic experience points, only skills. You advance by practising your skills, by using them in the game. At the same time we want new players to be able to actually make a difference early on, so the so called Primary Skills won't take much time (approximately a week or so) to fully master. When this is done you are fighting on the same terms as anyone else, character-skill-wise. Now, as combat in Mortal Online has a lot to do with player-skill you will probably have to practise a lot longer before you can compete in a one-on-one fight, just like in a FPS game, but at least there are no virtual numbers that decides the outcome of your battles, it's your own skill.

The Primary Skills are essentially keys that unlock Secondary Skills. There is a cap on the number of skill points for the Primary Skills, so you have to experiment with how to train (or re-train) your character as those decide which Secondary Skills you can use. The Secondary Skills are the bulk of the skill-tree and takes a lot longer to master. In everything that has to do with PvP they will only give you a slight edge in a one-on-one fight, but they will for instance let you use several different weapons, fight more opponents before resting, take better care of your weapons etc. Many of the Secondary Skills are not directly related to PvP, like gathering, crafting, taming etc.

This means that although there definitely is character advancement in the game (by character skills and getting better equipment), most of the advancement is based on playing experience and player skill. You have to experiment and learn which weapons suits your particular playing style as there are no "best" weapons. You have to experiment with skill-builds to do the same. And you will have to learn how to evaluate mobs and your opponents (as there are no levels) and how to fight different skill-builds and weapons. If you are into crafting, you will most probably be able to find a sub-set of a sub-set to specialize in and be famous for thanks to the multitude of possibilities in customization.

MMORPG.com:
Can you tell us how classes work in MO?

Mats Persson:
   

There are no classes in the game. I'd better say this first to avoid confusion, as by "classes" most people mean some kind of template you choose from the beginning of the game that also defines your character's options and progress in the game. And no, we don't have anything like that.

What we do have are certain "professions/careers/pursuits" you can choose to pursue in the game. I'd rather not call them classes. Basically, there are NPC Guilds (as in medieval confraternities of workers, i.e. a Tinkers' Guild, or secret societies) you can join if you fulfill their initial requirements. These organisations are not to be confused with player guilds or clans; you can of course be a member of both. Joining an organisation can give you a title and certain benefits, sometimes in the form of special abilities and/or skills. But at the same time you have to give up something, like the option to fully customize your skill-tree to your liking, money or time etc. It's definitely not always the "best" choice. This is a general and very basic description of how this concept will work, as you will have to find and explore these possibilities in the game yourself.

MMORPG.com:
Can you tell us how combat will work in Mortal Online?

Mats Persson:
   

Combat is initiated by drawing your weapon, meaning you enter combat mode. This is very seamless and simply means you enter your combat stance, where you will be slightly more protected at the cost of movement speed and more stamina drain when moving fast. This takes care of bunny-jumping and too fast circle-strafing. Combat on mount is the same as combat on foot; you have no virtual restrictions on what you can do or not on a mount, and your mount can also be trained, equipped, hurt, killed or stolen (and you can not put it in your pocket). Needless to say, mounts and mounted combat fill an important role in the game.

There is no "targeting"; the combat is aim-based and you charge and strike in the direction you want. Each character features several hit-zones or "hit boxes". As each hit box has its own armour part, there is no generic defence value or "AC" and that makes a huge impact on combat. Simply put, if your opponent lacks protection on his/her left arm that may be a good spot to aim for. Likewise, you may choose to use more flexible armour on your right arm to increase the speed of your strikes, but at the cost of protection. The hit boxes also means that you can do more damage by hitting your opponent's head and that you have a slight chance to disarm him/her if you land a blow on his/her sword-arm. Furthermore the weapons and shields have their own hit boxes; it's possible (and recommended) to actively block strikes by holding up and aiming your weapon and/or shield against your opponent's blow. Characters also have general collision, meaning you can block the path of your opponent and even push him/her.

Archery uses trajectories, meaning it's possible to shoot over walls or in fact straight up in the air hitting yourself in the head on the arrow's way down. The aiming-techniques for spells depend on what spell you want to cast. Some spells shoot in a straight line, some are like archery, some use a cone or a sphere for hit detection, others are projected onto a surface, while a few use targeting and are homing. However, we have chosen to only have a handful of important spells for direct PvP-combat. It's tempting to go wild and design a multitude of combat spells, however we want mage-duels to be about coordination, reaction and possible counters, and it's simply not possible to predict your opponent's next move if there are too many combat spells. Ultima Online is definitely our biggest inspiration here.

No targeting, first-person view, character collision and hit boxes also means tactical manoeuvres and training in groups becomes very important. You cannot have archers or mages randomly sending in projectiles or AOE's into the midst of battle as they risk hitting their own. Furthermore it's possible to really use the environment by taking advantage of line-of sight, choke points, terrain height etc.


MMORPG.com:
PvP is going to be a major focus of the game. Can you tell us how that system will work?

Mats Persson:
   

The game has it's foundation in PvP, meaning both the rules around PvP as well as a purposeful, exiting PvP experience. Don't get me wrong here, it's not to say you have to PvP in the game, but I personally don't believe you can design a PvE game and then add some PvP features in afterwards and get a great result. Purposeful PvP inevitable has consequences on the whole game design and playing experience, and a big game always run the risk of scaring away its casual customers if that impact is too deep. Already by having full loot, we are steering Mortal Online into a niche genre.

So, the game has full loot, meaning if you die someone can loot all your equipment. You are also free to fight anyone anywhere. But there are also consequences, administered by the players themselves as well as a flagging system. The flagging system keeps track of your actions and sets your flag accordingly. If you for instance steal from or kill someone that's innocent (neutral) you will be flagged as a criminal or murderer. People can call the guards on you if you are in a guard zone, some NPC's won't trade with you etc. For murderers additional penalties apply. The flagging system is deep and very hard to explain by words, but pretty easy to grasp when playing.

It's also worth mentioning that guilds at war will not be affected by the flagging system. It's very possible to fight out your battles in a city, attacking and killing members of the opposing guild will not lead to a murder flag. You are still flagged if you attack other people though.

MMORPG.com:
What tools will be available to guilds?

Mats Persson:
   

Guilds can be formed when someone owns a large enough house or building and then acquires and activates a Guild Stone. The guild stone (and building) then acts as the central point for the guild where members are accepted, promoted and titled. Declaring wars are made with the guild stone and it can also upgraded with more abilities such as guild chat. Guild property is administered by storage spaces such as chests, with the ability to set rights. There will be a lot more to guilds, especially when it comes to building upgrades, keeps and fortresses, but I'm afraid it's too early to talk about as many of these mechanics and sieging most probably won't be in at launch. We have decided on getting a solid foundation for one-on-one and group-vs-group combat before we move on to the next step, although a lot of it is planned and some aspects already tested.


MMORPG.com:
What kind of options are available to players who might prefer to play solo?

Mats Persson:
   

I have mostly been talking about the PvP aspects of the game, but there are indeed a lot of features that has to do with solo-play. Gathering, refining, crafting and building are typical examples. The sandbox crafting is definitely worth mentioning, as the weapon crafting alone has over 142 million possible combinations of grips, handles, blades, heads and materials - not counting bows or shields. The armour crafting has even more options. Each piece and material has its own pros and cons and there's no such thing as a "best" weapon, not even a "best" sword, or a "best" short-sword. Instead players will have to try different compositions to suit their skills and playing style, and often discuss the various options with you as a blacksmith.

"Gathering" or "farming" in Mortal Online is also rather different. You actively have to hunt many animals as they will flee and not mindlessly attack any player in their vicinity. Also, neither bears nor terror birds drop gold or swords, and their value instead lie in meat, skin, teeth/beek and bone, if you have the skills necessary to skin and process them. Many creatures act in groups, and the more intelligent ones will use different tactics depending on who they fight and what happens to their group. Rare locations, items, creatures and ingredients will have to be searched for and that can be done alone or in small groups.

As the NPC vendors will only sell the most basic items and only very few creatures will drop crafted items, the crafting and economy is player-driven. There is a lot of money to be made in both crafting and trade, and logistics and transporting of goods (and defending these caravans) will be very important.

There are no regular "quests" in Mortal Online. There are however a lot of events, special places, artefacts, and rare creatures and beings in the world waiting to be discovered, used, protected or killed. Exploring the (map-less) world and finding the clues to these quests, puzzles or enigmas can often be made solo if you are prepared to take the risks.

Nothing of this is really solo-play, as eventually you will have to sell your masterpieces to other players to make money, or you will have to agree with another player to transport his or her goods someplace. Or you may have trained a skill to perfection and written some skill books that you need to sell to other players to get money. I do understand that a Massively Multiplayer Online Game doesn't have to be about people actually interacting online, but however strange it may sound this is what Mortal Online is about.


MMORPG.com:
What, in your opinion, are the features that set Mortal Online apart from the competition?

Mats Persson:
   

If you've managed to read this far, I hope I've been able to shed some light on what those features are. We are not afraid our game won't stand out; rather we're afraid people will find it a bit too different ;)

For those of you who want to know more and get a better overview of the game, I can recommend the PowerPoint presentation at http://www.mortalonline.com/files/presentation/MortalOnlinePresentation.rar (You don't need PowerPoint to watch it, just read the included .readme file on how to start it.)

I would also like to take the opportunity to mention that if you are quick you may still have a chance to pre-order a boxed or Digital Download version of the game. As a bonus the pre-orders give free access to the Beta all the way to launch, planned for Q4 this winter. Please see https://account.mortalonline.com.

Thank you for reading, hope to see you in game!

It's very easy to see that many of the systems in modern MMO's are there to actually take away from the amount of player skill and player-to-player (PtP) interaction needed, whether it is minimaps, auto-maps, levels, quests, auto-loot, auto-loot-distribution, auction-houses, global chat etc. It makes them fun and gives them a flow, but it also makes them casual as anyone can play without much thought (and that's also where the big money is). Now obviously we want Mortal Online to be fun to play and successful, but we're not ready to make compromises on our design principles: Player Skill, Player Interaction and PvP, Immersion and Believability. Therefore a lot of the features one would expect to see in a modern MMO are different, or we have simply removed them.

No. Mortal Online is a niche game and we don't see ourselves as competitors to the big names out there. To be big you have to have mass-appeal, and to have that you will have to cater to casual players, in turn meaning lowering the difficulty of everything from combat, PvP and crafting, and introduce a whole dimension of solo-play features such as quests and story progression, not to mention easy-to-understand concepts like levels and classes. And that's the opposite of our game.

No. Mortal Online is a niche game and we don't see ourselves as competitors to the big names out there. To be big you have to have mass-appeal, and to have that you will have to cater to casual players, in turn meaning lowering the difficulty of everything from combat, PvP and crafting, and introduce a whole dimension of solo-play features such as quests and story progression, not to mention easy-to-understand concepts like levels and classes. And that's the opposite of our game.

At least they admit it's a niche game.

At least they admit it's a niche game.

Henke: shadow, I use to play aochiv, I just made a heavy swing at the head and it was all over.


<Hengarn> Henke, will we be able to eat raw materials used in alchemy? for silly effects
Henke: hengarn, not sure


<BetaBob> Henrik - when will we get LOG OFF timers and LOG IN safety timer, if at all?
Henke: betabob, we wont have a timer, we will have visibility on players to protect them when loading

<%Henke> To answer the massiveLOD question, I have wounderful news, we just got it in our build, and we start to add our content as we speak
Henke: Im aiming to patch massivelod the next week

Henke: speed tree 5.0 will probably not be in very soon, its in epics hands

Henke: each pet will have a control point


<Exodeus> Henrik: I am concerned about the AI, is this going to be it?
Henke: for ex a chicken will have 1 control point, and a player could have around 3-6 points

Henke: Exodeus, no AI is being further being developed as we speak as well
Henke: we are looking to implement the minotairs in the next patch as well if things goes smooth
Henke: the ones you saw from the tv clip

Henke: Maerlyn, the massivelod will contain a few new areas yes, but not the entire continent in 1 patch

Henke: Exodeus, we had a very basic ai ready long time ago, but today we are adding our "special" ai as the ones you seen before, minoturs
Henke: Exodeus, we also had some problems with the pathfindings for our network solution, making our AI a bit more dumb as they should be, that is also getting on track now


<E]Revir> Henke: Will this massiveLOD make the hitboxes more accurate?
Henke: revir, that depends, if your client is lagging because of low performance, then yes, if you have good fps already, then no


<Shadow> Henke: Will MassiveLOD cure cancer?
Henke: shadow, massiveLOD, will be a huge thing for MO


<mfcrackers> Henke: yes will targeting get some love? the tab 10 times with someone right if front of me before i get a target is annoying
Henke: mfcrackers, yes targeting will be even more imrpoved, also skills involved for targeting


<[IMG]Smithy> What is MassiveLod and what all does it include? if u can please give us examples
Henke: smithy, massivelod is a extension of lod, LOD is level of detail, that change an objects resolution depending on your distance to the object, to save performance
Henke: massivelod takes it even further, and change the entire world and shadows to gain perofmance, giving us the opportunity to add new content and higher visuals


<Kush> Henrik: will resource nodes be static? or will they deplete then respawn in a different location.
Henke: kush, resources will change and deplete


<Exodeus> Henke: are you able to give us a rough percentage on what is working/in MO compared with a released version of MO ?
Henke: Exodeus, oh we still lack the 4 major features, soon to be activated, which is the major features to have a solid release
Henke: Exodeus but these features have been under testing for some time, and very soon to be tested by you



<Shadow> Henrik: Will we see better texture resolutions or is this max?
Henke: shadow, there will be 1 higher textture res at release


Henke: the major features to be activated now is, housing with guild functions, mounts with taming and armor upgrades builds on pets, primary skill tree ballanced,



<Bigg> Henke: We will see secondary skill tree implimented also before launch? Just not balanced?
Henke: bigg yes. there will be secondary skills as well, but not fully covered


<javifugitivo> when will we have compass and torches??
Henke: javifugitivo, torches will be in soon, compass im not sure


<E]Tyrone> Henke, Can we expect some more spells in the following patch?
Henke: tyrone. there will be a magic patch soon


<Exodeus> Henke: in the game you have designated mining spots, when i asked you a while back if you could mine anywhere at mountain sides, you confirmed that, is that still in ?
Henke: exo, im not sure how to answer this, but yes, the goal is to have it as close to uos mining system as possible


<Golozhopenko> So will we have guilds in Beta?
Henke: Golozhopenko yes


<[Mahti]Zheo> Henke when will we have the npc guards that are killable and such?
Henke: zheo, yes we will


<Noun> Henrik: How are you going to make towns feel like...towns?
Henke: noun, well, to add more npcs doing stuff, some animals and propps will do some good


<Katana> What plans are there in making the wilderness a place people want to go to rather than travel through?
Henke: katana,ya good one, we are actually adding some interest points now as well


<Golozhopenko> Maybe stupid question, but will we have recall\mark\gate skills like in UO? Or somekind of fast traveling?
Henke: Golozhopenko, thats a hot topic on the forums, we are starting with minimal transport spells, because we want full player interaction and exciting moments on the "road"


<Noun> So really, just implementation of more NPCs and spaceholders. Are the town sizes final?
Henke: noun, the cities you see now are pretty much final size yes, but you have not yet seen our capital cities, which comes with massiveLOD


<Noun> how many capital cities?
Henke: noun, there will be 2 major cities in myrland, tindrem and the khurite capital


<Shadow> Henrik: Can you please describe the extent of these "transport spells"
Henke: shadow, there wont be any teleport/recall spells at start, not sure if any at all because of how it changes gameplay
Henke: but when you are in a guild, we may be looking at some teleports


<@Stryver> Henrik any plans on altering Archery?
Henke: stryver, archery needs a few tweaks still yes

<[IMG]Kaden> Henke: Any idea where Nystrom is?
Henke: kaden, IM nyström


<Gomorrah> Henrik, will we be able to customize body shape in the future?
Henke: gomorrah, you will be able to customize body shape in some ways when progressing in your attributes

<Slash_Redhand> Is the combat going to be improved at all?
Henke: slash yes allways


Henke: you cannot send items to another char with a /send


<Shadow> Henrik: Any plans to add more swing directions for melee and improve block.
Henke: shadow, we have tried a lot of swing directions, but it didnt add much game play, it ended up in you chose from 2 swings.. thou it costed performance without giving game play so we are not sure


<Pwntzyou> Henrik, you should hook DrHat and I up with mounts... because of our services
Henke: Pwntzyou, right


<Slash_Redhand> How much of the combat have you implemented now henrik? answer with %
Henke: slash, hehe, Im not sure how many % this would be actually, what I can say is, there will be a lot of more weapons, and ways to harm a player, just to mention war machines, magic, potions, traps, more melee and ranged weapons


<Shadow> Henrik: So no weapon abilities?
Henke: shadow, hehe no noobs


<Gomorrah> Henrik, will you still release MO this year?
Henke: gomorrah thats the plan so far yes,


<[TBO]Paul> Will mining be more successful at higher skill leve?
Henke: paul yes, the higher skill the more or better resources you will be able to find


<Angarato> henrik so people can still jsut logout to avoid death?
Henke: Angarato. oh no hehe, you wont be able to log to save your self, there will be a out timer


<Kuka> 23:59:51] <[ODL]ZLATANN> Henke can we customize our armor in the future maybe a guild symbol or colors ?
Henke: kuka, zlatann, there will be a few options to customize armor and shields yes
<[ODL]ZLATANN> which option Henke ?
Henke: zlatann, some diff color on marks etc.


<GetAngry> henke when can we expect the first dungeon to open?
Henke: GetAngry, thats one of our interest points to come with massiveLOD


<willbo118> any ETA when massiveLOD is coming?
Henke: willbo118, we just got MssiveLOD in our current build, and testing it, so far all fine, if it goes as plans its in the next week


<Wonderboy2402> Henrik, what sort of creatures can we expect to be able to tame? What sort of abilities can they have? (fetch? guard? track?)
Henke: Wonderboy2402, there will be a lot of pets/mounts to tame, and they will be able to do diff attacks, guard, patrol, stay, follow


<Exodeus> Henrik: when is the new patch due?
Henke: Exodeus, sometime next week


<Shadow> Henrik: What are you thoughts are push back being based on the damage done. So people stop spamming light weapons for supreme knock back powess
Henke: shadow, we will change pushback, based on damage and type


<Kamisama> henke : when will messaging Pigeons be in ?
Henke: Kamisama, not sure about that



<Exodeus> Henrik: will npc's be addressed by talking to them like UO (vendor buy, guards, etc) or by targetting and hitting 'r'
Henke: exo, We will probably have both way of npc interaction



<DrHat> Henrik: Okay a bit more serious question. Given the current mechanics, how dynamic do you think the automated world will be? In other words, beyond that of what players put into the world, how 'alive' will the world be..will NPC's wars happen, will important figures rise and fall? will trade make towns/cities grow/diminish
Henke: npcs will not do "a lot" on their own at release drhat, more of a basic behaviour, cept our ancient and mobs


<Gomorrah> Henrik, when you implement the massiveLOD patch will the client size go up by a lot?
Henke: Gomorrah, because we add new areas along with massiveLOD the patches may go up a bit yes


<[IMG]Kaden> Henke: Whats an ancient?
Henke: kaden, an ancient creature could be the dragon you saw in the teaser, one time kill never to be spawned again
Henke: ancient creatures will be controlled by gms and some will only be AI based


<Shadow> Henrik: will we see hitbox effects like damage someone legs slows the player, arms slow attack speed, torso hinders stamina regen, and head blurs vision and makes it hard to concentrate or cast magic.
Henke: shadow, eventually yes


<Lunlya> Henke will 100 peeple be able to kill an ancient creature in one run ?
Henke: Lunlya, this is the fun part, there is no time line, like you are used to see in for ex. wow, a gang spamming arrows and magic on a creature slowly to die. fighting an ancient in MO requires experience from your previous losses



<DrHat> Henrik: More of a strategy question. Given the current progress, which I admit has come quite a ways over the last month - It is however still quite limited (not mentioning details), have you perhaps thought of creating lots of quests/interactive events to perhaps make up for this?
Henke: drhat, we have noticed that its time to try to add some interest points, even thou we have not planned to add this because of priority, but because we want to see players interest raise



<Exodeus> Henrik: will the current vission be addressed? to me it feels like you are looking through the bottom of an empty glass
Henke: Exodeus, we will probably add a small option for you to choose from when it comes to vision


<[TBO]Noxite> Henke, how often will these ancient creatures spawn after one dies?
Henke: noxite, ancient creature will be very rare, and hard to kill, if you manage to do it, there will come a new one in time, but a complete different one



<Slash_Redhand> Henrik, I thnk this is going to be my last question, it's what I'm here for, combat, hmm, I heard that the current combat mechanics are not good, what do you ahve to say about it?
Henke: slash, that depends on whats "not good" I want to know what they mean and the reasons before Im able to answer it, is it laggy because of fps, or because of latencty, or is it other reasons?



<Lunlya> Henrik , u will be able to stay creature NEW ancient creatures every time over , or there will sometimes the same come again ?
Henke: Lunlya, the same creature wont spawn again, when its an ancient



<DrHat> Henrik: Good call! Now building on the answer of my previous question - Have you thought of perhaps outlining/designing systems for this that would allow for several levels of access/modes so as to perhaps include volunteers in these events. You know, to liven it up a bit (continued)
<DrHat> You know perhaps really low level access that would still mark you as an event character..
Henke: drhat, oh yes, we want to add a lot of player to player interaction even in events.


<Denaton> Henke - Will you come to DHW and show off the game and gain milijons of new players?
Henke: Denaton, not sure



<[TBO]Noxite> Henke, will normal npcs end up looking different in minimal ways or is that not important?
Henke: noxite, they will look different, mostly in mesh because textures are something we must save for the players to use


<Denaton> When can we eat those shrooms? =)
Henke: denaton hehe not sure, hopfully soon enough
<Mas`> cant wait for guild mechanics tho
Henke: Mas same here


<Angarato> will secondary skills be in next patch?
Henke: angarato, no sec skills will be in later



<GetAngry> henke, can u tell us what to expect when it comes to player house customization?
Henke: GetAngry, there will be different upgrades for all houses, such as adding a forge or stable etc. or builg a new level on the house with roof view etc, to shoot ppl passing by


<Angarato> will secondary skills give attribute skill ups?
Henke: angarato, all skills that increases will give a bonus to attr gains



<Gomorrah> Henrik, will Mats Item creation idea be in at game release? Will you have a better Item creation interface?
Henke: Gomorrah, Im not sure how complexed that system will be at release, mats can go crazy on those complexed features, but it's really awesome, and the plan is to get there eventually, but we still have to focus on our core features to be there and be solid, so ppl can enjoy the game till we extend the rest small but important features


<Denaton> Can the deva shere the key of a household?
Henke: Denaton, there will be 1 house cap per account, but your chars can stay in the same house if you want to


<Drudley> Henke, how many %'s of the 100 primary and 1000 secondary skills are finished today and how many of them will we see at release?
Henke: drudley, we will get about 80-100% of all primary skills at release, and secondary is impossible to answer becauyse they can be added whenever we find a new interesting skills that brings some value


<Exodeus> Henrik: Chat Bubbles - how are they working out for you... last time i checked they were very transparent and didnt stay visible long
Henke: Exodeus, ya our windows will be reworked, and you should be able to toggle transperancy etc


<Quavis> henke: skilled crafting isn't considered a core feature anymore?
Henke: Quavis, crafting is a core feature yes, but the "minigame" will be limited based on our first vision because of prio
Henke: quavis, im pretty sure that our released crafting system will be amazing



<Kush> henke: there has been alot of talk about the nudity in-game. Are there going to be any changes on nudity whether it is a new starting char or resurrected char?
Henke: kush, nudity will be changed in the way that, all players will have a "blessed" underwear that you allways can wear and not be looted, but you can still stripp down if you want to.


<DrHat> Henrik: Realistically..and with all due respect intended - hearing from many a folks in the corners, many ask that the game be postponed for further refinement. Is this out of the question?
Henke: drhat, we still see our self on track to release the core features we have said in our presentations before, there is still no reason for us to postpone this, if we find a reason we will state this on the website


<Angarato> henke will houses be predesigned and you pick 1? or can you make your own houses by placing walls and adding doors/windows etc
Henke: Angarato, at release you will have to pick a base, location, get resources and start building, then you can upgrade it in some diff ways.


<Denaton> Henrik - Can you build you house anywere?
Henke: denaton, there will be some limits in where you can palce a house, for example,. some interest points areas, ancient creature areas, dungeons, planned "empty" fields, etc wont be buildable because we need it to be free from player houses


<Kush> henke:just to let you know. There are many of us that are not worried about a q4 release. We just want a polished game. No pressure.
Henke: kush, we understand that, thats why we are very open with what we plan to release and what not at release,



<Exodeus> henke: will private houses still be destructable?
Henke: Exodeus, all houses will be destructable, but as said before, it will be HELL to destroy an "innocent" house


<izanaki> Henke: when will see further improvements in player crafting and resource/weapon balance?
Henke: izanaki yes, the player crafting system is not yet in the game, it will be before release


<oriol95> If I BUY MO in dicember,Will I entwer to the beta=???
Henke: oriol95, if you get a licence of MO you will get instant beta yes


<Lunlya> Henke , what will be the peeple limit on each server? 10 k ?
Henke: Lunlya, we have not yet reached our server cap, thats why we accept more players at a slow rate



<GetAngry> henke when can we expect addition to content to really start taking off?
Henke: GetAngry, well, as soon as we see that massiveLOD works as intended we will start adding areas and interest points as well


<Lunlya> we now have 8 k ?
<Lunlya> or more?
Henke: Lunlya, right now we have 11k+ active accounts
Henke: but its worldwide, meaning diff time zones and active time varies


<Quavis> henke: of that number, what kind of server loads are you seeing daily now?
Henke: Quavis, the server load is still very low, but we are changing how much data we are sending now as well, to tweak how combat feels
Henke: that will change server load as well


<Bigg> Henrik when can we see content/features added into the etherworld...
Henke: bigg, thats a seecret


<Shadow> Henrik: Will we see pre-order boxes shipped this month?
Henke: shadow, the boxes are ready to ship, but we are thinking about the dvd, what to put on it, most ppl just want their box now, and we will resend a new dvd when releasing, for the LEs we are waiting on our loot bags from england before we can ship them


<Lunlya> Henke , dont u think the server will get very laggy ones u put so many features in it ??
Henke: Lunlya, its not that simple as more features=more server lagg

<Exodeus> Henrik: what about fog, rain, clear, weather influence, when will we see that coming?
Henke: Exodeus, we plan to add day and night cicle soon, and the next day and night upgrade will contain weather effects changing in the world, also tied into world events


<DrHat> Henrik: Can I be awarded a complimentary lootbag because I'm awesome..actually..both pwntzyou and myself should get one. And epic mounts..I mean lets be fair! oh and GM interface designing and testing
Henke: drhat, did you not manage to get a lootbag?
Henke: I think theres a few lootbags left since our duplicated got reseted


<Hercules-WORK> Henke after LOD is in, since that was the 'holding back' feature for SV as you explained -- we should see a good slew of features coming into play after LOD gets implemented, right?
Henke: Hercules-WORK, that is correct



<DrHat> Henrik: No, I'm one of the cheap slowpokes who missed out on ordering an LE
Henke: drhat, are they sold out now?


<Hercules-WORK> Cool, so I figure 2 or 3 weeks after LOD goes in
<Hercules-WORK> then I'll expect a buncha features
Henke: hercules, we are now able to add new areas thanks to massivelod yes, also new content to be loaded into a clients memory which was our limits up till we got massiveLOD, you have experienced that in out of memory crashes


<Lunlya> Henke , are u planning to be able to pick arrows back up after u shot them away ? like in Oblivion ?
Henke: Lunlya, im not sure about that one, I want it but sebastian doesnt like it because of server load



<Chimer0s> Has there been any news about speedtree becoming compatible with UE3 yet?
Henke: Chimer0s, there is no news from epic games regarding an eta on speedtree 5.0


<Hercules-WORK> Henke, i don't mean just geography, I mean 'features' like the skill tree, magic system completion, housing, guild system, etc
Henke: hercules, yes everything that requires memory swapping will not be able to be added because of the use of MassiveLOD


<Exodeus> Henrik: items on the floor, is that out ?
Henke: Exodeus, not yet


<ReD> Will you put in a handicap system for us 30+ players? We don't have as good reactions as the teenagers?
Henke: red. hehe well there will be many fighting styles, just find one that suits your style


<GetAngry> henke. when can we expect to be able to crouch and go prone in-game?
Henke: GetAngry, not sure, but before release



<ReD> %Henke: Honest now... will this game be as good as pre-trammel UO?
Henke: red, I really hope MO will feel like UO pre trammel, because I did have the time of my life in a mmo in those days


<Denaton> Henke will you change the model for the loot bags or will you have them that whay?
Henke: Denaton we will change them


<Exodeus> Henrik: are you still getting a lot of lag issues with people? lag as in client hopping (i have a pretty good ping and no packetloss, but i still have people jumping from spot to spot)
Henke: Exodeus, ya we have noticed we have a few nodes that make ppl get our of sync on the server, we are not yet sure why it happens some nodes.
<Exodeus> Henrik: lets hope you get it resolved
Henke: Exodeus, ya we have a few ones on it

<ReD> henke: me too, this beta is the only game that has given me some of the old UO feeling. GOOD WORK, and keep it up!
Henke: red, nice to hear that



<Shadow> Henrik: The whole loot and inventory system seems pretty fubar. Is this a placeholder for hopefully UO drag and drop inventory?
Henke: shadow, oh yes the current loot is fubar indeed, it will be changed soon



<[TBO]Noxite> Henke, will magic require reagents? and will it require any weapon of sort? also, will the reagents vary depending on which spell you wish to cast?
Henke: noxite, yes magic will require skills and reagents, and of course the spells first
Henke: noxite and yes the reagends will varies depending on what spell


<revenoff> henke: will release feature npcs that sell items that you can gather in the game(wood, bone, etc)
Henke: revenoff, npcs will sell some basic resources yes, but they can go out of stock, but othe players can sell to them again and then you can buy again


<Lunlya> Henrik , will guards become npc's later on instead of gods lighting strike ??
Henke: Lunlya the guards will be killable later on yes. and they will be stronger or weaker depending on what city



<Acroma> @Henke: Are we able to have guild cities? like a guild hall with guild housing inside with a wall around it?
Henke: acroma, you will be able to build your own houses to form a city, and yes to try to controll that with your guild


<kingbuns> Henrik: will mages be able to cast while they have a weapon out and will mages be able to cast while on horses?
Henke: kingbuns, you will need free hands to cast a spell, but you will be able to cast a spell on a horse but not controll it during the moment you cast it



<narsor> Henrick, is the massive LOD ready for the next patch?
Henke: narsor, it looks like massiveLOD is ready for the next patch yes



<GetAngry> henke will casting be allowed during combat mode? or only out of combat mode?
Henke: getangry, I want you to be ablt co precast a spell in combat and out of combat mode, but we have a few problems to solve to make that work


<kingbuns> Henrik: Will there be some way to create trapped boxes like in UO?
Henke: kingbuns, yes



<Shadow> Henrik dodges my aim based magic question
Henke: shadow, Im not sure when we enable tha aim based school.
Henke: shadow, but its an important ballance factor involved




<Lunlya> Henrik , will u do something about the overpowered nude mage issue ? ^^
Henke: Lunlya, ya a nude mage will be an easy target for a melee weapon or arrows



<Exodeus> Henrik: are you sticking with the whole Z and R keys for combat/operating/looting or will you focus more on using the mouse
Henke: Exodeus keys will be changeable by the user



<Shadow> The majority of players want all aim based offensive magic. What do say to them?
Henke: shadow, all I say is, I want to hear your opinions when the magic system is fully in the game



Henke: oromea ya we know that, we are looking at adding an adrenalin feature that helps catch a player in some cases



<Merkaba> Henke is it true that they are shipping out the boxed versions this month?
Henke: merkaba, we are trying to ship the boxes in the end of september yes, we are waiting on the lootbags from england
Henke: and what lunlya said, we want the dvd to contain a small base to patch from at least, not just to redl the entire thing


<Shadow> Henrik: Any plans to add blood decals to show visually the health of another person?
Henke: shadow, there must indeed be a indication on how hurt a player is, but we are not able to add the visual effects for that feature, meaning we must use a health bar in a way


<GetAngry> henke will players be able to change the lock to their houses if they notice that their key is missing?
Henke: GetAngry yes



<Acroma> @Henke: Are mount making it into this next patch?
Henke: Acroma, not in this one, massivelod goes into this one, mounts will go after


<Shadow> Health bar makes baby jesus cry.
Henke: shadow, well a health bar is pretty much the same thing as a visual effect on a player, but it cost 5% of the performance



<Exodeus> Henrik: is the patcher able to update small pieces of the game yet, or do updates still require the entire game to be downloaded?? that and... do we still need to manually install the NVIDEA physics engine?
Henke: Exodeus, we have an update on our patcher, making it work a lot better just to dl the needed files indeed



<Shadow> Atleast the blood effect isn't a magical bar, since we are going for realism
Henke: shadow, ya, but if we cant show you how hurt a player is, a health bar is 10 times better then going on the bground totaly blind not relying on reading the situation
<Shadow> I'd rather be blind but that's me :P
Henke: shadow, so you would rather go blind not relying on reading the situation to act on your own player skills than just swining blindly till somethign dies?
<Shadow> No I would no aprox how many hits I have landed on an opponent and base my actions off what I have seen and not some magical bar.
Henke: shadow, ya, but if he gets healed then you know nothing, and if he is in a diff state you know nothing, meaning you cannot act to a diff situation, which takes away A LOT of player skills and experience,. this is what takes you from tha msses if you are a good pvper
<Shadow> Nope I see the spells animations on the spell and compute how much it healed while keeping track of how many blows have previously landed on the target.
Henke: shadow, yes you can do that on 2v2 but nor 5v5
Henke: not*
Henke: but in real life you would see it, to simulate this we need a visual indication
Henke: shadow, the goal is to give HUGE room for players to advance in pvp situations



<Acroma> @Henke: How is the new Logout System going to work?
Henke: acroma, your char will stay in the world for 2 min if you log out in an unsafe area
<Shadow> I just hope you can get blood decals in.
Henke: shadow, ya we will se how that evolves during time, but at release we wont see it



<Denaton> Henke when will you take off the safe zonse around the priest?
Henke: denaton, soon


<Lunlya> Henke , i will just follow someone untill he likes to log out and then i kill him ...
Henke: Lunlya, there will be safe zones to log out in, such as inns and player houses



<BetaBob> Henrik - this has been asked many times before, but : Will the patcher music volume be lowered please? or at least a mute button?
Henke: betabob hehe I just adressed that today, yes it will


Henke: alright guys, its getting late and I have some work left today
Henke: ok, thank you everyone for the chat round lets have another one soon again

no zoning in this game?

The screenshots look fine, but the game mechanics...thats another issue.

Also  :awesome_for_real: @virtual nakedness

Yeah, gotta give them respect for big floppy uncircumcised penii and rock hard breast implants.

Would you prefer big floppy breasts and rock hard penises?  :why_so_serious:

In other words, we couldn't be bothered to create any content.   Yeah that works.

all players will have a "blessed" underwear that you allways can wear and not be looted, but you can still stripp down if you want to.

Another gem (http://brokentoys.org/1999/12/31/taking-a-bullet-for-mrpg-comedy-or-dawn-hoc-3-author-delusion/) from Scott that never gets old.

For me, every devchat will always harken back to this classic.

Another gem (http://brokentoys.org/1999/12/31/taking-a-bullet-for-mrpg-comedy-or-dawn-hoc-3-author-delusion/) from Scott that never gets old.

For me, every devchat will always harken back to this classic.

So, is that pretty much where the legendary fetuspults reference comes from? I didn't see the exact wording but it sure seemed like it was in the same ballpark there for a while.  :ye_gods:

Did the developers of darkfall come out of vacation yet?

What do you mean?  From after release?  Apparently their have been several major patches, and another big one that expands the naval game is coming this week, so I hear.

It is 3 minutes after I entered that dungeon that I decided I was not going to launch the game again without a good 12-18 months of patching.

I feel as if that describes the majority of this game.

Does anyone here who shelled out the money still play it? I'm not sure I can be assed to redownload the client

Does a month and a few days constitute a necro or is it a bump?

And if not, when does bumping a thread become a necro?  What's the definitive point in time?

Looks a lot like Mount & Blade, but glitchier. The former is a compliment, the latter less so.

Still though, I have to suggest, anyone who is interested in Mortal Online legitimately should check out Darkfall instead.

Don't like syphilis? TRY HERPES INSTEAD!

Hate is too strong a word. Disdain, disrespect, ridicule... those are more proper.

Don't defend Darkfall. Neither its developers nor the game itself deserve the effort.

People still botting their way through Darkfall skill ups?

Hey a company puts out a game that is aimed at a small audience and actually gives that audience what they want instead of going the same route as every other MMO title that has come out in the last 5 years, lets shit on them because we aren't part of that audience.

The game isn't nearly so bad as most people make it out to be.  There are some problems, don't get me wrong, but its actually a lot better than most of the crap that comes out, in my opinion.

I can see what they are going for, and i like the idea of more realistic pace of taunts, jabs, dodges and looking for tells ... much like watching a real sword fight. But I can't see the action oriented crowed understanding this combat system.

I've tinkering with the idea of trying Darkfall out over the last month.  Unfortunately that means I would have to use money to do so.  That's not going to happen.

It's a different experience, I havn't played a sandbox game in a while that wasn't EVE.  My only issue is that movement is fucking slow and looting shit is a fucking nightmare.

Perhaps the population is really low, but I haven't gotten camped or ganked yet.  So that's a plus to the newbie experience.

Edit:
How do you know what buffs/debuffs you have on you?  I havn't seen that yet.

After a few days playing Darkfall I got sucked back into the loot train that is WOW.  But I still want to play the game some, but it can wait.

EvE lets you choose between the forever safe and perfectly reasonable (as in your not forced to venture out of it) care bear land of empire and 0.0 space. Darkfall there is no choice, your always in 0.0 space as far as the game design is concerned, players can feel free to impose a safe zone but that's a big meh.

I downloaded the client and I had it up and running in less than two hours.  No problems what-so-ever.

Starting on Monday, February 1st, Mortal Online opens it's doors to the public with an open beta.
We invite the whole gaming community to step in the wonderful world of Nave. Join Mortal and experience a fantasticly immersive, beautiful and brutal sandbox MMORPG.

To join the open beta, simply create a game account (a forum account will automatically be created).
Download the client, install and play.

The open beta will run on one cluster server based in Stockholm (Sweden). Please keep in mind that, depending on the onslaught of new players, we will have to cap the server at a certain point.

Step 1

Remove the old client files you have on your computer

Step 2

Go to here
http://www.mortalonline.com/downloadbeta
click on the download link

You can also download from atomic gamer (around ~200kb/s)
http://www.atomicgamer.com/files/833...t-v-0-12-16-18

NOTE: You will be downloading v 0.12.16.18B, which is not a rar file.


Step 3

Point the download (torrent) at the folder you want to have the files in

Example:

C:\MObeta\

It will start to download the v 0.12.16.18 client, along with the new patcher in total 4.9 Gigs.

Step 4

Wait for it to finish downloading, once done copy and paste it into another place so you have 2 versions of it.

Step 5

Go into the files, find the Updater.exe, it should be in the file folder you pasted.

Step 6

It should start a 450mb download, and now wait for it to finish downloading

Step 7

You will go past the 450mb mark and you will get a error that there was a error with the download, exit out of the updater, and restart it

Step 8

The updater will not work again, you will get it non responsive, there should be a error that says it stop working. Close it and restart the updater again.

Step 9

The patcher will start to dl a small update (size unknown). After it downloads there will be a install screen that pops up, hit next to start installing. You might get a can not rename error when installing.

Step 10

You will get a error that you can't rename a file, hit ok, and repeat step 10, till it stops giving you that error and you move on to the next step

Step 11

You will start to download a 10mb patch

Step 12

You will get another error, restart the patcher

Step 13

Hit play

If you guys had problems seeing the fun in Darkfall, I'd advise you just to steer clear. This is much less of a game and much more of a crazy crafting system + adlibs.

I reinstalled from scratch again to see if it would help me get past character selection. Now I crash at login, after typing the first letter of my username.

I'd say that's the purest ragequit I've seen/read in a while. If you really wanted to play, you did a bit of a disservice to yourself there.

Mortal Online Newsletter May 14th 2010


Mortal Online goes live on the 9th of June

The release date of Mortal Online has now been set: the 9th of June. Please read below for more information.

Last weeks of open Beta, status and feedback

With the new engine build, we have finally solved the desync issues we suffered from in the old network solution. Earlier on we lacked the proper tools to be able to track all packages sent from server to client, but with the new software now in place we have managed to eliminate the problem. A lot of internal QA testing as well as positive feedback from our Beta testers confirm the result.

A couple of weeks ago we published a new build of Mortal Online with only a few systems enabled. The reason for this was for us to be able to track the server performance while gradually enabling all server features such as creatures and interactive objects. The systems were enabled on the server side only for testing and performance tracking and therefore not available for the players. This helped us a lot in optimizing the server load. During these tests we got a lot of reports on bugs and various lag issues from the players, which was expected at this point due to a lot of systems being disabled or partly shut down.

Collaboration with Epic Games China/Titan Studios Epic Games

China/Titan Studios has been most helpful in the launch and testing of our latest build, and thanks to them we will have a much more stable core for the release. Three Star Vault programmers have been working with Titan Studious in their office in Seattle during the last week while they were optimizing their network engine. Working together with their team with direct access to both our game and their engine made it much more effective than distance collaboration such as email and video conferences.

Titan Studious will continue to work on their network solution while supporting the development of Mortal Online. We still have one Star Vault programmer in the U.S working with their team to make communication between our two teams more efficient.

The coming patches will include server fixes for better performance, bug fixes and progressively enabling game features for the testers.

Closing open Beta for final step before release

We are now closing open Beta to be able to effectively make our last changes to the server. Anyone who has a purchased license of Mortal Online will still be able to log in and help us test the game during this period when the server is online. The Open Beta discount will end on Monday 17th of May.

We want to thank all our patient testers; without you this would have been impossible!

-The Mortal Online Team

BTW they purposely set everyone to have an auto renew subscription, even those people that bought the beta almost a year ago when there was no subscription selection available. You didn't even get to choose what subscription terms you want. So if you bought into this scam way back when, you better check your account or suprise come July you will have a charge from ScamVault.

I launched my Mortal Online install a couple days ago after not logging in for over a month. Did not get any patch. So sounds to me like they are just declaring the game fixed without actually testing it with any kind of real stress load.

You have to download the entire client again to get the latest patch. If you pre-ordered anyway. Everyone else got pushed out the door before the miracle patch went in.

For those that beta tested this... what is your take or feeling on this game?  I've been watching Youtube videos, but not sure what to think.  I'm getting a little tired of Fallen Earth and I'm really really wanting some fantasy stuff again.

As crazy as this is going to sound, if you really want to go with a game like this, just go with Darkfall, for all its faults, its a lot better than Mortal Online.

I've been trying out Darkfall too, it really isn't half as bad as I was expecting.  But Chinchilla, I think the best option for you with those two aspects in mind is clearly Fallen Earth. Crafting and PvP in ample supply.

This was my initial impression as well. As a matter of fact; I actually liked the game for about thirty minutes... Until reality set in.

Things like having to chop wood / do menial tasks for five months to get stats high enough maybe possibly pose a threat to an afk veteran, no role diversity, "Too many fucking buffs" syndrome, shoddy engine, sound effects engineered in a truck stop bathroom, a community that makes the X-box LIVE playerbase seem pleasant by comparison, NPC servers going down every night at the same time, and probably more crap I failed to mention.

Release.

Dear Community, fans, friends and business partners,

we are very proud to announce that Mortal Online launched at 16:00 GMT+2 today, June 9th 2010.
It has been a rough ride for both you, our loyal fans, as well as the team here at Star Vault.
We have come a long way from the first days of Block A and "Lake Sausage", the time of imba-spears and chars with maxed out skills and now, finally the point we are at today, with all promised features implemented, the beatutiful and dangerous world of Nave.
Without your great support this would have never been possible and everybody here at Star Vault is proud to be a part of this great community.
The ride isn't over yet - there are still a few milestones ahead in the next months. As all of you know the game is not as polished as we wanted it to be but we will continue - with you vital support - to make this an awsome game.

Your interests lie in the two most undeveloped areas of MMOs.  Good luck.

I've been trying out Darkfall too, it really isn't half as bad as I was expecting.  But Chinchilla, I think the best option for you with those two aspects in mind is clearly Fallen Earth. Crafting and PvP in ample supply.

He paid for Darkfall, too.  Do you really need to ask?