Mortal Online = darkfall + mourning?

[Mrbloodworth]

MO Flagging system (PDF)

[WindupAtheist]

MO Flagging system (PDF)

lol

[gryeyes]

Do i need a decoder ring to understand that?

[raydeen]

Somebody had some fun in Excel.

[Hawkbit]

MO Flagging system (PDF)

lol

lol

[tkinnun0]

Have they taken into account AOE spells?

[DLRiley]

Have they taken into account AOE spells?

Don't ruin the surprise 

[Zzulo]

Screenshots:


info:

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.

http://www.mortalonline.com/news/june-05-06-09

[Falconeer]

Here comes another expired antibiotic...

[Zzulo]

What does that mean?

[ashrik]

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.

I say, dear chap, referring to the private joke of thy own creation may be near as uncouth as quoting thineself!

[Falconeer]

I am as shameless as a MMORPG dev.

[Hawkbit]

 

He's got one helluva point.  I'm guessing they must have seen how well it worked for the game it's trying to be. 

[ashrik]

If you're talking about the flagging system, they referred to it has having 10+ years of kids-love-it, mothers-approved field testing in the mean streets of UO.

[Malakili]

The Chart at the end of the flagging PDF is 

[tmp]

Two Combat Beta reviews some PR to get the bids for the "very special" Limited Edition #1 box going

Two of our Combat Beta players have provided us with reviews on the game this far. Read them here and here. Please note that this is an exception to the NDA, and that the NDA still isn’t lifted.

(Current bid: US $2,550.00  

edit: oh, and "Mortal Online is a game still in Beta. The official launch date is not firmly set, but estimated to Q4 (Oct-Dec) 2009"

[LC]

They said that the proceeds from the auction would be going to charity.

[Nebu]

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.

This quote in the review caught my eye.  I may actually enjoy this game. 

[DLRiley]

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

[tmp]

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

IIrc the movement slows down a lot while in combat which renders the strafing ineffective.

[NiX]

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

[Nebu]

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

Ditto.

[DLRiley]

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

Ditto.

I second that.

[ashrik]

I can't imagine another method of movement, specially since this will be played in the first person perspective.

If, by that statement, they just mean that we won't be playing highspeed joust like in Darkfall then I'd be happy.

[DLRiley]

If this was in third person I can almost forget that the rest of the game is crap.

[Zzulo]

You can see a duel right in one of the videos they released. Movement is clearly very slow (with weapon drawn), so while circle strafing is still possible, obviously, it will be very slow.

[patience]

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

Hopefully this opinion is restricted to sword and board MMOs and not my hopes for a battletech mmo to ever come out.

I don't find redcuing movement speed drastically while being in combat making a lot of sense. A more elegent solution would've been to reduce damage while performing awkward lateral movement.

[AutomaticZen]

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.

What?  Seriously?  People make no sense sometimes.

[ashrik]

Hey fellas. Information:

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.

Source

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.

Source

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.

Source

[Malakili]

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.

What?  Seriously?  People make no sense sometimes.

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.  

[ashrik]

Could one describe being immersed as being lost in the experience? 

[Arrrgh]

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

He's got a real pretty mouth on him, don't he?

[Mrbloodworth]

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.

What?  Seriously?  People make no sense sometimes.

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.  

If the game you are playing, and your personal focus is not to get uber loot. Then I see nothing wrong with this. I honestly get around in LOTRO mostly by environment. Unless im running along with some one who has done it before, and is just speed helping me.

[Lantyssa]

"Getting lost" is a huge problem for those of us with absolutely no direction sense in a large world.  We'll never be able to get anywhere.  For example, I can get lost on a road running between the point I left and my destination.

I always bog down my PnP games making maps, especially dungeon crawls, because I'll never be able to find my way out otherwise.

[gryeyes]

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.