Prime Battle for Dominus from PitchBlack games

[Stabs]

An avatar-based sci fi game is in the works from PitchBlack games of Phoenix, Arizona. Sub-based MMORPG.

Their site is here: http://www.primeonline.com/

With superb timing it manages to be highly evocative of Star Wars: Galaxies and also brings back DAOC's much-missed three way faction brawl. It also seems to be taking a leaf out of Trion's book in terms of professionalism (although early to say that, hope that doesn't come back to haunt me!). It certainly is looking more streamlined than the games that have influenced it.

The game has three factions that are unique races, 2 alien and one human. Each race has 6 classes. The alien classes are original and interesting while the human ones are very reminiscent of SWG including medics wielding stim packs and commandos wielding assault cannons. I think I'm going to play an Antelis http://www.primeonline.com/game/classes/antelis/

Character progression is a hybrid of class-based and skill-based. You will progress your skills by filling up boxes with experience points.

PVE is all of the expected standard fodder plus also dynamic events managed by a member of staff. They do this in Eve, there are quite frequent Live events, I got blown up at one recently. I just wonder if this features implies that they're aiming for a single server game. They haven't said so anywhere else but managing hand moderated events in a structure like Rift's (which had ninety-something servers at launch) would be a nightmare. Another key element of the PVE is a mission system - does anyone else here miss running 'naff missions out of Coruscant in SWG?

Another element I like is this: "There are a few "instanced" PVE areas that require a small group of 6 players, but most of Prime's encounters are open world and therefore it's up to the players themselves to decide how many players should comprise the group." I found in Rift, where I ran a raid guild it was much more comfortable all round doing 5 and 10 man raid rifts in the open world where I could bring any number up to 20 than trying to herd my cats to the specific demands of 20 man instanced raids.

PVP consists of open world pvp as you grow more powerful (I guess they mean higher level areas are more likely to be contested), large scale world faction battles, an arena system and a bounty hunter system. You can gain renown by surviving with high bounties on you.

The professions page implies a rich crafting system. Interestingly it states "Players will travel far and wide to purchase the weapons of a high-end Weapontech." That is not the case in WoW where everyone and his brother is a master crafter but it was the case in Galaxies. Of course that may just be marketing department flavour text. The resource surveying system is demonstrated in one of the videos (linked below). Looks like players will be in for a lot of resources hunting and that certain areas may be rich in specialised and valuable resources - an interesting design feature in a gameworld carved up into 3 pvping factions.

Combat is a straight forward tab target hotkey based system although there's no autoattack. Players have a health bar and an energy bar, HAM has not been brought back to haunt us. You drop harvested resources when killed - I can see an emergent playstyle already!

A blog piece is here (and is how I heard about it): http://www.keenandgraev.com/?p=5208
Interestingly the blogger took one look at the SWG-style hotter/warmer resource scanning system and thought "I'm in." It's the little things...

Youtube has 6 videos that I found, 3 interviews (well technically I think they're monologues as no questions are asked) and 3 demos of gameplay:

Interview: Warren Weems CEO on the corporate and production background.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPp1m2lDu0o&feature=related

Interview: Lee Phemister Art Lead talks about the art team.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HT3GrBrvEqg

Interview: Zyad Khadri Art Director on the look and the feel of the art and design.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOPD838vg7w&feature=related

Short demo: Character creation. Pretty cool sci fi armour for the humans, nice monster look for the Rodons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijSDIyzJxGc

Short demo: Start area, UI, mob combat, resource surveying.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MP0KIFOfUE

Long dev Q&A (55 minutes)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UVodT1PPCU



They have a careers page which currently has 2 jobs on it:
http://www.pitchblackgames.com/home/jobs.cfm

[Kail]

Looks pretty good, he said warily.  Still plenty of time to fuck it up, but it looks like it might be worth keeping an eye on.

Not really getting an SWG vibe from it, though.  Hardwired preset classes, hardwired preset factions, boo.  I get the impression that all the classes for each race are basically mirrors of each other, yes?  Human engineer = Rodon hybrid = Salent antelis, or telepath = reaver = zin, that kind of thing?

The only other feature I'm seeing that sends up red flags is the idea of tab targetting hotkey combat without autoattack, which in my experience is generally really awkward since there aren't enough mouse buttons so you need to spam your 1 key rather than LMB to shoot or something (thinking of Age of Conan here).

But it might be cool, I'll keep an eye on it.  They're supposed to release sometime this year, so sayeth the FAQ, is it in beta or something?

[Stabs]

Not really getting an SWG vibe from it, though.  

There's definitely some elements. If you watch the second demo you see the SWG resource locating system. It's certainly not a clone though.

I get the impression that all the classes for each race are basically mirrors of each other, yes?  Human engineer = Rodon hybrid = Salent antelis, or telepath = reaver = zin, that kind of thing?

They say not. More like Shaman:Paladin in Vanilla WoW.

They're supposed to release sometime this year, so sayeth the FAQ, is it in beta or something?

I would be astonished if this is a 2011 release and pretty surprised if it makes it out in 2012. Sanya said something snarky about testers complaining there was nothing to do in a recent pre-alpha test of the engine.

[PalmTrees]

Saw a bit of their character creation video. I think they're in for some really unbalanced sides. The two aliens races are ugly with a capitol U.  You have a choice between ugly beastmen things and the other is a kind of skinless, skeletal race. The beast people lack even any furry appeal. I know in EQ ogre and troll were among the least played, Wow had lower population for Horde pre-Blood Elf iirc.

[Viin]

The second gameplay video above does look like SWG - the UI elements are very similar, as is the perspective/world style. Also, the skill system doesn't seem too far off from SWG either - you gain "points" via exp to buy the next level of a skill. You can't max all your skills, but you can max a couple of branches. They mention respecs too, though it probably won't be to the extent that you could change classes completely. One of the cool things in SWG was the hybrid classes, but they are much more hellish to balance.

[carnifex27]

I get the impression that all the classes for each race are basically mirrors of each other, yes?  Human engineer = Rodon hybrid = Salent antelis, or telepath = reaver = zin, that kind of thing?

They say not. More like Shaman:Paladin in Vanilla WoW.

[

Hopefully it's more like Berserker:Mercenary:Blademaster from DAoc.

[Hoax]

Hopefully not. Blademaster at release was the worst class I've ever played and I've picked some really underpowered classes. None of those three were spectacular mind you since Mythic didn't have a clue how to balance anything and "light tanks" were mostly garbage.

[Ingmar]

Pre-left axe nerf berserkers were definitely not garbage.

This sure does appear to be headed down a short road to DAOC faction imbalance. Also the name is stupid. They should just leave it at Prime.

[Stabs]

One of the highlights so far has been Sanya Weathers's robust moderation of the forums. As Scott Jennings noted she drew a line in the sand regarding the use of gay and faggot a few days ago.

Here's some excerpts from how she's starting out in Prime:

These are the rules of the Prime forum community. Every time you break a rule, we are forced to shoot a kitten with a laser. Think of the kittens.

.................

6. "Goodbye" threads. Any thread in which the original poster is announcing his intent to quit the game/quit reading about the game will result in immediate thread removal and the author's permanent suspension from the forums. Just to make sure he means it.
7. Any language or actions intended to disturb other individuals or summon the drama llama.

.................

Zero to banned in sixty seconds.

http://forums.primeonline.com/index.php?/topic/3-the-fine-print/

[Modern Angel]

That is fucking AWESOME!

I've been beating the drum for a zero tolerance policy on official forums for as long as I can remember.

[WindupAtheist]

I'm never giving up the word faggot, no matter how many shrill activists screech that it's totally making teenagers shoot themselves. Fuck you guys, I voted to let you get married, I'm keeping this word. It's a good word, used to describe useless waste of space people long before it was used to describe people who like fucking the same gender.

[Modern Angel]

It's cool, bro. It just means you can't post on some forums.

Here are some other words which you should bravely reclaim:

nigger, spic, kike, chink, zipperhead

Let me know how it goes!

[Outlawedprod]

Sanya Weathers drew a line in the sand regarding the use of gay and faggot a few days ago.

Strange the first reply on that blog isn't "Well that's retarded."  Which is pretty much what you would normally get if your blog or game had the full spectrum of today's gaming audience :)

[Mrbloodworth]

I'm not entirely sure what this game is. Some parts of the sight go really far to say "We are not like those other stupid games" but then does not describe anything really. Granted I have not watched all the videos, but the website is lacking in details. I have no idea if this is a shooter, faux shooter, typical RPG...... or what.

[Merusk]

That is fucking AWESOME!

I've been beating the drum for a zero tolerance policy on official forums for as long as I can remember.

Sanya's always been in favor of that same policy, she just never gets much opportunity to enact it because most game companies don't seem to want to rid themselves of these customers.

WUA's just trolling, don't feed him.

[Modern Angel]

I know he's trolling. It's a bit heavy handed. I think a better troll would've been to flip the script and start freaking out about Sanya using the word "gay" at all in her posting.

[Mrbloodworth]

[13:52] Sanya: Because [unless I pipe up, people will think] UO was intended as a niche product to satisfy hordes of PVP players cruelly excluded from other MMOs. And DAOC was meant from the beginning to appeal to UO players. AC never existed. And Everquest was the product of a scrappy little group of gamers who sold out to Sony. AND WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AT WAR WITH EASTASIA.

Lol.

[carnifex27]

Q: How does gear affect combat?

A: Player crafted gear is the good stuff. Someone wearing crafted gear will be better off than the stuff you buy from NPC vendors.

Before you ask: There are no armor drops off open world monsters. There are some NPCs that, when killed, will drop armor roughly equivalent to vendor gear. We are still discussing dungeon rewards and I make no promises as to what that stuff will be like. But we are quite certain that the stuff crafted by players, from the elements that other players died to obtain, will be the best the game has to offer.

Here is some good and interesting news for the crafting junkies.  I imagine they will even stick to this so long as the pvp is based around gathering mats.

[Amaron]

6. "Goodbye" threads. Any thread in which the original poster is announcing his intent to quit the game/quit reading about the game will result in immediate thread removal and the author's permanent suspension from the forums. Just to make sure he means it.

Banning people from the forums permanently who are thinking about quitting the game.   I'm sure that will go well. 

[Merusk]

Seems sensible to me.  Don't make an "I quit" thread just to drama troll or because you don't feel special enough or think your points would be lost without such teenage melodrama.

[Paelos]

Seems sensible to me.  Don't make an "I quit" thread just to drama troll or because you don't feel special enough or think your points would be lost without such teenage melodrama.

It puts a nice bow on things too.

[Stabs]

I'm never giving up the word faggot, no matter how many shrill activists screech that it's totally making teenagers shoot themselves. Fuck you guys, I voted to let you get married, I'm keeping this word. It's a good word, used to describe useless waste of space people long before it was used to describe people who like fucking the same gender.

Fuck you guys

Erm, wouldn't that make you.....

[Lantyssa]

Thus his lack of a desire to give up the word.

[WindupAtheist]

Strange the first reply on that blog isn't "Well that's retarded."  Which is pretty much what you would normally get if your blog or game had the full spectrum of today's gaming audience :)

Comments are pre-moderated. I leave it to the reader to speculate upon what percentage of received comments are actually allowed to appear.

In any case, watching professionally offended language-police bark at the moon is worth a laugh if nothing else, especially when they're dealing with the internet. Yeah, you go, this is a battle you're totally going to win.

[Stabs]

But it might be cool, I'll keep an eye on it.  They're supposed to release sometime this year, so sayeth the FAQ, is it in beta or something?

I owe you an apology, Kail, the faq does indeed state a 2011 release is what they are planning:

When will Prime Battle For Dominus launch?

Prime Battle For Dominus is targeted to launch in 2011.

http://www.primeonline.com/game/faq/

What threw me is that Sanya said this in the Beta Faq:

I've seen a couple of said whiny [deleted]s out on other forums complaining that the alpha... more accurately, the engine test... didn't have anything to do. Uh... duh?

http://forums.primeonline.com/index.php?/topic/56-beta-faq/

To be fair she didn't say when that engine test was. She's only been there a month though so I assume it was recent.

In the interview with the CEO Mr Weems explains that they're using a lot of shortcuts, such as licencing the Hero engine, to make the production process shorter. It will be impressive though if they can go from pre-alpha empty game to launch in under 6 months. There's a real possibility that this SWG-like game will launch in Q1 2012, same quarter as SWTOR is expected. Then former SWG players will get to decide whether we're SW or G. I'm definitely G.

[Mrbloodworth]

6. "Goodbye" threads. Any thread in which the original poster is announcing his intent to quit the game/quit reading about the game will result in immediate thread removal and the author's permanent suspension from the forums. Just to make sure he means it.

Banning people from the forums permanently who are thinking about quitting the game.   I'm sure that will go well. 

God would that make life so much easier.

[Furiously]

It's cool, bro. It just means you can't post on some forums.

Here are some other words which you should bravely reclaim:

nigger, spic, kike, chink, zipperhead

Let me know how it goes!

I see a small chink in one of those words.

[NiX]

6. "Goodbye" threads. Any thread in which the original poster is announcing his intent to quit the game/quit reading about the game will result in immediate thread removal and the author's permanent suspension from the forums. Just to make sure he means it.

Banning people from the forums permanently who are thinking about quitting the game.   I'm sure that will go well. 

I think the idea is to rid the forums of internet drama queens looking to get on Tyra.

[Typhon]

Q: How does gear affect combat?

A: Player crafted gear is the good stuff. Someone wearing crafted gear will be better off than the stuff you buy from NPC vendors.

Before you ask: There are no armor drops off open world monsters. There are some NPCs that, when killed, will drop armor roughly equivalent to vendor gear. We are still discussing dungeon rewards and I make no promises as to what that stuff will be like. But we are quite certain that the stuff crafted by players, from the elements that other players died to obtain, will be the best the game has to offer.

Here is some good and interesting news for the crafting junkies.  I imagine they will even stick to this so long as the pvp is based around gathering mats.

If the game doesn't launch with the ability to place orders for gear my interest level just went in the crapper.  I'd rather not have to interract with crafters - not that I dislike them, I'd just rather be playing the game then begging folks to make me gear.

[kildorn]

6. "Goodbye" threads. Any thread in which the original poster is announcing his intent to quit the game/quit reading about the game will result in immediate thread removal and the author's permanent suspension from the forums. Just to make sure he means it.

Banning people from the forums permanently who are thinking about quitting the game.   I'm sure that will go well. 

Personally, I'd just put a "subscription status:" tag on the forum avatars to stop the idiocy of "I QUIT" threads that don't actually involve quitting. Would take the wind out of them if the status said "6 month recurring" or add some weight if it said "Non renewing"

Banning them seems silly, but basically trying to get to the same point: I quit threads are pretty much pointless drama.

[sinij]

I'm never giving up the word faggot, no matter how many shrill activists screech that it's totally making teenagers shoot themselves. Fuck you guys, I voted to let you get married, I'm keeping this word. It's a good word, used to describe useless waste of space people long before it was used to describe people who like fucking the same gender.

I am with you on this one. "Faggot" is such entrenched part of the internet culture that no amount of misplaced political correctness would ever change it. At this point its use has nothing to do with sexual harassment and everything to do with poor sportsmanship.

I find whole "zero tolerance" parallel to "tough on crime", both policies doomed to fail and are only there to score political/marketing points. If you actually follow-through with them you end up turning things for the worse.

Well, good luck declaring war on The Internet. Send us postcards from the battlefront.

P.S. WUA, fuck you faggot for making me agree with you! What a fag.

[sinij]

Seems sensible to me.  Don't make an "I quit" thread just to drama troll or because you don't feel special enough or think your points would be lost without such teenage melodrama.

Not really, it turns 'ex-players who will get back for next expansion' into 'pissed ex-players who badmouth your game in a medium you have no control over and never come back'. Most people make "I quit" posts to convince themselves that they want to quit, because on some level they are still interested/passionate about the game. The same "interested/passionate" that brings them back for the next expansion when they manage to somewhat forget what pissed them off in the first place. You slam the door while they are on the way out and you can kiss your re-subs goodbye. I also imagine such policy might turn first serious community issue (see: monocles) into game-killing event.

I got a feeling we will soon find out if it possible to kill a title with idiotic community management. I suspect that it isn't - Abashi didn't manage to kill EQ, Ghostcrawler didn't put a dent into WoW subs and I don't imagine that Sanya would be any different regardless of level of douchebagery in her new title.

[Hoax]

Going to side with WUA on this one, the internet has already at least half stolen fag(got) away from hate speech and I'd like to see them finish the job. Also when I read it in my head online it doesn't sound at all like it does when people say it out loud and I don't find it troublesome in the slightest.

[UnSub]

I am with you on this one. "Faggot" is such entrenched part of the internet culture that no amount of misplaced political correctness would ever change it. At this point its use has nothing to do with sexual harassment and everything to do with poor sportsmanship.

Also, the word 'negro' is so firmly entrenched in US language that it will never change in its use of identifying the coloured folk.  

As for the game: seems like the most interesting thing about it is the forum moderation, which isn't a good sign. Also - an open world MMO with a player-based economy that will launch before the end of the year with 3 factions, 18 classes,

player driven content, the bounty system, player inventions, story events conducted by employees, and more.

Good luck with that.

[sinij]

I am sorry you feel sexually harassed every time some anonymous idiot in online game that doesn't even know your gender calls you a fag, but maybe it is time to toughen the fuck up?