Subscription changes coming for soe

[Mithas]

Oh I'm sure that will end fabulously.

[Venkman]

Heh. Could be anything from "we got SW back since SWTOR has/soon ended and we'll make launch SWG with combat that works" to "we meant EQ Next is for the SWG players pre-NGE who liked the crafting/economy system"

In other words, the possibilities run the entire range from Robot Jesus to WoW 1.justlikeit 

[Surlyboi]

Bring back that fucking skill system with less grind and I'm there.

[Lantyssa]

SOE is closing down four of it MMOs. Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures and Free Realms will close on March 31st. Vanguard and Wizardry Online will bow out on July 31st.

Fuck.  Two of those were the only ones in their current stable I cared about at all.

[koro]

Heh. Could be anything from "we got SW back since SWTOR has/soon ended and we'll make launch SWG with combat that works" to "we meant EQ Next is for the SWG players pre-NGE who liked the crafting/economy system"

In other words, the possibilities run the entire range from Robot Jesus to WoW 1.justlikeit 

The chances of SOE making anything Star Wars are nil. EA's got the exclusive Star Wars license, and is very likely the reason Clone Wars Adventures is shutting down.

[Lantyssa]

I think it's more likely CWA is shutting down is because they haven't done anything with the game.  Like Free Realms, they almost completely neglected it except to add more cash shop items.  Once people move on from it there is absolutely no reason for anyone to come back nor any pull for new people to give it a look.  Were it doing well, I'm quite sure they could get an extension to an existing contract.

[Venkman]

Heh. Could be anything from "we got SW back since SWTOR has/soon ended and we'll make launch SWG with combat that works" to "we meant EQ Next is for the SWG players pre-NGE who liked the crafting/economy system"

In other words, the possibilities run the entire range from Robot Jesus to WoW 1.justlikeit 

The chances of SOE making anything Star Wars are nil. EA's got the exclusive Star Wars license, and is very likely the reason Clone Wars Adventures is shutting down.

Heh. So was the chance of anyone but SOE making a Star Wars MMO nor was never a chance of any more Star Wars movies either.

[veredus]

I assume this goes along with that.

"In terms of the brand spanky new unannounced MMO, will it be based on an existing IP or something new I should work myself into a frothy craze over?

j_smedley 24 points 21 hours ago
completely new IP. The data is on the interwebs.. someone just has to find it."

[Ginaz]

I assume this goes along with that.

"In terms of the brand spanky new unannounced MMO, will it be based on an existing IP or something new I should work myself into a frothy craze over?

j_smedley 24 points 21 hours ago
completely new IP. The data is on the interwebs.. someone just has to find it."

I wonder if he's talking about Pantheon???   If McQuaid's KS eventually goes to soe...oh man.

[Lantyssa]

Oh yes, I totally believe the company who killed SWG and redesigned it several times in the midst of other redesigns knows how to make the spirit of the game work.

Sadly, they're still my best hope for producing something right now.

[Venkman]

Some think it's SOE having trademarked H1Z1 (here's a Neogaf thread). This guy though thinks it's World of Darkness rights being bought by SOE from CCP who has shifted resources away from it.

Since he said "completely new IP" though, I'm leaning H1Z1 or something I haven't found yet.

And yes, I dug a little. Because like Lant, they're also my best hope for producing something (interesting) right now. And with what they're doing with EQN, I'm willing to give them some interest.

And they say you can't go home again...

[Numtini]

I'd be very skeptical that it's World of Darkness. The concept was terrible for a MMO to start because it's actually about roleplaying, not hacking stuff to death. Second, the Secret World's about the best implementation of that kind of horror thing I can imagine and it completely tanked in the marketplace.

A Zombie Apocalypse game, on the other hand, has lots of hacking stuff to death and is still a reasonably hot genre.

[Falconeer]

These new sandboxes though are somehow generating a ton of unexpected, spontaneous roleplaying. Granted, while I am 100% sure that sandbox MMOs are not a fad (they are here to stay now that technology makes it easy to build them), the roleplaying thing could absolutely be. But when you see how much -HOW MUCH- roleplaying is happening in Day Z and ArmA (*cough* City Life) just because the environment and the tools look realistic, and people have voice comm, I am sure someone is wondering if there's some sort of huge untapped potential that needs to be explored/exploited.

It's something like: give people a realistic enough virtual world (not Second Life, not medieval fantasy, not dragons), give them tools other than just weapons, give them voice communications, see what happens. Not sure about World of Darkness (I'd bet against it), and not sure about how sustainable these projects are (costs vs. revenues), but SOE clearly wants to be the very first one to build massive AAA sandboxes so I wouldn't be surprised if they announced something really, really new and impressive.

For a long time roleplaying, be it about Pen and Paper or just poor computerized graphics) has been about "filling the blanks" with imagination. Now technology is slowly starting to fill those blanks, and people are finding less tiresome to just "play", and give in to the simulation. And participate.

One random thought: try to imagine what multiplayer roleplaying games, or even simple sandbox simulations like Euro Truck Simulator, will be like in 20 years. 2034 (Or 2334). Can you?

[Lucas]

"Mystery MMOG"...Now with mystery pics!!

http://massively.joystiq.com/2014/02/02/soe-teases-picture-of-mystery-sandbox-mmo/

https://twitter.com/j_smedley/status/428655384299974656/photo/1

Yep, might look like a contemporary setting.

[Lantyssa]

I'm curious how a sandbox game set in a sci-fi setting tranlates to contemporary sandbox.  I don't want Sims, I want SimBeru.

[Hawkbit]

I'd say we're looking at a game akin to persistent State of Decay or Rust, maybe even an updated Fallen Earth.  I'm hoping it's more revolutionary than that considering what they're doing with EQN. 

Take the H1N5 name (indicating a flu strain that might kill 99% of the world) and cross it with the pic of the church.  Maybe it's a survival game right after a mass extinction event?  The SWG skill system would fit into a survival, open world kind of game.

[HaemishM]

Yes, SOE, please give us another survival sandbox zombie game. There aren't nearly enough of those to scratch this persistent, burning, rashy itch I have for more zombies. 

[Hawkbit]

From @j_smedley:

so the SWG fans seem to hate the ideas I've mentioned if they aren't in a sci-fi game. Ok. My bad I guess. thought they might like it.

would you consider the show Revolution sci-fi?

Called it, sorta.

[Lantyssa]

It's not that some of us won't like it, but he shouldn't go saying SWG fans will love some post-apocalyptic setting just because it's a sandbox.  Star Wars was teaming with thousands of different species and all kinds of societies, from low-life dives to high court life.  There were spaceships and creatures and droids.

That's a lot different than trying to play in a survivalist sandbox.

Not that we should expect the head of a gaming company that made one of the biggest blunders in the industry understand the difference.

[Numtini]

SWG's only assert was that it was UO2 ( in space). You give me UO2/3 anywhere and I'm happy. I still own a keep on Atlantic

[Cadaverine]

M-O-O-N.  That spells sandbox.

I'd be ok with some sort of near-extinction event scenario a la The Stand.  Anything but zombies, really.

[Ingmar]

since SWTOR has/soon ended

Uh, yeah, no.