The Story of Mourning... or... Huh?

[Signe]

A few days ago, a mod for the official Mourning board, wrote a post that caused the forums to implode. 

Here below is Spoonbender's post:

You want news? I'll give you news

I have given up on this game, for a lot of reasons. I know a lot of people respect me, and my word carries a lot of weight. i can't support this game. I don't want to be the reason countless people buy the game

Let me be absolutely clear on a few points though. There is a game. It's not yet ready for release, but the devs are working their asses off because they want the game to succeed. This is not why I give up. In fact, the devs are the main reason I've stayed on for so long. Because I like them and trust them, and because I thought they deserved this chance.

But how can a game succeed when the US publisher is the biggest jerk on the face of the planet? A man who has no respect for rules, even when they're his own, and even less respect for his own customers, and less still for the people trying to work with him?

I've spent months now, trying to keep people from leaving the community in disgust every time that man opened his mouth. I can't keep up with this level of superhuman stupidity and incompetence.

As a community member, I have to deal with him pissing us all off with arrogant and offensive remarks. I have to deal with this kind of person being in charge of a game I'm interested in. I don't trust him to hire decent GM's. I don't trust him to buy decent servers. I don't trust him to fund the development long enough to get the game to a playable state.

As a beta tester, I'm still tied by the NDA, and I respect that, for the devs' sake. But I can say that you should all be glad you're not testers, because then you'd have to put up with even more of Dave's crap. You saw what happened with the videos. Some of us get permission to post screenshots and videos, and when we do, he insult us, and tell us not to post any more of either.

As a moderator? Well, don't even get me started. Again, I can't and won't give you any details, because unlike Dave, I have a minimum of respect for rules. But let's just say that if we could, and I speak for *every* mod here, and a few of the devs, we would have banned him countless times already.
And let's just say that you are extremely lucky you don't have to deal with him on the moderators board. We've always tried to compensate for his incompetence, apologize when he did something stupid, and in general, try to help people deal with the fact of having him in charge.
In return, we just have to put up with more crap. We have to put up with personal abuse, general insults, with the fact that the one person who most deserves a ban is outside the rules. We have to put up with him changing the rules on the forum with no prior notice to us. We have to put up with him randomly deleting threads he doesn't like. We have to put up with him making a new account every week. We have to put up with him deleting an entire subforum for no particular reason, and without ever giving an explanation. We have to deal with him banning people (and moderators), and occasionally even deleting their account completely. We have to put up with being told that we simply don't matter.
[edit]
After posting this, I noticed that he has now even deleted a thread on the moderators forum. We complained about his recent actions, and even there, he deletes threads.
[/edit]

A lot of you have asked why I haven't preordered. My answer has always been that I never preorder a MMO. That is true, but it's not the full story. The other part of it is that the way things are going now, it's not worth preordering. Not because the devs intend to s-c-a-m you, or because the game doesn't exist, or because the CC handling company is a registered spammer, or any of the other crazy conspiracy theories that are floating around. Simply because the man in chargeof the American release (which is the only one you can preorder) is the most incompetent publisher I've ever seen.

To summarize:
You probably all know how big a part of a MMO customer service and GM's play. And guess who's in charge of this. You also know how important it is that the devs are given time to develop the game. Guess who makes this decision as well.
You've seen the screenshots and the movies. Make up your own mind on what they show, what they don't show, how they show it, and what it means for the game.
You've seen their estimates on how many people to invite to beta, and how long it should run for. Compare that to how other games run their beta, and make up your own mind on what that means for the game.

So, in closing, I'll just ask you all to consider this game from an objective point of view. Forget the conspiracy theories. Forget the blind fanboy'ism and forget the people who just want to flame the game. Stick to what you know. Stick to the available screenshots and movies, the info available from devs, the way they keep their promises, the way the publisher acts, the way the community is treated.
Then ask yourself this: Is it worth waiting for? Is it worth preordering?

I know it's not worth it for me.
It sucks, because the devs are good people, and the ideas behind the game are good. But I don't believe they can pull it off while Dave is involved with the project.
And for that reason, they shouldn't count on my support any more. If, as Dave says, we moderators aren't important, then there's no harm in me telling everyone why I don't believe in the game. The man in charge has told me nothing I do matters.

I'm just sorry I led so many of you into giving this a second, third or twentieth chance when it clearly doesn't deserve it.
And I'm sorry for the devs who have their dream game tied up on a person like this.

Finally, I suppose I should just mention that I am completely serious in the above. I am not using all this as some kind of threat to get Admini to get his act together, because I don't believe for a second it will happen. I don't trust him to be able to do anything like that.
It is simply what it appears to be, a warning to the community. A warning from someone who's been here longer than most, and had to put up with more than most.

Important edit: (A bit of clarification)
All of this obviously only deals with the US publisher. I've heard lots of good things about Gamigo, the publisher in Europe/Canada. And as I said, the devs are great, the ideas behind the game are great. So with any luck, the game can get the success it deserves there.

One of my main reasons for all this is that I don't want to be the reason people follow the game. I don't want to be blamed for luring people into believing all is well. I have no wish to hurt the game or the devs. I know that is what I've done, but I never wanted to do so.

I'm not saying the game is doomed. I am saying that I believe it to be doomed, in the US, at least.
Not the "I believe" part. It's up to each of you to decide what you believe."

Much madness ensued.

The publisher,  David Jasinski, basically a one man operation, took offense.  He banned Spoonbender (who is, incidentally, Aelf, one of our own from House Daenyr, Shadowbane) and some other people, deleted numerous threads and basically went loopy.  Tiamat, the ever kind and understanding Romanian lead developer, unbanned everyone, and re-posted Spoonbender's post, although he was much distressed by it.  He will ban a person for frivilous profanity or personal attacks, but not for anything he believes to be sincere, regardless of how off base or disruptive  it might be.  Some people cancelled their pre-orders, so a bit of damage was done.  People started calling for the dismissal of Mr. Jasinski... silly really... he owns the whole shabang. Jasinski deleted himself from the board, although people were accusing him of making gimmick accounts and posting in favour of his position.  Who knows?


In response,  Tiamat posted this:

Enough of this!

All of you people had enough of this, and you should stop now, please.

This very forum is for game related discussions, not about spoon, me, ego, dave or whatever else this show was made from..

Enough harm was done already, I'm sick of it and don't want to see any more of this.

So, keep this forum clean please. Any subject related with the above mentioned problems in this forum and in any other of this board excepting the below mentioned one will lead to an instant ban in the following days.

And if for no matter what strange reason you can't let it go, please feel free to go and bang your head on the Black Hole Sun's forum walls.. you can do it in there!

And this:

David Jasinski

We didn't supported Spoonbender's public accusations, not even mutually. I stickied his (deleted) thread exactly because by deleting it and trying to hide it is not the way I believe these kinds of things must be handled, and also, because by deleting it it would have done much greater damage tyan was already done by Spoonbender's crash.

I didn't banned him, and not because what he did it was a good thing (in fact, was a pretty worng and most important, ugly one), but from respect for all the time, dedication and help Spoonbender provided us during his volunteer team time spent in here. That's the same reason he's still in our beta ,and not forever banned because of this story. And quite frankly, that's an even harder punishment than banning him, as he did realised (even if too late) that what he did as a moderator of this community was totally wrong and out of the line..

Also, you are all wrong when you are accusing Dave for everything what happened.

Yes, we had our rough times with our above mentioned publisher, and the older of you should know this. But that's a normal situation in any kind of relationship, specially in a business one. Sometimes there are good times, sometimes there are bad times. That's how life is and will ever be.

But Dave is far away from the bad image all are seeing in him right now. What you all should keep in mind when you're thinking/talking about this is to consider that Dave loves and believes in this very game as much as we and you do, and everything he ever did, he did thinking that's the best for the game.

He and his actions might be wrong sometimes, and some of them trully were, yet he NEVER did it with the intention to harm, but actually because he thought that would have helped. He was wrong, but he has man enough to admit it almost each time he did it, including this very special one.

Also, Mourning is what it is because the "criminal" Dave had a total faith and trust in the concept I put up for this game. If Mourning will ever be the game it should, is also due to this, that he, as publisher, never pressed us to change the game's concept, and totally support our ideas and believes.

Please think about this, and stop this "die Dave' madness! He's one of our team, and the game you'll gonna get (and maybe love, as some are already doing) is due to him too.

Dave, I sometimes hated your for the childish misteks you did on this very board, but that doesn't mean I love you the less!

Thank you!
Dan Antonescu
Mourning's Lead Designer, Community Liaison Manager and Public Realtions Manager

Still, people seemed a bit dissatisfied causing Egomancer, the producer, to reaveal what is basically the set up with Mourning.  This is what he had to say:

Mourning, publishers and investors

Well, this new thread tries to explain how the things stand here and what is the relationship between the 3 parties involved in this venture so far.

We have 3 companies:
1. Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC (LHE) which is the owner of the game
2. Newrosoft R&D which is one of the developers and is owned by me
3. Quad Software which is the other of the developers and is owned by Licuriceanu Adrian the current lead programmer.

So far LHE funded the game with around 95% of the money and the rest of 5% has been funded by me during time. Basically LHE can do whatever they want with the game, the code and everything. You must be aware of the fact the LHE is not a common publisher since they do not have any facilities to get the game in stores. In fact there are small chances that during the next 3 months to have the game on the shelves. But you must be aware that Dave ('the retard' 'moron' or whatever you want) spend an enormous amount of money from his own poket or from some other bussiness he may have to develop this game. I personally think that after he spent so much money he can be a little arogant.

I know that he is a pain in the ass sometimes and he pisses me off more often but in the end what it matters is that because of this man Mourning today is close to release. From what I know it is the only case in the industry when a MMO is financed by one person (since he is the only one in LHE) and it gets to the shelves. There is no group of investors, no one bought stocks into our company, we do not need to return no money to anybody, nobody can force us to develop the game as they want. All we need is to get the game in a playable state.

And now we move to the second component of this adventure. The developers. Both companies Quad and Newrosoft are located in Bucharest, Romania and they are owned by the Project Manager and the Lead programmer. Many people asked themselves why are 2 companeis developing a game since I think this is another singular case into the industry. The answer is simple: because Quad Software is developing the engine that is behind the game, called Abyssal Engine (now they are developing the third version of the engine) and Newrosoft is developing the actual game. SOmetimes our activities overlap but since we are in the same office we really work as a single entity.
Also you must be aware that both companies when we started making this game were a start-up and in 2001 we had exactly 2 eomployees beyond me and Adrian. Now we have a team of 20 people working full time at 'Mourning' and after launch we will increase it with at least 5-6 people to take care of the GM, heldesk and other aspects of the game.

The last component, meaning the game is in a good state. It does not have all the features we wanted to put in but it certainly is in a playable state. Each day we are closer to completion and we will launch the game as soon as it has no 'show-stoppers' meaning bugs that prevent you playing. The client is completed, we sent the CD to US and from one moment to another LHE will start printing the CDs.

Moving back to the mith of the publisher that cuts features and forces the poor developer to put features in or to change things at the games, in my entire experience in the game industry I never met this. My companies developed around 15 games until now and except some small games where the owner did not know what he wanted we had always freedom to do what considered best if we kept ourselves into the original concept document we received.

This game will be relased when we will consider that is in a good shape (and I belive this) and all that I want to say is that I am proud that I made it. I think myself as one guy that lived to see his dream come true (even if the dream I had was more a chimera than something that could get to reality) and for this I thank the comunity (meaning you - my reader) and I thank Dave that even if he pisses everybody off (including me) had the patient to wait 3.5 years.

I consider myslef an indie developer since we are a small company and I have no real publisher to back me up. When you judge a game you must think who made it and how it made it. We do not have the manpower and the proffesionals Blizzard for example has but we have the dedication to make a game we would want to play.
If we succeded to make a good game or not...you will find out somewhere next week.

Egomancer

I thought it was interesting enough to talk about the bits and bobs I've posted here, but I seem to have no words left.  I couldn't have made this up on acid.

http://www.realmsoftorment.net/forums/forumdisplay.php3?s=&forumid=3

[Evangolis]

Mourning.  What it lacks in reality, it makes up for with drama.  And I ain't talking Shakespeare.

[HaemishM]

Gotta pre-release board drama. Although, if Spoonbender is Aelf, I tend to believe him over these others. But this:

Each day we are closer to completion and we will launch the game as soon as it has no 'show-stoppers' meaning bugs that prevent you playing. The client is completed, we sent the CD to US and from one moment to another LHE will start printing the CDs.

Yipee-fucking-doo. You've sent a CD of a client that still has show-stoppers, but you're going to fix them before release. Yep. Sure. With a sooper-sekrit client, I'm sure.

Stop. Just stop. We do not need another living abortion on the market.

[WayAbvPar]

Good for Aelf. That kid has moxie!

[SirBruce]

Bruce

[Krakrok]

Jasinski deleted himself from the board

Golden. They should all quit and go work for Skype.

[Signe]

Somehow the drama has escalated in, of all places, www.mmorpg.com.  This appeared on their front news page:


   

MMORPG.COM News : Mourning Removed
Date : Mar 21, 2005
Author : Craig McGregor
Today MMORPG.com has made the difficult decision to remove the game "Mourning" from our list of MMORPG's as well as shut down our Mourning specific forums.

We would like to clarify that this decision was not based on the actions of any community members at MMORPG.com - rather our core feelings about the company behind this project, and the way they treat us and their community.

As always, we would like to encourage our community to comment on this news post and let us know how you feel.

Thanks to all of our members you for your continued support of MMORPG.com.

and discussion directed to this page:

http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion.cfm/setstart/1/loadthread/36367/loadforum/510/loadclass/35

The developers of Mourning have continued to respond to their critics on both their own boards and those of MMORPG.com, adding fuel to the smouldering ashes of what is left of their reputation.  I find this very odd  behaviour for developers and, I think they need to hire a community rep or two to be their mouthpiece ASAP. 

All this has inspired reviting stories, filled with violence and unrestrained melodrama, on boards all over the many intrawebs.

Here is a good one:  http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2706

Now... back to my all-night bout with exploding hay fever.   

[Strazos]

Ahh, gotta love Lowtax.

[HaemishM]

Holy God, that's some funny shit. It's been since Shadowbane that a game that hasn't even been released has generated this much wailing and gnashing of teeth. What is the SomethingAwful stuff, I get a blank page from that link.

[Evangolis]

The usual SA response to legal threats, actually a bit restrained by comparison.  I'm sure you can find it from the SA main page, I think the category is 'Legal Threats'.  Link works for me.  Here is page 1:

What? Another lawsuit threat? In this day and age? Once again, Something Awful has fallen prey to yet another evil lawsuit threat of doom. Today's horrifying buzzbomb dives shrieking from the clouds courtesy of the developers at Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC., who are currently producing some game named "Mourning" about elves and fairies and orcs and shit. You know, because gamers have been demanding more games with that crap in them, and the market clearly does not have enough. "Won't somebody PLEASE make a game where I can stab elves with swords?" is one of the most popular complaints I hear every day, particularly before I wake up in the morning. Regardless, Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC. is making yet another crapfest snoozathon game about magic swords and hit points and junk, so Taylor "Psychosis" Bell made a little fun of them on his front page update. Now keep in mind Taylor admitted he never even played their game; it hasn't been released yet, so how could he? Unfortunately, this was not enough to appease the bloodthirsty psychic vampires at Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC, and they launched after us like a cruise missile once somebody literate read to them what we had to say about their game. Which we never played. Or want to.      

They fired off their legal salvo almost immediately, releasing this warhead of impending doom towards Something Awful Headquarters.

Greetings,

We have recently been informed of an article on your website about a future software product of ours titled "Mourning".

http://www.somethingawful.com/index.htm

It seems that whoever printed this article does not understand what the terms defamation of character , libel or slander mean.

We are requesting you remove this article about our product from your website or you will be hearing from our attorneys by the end of next week for printing slander and attempting to lower the reputation of our future products and company.

Also our copyright work located here:
http://i.somethingawful.com/mjolnir/images/psychosis~jerks-mourning.jpg

is to be removed from your servers immediately.

Regards,
David Jasinski
Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC
Business@realmsoftorment.net

You'd think after running Something Awful for nearly six years, yes, I would understand what the terms "defamation of character, libel or slander" mean. We've never been sued once, so I guess I'm just getting lucky here or something. After receiving this letter, I approached our legal representative, Leonard "J." Crabs, and asked, "dear Leonard, what does 'libel or slander' mean?" He replied, "which one, libel or slander?" and I said, "libel or slander" and he repeated, "which one?" so I repeated, "like I said, I need to know what 'libel or slander' mean." Then he just got up and stormed out of the room, leaving me there to clean up all his used watermelon rinds and shotgun shells. I guess he left because he knew how much hot water we were in thanks to the astute legal professors making up the Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC staff!

Later that night I consulted with Leonard again, and through a series of comical flag waving and light show displays, he instructed me to send the following letter:

Greetings,

I ran your complex and colorful letter by the Something Awful Legal Team (inc.), and he informed me that not only was your letter "totally completely idiotically something somethingly," but he additionally said it tasted like "really bad fish" when he attempted to eat it. Our legal team then scurried off and began crouching in a dark corner, perhaps to begin summoning up his legal might against the towering powerhouse that is the Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC behemoth. Or perhaps he was still sore about losing "the one ring" to that short little fellow who came by our house yesterday.

Not only do we intend on fighting your lawsuit in court, we additionally plan on suing ourselves once your lawsuit is invariably thrown out on the grounds that you people are dangerously incompetent in virtually every aspect of life. We plan on suing ourselves for successfully not being successfully sued by you, therefore creating another grievous case of "defamation of character , libel or slander" since our upcoming legal victory over your company will create the public opinion that your company is completely staffed by subterranean mole people who know nothing about the law. You may consider yourself the "head subterranean mole person" if you so desire, or the CEO of Mole People if you're into brevity.

If you do not immediately respond to my demands, I will begin printing even more "defamation of character , libel or slander" against you on my website, one sentence of dangerous 100% grade-A American insults each and every day you do not give me what I want. To make things even more complex, I am not issuing a list of demands, so you will have to contact my friends and family and casually ask, "by the way, do you know what Rich 'Lowtax' Kyanka really wants?" Try sneaking the question in when you're on the phone, talking to my mom about cooking pasta; she'll never know what hit her!

Sincerely,

Richard "Richard" Kyanka

PS: I just thought of two things you can put on my list of demands. I want a unicorn and a copy of "Big Tyme" by Heavy D. and the Boyz.

Leonard was very adamant about receiving his copy of "Big Tyme." The unicorn was more my idea because, really, who doesn't want a unicorn? Besides the communists, that is. I thought my reply would satiate the growing legal appetite of Limitless Horizons Entertainment LLC., but it turns out I was wrong... DEAD WRONG. This legal boat was cruising down Pain Lane, and there was no way for me to get off! Wait, that sentence makes no sense. Forget I even wrote it.

For what it is worth.

[HaemishM]

I did a search on their site and found it. I /loled.

[WayAbvPar]

Not only do we intend on fighting your lawsuit in court, we additionally plan on suing ourselves once your lawsuit is invariably thrown out on the grounds that you people are dangerously incompetent in virtually every aspect of life. We plan on suing ourselves for successfully not being successfully sued by you, therefore creating another grievous case of "defamation of character , libel or slander" since our upcoming legal victory over your company will create the public opinion that your company is completely staffed by subterranean mole people who know nothing about the law. You may consider yourself the "head subterranean mole person" if you so desire, or the CEO of Mole People if you're into brevity.

Classic. God I hope he really sent that to that fucking douchebag.

[Azhrarn]

http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1432982 as well

[Murgos]

Sweet, I got me a nice shiney new sig out of the SA thread.

[Signe]

Today, it seems, the Mourning publisher suddenly decided to begin debitting people's accounts for pre-orders.   Much anger, dismay and general confusion ensued.  Here is the link to one of the threads in the public forum if you want to observe the whole mess: 

http://www.realmsoftorment.net/forums/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=19213

There also seems to be confusion as to whether or not they are shipping a product or providing a download or just giving a final launch update for those who have suddenly and with much surprise, paid.  Because of an NDA I won't comment on the state of the game but this bit is all in the public forum... plus there is the fact I seem to have already paid for the game.   This is the email I received:

Dear Signe,

Congratulations!

Your Pre-Order for Mourning has been successfully charged, and
will be shipped shortly.  You will notice a charge of $29.95 on
your credit card statement as "Internet Services".

Your order will be shipped to:

<Secret Decoder Ring Information>
 

Or if you specified a separate shipping address it will be shipped to the proper address:

If you ordered multiple copies, you will receive the number you ordered.

If you have any questions, please contcat us at orders@realmsoftorment.net.

Best,

The Mourning Team
orders@realmsoftorment.net

I checked with my bank and they have, indeed, charged that amount.

Can this story get any more strange?  I'll post the bits I can't talk about yet after the NDA is lifted (if they're smart, they won't even think about lifting it... not that the word isn't already out in dozens of places) or the game runs away to hide.  In the meantime... here's another thread regarding this issue:

http://www.realmsoftorment.net/forums/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=19208

[Evangolis]

I don't know if it is legal, but it definitely is wrong.  I would refuse the charges, but then I wouldn't preorder a game anyway.

I see from that thread that the old myths about the current legal status of EULAs is alive and well, although I hadn't heard the bit about state laws superceding them.  Although I think the relevant state laws are the state in which the contract was issued.  Oh well, thanks for updating us on the progress of the trainwreck.

And you might want to talk to your bank, just in case these guys decide to start charging monthly fees, or some such strangeness.  These do not seem to be people worthy of your trust.

[AOFanboi]

It seems to me Limitless Horizon have done a "shipping version = current beta", so the preorder people already in the beta has the client, and they consider it shipped to those preorderers?

Perhaps we will not hear about how it is until non-NDA people start buying it.

[Miasma]

Wow, those forums are amazing, they have used the profanity filter to change fraudulent to *****ulent and scams to *****.

There is something terribly wrong with a company that has to blot out all the charges of fraud and scam in their messages.

[Spoonbender]

Ooh, and the drama continues 

[Signe]

Heh... if I remember correctly, you're the one who warned everyone about that company, Spoon. 

It's really very annoying, however.  I have to call my bank and cancel my debit card, just in case.  After all.... they've charged for "Internet Services".  To me that could imply a recurring charge.  I haven't ordered or received any 'internet services' from that company.  I just wanted a box with a CD of the game inside.  Maybe a map or a shiny little model of an orc.  At the time, I didn't even know if I wanted to play the game. 

Dammit.

[Uthor]

/e grabs popcorn to watch the train wreck that is mourning unfold in 3drific super slo-mo, and rejoyces for having the sense to cancel his pre-order weeks ago :)

[schild]

Did someone  link to here from the Mourning forums?

[bhodikhan]

If the development team is in Romania then I feel very bad for them. I'll bet they were pretty excited when the project launched.

It's too bad for them. Given some of the conditions in the country they deserve better than this drivel.

[Spoonbender]

Did someone  link to here from the Mourning forums?

Not as far as I know... i've been following this place on and off for a while now... Partly because Signe made me... 
Don't worry, I doubt you'll be invaded by the Mourning community any time soon

[schild]

That's funny. Signe brought me to Waterthread.

Don't you even dare try to overthrow me. I'll send the sharks after you.

[Signe]

I don't know why I'm posting this little bit of strangeness, except that I found it very, very odd.  Keep in mind that Egomancer is the game's producer.

Lydar Synn
Junior Member

Registered: Nov 2002
Location:
Posts: 5
   Wow, this is too much

Ive been following this game for a long while. I don't post much (obviously) as I usually find it hard to fairly comment on a game until Ive played it. However, the rancor on these boards and the seemingly endless problems have seriously turned me off to this game. Its a shame really because some of the concepts are very interesting. Oh well maybe things will get better- they don't seem like they could get any worse.

_______________
   
Jdodger
Senior Member

Registered: Oct 2004
Location:
Posts: 874
   

Ok.

__________________

   
Eynahsint
Junior Member

Registered: Apr 2005
Location:
Posts: 20
   

with replies like that, no wonder you got 871 posts.

_______________
   
egomancer
Administrator

Registered: Feb 2002
Location:
Posts: 521
   

Bump

_______________
   
Schloss
Junior Member

Registered: Apr 2005
Location:
Posts: 7
   

Wow. Developers start to bump threads now. Bored at work already?

_______________
   
egomancer
Administrator

Registered: Feb 2002
Location:
Posts: 521
   

Not yet...but I thought that I should bring my ideas to this thread...

Egomancer

_______________
   
Gufnork
Member

Registered: Apr 2004
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
Posts: 60
   

Well "Bump" is a very good idea...

_______________
   
Jequan
Senior Member

Registered: Jan 2005
Location: Innsbruck / Austria
Posts: 151
   

    quote:Originally posted by Gufnork
    Well "Bump" is a very good idea...


Actually the best idea i've seen lately.
Sorry i just can't help it.

__________________

[schild]

That's beautiful.

Thank you.

[Sparky]

Truly bizarre drama.  When is the game coming out?  Do the devs even know?  The lack of a definite official statement over that billing fiasco would have me cutting up cards.

[Alkiera]

In other news, never, ever, ever, pay for anything online with a bank debit card.  Credit cards almost always allow you to stop payment, or decline charges, etc... Most banks' debit cards do not.

Alkiera

[Signe]

NDA has been lifted.  The state of the game is no longer a mystery.  Here is someone else's post about the condition of the beta:

From Drayven:

Okay, NDA has been lifted so I will chime in with my views of the game.

Since getting into beta over a week ago I have been able to connect 3 times. The first time was for about 1 minute then it crashed. Last Sat. I was able to get in for an hour, tried to get on later but the servers were down. The third time was yesterday afternoon when I could get on the server but no NPCs were spawned, no health was regenerated and you couldn't see your fellow players. Here is my impression of the game from the brief experience I got to play it.

1. Guards don't work, you can PK another player in a city and they just stare at you.

2. No skill/spell descriptions in game. In the beta forums they were kind enough to give us a list of the spells but not a skill list yet.

3. Regeneration is very very very slow. You regenerate I believe it is 1 hp per second. At level 1 you have 270 hps, this means you're talking like 4.5 minutes to regenerate. You can buy health potions but it seems silly to have to chug those just to play the game. They are increasing this to 10hp per second though.

4. Very uninspired combat. From what I saw of the weapon skills everything was very plain. You basically hit autoattack and start swinging, doing a special attack causes a red streak to appear behind your sword while you swing it.

5. There is no indication on the NPCs as to who will talk to you and who won't. I basically wandered around clicking on every single NPC getting messages saying SoandSo doens't want to speak to you, eventually I found the trainers. I saw no way to tell them from the regular mobs.

6. Quests.... are there any?

Like most people here I want this game to succeed. But due to it's lack of server stability, so so gameplay and community relations I'm starting to have my doubts. It is in no way ready for retail and I would find it very difficult to recommend.

http://www.realmsoftorment.net/forums/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=19395

I didn't bother to list my own as this list is what I would have posted anyway... there's more to know, but I'm in the middle of laundry.  At the moment, laundry is much more important! :p

Anyway, you guys can peruse the boards yourselves if you're remotely interested.  It's quite an amusing cesspit of hate and indignation. 

[Signe]

Here are some screens someone posted.

http://www.yikes.com/~ptolemy/mourning/

I don't really have to say much, I suppose.  This is the way the game looks and it's barely adequate and the lack of shadows make it kind of weird looking.  The orc running animation looks a bit like a skipping nancy boy. Allegedly, they have remade the characters for release.  There is really no customising, at the moment... of anything.  There is only one face for each race/gender and only a few choices for anything else.   The UI is dreadful, but the developers did say a while ago that this was a temporary one.  God, I hope so.  Nothing much works.  It's hard to figure out fighting styles and skills as there seems to be no documentation anywhere.  The servers are up only periodically so I've not been able to do much of anything, let alone collect numbers. They also turn the servers off when they go home, about 3 or 4 PM EDT.  The chat server is very dodgy and as likely to crash you as it is to actually say something.  The list is infinite and I won't wibble on about it all.   

They've sent the master to the publisher, people have paid, they claim to be shipping in a week or four (oi!) and it looks as if most people are intent on having their money returned.   Unless there is a three day patch, this game is in no condition to be more than a very raw beta test.  Incidentally, they have been double charged some people and have billed many who cancelled their pre-orders some time ago.  The publisher who started all this seems to be unreachable.

The forums are mostly filled with unrestrained PvP. 

[Strazos]

Hey, the year 2000 called, and it said EQ wanted its graphics back.

[Jayce]

Hey, the year 2000 called, and it said EQ wanted its graphics back.

Man, that is SO Everquest 1 before upgrades.  Like scarily so. 

The graphics and the telemetry below the combat window makes it look like someone's side project to learn MMOG programming. Btw, in http://www.yikes.com/~ptolemy/mourning/ruins1.jpg,  notice how *cough* nicely the bridge textures line up.

[MaceVanHoffen]

I can overlook graphics for good gameplay.  Heck, I still play text-based games.  However, they don't even have decent gameplay from the sound of it.  From what I can glean from the boards, the skill- or class-based system or whatever it is is labrynthine and not very well balanced.  Bad UI design to boot ... bleh, how hard is it these days to design efficient UI when there is so much literature on the topic.

I have a hard time being sympathetic with people who preorder anything, though.  I don't care if it's a major title like Halo 2, try before you buy.  Always.  Plunking down money before you see a finished product (as in, not in beta anymore) is just plain silly.

[Strazos]

I can overlook graphics for good gameplay.

So can I, but it's still funny that the graphics are a dead ringer for EQ. It looks like they barely even tried to differentiate themselves from being just another EQ Clone.

I don't care if it's a major title like Halo 2, try before you buy.

Most people did try the game before they bought it...by playing Halo.