Auto Assault Goes Sunset Tonight

Mytob writes "Today is the last day of service for NCSoft / Net Devil's Auto Assault. The game, which has never proved that popular, will have its service terminated at midnight central time. Refund emails have already been sent out, and end-of game events have been happening since last week. From the Auto Assault Website: 'We are now in the final week of Auto Assault and to mark this occasion on Friday night we'll be doing all sorts of nutty things in-game — whatever you request, we'll try to make happen. Most of the fun will be in and around Ground Zero (don't worry if you don't have a high-level character, we'll boost you), but we'll be doing other stuff all around the game. We plan on starting around 9PM CDT (if not before) and should last right to midnight when the servers are shut down for the final time.'"

Re:Poor auto assault

[swordgeek]

Interesting history. I had played DAoC from fairly early on, and had brought two characters up to level 50 by the time ToA was released. I had also become a Legendary Grandmaster armourcrafter, which took twice as much time as leveling two characters. At first the rule and game changes looked like they were designed for better balance, but then they started to get silly and frustrating. Then there was the cheating: I worked with a guy who got up to the same crafting level as me in a week, by using an auto-crafting program, which were explicitly forbidden. I complained to the powers that be, and got no response. I appealed to the in-game support folks, and got ignored, even when he was USING THE PROGRAM AT THAT MOMENT--they simply refused to check into it.

Then ToA came out. Despite their promises, they quickly started to hold official events in the expanded area, and if you hadn't bought it, then you were left out. So much of the game's upgrades which _could_ have been implemented realm-wide required owning ToA, that it became pointless to play if you didn't shell out the extra $45.

It became abundantly clear that the Powers That Be weren't interested in running a fair, honest, or fun game--they were out to soak their customers for as much money as possible. Expensive game, expensive (and effectively mandatory) upgrades, AND a monthly fee, and as long as you paid your bill, you could cheat as much as you liked. No thanks Mythic, I'll keep my money.

I see that the cheater mentioned above still exists. Apparently in-game crime _does_ pay.

Re:Nice try, but (mostly) too shallow

[Anonymous Coward]

I must have tried it too early in the beta. I remember the graphics being awful, especially in "town" where your person looked incredibly stiff and unnatural. I don't remember being too impressed by the crafting system, but I don't remember exactly why. I like the highly level dependence of combat. It bothered me a lot in WoW and EQ that you could constantly be bothered by things that gave you no experience if you took the time to deal with them. If you're going to go with the explosive gains in power, you might as well go all the way.

I'd like to see a game go the opposite way, though. You make noticable gains in power as you play, but even the smallest things are still a threat and those small things can still give rewards.