Fallout Online Website Arises Amid Legal Battle 85
Rumors of a Fallout MMO have been swirling for years, made all the more credible by hints from the legal battle between Bethesda and Interplay over licensing for the franchise. Now, Interplay has quietly created a teaser website for Fallout Online, offering beta sign-ups. Quoting Massively:
"Currently, there isn't much there, just a brief glimpse at a workshop desk with various Fallout references to the Master, Brahmin, and Nuka-Cola before a form obscures the screen. ... It looks legit, too: Interplay is promoting Fallout Online from their main website, and the new teaser site is indeed registered to Interplay Entertainment Corp."
Well... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Post Apocalypse (Score:5, Interesting)
You might be interested in this: http://fonline2238.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]
Re:New MMO's (Score:5, Interesting)
What "precedence" did WoW set for MMO's except make getting to max level easy, and raid content an almost given win even if a few people couldn't play their way out of a tin can?
EQ, UO set precedences, WoW dumbed things down, but has better graphics and youtube rage videos.
WoW set the precedence that MMO can function on it's end-game content rather then leveling, and then did what blizzard always does - polished the hell out of it, making so that no one comes even close. This is why pretty much all other MMO's largely die off a few months after release now - leveling part ends, and people notice that end-game is non-existent in comparison to WoW, both in quality and in quantity. So you have massive influx of new players at start, they spend a few months leveling, and then they go back to WoW once again appreciating just how good they have it in WoW.
As for difficulty, mind you, if you seriously think that you can take heroic Lich King on, all's good for you. Most servers in the world still don't have ANYONE who downed him. Hell, many still struggle with heroic Putricide, which isn't nearly as hard and vast majority of players is barely doing any hard modes. So yes, it's hard, unless you count top five percentile, and call everyone else dumb.
Re:Not ready for public yet? (Score:3, Interesting)
Fallout Tactics? Please. No, Fallout 2 for me. But really, FO1, FO2, it's a close call. They both had more than their fair share of really cool bits. Maybe FO1 was more fun during the second half of the game. Hm...
In any case, I signed up for the beta (from Netherland).
Re:Post Apocalypse (Score:3, Interesting)
... words cannot describe how much thanks I send your way...
Re:New MMO's (Score:3, Interesting)
Caveat: I never played UO, but I bought EQ just after its launch and played for years.
Maybe WoW's precedent is that all content should be available to almost all players, not just the unemployed catasses who can afford to grind 16 hours a day.
WoW's success stems from the designers' decision to make most content accessible to the majority, rather than the minority of players. Yes, that means that some stuff is easier, takes less time and less "skill" (though i'd argue there was, if you look at it objectively, less skill involved in EQ's gameplay than in WoW).
Your argument basically boils down to the "catass" or "hardcore raider" argument; the elitist view that only those who can dedicate the majority of their time to the game deserve to see the high-end content. That attitude just won't fly in 2010. I don't see the harm in giving people easier versions of the same raid with lesser rewards. As someone who doesn't want to spend 8 hours a night raiding, that's a very good thing.
At the moment, even most "hardcore" guilds are still trying to get their first Lich King 25 Heroic Kill, a feat still only within the grasp of a tiny fraction of the playerbase. If you're not one of those people, don't complain that the raid content is "too easy" or "a given win".
EQ's "vision" didn't align with what most players actually wanted from an MMO, but thanks to being "the only game in town" for a large part of its lifespan, it maintained its popularity.
What WoW did was show the world that not only could MMOs be "casual-friendly", there was no harm in giving the players what they wanted (a lesson EQ learned only after everyone stopped playing).
Don't get me wrong, I liked EQ and had a lot of fun playing it. But ask me which MMO I'd rather play today and, nostalgia aside, it's WoW every time.
Re:They did not dumb things down (Score:4, Interesting)
Welcome to eve. Where if you think someone is doing better than you, kill him and take his stuff.