Transformers MMO? Options

[Canthros]

Rock, Paper, Shotgun are reporting the announcement of what-is-probably a Transformers MMO under development in China, aimed mostly at points East.

Not a lot more than that to be said, at the moment.

[Chip]

Well jive. I managed to stay out of the Star Trek MMP, but this is will do it. Provided it's any good.

[Sockie]

Alas, it's probably going to be another Eastern-exclusive one that's never going to go West. =(

[MrBlud]

A very smart business move on Hasbro's part.

They seem to be really interested in getting established in China.

[BB Shockwave]

Netdragon and Hasbro sign agreement

Frankly, my previous experiences with Chinese MMORPGs tell me - Be afraid. Be very afraid. I was a closed beta tester in the Heroes of Might and Magic Online game - they managed to downgrade my favourite turn-based strategy into a boring grindfest by removing almost all parts of the adventure map enviroments, and giving us a horrible system to upgrade units (you have to lose tens of thousands of units in battle to upgrade them. Logical, yes? NO.)
On top of it, TQ revealed to us after the closed beta ended that due to the contract with Ubisoft, the game will not be available to Europe or America, pretending they did not know this... "But hey, thanks for testing our game for us, suckers."

Netdragon is also behind the upcoming Dungeon Keeper MMO... it has been in development since 2008.

This post has been edited by BB Shockwave: Aug 3 2010, 02:51 AM

[Chaotic Descent]

Not in the West = lame.
and I imagine the language barrier will prevent us from playing even if we wanted to.

Chinese MMORPGs aren't all bad from that I hear. They play very differently, but people aren't used to it. They read that it's in the same genre and expect it to play like all the other games in the genre they've tried before. I can't say I'm totally convinced, but I like to keep an open mind that this may be the case. I've certainly had enough miserable experiences with Western MMORPGs to suspect that there's more to things than just what I personally experience.

[BB Shockwave]

Not necessarily. Since this will be for Asia (not just China), the language will be english 100% sure - but don't get your hopes up, it's gonna be "Chinglish", I ROFLOL-ed when testing HOMM Online, there was text like "Bring me five sanguine orc heads" (sanguine=bloody) or worse stuff too.

And you will be able to play it from the US or Europe, you just need HideIP or some Proxy-changing program to create yourself an asian IP address.

Frankly what bothers me in asian MMORPGs is the insane grind needed to just be able to compete with the average players... I simply have no great urge to spend hours doing the same levels over and over again especially if they are incredibly boring. In HOMM Online, you need certain resources to upgrade your castle, more from certain ones then others... however you only get said resource on 2 or 3 such maps, which you'll be forced to re-do every day for a week (as you can only re-do a quest map 3 times a day) in order to accumulate that amount. Not my idea of fun. Or, you can pay of course, to get the resources...

[Creature SH]

That one came out of nowhere.

OUT OF NOWHERE!

[Rhinox]

I'm a big fan and active player of the DDO MMO that Turbine has done for Hasbro/Wizards. I wouldn't mind seeing them get into the game and putting out a Transformers MMO for those of us in the west.

[Chaotic Descent]

merge threads with "Transformers MMO?"?

BB Shockwave, like I said, maybe you're playing it wrong. Like if you're soloing, and you're meant to play co-cooperatively, then you're having to work too hard to keep up.
Also, why be competitive? I've been effected a lot by BeauTurkey of SpouseAggro, even though I haven't figured out how to adopt his methods of play, but why should gaming be any different than real life? Play at your own pace, take care of your needs, keep perspective on your priorities (like real life, which should trump all virtual things.)
One day I'd like to see if I could actually have fun in WoW. I thought I could do it with fashion, but I did stupid things like trying to get lots of rare things. Grinding for months on end is not worth it to get one item.

[Nyarlathotep]

Yeah, Asian MMO scene... This is probably gonna be as pretty as dog vomit to look at.

[Kalidor]

I hope its better than that doofy looking Zero Point MMO they make.

[BB Shockwave]

merge threads with "Transformers MMO?"?

BB Shockwave, like I said, maybe you're playing it wrong. Like if you're soloing, and you're meant to play co-cooperatively, then you're having to work too hard to keep up.
Also, why be competitive? I've been effected a lot by BeauTurkey of SpouseAggro, even though I haven't figured out how to adopt his methods of play, but why should gaming be any different than real life? Play at your own pace, take care of your needs, keep perspective on your priorities (like real life, which should trump all virtual things.)
One day I'd like to see if I could actually have fun in WoW. I thought I could do it with fashion, but I did stupid things like trying to get lots of rare things. Grinding for months on end is not worth it to get one item.

I just found out it was Netdragon that made the Heroes of Might and Magic Online game too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-kicker.gif) Be afraid. Be very afraid...

I see your point... Trouble is, they took a concept that worked well in multiplayer (I loved playing HOMM III and IV in multi, LAN or Hotseat) and ruined it. Instead of players having towns on the map and fighting against each other, or allying against an overwhelming AI... you get bland maps where you are thrust in with only the units and the one single hero you have brought, and you get to wander around (in turn-based turns) and fight stationary monsters. No towns, no mines, no enemy heroes (except on some levels, where there is one that'll follow you no matter where you go, and fight you, then re-incarnate after a few rounds and do the same again). The only co-op is for levels with a time limit, where you have to defeat like 60 armies of Orcs and you can simply not finish it in time unless other players help out. That's all... You cannot fight others on the maps, btw. Only in a special arena. They also took out the castle sieges, you only have one main castle where you can recruit units and... nothing else.

But let me get to the "best" part. The Chinese original game has been out for 1.5 years already in china. We got the same build, just translated to english, to beta-test. And it was full of bugs... VERY full of bugs. One huge bug simply disconnected you every time you left your main castle (and you will visit that very often). We learned in shock that this bug has been in existence for 1.5 years, the Chinese players simply accepted it. And they did not bother to fix it... And there are many other bugs. One can ruin your game as you can get stuck on the main map amongst stationary creatures, and even if you exit the game it puts you back there again... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-megs.gif)

The sad thing is... the game engine is pretty nice. Not Titan Quest/Sacred II level of graphics, but the creature models are nice, the hand-drawn artwork is beautiful, the spell and skill learning system is well thought out. It's too bad it's used for such an abysmal raping of the HOMMIII game.

Given all this, and as I hear, Netdragon's other MMOs are the same quality, I wonder how on Earth Hasbro could have thought giving the license to them would be a good idea. We might get some good graphics out of this, but not much else, mark my words.

This post has been edited by BB Shockwave: Aug 4 2010, 08:41 AM

[Vestras]

Well, reading about the failures of the chinese gaming industry in this thread, I'm glad we won't be getting this one NA/EU side. I just hope Hasbro picks someone more competent to do a game for the rest of us. Maybe contract Highmoon with Blizzard since they are under the activision umbrella.

[Monocle]

BB Shockwave is pretty much on the money here about what your average Chinese developed MMO is like. They are buggy grindfests with massive overbalances that do not get fixed most of the time. Keep in mind too, if this came out in the West, it would like not be able to build up a good userbase because of these factors. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is the way people pay of the games out there compared to outside China. Many MMO's in China are pay to play per hour, unlike a monthly subscription. Also, many of the players in China play these games via internet cafe's, as they can not afford a computer. Now yeah, when it leaves china, it would like go to a monthly subscription, but that pay to play format is one of the reasons for games being such heavy grindfests.

Also expect some weird censor restrictions to come up, as you never know what the Chinese Government will decide they do not want in the game. As the game is developed there, the rest of the world will have to deal with those restrictions too. (You can pretty much forget a Bludgeon ever showing up in this, that skull face is a big no-no. Yeah he's a bit obscure, but that is the kinda stuff I'm talking about).

[Pony of Merak]

yet another Lame quality TF Game that will go into oblivion. thank you Universe for WFC, at least that is a good game.

[BB Shockwave]

BB Shockwave is pretty much on the money here about what your average Chinese developed MMO is like. They are buggy grindfests with massive overbalances that do not get fixed most of the time. Keep in mind too, if this came out in the West, it would like not be able to build up a good userbase because of these factors. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is the way people pay of the games out there compared to outside China. Many MMO's in China are pay to play per hour, unlike a monthly subscription. Also, many of the players in China play these games via internet cafe's, as they can not afford a computer. Now yeah, when it leaves china, it would like go to a monthly subscription, but that pay to play format is one of the reasons for games being such heavy grindfests.

Also expect some weird censor restrictions to come up, as you never know what the Chinese Government will decide they do not want in the game. As the game is developed there, the rest of the world will have to deal with those restrictions too. (You can pretty much forget a Bludgeon ever showing up in this, that skull face is a big no-no. Yeah he's a bit obscure, but that is the kinda stuff I'm talking about).

Oddly enough, HOMM Online retained the Necropolis faction intact, skeletons, liches, death knights and all that. Your hero even starts out with a skeletal horse... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-blitz.gif)

By the way, most Netdragon games are not pay to play. Rather, they are free to play, but unless you want to spend weeks grinding to advance your levels, troops, make your items permanent, you need to purchase some ingame currency (Erathium for HOMM Online) and easily advance your status. Of course, this means players who pay for this stuff become immensely more powerfull then regular players as they will reach higher levels easier. In HOMM ONline, you can even purchase potions that double/triple XP for a duration of time...

[Monocle]

BB Shockwave is pretty much on the money here about what your average Chinese developed MMO is like. They are buggy grindfests with massive overbalances that do not get fixed most of the time. Keep in mind too, if this came out in the West, it would like not be able to build up a good userbase because of these factors. There are many reasons for this, but one of them is the way people pay of the games out there compared to outside China. Many MMO's in China are pay to play per hour, unlike a monthly subscription. Also, many of the players in China play these games via internet cafe's, as they can not afford a computer. Now yeah, when it leaves china, it would like go to a monthly subscription, but that pay to play format is one of the reasons for games being such heavy grindfests.

Also expect some weird censor restrictions to come up, as you never know what the Chinese Government will decide they do not want in the game. As the game is developed there, the rest of the world will have to deal with those restrictions too. (You can pretty much forget a Bludgeon ever showing up in this, that skull face is a big no-no. Yeah he's a bit obscure, but that is the kinda stuff I'm talking about).

Oddly enough, HOMM Online retained the Necropolis faction intact, skeletons, liches, death knights and all that. Your hero even starts out with a skeletal horse... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon-blitz.gif)

By the way, most Netdragon games are not pay to play. Rather, they are free to play, but unless you want to spend weeks grinding to advance your levels, troops, make your items permanent, you need to purchase some ingame currency (Erathium for HOMM Online) and easily advance your status. Of course, this means players who pay for this stuff become immensely more powerfull then regular players as they will reach higher levels easier. In HOMM ONline, you can even purchase potions that double/triple XP for a duration of time...

Now that is interesting about the Necropolis faction being kept intact. The Censor board for China pretty much has prevented "Wrath of the Lich King" for WoW from being released there because of those very same things. Of course said board is also a bit insane and the WoW expansion running into trouble could also be a result of it being an import and not a home programed game. I have heard that that board has used other excuses to punish companies they don't like though.

The other pay system actually sounds worse then the pay to play model. Pay to play was what WoW had in China and some of the other big MMO's used. Any advancement system that depends on who has the bigger wallet is pretty crudy.

[Canthros]

The other pay system actually sounds worse then the pay to play model. Pay to play was what WoW had in China and some of the other big MMO's used. Any advancement system that depends on who has the bigger wallet is pretty crudy.

It seems pretty common with many free-to-play MMOs supported via micropayments. Rented equipment, experience-boosting items, etc. seem to be a staple, in fact, of most such games (RFO and NeoSteam being the only such games I've played; I don't think either is Chinese in origin). The excessive monetization is not a feature I'm fond of. Tends to seem like you can play for free, but you'll have to pay for fun.

Asian MMOs, generally, seem to have really nightmarish business models. IMO, YMMV, etc.

This post has been edited by Canthros: Aug 5 2010, 11:05 AM