Worth Coming Back?

[Paulitious_Rae]

So, with the account registration facility returning in a matter of days, I'm seriously considering re-entering the world of Neocron. However, there finally seems to be something occurring in regards to the future of this game: plans are being made and set into motion. Sadly, there isn't very much information to discern the nature of these plans. Usually I just peruse the forums for the tidbits of information left about like so many breadcrumbs, until I could build up a picture in my head of what was to come. Now that the previous forums have perished, there is less information than ever and even community conjecture is scarce. So my question is this:

Is it worth returning to Neocron (with a new account/character) when there appear to be rather immense changes on the horizon? Might not patience be the best option, rather than diving back in head-first only to find myself pulled back out when Neocron is rearranged into whatever new form(at) the developers have planned? Or am I being too optimistic? Is a new account registration system and forum layout the best we can hope for? I honestly don't know what the time-line is for whatever is happening: is it weeks, months or Months?

[Mokoi]

This is fully up to you and wether you can find enjoyment in playing Neocron as is, participating in the community and joining us on this journey, not knowing where it might take you.

It is safe to say, that things are now improving again after years of stagnancy and decay.
Something very fundamental has changed concerning Neocron 2 - it is now more so than ever a "community thing". It is free to play (disclaimer: while there are not even remote plans to change this, it *could* be subject to change at any point ...just saying so I dont get shat at in the unforseeable future), the efforts to keep scum off the servers have been significantly increased and pretty much everything will only get better from here on - but no one will make any promises as to what, where and when.

Bottom line: If you dont enjoy Neocron 2 now, chances are you wont like it next month or the month after, either.
However, if you do find enjoyment in Neocron 2 - dust off your CS, go kick some ass and engage in the community to help make Neocron 2 a better place - welcome back!

P.S.:
Unless you know of an imminent release I haven't heard of yet, I'd suggest you look at the question of "anticipating the NC2 successor" seperately from the question of "will I enjoy playing NC2" ;)

P.P.S.:
The previous forums have not vanished - pretty much all content was preserved and taken downstream. Only a few, really outdated, sections of the forum are no longer visible (yet still available via search).

[Paulitious_Rae]

This is fully up to you and wether you can find enjoyment in playing Neocron as is, participating in the community and joining us on this journey, not knowing where it might take you.

It is safe to say, that things are now improving again after years of stagnancy and decay.
Something very fundamental has changed concerning Neocron 2 - it is now more so than ever a "community thing". It is free to play (disclaimer: while there are not even remote plans to change this, it *could* be subject to change at any point ...just saying so I dont get shat at in the unforseeable future), the efforts to keep scum off the servers have been significantly increased and pretty much everything will only get better from here on - but no one will make any promises as to what, where and when.

I guess I'll be making a new account then. Thanks for the swift, life-affirming response Mokoi :)

Just to be clear though: are you saying that Neocron 2 is going to be free to play for everyone now, or just though who have existing accounts from way back when?

[Mokoi]

Just to be clear though: are you saying that Neocron 2 is going to be free to play for everyone now, or just though who have existing accounts from way back when?

We are of the opinion that Neocron is exponentially more fun with decent playercounts.
Currently there is no plan to charge for the creation of a game account,
nor are recurring payments on our agenda.

[Alice Walker]

Could I possibly ask what and who make up the Neocron team? I.E. are you a large outfit with data farms and clusters of servers, or is there like 2 of you with an old 386 redhat server running working out the back of dad's garage? What was with the massive down time? Do you have an extensive techie team?

The reason I ask is because I noted above the mention of subscriptions. See, I know alot of people like to have free stuff....who doesn't, but surely the game (as i remember it from 4 or 5 years ago when i last played), although it is an awesome game, it could be epic if it had 24/7 crew working on it, such as the Eve online, WOW, and other mmorpg's.

I started playing NC, as it reminded me of a game i used to play called shadow run (the one played from books and imagination, not the one microsoft gurgitated), and I would like to see things like a mission system, many many more avatars, so the streets seem crowded, in fact i have so many ideas for this game that if I was on the R&D team, i'd keep you busy for a good week or two spilling my guts. As i'm sure alot of people would.

Basically what I am saying is, I would like to see this game go Epic and kick other MMO's in tha ballox! and would be happy to pay a subscription in order to see that happen!!

[Mokoi]

To understand the current situation, you have to take into account Neocrons past - at least the last few years.

Development on Neocron 2 virtually stopped in 2006/7 with more and more parts of the infrastructure going defunct and the developers being tied up in other projects. The servers were kept running, but as you can imagine – most players did not endure this situation for too long and it was near impossible for new players to join the game.

Fast forward to Q2/2012. When the news broke that Reakktor Media GmbH – the developer studio behind Neocron – would have to shut down its business, this caused a number of community members and old-time Game Masters / QA-Team members to step up and intensify their support to keep Neocron alive despite the circumstances. Kirk Lenke, then CEO of Reakktor Media, ensured that the Neocron Servers could stay online, but the implosion of Reakktor took a lot of essential infrastructure down with it. Up to now we, the (voluntary) Neocron Support Team, were cought up in fights to regain control over crucial structures (email support system, forums, game and webserver control, gameaccount system). We are now in a position where we can say that the battle is being won and we can shift our attention to actually make Neocron a better place to be.

I totally agree with you, that it would be neat to have 120 fulltime employees working on Neocron, dedicated datacenters arround the globe and a marketing budget to convert some more treehugger MMO players to the real thing. Needless to say that this is currently a dream and not realistic.

What we have is a well staffed, very dedicated team of die-hard Neocron supporters, among them many with daytime jobs and skills vital to Neocrons future (e.g. people working in support, IT, software engineering, design ...). This makes me confident, that the future of this game looks good and a whole lot better than it did for a really long time. Still, it has to be clear that Neocron 2 will likely never achieve the polish and budget of big players in the scene like the ones you mentioned (Eve, WoW ...).
It is however the only Neocron we have right now and thus we fought hard to keep it afloat and are now dedicated to continue to work hard and make it the best game it can be.

[Michael Corvin]

<3 ..makes me Remember the undying Words of Crahn...

One may Fall
Two will stand
Three will Attack

Be Part of the Circle Today ^^

*playing 2 Steps from Hell's "united we stand" in background*

[Paulitious_Rae]

*Snip*

Responses like this make me glad I came back.

[William Antrim]

I prefer the gritty feel of nc to any of those other games mentioned.

[Alice Walker]

Agreed. The gritty feel is what makes the whole game feel realistic (IE post apocalyptic environment).

On another note,
1) I would be more than happy to pay a subscription.
2) I would also be happy to help where possible. Im not a programmer, or 3D modeler, but am willing to help writing content or coming up with ideas, development, or even the technical side of things as i am a microsoft certified engineer, and love working with IT. Working with an MMO would be awesome.

Anyways, in all seriousness, I know im just another bunch of text in a forum to you guys, but anything I can do to help, I would sure as hell be happy and willing!!

[Biglines]

Im not a programmer [...] i am a microsoft certified engineer

just wondering, what is a microsoft certified engineer?

[Alice Walker]

just wondering, what is a microsoft certified engineer?


I am currently employed in I.T. as an engineer (or technician if you will, and have been for the past 9 years) at the local hospital and have qualification from the following (and am working on the rest)...

http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en/us/certification/mcitp.aspx#tab2

I thought these were known world wide??

Edit: If you were having a stab at the fact i said 'Microsoft', I am also working on my LPIC exams....being Linux. And yes.... I prefer Linux.