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Anti-cheat measures and identifying them to GM's (that are not part of the problem) are an operational communication concern. That means, communication and management may not have assured correct and accurate information exchange between the GM staff and themselves. In addition, management includes monitoring of those trusted to enforce policies. I am questionable on some security breaches but, I question many things till trust is proven.
There should have been measures that enabled one or more GM's to enforce violations without micro-management. What I did see somewhat effective was enforcement on idiots that named their runners and or voiced racial and bigoted behavior.
It is unfortunate that this behavior causes a disunity. What was more unfortunate was that there was no event in Germany where we could of had a few beer's with the staff and thanked them for the game.
Decisions made concerning NC created an environment for hacks and lawlessness, and the use of that behavior seemed to exert revenge upon the project. The lack of responsible GM support to eliminate problem runners eventually became unnecessary because the business end having "insolvency" issues opened the door to oversight and I what I see as a breakdown of management.
Would I personally have caused disruption with BP if NC was terminated a couple of years ago, defiantly not. I then, as well as now, desire to see the company succeed. I would like to see NC become something once again, as I am hopeful that BP is earning a profit for all these years of work. We shall see if a hammer is swung in the months to come or, a string of code is produced giving birth to a new world.
I see those of us who are allowed to continue this crusade for the Holy Grail of NC3, residing in a real political environment. An environment deciding the financial feasibility of an NC3 verses a decision; that decision being to decide how to cut the program. It is a soap-opera as complicated (for us) as the virtual storyline of the NC faction's relationships to each other on NC.
I say innovation and creativity with BP is an opportunity to create the biggest game world on-line, with multiple revenue streams, virtual endless things to do that serve the consumer all that they can handle, not just space flight.
If a dam game Called "Angry Bird's" can make hundreds of thousands of dollar's then surely, the mmo market has not exploited enough innovation to deliver the consumer a honey pot of entertainment.
Our world in reality replicates the joy's and sin's of life. A game world that caters to that concept will be very rich. Dam Apple does it with app's and it doesn't even write them all.
JohnGalt
you do know that KK didn't go insolvent, just the publisher that owned KK, then KK got bought up by the new investment company as part of the insolvency of 10tacle, so they have no problems with insolvency anymore (might be overly simplified, but KK hasn't had issues with the insolvency for at least a year now (at the very least since BP got partially sold to Gamigo))
Hey,
look at this; a University looking to enhance data-mining of mmo players to increase profit. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/3...MO_Players.php
I do recall the publisher commentary from the past posts, So you are telling me they are eating and sending the kids to college fine and that my assertion above ring's even truer "...hammer...or...code..." is where we are at.
As I looked at some articles I saw mmo's creating farming and trades stuff. People of different motivations simply want different ways to create wealth and then use that to develop power to beat an opponent, win a battle, create a traders group. If that brings others to buy their goods and services then I see virtual economic development as a key factor for an mmo's richness.
Star Wars Republic seems to have tied in Space and Ground play with weapon assortments, but the visuals are not as realistic as I would like to see. Typical fight and meet the boss activity to.
look at the 3rd article down.
17 current worlds and 500 total to be created.
http://www.mmorpg.com/newsroom.cfm/page/3
The huge, varied world made the game uniquely engrossing. A true USP!
I didn't care about whether the game was heavily instanced or not. It was done right for reasons that i'll mention below, and as always allowed the devs to squeeze more from the engine. Zones enable more variation in many respects when you compare with traditional MMOs and their continent zones with the 'odd' dungeon/instance.
I actually think that although many view zoning as 'primitive' it might have been the driving force behind the varied game world. Although sync between zones was an issue, it was hardly on par with the lengthy loading screens of fps games, and never took you out of the action for too long, unless the dreaded fatal hit.
In regards to NC city, as a result of zones (in tandom with the engine's capabilities). You would be instantly engrossed on entering for the first time. Every building was explorable, every sewer accessible. There was a realistic variation of apartment entrances, we had individual shops & retail sectors, transport (nc subway), night clubs, strip clubs, bars, sewers, hidden passages and faction hqs to name a few.
Until epics were introduced and npcs were given a reason to exsist (other than to behold some paranoid insult or dismillal) many of the leisure areas were just for show, even so, they were explorable. People genuinely felt that they were part of a larger world because of this AND it made for varied, unpredictable pvp.
When chasing down other players in pvp, you had no idea where the battle could end up. In a strip club? Perhaps. A back alley? Perhaps. An apartment? Maybe. Or perhaps you'd end up getting lured into the subway, where their allies are patiently waiting to ambush you?!
Most mmos are just x open space with x textureset, head north or south in a straight line to the next zones etc, perhaps there would be a couple of vertical levels or the odd structure to explore if you're lucky. I also find that many doors and buildings are lifeless textured boxes that you can't explore and the surrounding architectural demographic is always brain-numbingly predictable to the point of relapse.
In Neocron, every part of an environment had its purpose. The design was also intriguing, unpredictable corners, alleys, alternative routes, sky walks etc. A sandbox 'maze' if you will. This kept new players second guessing for longer than with most games, avoiding a sense of repetition too early ; ). It was very refreshing to see a developer not just focusing on large, derelict open spaces with poorly scattered content in an mmo, instead focusing on cramming a small environment with both horizontal and vertical unpredictability and multiple points of interest within a close proximity. Also, the scaling of the city seemed almost perfectly in line with the player population back then. It didnt matter what zone you were in, pepople were regularly zooming past, bartering or vending on almost every corner.
Then there was the wastes. Also a great success because they were designed IN ADDITION to the metropolis within the city limits. Although a more conventional design, it was a logical expansion to the already impressive city of NC and later paved the way beyond PvE and gave us op wars.
You know a world is designed well when you aren't in a hurry to move on! When I played during beta, i had been literally playing for weeks until i ventured beyond, back then the environments just seemed so much more feature rich than anything else i had experienced (and still relativley un-challenged today). By the time i got to lvling in the outzone i was literally taken back by the amount of environmental content that i'd already lvl'd through. Rather than having the urge to move next area, you were generally engrossed in every part of NC. Knowing how small it was compared with the rest of the game world also gave you the sense of being part of a vast game world of epic, feature-rich proportions. KK had pulled this off so well to the point that new players would genuinely mention the wastes almost as if they were end-game. Chat would be filled with quotes like 'You don't want to go out there yet, you'll get eaten alive' or 'You'll get lost venturing through OZ without a guide' or 'I hear there are giant robots the size of buildings in the wastes, wtf'!
Once you did venture outside the city, you'd end up amazed that there were military bases, chapels, outposts, mutant strongholds, caves, mines, deserts, forests, swamps, canyons and much, much more..
:angel:
KK; take note.Quote:
Originally Posted by Axis
Great post.
I concur, basically all of that is why I loved this game and still do. If they do make a neocron 3 they should definitely make sure to keep those key features, if they do and advertise properly neocron could easilly be THE best most popular pvp MMO there is, I've still seen no other MMO on the market which had pvp which was enjoyable as neocron pvp.
One of my best memories from neocron was when I was leveling at the bunker at about /30 and some /60 guy decided to try kill me but got slaughtered cos he sucked. In any other MMO because I was half his level I would have lost because *thats how things are done*, if somebody is a higher level they MUST win you may not have a chance of victory!, non of that crap in neocron. Also loved how instead of 1 set of best gear everybody used there was a TON of armour, skill point and weapon setups, most MMOs these days just have 1 set of best gear and 1 best setup for skills... BORING
With the introduction of epics there was only ever a handful of setups people would use.
I wish epics could be noncombat related where possible or midlevel combat related tbh.
IE keep the TS and TT rifles but make them usable earlier and get rid of the PPR etc that EVERYONE seems to need for cap.
I want variation rather than a cookie cutter setup.
Also remove Power Armour or have the ability to turn off the visuals so that you gain the effects but cant see the armour on the character. I want to see my clothes when im running around, not some big clunky space suit.
huh? the only epic i ever see used is the ppr, and most people are moving away from those as well? think i only have a ppr on my apu, and thinking bout switching that one out.
but ye, we had this discussion before ;) I've never used a cookie cutter setup, and frankly wudn't know how to make one. Though i agree that there should be some alternative to speed.
For years it was all PPR/Moveon/MC5/SF (or their equivalent pistol counterparts when the changes came in). Then you had every Tank with a speedgun as well....
Epics should be balanced in terms of their benefits. All non combat and definitely non-pvp.
Pvp needs to be as vanilla as it possibly can be. This way people can start to pvp earlier and not worry about losing all their good shit....
If people can pvp with store bought items you will see alot more pvp happening I would hope.
hmm i kinda disagree in the current population, but as you probably mean when there are hundreds of players, then yes.
In the current population the dissies and ak's grow on trees, losing weapons certainly isn't a problem atm, except for the GM spawn ones (ionics mostly), just do firemobs for an hour or two and you can have a dissy together (trading unressed)
but as you said, if the populations were to go up again, being able to win with inferior weapons but superior skill should be part of the game again.
The current game is a shadow of what it could be. Yes I meant with 300-500 server pops like we used to have.
;) agreed.Quote:
Originally Posted by William Antrim
just after the free to play, pops rose to 250-300... best times in nc ive had (aside from beta)
Yeah nice time back then when server was crowded again=)Quote:
Originally Posted by Biglines
I remember when i started with the release of the "Dome of York" and P1 was hella crowded with ppl.