AC2 Dies Quietly

[Bushido]

Dear Ac2 (http://ac2.turbine.com/index.php?page_id=384) subscribers,

In spite of our hard work and the launch of Legions, AC2 has reached the point where it no longer makes sense to continue the service. We will be officially closing the Asheron's Call 2 service on 12/30/05. Until then, we plan to run live events, but we will not be adding any content or features.

We deeply appreciate the many dedicated fans of AC2 who have stood by us over the years. You have our sincerest gratitude.

Best regards,

Jeffrey Anderson
CEO, Turbine
Well let's hope Dungeons and Dragons Online is a better product.

[bapenguin]

AC2 was my first MMORPG. It shall be missed....snif snif

[DiBiddilyBop]

I played it for a while when it first came out and had a lot of fun until everyone left. Oh well... it was only a matter of time.

[Bushido]

I was in the beta test. I loved it for a while....It would have been nice to see this game go out with a bang and some big events rather than pulling the plug. The expansion was stillborn and I heard virtually nothing about it, sad day. AC1 rocked the house!!! Someone tell me please where they went wrong? Dumming down the skills?

[Cupelix]

Ouch- you don't often see news like this. Isn't even Planetside still running?

[makkura]

i guess GU comics will make a comic about this.

[balamoor]

Look for similar announcements for MEO, and DDO in the near future.

The rule of thumb now if a New MMORPG title can't come close to competing with WoW its a dead game walking. Sad but true.

[Drinking_Buddy]

Well all good things must come to an end.

I remember somebody here on EvilAvatar would post a weekly report on AC2. Unfortantly it kind of seemed like it was going down hill slowly. Never thought I would see it close.

[A-Team]

Look for similar announcements for MEO, and DDO in the near future.

The rule of thumb now if a New MMORPG title can't come close to competing with WoW its a dead game walking. Sad but true.
That's a pretty poor way of putting the situation in perspective. When a game is no longer profitable, there's no reason for the company to continue operating the servers for it.

Does that mean that D&D Online will be cancelled? No.

People are pretty pissed off tonight over the fact that they just released the 'Legions' expansion pack and it's not hard for me to understand why they have a bad taste in their mouths. I mean, some of these people have been playing the game since November 22, 2002 and actually bought the damn thing thinking that everything was fine and dandy. The one thing you have to keep in mind though is that AC2 was never a stable game and was -as a few users over on the AC2 boards called it - a really rough rollercoaster.

What I do have a hard time understanding is your logic behind D&D and MEO closing over a three year-old game that ended up scaring players back to their characters in AC.

I'm sure you thought of that before you posted though.

[Crono]

I remember back when Westwood's Earth and Beyond series died. It was the first instance of an MMO dying that I had seen. This one seems a little bit bigger than Earth and Beyond though @_@

[balamoor]

That's a pretty poor way of putting the situation in perspective. When a game is no longer profitable, there's no reason for the company to continue operating the servers for it.

Does that mean that D&D Online will be cancelled? No.

People are pretty pissed off tonight over the fact that they just released the 'Legions' expansion pack and it's not hard for me to understand why they have a bad taste in their mouths. What I do have a hard time understanding is your logic behind D&D and MEO closing over a three year-old game that ended up scaring players back to their characters in AC.

The Logic is quite simple A. And I'm not trying to be an asshole here. It's the investors. In today’s cutthroat gaming market unless a MMORPG can almost guarantee substantial profits look for said game to pull a WISH and close. Turbine has lost a shit load of its people lately because they have seen the writing on the wall; the company is heading for Chapter 13 or worse.

Do I want to see DDO get canceled? Hell no, but it can not compete in today’s market, nor can MEO. That is the sad truth, and why I say those two games are next

[A-Team]

Decided to make a second reply and dedicate it to my thoughts on the AC2 news. I originally posted what you're about to read/skip over in my daily MMO column, which can be found here (http://www.filerush.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=11460#ac2) for anyone that's interested.

Now, on to my feedback:

Having not played the game since it was in beta, I'd like to refrain from commenting on the game and instead bring up a good point about MMOGs in general. Asheron's Call 2 and other MMOs that have come and gone represent the evil side of online gaming that very few of us consider while we're in the check-out line: the game's death.

I think one of our biggest problems isn't understanding why an MMO dies, but rather how long it'll be until one does die. We assume that games like Sony's 'EverQuest' and Mythic Entertainment's 'Dark Age of Camelot' are doing just fine because they keep releasing expansion packs, fix bugs, and catch cheaters, but the fact of the matter is every game has its breaking point.

The time, effort, and funding that goes into a massively multiplayer game like AC2 eludes gamers for one reason and one reason alone: companies are not willing to tell their users how much it costs to host servers and pay their staff. Knowing that, it only makes sense for us to guesstimate how much (or how little) our $12.95 (or $14.95) is helping a game.

I don't want our readers to cancel their accounts in fear that their favorite MMO is going to die tomorrow, but would instead like for our readers to be understand of Turbine's choice to shut down 'Asheron's Call 2'. They may not have been truthful with the community by releasing 'Legions' and then calling it quits, but what's done is done and now you understand how easily something like this could happen to the very MMO you play.

[A-Team]

The Logic is quite simple A. And I'm not trying to be an asshole here. It's the investors. In today’s cutthroat gaming market unless a MMORPG can almost guarantee substantial profits look for said game to pull a WISH and close. Turbine has lost a shit load of its people lately because they have seen the writing on the wall; the company is heading for Chapter 13 or worse.

Do I want to see DDO get canceled? Hell no, but it can not compete in today’s market, nor can MEO. That is the sad truth, and why I say those two games are next
Yes, I know all too well about their employees jumping ship. Upon seeing Turbine's ex-AC/AC2 developer Jessica Mulligan leave for The Saga of Ryzom, I and thousands of others realized that something was amidst with the company.

The thing is though, Turbine is going to get D&D on store shelves regardless of what happens. Atari needs this game to come out, and they need it to come before they drop dead in the water.

P.S. - I wasn't trying to come across as an a-hole in my original post and I appologize if it seemed that way.

[balamoor]

Yes, I know all too well about their employees jumping ship. Upon seeing Turbine's ex-AC/AC2 developer Jessica Mulligan leave for The Saga of Ryzom, I and thousands of others realized that something was amidst with the company.

The thing is though, Turbine is going to get D&D on store shelves regardless of what happens. Atari needs this game to come out, and they need it to come before they drop dead in the water.

P.S. - I wasn't trying to come across as an a-hole in my original post and I appologize if it seemed that way.

No quite it’s quite all right didn’t take it that way.... I truly hope it dose get relased. I have been a D&D fan since the white box set, and know that they could have made a 5000 pound gorilla by placing the game in the Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk (Hell even Ravenloft or Dragonlance) But..... they have so far made some very questionable choices that makes myself and a few of their former developers fear for the viability of the game.

[Cyotik]

There are actually a fair number of people still playing Planetside, myself included.

[A-Team]

Ouch- you don't often see news like this. Isn't even Planetside still running?
Between the subscribtion fees and in-game advertising, Sony is making plenty of money to keep PlanetSide up.

Quoted from myself back on August 8:

An agreement between Massive Incorporated and Sony Online Entertainment will introduce PlanetSide to the world of advertising. Following in the path of Anarchy Online, PS - an MMOFPS - will begin sporting high-tech billboards within the next week or two in order to cover future content development and keep servers running.

[XenonCJ]

And yet UO still chugs along... somehow...

[Draft]

Turbine has hosed their rep, and all DnDO has going for it is a license that meganerds boner up for.

Inflammitory comments out of the way...

I have to wonder if this is just the beginning of a great purge in the MMO market. Last I checked, there's a lot of MMOs on the market, and a lot more on the horizon. These games, varied as their settings and gameplay may be, all share the MMO tag, and for the most part, have a lot of the same fans. How many $15 dollar a month subscriptions can the average person float? Me, I can swing one. CoH got my cash for a while, and then WoW did. I played both at the same time very, very briefly, but at $15 bucks a month each, one had to go, and CoH got the chop. Now, if CoH was $5 a month? I'd probably still be playing it.

I don't think the $15 a month pricing plan is going to survive too much longer, but maybe that's not a bad thing. I like MMOs a lot. Didn't before, but since CoH, they've really grown on me. Seem to really emphasis the strenghts of PC gaming. I could see the future of PC gaming resting squarely on the shoulders MMOs. But not if each one costs $15 clams a month.

[51|RandoM]

AC2 had quite a bit of promise too, shame they so royally messed up the basics.

Playing music was more fun than anything else. :-)

The biggest issue for me in ac2 was the very poor game balance at release, and the wild thrashing around they did trying to fix it. Nobody could even remotely depend on their build being ok day in and day out, you never knew when they'd 'rebalance' your character, or your weapons, or the mobs armor, and do so drastically. That is the type of thing that kills a player's desire to invest time in his game character.

I was a ranger the entire time I played, though, so mine couldn't get any worse after the bow nerfage in beta and the nasty HIGH ar mobs that 2-hit any non-tank.

Could go into the bugs too, lol, but I already feel like I'm kicking somebody when they're down.

[rein]

It's Ok... ...SOE will pick it up and throw in on the Station Pass. :D

SOE will eventually become the dumping ground for all failed mmorpgs for one low price of $22 a month.

[Moatman]

It's funny, some of the mmo's that people badmouth or tease do fairly well. Planetside has, from what I hear, about 50-60k subscribers, it fluctuates a little bit, great game and I have an active account for it. UO still has somewhere between 120-150k subscribers, plus they have a big expansion coming out next week that might help push sales up a bit, so it's doing better than quite a many mmo. But when you hear numbers like that, hearing numbers of wow makes it seem crazy(3.5 million worldwide, not sure of in the US, but both uo's and planetside numbers were worldwide)

AC2 is a big-name death, even more surprising that the original game is still around, but from what I hear(never tried it) they did some odd things in the game, like having no npc's at all and little to no pvp at all either, if memory serves. I'm sorry for the dev's and also the fans of the game, it's a big loss losing a game you've invested so much time in, even if a publisher of a regular pc or console game closes down, your game is still out there being played, with an mmo...it fades into nothingness:(

And on the topic of planetside, I really wish people would give it a try instead of just saying "I'll play bf2/ut/quake for free" It's on such an epic scope, with such massive battles with a ton of vehicles and players, it really makes it seem like a fullout war instead of little skirmishes(not to say that every battle is epic, but you can go where you want) It's like the rvr in daoc(3 realms at constant war, tower and keep taking, etc) but with a fps engine instead of a "my spell got interupted, my entire group will die because of that" spellcasting system(can you tell my main was a bard?:) True hand-eye skill instead of who hits the I-win button first.

[Heretic Machine]

Here is where they went wrong: The concept was that the players would be building all the cities. But they didn't launch with a player housing system. They proceeded to never, ever add a player housing system.

So, AC2 was a very barren world.

(3.5 million worldwide, not sure of in the US, but both uo's and planetside numbers were worldwide)


Er... last I checked, WoW had already broken 5 million.

[Moatman]

I hadn't seen any numbers since they had just launched china and had hit 3.5, they made quite a big deal about it on their US site, where did you hear 5 million?

[rein]

Er... last I checked, WoW had already broken 5 million.

tsk tsk tsk.... you know if you post something like that you need a link. ;)

[A-Team]

I hadn't seen any numbers since they had just launched china and had hit 3.5, they made quite a big deal about it on their US site, where did you hear 5 million?
And they just launched WoW in Singapore this past Sunday.

[bean19]

Several MMOs in the past have stated that the magic number to become profitable is 50K subscribers. After that time, MMOs run in the black. That's not hard to do when you consider that 50K subscribers means $500,000 to $750,000 monthly income. That is a huge budget of 6 to 9 million dollars/year. Sure, server costs and continued development cut into that, but a game can remain significantly profitable even with those costs as companies plan their development and server costs to be scaleable. After 50K subscribers, there is a significant profit.

That's why games like City of Heroes (with only about 150K subscribers) are still considered successes. Likewise, Planetside will be around for quite a while yet despite only having slightly over 50K subscribers. The game offers a neat alternative for the SOE Station Pass, and it is still making money (if not much by comparison to other MMOs) by being over the 50K hump.

The chart (http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart3.html) of the low population MMOG's shows interesting curves. Notice The Sims Online with it's impressive initial sales and equally impressive plummet (as players realized there wasn't much content in the game). Also, I like Puzzle Pirate's slow "underground game" creep up in number of subscribers.

Interestingly, Funcom's much loved Anarchy Online never should have made it. The game peaked shortly after launch at 60K subscribers, immediately plummeted and has never had a stronger showing than 40K subscribers since launch. It is currently on the way out despite free trials and other marketing tools with just over 20K subscribers. It is a good thing for Funcom that they are working on the Conan the Barbarian MMO. Hopefully they'll deliver a more user-friendly product at launch and not scare away as many of their initial customers this time.

Now view this chart (http://www.mmogchart.com/Chart1.html). The more successful MMOs are all "initial super-fast growth" then slow upward but fairly stable plateau followed by slow, steady declining plateau. Interesting in that there is a trend, but they don't tell nearly as dramatic stories as the other chart's curves except for the obvious comparion between "normally successful" MMOs and the ultra-super-megaton giants that are WoW and Lineage.

More on topic: Asheron's Call 2 peaked at 50K subscribers and steadily declined over time. Their expansion and marketing campaigns failed to bring new life into the game, so they made the best decision. . . to pull the plug on an unprofitable game. I give them kudos for sticking trying to keep the game alive. I think people will look at Asheron's Call 2 as a milestone in MMOs. I think it is the first MMO sequel to ruin an intellecutal property.

Anyway, balamoor trolls every MMO post ever with his messages of "Doom!" I think DDO is not going to be the next WoW, but it will be among the "lesser" highly successful MMOs and may even be the most profitable of them if they deliver the goods.

[Chill]

With MMO's coming out like Roma Victor (http://www.roma-victor.com/), which has no subscription fees and is privately funded by investors and donations, its crazy something like AC2 can't even sustain itself.

Maybe if SOE sold it to a bunch of dedicated fans and decent programmers with some capital, it could maybe sustain itself.

[bean19]

With MMO's coming out like Roma Victor (http://www.roma-victor.com/), which has no subscription fees and is privately funded by investors and donations, its crazy something like AC2 can't even sustain itself.

Maybe if SOE sold it to a bunch of dedicated fans and decent programmers with some capital, it could maybe sustain itself.

It probably could, but it is a bit of an albatross for a company like Turbine.

They want to be playing with the big boys, and having a franchise-killing MMO that merely keeps the servers running for a few diehards and MMO historians is not good branding.

[KarmaGhost]

Some of you said it earlier, but basically it boils down to this:
* most gamers can only afford to pay for one or maybe two pay-per-month games
* even if a game isn't as popular as others, its survival depends on whether the developers can throw more money at it, which depends on how well other game that they develop do. Maybe Planetside is still around because EQ and EQ2 do well enough to support the costs. Maybe the Planetside players are more dedicated to their game than the AC2 players are. Who knows.

[Spigot]

I used to play the first Asheron's Call way back in the day. Best time I've ever had in an MMORPG. It was my introduction to how fun an MMORPG could be.

The AC1 world of Dereth was fantastic too. It had unique monsters (mmm... Virindi...), a very interesting backstory and it actually gave a reason as to why all of the player characters were suddenly thrust into this brand new world.

I remember eagerly awaiting AC2 and picking it up shortly after its launch. I remember loving the graphics and becoming enamoured with the crafting system.

I also remember that the game would lag so badly my system would almost crash whenever I had one (yes, ONE) other person within sight of me. My brother, running it on a slower computer with less RAM and a much lower videocard, OVER DIAL-UP, was getting a better connection that I was over DSL.

I pretty much 'played' the game for my free month and gave up. It's a shame. The Turbine guys did a great job with the AC universe and the original was refreshing compared to the standard fantasy tropes on UO and EQ. Having free monthly updates and not having to buy expansions (until Dark Majesty eventually rolled out) was a great reason to stick with it as well.

I would be mad if I'd just payed for the expansion and then had the game terminated on me less than a year after the expansion launch. But what can you do? I hope the Turbine guys do well with DDO. If they don't, maybe they could do a single-player RPG set in the AC universe...

[Nikells]

The original Asherons Call was an awesome game, Turbine was a tiny company starting out in someones garage when they first started making it.
It was my first MMO and loved it. I was hugely excited about a sequel.

AC2 was a worse game by far, I really do not know what happened at Turbine. This news is not at all surprising, the game was awful.
The game was touted as having a player run economy and an ever evolving world.
What this actually meant was they didn't code any NPC's or shops and every so often (ie once a month) they would change the textures on run down buildings to make them look more built up.

As far as I'm concerned all the other MMORPG's Turbine are making look equally bad.

Pretty graphics and a popular licensed universe do not a good game make.

[Chagrinful]

The death of an MMORPG is a good day for gaming all around :), MMO's are the shit of pc gaming. Also its the death of Microsoft's MMO another good note, what great news!

[MrWonderstuff]

Yea, Ac1 was my first experience of an MMO and was an exerpience never to be forgotten. AC2 seemed lifeless in comparision (unlike Ac1 you couldnt even walk into buildings), no npcs etc.

[Bushido]

The game was so poorly made, Roads went off cliffs and with no consideration for the terrain the devs just drew it on with paint. I was still getting black wall lag when I tried a free trial last year.

[Vandenh]

I loved AC1 (played it for 2 years) and I loved AC2... they game was not bad, there were just not enough players. Some mobs HAD to be taken out by groups and once I reached 35 I couldn't find players to group with any more. I am sure AC2 would have been ace if more people had played or if Turbine had made it more solo friendly (like WoW and AC1). The group fights in AC2 were very impressive indeed and much better than the ones in WoW, but the game just didn't pull in the numbers.

With the WoW juggernaut marching on and some other quality MMORPGs kicking ass (CoH, GW,...) I expect a lot of teh smaller MMORPGs to "die". That is the way things work... too many MMORPGs anyway....

>Also its the death of Microsoft's MMO another good note, what great news!

BTW FYI AC1/AC2 is *not* owned/sponsered by MS anymore. Welcome to last year dude.

[Carnifex]

* most gamers can only afford to pay for one or maybe two pay-per-month games
I believe it might be more an issue of available time. Current MMOGs demand a pretty high time investment to get a real sense of accomplishment. Many (like me) had to stop playing these games because of this.
Of course, the decline all the MMOGs see might also be people realizing the games are basically the same, and essentially about repetition and endless grind. Behind their disguise is just a fancy irc client with a built-in combat simulator :D

[alienchild]

Interestingly, Funcom's much loved Anarchy Online never should have made it. The game peaked shortly after launch at 60K subscribers, immediately plummeted and has never had a stronger showing than 40K subscribers since launch. It is currently on the way out despite free trials and other marketing tools with just over 20K subscribers. It is a good thing for Funcom that they are working on the Conan the Barbarian MMO. Hopefully they'll deliver a more user-friendly product at launch and not scare away as many of their initial customers this time.

Absolute bullcrap. AO have never been as populated as it is now. In an interview a few months back they said that they got 140k new free players after the first 4 months in 2005. Lots of those have turned paying subscribers. AO also have advertisement banners that show images and commercial movies in-game (can be turned off by paying subscribers, but I prefer to have it on to get more immersed in the world).

Truth is, AO is and have been growing like crazy after the free year trial thing started. Not only in players but also in paying customers. There have been tons of discussions about this on the AO forums, so I suggest you have a look there. These MMO charts are questionable at best. Personally, I think it stinks piss.

[makkura]

well i was right ...... http://www.gucomics.com/

[balamoor]

Anyway, balamoor trolls every MMO post ever with his messages of "Doom!" I think DDO is not going to be the next WoW, but it will be among the "lesser" highly successful MMOs and may even be the most profitable of them if they deliver the goods.


It's not a message of Doom Skippy. It's based on the FACT That Turbine in general can't keep developers, or upper management, That the D&D team specifically as late as last month has been spending more time playing P&P D&D, and Laser Tag in halls than working on the game, and that the Venture capitalist are basically asking the company that they gave their money to what the hell is going on?

Right Now Turbine is looking more like Artifact Entertainment than the company that produced AC and the sad thing is David Bowman is no longer at Turbine to be used as the reason for their shitty business practices.

Dose the license have potential? Absofuckinglutley. But as we have seen with SWG you can take the best Franchise and fuck it up.

Again I say I want it to see retail, but don't see it happening at this point.

[bean19]

It's based on the FACT That Turbine in general can't keep developers, or upper management, That the D&D team specifically as late as last month has been spending more time playing P&P D&D, and Laser Tag in halls than working on the game, and that the Venture capitalist are basically asking the company that they gave their money to what the hell is going on?
Unsupportable "facts" that do not agree with the game videos, previews, and first-hand accounts from convention testers.

Again I say I want it to see retail, but don't see it happening at this point.
DOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!

I doubt you'll have the forum longevity to have to eat crow when this game releases and is at least moderately successful, but I hope you will foster a private shame unbolstered by my "balamoor is a fucktard / I told you so!" posts. While I realistically think the game will be successful, I fantasize that your shameful epiphany will result in a refusal to breed or, at the least, a refinement of character.

[Malovech]

Turbine released one good game - AC1 and they got lucky. AC2 was technically, artistically and gameplay-wise an absolute failure. The graphic engine looked nice though.

I am trying desperately to figure out what the hell they think they're doing with DDO, when that exact same game has already been published and it's called Guild Wars. Other than the trappings and ruleset of D&D I have no idea what this game has going for it or more importantly what differentiates it from GW. Add to that the fact you have to pay a monthly fee for it? Are you kidding me? The D&D license isn't that strong!

[Freakshow Billy]

I only played the game once, got a quest from a rock and quit. I heard they fixed that later but I couldn't bring myself reinstall.

[balamoor]

Unsupportable "facts" that do not agree with the game videos, previews, and first-hand accounts from convention testers.

Yeah, WISH, basically had the same thing and was starting Beta when it closed. It looked good, the Buzz was awesome. Many positive First hand accounts. And my facts are supportable because they Come from David Parker, and Jason Tatlinger two former D&D Online developers. David is now a Content developer For SOE Seattle, and Jason currently works for Microsoft.


DOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!

I doubt you'll have the forum longevity to have to eat crow when this game releases and is at least moderately successful, but I hope you will foster a private shame unbolstered by my "balamoor is a fucktard / I told you so!" posts. While I realistically think the game will be successful, I fantasize that your shameful epiphany will result in a refusal to breed or, at the least, a refinement of character.

See now you're just being an asshole (big surprise :rolleyes: ) As for forum Longevity, I have been around EA on and off since back in the days of Tribes. But that's neither here nor there. I will be the first to admit I was wrong if the game hits retail, and believe it or not will not gloat over your wet panty fanboism over a soon to be failed game.

[nein89]

If you heard positive first hand accounts of Wish, you need new sources. It sounded good in concept, but from the moment the game was playable it became clear that it was an abysmal failure. DDO, interestingly enough, is the opposite. It sounds terrible in concept, but is actually kind of fun to play. I have serious doubts about its potential longevity, but I think it will make it to launch, at least.

AC2 shutting down is in no way a portent of ill omen. The game was a wretched abomination, and the only surprise is that it held on as long as it did. Tedious and simplistic even by MMO standards, with a chat system that simply did not work for months. It will be very interesting to read if any of the developers are ever able to write about what went wrong with the project.

[Heretic Machine]

The death of an MMORPG is a good day for gaming all around , MMO's are the shit of pc gaming. Also its the death of Microsoft's MMO another good note, what great news!

And your post is the shit of the Evil Avatar forums :)

1. Many MMO's bring a great deal of pleasure to many people.

2. This game had nothing to do with Microsoft anymore. Turbine is now an indipendant company.

[reimomo]

Yeah, WISH, basically had the same thing and was starting Beta when it closed. It looked good, the Buzz was awesome. Many positive First hand accounts. And my facts are supportable because they Come from David Parker, and Jason Tatlinger two former D&D Online developers. David is now a Content developer For SOE Seattle, and Jason currently works for Microsoft.




See now you're just being an asshole (big surprise :rolleyes: ) As for forum Longevity, I have been around EA on and off since back in the days of Tribes. But that's neither here nor there. I will be the first to admit I was wrong if the game hits retail, and believe it or not will not gloat over your wet panty fanboism over a soon to be failed game.

DoooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM M!!

[Roc Ingersol]

DoooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM M!!
doom?
http://www.ofdoomproductions.com/images/thulsadoombaby.jpg

[Eon]

Contemplate Balamar's posts on the tree of woe...

[XenonCJ]

Crucify him.

[Abednigo]

I guess I can finally throw my AC2 install discs away. I bought it, played it for about an hour, uninstalled and haven't touched it since. No use holding onto the CDs now. I can't even sell it on Ebay now! :rolleyes:

[Moatman]

I only played the game once, got a quest from a rock and quit. I heard they fixed that later but I couldn't bring myself reinstall.
I guess they have to change that old adage to something like "You can't get blood from squeezing a rock...but you can get a quest out of them sometimes."

[Librum]

Yep. I bought the game shortly after it came out and was amazed by how uninteresting and slapdash it felt. When I saw them releasing an expansion I really couldn't believe it, but now it's all very clear - they had this stuff on hand and knew they were going to be shutting down (I doubt they just woke up one morning and decided to call it quits), so they acted in terribly bad faith by foisting it off on their loyal customers.

I'd never trust Turbine again for them doing that, and this does not make me feel any better about DDO, which is already using a license I don't care for (Eberron). Heck, anyone else remember the old Dark Sun Online from TEN? Wish they'd just go with that setting again.

[balamoor]

Contemplate Balamar's posts on the tree of woe...


DA… Riddle….. of ….DDO???

You know it don't you boy?
Shall I tell you? it's the least I can do.... DDO isn't strong boy WoW is. See that leet d00d up there? *Points to paint chip eater looking for Phat lewts* Yes come..come to me my child. *Leet dood takes a header and goes splat* See there that is strength boy! That is power!!!

[Eon]

Da riddle of Leet, you mean.

Stun,Mez,NukeNukeNukeNukeNuke

That is power!

[Camalot]

Ironic, a long long time ago (maybe like four months) I sent Turbine a resume. Just this morning I get an email from turbine, the basic hi, we got your resume but we are pursuing other people who are less dumb, we are sorry blah blah blah.

[balamoor]

Ironic, a long long time ago (maybe like four months) I sent Turbine a resume. Just this morning I get an email from turbine, the basic hi, we got your resume but we are pursuing other people who are less dumb, we are sorry blah blah blah.


Give it time before the big crash you will probably see the two Bevis's from the MCdonalds across the street coding there. :D

[Beelzebud]

I played AC since it's first retail month. Dropped my sub when AC2 came out, and played it for my free month. Forgot about AC.

Then I read that there was a new expansion pack for AC1, and AC2. I buy the one for AC1.

AC1 is still a GREAT game. I've been playing it for a solid month, and plan on subbing when my free-time is over. All the things that people used to complain about in AC have been dealt with. The game is really fun.

It's too bad they had to shut down AC2, but the subscriber numbers were awful.

AC seems pretty active to me. There are people playing it 24 hours a day. I never have trouble finding people to fellowship with.

Heck I even got to use the characters I had from 2 years ago, when I came back!

So while it's sad that AC2 was a failure, AC 1 is still a fun game, and Turbine seems committed to it. Since the expansion went live they are even doing the monthly updates again.

[Shodan2020]

Man, I hope AO still lasts a few more years.... *crosses fingers*