It is that time again, let's talk upcoming MMOs since Vanguard was basically a failure.


Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: EA Mythic
Release: Winter 2007
http://www.warhammeronline.com/english/home/

Quote :

"The game features "next generation" Realm vs. Realm combat (abbreviated as "RvR"). This takes place on 3 different "fronts": Dwarfs vs. Greenskins, Empire vs. Chaos and High Elves vs. Dark Elves. There are four levels of RvR Combat, including Skirmishes (random PvP), present Battlefields (object driven battles in the game world), Scenarios (instanced, point based battles against NPCs) and Campaigns (invading enemy lands and capital cities). RvR includes both Player vs. Player combat and Player vs. Environment (PvE) quests so that you can assist your side."

Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Developer: Funcom
Release: October 30, 2007
http://www.ageofconan.com/

Quote :

"Aside from the single-player campaign, one of the primary attractions of Age of Conan is the "Real Combat" system, which promises greater player interaction during combat than previously seen in online role-playing games. The player is able to direct the swings of their character's weapon during combat to attack six separate target zones. Funcom has stated that this system will be easy to learn even for veteran MMORPG players who are used to "click and wait" combat; however, the specific details of this system have yet to be unveiled. Other features will include battle formations, which impart bonuses to the group using them, and mounted combat, which will also use the "Real Combat" engine."

The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
Publisher: Midway
Developer: Turbine
Release: April 24, 2007 (Out now)
http://www.lotro.com/

Quote :

"Unlike most fantasy settings, there is no widespread magic use in the Lord of The Rings books and that has been carried over into this game. There are only five wizards in the fictional world and the player cannot play as one of them. This has instead been replaced with "Lore" system where objects and artifacts are used to create effects seen in other fantasy games. In addition to physical or magical item effects, there is also the 'Power' system. The power system is much like magic in other MMOs, in that you have a power bar, and power is used by all classes to perform their special attacks. The Minstrel and Loremaster class skills behave much like magic in other games, for example healing a friend, or throwing magical fire at an enemy."

Tabula Rasa
Publisher: NCsoft
Developer: Destination Games
Release: TBA 2007
Closed Beta: May 2, 2007
http://www.playtr.com/index.html

Quote :

"The combat mixes in some aspects from shooters to add some real time action elements to the game. It still is not an outright shooter and features sticky targeting and has dice rolling based on character stats underneath. Stickiness can be adjusted to fit the preference of the player. Instead of a hit-miss system, Tabula Rasa instead adjusts the damage based on the situation. Real-team factors like weapon type, ammo type, stance, cover, and movement are taken into account. The enemies are reported to have AI so they too will try to take advantage of the terrain, their numbers, and will try to flank the players' characters."

Huxley
Publisher: Webzen
Developer: Webzen
Release: TBA 2007
http://www.huxleygame.com/

Quote :

"Little is known about Huxley's gameplay at the moment. Action is directed to be fast-paced, on par with games such as Unreal Tournament 2004, applied to a Massively Multiplayer Online Game setting. This style is in contrast to another MMOFPS, PlanetSide by Sony Online Entertainment, which follows a more tactical and thought out route of action. In a recent interview, Huxley's main producer Kijong Kang said that the cities in Huxley will be able to accommodate up to 5000 people, and the individual battles will support a couple hundred players. The battles can be as small as 1 VS 1 or as big as 100 VS 100 players (200)."

Fury
Publisher: Gamecock
Developer: Auran
Release: Q4 2007
http://www.unleashthefury.com/

Quote :

"Fury gives players a classless progressions system to customize their characters as they see fit and aims to kick the pants off of WoW's arena and battlegrounds systems by making PvP the focus of the game. The developers also claim that the game will be "grind free". So no massive PvEs will be featured."

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
Publisher: Sony Online Entertainment
Developer: Perpetual Entertainment
Release: Summer 2007
http://www.godsandheroes.com/

Quote :

"The game is set in the world of ancient Rome, and combines historical elements and enemies (Etruscans, Faliscans, etc.) with mythological ones (Cyclops, Gorgons, etc.). Players select era-appropriate classes including Soldiers, Gladiators and Mystics, each of whom can align themselves with an Olympian God (Jupiter, Mars, etc.). Recruiting and training a squad of soldiers to fight with you against creates strange and magical is a major selling point of the game as it promises a very viable solo play option."

Pirates of the Burning Sea
Publisher: Flying Lab
Developer: Flying Lab
Release: June 1, 2007
http://www.burningsea.com/

Quote :

"Players will be able to participate in both ship and avatar based gameplay, covering both ship to ship combat and avatar combat of three different types: sword-fighting, brawling, and ranged combat. Sword-fighting can be one of three styles: dirty fighting, dual-wield fighting, and more refined single-handed swordplay."

The Chronicles of Spellborn
Publisher: Spellborn
Developer: Frogster
Release: Q2 2007
http://tcos.com/

Quote :

"The Chronicles of Spellborn (TCoS) is an MMO under development by Spellborn NV using the renowned Unreal© Engine™. Players take the role of heroes in a post-apocalyptic fantasy setting where a vast adventure unfolds in an authentic living world."

5/26/2007 12:14:38 PM

meh, nothing special

5/26/2007 12:26:49 PM

I've heard a lot of ppl talking about Warhammer online, but I did not realize it was an EA game. Pass.

Other than that, these games will have two deciding factors. The gameplay, and the type of people the games attracts.

5/26/2007 12:29:40 PM

yeah, it all looks pretty gay

5/26/2007 12:31:04 PM

Age of conan looks awesome, I watched a gameplay video a while back. Warhammer i'll have to try out for the hell of it. and LotR Online i'm curious about because I've read some reviews that said it was pretty good from a PvE 'adventure' aspect.

5/26/2007 12:33:36 PM

while i am still skeptical of warhammer myself, its the developer of these MMOs that is more important and Mythic is its developer. so we'll see

5/26/2007 12:34:08 PM

The top two are likely the only ones I give a chance...

Warhammer for RvR
Age of Conan for the combat system and console introductions

5/26/2007 12:49:44 PM

There needs to be more futuristic MMOs. I'm mildly interested in Huxley due to this reason. This is also why I played Planetside, SWG, Anarchy Online, and Eve Online.

I'm hoping for a Fallout MMO sometime, but we can't get everything can we?

5/26/2007 12:53:09 PM

warhammer is the only one i give a chance. you'd think LOTR migth sell well, but based on the other games that have been made on it, im gonna bet no.

[Edited on May 26, 2007 at 12:59 PM. Reason : futuristics ones just dont seem to do as well]

5/26/2007 12:59:24 PM

^Yeah, and I don't know why. SWG was pretty popular until WoW came out and killed it.

5/26/2007 1:08:31 PM

i think fantasy just lends itself better to the genre. guns and lazers and stuff just work better in a more real-time, match setting it seems. i really wanted to try planetside cuz it sounded awesome, but it never caught on so it wouldnt have been worth it.

5/26/2007 1:25:58 PM

Knights of the Old Republic MMO possible:

Quote :

"KOTOR MMO in development? Wednesday 25-Apr-2007 9:16 AM BioWare's online team tipped to be working on massively multiplayer Knights of the Old Republic console title BioWare has formed a new online team to create a Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic massively multiplayer online game, EGM reports. No further details were reported in the rumour section of the US magazine but we've taped our fingers crossed. KOTOR is one of our favourite Star Wars games ever and the thoughts of an online MMO is, frankly, too much to take in. The magazine also reports on a few other BioWare-related rumours. The current PC-exclusive Dragon Age is coming to PS3 and the DS currently in development at the mega-studio looks to be from the Baldur's Gate franchise. They're all rumours at the moment but we'll keep you updated with any announcements. If you missed Monday's shock news, CVG exclusively reported that the firm's highly anticipated Xbox 360 RPG Mass Effect has been pushed back to September."

This is the only game that could ever tempt me to get into an MMO again

5/26/2007 1:50:35 PM

Planetside was really fun. If you've played WoW, it's a lot like doing an Alterac Valley BG, except people get vehicles and shit. Usually it's bedlam but when people get organized it can be pretty damn fun.

You can actually download the game for free and play until a limited level if you want to try it out.

5/26/2007 1:59:12 PM

Pirates of the Burning Sea is the only one on that group that I'll probably buy and play for any length of time. Any game that lets me build and customize my own ship, and decide my future as a trader, naval officer, pirate, or smuggler is awesome in my opinion. A lot of the diehard age of sail fans are really hard up for this game and since I've enjoyed this time period so much, I think it will rock.

5/26/2007 2:21:57 PM

i'm looking forward to Age of Conan... and i'm curious about Tabula Rasa and Huxley... but not overly excited about them...

Warhammer's still too far off to get excited about...

5/26/2007 2:42:13 PM

Quote :

"Planetside was really fun. If you've played WoW, it's a lot like doing an Alterac Valley BG, except people get vehicles and shit. Usually it's bedlam but when people get organized it can be pretty damn fun. You can actually download the game for free and play until a limited level if you want to try it out."

unfortunately i quit WOW right before BG's hit. i also have a job now so id rather not get back into mmo's, i just wanted to comment.

5/26/2007 2:56:45 PM

Warhammer is the only one with a chance to make any impact. (ie - reach 200k+ subscribers)

The rest will make a small splash and then never be heard from again.

5/26/2007 5:42:33 PM

Planetside was fucking terrible. You'd have to an idiot with an IQ of 40 to play that for more then two weeks.

Kill people, sit around for 40 mins, kill more people. Sit around for 40 mins. Shit, the last place you sat it got taken, go back. Rinse, Repeat.

YAY BR14. Oh wait. BR14 doesn't actually mean anything. Grats on zero character progression.

All of these look stupid as hell and probably will be about as popular as LOTRO is right now, which is to say, not popular at all. Warhammer might make it, but I have a feeling its planetside with a fantasy setting.

5/26/2007 5:47:18 PM

Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising Closed Beta Signup
http://community.godsandheroes.com/betasignup/

Fury Beta Signup
http://www.unleashthefury.com/beta/signup.php

6/1/2007 11:30:45 PM

How do any of the unknown ones make any money?

6/2/2007 12:03:40 AM

My sister and her husband work for Mythic/EA Sports and are building Warhammer. And BTW EA Sports only funded it, Mythic's employees developed it.

I already have the beta version on my pc...It's pretty f'ing awesome!

6/2/2007 12:11:43 AM

The graphics on most of those screenshots look pretty dated. I guess since it's a MMO they want to more than just the people with a GeForce 9800 gt playing on it.

6/4/2007 8:12:28 AM

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com

6/4/2007 9:00:54 AM

My sister told me that in order for me to play Warhammer efficiently, I'm going to have to buy a new computer...

Even though my computer is not even a year old...and the beta runs fine I don't even lag in games...

I think she's crazy...

6/4/2007 9:47:51 AM

hook me up with a beta invite or two for warhammar. I'll be your BFF AAF.

6/4/2007 10:08:22 AM

I don't have the keys for that... an open beta will be out this fall... Right now the only people with betas are family members, close friends, and employees...

The game isn't going to be out until Feb. 2008... They only have 2 realms made out of 6. The green skins and the dwarfs....

All I can tell you is that it's really f'ing awesome!!!!

6/10/2007 1:36:43 PM

I would very much like a game with better pve than wow, more immersion, better graphics, quests that aren't a complete waste of time, etc

6/10/2007 1:46:46 PM

Why not just do like Planetside and gain rank/xp through winning in PvP. Do away with quests altogether.

6/10/2007 1:51:35 PM

ive yet to see a mmo have quests that werent a waste of time. low level WOW did a pretty decent job making the lewt worthwhile but they were still just fetch quests (though the warlock epic mount was pretty epic in nature).

6/10/2007 2:00:35 PM

The quests in DAOC give you more weapon XP or new high lvl weapons...which made you a much better player...for rvr...

6/10/2007 2:22:17 PM

bttt

I wanted to bring the "best non-WoW MMO" thread back up, but it's too old

I was thinking of getting back into one of these things, but just not in the mood for WoW. What else is big now.

7/8/2007 3:11:30 PM

I guess your best bets are Lineage or Lineage 2.

7/8/2007 3:29:18 PM

WoW has better marketing...

7/8/2007 3:35:38 PM

And its a hundred times more polished then any of the other games.

If you want to get specific.

7/8/2007 4:30:14 PM

Played Fury beta.. it sucked.

I'm in the Age of Conan closed beta -- it's very promising.

I got offered to participate in Tabula Rosa F&F beta from a clan-mate that works for NC Soft, but declined since it was a PVE-centered game.

7/8/2007 4:59:17 PM

Tabula Rasa looks like it's going to be a solid sci-fi mmorpg. It's made by the same guys that did Ultima Online more than a decade ago, which people still pay to play. Could be the break from fantasy based games i've been looking for.

7/8/2007 11:02:40 PM