So it begins

[Tdawgs]

There's something on the mortal online site before you enter: http://www.mortalonline.com/

People have been speculating on what it could mean (http://www.mortalonline.com/forums/53685-new-enter-site-screen.html), most coming to the conclusion that it's a countdown to the epic patch. Each candle is different and represents something else, and every time one is lit means it's another day closer to the big unveiling.

This theory is more supported by yesterdays recent chat from Henrik (excuse his spelling, he's Swedish) http://www.mortalarena.com/irclog.php.

Looks to be exciting, considering all of the updates to come from it.

I'm not "falling" for any hype either, they've stayed true to their word and are very vocal to the community.

I know Keen is against "bad" games releasing too early, but they had no choice. Most are very  glad to have bought the game and to support it with their subscription. They know this is one of the only games around, and so do I. Trust me when I say this, it's almost nothing like Darkfall.

Soon enough they will finally be able to market and start advertising, increasing the populating. (Because of that, he said they might also have to release the new continent they've been working on somewhat early.)

We all know the game has its serious problems, but with time things will get better. None of us feel at all distanced from the developers, for that we know they're working hard.

[Bartlebe]

I've always liked their ideas but yeah, it was definitely released way before its time. Lets hope they can start putting out the goods and stop floundering in obscurity.

It'd be cool to see a game like Mortal take off.

[Keen]

Awesome ideas behind the game for sure. I just can't stand playing a game that isn't anywhere near finished. 

[Tdawgs]

I've always liked their ideas but yeah, it was definitely released way before its time. Lets hope they can start putting out the goods and stop floundering in obscurity.

It'd be cool to see a game like Mortal take off.

Absolutely. That's why their fan base is sticking around, to eventually see it flourish.

Awesome ideas behind the game for sure. I just can't stand playing a game that isn't anywhere near finished.

I agree, at the moment this game isn't ready for the general public. That's not to be said you can't have some fun pvp and exploration, but they'll just end up getting reviews like this: http://www.massively.com/2010/09/02/anti-aliased-i-can-finally-stop-playing-mortal-online-now-pt-3/ until things are fixed.

Now there is a lot of truth to that article. Yes that person could have put more effort into liking the game, but the point is it lead to people reading in between the lines to say disconcerting things such as:

Seriously, when the freakin' developer comes out of the woodwork and says that the game will not have polish, user friendliness or, implied, tapped potential, then you need to turn around and run the hell away.

This is the worst kind of garbage from a company in the age of MMOs. This isn't an honest attempt at making a good game. This is an attempt to screw all of the people over who would be ignorant of the fact that the game is a complete pile of crap. There is no love or affection for this title...it's something to try and make them a few bucks out of a fan base who honestly, truly, wants to see something good and innovative come down the line.

This really is an incredible insult to all of the people who they managed to keep the attention of. $40 and then a subscription that would make games like King's Quest: Mask of Eternity and similar busted titles look like the best things in the world. And you only have to pay for those once, at least.

I truly, truly hope these guys go under. Better companies with better products have fallen. These guys? They really are undeserving of the fans they've lured in.

When in reality the developers and general fan base doesn't want anyone "reviewing" the game yet. The early bad press will make them look bad and forever scorch "Do not play!" on their game for some people.

[Bartlebe]

They really should have been more forthcoming with the explanations upon release. People are so upset because they switched over into hype/marketing mode and tried to say the game would be feature complete upon release.

Sell as many boxes as they can to try to make some money back.

They should of come right out and said "Guys, we're opening the game to purchases and launching it live but at this point, its still rough."

Currently, everyone they had lured in promptly turned tale and left being tricked at launch.

[beleg]

they'll just end up getting reviews like this: [url]http://www.massively.com/2010/09/02/anti-aliased-i-can-finally-stop-playing-mortal-online-now-pt-3/[/url] until things are fixed.

I think the part that rings true for me is:

But Sera, you ask, why are you being so harsh on this game? I'm being harsh on this game because Star Vault feels it's acceptable to charge $40.50 (31.95 in Euros) for this buggy, glitchy, unfinished monstrosity. Above that, they also charge $14.50 (11.40 in Euros) per month to keep playing. You're literally paying to purchase the alpha version of a game. (Game-breaking bugs occur quite frequently, including one right now where buying multiple items, excluding arrows, from a merchant will take the correct amount of money, but only give you one item in return, effectively robbing you of money. Or the one week where the archery animation was completely broken. Or the duplication bug that allowed you to drop an item onto any stack of 999 different items, glitching the server to think you had a stack of 999 of the former item, like gold coins.)

That's outright robbery, especially when you pair it against Darkfall, which offers a more feature-complete experience for $30, or EVE Online, which offers an extremely feature-complete experience for $20 (or $5 if you can catch it on sale.)

I really have no problem with games being "in development" -- I think most MMOs are in a state of flux, even down to the basic mechanics. I didn't really even have a big deal with the actual paid beta of MO (as opposed to the thinly-veiled paid beta of DF ) -- I just opted out of it. It's just when you are selling the game, the "core elements" of the game have to "work" -- ie world textures, character creation, accidental levitation (!?), etc. Minor bugs, glitches, downtime, etc. are excusable (expected, even), but they've kinda gone too far that direction for me to consider purchasing. At this point, I'd need a free trial to think about jumping in.

[Eternity]

They just shouldn't release it before its ready, because It only hurts them in the long run.... sure they may finish it, but many people like me don't like going back to games after we know how much the game sucked at launch.

[Skryre]

They just shouldn't release it before its ready, because It only hurts them in the long run.... sure they may finish it, but many people like me don't like going back to games after we know how much the game sucked at launch.

I'm almost 100% sure they ran out of money, and they admitted that when they released it.  I know I got an e-mail because I was a beta tester that basically said "hey guys, you all know the games far from done, but we are out of money, so we are going to go ahead and release and pray that people are willing to help support our project"

It would seem that people were willing to support them, because they are making progress.

~Skryre

[Tdawgs]

They just shouldn't release it before its ready, because It only hurts them in the long run.... sure they may finish it, but many people like me don't like going back to games after we know how much the game sucked at launch.

I'm almost 100% sure they ran out of money, and they admitted that when they released it.  I know I got an e-mail because I was a beta tester that basically said "hey guys, you all know the games far from done, but we are out of money, so we are going to go ahead and release and pray that people are willing to help support our project"

It would seem that people were willing to support them, because they are making progress.

~Skryre

I suppose mentioning this would have been a good idea.