Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Online MMORPG Announced

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Old Republic also has BioWare, don't forget. It's not just the IP, it's also a very experienced and respected game designer studio.

My wife has zero interest in Star Wars (good job with those prequels there, Lucas!), but her love of Mass Effect and Dragon Age has her pre-ordering The Old Republic for us.

A developer with a reputation as good as BioWare's or Blizzard's is as good as a solid IP.

 

[airwalkrr]

I will probably try the F2P version and decide from there. But I have to say this is an interesting and ambitious move for Paizo. I wish them luck. Erik Mona, James Jacobs, and all the others have my undying love for all the great tools they have given me over the years, even if I still prefer to play 3.5 and just steal elements of Pathfinder that I like.

 

[Rogue Agent]

Judging by Paizo's description what they're trying to do is not really similar to WoW. Note that they're comparing it with a 'theme-park'.

WoW is a theme-parrk MMO.

 

[teh780]

An official Paizo virtual table top app would be grand. I realize that there are quite a few options out there already (d20Pro/HeroLab/etc.), but what I am looking for is this:

Fully supports all the books. All the module maps and encounters ready to play. 3D minis for all Bestiary monsters. Tablet support. It would greatly lessen the preparation time for a virtual GM. No messing about with sizing map grids/line of sight/fog of war areas. I would gladly shell out substantial money/month for this service.

This may be a better use of software development dollars than a sandbox MMO. Or maybe we could do both!

Just my opinion.

 

[Kaodi]

When it comes to name recognition, I think it might be the case that gamers are not the only important group to be recognized by. The familiarity of those who work as game journalists ( gourmalists? ) or whatever you call them is also important. That is how you get into daily round-ups and preview videos, and exposure in general. And those folks at GameSpot, IGN, and GameSpy are mostly huge geeks, and I imagine have a significant chance of being familiar with D&D and, in turn, Pathfinder.

 

[ruemere]

A few musings.

TIME LINE

MMORPG development cycle lasts at least about two years. Larger companies, like Blizzard or ArenaNet (too many MMORPGs to list here) can afford 4-5 years. Smaller companies, like Runic Games (guys behind Torchlight) had to get financing (bought off by PerfectWorld owners), and yet they still have problems with completing the game, satisfying themselves with Torchlight 2.

So, assuming that Ryan is successful, and assuming that the development has been ongoing for at least a year, we are looking at beta release in 2013 (with beta meaning "a lot of bugs, but playable").

THE SYSTEM

D20 won't work for standard MMORPG formula - you accrue experience too fast. Then your character is in 20th level end-game with nothing left to do.
Alternative system (Ultima Online), lots of levels (Lineage, MU Online) or incredibly challenging PvP and PvE with prestige rewards (Guild Wars) could work, provided they are designed by professionals, and tested to death by beta-testers.
There are also issues with special abilities, like spells, which may be impossible translate into computer RPG.

So, anything but d20.

THE BALANCE

It's a simple problem with complex solution: how do you keep the world with hundreds of superheroes running around?
Use MMORPG equivalent of E6, i.e. there is a low power ceiling, beyond which your characters grow in power horizontally (Guild Wars and incredibly well thought out skill system) instead of vertically.

Not really supported by d20.

THE CONTENT

Probably the most resource consuming part of MMORPG design. You need those hills, the architecture, monsters, scripts, weather, sounds... you need a lot of it.
The only game offering such things freely at professional level is World of Ryzom (they went open source, IIRC) with their very well developed world.
Otherwise, there are Korean companies -- yes, I am entirely serious here -- which produce a lot of derivative, yet stunningly well-looking games (Requiem: Bloodymare being a prime example). These relatively low budget products seem to be based on somewhat reusable assets (or possibly they just look overwhelmingly similar to each other), so maybe, just maybe something like that can be used to stage a game.

SPARK OF HOPE

Ryan is a miracle maker. He brought us D20. He has experience in the field. So, against all these misgivings, I'll be waiting [1].

See you in 2013.

Regards,
Ruemere

[1] Caveat: I already sold my soul to Guild Wars, so I will have to convince someone to pay in my stead

 

[SSquirrel]

Ultima Online says hello. City of Heroes/City of Villains also offers the ability to create playable missions.

SWG also had the ability to setup bounties for bounty hunters to pick up. Go take someone out for cash

My wife has zero interest in Star Wars (good job with those prequels there, Lucas!), but her love of Mass Effect and Dragon Age has her pre-ordering The Old Republic for us.

A developer with a reputation as good as BioWare's or Blizzard's is as good as a solid IP.

My wife said until there is a Mac client she isn't going to get SW:ToR. She still has a PC but we're both getting Mac laptops in the spring. I'm already on a Mac Mini, which will be going to our daughters. I didn't' even pay attention to if this is going to be PC only or both. My laptop may be dual booted, I haven't decided yet. I know my wife won't bother. All that said, I will be playing in the SW:ToR Beta this weekend on her PC


EDIT: Ahh just looked, here's the relevant bit of the FAQ. It at least has them planning to support both eventually, which is better than nothing.

"What platforms are the game being developed for?

The game engine we intend to use is currently PC only. A Mac OS X version of the engine is in development, but we can't guarantee that it will be ready for the launch of Pathfinder Online."

 

[Ahnehnois]

Is it good for PF to make a venture into computer games? Sure. Is this the way?

I suppose MMOs are a big thing, but I think there's still a market for a traditional cRPG. Which would you rather compete with, Dragon Age or WoW? As others have noted, this is a rough business.

Reading the initial brief, it seems like they have made a very fundamental mistake: not using the rules. PF is a set of rules, not a setting, not a story. The NWN games had middling to disastrous plots, characters, and technical aspects but they did do a good job in general of converting the rules. Conversely, Golarion has carried this company remarkably far, but banking on setting and story rather than rules is a rather large gamble (not because setting and story are bad but because this particular setting and story is not what the rpg as a whole is about).

There are some good people on this and I hope the company continues to do well, but nothing I see here attracts me to PF Online or PF as a whole. If anything, it pushes me farther away.

 

[Ettin]

Plus, Blizzard won't let Goblinworks use their engine and tweak the graphics.

Snap!

 

[Griego]

Yeah, too bad about the rules, but on the other hand the skill-based system does sound interesting. I just hope they release a polished, basically complete game. There are lots of MMOs out there for people to play, so you can no longer shove a game out the door before it's ready, with promises to fix and update later. It's the kiss of death. Just look at Final Fantasy XIV for a good example of this.