Mythic Va SOE - round one + 2 - its a long article :P

[Xest]

Mythic allow trading of accounts because it's relatively simple & painless for them.

Mythic don't allow trading of other items, but when have they ever put their money where their mouth is and actively done something to stop it?

I don't disagree with Mythic's position as such, but I don't think they are the ones in a position to say anything.

Personally I have never, and would never buy anything in game for real life cash (other than the game itself), but if SOE want to offer the service on specific servers then i don't have a problem with it, afterall it means that people on my server would be less likely to be actively trading.

That's not entirely true - I've been aware of a couple of cases where Mythic have taken action on accounts that have been selling cash by simply setting up "sting" operations. The result being taking a good few hundred plat out the game that was farmed purely with the aim of selling on ebay, although they can't be expected to try and prevent every auction they do certainly take action on the big players - it doesn't stop cash farming for selling on ebay entirely, but it most certainly does take a dent out those companies profits when they lose 100s of man hours farming to a hit from Mythic. The times I've looked through ebay to see what's around I've always seen different companies touting cash so can only assume the reason the market for selling DAoC cash is ever changing IS in fact because Mythic keep taking them down.

[Hatsepsut]

Hey, at least it gives all the no-lifer, 24/7 "hardcore" gamers of this world a sanctioned way to make a living.

[Xest]

If they hadn't ignored the problem until a competitor came along and did something they are jealous of I might agree ...

I very much doubt Mythic are jealous, you have to remember Sony purchased the EQ franchise with a lot of cash, MMOGs Sony owned from day 1 such as Planetside and SWG haven't made as much cash for Sony as DAoC has for Mythic. Mythic despite being a smaller company with much less assetts has produced an MMOG which, in the grand scheme of things has done insanely well when compared to the bigger players such as Sony.

Looking at previous interviews, Mythic seems well aware of how well they've done with so little also - they have as much right to comment as Sony, if not more so because for Mythic to get where they are, they had to have done something right in the MMOG market, whereas Sony have simply bought their way into their position.

[Ovi]

but thats just you being anoyed on it, they still do have something to say since its their game

/Ankh

I am not annoyed at all, I just think that the reaction from Mythic is over the top considering their little efforts to address the issue previously.

The point was only aimed at this one area, where i haven't seen much evidence of Mythic (or goa for that matter) doing anything other than pretending the problem doesn't exists, and hoping it will go away.

I don't disagree that Mythic have done a good job with DAoC as a small company. Now they need to adjust to a changing market, same as any small company doing well in a relatively new market. That, as they say, is a different discussion

[Xest]

The point was only aimed at this one area, where i haven't seen much evidence of Mythic (or goa for that matter) doing anything other than pretending the problem doesn't exists, and hoping it will go away.

As I say, Mythic most certainly do take action against the big players, although I have a feeling they do likely let the smaller trades slip, after all some lone player trading 2 plat for real life cash isn't exactly going to hurt the economy. They do at least deal with the bigger players when they can though who sell hundreds of plats a day (Although I've never understood how these people can make that kind of cash to keep up to the demand in the first place).

[Shi]

(Although I've never understood how these people can make that kind of cash to keep up to the demand in the first place).

That's also another good point
I always wondered if the Dev company themselves weren't behind this 'virtual' cash
I mean here, what prevents company X to create few accounts and sell cash to generate additional revenues?
Of course it's pure speculation, but what makes it 100% sure none of companies running mmorpg do it?
It's pretty naïve to have a gold mine and not exploit it no?
None of you guys never came to that conclusion?
It's conspiracy theory, but well, you know...
Besides, there are quite few games that offer additional features ingame for real-cash, Project Entropia, Knight Online and 1-2 more I cant recall now names.
So SOE isnt the 1st here, they 1st from the BIG ones for sure (or 2nd, as you said Xest UO did that b4 already)

[Sturgis Podmore]

Now if THIS idea would ever get real I would instantly quit the game.
They have already increased the speed to reach level 50 so no way I'd stay if they'd make it even faster by giving you the chance to buy stuff for real money. Whats next, buy realm ranks cos you don't have enough RL time to do the RvR?

/Ankh

I am surprised you'd quit the game - why react this way? The idea wouldn't hinder you or affect anyone else negatively at all - it is about helping people in my position.

Or would you rather that people like me should have to wait 6 months or more to get the items and MLs they need so their characters are viavble in RVR? A pretty selfish attitude IMHO.

I have two Lvl 50s on Excal and neither are above ML3 because my job just prevents me from attending raids. Neither have a full ToA template either for the exact same reasons. So following your logic, I should struggle on for another 6 months until I finally have the MLs done and artifacts just so I can RVR?

I really don't see what your problem is TBH?!

[Luz]

Or would you rather that people like me should have to wait 6 months or more to get the items and MLs they need so their characters are viavble in RVR? A pretty selfish attitude IMHO.

I have two Lvl 50s on Excal and neither are above ML3 because my job just prevents me from attending raids. Neither have a full ToA template either for the exact same reasons. So following your logic, I should struggle on for another 6 months until I finally have the MLs done and artifacts just so I can RVR?

I really don't see what your problem is TBH?!

I feel you.. :bunny:
this game can make you grow gray hair . . . .

[Ankh Morpork]

I am surprised you'd quit the game - why react this way? The idea wouldn't hinder you or affect anyone else negatively at all - it is about helping people in my position.

Or would you rather that people like me should have to wait 6 months or more to get the items and MLs they need so their characters are viavble in RVR? A pretty selfish attitude IMHO.

I have two Lvl 50s on Excal and neither are above ML3 because my job just prevents me from attending raids. Neither have a full ToA template either for the exact same reasons. So following your logic, I should struggle on for another 6 months until I finally have the MLs done and artifacts just so I can RVR?

I really don't see what your problem is TBH?!

I would quit cos I play daoc to enter a world of fantasy...where NO real money matters.
I'm not selfish at all mate, I dont know where the hell you got that from. But if you want the game to turn into a game where real life affects it more than game time Im sure you would do better to stick to real life mate. I do get your point but I didnt spend this long time in daoc just to see people who unlike me can afford to buy their way to power. Nobody force you to do MLs or Artis before you go RvR. And no, you dont auto loose just cos you dont have any MLs or Artis..you just have to adjust your way of playing.

Edit: Oh btw, I just read your post and noticed the part about spending another 6 month just to get ready for rvr. Dunno if you have understand this part yet, but daoc is NOT all about RvR.

Edit2: I've always thought the point of a mmorpg is that it should take time to get good, it should take time to exp or to reach highest level.. but I could ofc be wrong.

/Ankh

[Xest]

I do agree that real life money entering the gaming arena to offer advantages is certainly a very bad thing, and I'm someone who has plenty of disposable income to spend on such things if I wished.

Of course, the problem has always existed in some form - even in FPS games, the power of your PC, the speed of your connection has always offered advantages such that those who were generally better of had the advantage of faster connections, faster hardware but that is becoming less of an issue nowadays such that broadband is much more prominent and dialup users are a minority which is a good thing for the industry. It would be a real shame to now see this equalizing of the playing field dented by the likes of Sony offering advantages for real life cash forcing other companies into doing it so that they can compete with their products on an equal level to Sony. It IS irresponsible of Sony to be doing this, but then Sony is not a games company - they're in the business of profits and simply using games companies as cash cows milking the games for every profiteering idea they can. Taking it further it's simply part of an even bigger problem however, the fading of smaller companies such that large publishers are hijacking everything - right now Electronic Arts owns a massive proportion of the game developers out there and in the process of EA's aquisition of everything they could find the industry has gone somewhat more stale - now how there isn't as many good games out there as there used to be?

Big companies out to milk the industry for all the cash they can are destroying innovation in the games industry and this issue is just another example of that. This is why I can't help but applaud Mythic, as one of the few smaller companies who are still making it ok for fighting back this time and defending the innovation that is actually left in the industry. For all the nerfs Mythic have given your characters and all the bad game decisions you feel they've made, one thing they cannot be faulted for is what they've acheived in the industry and the fact that even now, success hasn't corrupted their understanding of what makes games and the industry great, even when it means losing potential revenue.