The FilePlanet 10-Day Free Trial began on May 1st through the 16th, and throughout that time, the client was downloaded 39,667 times with a total rating of 4/5 stars through 758 votes.
Throughout the free trial, there was tons of positive feedback from both completely new Redpills, to returning Redpills that wanted to try out the new combat system. While you can't please everyone, just taking a look on these forums, both in General and Redpill Rescue, you can clearly see the satisfaction that most new players are having, and how they will convert their account to paying subscribers after the trial is over. What's even more satisfying, is that a lot of these new Redpills are veterans to the MMORPG genre, many have experienced other big-title games like EQ, EQ2, SWG, WoW, etc. and saying how surprisingly good that MxO really is, and how it offers something different. The main reason they never thought of MxO was because 1. There was no trial but most importantly 2. They really didn't know about it.
If I was SOE, I would see this and act upon it. When you have long-time MMO players come in and say MxO is a great title, then you know you are doing something right, but in order for this game to truly get off and become massive is to expand upon one thing: content. The biggest gripe from new players is generally the lack of anything to do besides grind repetitive missions over and over, and of course we have the gripe of veteran players of nothing to do once you cap out at level 50. Now that CR2 is done (minus balancing issues), I think it's time to get some much needed content to this game. Content that would benefit new Redpills and veteran players who have been here since March of '05.
First, level 50 cap content. I think the easiest solution to more content for capped players is to expand on the one thing that makes being level 50 enjoyable: PvP. Some solutions to make PvP fun, exciting, and worth something:
1. Design a system to make CQ Points worth something. So many possibilities with this one. Could be managed for a ranking system that can be used both in-game and out of game. Example: design a list of the top CQ gatherers on each server every week, similar to what Agent Gray wanted in this thread, and post a list on DN1, adding in a message like "The following Redpills are extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all costs in combat" or something accomplishing along those lines. More ideas can be found in the Development Roundtable forum, like this idea from Inguss.
2. Territory Battles inside the Matrix. Each Org can take over or be taken over across multiple HQ's around the Megacity. For example: the Kalt Chemical building (the lobby scene) can be defined as a Machinist HQ, which would be guarded by level 50 guards. Devise a system where Zionite or Merovingian operatives can "take over" the building and hold it until Machinist operatives group up and take it back. If you played PlanetSide, then that's how I am sorta getting at.
3. Organizational incentives to joining, having a bigger bonus to joining for the "losing" Org to balance out the sides and to make things interesting.
Doing the above three things alone would provide a great amount of content for months for capped players, and give more incentive to PvP and reach level 50. The game shouldn't just stop becoming fun once you reach cap level, it should be the other way around, where the game just begins at level 50. This would all come in something like a "PvP Revamp 2.0"
Then of course, killing all the nasty balance issues and bugs:
Thanks for reading this!
Throughout the free trial, there was tons of positive feedback from both completely new Redpills, to returning Redpills that wanted to try out the new combat system. While you can't please everyone, just taking a look on these forums, both in General and Redpill Rescue, you can clearly see the satisfaction that most new players are having, and how they will convert their account to paying subscribers after the trial is over. What's even more satisfying, is that a lot of these new Redpills are veterans to the MMORPG genre, many have experienced other big-title games like EQ, EQ2, SWG, WoW, etc. and saying how surprisingly good that MxO really is, and how it offers something different. The main reason they never thought of MxO was because 1. There was no trial but most importantly 2. They really didn't know about it.
If I was SOE, I would see this and act upon it. When you have long-time MMO players come in and say MxO is a great title, then you know you are doing something right, but in order for this game to truly get off and become massive is to expand upon one thing: content. The biggest gripe from new players is generally the lack of anything to do besides grind repetitive missions over and over, and of course we have the gripe of veteran players of nothing to do once you cap out at level 50. Now that CR2 is done (minus balancing issues), I think it's time to get some much needed content to this game. Content that would benefit new Redpills and veteran players who have been here since March of '05.
First, level 50 cap content. I think the easiest solution to more content for capped players is to expand on the one thing that makes being level 50 enjoyable: PvP. Some solutions to make PvP fun, exciting, and worth something:
1. Design a system to make CQ Points worth something. So many possibilities with this one. Could be managed for a ranking system that can be used both in-game and out of game. Example: design a list of the top CQ gatherers on each server every week, similar to what Agent Gray wanted in this thread, and post a list on DN1, adding in a message like "The following Redpills are extremely dangerous and should be avoided at all costs in combat" or something accomplishing along those lines. More ideas can be found in the Development Roundtable forum, like this idea from Inguss.
2. Territory Battles inside the Matrix. Each Org can take over or be taken over across multiple HQ's around the Megacity. For example: the Kalt Chemical building (the lobby scene) can be defined as a Machinist HQ, which would be guarded by level 50 guards. Devise a system where Zionite or Merovingian operatives can "take over" the building and hold it until Machinist operatives group up and take it back. If you played PlanetSide, then that's how I am sorta getting at.
3. Organizational incentives to joining, having a bigger bonus to joining for the "losing" Org to balance out the sides and to make things interesting.
Doing the above three things alone would provide a great amount of content for months for capped players, and give more incentive to PvP and reach level 50. The game shouldn't just stop becoming fun once you reach cap level, it should be the other way around, where the game just begins at level 50. This would all come in something like a "PvP Revamp 2.0"
Then of course, killing all the nasty balance issues and bugs:
- Neuro-Dart
- Style Stacking
- Group Heals
- Animation and ability bugs (Sniper)
- PvE bugs (NPC's evading)
Thanks for reading this!
