Well I`m here coz I was actually gonna start a thread for this but seeing as theres already one here I`ll just use it,, I make no concessions for what I`m about to say these are my true thoughts regarding mxo and sony in there current state. I`m not here to try and get banned or get the staff`s backs up either, these are how I see things have developed over the course of time.
SOE took over and literally stopped all storyline development in the game until they were able to revamp the combat system. Was it worth it? Yes there were flaws with the old system, but there have been plenty of flaws with the new one as well. I can't honestly say that the 3+ months it took to recode an existing game structure, test it, then release it was worth the hassle. They stopped the lifeblood of the game, and since it has never quite gotten back on track properly. They have yet to prove that they can pull off the server-wide events like 'Lith was able to do with The Race for The One, while Rarebit (bless his heart) has tried to bring back some of the small, low key meetings, people of all factions and orgs have emailing/im lists so huge now, that a small meeting with one faction turns into a server wide *CENSORED* fest/who can "/pvp" the fastest and kill the opposing org members.
'Lith had a vision for where this game was headed. They had storyline segments planned out for over a year. They had new skill trees and city areas planned, they had an adequte LET team to handle the demands of both large and small Live Events. SOE simply wanted another name to add to the station pass. I can't count the times that people see my xfire sig and say "Man, MxO is still around?!? I heard that SOE cancelled it because it was costing them more money to run than it was worth." Sadly, I think that this is becoming the evident truth.
The 14-day trial was nice because it brought people back/into the game to see what it was about, but the simple fact that the game offers nothing more than non-existent storyline RP and mission grinding drove them away even faster than they came in the first place. Until SOE is willing to fully stock a team and money into this game, we will be playing a shell of a game with extreme potential. MxO promised to be one of the very first MMOs in history to have a fully immersive storyline that was in direct corelation with the movie franchise, and it has failed to deliver under Soe.
At this point I think that SOE is scrambling to give the people still trying to rough it out what they want, which is total chaotic war. I don't like either the Mechs or Zion, but in all honesty, there never should have been a Mero organization in this game, same as there shouldn't be Cyphs or EPN. They are all pointless organizations that have nothing to add to the storyline, and at the end of the day, we are seeing how that affects us first hand. People are leaving the Mero camp in droves in preperation for where the storyline is actually (or should I say hopefully?) headed. Need further proof, look at the newest set of crits in the game... Who cares what lesbian trampy exile is sleeping with another trampy lesbian exile? They are struggling to give the Mero camp a purpose at this point, and it's failing miserably.
Mxo if you dont actually use the station pass (like me) is actually one of the highest priced mmo`s out there and what do we get for it? Lack of staff, Lack of funding and nothing to do, I`m paying 15 quid a month to log in and stand around bored for 8 hours a day. The recent no updates/events over the xmas period has literally been the icing on the cake for me,, I came on in the first day of it done my xmas mishes and got all the items within an hour, I havent logged in since.
Recently I`ve been closed beta testing 9 Dragons, now I`m using this as an example but 9D once its fully OB (in pre-OB at mo) is going to be a free game with free subscription. Which acclaim fully intend to add 20 to 40 quests per month as well as live events to cover the storylines of the clans within the game leading up to where ever its going. I have to say it puts Soe and Mxo to utter shame in the content stakes, even in CB it makes mxo look like the unfinished project it is. What I`m getting at here is not an advert for 9D,, far from it,, what I`m saying is with such releases for 2007 coming up with names such as Lotro, stargate online, star trek online, pirates of the caribbean online, vanguard, 9D, 2 Moons and even Underworld online, the very names leave mxo players in doubt of where there game is going, I myself and a good few other mxo players I am good friends with are getting first hand looks/play testing at these games and Soe really need to pull somthing out of there butt and they need to do it yesterday........
With the sad state of funding/staffing from soe this looks like its not gonna happen in mxo anytime soon and the remaining playerbase is just gonna dwindle away until literally no one is left,, take a look at all those hardlines you have,, how many of them are populated? mara c, tabor w and camon c, how many times do you bump into even just one person in districts outside of richland? you can see it everywhere that theres a lack of players ingame also.
my last point is with the ccr`s, personally I feel you guys are not doing your jobs, we see all these people on Syntax (dare say it happens on the other servers tho not as much) point blank going out of there way to ruin events, smacktalk even the devs playing the movie chars along with smacktalking players and generally abusing every rule set in the t & c`s for this game and you guys sit back and do nothing. There were a few well known uk mags who recently re-tested mxo on request of a player who re-reviewed it himself in the blind hope of attracting new players and off his/her own back giving some free advertising for you Soe and the magazines after testing basically all came to the same conclusion:- lush gfx, massive detailed world, excellent potential for storyline/rp if funded/staffed properly but let down by the community of players who will either help you or abuse you. (the main let down obviously the abusers)
With all being said I`m not going to apologise to any of the Soe staff if they feel I`ve offended them with what I`ve said, I`m just one of many that are trying to make you realise you are sitting on a goldmine with mxo if only you would get your finger out and fund/staff it properly to let it take off in the way it did when `lith was running the show. Obviously by my post i guess people can probably tell I`m getting pretty much fed up paying for this worthless empty piece of crap you call an mmo at the moment.
