I don't know if steam is a good indicator or not, because all that shows is that they aren't playing STO or CO via Steam....which I couldn't blame them as it tends to be buggy. I'm not going to guess how many people play STO I would imagine it's significantly more than a 100k though.
From my experience playing both of those games since beta there doesn't seem to be a lack of players and the cash shops seem to be hopping, if the situation is similar in Neverwinter the core demographic may end up taking a back seat, after all the core demographic is for the most part a very picky group.
Personally I think cryptic will market to a broader demographic, they do a lot I think to keep STO very Trek focused though some hard core Trekkies disagree with me, I think at the end of the day the situation will be similar for this game.
Yeah STO's open space is always crammed full of player nearly every sector I go to and the capital social areas are packed too. Couple that with the fact that they still sell lifetime subs (you don't continually offer something for sale that no one buys) they have a healthy population. I don't think they ever set out to hold 1 mil + subscribers nor do I think they need more than 100K to make a tidy profit. I imagine the same is actually true for NW.
Speaking as a Trekkie (Hell I have a Klingon tattoo) I think STO is actually very much Trek like. It is a game and it never tries to make you think it isn't a game, but it really does capture much of the Trek feel from all the series and the Movies, now if you only liked one series you might hate STO because it isn't trying to be TOS or TNG, it is trying to be Trek. I say all of this even as someone who was horribly disappointed with the way things went with the Klingon faction.
I have no doubt that they will capture the DnD feel, but I don't think they will capture every aspect of it for every person. I don't think they will try to recreate the pnp feel, no MMO has ever succeeded at doing that. Cryptic makes "fun" and accessible games. We all define fun differently, but I don't see them suddenly and drastically changing their ideas of fun with NW. I could be wrong, but I've been through three games with Cryptic if you count CoH and there is a common theme that runs through all of them.
Sounds like you truly wanted this game to be an rpg or coop. Nothing wrong with that, I loved almost all the official D&D RPGs. I agree Cryptic needs to draw in those who prefer soloable content as well. But, should they unbalance the game in order to accomplish this (making the game turn-key easy?) Heck no, they should have kept it a coop game if the goal was to provide mostly solo/duo play.
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No, not all...I just have a different definition of what a MMO is than you do is all. I was okay with it being a co-op RPG I'm okay with it being a MMO. I don't think whatever they do the game is going to be turnkey easy, but that is all perspective anyway I have played content I thought was easy that others thought was grueling and vice versa.
I do agree though about the multiple difficulties STO has a difficulty slider and I think it works quite well for all concerned.
Yeah STO's open space is always crammed full of player nearly every sector I go to and the capital social areas are packed too. Couple that with the fact that they still sell lifetime subs (you don't continually offer something for sale that no one buys) they have a healthy population. I don't think they ever set out to hold 1 mil + subscribers nor do I think they need more than 100K to make a tidy profit. I imagine the same is actually true for NW.
Yeah I was on last night (frigging Monday night) and it was jammed packed, CO is the same way, both games have a very healthy population and a lot of community support and I see Neverwinter gaining that too, the Neverwinter Nights podcast is really jazzed about the title and reports on it regularly and actually plans to make the game a more main stream topic in future casts....that is huge considering how well respected those guys are.
Speaking as a Trekkie (Hell I have a Klingon tattoo) I think STO is actually very much Trek like. It is a game and it never tries to make you think it isn't a game, but it really does capture much of the Trek feel from all the series and the Movies, now if you only liked one series you might hate STO because it isn't trying to be TOS or TNG, it is trying to be Trek. I say all of this even as someone who was horribly disappointed with the way things went with the Klingon faction.
Oh for sure, I especially like the episodes the Romulan ones had such a Trek feel to them, and yeah I was just devastated over the whole Klingon thing...but they are slowly gaining ground.
I have no doubt that they will capture the DnD feel, but I don't think they will capture every aspect of it for every person. I don't think they will try to recreate the pnp feel, no MMO has ever succeeded at doing that. Cryptic makes "fun" and accessible games. We all define fun differently, but I don't see them suddenly and drastically changing their ideas of fun with NW. I could be wrong, but I've been through three games with Cryptic if you count CoH and there is a common theme that runs through all of them.
The hands on time I had with it I can honestly say I think they have, and Andy Velasquez really lays that out in this Podcast by the awesome guys at NWN Podcast, and honestly when you hear his vision of accessibility and you hear how pumped hardcore dedicated Nevewinter fans are...that gives me confidence in what Cryptics doing.
I understand that this game may be a let down for folks who have a specific vision of how the game should be, but I think Cryptic is looking at this from a larger demographic and are trying to make a fun game for everyone.
Comments
Yeah STO's open space is always crammed full of player nearly every sector I go to and the capital social areas are packed too. Couple that with the fact that they still sell lifetime subs (you don't continually offer something for sale that no one buys) they have a healthy population. I don't think they ever set out to hold 1 mil + subscribers nor do I think they need more than 100K to make a tidy profit. I imagine the same is actually true for NW.
Speaking as a Trekkie (Hell I have a Klingon tattoo) I think STO is actually very much Trek like. It is a game and it never tries to make you think it isn't a game, but it really does capture much of the Trek feel from all the series and the Movies, now if you only liked one series you might hate STO because it isn't trying to be TOS or TNG, it is trying to be Trek. I say all of this even as someone who was horribly disappointed with the way things went with the Klingon faction.
I have no doubt that they will capture the DnD feel, but I don't think they will capture every aspect of it for every person. I don't think they will try to recreate the pnp feel, no MMO has ever succeeded at doing that. Cryptic makes "fun" and accessible games. We all define fun differently, but I don't see them suddenly and drastically changing their ideas of fun with NW. I could be wrong, but I've been through three games with Cryptic if you count CoH and there is a common theme that runs through all of them.
No, not all...I just have a different definition of what a MMO is than you do is all. I was okay with it being a co-op RPG I'm okay with it being a MMO. I don't think whatever they do the game is going to be turnkey easy, but that is all perspective anyway I have played content I thought was easy that others thought was grueling and vice versa.
I do agree though about the multiple difficulties STO has a difficulty slider and I think it works quite well for all concerned.
Yeah I was on last night (frigging Monday night) and it was jammed packed, CO is the same way, both games have a very healthy population and a lot of community support and I see Neverwinter gaining that too, the Neverwinter Nights podcast is really jazzed about the title and reports on it regularly and actually plans to make the game a more main stream topic in future casts....that is huge considering how well respected those guys are.
Oh for sure, I especially like the episodes the Romulan ones had such a Trek feel to them, and yeah I was just devastated over the whole Klingon thing...but they are slowly gaining ground.
The hands on time I had with it I can honestly say I think they have, and Andy Velasquez really lays that out in this Podcast by the awesome guys at NWN Podcast, and honestly when you hear his vision of accessibility and you hear how pumped hardcore dedicated Nevewinter fans are...that gives me confidence in what Cryptics doing.
I understand that this game may be a let down for folks who have a specific vision of how the game should be, but I think Cryptic is looking at this from a larger demographic and are trying to make a fun game for everyone.
/shrug.