Matrix Online, anyone planning on playing Options

[Backgammon]

Anyone planning on getting the pre-order? Or maybe current beta testers want to talk about it? It looks cool, but I haven't been interested by online "rpgs" (like anyone roleplays) since High School. The "arms" race mentality just doesn't appeal to me. So I was wondering if anyone could talk about how the game plays, before I sink in 80$Can + whatever freakish sum they ask per month.

[Shadow]

I am pretty soured on online games at the moment. The last few havent been worth it.

Though I hear Worlds of Warcraft is prett good.

[Gyrox10]

from what ive heard, The Matrix Online's beta is in pretty bad shape.

I've been told most things dont work. cant say for sure if its true or not(my comp cant even run MO... so no dice there).

[Nikoli]

If the play on it is anywhere near as bad as play on the Matrix video game, you can forget it

[Erebus]

[Backgammon]

Err, yeah, High School was nay that long ago. I played UO a lot back in those days, and I have fond memories of that game. I tried playing Shadowbane and Lineage 2 (both beta), and I just couldn't find the interest in repetitive run to spawn spot, kill shit to level / gain phat loot, run back to town to re-supply, repeat.

Without breaking your NDA, does MO play like that?

[Erebus]

No.

I think most MMORPG developers are starting to learn that players want content, quests, and storyline. Not just whack a mole. It does them credit.

BTW, they keep pushing back the release date. I think its currently sometime in January now. I'd wait until it gets closer to release day, and things become a bit more solid with gameplay (which is generally when NDAs get lifted for these things) before deciding to spend money on it.

Edit: Me removing possible legal infringement bits.

[Backgammon]

Yeah, it's just that the thought entered my mind that if I pre-order, I get the special hyper jump ability (whatever that is), which would mean that if I don't like the game, I could sell it on e-bay and get extra money because of the added value.

Then I realised I'm not that crazy. Still, was curious. Good to hear it isn't so much hack-loot-repeat. Any word on monthly cost, btw?

[CountZero]

I am on the fence. I don't have my own computer at this time. As is, I'll wait until after the game comes out. That way I'll know what kind of time commitment it calls for. If it works for a casual player, like City of Heroes, then I may give it a try, otherwise I'll just get CoH.

[Stumps]

one of my friends is beta testing MO here.
He's loving it. He has plenty of laughs with the errors though.

-He showed up to a meeting with a contact only to find out that it's avatar was a pigeon.

-He opened a door on a rooftop that was supposed to lead to a starewell and found himself about to walk straight into nothing but empty space leading to the 1st floor of the multi-floored building.

-Not him, but another player beat an agent (who are/were level 500) by stunning them, running up to them, hitting them, running away, and repeating.
That bug caused some problems. It took him 30 minutes to do it, but still...they were fixing that the last time I heard.

Itactually looks really cool and sounds pretty interesting.
They have hackers, coders, and operatives.
Coders write the code that Hackers use to aid the Operatives in fighting the Agents and doing missions.

Agents are something that you RUN RUN RUN from.
No one is NEO or any of that. Everyone is a mundane Operative if in the matrix as such. (one of the biggests dumb things in Matrix console game was being "special")

Most people are Operatives, but that's a good thing so far it seems. It seems like they were planning on that when they were balancing the game.

Pretty slick idea.

[Tanka]

Well, seeing that review, it does indeed look better than it could have been.

I probably won't get it. I don't much like the idea of a group of people that are effectively invincible. I know that's the basis of the game at this point, that you should be doing things quickly, effectively, and before the Agents get there, but it just doesn't seem like a fun thing to people who aren't good at doing things fast and right the first time.

[kryton]

I've heard that Mike Pondsmith (Creator of RTalslorian Game's Cyberpunk) worked on the project as a design developer when he was with Microsoft. He seems to have had "mixed" feelings about his four years with Microsoft. I know he worked with MSoft's purchased FASA Interactive on Crimson Skies and debuted on a Discovery series on Video Game development. It would be interesting to email him and find out his "thoughts" on the Matrix game. Probably by contract he's not allowed to mention it though. Microsoft is all about non-disclosure agreements. I even had to sign one in another life working for Stream International supporting and working on MSN Beta 3.0.

[Stumps]

[Tanka]

Actually, I was referring to the Agents. Not the main characters. Main characters should only ever be options in single-player games. Not in MMOs.

[Stumps]

Well, they are the Agents.

Dunno though...I guess it could become a problem in some ways, but it seems to be actually acting like the story where the Agents are acting as a moveable fence that the players have to hurdle.

Although there was that one guy who did kill the agent after 30 minutes of fighting him.

[Tanka]

Which, as you said, was a bug.

However, I just don't like. Sure, they should be strong, and virtually unbeatable at first. However, play long enough (and not level 500 long enough) and you can at least stop them/hurt them a bit. If you can't even imagine flipping them off without getting killed, then what's the point of playing a combat-oriented character?

[mfb]

there are probably other entities besides agents to fight. norms, say, or the 'vampire' ex-agents. with the new peace treaty between AIs and humans, it's not like agents are going to be coming straight for every hacker who logs onto the matrix.

[Stumps]

Oh yeah, sorry about that.
Agents aren't the thing you fight. There's other stuff (not really sure what they're all called) to fight.

I'll get with the guy testing it when he gets back on the 1st and find out more on that.

[paul_HArkonen]

which leads to the question does this take place before or after the "peace treaty" between them?

[Tanka]

I was mainly referencing that you have to run from Agents.

While this is something I agree with for several dozen levels, it should be feasable at some point in the game, not "won't ever happen, nope, no way" as it seems to be now.

I don't have a problem with having other things to fight, but if you're a combat oriented character, you should be able to kill everything eventually.

I'm assuming it's d20-based, as most MMOs are. Considering epic level characters have a decent chance of killing a god, you'd think they could take an Agent.

[paul_HArkonen]

which is, you know, essentially the equivilent of a god.

[Tanka]

Exactly my point.

It shouldn't be easy, no, I'm definitely not saying that. But it shouldn't be impossible. It should be feasable, if barely. It would take a large group of higher level characters against one Agent. However, saying "Nope, never" is just basically saying "We're sore loser crybabies."

[Stumps]

Well, I'm sure a group of high level characters could actually kill an Agent.

But really...you appear to be getting frustrated at a game feature or function that is not only not fully in place, but that you don't appear to have played yet or seem to want to give it a chance.

Don't be so sure that this certain aspect of the game will suck so much that you miss out on potential fun that the game does hold.

[Tanka]

Actually, I'm not a huge fan of most MMOs. Mostly because the majority of MMO communities end up being filled with lamers, elitists and idiots. What's the point of joining a game where you'll never be accepted unless you type LIEK DIS?!?!?!?!!!11

[Backgammon]

I'd be disapointed if you could mob an Agent with 30 players, sitting there fighting for half an hour and then finally kill it, like a bunch of people did in EQ with a god. I mean, you'd think the agent would just disapear to somewhere else if he saw 30 guys running towards him. Or call for 30 other Agents to come help him. The OMG WE MUST FIGHT mentality is so dumb.