It’s even funnier that “massively” now means 4 or fewer.
Actually, it has merits - IF there is a Hub for hundreds to interact with each other, but missions are for 4 only - it's still "massive". DDO works in that format for years, so is GW1 (both MMO). Guess, the site assumed this is the case with Anthem. Or may be they counted ability to play not locally but internationally, that does sounds bigger than simple "co-op" (that EA calls "shared world", btw).
Just use the system from Phantasy star online on Gamecube. Honestly, perfection was right there back in 2000. Why fix it if it aint broken?
It had lobbies which filled with 100 people (you could choose which lobby to join). A bunch of lobbies was a ship (which were actually servers on different continents. again, you could choose which ship to join but obviously that affected your ping).
From the lobby counter you could fast-move to known friends, or see all the parties/quests that were currently in progress. You could password your party or restrict by level/difficulty.
After joining a party, quests were started up together with all present players, but more players could drop in/out during a quest in progress (you cast a telepipe so players could quickly join your location in the progression of the quest, only boss-fights were unjoinable afterwards).
Importantly: All story in the quests was not affected much by other players.
God I miss this game. So good back in the day. Lost 1000's of hours.
In any case, if anthem is like this, It's a guaranteed succes (for me, personally).
It’s even funnier that “massively” now means 4 or fewer.
Actually, it has merits - IF there is a Hub for hundreds to interact with each other, but missions are for 4 only - it's still "massive". DDO works in that format for years, so is GW1 (both MMO). Guess, the site assumed this is the case with Anthem. Or may be they counted ability to play not locally but internationally, that does sounds bigger than simple "co-op" (that EA calls "shared world", btw).
I'm gonna have to disagree. There's no merit to calling Anthem an MMO from what we know today. And there's also no basis for assuming massively multiplayer, even if it has a Hub like Destiny (which isn't really massive like WOW -- I don't think I've seen more than 30 players in the D1 hub), which again, we don't know from current information. We know it has a Hub, but we don't know that other players can be seen in it, AFAIK.
Inquisitor: Is that innuendo? Sera: No, it's at the front!
Actually, it has merits - IF there is a Hub for hundreds to interact with each other, but missions are for 4 only - it's still "massive". DDO works in that format for years, so is GW1 (both MMO). Guess, the site assumed this is the case with Anthem. Or may be they counted ability to play not locally but internationally, that does sounds bigger than simple "co-op" (that EA calls "shared world", btw).
I'm gonna have to disagree. There's no merit to calling Anthem an MMO from what we know today. And there's also no basis for assuming massively multiplayer, even if it has a Hub like Destiny (which isn't really massive like WOW -- I don't think I've seen more than 30 players in the D1 hub), which again, we don't know from current information. We know it has a Hub, but we don't know that other players can be seen in it, AFAIK.
Just to be fair: "I have not seen more than 30 players" and "it can not host more than 30 players" are different things. There are plenty of MMO (real MMO) these days with still alive severs were you can never come across of another player.
I totally agree - we know very little right now. However, everything is pointing to the similarity between Anthem and Destiny. And since Destiny is considered an MMO I assume that website simply made a preliminary conclusion and called Anthem MMO as well.
I'm gonna have to disagree. There's no merit to calling Anthem an MMO from what we know today. And there's also no basis for assuming massively multiplayer, even if it has a Hub like Destiny (which isn't really massive like WOW -- I don't think I've seen more than 30 players in the D1 hub), which again, we don't know from current information. We know it has a Hub, but we don't know that other players can be seen in it, AFAIK.
Just to be fair: "I have not seen more than 30 players" and "it can not host more than 30 players" are different things. There are plenty of MMO (real MMO) these days with still alive severs were you can never come across of another player.
True. My bad for being imprecise. What I'm trying to get at is that the terms MMO and massively multiplayer need to have specific meanings, or else any game with large numbers of concurrent active players is going to be considered an MMO. BF3, BF4 and BF1 are FPS MP games and can't be considered MMO's in any way, shape, or form, but could have 100k+ active players at their peaks (across all platforms).
Even if Anthem has a Hub where you can see some number of other active players, is that enough to qualify it as an MMO? I don't think so.
Inquisitor: Is that innuendo? Sera: No, it's at the front!
Just to be fair: "I have not seen more than 30 players" and "it can not host more than 30 players" are different things. There are plenty of MMO (real MMO) these days with still alive severs were you can never come across of another player.
True. My bad for being imprecise. What I'm trying to get at is that the terms MMO and massively multiplayer need to have specific meanings, or else any game with large numbers of concurrent active players is going to be considered an MMO. BF3, BF4 and BF1 are FPS MP games and can't be considered MMO's in any way, shape, or form, but could have 100k+ active players at their peaks (across all platforms).
Even if Anthem has a Hub where you can see some number of other active players, is that enough to qualify it as an MMO? I don't think so.
I'm afraid definition was never clear even at times of UO. I remember heated discussions about difference between Persistent Worlds in NeverWinterNights and "true" MMOs. These days we have MOBAs "open world" MMO and everything in between, that -again, these days - are called MMO. I would not dare to draw a line.
But that poll on MMO site underlined the point of Anthem to be among that type multiplayer games for the crowd.
GDC 2018 game Choice Awards awards nominees are in. Nominees, btw, are for games published in 2017. Anthem, of course is eligible in the 2019 GDC (assuming it's published in 2018).
Top Contenders are:
(1) Horizon: Zero Dawn and
(2) Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Wait! Where is EA? Hmm... I wonder why they only made it to the Honourable rolls..
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
So there was a recent hubbub apparently, something about EA suits writing something about using matchmaking to mis-match players according to skill in order to “enhance engagement”.
I’m not really sure what the issue supposedly is, but Brenon Holmes chimes in on Reddit:
I'm not sure where this is really coming from... we're not doing any of that though. 😕
Which lead to this exchange:
kuzelar
Hi Brenon, that good to know, its a shame all these video creators cant hear it from the source as we are. Unless someone create a post that will attract attention. Anyway, thank you for continuous communication with us grunts.
By the way i recently found that you were with Bioware since MDK 2 (great game by the way). I had no idea that Bioware vet is among us. I remember your name in MASS EFFECT credits and beyond but not before Oh well, it reassuring though
Holmes
Heh... that brings back memories... Noel (the lead designer on Anthem) and I had an office in a hallway back then... 😊. Preston actually pulled up our old staff gallery portraits and compared to ones we've had taken recently... the difference is pretty hillarious 😁.
EDIT: There's actually a whole bunch of us on Anthem from back then (Preston Watamaniuk, Noel Borstad, David Falkner, Mark Darrah, Drew Karpyshyn, James Ohlen, Don Moar... I'm probably missing some folks).
kuzelar
Ha, in this context is almost funny when you read all the comments on the internet like " old Bioware is dead, all good people left" In fact it looks like Anthem brought "old" bioware together more or less. James Ohlen was lead designer on SWTOR, and Mark Darrah Director of Dragon Age. Does he still work on DA?
Holmes
Mark is helping out all over the place 😊.
Also:
serrice_ice_brandy
Hey Brenon, I know it's a long shot and you're probably not at liberty to say, but are we going to get any info or another look at the game before spring/summer?
Holmes
*shakes magic eight ball* "Outlook good".
BioWare Brand Ambassador: 20% off of BioWare merch purchased at the BioWare Gear Store with this code: BWP61E0B (Expires 1/6/2024)
My Gaming Lore Channel (Mostly Dragon Age): See Here
Reminds me of very similar positive responses from Bio about ME:A. Trailer #2 may open up new stuff about Anthem and the public Beta date will tell us more. Until then, it's just words. Devs are prohibited from saying anything concrete.
🌸
Morpheus: "know what happened happened and that it could not have happened in any other way".
Devs are prohibited from saying anything concrete.
This is typically because things can change so aggressively during development that even if it was true one day it may not be true when a product is shipped - that leads to getting blasted with: "why did you cut X !!". Thus, you get very non-committal responses or none at all (which is more common).
All that said, if you have a good rapport with a dev and the environment isn't too scary (keeping in mind that dev interaction is optional) you might get some pretty heavy insinuation if you ask the right questions
Rachel @petitemortician There's a universal law that if you open Skype to ping a coworker, their status will switch to Away *just* before you start typing
Devs are prohibited from saying anything concrete.
This is typically because things can change so aggressively during development that even if it was true one day it may not be true when a product is shipped - that leads to getting blasted with: "why did you cut X !!". Thus, you get very non-committal responses or none at all (which is more common).
All that said, if you have a good rapport with a dev and the environment isn't too scary (keeping in mind that dev interaction is optional) you might get some pretty heavy insinuation if you ask the right questions
Yep, I remember some of the information from what would now be referred to as 'Crestwoodgate' in regards to Dragon Age Inquisition. Where 'behind closed doors' footage from Finland's DigiExpo (2013) leaked.
I recall some fan grumpiness about some so-called 'promised features' such as some destructible environments and timed missions (?) not making it past Alpha.
David Gaider was tweeting elsewhere today about an article addressing 'difficult environments' online for devs.
On a more positive note, I like the dev interactions over the more technical stuff (which usually flies under the radar of the gaming press, but enthusiasts appreciate). My favorite one was the discussion with Tiberius over MEA's 'Heat Sink' mods, buried somewhere on this forum.
Last Edit: Jan 10, 2018 21:33:36 GMT by SofaJockey
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3 decades of RPG gaming from green screen to 4K. Moderator posts mostly marked by 'Police' emoji. Other views shared are just personal ones. On UK time zone.
Jos @sjosz I'm really enjoying being on top of things at work right now at the start of this year. I go home able to leave work at work and it feels so good.
I've spent a long time mulling over things to do/problems to solve when I'm home from work, so that absence feels so freeing.
Jos @sjosz *moves part of a level to allow additional space to be added in* *notice several layers being set invisible* *revert changes and redo with layers visible* *move stuff again* *notice additional layers being set to invisible* *sigh*
Jos @sjosz *moves part of a level to allow additional space to be added in* *notice several layers being set invisible* *revert changes and redo with layers visible* *move stuff again* *notice additional layers being set to invisible* *sigh*
Devs are prohibited from saying anything concrete.
This is typically because things can change so aggressively during development that even if it was true one day it may not be true when a product is shipped - that leads to getting blasted with: "why did you cut X !!". Thus, you get very non-committal responses or none at all (which is more common).
All that said, if you have a good rapport with a dev and the environment isn't too scary (keeping in mind that dev interaction is optional) you might get some pretty heavy insinuation if you ask the right questions
Also, proper communication is an art (which many people lack, and in particular, Bioware as a whole). So I - as a company - would not like joe-with-the-hat to communicate about the do-or-die big game project coming up, thankyouverymuch.
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition