As it is said "To each his own" and at the moment WoW is what I like. Just because 8 million people like WoW does not mean every other MMORPG is invalid and just because some people like UO or Everquest 2, or Guildwars does not mean WoW in invalid.
I think every MMORPG has a trial version and you should try them out and give each a chance until you find one you like and that your happy with and I will be happy for you.
Yes...every MMORPG has a trial version...except L2, it only has very very limited trials so only very few really new players come in.
Its kinda sad every time I get people excited about L2, they really want to try it out but I have to say "sorry, you can't, no trials available" :(
They really should develop some limited trial keys (like 15 day accounts that can't back until paid for and can't use shops) so real players can use them and not our automated friends.
Yes, L2 needs more trial accounts, but not the way they are doing them now.
Maybe make their names like a green color or something different. Make it so they dont lose exp, so they cant delvl. Make it so they cant be pk'd so they can actually do stuff without high lvl reds stopping them. Just add in various factors for people who want to try it, without it being exploited like it is now.
The different name color is a wonderful idea in my opinion. I dont know about not loosing exp or anything though, cause if they buy the game, and die and loose exp they'll be so confused and just want to quit, if they are going to play a trial for a game, i think they should have everything the game has to offer. Unlike in some games when you have trials, you cant party or you cant go to certain areas etc.
Why should they have everything the game has to offer? it simply leads to a ton of abuse, people starting trial accounts simply to farm money, then delete, rinse and repeat :(
I still think they should have full access to everything, just so they know how the game is really going to be, unfortunetely people would abuse it like you said, if only that werent the reality :/
Why should they have everything the game has to offer? it simply leads to a ton of abuse, people starting trial accounts simply to farm money, then delete, rinse and repeat :(
Just make it so they can't drop or trade any item or amount of adena. To help with equipment, incorporate special armor sets and weapons (like the adventurer's items from the C5 event).
As for PVP, enable trial accounts to attack other players in arena zones, but nowhere else. Limited, but at least they can move about the world.
I'm not sure if a "throw them to the wolves and watch them run" philosophy toward trial accounts would bring in many new players who would otherwise enjoy the game once they get used to how things work.
Just make it so they can't drop or trade any item or amount of adena. To help with equipment, incorporate special armor sets and weapons (like the adventurer's items from the C5 event).
You see, that's technically very hard. If you're going to try a marketing effort, you can't have coders do more work.
Make the trials full accounts, just filter who you give them to. By distribution they have a trace of from where the code comes from.
You want to promote people to try without trying to change the product.
True. I'd just like to see more people "stumble" upon the game like I did
I completely agree.
I would never have found the game at a fansite.
You would probably be pretty amazed at how many visitors we get daily. And many of those probably have the same thoughts about wanting to share the game with their friends, but have no trial for them to try.
Just make it so they can't drop or trade any item or amount of adena. To help with equipment, incorporate special armor sets and weapons (like the adventurer's items from the C5 event).
You see, that's technically very hard. If you're going to try a marketing effort, you can't have coders do more work.
Make the trials full accounts, just filter who you give them to. By distribution they have a trace of from where the code comes from.
You want to promote people to try without trying to change the product.
Also, you have people that don't understand that they are limited by a trial account.
You would probably be pretty amazed at how many visitors we get daily. And many of those probably have the same thoughts about wanting to share the game with their friends, but have no trial for them to try.
But if they're full accounts it would be quite hard to know what they're going to be used for, you might have given it out to a perfectly nice and seemingly legit listener, and he then turns around and uses them to make bot trains for some quick cash.
simply making a flag that makes them unable to trade away items or access player shops wouldn't be all that hard to code.
I think the problem is that Korea has little concept of "trial code", everyone already knows L2 there.
You would probably be pretty amazed at how many visitors we get daily.
I'm sure it's substantial. However, I still think that point of sale, rather than just niche markets are a glaring omission.
And many of those probably have the same thoughts about wanting to share the game with their friends, but have no trial for them to try.
That's wonderful. But still, if not for stumbling across a cheap copy of the game at a department store, I would've never heard about or even played L2. I don't know anyone in real-life that plays MMOs. Not one.
It's not mainstream enough for stores to want to give it valuable real estate space.
I've seen it on shelves recently. I rather like the idea of more trial keys for clan leaders, but yes, it's problematic to let in new players without opening the gates to a huge wave of automated friends.
Just make it so they can't drop or trade any item or amount of adena. To help with equipment, incorporate special armor sets and weapons (like the adventurer's items from the C5 event).
You see, that's technically very hard. If you're going to try a marketing effort, you can't have coders do more work.
Make the trials full accounts, just filter who you give them to. By distribution they have a trace of from where the code comes from.
You want to promote people to try without trying to change the product.
Have Fun ! ™
BoardPK
Board Devil/Radio Hacker
Well, you know Lineage 2 is a rough game, and new players are likely to leave before they find that one thing to keep them playing. The game has trouble with first impressions- word of mouth is fine, but the press is rarely kind. The coders should not be the marketeers, but I still think new players should have the option of dipping their toes into the pool before diving in.
I think l2 is rough on new players because the pvp lvl has moved along with the toons who have been playing since c1. To get to a viable lvl for pvp in l2 you have to be 70 plus and that is a long painful and boring grind. once there, it is alot of fun but not too many newbies will make it there. For some reason l2 is completely unknown in american stores. I find WOW, EQ2, and tons of other MMORPG with an old L2 game card on the shelf. The new set L2 put out I can find if i look but no advertising whatsoever. If l2 would do some magazine adds or ANYTHING AT ALL!!! maybe some people in North America will try it out and see how it is better than WOW for a pvp game. I mention L2 in the game store and they laugh. Play the advertising game, take out some magazine adds then they will start to do some write ups. L2 could do so much better in NA.
Could the trial period consist of just limiting new players to the starter towns, blocking them from using the gatekeepers or boat at TI. If they go beyond a certain point from the starter town they are ported back. They can try most of the aspects of the game there, including setting up shops, pvp (and pk as that's definately going to happen). There are mobs and quests there already. If NC add a few more mobs and maybe a couple of low level raid bosses new people can get to try almost everything. It limits the automated friends because they are unable to go beyond the starter towns and the drops wouldn't be worth the effort to stay there.
The map shows how much more there is to explore and having tried almost everything available I think this would keep new players playing. Once the trial is up and the account is converted to a normal account they can move from the starter town.
I know this is more complicated than I have described and it is only a suggestion :)
But these aren't spambots Dark - they're single farmers running one or two, maybe three trains at a time. A farmer has no problem making 27 email addies, or reading a code 27 times.
He need not bot the signup just because he bots the game.
Could the trial period consist of just limiting new players to the starter towns, blocking them from using the gatekeepers or boat at TI. If they go beyond a certain point from the starter town they are ported back. They can try most of the aspects of the game there, including setting up shops, pvp (and pk as that's definately going to happen). There are mobs and quests there already. If NC add a few more mobs and maybe a couple of low level raid bosses new people can get to try almost everything. It limits the automated friends because they are unable to go beyond the starter towns and the drops wouldn't be worth the effort to stay there.
ahm our soulless 'friends' already do that; all starter towns are infested by delvl'ing dwarfs (more or less; DEV is crowded w/ them, TI almost empy ....) and they hunt only in areas with mobs for a quests that gives adena as reward .... :eek:
That's wonderful. But still, if not for stumbling across a cheap copy of the game at a department store, I would've never heard about or even played L2. I don't know anyone in real-life that plays MMOs. Not one.
I completely agree with you that it should be on store shelves too, you don't need to argue your point when I totally agree with you.
I am simply saying that there's more to it than that, so we should have it out on both.
I've seen it on shelves recently. I rather like the idea of more trial keys for clan leaders, but yes, it's problematic to let in new players without opening the gates to a huge wave of automated friends.
While I was really happy to have a few trial keys (I ran out very quickly), a lot of those trial keys were abused to hell by just being used for cheap academy points or botting, not for actually getting new players.
Well, you know Lineage 2 is a rough game, and new players are likely to leave before they find that one thing to keep them playing. The game has trouble with first impressions- word of mouth is fine, but the press is rarely kind. The coders should not be the marketeers, but I still think new players should have the option of dipping their toes into the pool before diving in.
Yes, agree to some extent. I think the biggest problem is that we often don't have large quantities of newbies joining in, hence new players will feel lonely surrounded by weird sounding names.
Well, you know Lineage 2 is a rough game, and new players are likely to leave before they find that one thing to keep them playing. The game has trouble with first impressions- word of mouth is fine, but the press is rarely kind. The coders should not be the marketeers, but I still think new players should have the option of dipping their toes into the pool before diving in.
Yes, agree to some extent. I think the biggest problem is that we often don't have large quantities of newbies joining in, hence new players will feel lonely surrounded by weird sounding names.
I think somehow giving higher level players a reason to return to beginner towns would help . . . although I can much griefing from this. Some more protection for new characters besides guards?
Actually, the biggest stopper for helping new characters is the porting cost and time...taking your high level characters to go and help newbies is expensive and timeconsuming.