The poll speaks for its self,its pretty damn clear what people want before they will return.


I know,someone is gonna say,45 votes means nothing,well have ea send out a vote to every email the have and watch that 45 turn into 45000...

 

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Agreed.

 

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Semi4's basic concept is correct; the key question - as Semi4 says - is how many paying subscribers could a revamped DAoC hold.

Some specifics first: the biggest component by far in reworking DAoC is the salary bill. (This is the bit that sunk WAR).

Assuming development is done in Fairfax, Virginia then you can use the $100k per year or $10k a month (yes I know 12x10 = 120) wage bill approach. And that is based on the average salary for programmer types in Fairfax + taxes, 401k (pension), medical, dental (national insurance) etc. Less for juniors, more for seniors etc. (And I know that Bobdole believed developers were paid less than folks who work at Trader Joe's but I prefer to go with the published average values).

So the big question is how long to redo DAoC.

A year? With ... 100 people? $10M. Then run a 6 month open beta say: another $5M + $1M for servers. the beta would replace advertising. And then another 6 months for support?

It depends what Semi4 is thinking off - presumably just rework DAoC. Upgrade the graphics. Get rid of the bugs. Maybe simplify it. Fewer classes? Make the design multi-language for sure. Decide which bits to keep, which bits to scrap. No new stuff. (This last feature probably puts it beyond Mythic's capability based on what they came up with for an Origin's server!)

The big questions: would it attract a high enough paying population to repay the investment?
An average of ..... 200k for a year paying .... $10 a month? would give you $24M.
Probably just cover things when you start factoring corporate taxes etc.

200k though ... I think you would be looking more at 100k however.
$10 a month may sound low but when you look at what the multi-month cost of DAoC today, Rift etc. are it may actually be high. Maybe you offer two options: $10 maybe which guarantees you will be able to log onto a server or super cheap but expect to queue. Tricky that people will forget the supercheap and just complain about not being able to log on.

As Semi4 suggests I think you would end up giving the game away by digital download only. (I think you would struggle to get $12M back from box sales even if you shifted 800k if you assume 20% of box cost). Digital only. $10 that includes the first month say.

The rise of F2P will mae it very difficult to assume an average of even 100k paying subscribers for even 1 year, let alone 2 years.

And as soon as your projected numbers start to go lower than that the question will be: but we have 30k or 50k or whatever paying for DAoC1. And that will lead to the question from EA Bioware: if it is making a profit then why develop a DAoC2; if it is making a loss why should we develop a DAoC2. And when you say longevity and the possibility of huge subs numbers etc the answer back will be: you mean just like WAR? (And maybe by then just like SWKoTR).

Maybe if SWKoTR is sufficiently profitable. I think that will be the key.

Fixed.

Believe it or not your opinion is not the opinion of 100 or 200 other ppl much less THOUSANDS of ppl.

 

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Yes 45 people out of all the people that have played daoc is a really good %


[face_palm]

 

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I agree with that a bit.


I would further isolate the problem as a lack of control or a lack of management. MJ’s anarchist method of management often allowed Mythic to run amok and it allowed the WAR team to grind on and on without making enough progress. MJ’s lack of adequate control also allowed the WAR team to balloon far beyond what should have been necessary.


In the end EA had to put their foot down. EA forced MJ to stop the delays and launch WAR or WAR may have been delayed many more months (or perhaps years. . . . perpetual delay).


DAoC was built with only 24 people. The WAR team was gargantuan in size when compared to the initial DAoC team.


While the WAR salary bill was huge, imo WAR salary went out of control because of mismanagement.

 

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Free 2 play!

I simply don't get 15$ worth of fun out of this game anymore.
I recently reactivate 10 days and just logged in once for 3 hours.

Other games do very well in f2p models. so could mythic.
drive down leveling speed and sell 50% xp charms for 15$/30days
This way powerplayer can play for free while the "casual" gamer can buy shortcuts if they want to.
That's a good place to start and has lots of room for improvement.

It wouldn't make me return but I'd be much more likely to return if there were no buffbots.

 

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Buff bots wouldn't be such a big deal,if they put more npc buffers out(bg's,dungeons,etc) or


make potions better and last an hour or so...

 

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ppl who say "p2p" is usualy the same ppl who hate buffbots and the extra cost they are forced upon these ppl. Do you really think p2p would only be for PvE stuff? It would prob be way more expensive to be competitive in PvP/RvR than it is now.