[MUD-Dev] MMORPG Cancellations: The sky is falling?

[Mark Mensch]

Matt Mihaly writes:

> Someone at NCSoft told me he knew CoH would be successful when he
> overheard their testers discussing what type of character they'd
> be playing once the beta opened.

CoH has that effect on people.  The game has an incredible lock and
appeal in the beginning.  A high customization page for the costume
overshadows a slightly restrictive list of skills and the fact that
you can have 8 characters per server allow people to play around
with various templates while keeping the same friend base.

> I believe CoH is succeeding because it's an exceptionally
> well-done product. It doesn't do much, but it does what it does
> better than anything else. So yeah, it's timing in the sense that
> any product that's the best at what it does took advantage of
> timing their product release such that whatever future product
> will surpass theirs hasn't yet been released. ;)

It is the over time issue that CoH has to contend with.  It is
incredible for the casual gamer as you can log onto the game for
half an hour and accomplish a great deal.  It is faced paced, easy
to group, highly combat oriented and works well.  However, after a
while, the leveling begins to grind on people.  There are some
distinct level 'humps' where gaining the next level is painfully
slow while others you breeze through.  During these humps is usually
when people begin to experiment with new templates.  But, in a few
days, they hit the same hump and then it begins to grind on them.
With a lack of content, similar graphics everywhere and other areas
noted as before, the monthly fee is too high for what is being
offered. All of my friends, save one who only gets to play about 30
minutes of game time a week, have all played, leveled and left
within 2-3 months.

> I seriously doubt its playerbase is full of people there because
> they're fleeing EQ and SW:G. Some, certainly, but then, all new
> games get "refugees" from older games.

I can't comment for sure, but I will mention that there are a bunch
of people playing SWG now that had 'left' to play CoH who then
returned after a short stint due to the one dimensional nature of
the game.  One of the major reason that they went to the game to
begin with is mentioning the 'free month' of gaming - which is more
of a month's subscription is figured into the cost of the product.

I feel that CoH fills a niche' of the very casual gamer/super hero
model - but I also feel that it is a very small niche - and
definitely an overpriced one.

-Mark
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