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12. No “Compare and Contrast” threads.

The official forums are intended solely for discussion of the Dungeon Runners. Any thread whose primary purpose is the discussion of another game (whether published by NCsoft or not) will be removed, whether it is in the context of “comparing” it to Dungeon Runners or not. Incidental comparisons will arise from time to time. This is understood and acceptable. However, it is when a thread becomes primarily about such comparisons that the thread will be removed.

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Wait until you see DR later this year. We're replacing the graphics engine with one that is far more capable. Shadows and better particles FTW! Mythos beware!

steve

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• "Style" - the overall cohesive look and feel of the game. I like it just fine. It's definitely "cartoony", much like DR.
• "ooh, shiny!" - From a technical perspective, there's a lot of "shiny" due to the use of particle effects and shader technology. Pretty....

• Camera - the only playable camera mode is from an isometric view. That was fine in Diablo, but in this day and age, I expect a bit more camera control (like what can be found in DR). Also, due to the camera angle, one must pan the camera pretty far out for the game to be playable, thereby negating much of the "ooh, shiny!". Personally, I prefer this angle to this angle . *
• "Performance" - Yes, I know the game is in beta, but for a game that is essentially an isometric single player (conceptually, it's the same as DR - solo or group, but nobody groups), performance isn't that great, especially with all the eye candy turned on. It needs some tweaking, after all, this isn't LotR... Performance in groups is flat out awful due (at least in part) to all the effects going off, btw.
• "The world" - most of the nice graphical effects are saved for the character and NPC models, the maps--in general--are very plain and non-interactive.Here are some examples of outdoor maps: Map1 and Map2
• Playable/Viewable area of maps - simply put, you can't see all of the screen while in dungeons. Having a widescreen monitor gives you a little more playable area, but not that much, really. In outdoor instances, instead of using x-ray vision, objects are simply highlighted in white (through trees, for example). Here are examples of an indoor map at two different resolutions: standard aspect ratio vs. widescreen. This probably wouldn't be an issue if one were able to change the camera.

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In regards to Mythos' graphics, specifically, I both like and dislike them. I'll explain:

Pros:

• "Style" - the overall cohesive look and feel of the game. I like it just fine. It's definitely "cartoony", much like DR.
• "ooh, shiny!" - From a technical perspective, there's a lot of "shiny" due to the use of particle effects and shader technology. Pretty....

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I'm not ready to spill the beans yet, but we've licensed a very capable third-party engine. It's been in tons of games and supports several platforms.

As for maintaining the perfomance of things... We will not be degrading the ability of the game to run on your machines.
On the contrary, this new engine is considerably more efficient than our inherited custom engine. We will likely be able to provide better framerates than we do now.

Not to mention optional shadow support...

steve

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I'm kinda scared... Is this saying that my celeron isn't going to like running DR by the end of the year? Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but I've been saving my nickels for a new PC - I'm just not there yet! Enlighten me guys.

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We will not be degrading the ability of the game to run on your machines.

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This sentence means that we will not be making the game slower. In fact, it will likely be faster. Don't freak.

steve

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Thx big boss man, I thought I was having a "syntax error" with my brain. Not freaking, just wondering what kind of excuse I can fabricate to tell my wife that we need to buy a new puter sooner than I had planned (bc being able to run a game probably wont work - unless I can get her to start playing....hmmmm)

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Teclis, unless your wife is the geek in the family, you can always start having "mysterious" hard drive and system issues (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) for instance, by using the task scheduler to make things start happening "by themselves."

When I recently decided I needed a new 22-inch monitor - coincidentally, one of my two 17-inchers started having "color and brightness issues" and needed replacing.

Once I got it home and connected she said "omg, how did you stand that tiny one so long?"

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MSchaefer MSchaefer is offline
Flagship Green

Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 48
Default
I'll address this since there is some confusion. To make Mythos all it should be, obviously we have to make some money. So we are creating a second currency (let's call it Ingots until we think of something better) that will be purchased with real money. These Ingots will let you buy various enhancements in game. Our plans will be guided by a couple important principles:

1) The Ingots will be freely tradable once they are purchased. So if a non-paying player finds a killer item, he can "trade" it to a paying customer for Ingots. This will result in a mixed economy where everything is available to everyone.

2) We don't want to simply sell the best loot. There will not be a vendor with the best arrmor or swords for the richest players. Instead, we will sell things that only enhance your ability to go out and find the loot yourself. Additionally the Ingots will buy cosmetic items like crazy hairstyles, account enhancements, guild items, and that sort of thing. We do NOT want to create a split community between haves and have-nots. Players unable to spend real money will simply have to put more time into it, but will be able to have just as powerful a character as a paying customer.

Mythos is a global project, and will release in Asia separately from the US/Europe commercialization date (undetermined at this point). For those of you familiar with the Asian gaming community, the Cash Shop (or RMT for "real money transactions") model is now standard. Most games operate that way. We do not have the time, money, or staff to create multiple versions of Mythos that work on different business models (yet!) and we think it's a great model that lets you pay if you want to, but also allows players to succeed without any financial committment at all.

We realize there are pluses and minuses for every model and that not everyone will be satisfied no matter what we do. Not everyone can commit to a monthly subscription. And a box product doesn't allow continued development, doesn't work in Asia, and requires a substantial up-front payment. So this model lets EVERYONE IN THE WORLD play Mythos, and offers enhancements for those who don't have as much time to invest and can afford to pay. No solution will make everyone happy, and we're doing our best to strike the best balance we can.

That being said, we still welcome your input. Making the customer happy is what we're all about.
__________________
Max Schaefer
Executive Producer, Mythos
Flagship Studios

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Stropp: It’s been previously announced that Mythos will be free to play. Can you tell us what revenue model you will be using? What incentives will there be for players to pay extra?

Max: We will be using an RMT model. Our goal is to provide a wonderful, robust free experience, but offer attractive options for people who are willing to pay to get extra luxuries, or enhance their adventuring. We don’t want to simply sell the best items - even paying players will have to go kill monsters to find the best loot. Also, we plan to let players trade the in-game cash currency for items with non-paying players. This way, even the cash items will be available to free players, and we’ll avoid splitting the community into the haves and have-nots.

Stropp: There’s been quite a lot of discussion around the MMO blogging community recently about RMT. How do you intend to deal with third party gold and item sellers?

Max: It’s very difficult to stop item selling. Instead, we are investigating actually allowing players to sell items though a secure in-game marketplace rather than resorting to Ebay. We don’t think gold farming will be a huge issue in Mythos, however, since the RMT currency cannot be farmed, and the in-game gold doesn’t buy you everything you need. Nevertheless, we stop gold farming whenever we can.

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It has a very Diablo like feel

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...but Mythos (even as incomplete as it is) seems to be a more complicated/deeper game.

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...I like the quest based xp advancement (though right now, the game doesn't have content past level 25, so everyone higher than that grinds it out). Strangely, I like Mythos *better* than Hellgate: London, the game it was supposed to be a test for.

As for DR and Mythos - it's a toss up, with an edge going to DR for now. Bottom line: I *pay* for DR, not sure if I'd do the same for Mythos.

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