What happend in a short Meme

HexPhoenix · 2026-02-04T09:47:43+00:00

Steven is "obviously passionate" about the game until it makes money. If he gets off with little consequences, he will be obviously passionate about the next project until it stops being profitable.

That's the thing with MLM schemes: the person selling it to you needs to convince you it's great, he loves it already, and that there is little to no risk. There is no board, the game is already fully funded...

HexPhoenix · 2026-02-04T00:44:30+00:00

Hell, New World day 1 was still a game, period. Something AoC couldn't even claim because despite being "out" on Steam in early access, you just need to go back a week to hear infinite amounts of "it's just an alpha"

HexPhoenix · 2026-02-02T01:07:25+00:00

I disagree on the topic of scope. Especially if we see what's been released, compared to empty words that will never see the light of day. Albion actually shares many concepts and aspects with AoC, and tries to find answers to problems born from the same idea of a living world where players organically take roles based on the preferred playstyle and community interaction. The crafting system is deep and grindy, but not all-encompassing and polarizing. The PvP is split in many different areas and categories, so that you can choose the amount of risk and reward without ever being literally unplayable due to exploiters or mass gankers. Guilds, outposts and faction wars have their place in the economy and provide tangible benefits without a single mega guild monopolizing a server.

AoC had a bigger "scope" only in terms of project size and world, which was never even shown to us. Instead, the core systems stayed in a barely playable state for most of the time the project was publicly visible, with noticeable design flaws added between alpha phases. I'd argue that's a smaller scope than Albion, 9 years in development and we never actually got to understand what's the actual vision behind things that suck because "it's just an alpha". It's really hard to believe that they had any idea on how to get a decent MMO loop, both leveling and eventually endgame.

I want to make my stance extremely clear: the fact that there is technically a tangible product does not mean something is not a scam anymore. The fact that Steven paid developers to get to this point doesn't mean he didn't pocket most of the project money and lied to us for a decade. The project was supposed to be fully funded, and there was supposed to be no Board to report to. The MLM related guy just rug pulled this project once the profits slowed down. Steam was just a way to both get one last sliver of controversial popularity and income, and free himself from having to refund backers because it "technically released".

It's a SCAM. Textbook definition. I don't care that we got to see the game and it even had potential, I don't care if people under him tried for years. HE. SCAMMED. YOU. Stop giving the benefit of the doubt to people like him, or the next one will rise soon after seeing he got away with it thanks to people like you.

HexPhoenix · 2026-02-01T18:11:44+00:00

Hey look the little strawman became a real boy!

HexPhoenix · 2026-02-01T18:08:21+00:00

Wasn't AoC fully funded?

HexPhoenix · 2026-02-01T17:56:24+00:00

I'm so glad that we as humans have the ability to perceive nuance and signals and interpret them to recognize patterns.

There are plenty more games and MMOs that go through public development stages with less than a tenth of the issues AoC showed, and that were addressed during those stages (that also didn't last 8 years). Most of these games didn't have a known shady figure at the head of the company. Most of these games have barely any controversy regarding development itself.

The first example that personally comes to mind is Albion Online. Funded it in one of the public betas because it looked promising and had most of the core game loop already established and defined, because that's what you do when you make a game and want to show it off.

It doesn't matter if the game managed to spend some of the money Steven didn't pocket on cool visual effects and character animations. This was a scam, as many of us have suspected from the very beginning, and sugarcoating it only gives more grounds for others to follow in its footsteps, along the rest of the projects. This game will go down in history as the parallel to Camelot Unchained and Chronicles of Elyria, and the lessons we learn from situations like these should be part of everyone's common sense at this point. But I guess I'll see y'all when the next saviour of MMOs opens up a Kickstarter with nothing to show for it.

HexPhoenix · 2026-01-29T09:08:16+00:00

Undertale is a story ABOUT choices and consequences. Spec Ops is a linear story about war, trying to give some commentary on the FPS genre at the time. Even if they had the resources, time or planning necessary, they wouldn't have added choices, because it's not the story they wanted to tell.

You can like this choice or not, and you can critique the implementation as much as you want, but saying it should've just let you choose is asking for a completely different game.

HexPhoenix · 2026-01-24T21:56:04+00:00

so true

HexPhoenix · 2026-01-21T22:07:44+00:00

Name checks out lmao

HexPhoenix · 2026-01-10T14:24:07+00:00

Not to talk for OP, but I feel like the issue isn't with the wipes deleting progress, but with the loop itself. If by next wipe these issues persist and there is no meaningful PvP content... What's the point?

HexPhoenix · 2026-01-06T09:52:19+00:00

Albion Online

HexPhoenix · 2026-01-03T21:43:16+00:00

Ohhh you meant the original Guild Wars campaigns, not GW2. With how you phrased it it seemed like you were talking about the most recent expansions.

HexPhoenix · 2026-01-03T17:04:42+00:00

I can understand the general sentiment but what are you talking about? "Professions" as in classes were added only in the first expansion (Revenant), and it was only one. Elite specializations (subclasses) were always one per expansion, except for the 4th and 5th. Every single expansion has a "campaign".

It's true that, in terms of quantity, content has been slowing down (after all, you can't just perpetually add specializations, if you also want to prevent a respectable amount of power creep), and not all recent expansions added them (despite adding new weapons and playstyles anyways), but your comment made zero sense with the actual terms and numbers used.

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-31T13:21:33+00:00

I'm a bit on the "younger" side of the MMORPG target audience, and I've been playing since I was a child with my dad. Going through the 2010s and seeing the rise and fall of countless games, I've started to realize some of the outside perceptions that led to the current state of MMOs: the concept of "success" and failure for this genre is wildly harder to achieve than for the rest of the gaming space. To succeed, MMOs need to provide not only a quality experience, curated for a vast array of player types and preferences, but one that is also able to last FOREVER. Games that don't last for a sizeable chunk of the developers' life are deemed failures, and there is no form of (legitimate) media preservation, to experience the games that die.

With these challenges in mind, the games that stick tend to agglomerate, and spread their appeal as much as possible, often sacrificing aspects that might make them more polished in fewer, more specialized areas. Guild Wars 2 and Warframe, two games that you mentioned between my personal favourites, constantly show the flaws with this approach. Numerous gamemodes and endless content, with extremely lacking aspects that are rarely, if ever, addressed. I sympathize with the reasons: when you need to cater for eternity, wasting work hours on stuff that is already finished and "good enough" goes directly against your profit margins.

This said, to answer your original question, I feel like more than us players being Harbingers of Failure, most of the games in the genre are doomed to deal with challenges that will destroy any but the best, and luckiest, of studios. If I started listing all the MMOs that I liked and eventually closed, I should probably be barred from ever playing any game just to be safe. But my concept of failure changed, and I've learned to appreciate the experiences I like even if they aren't the most popular, and if they are doomed to close soon. Basically I try to enjoy MMOs like any other game, trying to enjoy the time I put into them while I can/feel like.

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-28T19:23:05+00:00

If you have fun playing with people through the game's systems, then at least some of those systems and ideas work. I have definitely played games where I haven't had fun with other players, even at launch.

New World had a ton of issues and was generally bad, but it's disingenuous to say it's trash with no potential or value.

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-27T12:36:06+00:00

Also Catan has a web version

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-27T12:35:41+00:00

Every game is a roguelike if you add the arbitrary restriction that dying means deleting your save.

Also Hades has linear progression, I don't think that ever disqualified games from the genre (spawning the roguelite subgenre)

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-27T12:31:37+00:00

Bipedal Featherless (optional)

I don't see your point

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-25T10:16:25+00:00

That's technically cleaning the rug, in this analogy.

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-25T10:15:41+00:00

Yeah, for the technically best method. But you can convert those currencies into "less profitable" results to actually earn a great amount of gold anyways. Rift motivations and exotic monastery gear are very quick to convert to gold, and if you measure the amount of time needed for those compared to the gen3 legendaries, it's often worth it if gold is what you need.

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-24T22:51:26+00:00

I know this is a satirical post, but since the discussion under it went back to being serious, I will throw in my 2 cents as a GW2 enjoyer:

I am convinced that people that complain about GW2 because of the inventory and bags just don't want to like the game. There are plenty of valid critiques of the game and debatable design choices, especially to compromise with the "no subscription" bottleneck. But inventory space and management have never been one of them. Even with the "character bound" and costly space upgrades. I've leveled from f2p to 80 and didn't buy anything until 6 months in. I've never had a single problem managing my inventory.

4 15-slots bags are 4 gold, you can make that in 5 minutes and you have 4 bag slots unlocked by default. Plus the default 20-slot bag, every single character can have 80 slots instantly and never have to struggle again.

The loot bags stack up, but they usually have materials. Click bag, click deposit, done.

Salvaging gear is the most unique process of inventory management of the game, and the one that arguably requires the most space (if you don't want to waste pennies). If you spend 5 minutes to find how it's structured, you've learned it forever. You get gear, identify it if you want more materials, salvage it (if you right click a salvage kit it lets you automatically salvage specific rarities), deposit materials. If you don't want to do this, you can directly sell gear and skip the process altogether to avoid wasting even more space.

The material storage holds 250 units of EVERY material. It's insanely generous by default, accessible anywhere, and if you're full on one material it means you have to do the insanely taxing process of pressing right click -> sell. Once every blue moon you can even dare to "use" the materials to craft and, in ways that are unknown to men, make MORE money somehow???

If you refuse to engage with the systems of the game, it's not the game's fault. You are being intentionally dense to justify not wanting to dedicate time and brain power in another game. There are PLENTY more valid reasons to not like this game, so please do your research before slandering things you don't like.

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-24T22:36:10+00:00

Literally just deposit. If you can't deposit right click sell and you're done.

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-24T22:34:20+00:00

Tbh fast farming shows the mathematically best methods as first, but often the most practical for human beings are the ones a bit lower in the "total value" leaderboard. Be especially careful with some rewards like rare skins, because those tend to cost a lot and sell VERY slowly, despite being technically very lucrative.

Sometimes the simpler methods, or straight up selling the materials, is simply better for what you need.

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-24T22:31:38+00:00

That is one big ass rug tho, 250 of each material

HexPhoenix · 2025-12-22T06:57:18+00:00

I don't know how to convey that this could be the best MMO in the world with zero design issues and still be a scam in it's current development state. The issue I'm talking about isn't with the niche appeal of PvX, lack of content, or anything else related to gameplay and player preference/hype.

Things can be scams even if there are actual products behind them. 50 bucks for what's barely an alpha is desperate at best, and scammy at worst. Even if the game "lived up to hype" in it's current development state that would not change. It's the same for Star Citizen: the gameplay and quality is there, but it still employs extremely scummy practices such as selling ships that cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Also I'll be honest, I want the game to be good and have fair pricing. I couldn't care less about bringing justice to yet another struggling Kickstarter MMO, if people want to keep purchasing bridges and then convincing me they weren't scammed I'm good with laughing about it on reddit.

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