World of Darkness Online - Confirmed

MisterShifter:

Also. .they will not have an enforcable day/night cycle. There's no way they'd make Vampires that unplayable. What happens if you live in a time zone that the only time you can log on it's day in game.

i have to agree. it's just not fair to those who want to play a vamp, and have like just certain hours in which they can do it, or something..
but, i say again, the idea of a perpetual darkness does not please me.
so, any other suggestions? i'm really curious about this.

they can probably pull it off with different servers, but the idea to have just one world, where the servers are just different locations is better, imho.

brokentool:

but, i say again, the idea of a perpetual darkness does not please me.
so, any other suggestions? i'm really curious about this.

It's been talked about in other threads.

Problems occur with most daylight/night cycles where gameplay necessitates one phase or another.  What if a player can only use the game during abbreviated times and continually misses night?  Not everyone is free to play games as much as they would like.  Solutions depend on whether or not vampires are the sole player character type permitted on outset.  A city of night would work, even if it displeases one or two people.  After all, a city of night would provide benefits to vampires since in WoD vampires need only spend a bloodpoint to remain awake and functional during the day.  Of course sunlight still immolates vampires.

Furthermore, a city of eternal night (subterannean or mostly in large edificia) would be a sought after commodity and probably worth battling over.  This would also justify the many vampires who appear in the city.

septembervirgin:

subterannean or mostly in large edificia

that's totally ok. i meant that i don't like it the way it was done in bloodlines. and i doubt that only 1-2 people will feel as i do about this =] (could be wrong tho). it seems to me that the bloodlines type of perpetual night is too much of a curtsy to vampires. on the other hand, the day/night cycle is too much of a hindrance to the players of said vampires. so what you said seem like a good solution, if only one of the possible ways to handle this. other ideas, anyone?

There are two (among many) ways you could look at it:

Watching some videos from CCP's Fanfest with a developer talking about EVE Online, he calls EO a "SciFi Simulation" in that they didn't just want to make a game, they wanted to make a world that holds very true to what people love about science fiction.  They decided to focus on ships in space because that was what they had the capability to create in a satisfying way and not have the problems of awfully animated avatars detract from the experience of living in a sci fi world.  Now with their planned expansion, Walking in Stations, they're attempting for more of that fully immersive verisimilitude with some really cutting edge visual technology.  Given this kind of attitude toward genre immersion, one might expect them to hold vampires true to their banes like sunlight, to emphasize what it's truly like to be one of the Damned.

On the other hand, CCP has shown that they'd rather take things slowly and give their full attention to experiences that are limited in scope rather than take on too much and not deliver the full experience that they, as geeks themselves, would like.  With that attitude, I could see them releasing a game with only Vampire, as White Wolf's flagship game, as a playable game.

I'm hoping for the first, but I could definitely see the second.

I personally don't think I would mind a 2-hour day/night cycle.

Don Strudel:

That website everyone is mentioning (ccpgames.com/products/worldofdarkness) is half-a-year old.

We've known this game was being developed for a while. We know that it uses the same engine as Walking in Stations and DUST 514. We know the reason they are all being developed together is because they use the same engine.

In other news, the EVE community has been showering DUST 514 with an overwhelmingly negative response. Pansies. If they don't like it they should go back to WOW.

Primalflame:

It does not look like CCP is really working on WODO.

I do not think CCP believes it can allure more fans to Eve with false promises of a World of Darkness MMOCRPG.  However, I do think that CCP believes it can make money for a long time from a very well made World of Darkness MMOCRPG.  If it's very well made, a twenty dollar a month fee might be worthwhile.  Furthermore, CCP sells stock shares: this would indicate that CCP relies on trust from their shareholders.

It's likely that CCP and White Wolf are delinquent in advertising and speaking in public about the MMOCRPG, possibly because reviewers might beg for information and viewing of the game -- and it's probably rather innovative.  However, the game does not appear to exist to most people, and even worse others believe that the game is underfunded and CCP won't admit to not having enough money.  To a discerning realist, the situation appears to be that CCP seems confused about publicity methods.

septembervirgin:

To a discerning realist, the situation appears to be that CCP seems confused about publicity methods.

Thankfully someone finally said it.

I understand that all of us on here are WoD fans to varying degrees (from hardcore to dorm room commandos), but from what I've gathered thus far on this thread is that we're all using blind loyalism to our detriment.

Look, one only needs to do very rudimentary research to reveal that CCP is, has, and as evidence has thus far shown - always will be - a sub-par developer. Everything from ethics violations against their user base to erroneous development procedures have been this company's stock and trade for some time now, it's also been heavily spurred by their investor relations (which, as their portfolio shows, is less than savory).

Point is, before we can speculate on the "obvious" awesomeness of WoD Online, we should speculate even more on CCP's track record of over boasting and severely under performing.

CCP certainly brings big ideas and a high-concept premise to the table, yet they've never delivered on producing something even remotely as entertaining as the products log-line would have you believe.

For one, I personally dread WoD Online, and I feel (as with most mergers) that CCP's acquisition of WW will invariably lead to a muddled product in the very near future.

* As a sidenote.

CCP's press release clearly stated that once finished with the current expansion of Eve Online, they would fully dig into the development of World of Darkness online.

And then....

CCP announces a first person shooter entitled Dust 514 which is presently going into pre-production.

Honesty at it's finest! Announce sole dedication to one project, and then a few months later, announce a development cycle for an entirely unrelated project that has somehow mystically taken precedence over a project that a loyal audience is waiting on!

Good going CCP! Keeping the sublime magic of the modern business model alive.

CCP has 3 studios.
Iceland is working on Eve
China is creating Dust
Atlanta (WW) is creating WoDO

I find it odd that White Wolf Announces World of Darkness MMORPG and Funcom apparently has a similiar breed of game brewing called The Secret World, a modernized Demonic, Undead, Vampire infested modern day frenzy about a world that most people just walk by everyday... something sounds a bit fishy here. But to me it now sounds like its a competition.

Dont get me wrong, CCP made Eve Online fantastic killer MMORPG, going up against Funcom proud makers of Anarchy Online a very well known very well put together Science Fiction Adventure across all manners of worlds. Its really gonna be interesting seeing which is better.

Personally Im hoping they're both good, but can only afford to play one, so White Wolf dont mess up I dont want to have to put more of my money into Funcom when I know you guys can hash out into the world of MMO's with a great first title.

Found this short article (just quoting relevant part):

Interview with Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, CEO of CCP Games

We've also heard that you're working on an MMO related to White Wolf's World of Darkness RPG. Can you tell us more about the project and when we might start seeing some teasers?

I would love to tell you when we'll be releasing more information, but the truth is we're very early on in the design stage at present. As you know we're have our other MMO to work on, plus the new project we've been talking about today. We do have a team working on it, but its still in its infancy and there isn't a lot I can reveal.

So what can you tell us?

Well, I can tell you that we're trying something new and exciting with World of Darkness. We've always made it our goal to take some of the load off the player, and cut back on the "grind" that people normally associate with these games. For instance, in EVE you can learn skills without even logging in, so when you play you can do all the fun things without worrying about training.

You're planning to expand on that?

Oh yes, we'll be using a similar system in World of Darkness, but with a twist. World of Darkness characters will practically play themselves. In fact, there's little need for the account owner to log in, because it'll all be done automatically. Sure, they can log on and check the progress of their character, but there's no need to do so. Its the next level in online games.

Really, so players don't have to do anything?

That's right. Players can sit back and watch the action unfold without even having to press a key, or if they prefer they can sign in occasionally to get reports of their characters actions. It means you can play the game and do other things at the same time. All the information will be presented as a series of spreadsheets and tables, which can be sorted in multiple ways for your viewing pleasure.

It'll be easy to understand?

We've found that graphics can sometimes be a distraction, so most of the information will be presented in text and numerical format. Thankfully, due to the dark nature of the game, when we do show graphics most of them can be black.

It sounds really exciting. Is that all you've come up with so far?

We're taking the opportunity to improve on the World of Darkness games, removing all the "unfun" aspects of play. For instance, vampires can go out during the day, and mages can cast spells anywhere, even in full view of humans.

What about werewolves?

Werewolves will be in their wolf-man form permanently. After all, that's the coolest part of the game.

Hilmar Veigar Pétursson, thank you.

My pleasure.

good one Newbunkle, you almost had me going there for a second...

Metametheus:

Personally Im hoping they're both good, but can only afford to play one, so White Wolf dont mess up I dont want to have to put more of my money into Funcom when I know you guys can hash out into the world of MMO's with a great first title.

I think one reason why some MMORPG are being made stupidly are because they believe Adult Swim (and hence Cartoon Network) will see that foolery as brilliant parody.  These MMO companies hope each will compete (or work together) on The Venture Bros MMO.  I doubt that would prove in the interest of Cartoon Network nor the fans of Venture Bros.

On the other hand, having read Adventure! I am not entirely certain that White Wolf-CCP are precisely the people who would (nor should) seek the Venture Bros. license.  White Wolf tends to pander to a different audience.  Neither the Storyteller System nor offshoots model damage and event in a way that would permit a remarkable game of the Venture Bros. license.  Of course, it's my theory that Brock is drugged or mystically effected while playing very subtle cards and doing so remarkably well, all considered.  And White Wolf could always sketch up a slightly different game system, say, something a mix of GURPS Mystery/Conspiracy/Supers (Steve Jackson Games), Spacemaster/Future Law (ICE), and Spycraft (Crafty Games).

Then again, maybe the Storyteller System would be sufficient if each player had an organization and character flaws could be added by a player mid-game (including various types of Dead, such as Death Welcome to All or Honored Dead or Who Died which might add merit points to that organization) to any character who suffered a wound or mishap either during the game or between sessions or while Unaccounted For.

wow, it took me like three lines of that to get that that had to be a joke. Still funny though