Multiplayer is the future

[d6veteran]

Maybe a different version of MP needs to be made... one unit, multiple spawns, powerups, forges you can capture for armour, sword of merlin ... make it an FPS with 60 sprites. Then have the guys running around a tactical map with 20*6 guys if possible.

LOL! Oh that is funny to imagine.

[Papewaio]

Yes it is... I have never played MP however.

But I would call this version that I suggested TW-lite.

[Oswald]

I second Bachus's post.

TW is the first online game that has me hooked.

30 years ago I began with little soldiers on a map, and spent days doing what MTW/STW does in 40 minutes, and with less arguments.

There are thousands, nay millions of us out there, and yes we want the arcade fun, and yes we want some measure of historical accuracy, and yes we want it to have complexity and character.

Rome is a good game, no question. But giving it a proper MP would make it a classic...

over to you guys at CA...

respectfully
Oswald

[ElmarkOFear]

But to me, that's all the Warcraft games are. I don't get traditional RTSs at all. The fact that millions of people want to play it online, beautifully polished and easy to play though it may be, is completely baffling to me.

It may be that millions of players want to play it BECAUSE it is beautifully polished and easy to play, patched regularly as problems are found and an enjoyable experience all around. It's simple to get online, patching is done automatically when you log onto the server, and games are easy to host. Its the experience, the socialization, that most people enjoy in online games. If RTW had focused on these things then it too could be the next Warcraft.

The only things which have been holding the TW series back from becoming a big online community are the same things which have made it such a great SP experience: TW's sense of historical perspective and its attempt at historical accuracy. This is what the SP players are looking for and how CA marketed the series. To great success. However, this focus is very time-consuming (researching battles, faction units, their strengths, their uses, their looks, etc . . .) and takes away from time spent on other parts of the games (like MP). It is a case of self-fulfilling prophesy: If you say; "The market for MP is so small as to be a waste of resources." then you will devote more time to other things and the MP market WILL continue to be small and never increase to a level of importance where more resources could be allocated to it, which would contribute to a greater return on investment.

I realized, with the release of RTW, (and its sole focus on SP, along with the increasing complexity of the campaign features and the time-consuming jump to a 3-D engine), CA had reached critical mass and could not/would not devote much time to MP. If this is not obvious to everyone, after seeing the state of the MP lobby, the connection problems, and the lack of many much-loved features (which the MP community has relied on for years), then I feel for you. You will continue to be dissappointed if you rely solely on MP as the aspect of the TW series you enjoy. With this realization, and being one of the MP-only crowd I decided to discontinue playing TW MP.

I have moved on to other MP games, which offer things such as: Good connection stability, an MP lobby which has all the features needed to enhance socializing and community building, an easy to use MP interface for hosting, lots of information on game settings, lots of options to play the game the way you like, a good balance of units, and an automatic patching system (Ex: WarHammer 40K, which uses the Gamespy server and shows that most of the problems and lack of features can be attributed to RTW and not Gamespy.)

It is good to see CA participating in this discussion, though too late for me. I know where Panda got the "develop a thicker skin" statement, and I stand by it. I had to develop a very thick skin indeed at the .com since the moderators and administrators there are blamed for all the problems associated with TW games, as if we are actually employees of CA and not volunteers. In truth, we are as in the dark as anyone on what CA is up to. No information on MP or anything in the game was ever offered to us. We knew/know as much as the regular patrons and nothing more.

I admin'd at the .com, in the hope I could help the MP community grow, by gathering a list of MP issues and showing CA in a timely fashion, what the game needs to grow a large MP community. RTW showed me that my time was wasted, and I resigned from the .com.

I took this (and still do take it), as a "slap in the face" since I was asked to start up the MP sections at the .com, because CA was interested in gathering ideas and improving the MP side of the game. Now I feel responsible for misleading others into believing this was true. I apoligize for this.

[WarPriest]

God Bless you Elmarko old friend.
As Far as my -2 Centsare concerned Same Old Sh!t different Title. I'll buy it just so we can drop togeather, like old times.

[ElmarkOFear]

Hi WarPriest! Long time old friend. Stop by the ugli.org site and say hello to the gang. :) We all are playing WarHammer 40K now. Obake has made an MP campaign, and we are all roleplaying. I, of course, am the orcs! :)

[andrewt]

Speaking about Blizzard, I heard from a post by one of their employees on the official boards that only 5-10% (I forgot which) bought Diablo2 for battle.net. You can play it on a LAN but I doubt that the total multiplayer component is much larger than the 5-10% of battle.net. Note that this is already Diablo2, easily in the top 10, maybe even top 5, most successful multiplayer games in PC history. Other Blizzard games have around the same online penetration.

Besides, succesful multiplayer games are mostly of the same genre, clickfest. Warcraft3 is mostly an exercise in clicking speed. There's actually a program out there that measures clicks/time and the faster clicker wins a huge majority of the games. I already feel that RTW, in the tactical battles, is somewhat dumbed down compared to MTW. To be successful in MP, it has to dumbed down further, something which I don't like.

[GilJaysmith]

It is good to see CA participating in this discussion, though too late for me. I know where Panda got the "develop a thicker skin" statement, and I stand by it. I had to develop a very thick skin indeed at the .com since the moderators and administrators there are blamed for all the problems associated with TW games, as if we are actually employees of CA and not volunteers. In truth, we are as in the dark as anyone on what CA is up to. No information on MP or anything in the game was ever offered to us. We knew/know as much as the regular patrons and nothing more.

Just to say that I didn't know that, and wasn't consciously quoting you... I've heard it said now and then when people argue that developers should be able to take criticism.

I'm personally sorry to read your experiences, though.

[Swoosh So]

I think one of the reasons most of the multiplayer community are upset is that shogun was actually a better mp experience than any of the CA games that followed it (and im just talking about the general foyer and other options even before you get into battle, layout etc). The minimum the community expected was to maintain that level quality in the mp experience, but to have features taken away seems baffling. My god even if you stuck in the old shogun or mtw foyer format back in it would be an IMPROVEMENT.

First time i logged into rome i was almost sick, fast moving video in the back ground where your trying to read text, half of what you type showing, no private message window, small text area, set denarii levels the list goes on and on. These features were in mtw and it was just surprising they werent in rome (the gem we all waited for). I personally have returned my copy of rometotalwar... a sad sad day, 4 years ive spent playing CA games online but they just get worse and worse with every release. No ones disputing its a good SP game (it is!) but to have a HOBBY of CA's totalwar games MP and to see them diminishing over time is a sad sad thing for us. How many players have left although loving the series due to these things hundreds? Jeez whole of rage clan left 10 players? 90% of fear clan 20 players? thats just two clans not to mention all the lone players who would have just left due to frustration.

I can understand its disheartening to read negative things in the forums about your game, but take a second and look at whos saying these things, most of us have over 1000 posts to our name in this forum alone! We all loved the series and had countless hours days months years playing your games online, but the fact remains that they have got worse over time, and i think that rome is the catalyst, its just a shadow of what it could have been with a LITTLE effort and i do mean a little, ie to leave the features already in, and add couple of nice features to the foyer sytem that was in place, just a few small things, dident need a whole makeover......

How can a player spend 2 years playing a game in that foyer? it would drive me nuts, its like having a great job in a flea infested office GAH!

Most of the people who have posted in ths topic have been here since the beginning and we have tried to keep the mp community going with our hands tied behind our backs, it gets harder and harder all the time with no support and eventually people just give up.

Ps: Im not having a stab at you giljay the number of posts beside your name shows the care and involvement you have in the community (the mod side if i am correct).

[Sp00n]

Nice post Elmo for what its worth I never blamed ya for anything m8 you had the same view as me on the game.

Its a shame they have made the game more like a standard RTS.

Swoosh is right they never managed to emulate Shogun online with the last 2 releases MTW was still good though and they didnt change the control system like they have now.Swoosh you forgot to mention the Euro clan members and the old Chain clan members who left also.

Im afraid to say Ive returned my copy of Rome to my local swap game shop yesterday and resigned up for Eve online a game that listens to its players.

I may return to Rome if they sort out the problems and thus ill pop in these forums and ill continue to play MTW every now and then, but after playing 60 or so games of Rome online I cant cope with that forum or the bugs and controls any more im bored.

Id like to thank all the poeple who know and put up with my occasional rants over the years must be nearly 5 by now for the many great times online.

MizuSp00n