Whoa.

I've been out of MMORPGs for a while. They're cookie-cutter and let people be jerks.

Now (in addition to EverQuest Next and EQ Landmark, which I'd be interested in regardless), here comes Civilization Online.

City-building. Technology wins. Sandbox play. Crafting. Exploration of new parts of the world that appear weekly. No classes. Oh, and it's based on CryEngine 3.

Go read the link. I can't do it justice.

Flatfingers wrote:Whoa.

I've been out of MMORPGs for a while. They're cookie-cutter and let people be jerks.

Now (in addition to EverQuest Next and EQ Landmark, which I'd be interested in regardless), here comes Civilization Online.

City-building. Technology wins. Sandbox play. Crafting. Exploration of new parts of the world that appear weekly. No classes. Oh, and it's based on CryEngine 3.

Go read the link. I can't do it justice.

Wow, nice...I'm getting pretty excited about the next wave of MMOs (and I was never an MMO person...), looks like people are really stepping up the tech. About time

Ack.

According to PC Gamer, 2K Games PR Manager Brian Roundy has said:

Civilization Online is developed by South Korea-based XL Games in partnership with 2K, and will be available first in Korea. No release date has been set. There are no plans for a North American release at this time.

Oh. Well, that's... hmm.

Not sure how this is going to be different from every other MMOs out there. Oh the crowd online...it just ruins my day instead of brightening it, you know?

TanC, I've felt pretty much the same way since the NGE was imposed on Star Wars Galaxies.

But between EverQuest Next (and EQN Landmark), and the description of Civ Online, not to mention the very positive reception among MMO developers of the feedback systems that Riot have been testing in League of Legends, I'm starting to think maybe I might dip my toe back in the pond.

I'm probably still going to play ungrouped to the extent possible, mostly because I just don't have much free time and it doesn't seem right to make group commitments I can't keep (barring the occasional "life happens" things). But that was part of what caught my eye in the description of Civ Online: you could craft or do research if you wanted. The "community" crafting stations is a little more interaction than I like, but hey, SWG started out exactly the same way.

South Korea only, though... bah. Good for the fine folks there; less so for folks elsewhere who could really use some online games that punt the genre conventions instead of mindlessly cloning them over and over again.

I have to think somebody at 2K was getting seriously chewed out, though, for the English-language press release that led Western gamers to believe they'd be able to play an online version of Civilization....