Does This Spell the End for the Pathfinder MMO?
For those following the progress of Pathfinder Online under developer Goblinworks, its been a long and bumpy trail.
…and for those anticipating a sandbox MMO recreation of the popular Pathfinder RPG, its been down right brutal.
The Pathfinder MMO burst out of the “internet hype gates” with community-backed excitement and several successful Kickstart campaigns. This, along with a few strategically released tech demos and an early access server, incited hope in the gaming community.
However, a long list of disappointing game mechanics, a few project mishaps, and private funding fiascoes have brought the game’s development to a screeching halt and it shows no signs of picking back up.
Regrettably but not surprising, Goblinworks was forced to lay off nearly the entire production team. Pathfinder Online currently operates with a bare-bones staff consisting of only a CEO, an Art Director, and a Designer.
Existing servers are kept afloat by the handful of early-access paid subscribers.
Where the trail runs cold…
Although they’ve gone silent since their last update on Feb. 29th, they left their blog on a positive sounding note.
Lisa Steven, the acting CEO of Goblinworks, Inc. released this statement:
“The process to transfer Pathfinder Online to a new developer is progressing nicely, but our own deadline of March 1st for the transfer to happen has been pushed for a month or two. Contracts are flying back and forth between the companies involved and the lawyers have been summoned. There are a ton of moving pieces that all need to be nailed down. It is a super complicated process and there are a lot of people to coordinate with in a multitude of time zones. All this takes time.
The good news is that everyone is very excited and things are moving forward apace. As soon as things become more concrete, there will be a public statement and a community address in Mumble.
Thanks to everyone for keeping the faith, playing the game, and being amazing!”
Well Lisa, we all wish you and your team the best of luck as you lay to rest this ambitious project.
Trying to build any kind of successful MMO in a crowded space is no easy task.
Attempting to do it while recreating the Pathfinder RPG experience in front of a demanding audience with a cramped budget? Madness.
Keeping the Dice Rolling,
StrasserDM
Fantasy Table Talk
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Reblogged this on Mental Spark.
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I don’t know anything about how this is set up, however, I believe that players would be greatly attracted to a “free to play” part of the game allowing only core races & classes without archetypes & requiring either subscription or purchase of any other books for any other options/feats & archetypes. Just my opinion but something to throw out there as a consumer/customer of these products.
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I’d be way more interested in a choose your own adventure game. The biggest challenges to RPGs are finding a group and finding days where everyone can come together to play. So why aren’t they tackling what is, as I see it, they’re biggest obstacle to their product? The have writers. They have artists. All they need is a programmer to connect the actions of the players to the results.
Golorian will always be more interesting in print. Stick to your strengths, Paizo.
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Don’t discount the effort involved with the programming aspects of such an undertaking.
Programming a new engine and game mechanics is largely done from scratch and you often have to create the tools and frameworks yourself before you can use them to further develop aspects of the game.
Creating story and art is child’s play, by comparison as the tools are already there (pen&paper, graphic design suites, etc)
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I have played many MMO’s, some good some bad. I also play Pathfinder both at home and in PFS. The beta (and I gave it credit for being a beta) for the Pathfinder MMO was awful. Seriously, needs to be thrown in the trash. It needs an entirely new look, completely new movement/mechanics design, and a complete overhaul of skills and abilities. The interface was painful. Really, it’s not a bad idea and I know game designers want to do their own thing and be original…but this game was not well done at all.
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The game is still up and running, and after a ‘free trial’, they are still charging for access to the game. I played the game for a few hours last month (April 2016), and it is in terrible shape. I would classify the condition of the game to be pre-alpha (incomplete animations, unoptimized graphics, etc). I made a video about the current state of Pathfinder Online and the history behind it. It’s not a rant video, but I do bemoan the fact that PFO doesn’t even adapt any of the Pathfinder game mechanics.
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The development of this game is a strange tale. Why was the Pathfinder setting given to a PVP-centric “sandbox” style MMORPG based on a radically different set of gameplay systems? I’ve followed the development but was never in the target audience because my tabletop campaigns never have involved guild wars or high levels of party infighting. It’s a shame the IP wasn’t used for a more story-focused game of some description, rather than trying to re-invent Eve Online with swords and spells…
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