New World is a great example of what would happen if an MMORPG was developed by a team that didn't know how MMORPGs are made.

For the love of God don't give AGS another chance.

Slight correction on Lumberyard section. It isn't a proprietary engine. Amazon purchased the source code for Cryengine and made some modifications, but it basically behaved like Cryengine 3. Then Amazon eventually open sourced Lumberyard and its now called OE3D. Lumberyards/OE3D issues are the same as Cryengines. Hard to get a hold of, little documentation, niche experience, etc. However, for an mmo this doesn't really matter too much as most popular MMOs use in house engines / non standard engines (Unity, Unreal). WoW uses blizzard internal Engine, Final Fantasy 14 uses Squares internal Engine, Elder Scrolls Online and Starwars the Old Republic use the Hero Engine. Since MMOs are big and complex its best to use a focused engine that has been designed with MMOs in mind. Unity and Unreal are generic multi-purpose engines that can be used for MMOs but also...have a ton of bloat and unnecessary features.

i m pleased that ashes is run by long term gamers .they KNOW what we want

dude... this was such a great video! Learned alot and it felt like 5 mins. Editing is 10/10, script is 10/10 and humor plugs are 11/10. Keep it up man and keep this level of passion cause one of these days, Asmon will be reacting to your videos very soon!

4.5k hour NW player here. This was painful to watch. I really hope that AGS is able to turn things around with New World and nails it with LOTR but I am not going to hold my breath.

Great vid! Poor Amazon...oh wait...poor workers there.....being led by idiots....sigh...more millions wasted unless like you said a HUGE turnaround is done. btw, I am HUGE LOTR fan...I've read it every year since 84..my fav book(s) of all time! I do HOPE you have heard the audio version by Paul...that KZfaq keeps banning..it is the BEST audio version out there...took him three years to do it. I HIGHLY suggest find it and give it a listen...if you can't find it let me know and I will get you the link to get started. It's phenomenal.

What do you mean? It was a great success. They got millions from box sales without any of those pesky server and development costs later down the line. Seriously, the model of box prices for this kind of game actually means that after the first month or so, they can only lose money by retaining players. Shameless plug for AoC's subscription only model that incentivises supporting an active player base.

As someone who played the original NW Alpha (the full loot open PvP one) and all through the second Alpha, Beta, and Launch and sporadically to the expansion, I would have to say that your seem to have hit most of the facts. I would perhaps suggest that one reason the game at launch seemed so unfinished because it was only the product of two years or so of development after the abrupt pivot in design. Also, my take is that the huge sales of the game at launch were due to the massive scope of the unfulfilled demand for a quality AAA MMORPG in the Western style. A potential market exists to support a new game that is actually fun and engaging on all levels, but NW almost immediately proved that it wasn't that game.

Man you do some work on these videos. One of the most underrated channel out there, but boy are you well positioned for when this game pops off to the wider public

4:47 buy to play means box sales are the main thing they care about. Losing players is a good thing from a purely fiscal perspective. So glad Ashes is doing monthly sub.

Watching your video 1 month later and I noticed the SG1 t-shirt on one of the developers. There is also rumors of a SG MMO so there might be another MMO in the skunkworks. Amazon also owns the MGM brand which includes SG1.

17:08 check it, is that Dodgers company on defense circa 2022!?

Great video ! I was impressed with the amount of knowledge you had on all the different aspects of the games/company keep up the good work

if they wanted this game to be good, all they needed to do was: 1. hire people with mmo experience 2. sit them down and make them play Archeage for a few months before making anything 3. copy everything good and absolutely none of the p2w mechanics 4. use a real fucking game engine that's it. I'd still be playing if they'd done that. when I initially heard of the premise of this game, I dreamed about it being like Archeage because the idea of being explorers and conquerors of a New World would fit perfectly into those systems. housing, trade and a player based economy, risk vs reward, piracy! the characters are stranded sailors! they could have hired me as a useless "idea guy" and I'd have turned out something better than what we got, which was garbage

It's just too bad Ashes of Creation forces pvp or I would be on board. Not all of us want to be griefed for not grinding 24/7 or pulling our wallets out to get ahead.

Great video! I can tell a lot of work went into this 👍👍

Just play LOTRO 🙂 It's huge and has so much lore! Still the best Lord of the Rings game out there.

Fixing broken content IS new content, everybody knows this Burns.

Watching this two months later... Embracer group splitting into 3 companies is awkward. I wonder which division they sre going to throw their dept into.... One of those 3 companies will be DOA. Will it be tabletop? (Carcasone and Ticket to Ride?) Will it be gaming? (Satisfactory) Will it be their ip division? (Middle Earth)

I certainly wasn't thrilled when they announced they will make the MMO (the first one before they cancelled that, you know with the chinese overlords at Tencent? :)) and I was simply not much into MMO's (though the LOTRO is very good from what I heard and saw bits of) but damn I always dreamed of a good properopen world single player RPG set in Middle-earth (also something that would be LORE accurate :)...not like some other titles....looking at you Shadow of Mordor/War), I always felt there is ENORMOUS potential for lotr video games especially high quality ones, with impressive graphics....hell if they ever made a lotr game like that...even if it was clone of Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, Gothic, though at absolute best modelling after....Witcher 3 would be phenomenal best course of action...CD Projekt had true passion for the witcher source material and that approach is badly needed for Lord of the Rings!!! Or hell....make a sandbox in style of.....Red Dead Redemption 2 :) I mean a lotr game like that.....wow...that would be AWESOME, the RDR2 hunting and camping mechanics would work amazingly well for the setting, immersive, in depth, lore friendly using all that Tolkien's world can give us...giving it justice.....exploring the lands of Middle-earth (or heck the seas as well...if they absolutely have to make more Lotr Assassin's Creed clones at least use the later AC titles....imagine something like AC Black Flag mixed with Odyssey, Origins and Valhalla that would have vast open world...with naval combat and sailing, imagine those sea battles with ships of Corsairs of Umbar...well that they could do :) hehe exploring both the lands and the Great Sea Belegaer in such a game where you could sail freely...yeah it would be great...sailing in various ships be it elvish ones or numenorean ones...and the songs sea shanties Middle-earth style hehehe....well since Return to Moria can have mining songs....;))..... But this MMO well from the beginning it was doomed....first Amazon has not a great success rate for games, second, they made absolutely horrible garbage with their fanfic tv show that butchered the Tolkien material and was just plain.....BAD , horrible writing with all the modern checkboxes and now the second attempt at making an mmo *sigh*......oh well.....Lotr for some reason never had much luck in video games.....which is insane with how much potentialk there is and how many possibiltiies for good story and gameplay is there in the Tolkien lore itself! Oh well.....Return to Moria is just survival crafting game but it's not as bad as some other takes....and now the only lotr game on horizon is that weird.....Tales of the Shire? So as some say,....a type of Animal Crossing style lotr game....ehhhh well not exactly thrilling for the future in the gaming for Tolkien world.....heck....if Harry Potter could get an open world game with Hogwarts Legacy....even freakin Avatar with Frontiers of Pandora....and soon Star Wars will get Outlaws (though considering Ubisofr it making it :))

The current LOTRO (Lord of the Rings Online) will be tough to beat. It’s old and graphics aren’t modern but it is great. It is pretty faithful to the lore. Amazon will mess this up.

If we all support LOTRO that already exists we can stand up to amazon before they continue to ruin Lord of the rings. Lets get them steam charts up and show amazon that a remaster of 2007 LOTRO is what the fans want not a woke amazon rings of power crap

It was clear Amazon didn't know how to manage an MMO not only from the bugs, but also from the post launch. When you have people who find a way to generate infinite money, using important exploits, you should do a rollback, because it screws up the economy for a very very long time, especially for new players. They didn't do it. Opening a new server after the fix, solves the problem for new players, but it shows how much they (don't) care about their player base. Bugs can happen (especially if you rush the release), but they are clearly incompetent even in the post launch. As you said, many of them don't know the difference between an RPG and an MMO.

Lumberyard is just CRYENGINE. Same with Azoth

Great video! First video I've seen about NW that actually acknowledges 50v50 war as the only piece of endgame content with any value. No other creator even acknowledges it. It's sad. Cross-Server company vs company wars not tied to territory would be huge for the game, IMO and a new OPR map with a raid v raid feature. Sadly we keep getting the same copy paste dungeons over and over. Idk what the plan for NW is honestly. Seems like nobody at AGS does either.

Quality pacing, very enjoyable to watch!

Love your video production! And love that you are also touching other MMO's Keep up the good work!

The right touch of flavor needed in a video,Tasty Good video bro , over all well thought out and with good arguments , thank you very much for the info. Positive vibes bro

The day of launch of New World was terrible . But being there for it and with my friends , dude i was never so hyped in my life . best experience of my life . the wars where ass also with the bugs , glitches and stuff . But dude the whole experience from the good things , graphics , playstyle . crafting views , Bro it was amazing . I hope they actually make LOTR but i hope they do follow the real meaning and dynamics of LOTR cause its one game they cannot mess up . I miss old school LOTR games . i want a 1080p/4k LOTR open world MMO where i can run around with friends , Imagine doing the war for Middle earth with all your Company members , Where you have to defend Minas Tirith . Dude that shit would be AMAZING! There is soooo much potential for LOTR if they actually do it right .

It's unfortunate that this will probably be the fate, because LOTR is loved by many, and it could be amazing. I'll still give it a try, though.

ring of power was proof of how a company even with the highest budget can ruin an easy succes. Seriously if they would have been faith to the lore, keeping the same image build by Peter Jackson, and adding a good epic soundtrack, they would have made billions in revenues. But they went woke and got broke.

12:25 still runs better than lotro

I can almost guarantee that even if this game ever launches, they'll be playing catch-up with LOTRO for years. That game is huge and is made by people who respect Tolkien's writing. Unlike Amazon with their Rings of Power that was written like a bad fan-fiction.

This is an eye opener & needs to be watched by every gamer & LOTR fan. A fantastic upload.

I can't wait to see a LOTR MMO from the company that simultaneously failed to make a successful MMO and to make a LOTR adaptation.

why can't they just invest into the lotro mmo we already have now - it is the best ever made - timeless classic. Unfortunately the servers went down over this weekend holiday. They admitted the new content has newer coding over older coding making it like spaghetti now. I wish they would just invest now before something goes so wrong we will never get it back, These past 24 hours + have been insufferable without lotro mmo. It truly has become a part of my real time life. I kid you not it is like it has become like losing a best friend to a tragic death without lotro mmo. I have tried so many other games and nothing is the same nor replaces it.

Getting the game dev process for an mmo right is huge, this is absolutely true. But with LOTRs there is another massive elephant in the room that recent LOTR projects have been missing... staying true to the spirit of the author and source material while adapting it. I have no faith that “creative” teams permeated with far left ideologues, or teams beholden to the far left DEI cult rituals their parent companies bow down to, will produce something that remains true to the beloved books.

4:10 they hit a strike alright... Just in a drfferent sport. And then they hit two more with their attempts to fix it.

Excellent analysis as always. Unfortunately it just confirms what I expected when the LotR MMO was announce; AGS is going to drop the ball so hard it'll be a surprise to if it doesn't come out the other side of the planet

"good for he/him" made me almost spit out my coffee 😂

I thought the amazon LOTRs game was canned Edit: Did some research, this is the 2nd time they're attempting to do this MMO idea/project

Btw you mentioned that star citizen is using crappy lumberjack....I think you should look into the innovations/Improvements they made to that engine. It seems groundbreaking to me

This is great! Very well set up and can't believe a billion dollar company is doing things like this......such a shame of the rights for LOTR :(

extreme disownership, LOL

Knowing how poor ags is ill never touch one of their games again

the only mmo I played is LotRO... And NO mmo should not be here for the endgame only. The adventure is the best thing and I don't care for those Endgame contents were you have to spend half a day to obtain a new ingame currency to have a slightly better helmet

I seriously do not trust Amazon to make a proper Lord of the rings game at all.If they do continue to go forward with making a Lord of the rings game I don't expect it to be ready for at least 4-6 years at the earliest

Oooh. Look At you branching out! LOTR content. Very cool

Good luck going against nearly 20 years of contents and experiences with lotro... I hope their expected fall will create some exposure for this gem.

I knew New World would be trash at launch and that Amazon would screw it up, and I was right. Lots of people jumped in and I refused (#stillcantswim) I was looking forward to Pax Dei but there is not much question about it's monetization strategy, it will be P2W (Still doesn't look half as good as AoC A2) Amazon, Blizzard and many other development studios have lost touch with reality and are only interested in the cash grab of initial sales and micro transactions. Put up a good name "Lord of the Rings" and people will buy it, it will be bugged AF, suck like a dyson and be 1.5% of what it could have been. AoC will be the next BG3, MMO players who have given up on P2W BS will rise up and come out of the woodwork, players from all walks will try it, enough will stay. Intrepid will raise the bar for what is expected, and yet still Amazon and Blizzard and others will continue to drive off the cliff in the only lane they know.

👏 👏

Haha ‘oh no, they think it was good’

Are you telling me they're trying to build Star Citizen on Lumberyard? Any idea how I can get a refund...?

I came here to see what was happening with the Lotr mmo, got 25 mins of lore about new world's bad development lul.

Ughhh, those mass reports, I remember them. However, reporting bots never actually helped

Kakao oyunları bu oyunu yapabilir, başka kimse yapamaz

If you have any hope for this game...just don't. AGS is full of incompetent devs working for suits that have negative knowledge on videogames. Do yourself a favor and don't expect anything from any game made by AGS.

I remember beta testing new world over a 3 day weekend, and running out of stuff to do. I almost did not buy the game, but I was so desperate for a new game i went ahead and bought it...

Yikes

If its anything like that awful series they made then let it die.

Plus they still want to use the New World game engine. It’s really a bad game engine and they should really just use unreal engine 5. It’s a poor engine and lumber yard should not be used as MMO’s period

Idk man feels like you're focusing on the failure of new world and saying that because it lost 90% of playerbade they did NOTHING right. Simply not true. There were lots of cool things that new world did right - they just launched it without any endgame content so nobody stuck around after the initial push to max level and ear content.

The first company couldn't even get the first lord of the rings mmo right. All they did was make pay to win shit and of course ignorant blind fan girls and boys go no its not! Waaaa! This is why we cant have good mmos. I'll continue playing city of heroes free.

Ah yes, AGS. That studio is hopeless, they literally need a messiah to save AGS at this point. TLotR is already DOA, no chance of it being good. Same with New World, but with a different title. New World has so much potential, but got an incompetent developer, what a shame. The game has literally no replayability. And QoL called "content", what a joke. The only good thing about this game is the combat and PvP. But because this is AGS, the combat is underwhelming and the PvP is literally abandoned. --- Ok, now the only hope for a good or even the best MMO is AoC. I hope AoC will be the best and set a new gold standard for MMOs. soon™. Right now, get your stratagems ready and head to Malevelon Creek! Liberate the world for Super Earth!

Lol

The only MMO that got mass player vs player right is Guild Wars 2 with it's World vs World mode.

Ashes of creation is going to fail

Hey the link didnt post... you have an email I can send it to?