Storm Legion Questions

[Vaalyn]

Wondering if anyone has an idea when the expansion might be released? I know it was just announced on 06/01, but considering Trion's rapid development cycle for patches do you think it will make a 2012 release? It would be really ambitious but if you look at the content pushed out already, it is possible.
What are you all thinking?

[Archimand]

im still surprised they can push expension with all the patches they have going around

its trion they might make it earlier but since they seem abit busy atm they might not

[Primalthirst]

The release has been stated as Fall 2012, so between 3 and 6 months from now.

[Puremallace]

The release has been stated as Fall 2012, so between 3 and 6 months from now.

It will be after GW2. If anything knowing Trion to be honest they will crap all over the GW2 release and drop it soon after. I bet Blizzard is gambling on this too.

My guess would be November or December. I simply do not understand how they have had time to triple the size of the game myself. I know there devs works iditiocally long hours and I see devs posting at 2am sometimes, but that is just crazy.

[Wayne25uk]

I feel Rift is rushing content myself sooner or later they are gona run outa content too soon,but knowing the market as well as i do,i'd either expect a Q4 release to co-incide with Christmas or a Q1 release for the New Year (Providing it hasnt blown up on the 21st of December,but dont worry it shouldnt as i have yoghurt that expires in 2013 so thats proof enough for me)

[Tarien]

I feel Rift is rushing content myself sooner or later they are gona run outa content too soon,but knowing the market as well as i do,i'd either expect a Q4 release to co-incide with Christmas or a Q1 release for the New Year (Providing it hasnt blown up on the 21st of December,but dont worry it shouldnt as i have yoghurt that expires in 2013 so thats proof enough for me)

Amusingly the Mayans would simply be celebrating a new Baktun (similar to celebrating the new millennium in 2000) if they were alive today. All this 'end of the world' stuff makes for some fun movies and conspiracy stories tho

[Nayura]

I feel Rift is rushing content myself sooner or later they are gona run outa content too soon,but knowing the market as well as i do,i'd either expect a Q4 release to co-incide with Christmas or a Q1 release for the New Year (Providing it hasnt blown up on the 21st of December,but dont worry it shouldnt as i have yoghurt that expires in 2013 so thats proof enough for me)

Well you can ask a buddy in Australia on the 20th if you want, call him up in the middle of the night and ask him if the world ended.

[Fencers]

It will be after GW2. If anything knowing Trion to be honest they will crap all over the GW2 release and drop it soon after. I bet Blizzard is gambling on this too.

My guess would be November or December. I simply do not understand how they have had time to triple the size of the game myself. I know there devs works iditiocally long hours and I see devs posting at 2am sometimes, but that is just crazy.

Even more shocking is that Rift still pushing out major features monthly and weekly updates. 1.9 is around the corner and we are getting even more features added to the game. Like just as another update.

It's kinda shameful other companies are not up to par yet asking for the same $15/mo.

[Pachycrocuta]

Even more shocking is that Rift still pushing out major features monthly and weekly updates. 1.9 is around the corner and we are getting even more features added to the game. Like just as another update.

It's kinda shameful other companies are not up to par yet asking for the same $15/mo.

I am still in shock over Trion's releasing of features in content patches instead of holding those over for an expansion like other companies seem so keen on doing, only releasing a raid or a few dungeons as a content patch and saving the "non-stabby content" as Trion likes to call it, for an expansion. Makes me wish I had money to give to Trion to let them know how awesome I think they are.

[Fencers]

Indeed. Trion's ethic and commitment to their game(s) is very admirable.

I maintain Rift is far from perfect-- so few are. Though, Trion as a company are superb.

[Deleted]

Indeed. Trion's ethic and commitment to their game(s) is very admirable.

I maintain Rift is far from perfect-- so few are. Though, Trion as a company are superb.

Fully agreed, though with all the sharks out there... it might also be what will drive them into the ground. They're a good company and I fear that the ones that use unethical practices to get more money and stuff like that will drive a company that does care for its players into the ground. Which I find quite sad, as it reminds me of quite a few gaming companies that had same end

[Fencers]

There are some other good developers out there that give a damn about their game and customers; Grinding Gear Games, Arena.net, CD Project, GOG (in a certain sense), et cetera. Just being fair about things.

[Deleted]

There are some other good developers out there that give a damn about their game and customers; Grinding Gear Games, Arena.net, CD Project, GOG (in a certain sense), et cetera. Just being fair about things.

I know... but there were more, and these good companies seem to disappear over time much, much faster then the jerky ones. And it's the fault of the players as well.
For example with CD Project and The Witcher 2, I understood they made a statement that the game had been bought by 1 million people... and 4.5 million pirated it. Now, not sure if their measurment is exact but it's kind of sad to see this. I mean yes, I pirate games myself too, but if they're good, I buy them. I don't belive 3.5 million(assuming best case, that all the 1 million tried the game by pirating it before they bought it, most likely it didn't happen at all like this) people played the game and thought it was bad and only 1 million liked it. Stuff like this can drive a company into the ground, because there's only so much it can afford before their expenses are higher then their incomes. Same goes for Trion, though they do have an advantage of their game being an MMO and needing a connection to their servers, but you still ...

[Deleted]

I know... but there were more, and these good companies seem to disappear over time much, much faster then the jerky ones. And it's the fault of the players as well.
For example with CD Project and The Witcher 2, I understood they made a statement that the game had been bought by 1 million people... and 4.5 million pirated it. Now, not sure if their measurment is exact but it's kind of sad to see this. I mean yes, I pirate games myself too, but if they're good, I buy them. I don't belive 3.5 million(assuming best case, that all the 1 million tried the game by pirating it before they bought it, most likely it didn't happen at all like this) people played the game and thought it was bad and only 1 million liked it. Stuff like this can drive a company into the ground, because there's only so much it can afford before their expenses are higher then their incomes. Same goes for Trion, though they do have an advantage of their game being an MMO and needing a connection to their servers, but you still ...

Witcher 2 was pirated 4.5M times, sold 1.5M. (Also with the new release of Witcher2 coming to consoles they will no doubt sell quite a lot more of the game). CD Project actually seem to like the fact Witcher 2 was pirated so many times, in their interviews and announcements they seem to give the impression they see pirated games as "demo" versions, and if people like what they see they go on to buy the actual product. Whether that is true or not is of course debatable but considering such a small studio sold 1.5million copies of a game they must have been doing something right. A lot of the bigger studios would kill to get their games selling that many copies.

Also of course you have to consider because Witcher 2 is completely DRM free it gained huge popularity in the gaming community as a flagship of "what a game should be like" which really appealed to a lot of gamers. Also with DRM costing incredible amounts these days to do successfully (which gets cracked anyway, afaik no DRM is out there that is unbeatable) they would have saved huge amounts in the development budget by making it DRM free.

One thing that slightly scares me about Trion is you read again and again and again that they have just secured a "new batch" of $50-100M+ in private funding which is obviously where they are getting all the money to produce their games at such a rate. It makes you wonder how much they are actually in debt now because it must be a fairly substantial amount considering currently RIFT is their only source of income (and even that can not be pulling in a huge amount of money considering the relatively low subscription numbers). If Red Door does not succeed to the level Trion are hoping for I have a real worry that they will go under the sheer volume of debt they must be carrying. Of course if Red Door does succeed then Trion will be the next EA/Activision-Blizzard, maybe even surpassing them.

[Tarien]

One thing that slightly scares me about Trion is you read again and again and again that they have just secured a "new batch" of $50-100M+ in private funding which is obviously where they are getting all the money to produce their games at such a rate. It makes you wonder how much they are actually in debt now because it must be a fairly substantial amount considering currently RIFT is their only source of income (and even that can not be pulling in a huge amount of money considering the relatively low subscription numbers). If Red Door does not succeed to the level Trion are hoping for I have a real worry that they will go under the sheer volume of debt they must be carrying. Of course if Red Door does succeed then Trion will be the next EA/Activision-Blizzard, maybe even surpassing them.

They initially received $100m in funding, of which half went to RIFT. But RIFT cleared $100m in revenue a few months ago so I'd say they're doing okay. They have since secured another $85m on the back of RIFTs success, and they have two more games due later this year and an expansion. I'd say that they are making or going to make plenty of money.

[Deleted]

They initially received $100m in funding, of which half went to RIFT. But RIFT cleared $100m in revenue a few months ago so I'd say they're doing okay. They have since secured another $85m on the back of RIFTs success, and they have two more games due later this year and an expansion. I'd say that they are making or going to make plenty of money.

That's pretty nice then although I thought they had secured 3 or 4 rounds of funding now not 2? I'm not talking specific investments for their games from the articles I read these rounds were more aimed at investing in Trion's Red Door platform.

[Tarien]

That's pretty nice then although I thought they had secured 3 or 4 rounds of funding now not 2? I'm not talking specific investments for their games from the articles I read these rounds were more aimed at investing in Trion's Red Door platform.

As far as I am aware there have been just two rounds of investments, which are for the company as a whole, not individual games or platforms. Trion then decide what gets spent where, although I am sure they present a plan of what they will do with the money to investors.