SpectralHunter

Holy crap the new costumes are nice.

@Ghostspeaker

Heh, you are just like me. I played CoH, left it for WoW then returned recently. I have no intention of going back to WoW. I am CoH immensely.

Strike one for Marvel was that you couldn't create your own superhero which is a huge mistake. And strike two to a billion is them hiring Roper.

@Ghostspeaker

And Freedom. That server competes with Virtue as the most populous server. Yeah, you are probably right about the population. It's been seven years and I think CoH has held fairly steady the entire time which says a lot about the quality of the game.

And how the heck do you remove the (unverified) tag???? I even did the whole, log out, log in the main joystiq site business and still no go...arrgh...

"KHHHHHAAAAAAN" - *raises fist*

I play on Virtue as well and yes, if you play on that server, it seems like CoH has a sub base that rivals some of the really big MMOs. But I know Virtue is not the best indicator of the game population. Still, CoH does seem to have a very high retention rate of their veteran players which is a very good thing.

I think Paragon Studios is one of the better managed and creative studios in the MMO landscape. CoH seems to keep trucking along. And with Bill Roper helming the Marvel MMO, I don't see any other superhero MMOs that will dethrone CoH.

They do need to update their character models though. Character customization is their bread and butter so they should make sure it is a top priority.

@(Unverified)

It is true the MMO landscape has grown but I don't think a good AAA MMO needs to have fire sales early in its life. But in order to do so, they must have a product that clearly differentiates itself from the masses and is appealing; a very demanding and difficult task. Trion's problem is, Rift didn't differentiate itself from the masses at least not in a significant manner.

I don't think franchises help all that much either. It may help a little. Star Trek Online had a decent IP but they didn't do so well. Age of Conan as well. In the end, players want a compelling and good game. That's what matters most.

I think with SWTOR, it's not the Star Wars franchise that is carrying it (although it is a factor). I think it has more to do with Bioware and their reputation in the gaming community. I am curious how SWTOR will fare if it really is a WoW clone...

@Ren54

Just because something is cheaper doesn't mean it sells better. BMW sells expensive cars. They seem to be doing well. Verizon doesn't have to have as many sales as Sprint because Verizon is more popular and people believe it is the better product or haven't you noticed Verizon price plans are much more expensive than Sprint? The point is, if your product is popular and doing well, you don't have to reduce prices because there is high demand. That's economics 101.

Again, WoW is an old game, so its popularity has waned. It's expected. If Rift is giving away their game then what it tells the consumers is they can't compete with a seven year old game. And I get that. WoW is a pretty big gorilla. But at the same time Trion didn't do itself any favors when their marketing specifically targeted WoW.

It's just odd that Trion is having so many sales and promotions this early. It should raise some red flags. Does it mean Rift is dying? Of course not. But at the same time, I don't think it is doing well because they aren't showing signs of a game that is growing and doing well.

And again with SWTOR... Just like you think I hate Trion and want them to go bankrupt for no reason, I suspect you hate EA and SWTOR for no reason. I don't hate Trion. But I will admit that I'm tired of developers making WoW clones and I hope Rift will be a good lesson for future developers on what not to do.

@Ren54

Um, I think the only person that is raging is you... I was just stating why people are reacting the way they are and IMO, justifyingly so.

WoW is an old game so of course they need to have sales but Rift is still fairly new. The biggest advantage Rift has over WoW is that it is new and shiny. But the perception is, if they are slashing prices and even offering the game for free to some people, they aren't doing well even though Rift is a new and polished game.

And why did SWTOR get into the discussion? As for the CE, my guess is, those editions won't be available after a few days (if not already sold out) of launch so not sure why people will get angry. But we shouldn't even be talking about SWTOR on this page.

@Brombz

I think what everyone is saying is, it's a bit early for Trion to be pulling these fire sales and promotional events. From what I remember, WoW didn't do any sales or promotions until years after launch. Most successful MMOs don't do what Trion is doing less than 6 months of existence.

I always thought it was funny how Trion makes such a big deal about this. Pretty much all sub MMOs offer special deals if you sub for more than one month. Come to think of it, Rift is the only game that I recall that doesn't offer savings all the time when subbing for more than one month.

How is this news?