Pat and Bee's Life

At the speed of crazy!


Thursday, April 18, 2013

Not Supporting Camelot Unchained, Yet.

So after, quite literally, weeks of battling with myself and heated discussions with Pat - I've decided to not support the Camelot Unchained Kickstarter.

This is both heartbreaking and justified, as far as I'm concerned. Let me explain,

Most of you know the story of Dimli and Tovin - if you don't, it's not hard to find. I LOVED Mythic Entertainment. I beta'd DAoC. I met my husband playing the game, through other in game friends, I quite frankly had some of the most fun I've ever had playing any MMORPG playing Camelot. I helped run a fansite, I was ridiculous in my support and my OMG MYTHIC IS AWESOME attitude. I supported Imperator - I loved Sanya (even when she never responded to emails or posted my updates to the Herald), and I was a lifelong Matt Firor fan. Period, end of story.

Also, I still love Sanya, regardless. She is TRUE to her players, and her games. What more could you ask for?

I played DAoC for years. Started on Percival (Albion), and reported every name I could possibly report. I don't regret it! I played through TOA, even though it broke my heart. I continued playing because it is AMAZING. We all left, one by one, but Pat and I came back for Classic servers, for a good long time! Then came minotaurs, and while we were still having some bits of fun - it wasn't worth the sub for both of us and we kinda moved on.

Except, along comes WAR. So.....I start a WAR fansite, I pour hours of my life into it! I pre-order collector's editions, I get my friends to pre-order. Paul Barnett is a little crazy, but let's face it, we tend to love that. Doesn't matter that he and Mark Jacobs didn't deliver on almost anything promised. Game development is hard, I get it!

But then, it all goes sour. Amazon doesn't deliver my pre-order on time, Mark decides (after promising not to let it happen), to not let me continue to take part in the headstart. I rage (you know, like normal), and then I and my friends finally get in.

It's.....eh. Fun for the first month but not ANYTHING like what I loved in DAoC, and NOTHING like what I was promised. So *all* of my friends leave, most of them for WoW....which we still all play now (soul crushing, I know).

Now, Mr. Jacobs is looking for funding through Kickstarter for a new game. Working title: Camelot Unchained.

I went back and forth on this one. Pat and I had agonizing discussions on "If I'm going to give $150 I might as well give $350" type of discussions. Then I reached a sad realization. One that truly breaks my heart.

I have supported Mr. Jacobs and his teams with undying fan boi devotion and cold hard cash for years of my life. I have been re-paid unkindly. I keep my WAR collectors editions boxes where I can see them - the last remnants of what I loved about MMORPGs, ripped from me by people who didn't come close to doing what they said.

This time, I think it's worth asking him to actually give me something concrete before I believe in him or his staff, much less plop down money and ask my friends and family to do the same.

Fair? Maybe not. But I am not willing to do more at this time. WAR destroyed the faith of my friends to come play "amazing" games with me in a genre they didn't get, paying funds they didn't really have, just to have fun together.

Until I see a game I can review as a cold hearted outsider, no more of my money will go towards supporting people who broke my heart, and my love of a genre that I truly feel is the most amazing yet discovered.

I will take the shaming of not supporting the BEST GAME EVAH, and proudly pay my $15 a month - if it turns out to be ANYTHING like DAoC. Otherwise, I'll just sit here and continue to play random games with my friends. You know, fool me once kinda thing.

B