Comments on: Face the Nation: Paul Barnett (Pt. 3)

By: MMOG Nation » Face the Nation: Paul Barnett (Pt. 2)

MMOG Nation » Face the Nation: Paul Barnett (Pt. 2) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:45:46 +0000

[...] back tomorrow for our conclusion, the audio of the recording (not to be missed, much better than the text here), and (at his [...]

By: Dropping the Hamma at MMOG Nation

Dropping the Hamma at MMOG Nation — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 13:42:00 +0000

[...] Just … Tom … buddy … one thing. You are never allowed to try to imitate an English accent ever again. It sort of veered drunkenly from Australian to … maybe Czech? I dunno. Anyway, don’t do that again. Please. Ever. And that really is Paul Barnett’s blog. If you want to hear what the funny English man actually sounds like, I can help with that. [...]

By: Latheloi

Latheloi — Sun, 27 May 2007 22:57:25 +0000

“SImply, with people like Paul behind the wheel, how can this game be anything short of overwhelmingly amazing?!”

While it may be unfair, to have the past be something that jumps back and bites, I have played Kingdom of Heroes (originally Wolfenberg) for 5 years, and even had Paul buy me a pint at the last of the MUDFest’s run by OGC. Now… Wolfenberg, was the first effort at a Warhammer background game, run under licence from GW. Eventually we were dumped from the GW portfolio, for reasons never declared. But basically, it was because the game slowly died due to the total lack of effort from Paul and the guys to FIX what was broken. The Runesmith class waited over three years to see runes implemented. The game, is still lacking major factors in balance.
Now, while this can be seen, perhaps, as a flaw of the collective creators of the game, it really does discourage me from investing too much hope in WAR’s potential. Which is a shame, because I would absolutely love to see a really good, massively multiplayer game set in the warhammer background.

By: halycon404

halycon404 — Sat, 26 May 2007 01:45:13 +0000

If I had to change anything about chess, I would abolish the rule about pawns being able to take sideways at the 5th rank. Not because I think its a bad mechanic, or that it doesn’t add to the play experience. But because its a rule which rarely ever sees play, and when it does see play it normally makes your opponent go “waaait a minute, thats not legal”. Which starts a whole war of if its legal or not, keeping me from playing the actual game.

Anyway, my take away from this interview is that Paul is a very talented salesmen. I have no idea if he’s a gifted developer, having never played anything he’s had a hand in. But, my god the guy can talk. The interviews are like listening to the old robin williams(when he was on drugs), you have no idea what he’s going to say, or how he’s going to say it, yet whatever he says its a funny thought provoking comment. Even if he came at it from a completely backwards direction to get there.

By: Sunbasher

Sunbasher — Fri, 25 May 2007 17:48:17 +0000

This is the first time I have listen to a interview from anyone from Mythic. And now I can’t wait for the game to release.

You have raised my hopes for what a MMO should be. Like you said about the special features, if it isn’t fun then why play.

Your brute honesty about how things should be, is refreshing. Because in the pass 8 years of playing MMOs I have felt like I was told information about the game’s content from a stakeholder and not a designer. You have a passion for this game, and you allow people to see your game for what it is, just plan fun.

By: Jesoer

Jesoer — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:06:27 +0000

Pure dead brilliant!

SImply, with people like Paul behind the wheel, how can this game be anything short of overwhelmingly amazing?!
I am confident he could even turn something like “My Little Pony: The Online Experience” into a blockbuster hit.

By: Darken

Darken — Fri, 25 May 2007 06:56:37 +0000

I (like Taemojitsu) am one of those countless people just waiting for next good mmo to reach the stores. Some will go for LOTR some for Conan, but most people that I’ve talked to are looking towards WAR for the answer.
As Crucian mentions Blizzard has shot wide with their expansion (well to be fair they lost their best people), in one fell swoop they managed to hit both the casual guilds (griiind) and the hardcore ones (dungeon sizes). They tried to do too many things at once (as Paul mentions in the interview, WoW is a flawed genius of a game), and it mostly worked… for a time, as time progressed more and more things fell trough (like world pvp) peaking with TBC where the old part of the game is mostly deserted (only missing a AH and trainers in Shat to completely cut off 54+ (summon =P ) from the old world, were players not able/high enough for TBC is having a tough time finding help for the old 55+ instances.

erh.. sry.

About the interview:
Paul Barnett’s drive hits just the right spot, the way that he views the gaming industry’s obsession with designing things the “right” way, according to what currently “works”. I have nothing against developers getting inspiration from any number of games, but they should damn well learn to take it further, instead of a few extra gimicks or features (prey anyone?). By further I dont mean inventing a whole new next gen thingamagic, just make the experience different, and (as Paul states) above all else make it fun to play (its not for nothing that the old Counterstrike and Starcraft (1) is still something that people play). I really like what he says about viewing wow through a filter and taking your own approth (look what happend to SWG).

Thank you for this great interview.