WarCry network has a new interview up with Travis Baldree, whom we know as the lead behind Mythos.
The interview is quite short, however gives some interesting insights.
WC: The business model for Mythos is unusual. Please explain how Mythos will ‘make money’ if not through subscription play. What sort of items will be sold through through the premium shops?
Our initial plan is to utilize a dual-currency system similar to what is used by Three Rings for Puzzle Pirates. In this system, there are two ingame currencies - one that is earned, and one that is purchased for actual money. Certain goods and services will be available for purchase with the ‘purchased’ currency. The unique part of this system is that players can trade purchased currency for ingame currency or items - in this way, even those who never pay any actual money can still have access to goods that require it. Our aim is not to sell game-in balancing items, but rather convenience services and cosmetic options, primarily.
WC: Mythos has had the ‘casual gamer’ label slapped on it by MMO purists. How do you respond to that? What sort of gamer is Mythos attempting to attract?
I don’t have any problem with being labeled a casual game - primarily because as I grow older I am making the shift from hardcore to casual myself. That doesn’t mean I don’t care about a fun game with a deep core experience - it means I’m unwilling to put up with needless time wasting and grind. Casual gamers don’t want less of a game - they just want the time spent playing it to count. We’d like the hardcore to play as well - we intend to keep layering the experience, and deepening it with late-game content that we hope will keep players interested and active, without feeling they need to commit an extraordinary chunk of their life to do so.
See the WarCry page for the rest of the interview.
The official Mythos website is reporting on a couple of bits of new Mythos things.
First is a set of new exclusive screenshots of the Overworld by RPG Vault and second is a front page magazine review of Mythos, in an online Magazine, Thirteen1 Online.
Over at RPG vault there are six exclusive Mythos screenshots of the Overworld now available in our Test Center server. Check them out by clicking Read More… below.
Mythos was given a cover spot on the latest issue of Thirteen1 Online Gaming Magazine as well as a three page preview. Check out the June 13th issue over at their website.
Are you tired of having to pester Flagship Studios for small tidbits of news about the game?
Are you bored of not having any recent exclusives?
Are you eager to hear about some new and exciting information about Mythos?
If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you’ve come to the right place!
That’s right! We here at Mythos Guru have gone out of our way to do the job for you. You won’t have to wait in line to get one measly question answered. You won’t have to leave your kids alone in the car, baking under the hot sun, as you dash to your news press to find the latest goss on the game only to find a police officer waiting for you with a warrant and a pair of silver handcuffs when you return. You won’t have to sit there doodling words and pictures on your wall hoping they will be the new exclusives for Mythos.
All you simply have to do is feast your eyes upon our wonderous interview with the amazing Max (Note: Max may or may not actually be amazing, but the interview is indeed wonderful!). Not only do you get exclusive new information at Mythos Guru about the game’s upcoming new modes of transportation, brand new ways to live and die, new ways to dress and express, as well as the secret race that was going to be put in until Max was abducted!!!
You will see the answers to these questions and more by read not one, two, or even five, but twenty four whole questions that will make you wish that you could hibernate until open beta!
GamesRadar has interviewed Max Schaefer, with a quote entitled “We just wanted to whack skeletons with clubs”. Such is the simple premise of Mythos, a game that’s incredibly fun not in spite of, but due to its overall simplicity and straightforwardness in design. Here’s a snippet from the aforementioned interview:
GR: Mythos is a rarity in the MMO sphere in that it’s completely free of subscription fees. What brought about that decision? Distaste for the current publishing model? The need to compete in a WoW-dominated market? Something else entirely?
MS: We’d like to think we’re clever enough to have made up this model, but the truth is that it’s become the dominant business model in Asia, and is quickly coming to the US/Europe market. Certainly, it’s foolish to compete directly with WoW, but even if there was no WoW, we would still be moving in this direction. We like the model because of the low barrier to entry. You don’t need to go to a store, buy a box, and commit to payments on a game you’re not sure you want to play. We are confident in Mythos, and confident that people will want to participate after they’ve tried it out.
Both of these articles were mentioned on the official Mythos website.
The first is Binary, which is a gaming blog, which has a preview of their gaming experience in Mythos:
The game starts quite smoothly with no long tutorials or cutscenes. You are quickly tasked with going into a vestry to return the undead to the soil from which they crawled and once complete are sent to the castle town, Stonehill. This is the primary world hub, where you can get new quests, buy/ sell and upgrade items, and access your storage chest.
[...]
My biggest concern with the game is that there’s a lot to take in for first time gamers. For a normal rpg I wouln’t think this is a problem - but since this is free it has the potential to attract a much broader audience. Hopefully, since this is a beta, the extra dev time will allow them to improve the tutorial/ docs. Being a massive multiplayer game you can always ask if you get stuck, however currently the world is quite empty. I am not sure if this is due to the fact the game is a closed beta or that the game has been designed this way.
Horned’s dungeon has a new interview up on their website with Max Schaefer.
It goes through a variety of questions about game features and what is to come in the future of the game.
Mythos will finance itself about so-called item-stores. In which prize area will these stores move?
Max Schaefer: You will be able to buy items and services from vendors using the in-game cash currency in each town. They will work very much like the regular vendors, only instead of gold, silver, and copper, they will take the cash currency.
Will there be for fans like me sometime maybe a collector edition? Lineage 2 has demonstrated it here and after 2 years has thrown on the market a collector edition.
Max Schaefer: That’s a little ahead of where we’re thinking right now, but I like the idea. If we are successful in launching Mythos, we’ll do something like that for our fans!
[...]
Thank you Mr. Schaefer for this Interview. I hope Mythos would be a great Game.. No, I know that Mythos would be a great Game. Im a big Fan of this Game. And if, nevertheless, you want to make liable to pay costs one day. I think here the fans pay with pleasure monthly. A survey of us confirms this that the people were ready to pay.
Max Schaefer: There really is no good way to get money from customers, is there? If only we could get a government subsidy and provide the game for free to everyone, then everyone would be happy! Seriously, a huge part of our market is the Asian territories, and they are almost 100% using the item store model. Since our team is as small as our budget, we can only support one financial model at this time, and are going with the item store concept worldwide. We think it provides the most flexibility, and the best option for those who cannot pay any cash to play.
There are more questions on their website, so go check them out!
The weekly 1UP internet radio/chat show has been broadcast again this Friday, and one of the topics discussed was Mythos.
Shawn, Anthony, and Jay Frechette discussing their experiences in the new MMO Mythos, including an impromptu chat with Flagship Studios lead producer Max Schaefer.
While I don’t have the time to download it and find out what they talk about, if any of you guys do let us know if it’s of any use. Thanks.
The download links for the show are on the website.
CVG has interviewed Max Schaefer about Mythos and talked to him about the business model, the game’s features and the payment model behind the game.
They also talked to Max a bit about the computer market in general.
Is it tough dealing with the stigma that’s attached to free MMOs that feature real-money transactions? Often it’s the case that those willing to pay are the ones to access the best items in a game…
Schaefer: Only if you SELL the best items in a game! We intend to have all players find their items by adventuring and killing monsters, or by crafting them. The ‘pay’ players may have an easier time doing it, but the same items are available to all players. There is a stigma with ‘free’ MMOs, but there’s also a much smaller barrier to entry, so we hope that we can convert the sceptics with direct evidence.
WanderingGoblin and their sister site IncGamers got an exclusive interview with Taylor Balbi at this years Game Developers Convention.
We know Taylor Balbi as the Mythos Community Manager. The interview mentions the team at Flagship Seattle, what Mythos itself is like, what other games it is similar to. Taylor also talks of the different classes and the races and shows them off ingame. He also talks of future classes to be added, but does not specify when or what they are.
There is also talk of open beta in March! Yay!
He also talks about the payment system, which will include Real Money Transactions. The things that will be sold will make the game more fun, but will not be a necessity. Also things like special maps will be used for entire parties, not just people who bought them. The paid items will also be able to be traded ingame.
There is talk of the crafting system, which will have a tier based system of skills specifically for crafting.
Curse.com has posted up a new video preview of zone 3, and while we have similar videos already, they also provided us with a Q&A session with Travis Baldree.
The Q&A goes through some interesting questions including talk of PVP, Zone Sizes as well as story lines.
Quests and lore. Right now you do not feel too involved in the storyline and the lore aspects of the world. This could be improved upon greatly with more interesting and unique quests. Perhaps class specific quests and/or epic quests. Also, adding more lore and storyline development (i.e epic quest) would make the players feel part of the world a lot more. Is there any such plans for the future?
Definitely, and we’re acutely aware here of the lack of story in the game. We’re looking at doing some simple ( but hopefully stylish ) mini-cinematics to set the stage for the world, and our third Zone is more ‘lore-centric’ than previous zones, telling the story of what happened to the Dwarven race. We’ve also started adding books to the game with snippets of story. We sort of went about development backwards given our initial purpose as a network test. In the beginning, having the mechanics in place was the most important thing. Now that we’ve got the game up and running and enjoyable, we’re beginning a big effort to inject more story and lore into the game. We are also looking at new quest types to break up the flow of the game more.
There are many interesting questions to read, so head over to Curse and check them out.
Mythos Guru was founded early in 2007 as the first fansite and forum ever dedicated to Flagship Studios' online game, Mythos. It caters to an international base of players and guilds. Following in the footsteps of its predecessor Hellgate Guru, Mythos Guru shares a proud tradition of sponsoring and organizing community backed projects and events, and a powerful skill calculator. More
