Rumors and reality

[Phyrehart]

[:O] Hello everyone.
I started with Horizons just when it first launched. It was pretty fun and very new. As with ALL games there is a learning curve and content needs to develope. From my past gaming experience I have learned its usually a good thing to really just wait until a game has been out for a while before really judging it and its gameplay, content, crafting and over allissues.
With that said, I played for about the first three months. I then ventured to another game or two or three lol... While on the last game everquest II, I run into a player who said they were a tech writer for the gaming industry and was told that Horizons basicaly died out. I then heard from some other players down the road that Horizons has canceled. That was over a year ago.
Imagine my surprise when I was reading a popular gaming site when it said some stuff about Horizons.
I then did some reasearch and found it was not off line and that there was life still being breathed into the game. I am so happy to say then that I am going to be playing and am looking forward to meeting new friends.



Phyrehart

[Guaran]

Game has been open since it launched Dec 2003.

april/may 2004 they filed for bankruptcy, but that didnt affect the game other than part of the original Dev team was laid off.

Aug 31 2004 servers were merged

At times it seems like we are paying to play a game still in Beta. However it really has came a long ways. Dev's actively listen to player suggestions so while new content has been coming slower than we would like, we do have some input in the direction.

[Hal`cyon Sskyler]

april/may 2004 they filed for bankruptcy, but that didnt affect the game other than part of the original Dev team was laid off.

Artifact didn't file for chapter 7 bankruptcy. If they did we wouldn't be here. Artifact filed chapter 11 bankrupcy protection to get a fresh start on things.

After the monies were all hammered out, Artifact became the company it is today, Tulga Games. The company consists of a small band of jack-of-all trades devs now, so they can get by pretty well since there isn't the need to pay 100+ employees when a small, talented group can do 50% as much work at 10% the cost (I'm making numbers up). From what I can infer from listening to David talk about financial matters they're in no danger of going chapter 7 anytime in the future. Subscriptions have been on the rise (7% growth in 3 months I think), and from personal experiences I have been seeing a big influx of new players in the past months.

[Solitaire]

They are doing pretty good considering the limited number of staff that they can afford at the present time although subscription levels seem to be rising and they have added one or two new people here or there including a badly needed artist to help share the load. It certainly is not dead, much to the chagrin of a few morons. As Guran said above, the Devs certainly listen to the players. There are usually a few hanging out in IRC and I've seen some good discussions that led to nice improvements in content down the road. It seems it is on it's way to a moderate level of success, especially considering how close it probably did come to having the plug pulled. Whatever crap has been spread around about David Bowman and crew, they did manage to keep it going through the darkest hour and they have my respect for the considerable effort they put forth then and still continue to do so today.

So welcome back. Bring a few friends along if you like it. And enjoy the newly created or revamped tier 1 beginner islands and Lesser Aradoth, just a taste of what is comming to the world as the months progress.

[PJ]

Rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.

[Leviathan]

Rumors of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.

lol. I love that quote from Mark Twain ;)

"Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated".

[Tryagain]

They are doing pretty good considering the limited number of staff that they can afford at the present time although subscription levels seem to be rising and they have added one or two new people here or there including a badly needed artist to help share the load. It certainly is not dead, much to the chagrin of a few morons. As Guran said above, the Devs certainly listen to the players. There are usually a few hanging out in IRC and I've seen some good discussions that led to nice improvements in content down the road. It seems it is on it's way to a moderate level of success, especially considering how close it probably did come to having the plug pulled. Whatever crap has been spread around about David Bowman and crew, they did manage to keep it going through the darkest hour and they have my respect for the considerable effort they put forth then and still continue to do so today.

So welcome back. Bring a few friends along if you like it. And enjoy the newly created or revamped tier 1 beginner islands and Lesser Aradoth, just a taste of what is comming to the world as the months progress.

tisk tisk

saying much ado about nothing. A common art and past time around these parts. Please try to keep what you can't back up out of such threads and let the individual get a welcome to the game that isn't tainted by BS like this.

Note you need to remove " and crew" and "morons" from your post. Than it might have some actual credibility.

[Solitaire]

tisk tisk

saying much ado about nothing. A common art and past time around these parts. Please try to keep what you can't back up out of such threads and let the individual get a welcome to the game that isn't tainted by BS like this.

Note you need to remove " and crew" and "morons" from your post. Than it might have some actual credibility.

Sure... *pat-pat* Thank you for your "wisdom".

[Goriax]

They never stopped. The only ways their difficulties actually affected gameplay were the merge and the slow rate of changes.

No matter how talented they are, a dozen devs are going to have a hard time producing as much as 100+.

But the game still offers things you can't find elsewhere andit's a good place to be if it's unique features appeal to you and if you can be content with what such a small team can produce. They DO add to and improve the game constantly though.

[Kulamata]

The major additions right now are Dragon Ancient Quest/Rite and Dragon lairs. Despite the impression you might get from the above, these are no small things.

Another project is rewriting the client program. Again, no small thing.

These alone are having, and will have, a large impact on the game as well.

There are notonly new faces, but old ones as well. You are not the only returnee by any means.

So enjoy the changes; taken over time they seemed gradual, but to someone returning after more than a year, the differences will be dramatic.

[Peaches]

Welcome back, I hope you have just as much fun as I have been having.! [;)]