Complete list of WoM vs FE features

E:WoM has:
-dynasties
-population.

E:FE has:
-better tactical battles
-more meaningfull magic
-territories that have to be conquered with bosses that have to be beaten.
-Less, but more meaningfull heroes that each has there own recruitment method.

 

That's all that I can come up with for the moment.

So it sounds like there is not a comprehensive, up-to-date list of any kind. I'd really appreciate it if Brad or someone would create this and keep it up-to-date in a sticky. Right now, I'm having a really hard time understanding the thought process between WoM and FE being two 'different' games, instead of FE just being a normal expansion that improves and expands the original. So far, it sounds like FE is just going to be better. I see very little being said about why anyone would want to play WoM instead. It is keeping features like dynasties that are basically broken anyways, so that isn't a selling point. Not sure why they are wasting resources on a separate development track for WoM instead of just devoting all resources to making one great game.

For my $0.02, its marketing. Some people on the forum will inevitably complain about abandoning WoM.  I mean we had a thread just like that last week where someone wants everything new in FE backported to WoM, which rather defeats the point.

If FE turns out anywhere near as good as it looks, there will be no reason to work on WoM any further as nobody will be playing it.

What you said was actually similar to what Brad said recently (back 2 weeks or so). He said that he fears FE will replace E:WoM instead of being another game. Maybe at the start they planned to make FE a lot different but decided against it, which kind of goes hand in hand with what he told us much earlier about how they originally planned to much for E:WoM and could not do it all.

My fear is that FE will not be different enough and with that not good enough. I am still waiting to put in enough playtime into these products to warrant spending money on it (and deciding to ever again look at another Stardock product).

Well, the nice thing is that FE will be free for many of us. I would honestly have been willing to pay for it if it was good enough, but the gesture is appreciated.

 

I really like most of what they are doing with FE, so far. The key will be for FE to be stable and complete. Whatever it does end up doing, it needs to do it well. I appreciate all the hard work that has gone into WoM, but right now it seems to just be a crippled game that is getting repeated band-aids, some of which cause more harm than good. That is why I would prefer for WoM to be sidelined and have all resources focused on making FE as good as  it can be. I doubt they will be different enough to justify playing both, so I imagine the vast majority of us will play whichever is better, and I seriously doubt WoM will be able to compete with FE...

No, what he said was that FE was turning out so good, that he feared noone would play E:wom again. He didn't say anything about it being different or not. So, he feared E:wom would not be played, not because it was the same game, but because it was inferior.

 

This is exactly my case.  I haven't played E:WoM in such a loooong time, and really have no desire to.  Will wait for FE, and hopefully my faith will not have been displaced that it will be superior.

I stopped playing E:WoM a number of months back and haven't picked it up since. Elemental needs more than band aids and patches. It needs a complete rework which is what I'm hoping is happening with FE. The chance that I return to Elemental:War of Magic is about zero. Abandon it and move all resources onto Fallen Enchantress which might actually have some promise.

I sometimes wonder if they're hanging on to E:WofM because they're too attached to just pull the final plug on it and admit that it was at best a proof of concept for a new graphics engine and a future fantasy 4x game.

 

I think they are hanging on to it becasue Brad suggested that Stardock would stick with it until it was molded into a good game. It is very much a case of not abandoning it to honor this commitment.

But, well you know, It would be better to draw a line under it and put all the resources into one product rather than spread them over two. If Brad is already under the impression that FE will be the better product, then why waste any more time on WOM? It is not like most of us early adopters have to pay again.

Stardock, put WOM to bed, close the door and commit all your energies and talents to FE.

True, and I applaud the commitment to the entire line of games, but that's what always made more sense to me, a commitment to the line of games not one specific incarnation. Pretty much all of us who have stuck around this long are getting fe free so I guess I just don't get the attachment to the specific version Elemental: war of magic. Now if stardock wasn't doing fe for free it would be an entirely different story. And i have to say they're awesome for doing this. All us diehards might be a little more eager for them to improve the base game. But as it stands I'm just waiting for fe. Is there anyone out there who's really clamoring for the next EWOM patch? Maybe there still a few sales trickling in who won't get fe for free and continuing to support them definitely does make sense, but it can't be that many.

I was until the beta patches of 1.3. Its not that these patches had bugs. Thats normal. But i began to realize and accept (yeah, sometimes i´m very slow ) that it is not possible to turn WoM in that great game we all hoped for. And that is not because of Brads or anybodys skills, who worked on WoM. It is because the basement of the game is not good enough.   

For example, I´m sure (and Brad wrote it) that he worked hard to change the pop.system, only to see that it did not work as intended or only, if they put even more work/ressources in it. And thats not meaningful. How frustrating must that be?!

 

Yep... I was to until 1.2. After that I just relieved that elemental needed a complete rework and not tweeks that weren't going to solve the multiple underlying issues.

Double post! I'm awesome!

 

 

I think that one of Derek's interviews (with Gamespot) gives a decent summary of what FE is about:

 

DP: Yes and no; the point of the game is still to conquer and rule, of course. But the main difference in Fallen Enchantress, in terms of gameplay style and overall functionality, is that the land must first be conquered and then you can start building before you make choices to defend and/or expand.

 

He also lists the the main focus areas as tactical combat, the game world, and the magic system, while simplifying city management and removing things like dynasties. These are the things that have been focused on in most diaries and interviews. We can also expect changes / improvements to research, unit design, and really the entire game. I am expecting, at this point, that FE will be a 'more and better' version of WoM, minus a few systems like dynasties that were never fleshed out / working to begin with.

 

So...where does that leave WoM? The latest patch is basically just minor tweaks. I still don't have a clear picture of how WoM is meant to  be different. I'm sad that FE is removing dynasties and maybe some city detail, but I'm glad that this will likely mean a more focused, complete product.

 

Here is what I would like to see happen:

 

1) Immediately stop all WoM work and focus all resources on making FE awesome. FE is not a new game, no matter what anyone says. It is an expansion of Elemental, hopefully a major and game-changing one.

2) Anything that was going to be improved  / added to WoM, save it for whatever comes after FE. So, if FE is meant to be first of all a more polished, better product and second of all more story / character / world  focused, maybe the next game could expand on FE by adding in dynasties, more city detail, etc.

 

If this isn't going to happen, I would love to see something from Brad about where he thinks WoM is going compared to FE. The last few diaries have shown a lack of focus on this - Brad's frustration is quite obvious. I love that Brad and others are still working hard on making WoM better, but I hate to think that those efforts might be wasted on a game that will be vastly inferior to FE. I really want to play Elemental, and mod, but I'm very hesitant to spend anymore time on WoM when FE looks like it will be a big improvement.

 

 

 

 

If E:FE is going to concentrate on Tactics, and conquering the surrounding boss controlled areas before venturing out into the world to build Kingdoms.

Then why can't E:WoM concentrate on Strategy, and building up alliances through the Dynasties? and winning areas based on influence and perhaps successfully completing quests?

In effect make the concentration of the games different, E:WoM will be a slower and strategic plodding across the map, with a slow buildup of good and bad interactions with the other Kingdoms and Empires over a longer play period and resolved through trade and negotiation.

Where E:FE will be quick, with decisive tactical battles resolved with greater magic and weapons and much more nimble and shorter games?

Certainly it would make the games different enough that players could choose the type of game that they prefer to play.

 

-Teal

 

 

 

Because making WoM good at that will require considerable developer effort that has to be taken away from something else?

This is a zero-sum game. If you throw more people at WoM, you're taking it away from FE. The goal here should be to make one really good game, not two mediocre ones.

Having recently seen the aow mods, I am wishing they would throw this project at the community and make it open source or something....  I have a feeling that would be awesome.

So basically FE is going to be like "Why did you put some strategy into my RPG?" and WOM is like "Why did you put some RPG in my Strategy?"

 

These would still be largely the same game, only two gimped versions of the same game. Why should I have different games for different options? Why not just have one awesome game that lets me go for a slow build-up or a fast war?

 

 

I'd much rather see a professional project that has been completed by a paid, dedicated team, that provides the mod community with a great leaping off point.

 

 

I don't think so...I think both are still going to be more heavy on the strategy side. You would have to do away with more city and empire management in FE for it to be more RPG focused. I think FE is just shooting for better RPG aspects.