E3 2009: Trion World Network unveils fantasy MMO Heroes of Telara
by James Egan 
Jun 1st 2009 at 12:30PM
Filed under: Fantasy, Events, real-world, MMO industry, New titles, News items, Heroes of Telara
Trion World Network unveiled its first fantasy MMO title Heroes of Telara at E3 2009 today. The announcement was accompanied by the launch of the official Heroes of Telara site, that provides background on the gameplay elements and backstory, as well as screenshots, concept art, and a game trailer. Trion World Network describes Heroes of Telara as a game all about being 'the right hero for the right time' in a world on the brink of disaster. Have a flip through the galleries below and check out the game trailer after the cut for more on what Heroes of Telara will offer.
Trion World Network hasn't announced a launch date yet but we'll keep you informed. In the meantime, if you're interested in finding out more about Heroes of Telara, you can follow the game on both Twitter @HeroesofTelara and on Facebook.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
CindyL said on 12:47PM 6-01-2009
I went to their website and I'm not really understanding how this game will work? It sounds like it's mostly PvE and there's going to be awesome live events which is great, but they also talk about factions so will there be open world PvP too?
Is this world fully explorable like Vanguard or will it have lots of pocketed areas like Conan?
Sure looks amazing graphically very traditional fantasy graphics with great character models.
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PeterD said on 12:59PM 6-01-2009
Because clearly the market needs ANOTHER fantasy MMO? *boggle*
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Rhaegar said on 3:17PM 6-01-2009
The market needs another revolutionary fantasy MMO like WoW or EQ, not more of this crap. You really have to have a huge budget to produce a quality MMO these days, there's not much room for indie developers because of the sheer scale involved in the genre. People don't seem to realize this.
Brendan Drain said on 10:46AM 6-02-2009
Rhaegar, I would argue that there IS room in the MMO genre for indie developers. If games like Runes of Magic, World of Warcraft, Runescape and Maple Story have shown anything, it's that graphics aren't a huge factor in a game's success. An MMO lives or dies on how fun its gameplay is. The running costs of an MMO are relatively low per user. Assuming you're monetising those users well, an MMO with under a thousand subscriptions can remain cash-flow-positive.
The problem with indie games is that they have to be grown organically. They don't have the branding or the cash to advertise a game and hype it up for launch. As a result, most indie MMOs (of which there are quite a few) don't gain much ground compared to the big players in the market. Of course they do tend to suffer from the same lack of innovation as high-budget games. It's possible that an indie game could come along with innovative gameplay elements, get enough support and break into the market-at-large. Possible, but not likely as most of the talented new game designers entering the market get hired by established studios.
Psy said on 7:39PM 6-02-2009
Brendan, don't include WoW in that lot. RuneScape and Runes of Magic are pretty good examples but WoW is not. World of Warcraft was extremely hyped up (especially by fans of the Warcraft series as a whole or even just WC3).
WoW, unlike most games, lived up to it's hype and even though it had crap graphics it was never made by an "indie" developer. Blizzard have had many successful games, not just WoW.
As for a new MMO, no, I do not think the gaming industry needs a new fantasy-based MMO. I've tried WAR, I do not mind it but I don't play it because quite frankly, I get my fantasy-fix from World of Warcraft.
Games like EVE Online, Star Wars Galaxies (no matter how crap it may be) and soon-to-be, Star Wars: The Old Republic are, IMO, decent ideas for games. EVE Online is pretty popular, SWG well... let's not go there and as for TOR, well it looks good so far, we'll have to wait and see.
All those games listed are pretty space-oriented. Which is what I like, not because I like fantasy over space, that's very much the opposite but because it's new and it hasn't been done much before in an MMO environment.
Developers need to stop restricting themselves to fantasy games.
Matt Graham said on 1:05PM 6-01-2009
Heroes of Telara [Un]Forums - http://heroesoftelara.forums-free.com/
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Halldorr said on 1:15PM 6-01-2009
"Control Territories
Join a faction and participate in the struggle to control territories where you monopolize access to epic rewards."
Stood out for me :) Sounds pretty cool!
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THAC0 said on 1:54PM 6-01-2009
Looks interesting, but I'm tired of watching games and waiting for them to come out, its takes forever and they haven't been worth the wait and hype recently. I'll be excited when its on store shelves but not until then.
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Manic Soul said on 2:34PM 6-01-2009
This is awesome...I was just thinking the other day about how there aren't enough fantasy mmo's available right now.
Seriously, who the hell can even tell these things apart anymore?
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HexDSL said on 2:46PM 6-01-2009
i read the whole site, sounds to me like its going to be very guildwars-like in gameplay and thats a good thing
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derella said on 2:55PM 6-01-2009
The announcements for Tales of Monkey Island and Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition have put me in a good mood. I'm willing to be optimistic about this game. :)
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torak said on 3:12PM 6-01-2009
Did you guys ever see those old "charlie brown" cartoons where all the adults talk with a "wak, wak, wak" sound?
That's about where I am at with fantasy MMO's.
Good luck to the Telara Saga of Heroes or whatever...they are gonna need it. Their "about" section reads like dozens of other fantasy MMO's. Vague and full of promise's of the ultimate MMO game experience.
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Jack said on 7:12PM 6-01-2009
Trailer is pretty bare on game play so can not tell of it will be any good or just more crap!
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Dude said on 9:13PM 6-01-2009
Looks alright. Fantasy MMO's sell ok. Will be keeping an eye out or two.
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mszv said on 9:21PM 6-01-2009
I went on the Trion site to check out the company. Not a lot about the games, yet, but there are some goodies on their site, particularly in the news section. Trion is located in Silicon Valley (Redwood City, good choice), Austin and San Diego. In my opinion these are great locations for a game company - places people will move to, good way to get local talent. They have an impressive set of investors, partners, and game industry veterans, and these people know how to raise money. It looks like they are working on an MMORPG, an MMORTS and an MMO Action game. Another thing that's interesting is their focus on networks and hardware. They appear to be serious about developing and managing games that will both perform and scale. I really like that..
I like fantasy as an MMO setting, and I like heroic quest sorts of games. What's out there looks fine to me, but, like everyone said - not a lot of info, yet! The limited set of words and pictures look OK, but you can't tell what makes this new game special. I will be looking to see what comes out of E3.
As always, I'll be looking for a PvE experience, a way to play at my own pace, a way to solo, and a way to play with anyone I want. We'll see how it all turns out.
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wufiavelli said on 1:54PM 6-03-2009
After all that hype over what trion was going to present this is what we get? Everything about this game screams been there done that. Also the combat looks horrid.
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