One of the main things that has always drawn me to the Myst titles, and the thing that most attracted me to Uru and kept me coming back to the Cavern back in the day, was the element of surprise. There was always that insatiable desire to find out what lay around the next corner, and if there was something there, if it would be useful to me as I pried the story open.

The amazing thing about Uru is that it had that element plus the ability to experience the worlds in the company of others. For example, I've gone to some pretty interesting places on business and seen some cool stuff; but my main thought was always, "I wish my wife and son were here to see this too." Sequoia National Park was astonishing, but I was there by myself, and it would have been so much better with the family. So that quality of Uru is what put it on the map for many of us. We could explore to our hearts' content - just as in the earlier titles - but could share that experience too, and that combination was huge.

Trouble is, once you've found all there is to find, and revealed the entire story, the element of surprise is gone. When you link in, you know you're going to find things pretty much the way they were when you left, and for many of us "old-guard," we've explored Uru so exhaustively over the years that our curiosity was sated long ago. Once you've completed the Journeys a few dozen times, and maybe even beta-tested as well, it gets harder and harder to rekindle the fire that kept you coming in the past, and harder to remember what it was like the first time you saw the Cavern and the Ages.

And yeah, I'll admit that I'm relating my own experience here. I guess what I'm saying is that in all the chatter about "Content," the big thing that needs to return to Uru is the mystery, and with that, the "hook" that grabs our curiosity and won't let go. And wow, is that a challenge - Cyan's approach appeared to be based on the regular infusion of new Ages, which requires a full staff and a big budget. And ravenous fans that we are, we could devour new content much faster than Cyan could have ever created it.

I suggested a long time ago that new adventures and storylines could be developed by Cyan using the existing Ages instead of working with entirely new content exclusively... sort of like sub-plots, side stories, etc... while the big stuff was in work. And actually, I think that was part of the plan, when it came to Ae'gura. I think that a real restoration of the City was in their long-range plans, along with access to new areas, and so forth.

Ah well, it all still makes for an interesting discussion!

Cheers,

Mowog

nvr2old wrote:

Chogon is on line right now and by the looks of it, he is still freezing as his letters are still blue, offers a cup of coffee and a donut. I too hope something comes for the anniversary but always keeps up hope. Good to see at least your name on line Chogon

Heh, I've been online daily scrubbing the spammers from the forum. The Mods are doing a great job getting rid of the spam postings - we are in some kinda spammer epidemic of sorts. Only about one in ten new accounts is a real person.

As far as the state of Cyan, actually I no longer live in Spokane so I don't get regular updates or see what is going on first hand. So, I mostly only hear about what I am working on, which is iPhone apps and the three week server restart on MOULa. I am readying a new update for iMyst which is nearly done and following that I will be working on an iRiven update (which isn't completely defined yet). And the every three week server restart has been going great

--Chogon