I’m a former MMO gamer myself, and I’m also a rabid Halo fan. Maybe not rabid. Enthusiastic? Serious? Something like that. Also into RTSs, so I was following Halo Wars for quite some time.

And there’s some things about your business model that don’t quite make sense.

It’s a downright pity that later screenshots of Titan weren’t released, if they’re as good as you say they are. “The Untitled Halo MMO” is as well-regarded amongst Halo fans as “Star Trek V” is amongst Trekkies, and I’d say for good reason.
I guess the most important thing about any game that’ll be going on as long as an MMO is keeping the story, setting, and feel consistent.

So, yeah, you start out with a bright color pallet that’s more akin to WoW than Halo:CE, and make an IP that’s been getting darker and edgier into something that’s lighter, softer, and more cartoony. You introduce psions into a universe that has survived on bullets and energy weapons. You graft chainsaws on to the arms of Terran Firebat-sized Spartans.

It makes good design sense, but poor business sense. If you’re going to be using the Halo IP to sell the game, the last thing that makes sense is introducing elements that are going to break the fanbase.

As for doing what has been done by WoW, I can understand that also. But I remember my Digital Design teacher saying, “Follow the Leader is a strange game. The only way to win is not to play.”
What he meant by that is, if you copy the biggest kid in the playground, you’re competing against him and the other guys playing “Follow the Leader”. Strike out on your own, or at least be innovative in areas, and you win. People will copy you, sure, but you have the initiative, which means you’re winning.

Last thing I have to remark on is the control scheme for a console MMO. Well, you can point out that you got Halo Wars to work on the console, and others would point out that you had to sacrifice the good bits to do so. Personally, I look at it as a challenge. The features on a PC MMO make sense for a PC. Spamming “Selling 59 Aezeynthian Bear Claws” in a crowded place, for example, works for a setup with a keyboard. But why does a person have to sell in a crowded marketplace? What’s wrong with building an in-game auction/exchange that not only is easier for a console to browse, but allows people to shop for what they’re looking for?

Meh.
Just some incoherently connected thoughts, maybe, but they’re worth going over. Sad to see you guys closed down, would have liked more AoE.

I guess you heard that already several times.

It is sad that so many capable design teams do not know this game! It is still running, and has issues, mainly old age and a crappy client.

But the basic idea behind it is different from WoW and IMO much more advanced and better suited for MMORPGs. It is more of a virtual world, and content does not get obsolete as much as it does in WoW with every expansion.

Improving a well known formula has its merits, but always taking the same approach is going to burn out your players, too.

I do not ask for a quantum leap and completely new kind of design, but following WoW’s footsteps and trying to improve on the formula is really just that, following the big alpha wolf, instead of creating your own wolf pack.

you and me both bro.