Anniversary Items

[Siahanor]

You are as capable of dealing damage to a monster as another player - If another team is present then I suggest you work on out-damaging them to claim your reward. =)

My main is level 85. You made all of the friggin' Desert Riders 220. How exactly will I be out-damaging anyone you apparently designed this crap for? As much as you try, you CANNOT defend this crap.

This was supposed to be a birthday/anniversary celebration. The only ones celebrating are the ones who got everything for nothing from this "event" you say everyone is supposed to "work" for.

So fine, I'll do things your way. I'll go park my ass in ND, wait for enough peons to feed the cookie monster, and then go "work" my ass off spamming "e".

Oh, and where's those GM's who will be handing out Clio's on RK2, since they apparently already did it on RK1 days ago? Did the people who benefited from that "work" for it?

[Lheann]

Kintaii,

The lag fest in NLD reminded me of Launch week 10 years ago. The utter stupid lag and CC booting people around. If that was the purpose then maybe you should read the thesis on why AO was and is the worse game launch in history. Events like this mess in NLD do nothing for game.

Perhaps you should read the logs of OOC since it went live. Also look at all the mess that was shouted. Really, I have to question how in touch with the player base the team is.

Two accounts, a large city on one. Here since launch and the 10th birthday is making me consider quitting. Just what I wanted from the content. NOT!

[tigerengi]

And I also said that there were some tweaks that need to be made for next year. ;P

Why do I have the strange feeling that, if you people at FC call this working as intended, there won't be a next year??

You guys are either failing to see that there is more than just level 220 and lover level people, which DONT HAVE 220 mains or large orgs that can form PURE DD (OD?) teams, would also like to get some of the more "rare?" goodies, OR you are simply TOO PROUD to sday you f*cked up and say "hopefully it will be better next year".

[Kintaii]

I stand by our belief and opinion that having one single, lone item that takes effort to achieve isn't a bad thing. We'll have to continue to disagree from here on that point. =)

[Xirayne]

What bothers me the most about this particular situation is not the fact that it wasn't the most fun event, or wasn't what I wanted or expected out of the 10y anniversary celebration, I never really was one for parties, I never really liked looking foward to things. It's just that in this specific instance what bothers me more than anything is that an obviously poorly designed encounter that is being complained about by the vast majority of the population is being considered by the devs as "doing great" and working as intended. Meaning to me, that any future game content is most likely going to be designed similarly, and failing similarly. I am officially terrified and dreading of what new content is going to look like.

I already am hearing friends talking about not renewing their accounts due to their loss in faith with the dev team, it's extremely upsetting to hear and driving me mad. I'm sure you all want the best for AO, but Please listen to the players

[Wrangeline]

I stand by our belief and opinion that having one single, lone item that takes effort to achieve isn't a bad thing. We'll have to continue to disagree from here on that point. =)

Then perhaps next year at least make it team vs teams and not raids vs raids. As a bare minimum.

I say this because when we get guild and friends to team up and make 12ish people in total and we have to go up against "Iraid" which is a point-bot using like 35 people, then there's nothing anyone can do. The point-bot wins. Effort matters 0%.

If it's team vs team instead of raid vs raid then at least guilds and friends can have a chance to team up and win something.

[Siahanor]

i stand by our belief and opinion that having one single, lone item that takes effort to achieve isn't a bad thing. We'll have to continue to disagree from here on that point. =)

what effort?!? To be a 220? To sit on your ass while others do the sh*t work? Is that the "effort" you mean?

I only came back because of the stupid come back offer specifically highlighting this "anniversary celebration". Since no payment was required up front, it makes it real easy to decide whether to stay or leave based on what I've seen of your new development philosophies.

Chow.

[Tazalanche]

You guys are putting an *awful* lot of effort raging against something you kinda obviously have no clue how it works yet... just sayin'.

We made requests before it went live to ensure that things like what HAS happened with the harassment were prevented, yet our requests fell on deaf ears. How do you think that makes the community feel about whether or not the Devs are even listening to us when designing new content?

The nature of a massively multiplayer online game is that, eventually, you will have to not only play with but rely on others to complete certain content.

That makes total sense...

if the game has a high enough population to still be considered 'massive'. The Desert Rider raid has zone crowd control set way to low for anyone with at least a first grade education to consider 60-100 players allowed in the area as 'massive'.


The nomad part of the anniversary content does fit with previous AO celebration content, but the Desert Rider raid is a joke. No matter what was 'intended', the lowbies are farming the 5k items so that the twinked 220s can be afk until the announcement goes out.


Also...

Most seem to be overlooking the fiasco of the heckler pet promotion. It requires a 6 month or 12 month subscription renewal by July 31st. Anyone ALREADY ON a 6 or 12 month subscription that does not expire before July 31st gets screwed out of the item.

[Autohead]

Also...

Most seem to be overlooking the fiasco of the heckler pet promotion. It requires a 6 month or 12 month subscription renewal by July 31st. Anyone ALREADY ON a 6 or 12 month subscription that does not expire before July 31st gets screwed out of the item.

Yes, as someone who has always paid by the year, I don't get this because my annual sub doesn't renew until August 13th? So I miss it by 14 days, yeah that's fair for someone who's been paying you by the year every year for the last 5 years...So, what are you giving to customers who are actually loyal to the game? Stop rewarding people for only coming back when there's a free offer and start rewarding people that have stuck with you through thick and thin.

[Windguaerd]

I stand by our belief and opinion that having one single, lone item that takes effort to achieve isn't a bad thing. We'll have to continue to disagree from here on that point. =)

Sorry bud, but I got to disagree with you. I have great respect for Means and the Dev Team but this time, you guys dropped the ball, big time.

Orgmates and friends have provided hundreds of the items needed to spawn the Desert Rider, and only a FEW got the Mechleet nano, the visors and NONE got a Clio.

The QL 300 Nomad Armor to be honest, any 220 can get an entire set in a day in PW. I got full sets on all 4 of my 220 toons.

It comes down to a single item everyone wants, which is purely for social purposes. It's not a BoC or anything valuable that helps us Twink or has any effect in Combat/PvP.

The jetpack now being available in the item store for free, was a great move and it did pacify a lot of people.

However, those of us who have been playing for years, even the fewer who have been here a decade... expected to have an EVEN shot at the Clio.

Mix in there the iraid bot members, guilds, random groups and it's not really an effort but a cut throat competition which really does not encourage people working together towards a common goal, but... the hostility between players trying to OD, use any means to block corpses to get a chance at looting even if they didn't provide a single item or even participated in defeating the Desert Rider.

And when the playfield is heavily crowded, you get warped across the map and chances of loot even if you brought backpacks of items and did the best you could with damage is... the grand total of ZERO CHANCE. By the time you fly back, it's all over, loot is gone and you feel cheated.

I think some suggestions provided by players should be considered, even tho it probably won't happens since the implementation would mean more work and you guys have full plates as-is and are more likely to learn from this and perhaps not repeat it next year.

Overall, I hope we all get an even chance (somehow) to get the Clio this year.

[Namiru]

And the worse part is, this is coming off the Epic Awesome that was the Ninth Year Anniversary Event. That even was well thought out, beautiful, and fun. Orgs has checklist of scavenger items, and ince they weren't NODROP or UNIQUE you could trade and/or buy what your org couldn't get yourself. And when you finally got that box or Sauna up, you felt a sense of pride, and accomplishment, and org unity. THAT WAS AWESOME!

And it made us say at the time "If this is what they're doing for the NINTH Anniversary, I can't wait for the Tenth!"

Well, now it's one year later, the Tenth is here, and what do we get? A farm and gankfest, and a poorly designed one.No feeling of accomplishment. No feeling of pride, just a event that celebrates one thing.....the ninjalooter.

[Traderjill]

Wow I am really disappointed with Kintaii's response to this.

Funcom messing up I an understand.. stuff happens and they can always correct it before it is too late (like they did with the jetpack) but this level of indifference towards the feelings of the community...

I'm really surprised and it is pretty rare that I'm surprised by things in AO. I renewed one account for a year (oh well.. got a deal on it) but I am really going to rethink whether or not I want to continue to pay my other 2 accounts with this type of 'slap of the face' coming from the Dev team.

I wonder if anyone in the Dev team has tried to do this encounter. Farm 5000 items and trade them in 1 by 1.. huh?? That in itself screams of ridiculousness. A message broadcast to the entire server versus just the folks that turned in items... wow? what? so my hard work doesn't matter because I don't have DD toons on my account (plenty of 220's but none that are classifiable as DD toons).

I'm not in a big org but I spend most of my time in-game helping other players in the community with questions, items, twinking.. whatever. So I need to join some org that has a bunch of a-hats (i.e. one Clan org I saw with a bunch of Clios at OAG contained folks that were ODing my then 200 Clan Shade on Nomads in PW) in order to get an anniversary present?? I've been playing the game since 2004 and been paying for the game for most of the time on multiple accounts..

WOW.. JUST WOW.

And you know.. it isn't the fact that the Clio is something I "need" on my toons (because it isn't) that bothers me... it is the fact that this was so poorly done and there is no empathy for the community that has financially supported this game for so many years. I know people that have played longer than me and still don't have a single 220 toon on their account because they enjoy lower level content or prefer to roleplay. Is the 10th year anniversary's cool flying vehicle only going to be a reward for what I consider the worst that AO has to offer in terms of PvM and lack of sportsmanship?

And regarding the comment that there are tons of other stuff available.... I agree completely and I have a crapton of stuff on all of my alts. When I did this on Test, however, I had no idea that the coolest item would be one that I don't even have any chance of obtaining. I was really giving Funcom the benefit of the doubt for once... epic fail on my part.

The Clio is the ONLY item that I'd actually use that is part of the b-day collection. No I'm not going to walk around in a hot pink or red suit.. no I don't give a rat's behind about leet pets (that can't attack mobs) in mechs (they're cool as heck don't get me wrong but I'd probably only pull it out on rare occassion when bored). I haven't been inside an AO apartment in many years so those action figures, while cool, are a waste. I'm not going to use the social wine and I'm not going to hang up paintings... BUT THE CLIO I'D ACTUALLY USE, probably on a daily basis on all toons, and would be a reminder (or should have been) of celebrating 10 years of AO's existance.

SO SO SO DISAPPOINTED.. NOT THAT ANYONE CARES.

Someone unlock the QQ thread please...

[Tiralee]

Most seem to be overlooking the fiasco of the heckler pet promotion. It requires a 6 month or 12 month subscription renewal by July 31st. Anyone ALREADY ON a 6 or 12 month subscription that does not expire before July 31st gets screwed out of the item.

Yes, as someone who has always paid by the year, I don't get this because my annual sub doesn't renew until August 13th? So I miss it by 14 days, yeah that's fair for someone who's been paying you by the year every year for the last 5 years

A lot depends on if someone is willing to renew early.

I have one account that was due to renew very soon. I renewed early for 6 months, and the new renewal date is the 6 months plus the balance of the time I still had left on my subscription. And I got the Heckler pet.

I have another account that was just renewed. I'll probably end up doing an early renewal for 6 months on that account too, to get the Heckler pet.

But for anyone that doesn't want to renew early, or can't, yeah, they miss out on the free Heckler pet.

EDIT: I forget to mention that I did NOT click on "Subscription Cycle" to add the 6 months. I clicked on "Upgrade My Subscription", and that took me directly to the Heckler offer.

_

[Tazalanche]

Yes, as someone who has always paid by the year, I don't get this because my annual sub doesn't renew until August 13th? So I miss it by 14 days, yeah that's fair for someone who's been paying you by the year every year for the last 5 years...So, what are you giving to customers who are actually loyal to the game? Stop rewarding people for only coming back when there's a free offer and start rewarding people that have stuck with you through thick and thin.

Amen Brotha!

[sultryvoltron]

To think, the 10th Anniversary that was supposed to draw people back to the game, has driven even more of the dwindling playerbase away.

Fantastic.

[Tazalanche]

I stand by our belief and opinion that having one single, lone item that takes effort to achieve isn't a bad thing. We'll have to continue to disagree from here on that point. =)

That only makes sense at this time. If/when the Clio hits the Funcom Points shop, its availability turns into nothing more than a cashgrab against your customers that did not mistreat other players to get one while it was in-game.

[Windguaerd]

To think, the 10th Anniversary that was supposed to draw people back to the game, has driven even more of the dwindling playerbase away.

Fantastic.

As an old timer in AO, this makes me very sad because your comment, is exactly what I've been reading in-game and listening on Teamspeak among AO Players in both servers.

[Tazalanche]

A lot depends on if someone is willing to renew early.
**snip**

That's OK if you're referring to only one account, but what about those of us paying for multiple yearly subscriptions? Would you fork over another $110-$330 just because your yearly subscriptions expire at a time of the year other than the last week of June through the end of July?

As an old timer in AO, this makes me very sad because your comment, is exactly what I've been reading in-game and listening on Teamspeak among AO Players in both servers.

I agree. I have spent thousands of dollars across multiple accounts since 2005. The Clio issues & heckler pet limited time availability are weighing heavily on my decisions to renew each account that is currently on a yearly subscription.

[matakishi]

A whole load of sense.

I keep coming back to this thread to see if things have improved, I was hopeful when I saw the colour bar that showed a Funcom person had responded. Then I read it. Oh dear.

Why is it so difficult to see that those doing the work aren't getting even the slightest chance of getting the reward?
Which monumental idiot decided that handing in 5000 items one at a time was a good idea?
Is Gaute back?

[Seoin]

I can't figure out why everyone is so upset at the 10th anni event. The clio is the only thing that is remotely hard to get and what's so special about it? its just like a phasefront with some useless reflect, if you get one or don't get one its not going to help or hurt you at all, unless you need it to show your phat status. Complaining about not everyone being able to get one? Why does everyone want it so bad anyway? the other 20 social items are easily available to everyone.