Monthly Development Update: February 2012

[Gorathon]

You're just looking to have your heart broken, aren't you?

[BottingWorks]

erm simple question, I see talk of a video quit allot of talk really... in February, it's now march... still no video, dont announce videos that aren't released along with the announcement, it's bad PR and whoever came up with the idea shouldn't be in their position, and pony up the one you owe us, and once you announce you've made a video you have no excuses allowed waiting for the right venue, dont announce a video and you take all the time you need choosing, announce a video then RELEASE IT, isnt this kinda basic stuff like PR 101, and release on massively or something, just do it yesterday, jeez and I thought Aventurine had a bad PR dept, but they still dont announce videos they dont release along with the announcement, and for note I rarely check the forums, I really only came on now to complain that you announced a video and never released it, I do however check the AO website... which mentioned a video with no link, most people especially those unfamilar with the game do not give second chances with such things, if you lie to them once weather intentional or not they'll never give you a second oppertunity, AO was the 2nd 3d mmo out there, I played it right after UO myself, (my old account disappeared), however there are not hundreds of MMO's and quite a few good ones, the days when such bad comms with your customers were something they'd be forced to put up with are long since gone, its highly offensive I had to waste my time wading through a forum posts, which lets face it forums tend to be full of lots of nothing, just to find out that there is no video and you lied about their being one in February, its quite annoying specially considering your companies general lack of media on the new engine, which I might point out we've been waiting YEARS for, and still havent even seen a single lousy video of your latest version of the engine, only a failed ogre project from years ago!!!!, take a page out of aventurine's book well the only thing they do right pr wise, make a blog, just for the engine, RELEASE MEDIA regularly and dont announce anything that you cant pony up evidence for, or piss of customers who've already been waiting for more than long enough.

So, you haven't read any of the previous posts. You have lost your ENTER key and you are a PR expert and you have no idea about the history of MMO's.

also, tl;dr.

[Hardcore]

Dark Age of Camelot 777 (46.5%)
Anarchy Online 529 (31.7%)

we're catching up, lads!

[Khlin]

..If I may speak for many of us, we are tired of the talk. We understand the bureaucracy of making changes to a well established game, but, either make it happen or shut it down. Enough is enough. My org buddies and I continually talk about the future of the game. No-one knows whether they should start a new account for that "last profession that they do not have, or a PVP only account, or whatever", because they hate to invest the time and money in a dead game.

No, you may not speak for "many of us"; speak only for you and your friends which are a handful of people. I enjoy the game for what it is now. I don't play it for what it may be 1 month or 2 years from now. For me, the joy of starting a new toon has not faded all that much even after 7 years.

Shush!!! and enjoy the game as it is now. If you are only playing for what it may be in the future, you are playing for all the wrong reasons. If you find little enjoyment in building a toon now, you're just burnt out so take a break until the engine/re-balance comes.

Even with the re-balancing act in place, there will be a lot of fine-tuning that will be done through various patches and updates; it's not about "if", but how and when since fine-tuning professions even more on live once the rebalance has been deployed is a given.

Go out in the world and see what other games are kicking it and try them. Take a looong break and then, when you feel the AO nostalgia creeping upon you, make a froob account and play it. When you will enjoy playing AO from scratch once more, it's time to start playing AO in the earnest again.

If everybody thought like yourself and your friends, nobody would do anything in any MMO since there's always an impending Doom of Damocles and the risk that your profession may change in the future.

Bottom line #2...give the playerbase what they want and desire, within means...no pun intended...then the game will flourish

Ain't that cute! That's would be the last thing you'd want to do.

[Mastablasta]

In any case, Funcom could certainly promote awareness of the Massively contect/vote. They do it for AoC and TSW and BC whenever some popularity contest springs up on a gaming web site and one of those games is in the running. Simple Tweet and Facebook blurb would suffice.

Yea, but they're in competition with themselves with 2 entries in the show

[Xamofne]

where is that voting thingie ?

[Thorneee]

where is that voting thingie ?

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03...ert-cartridge/

[Xamofne]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03...ert-cartridge/

thanks,i tought its on mmorpg didnt even know for this site...

Voted!!

[Alternity]

liar liar pants on fire

[Sugest]

08.03.2012 ( a couple of days )

[Mastablasta]

08.03.2012 ( a couple of days )

And again, did you not read the thread? I mean fine complain all you like, but read the thread and complain in the proper way instead of just randomly saying things.

[Gunforhire]

I love this game...period. However, month over month, the player base is fed promises and vague innuendos about "engine updates" and profession "changes". If I may speak for many of us, we are tired of the talk. We understand the bureaucracy of making changes to a well established game, but, either make it happen or shut it down. Enough is enough. My org buddies and I continually talk about the future of the game. No-one knows whether they should start a new account for that "last profession that they do not have, or a PVP only account, or whatever", because they hate to invest the time and money in a dead game. It is difficult thing to convince new friends to invest in a game that seems to be ever-dying. I wholeheartedly understand the difficulty in making the "purse string holders" understand the levity of their decision in a potentially lucrative investment, but, someone needs to convey the potential ramifications of this truly unique project that has and can be immensely profitable. Bottom line. 1.) FC wants to make a profit. 2.) This game has a unique offering 3.) The aggressive marketing and re-release of said game could lead to immense profits, see #1, for FC, if properly managed and released. Bottom line #2...give the playerbase what they want and desire, within means...no pun intended...then the game will flourish. Stop with the promises and make with the action!

I agree with this. Our org is just completing our new city which took some time and creds and we wonder whether the game will be around in a year. We hope so but lately all we've seen are promises.

[Aeliniyah]

Shush!!! and enjoy the game as it is now. If you are only playing for what it may be in the future, you are playing for all the wrong reasons. If you find little enjoyment in building a toon now, you're just burnt out so take a break until the engine/re-balance comes.

Umh... like... empty, impossible to find team for anything. Only way to level up being dailies and OST teams and leeching off inferno. Most low/mid level content completely dead. How the hell am i supposed to enjoy that?

I don't actually need the new shiny graphics. I even fear the "great rebalance" which, no doubt, will do more harm than good. I don't have much use for new newbie experience either since all my paid accounts are full, and i'm not likely deleting any characters anytime soon.

But those are things that MIGHT bring more people to the empty space thats called Rubi-Ka. And more people might revive the game a bit.

Go out in the world and see what other games are kicking it and try them. Take a looong break and then, when you feel the AO nostalgia creeping upon you, make a froob account and play it. When you will enjoy playing AO from scratch once more, it's time to start playing AO in the earnest again.

This is exactly what i'm doing atm. But i'll never begin AO from scratch. I've spent a few years to build my toons the way i like, and i really don't want to even think about starting that grind again from scratch.

If everybody thought like yourself and your friends, nobody would do anything in any MMO since there's always an impending Doom of Damocles and the risk that your profession may change in the future.

You don't realize that most of us, who now complain about the issues in AO, only started doing so after years and years of being lied to and let down? Hell, for many years I only browsed the forums regularly and almost never wrote anything myself.

I just love the game too much and i don't want to see it die. But it seems more and more likely everyday, and if you don't see it, you need (better) glasses.

[Aeliniyah]

When I see these type of posts I wonder why do you still play AO or even read forums if you are so unhappy? Kinda reminds me of a friend who complains about a cheating spouse but won't get a divorce hahaha. (Or maybe those guys work for Blizzard and are just bombing on the competition?)

I'm not suggesting you to stop playing, but if you do can i have your stuff?

Maybe because we love AO? We don't want to see it fail. But when things gets postponed over and over again, year after year after year the "fail" looks more and more likely every day.

I like to see AO revived. I want to start playing actively again.

But the servers are empty. Merging them now will only make things worse in the long run. And if these new shiny things to attract new players are not delivered really soon, there's no way to actually revive the game.

I was hoping for some change in the game direction (and mostly in the communication), so that there would be more accurate info given to us now. But it seems the new GD/Producer continues the same misleading and failure to deliver as all the previous ones did.

I'm worried. I care. Thats why I still stick around, even is its mostly only on forums.

[Ahndracorvid]

I'm actually kind of nervous about voting for AO on that Massively thing, because I'm concerned that the guy's just going to react like our current new players (when they do pop up) and comment on how empty they think the game looks. :S I don't want people to think we're dead before we've been able to do something about the decline in population... :\

[NoGoal]

Ilaliya, are you bold enough to give us a new ETA for the video?

SoonLater™

[TharBeDragons]

SoonLater™

SoonLaterBefore DNF™
Wait.. oh..

[MrMojoRisin]

Umh... like... empty, impossible to find team for anything. Only way to level up being dailies and OST teams and leeching off inferno. Most low/mid level content completely dead. How the hell am i supposed to enjoy that?

This just isn't true, you can solo all the way to 220 if you want. And if you're paid it's still quite decent XP my main is level 91 and I've mostly solo'd until that, the main places people level up (tiigs, hecks, beits etc) are few of the maaaaaaany areas in SL with mobs fit for soling at certain levels, this is why I love to explore SL instead of just waiting all night for a tiig team. It's enjoyable if you just learn to explore and enjoy that which I do because Shadowlands is massive and has a lot to offer. If you have the AORK maps it's even better because it even points out areas of interest. There are ways to find fun in soloing.

[Traderjill]

This just isn't true, you can solo all the way to 220 if you want. And if you're paid it's still quite decent XP my main is level 91 and I've mostly solo'd until that, the main places people level up (tiigs, hecks, beits etc) are few of the maaaaaaany areas in SL with mobs fit for soling at certain levels, this is why I love to explore SL instead of just waiting all night for a tiig team. It's enjoyable if you just learn to explore and enjoy that which I do because Shadowlands is massive and has a lot to offer. If you have the AORK maps it's even better because it even points out areas of interest. There are ways to find fun in soloing.

Some of us pay for and play a MMORPG because of the MM (Massively Multiplayer) part. Yes, you can solo your way to 220 (eventually) but who wants to pay for an online solo experience?

[MrMojoRisin]

Some of us pay for and play a MMORPG because of the MM (Massively Multiplayer) part. Yes, you can solo your way to 220 (eventually) but who wants to pay for an online solo experience?

You're missing the point, I said you can not that you should all I was pointing out is there are other ways to level that the user was saying.