Monthly Development Update: February 2012

[Dharzee]

Come on now, be serious. AO is a vast game not a complicated game. The newbie island startup is about the best i've ever seen in a game. If you talk to the npc's they will all give you direction from starter quests to even how to upgrade your starter weapon. You get a good time of gaining lvls and even the skill system lets you see the recommended skills to upgrade.

I started playing AO back in 2007 I think so newbie island is the only start-up experience I've had on AO. IF you talk to the npc's they give you directions... but how does a new person KNOW to talk to them? How does a new person know HOW to talk to them? When I first started here a friend introduced me to the game and when they logged in they told me to right click on the guy with the blue name. But in the several minutes before they logged in, I really didn't know what to do. I figured out the little target icon on the hot bar was for attacking, so I ran around and punched some mobs to death. If I hadn't had some help at the beginning I may never have known about the starter quests and gotten bored and logged off after a while.

[ManUnitedFan]

What i would like to know and i em sure there is many more that are wondering about that new video that was supose to come out on the first and then was i few days and know its almost 2 weeks. Just tell us are we going to read ur forums of lies every month or what? We are not 5 year old kids that u can troll us every month ethere tell us this is how it is or go some were else end of the story. And one more thing just to make it clear would we as players deserve to hear about the so call Voting on whats the best game by u guys but not finding out 3 days after our selfs that the pool has started and then u start to start i new tread with " Lets Make AO number 1 " it just makes me sick to think that anyone is left to play this game with all the lies in the last 6 years. No wonder when i log into this game and there is 10 ppl online and the only ppl that are left in this game are the ones that still think something is going to happen. I mean come on all ready u all ready published 2 games if i em not mistaking thinking that u will get players by that but u did not think twice that the real game is Anarchy Online and know with the new GD telling us well its going to be done in few days just say it we are done stop playing go play something else....

[Demoder]

...please see the following posts by Ilaliya in this thread:
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight.

These posts are very informative and definitely worth reading.

[Xamofne]

IF you talk to the npc's they give you directions... but how does a new person KNOW to talk to them? How does a new person know HOW to talk to them?

Ahahaha

If u couldnt figure it out alone then u have some serious problems man

[Brampfine]

17,19€ monthly is unsuitable
every other new game cost 10€

the most AO player r poor students

change it now

[Madgeneral]

Why should a 10 year old game be cheaper then a 2012 game , thats absurde.

[Mastablasta]

I think it would be more OK to be so extremely upset if it the game hadn't been online during the last 4 years of new engine development. Or not updated at all in that time. It has, however, in pretty much unchanged and more rapid than prior to all that jazz. So apparently it's had no impact. Nothing much to whine about.

[Bombqueen]

Sooooo... GDC is done and dusted, it's all quiet on the Conan front and the TSW hype machine is about to break out again.

Engine Video now in the gap?

Or do we have to wait until after TSW's launch in case it (somehow) detracts attention?

[Mastablasta]

GDC is not just what happens during GDC, it's all the marketing hype that continues after that with all the closed-door demos getting freed from embargos, articles and interviews and so on that comes out now. If you keep tabs on news sites you'd see that.

[Bombqueen]

Yes and that time delay before everything explodes with the TSW media embargo being lifted is that gap I mentioned.

So in other words, no. No new video for a while.

[Mastablasta]

But TSW isn't the only thing, and I figure what they want to do is not have it drown completely in these other things. Perhaps it can even ride TSW's wave of publicity related to Funcom. Smarter thing to do is to wait till after TSW has had its moment of glory and go "Oh btw we're also doing this".

Like Ilalya said, it's easy to get caught up in "forum time". It's not like seeing a video will do anything magically for you. We all know it's just going to be a few looks at a couple locations on RK and possibly SL, but who knows, in swift sweeping cuts, completely uninidicative of actual gameplay, with a bit of music and probably a few buzzwords thrown in to the mix.

[sannz]

....
It's not like seeing a video will do anything magically for you.
....

o'rly?

[Pomidor]

How does a new person know HOW to talk to them?

Now I can say, that FC devs were bright, and they are starting to fade. You know, on Arrival Hall, it was NPC talking to you (a real voice, not some pop up chat window), and any new player would think its either some uber feature or guide - either of ways, you were talking to NPS and learning the game from the very start.

[Exxxie]

Now I can say, that FC devs were bright, and they are starting to fade. You know, on Arrival Hall, it was NPC talking to you (a real voice, not some pop up chat window), and any new player would think its either some uber feature or guide - either of ways, you were talking to NPS and learning the game from the very start.

Yeah, funcom please hire some voice actors for the new start-up experience. And just make some „Hey, pssst! I can tell you something about implants, if you wanna know! *puts on shades*” or „I can give you directions, buddy!" when a player passes an NPC close-by...

[Mastablasta]

Now I can say, that FC devs were bright, and they are starting to fade. You know, on Arrival Hall, it was NPC talking to you (a real voice, not some pop up chat window), and any new player would think its either some uber feature or guide - either of ways, you were talking to NPS and learning the game from the very start.

Problem being that arrival hall did not actually do that according to fevs as to why it was removed.

[Gorathon]

...please see the following posts by Ilaliya in this thread:
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight.

These posts are very informative and definitely worth reading.

Yes, though perhaps not in the way you intended. (I've saved any vitriol for the end, btw)

{When a video is finished, we pass it off to marketing to figure out when the video should be released, in order to maximize exposure. That takes time.} But we feel it's certainly worth a little bit of time to see what our options are.

{Finished the video two weeks ago. Everybody here loved it. Marketig thinks everybody everywhere could love it, so we're waiting until GDC winds down.} ...whether we release in Feb or March isn't what's truly important. What's important is that we try and get the best and broadest coverage for the engine upgrade that we can....

{"Exclusive" means exclusive.}

{Oh, and we had to add in some logos and junk, which marketing wants regardless, and SYNGERGY! When Lindelu posted her update it was still being reviewed internally, and so the marketing effects were not finalized; we could have shown it to you on the 1st or 2nd but I decided that it could wait.}

{You're not hearing me. We either publish a time frame then revise it as needed, or we make vague announcements so that we never have to commit to anything, or we yell "SURPRISE!"} I prefer to err on the side of option #1 because I feel like it maintains the best dialogue with the community, and I believe in keeping you guys informed.

{Marketing 060 says you have to have a time frame, from which you backdate your engine preview videos. In terms of new players, they bring 'em in & devs keep 'em in. Here is a hypothetical situation, demonstrating how these time frames work. It's a pretty basic equation, and we're applying it in order to get you new people to play with (we hope).}

{This answer is unrelated to the engine preview video.}

{Sigh. Speaking from experience, releasing the video when we said we were going to release it probably wouldn't have garnered us too many more votes.}

Re: 1 & 4 I am worried that folks aren't considering marketing when giving out time frames - if it's a game director's job or producer's job I frankly don't care, but it's become apparent over the last few years that the team has been a bit light on project management.

Re: 5 I like option #1 too, so when do you suppose they'll start doing that? I hear Lindelu give time frames that others flat-out reject and marketers give time frames that aren't reasonable. GDC is over, and the news cycle has been quickly taken over by SXSW, then it'll be on to whoknowswhat. It is, in fact, never a slow news period. /facepalm

Re: 5 & 6 So, if you (collectively) have enough of a time frame to know when you should release the engine update preview, how about dropping a date for the update itself?

Re: 8 Wow. I understand that Ilaliya posted that before the poll ended, but come on! Releasing the video when we were told it would be released would have most certainly garnered an extra 4 freaking votes. The result of those 4 extra votes? An extended period of free exposure for the game! That would have trumped trying to jump into a news cycle btw. I hope these guys are flogging themselves right now.

On a final note, Ilaliya is very comfortable accepting responsibility for the delay, but I can't recall anybody working on this game ever apologizing for the many delays and "shifted timelines." Unlike "I promise," and like "I love you," sometimes the actual words need to be said.

I've said my peace. No mas de ramble por la me.

[Mastablasta]

The best part is "SYNERGY", nothing like corporate buzzwords to make your day especially since there's this guy who works for one of our customers who keeps talking about how important it is to get some synergies going, in everything. Then proceeds to start the process for buying a Dynamics CRM solution for 100k $, because "It's what the cool kids are using, and it says synergy on the box".

[Gridpain]

I wonder what's the percentage of Mastablasta posts in this thread...

[Mastablasta]

Yea, I guess what you're saying about the game being dead must be true.

[Lheann]

Problem being that arrival hall did not actually do that according to fevs as to why it was removed.

Perhaps people sat down and quit in arrival hall because they were hit with the crappy GUI that did not even have the devs poor attempt set it up usefully. I remember my first experience with the new gui. I logged out. Downloaded Dovvetech and set it up. Logged in and started customizing. Now I played on test server at the time with Dovve so I knew about the skin and had access to excellent resources on how to set it up and make AO work properly. A new player never had that. And look at screen shots of arrival hall with the gui turned on in the default state. Totally useless.

If I had to guess I would say it was the GUI more than the arrival hall content that killed that place. My opinion of course. But just saying that an area that is so loved/missed was the reason shows only one thing. They looked at the number of people that sat down and logged out there and said oh it is the area. Since they were log outs no one ever got to talk to them. I suspect it is the same class of players that sat down and logged out that are now the famous run left players on NI.

Anyway, I think there is more to it than was ever realized. And that FC took the quick and easy solution vice a well researched one. That would not be a first by the way.