Monthly Development Update - 28th February 2014

[doctorgore]

Agents are diseased.

[Towerblock]

I got nothing borked, genius.

MMO god in carb armor? Mad skillz in medsuit? Lol, still scrub!
Gear first, skills decide later if you are good or just average.

Erm. Yeah its completely borked, genius.
Without skills, how do you actually play?
Without gear, who would invite you to a team?
Without a team, how do you get some of the better gear?

Your argument is circular and removes the opportunity to prove ones self to work outside of the box. Its the outside of the box thinking and innovation that hides an expert within what seems like a total noob.
Noobs can transcend their situation by being better than the fully geared 220 knobs I've seen all over Inf and beyond.

[Towerblock]

In the history of having my Trader (Traderjill), the only group that welcomed her to raids was Towerblock's org, Steadfast. That type of 'omg trader's are useless' attitude is what caused me to create Events by Jill in the first place (for anyone that remembers).

Ahh Good times! Thanks for the nod ^^.

[Psikie]

I got nothing borked, genius.

MMO god in carb armor? Mad skillz in medsuit? Lol, still scrub!
Gear first, skills decide later if you are good or just average.

Interesting theory, so what you are saying is the egpal 10bill credit buying player with 2 days "played" time and loot right purchased gear is better team mate than a 10 year vet in carb armor?

Not sure I agree with that sentiment.

In fact I think you are the type of player that validates all QQ in this thread about open inspect.

[Grandpa]

Erm. Yeah its completely borked, genius.
Without skills, how do you actually play?
Without gear, who would invite you to a team?
Without a team, how do you get some of the better gear?

Your argument is circular and removes the opportunity to prove ones self to work outside of the box. Its the outside of the box thinking and innovation that hides an expert within what seems like a total noob.
Noobs can transcend their situation by being better than the fully geared 220 knobs I've seen all over Inf and beyond.

This is a chicken and egg type discussion. Sorry to say, you are both wrong.

The correct answer is:

IF you can find an active org

a) in your time zone
b) that has enough players and
c) enough players in your level range and
d) is willing to help with advice, teams, leveling, loot and possibly credits,
e) all the way through your first 220,

THEN and only then will you enjoy AO.

If you cannot find such an org, you will NOT enjoy AO.
In my opinion, quitting under those circumstances is very understandable.
After all, the game is supposed to be fun and LFT is NOT fun.

Finding such an org for an experienced player is not easy:
after I took a break from AO, my orgs were dead and my friends lists were wiped, so I know.

Finding such an org for new player, who lacks all the information, resources and understanding, is reduced to DUMB LUCK!
Gear, skills, credits (and reputation too) don't matter at all.

[Psikie]

If you cannot find such an org, you will NOT enjoy AO.

Wow...highly disagree here also. I know plenty of players that are not and never have been in orgs. Froob and paid that have plenty of fun.

Notable examples can easily be found at a GSP party with a dozen or so un-org'd people are just dancing and listening to music of various levels.

Or well known 220/30 raid tank Biancha- also never been in an org.

Maybe you should state that you can not have fun in AO under those circumstances.

[Grandpa]

Wow...highly disagree here also. I know plenty of players that are not and never have been in orgs. Froob and paid that have plenty of fun.

Notable examples can easily be found at a GSP party with a dozen or so un-org'd people are just dancing and listening to music of various levels.

Or well known 220/30 raid tank Biancha- also never been in an org.

Maybe you should state that you can not have fun in AO under those circumstances.

Yes of course, social events like GSP can be fun and don't require orgs.
But that was really not what I was talking about here.

As for un-orged people banding up through a closed network of friends and bots (which is exactly what I'm doing right now myself) is the same as being in an org without the label.

[Esssch]

32 pages and not a single Dev comment? i really wonder why anyone is still posting here, i think the only FC Employee reading this thread is Anarrina and she probably has a migraine by now

She's also not an employee, she's a volunteer. That's a bad sign. The people that aren't paid to put up with us post here more often than the people who are paid.

[Aiken]

She's also not an employee, she's a volunteer. That's a bad sign. The people that aren't paid to put up with us post here more often than the people who are paid.

Probably less likely to get fired that way

[Traderjill]

Or well known 220/30 raid tank Biancha- also never been in an org.

Biancha's 215.. just does a better job tanking than 220's.

As for un-orged people banding up through a closed network of friends and bots (which is exactly what I'm doing right now myself) is the same as being in an org without the label.

The whole discussion over needing an org is really a matter of personal preference. I won't disagree with anyone saying that an org is helpful to a new player but when I look at my experience starting the game.. I mainly just used my org to chat. All of the information I needed I founded on the forums, via fansites, by trial/error or chatting with random people I met as I explored (and yes self discovery and exploration was a part of my knowledge gathering process). Honestly I don't think an org has ever been more than a social media in a game I navigated on my own. In more cases or not, orgs have just been a source of drama and an annoyance quite often due to the myriad of piss poor leaders that have existed/continue to exist in game.

My current org comes to about as close as I think I'll ever get to being my ideal. By far its been the best fit of any org I've joined in the last 5-7 years. Everyone is competent, everyone's played almost all classes, pretty much most of them have significant item and credit resources. People play together because they want to, not because they need to. Minimum to no drama.. no one asking 5 million basic questions in org chat or having to teach someone how to twink on implants. There's a bit of boasting that happens from time to time but that's to be expected in a game. The thing is, it doesn't bother anyone because well.. no one 'feels bad' because someone has something they don't. But I get what you've said about it being tough to find an org. It took me almost 10 years and a server merge for me to find one that worked for me.

The best thing to do really, is what it sounds like you've done. Play the game, meet people.. build up a list of people that you have found to be competent and seek them out when you wish to form a team. If you're competent as well they'll do the same. I know you said that's the same as being in an org without the label.. I guess it is but the label is the significant part of an org since it means you're willing to share in the reputation of other people in your org by wearing their tag above your head. That shared reputation.. I dunno.. that's the cool part of orgs imo. But we all have our own viewpoints

[Psikie]

As for un-orged people banding up through a closed network of friends and bots (which is exactly what I'm doing right now myself) is the same as being in an org without the label.

So what you are saying is that in order to have fun in a MMORPG, you need to be social, make friends, and team?

[Traderjill]

So what you are saying is that in order to have fun in a MMORPG, you need to be social, make friends, and team?

I completely sidetracked in my response to him but I think his point was that a new player would have a hard time locating the resources we take for granted. I can't imagine it for AO but when I logged into The Secret World I think I got the idea.

In TSW, I had no idea how to meet people, no one seemed to say much in the zone chat, really had no idea how to get into a Cabal (guild there). Being a MMO vet, in general, I went to the forums to look for a guild but kinda like Grandpa said.. When you're new.. you don't know what to look for so its a crapshoot.

There used to be orgs in each faction that tailored to new players. House of Blackstar (neutral), Pack of Noobs (omni), Crimson Assassins (clan) are the ones I can think of that I believe still exist (not sure about pack of noobs). There might be others but really only HoBS starts recruiting people on noob island (which is awesome). So yeah, it can be tough to get into the social side of things. Then you go to team and 70% of the people are afk in kite teams.. it's not really conducive for networking.

Funcom could easily fix that by creating 3 organizations (1 per faction) that were default orgs that characters joined upon starting the game. It could be done automatically (less desireable) or some auto message that comes up welcoming them and asking if they wish to join. They could also auto-kick people from the org at a certain level (maybe 100) and prevent the org from owning towers though I think giving it a free AI city would make sense. Ofc with the really crappy ingame guild management tools that might not be that helpful but if they put up a basic bot then it would make a world of difference. Also could have people sign up as volunteers to be guests in that org chat as mentors.

Hmm.. but then again isn't the NPE supposed to fix these issues? Has anything been done as part of the NPE that's in beta testing that would help new players get into the mix easier socially? I remember some mention of making it so they were in Andromeda and could come and go via ICC or something. Anyone testing care to chime in?

[Grandpa]

I completely sidetracked in my response to him but I think his point was that a new player would have a hard time locating the resources we take for granted. I can't imagine it for AO but when I logged into The Secret World I think I got the idea.

Yes, exactly.
We, the old timers, have completely forgotten how hard it is to start out new in AO.
I'm not talking about making a new toon, but making a new account and playing the game for the first time!

Imagine coming off noob island at level 10/2 with 10K credits, no gear, no org or friends yet.

You don't know about helpful websites, you don't know about shopping and raid bots.
You don't know what items are good for you and how much they are worth.
You might know about the forums, but the forums are huge.
There is a decade's worth of information here, some good, some bad, and much of it outdated.

And worst of all, you don't know whom to ask.
By pure chance, you might meet Traderjill who inspects your undies, but also gives you good advice and helps get started.
Or you run into Geratric who inspects you, tells you that you suck and sends you to the gold sellers.

This game has no support system for new players and that's a real shame!

Hmm.. but then again isn't the NPE supposed to fix these issues? Has anything been done as part of the NPE that's in beta testing that would help new players get into the mix easier socially? I remember some mention of making it so they were in Andromeda and could come and go via ICC or something. Anyone testing care to chime in?

I share your concerns, but you know that we cannot talk about it.

[Difs]

This game has no support system for new players and that's a real shame!

It used to have Greeters who helped you but Funcom killed them.

[Psikie]

It used to have Greeters who helped you but Funcom killed them.

I still don't know why they got rid of arrival hall.

[Esssch]

It used to have Greeters who helped you but Funcom killed them.

[Gimpynoob]

I still remember my "greeter", he/she was very nice and completely useless.

He couldn't answer the obvious questions a noob would ask. Where to level and find loot. And I couldn't ask about things I didn't know existed in the game.

[Tryptophy]

I still don't know why they got rid of arrival hall.

They said that they ran tests and huge numbers of new players quit right when they loaded it. They didn't say that this wasn't also true of noob isle, but their refusal to bring arrival hall back might imply that.

[Bekrowe]

It used to have Greeters who helped you but Funcom killed them.

The Greeter program is alive and well. However those who have accounts that have already been marked as greeted don't get a greeter with each character created. Somehow some folks fall through the cracks of the system but we attempt to at least make contact with each new player in the game.

The Greeter program is part of the Advisors of Rubi-Ka System which is also still alive and well within Anarchy Online. My Signature contains a link to information about the program if you aren't familiar with it.

[legend1617]

Punishing everyone because of a few people breaking the rules?really?This update is so sad