Monthly Development Update - 2nd April 2014

[verganas]

Having lots of people in the game = more profit, assuming you give them lots of different options to pay for your product.
More profit = more incentive to put more development resources into the game as it will more likely return more profit again.
More development resources = more content, more improvements, more stuff for those lots of players to do.

Sorry but for FC this usual means more money to use to develop a new game. At least this is how it has worked for AO.

I can pretty much guarantee you if AO was bringing in more profit (which it currently seems to be going out of its way to avoid doing, looking at itemshop, purchasing options for content and sub fees) the development resource allocation would multiply and the devs would get to address exponentially more issues that now exist in the game.

Again sorry but AO history proves you wrong. Truth is that AO has lasted long more than anyone at FC has anticipated due to some hardcore players, and current strategy seems to be -> milk the veterans till they are gone. Don't forget FC has to make money back for the significant cost of TSW development which that game itself didn't earn.

[Leetlover]

FC is clear on their stance that they aren't doing anything about the multiboxers, so that means AO is a PVM game.

I think this is an absurd statement.

AO is both pvp and pvm, and look what happened to WA when they added the buffed guards there. Ghost-town.

For the rest of your post I agree. imo, the game is too incohesive and players are split up into too many diferent things. First players leveled through rk-missions and got a huge item-repetoir from it, credits, xp and a fairly varied experience within a 15-min 45-min timespan. Today it is: make a team for a long time, then play for over an over to either get xp, credits or a item from a very small lootfolder. And then often just a few professions are desired.

Many didn't wanted to play SL so they boosted xp on hecks (and other things lol, ingots!) which created the 'hecknoob', highlevel chars without equip or competence.

With AI they added the cru to rk-missions, but rk-missions wasn't revived, instead players started doing cru-blitz.

With LE they added le-missions which became THE source for axp, which again made AI-raids become solofarming and prices on bots skyrocketed.

With instancing they made it so you can come back to the instance after you died, which again result in lootrights-buisness.

I think the game must be more cohesive and that lootfolders should be xfer'ed too new content. I also think the lootsystem isn't working so well, since it encourage small teams and also open up for org or bot-monopoly. More spawns to inventory might help.

Another thing I dislike about pvm is that they system doesn't make us team within our level-range anymore. New gear has made much of the content unchallenging and boring and the xp-reward from playing normally is too low. And as for playing 'normally'...imo, steamrolling hecks or those sl-dungeons isn't fun and doesn't compliment the complexity of AO.

I defintly think pvp is equally important to the game. I think it is the perfect blend of pvm/pvp ao has. If you don't wanna pvp you can avoid it, but it's still around you. AO halloween is one of my favorite celebrations in AO. It's so cool.

[ultion]

There's a simple answer to the subscription difference...

When I buy things online from abroad, I pay in the currency of the country I'm buying for, so...

If FC is in a country that uses euros, there's the currency they should use!
Set the subscription cost in euros, and wherever the subscribers are, their own banks will magically do the conversion for them! Sorted...

Of course, this will probably mean that the Americans will end up paying more for their accounts (I wonder how long it would take for uproar to ensue from the country that keeps saying 'meh, live with it'...)...

I would not count on Americans paying more than they do now for this game. It is overpriced as it is. Also, "live with it"? You believe this is the common response from Americans regarding the price you pay for AO?

[Montelukast]

I don't understand what the uproar is on multiboxing? Most MMO's have them, and you know what? if they're paying the "outrageous" 14.95 US currency then more power to them. In the end they're supporting the game more than your constant whining.

Cheers!

[Snakebite]

Also, "live with it"? You believe this is the common response from Americans regarding the price you pay for AO?

It does seem that way whenever an euro player complains about the price discrepancy...

[Pennypacker]

A differently timed update of the subscription prices does not invalidate any of the arguments I've made. charmant literally said "setup a fixed price for everyone". Well, 17€ is a fixed price.

lol, ok...

It makes absolutely no sense tho, having set a different price on AoC and TSW at the time it had subs as funcom's 3 mmo's. It's only to screw over AO's euro and british customers but whatever.

[McKnuckleSamwich]

Post

Yes.

Integration is what is missing from AO.

It seems to be the most fragmented of so many games.

I've been playing the beta tester and I'm going through all the motions you've listed. I'm finding AO to be so incredibly fragmented, that the cohesive experience is largely completely absent.

RK missions are and were the bread and butter - they are annoying, frustrating and trivial, but offer SO much to the player. But they need to offer more.

RK missions offer: sh*t weapons, sh*t armour, boatloads of useless instruction programs, boatloads of useless weapon/armour/nano components, none of which will ever be used, or were used in the history of AO, loads of useless items (notably any item that comes from "trash"), and to top it off, a boatload of arguably completely useless social clothing. Oh, and occasionally, they drop a nano you can use.

RK missions are unbelievably chaotic, the average mission gives 99.9% absolute shopfood trash.

the shop food system combined with low CL provides almost negligible gain for a huge amount of effort, BUT that effort is sorely sorely needed since the price of any item to upgrade your char is astronomical.

I have a level 70 toon on beta, and, I have JUST passed the 500k credit mark for the first time, I have a mix of QL25-100 implants, most of my nanos are up to date, but I have several I'm MILES away from using due to the massive nano reqs and lack of nano skills on all implants (major grief).

The issue is that progression in AO, EVEN WITH ALL EXPANSIONS, is stymied by massive overpopulation of crap loot, low XP in RK missions, prohibitive pricing on standard items needed to upgrade your char, almost TOTAL lack of reasonable armour choices for a levelling char (within any sense of the word), and prohibitive travel time between ALL locations you need to get to, to DO the other activities.

I am, on a very regular basis, COMPLETELY dissatisfied by the fractured gameplay. Some parts of it are almost unbelievably bad.

Take for example, a couple foremans runs recently I was on.

I went into foremans with a 4 man team, we ganked everything up to the lab where we got overrun by social mobs, we killed mobs for a good 30 minutes and it was fun.

All of us are in levelling gear. As an MA I produced reasonable DPS at level 65ish, but, I didn't get any experience because there was a level 100 in the team.

On the whole run, I got a chest implant with psychic in it that I thought might be useful at some point, and... about 12k credits from spam looting corpses (I reckon I got the majority of them). The fixers got the SMG dropped by the bodyguards I think, and other than that, there was zero gain.

I went into foremans again the next night, starting the Ace starr mission. I killed solo, looting all expensive shop food (avoiding implants with only faded/bright clusters, for example), and prioritizing weapons, chest armour, tank armour, and anything non-component. Doing this, I filled 5 backpacks while doing the first part of ace star quest. by the time I had finished the first part, and sold all my loot, I had made enough to upgrade TWO implants to level 100. I had gained ONE level.

I was pretty annoyed at that, so I decided to spend some time in SL. 8 minutes of running later, I was back in Ely garden, saved, and went to kill spiders. died about 5 times and then finally dinged after a few close shaves and escape to garden to save.

After that I was pretty tired of soloing spiders, so I quit for the night, but before I logged off, I had a quick look at my char. I had two implants that were up to date (25+ levels higher than my level), ALL my armour was out dated, 1 piece of sundance armour, 4 pieces of rhinoman armour, every piece of which was lower than my level, 2 pieces of omnimed first aid (sleeves)... The only thing that was up to date was my AI level, but I was missing a type 48 for my nunchaku, and even my nunchaku was too low, even though I hadn't got a type 48 for it...

In case you're still reading, the point of all this is to appreciate just HOW hard it is as a new player to cover all the bases.

* if you spend one level collecting shop food, you can upgrade an imp
* you can roll 3/6 nanos you want, and 0/3 of the nanos you NEED
* you can maybe kill some mobs solo, but spend 80% of the time rezzing
* you might get another ding, but then your armour gets further out of date
* you COULD go kill rhinomen, but the ones you NEED to kill to update your armour are social and will kill you with their buddies 75% of the time
* you COULD just do an AI daily, but then how in F*ck are you going to get a type 48
* you COULD just do an city raid, but you need SC to do it, and... where in HELL are you going to get that much cru, let alone get the exact drop you need to upgrade your weap - hell, did you even get the base weap you needed?
* you COULD buy the nano you needed, or the 3, but jesus, even as a fairly well outfitted DPS class, it took me an hour to farm the cash needed just to get ONE nano, but if I bought that nano I wouldn't have been able to upgrade my implants....

It would be a lot cooler if you could get the stuff you actually need, while doing activities that allow you to progress naturally.

Oh ya, and don't get me started on SOM.

There is one fix to the game, that is needed more than ANYTHING else, imo, and it is this:
FIX THE MISSION SYSTEM.

Mission booths need to:
1. know your prof and level
2. offer preset destinations/rewards for unknowing players (ie. you're a noob and you roll up to a mission booth - it does a quick scan, and says: here are three mission, one is for this piece of armour, one is for this nano, one is for this implant, ALL of which are beneficial to your prof/level)
3. retain the difficulty slider as is
4. offer expansion mission - ie, for SL you could get a mission to procure yourself a new brain symbiant of the appropriate level, or a piece of predator armour, etc. Same for AI missions, you could get a mission for a AI weap base, or a typed clump or a viralbot maybe which could occasionally be a lead bot, for LE missions you should get VP or OFAB armour/weapons depending on selection
5. Include missions that LEAD to relevant quests so new players learn how to start quests that eventually improve their playing experience

In otherwords, the mission system WAS and IS still the basis of AO. Deviation from this won't work because all new players will be funnelled into it in order to acquire their stuff.

The problem, as I mentioned is that the STUFF they get is not usable 99.9% of the time.

By creating a cohesive mission system, you'll get a much more understandable game by new players, and equipping while playing will be much easier, which will in turn allow newer players to explore AO in a more appropriate way, ie. they'll have reasonable equipment, and will be able to tackle dynas, maybe try some PVP (without just being WTF raped), get involved with not just RK mish, but enjoy SL, and AI exp , and the LE expansion all as part of the cohesive missioning system.

[Grandpa]

Integration is what is missing from AO.
It seems to be the most fragmented of so many games.

<text worth reading>

I very much agree with you.

In case you're still reading, the point of all this is to appreciate just HOW hard it is as a new player to cover all the bases.

1. It is incredibly hard and confusing to start AO!
With or without the NPE, this is what I believe is most important to any new player:

a) Be able to play during the daily ~8h (~12h on weekends) peak-time window.
During off-peak times, LFT may have only a handful of people. It may only work for Inf missions and not much else.

b) Find an org willing and able to help with teams, XP, items and loot, credits, buffs and, most importantly, sound advice.
They will have to support you all the way through your first 220 and possibly beyond that.
But even the best org will be of little use to you, if your time zone differs greatly from theirs (see above).
Last and hardest part yet, you need to be lucky to find such an org!

The problem, as I mentioned is that the STUFF they get is not usable 99.9% of the time.

2. RK missions have yielded mostly crap since the SL launch and possibly even before that.
Why the loot tables haven't been updated in 10 years is anyone's guess.
Same goes for almost everything sold in any shop - outdated junk, useless to anyone, including froobs.

By creating a cohesive mission system, you'll get a much more understandable game by new players, and equipping while playing will be much easier, which will in turn allow newer players to explore AO in a more appropriate way, ie. they'll have reasonable equipment, and will be able to tackle dynas, maybe try some PVP (without just being WTF raped), get involved with not just RK mish, but enjoy SL, and AI exp , and the LE expansion all as part of the cohesive missioning system.

3. Indeed, there is no cohesive system in AO.
Missions, quests, towers, battle station and all the different expansions do not connect.
Even the lore and storylines seem often nonsensical and patched together - and of course, they were.

Sadly, I believe that the NPE won't change much of that at all.
It will be just as hard for a new player to start AO as it is now.

[McKnuckleSamwich]

The NPE is a moderately cohesive introduction for RK and AI, but lacks SL, LE and NW.

Whoever decided to tack SL onto AO was just retarded, it's got to be the single worst thing about the game as a whole.

When SL was introduced, it was hailed as brilliant, but it was so godawfully incomplete as anyone who played during the SL launch can attest to.

But because SL is so friggin large, it's like it's a complete separate game. How the hell are you going to integrate a SECOND game into a game that's actually MODERATELY close to being integrated?

Like, if you cut out Jobe, and you cut out the Ergo statues in the various playfields throughout RK, and you just axed out EVERYTHING to do with SL, you'd actually have a good game again.

Make level 200 be max level, condence all perklines down so that you can perk them fully at 200, attain 1 SL perk every 5 levels so gameplay is linear instead of top heavy, and just add a couple of new areas to grind in so people don't overwhelm IS.

then we're getting somewhere. Then the only thing that's needed is to finish integrating RK/AI/NW/LE which, to a large extent is MOSTLY complete based on proximity, the whole INVASION concept, and just connect the dots between LE and AI, have aliens start trying to harvest notum, and attack tower sites, which open them randomly, and allow people to compete for AI boss kills while PVP/PVM/KSing is all going on at once, then start bringing in unicorn commanders to try to KS players, and we've got a real game with PROPER integration.

Ya, you might need to make shades use inf symbs but whatever, everyone uses them.

And there might be a few holes where a weapon or whatever needed to be reintroduced, or a few huds/utils, but for the most part, SL only dilutes real AO.

[Caloss2]

The NPE is a moderately cohesive introduction for RK and AI, but lacks SL, LE and NW.

Whoever decided to tack SL onto AO was just retarded, it's got to be the single worst thing about the game as a whole.

When SL was introduced, it was hailed as brilliant, but it was so godawfully incomplete as anyone who played during the SL launch can attest to.

But because SL is so friggin large, it's like it's a complete separate game. How the hell are you going to integrate a SECOND game into a game that's actually MODERATELY close to being integrated?

Like, if you cut out Jobe, and you cut out the Ergo statues in the various playfields throughout RK, and you just axed out EVERYTHING to do with SL, you'd actually have a good game again.

Make level 200 be max level, condence all perklines down so that you can perk them fully at 200, attain 1 SL perk every 5 levels so gameplay is linear instead of top heavy, and just add a couple of new areas to grind in so people don't overwhelm IS.

then we're getting somewhere. Then the only thing that's needed is to finish integrating RK/AI/NW/LE which, to a large extent is MOSTLY complete based on proximity, the whole INVASION concept, and just connect the dots between LE and AI, have aliens start trying to harvest notum, and attack tower sites, which open them randomly, and allow people to compete for AI boss kills while PVP/PVM/KSing is all going on at once, then start bringing in unicorn commanders to try to KS players, and we've got a real game with PROPER integration.

Ya, you might need to make shades use inf symbs but whatever, everyone uses them.

And there might be a few holes where a weapon or whatever needed to be reintroduced, or a few huds/utils, but for the most part, SL only dilutes real AO.

Guate was responsible, he didn't understand AO and tried to turn it into something else, had his team work the from the beginning (Jobe, Nac, Ely etc but never finished Inf) I do remember the beta and the launch and also getting into Inf one spawn spot for hecklers, and if you stepped off the path you fell to RK, and this working on things from the ground up can fall apart, not so for a brand new game, but certainly for one that's been around a few years or like AO 14 years.
More than a few left game after SL released.

Sorry but yeah always had a sore point on SL.

[Neista]

Stuff

You nailed it 100% Imo. The problem is that these issues are deep-seated and would take a LOT of time and effort to fix and for a game thats on life support or nearly so, i just don't think FC would ever make the resources available to do something like this in anything like a timely fashion.

Which is a bloody shame because if AO wasnt so fragmented it would be a really fun game to join, aged or not.

[Legion84]

The NPE is a moderately cohesive introduction for RK and AI, but lacks SL, LE and NW.

Whoever decided to tack SL onto AO was just retarded, it's got to be the single worst thing about the game as a whole.

When SL was introduced, it was hailed as brilliant, but it was so godawfully incomplete as anyone who played during the SL launch can attest to.

But because SL is so friggin large, it's like it's a complete separate game. How the hell are you going to integrate a SECOND game into a game that's actually MODERATELY close to being integrated?

Like, if you cut out Jobe, and you cut out the Ergo statues in the various playfields throughout RK, and you just axed out EVERYTHING to do with SL, you'd actually have a good game again.

Make level 200 be max level, condence all perklines down so that you can perk them fully at 200, attain 1 SL perk every 5 levels so gameplay is linear instead of top heavy, and just add a couple of new areas to grind in so people don't overwhelm IS.

then we're getting somewhere. Then the only thing that's needed is to finish integrating RK/AI/NW/LE which, to a large extent is MOSTLY complete based on proximity, the whole INVASION concept, and just connect the dots between LE and AI, have aliens start trying to harvest notum, and attack tower sites, which open them randomly, and allow people to compete for AI boss kills while PVP/PVM/KSing is all going on at once, then start bringing in unicorn commanders to try to KS players, and we've got a real game with PROPER integration.

Ya, you might need to make shades use inf symbs but whatever, everyone uses them.

And there might be a few holes where a weapon or whatever needed to be reintroduced, or a few huds/utils, but for the most part, SL only dilutes real AO.

Loving the ideas, all round good post with very valid points that could make for alternative leveling which isn't game breaking, love the idea about the aliens attacking towers sites to randomly open them... FFA like Tara on alien boss at said tower site? Yes please. Bottom line we need more players.


Ps also lower the subscription cost.. yes you lose on active subs, but gain on new, returning players..

[Sephiroth56]

lol, ok...

It makes absolutely no sense tho, having set a different price on AoC and TSW at the time it had subs as funcom's 3 mmo's. It's only to screw over AO's euro and british customers but whatever.

Yes, Funcom is out to screw you over, and wouldn't iron out the discrepancy if it didn't involve speculating in currency. I'm glad we're all tinfoil hat on the forums, now.

[Grandpa]

Yes, Funcom is out to screw you over, and wouldn't iron out the discrepancy if it didn't involve speculating in currency. I'm glad we're all tinfoil hat on the forums, now.

Mr. Cryptic "just-believe-me-already-FC-is-great" talks about "tinfoil hats"...

That made me laugh, thanks for that!

[DigitalBath]

Yes, Funcom is out to screw you over, and wouldn't iron out the discrepancy if it didn't involve speculating in currency. I'm glad we're all tinfoil hat on the forums, now.

The only thing that always made me uneasy about FC's policy on this is the fact that pretty much every other MMO I've played outside of FC's titles has even prices. Either this speculation is fine with them (and was ever since they started out) or that's just not the reason. Either way, they should have learned how the markets work and how other, more successful companies even out prices by now. It makes consumers feel "not ripped off".

By even I mean that if the sub is 14.99 USD/month, I pay 10.99€/month for the same game sub on EU. Which leaves a small, non-substancial price difference, while with AO I pay 17.19€ instead of 10.99€/month.

Other games are similarly affected by VAT prices and all the international regulations that apply, so that's not it, either.

The question stands: What specifically makes FC's titles have a bigger discrepancy than most other company's titles, big and small?

[Pennypacker]

Yes, Funcom is out to screw you over, and wouldn't iron out the discrepancy if it didn't involve speculating in currency. I'm glad we're all tinfoil hat on the forums, now.

Are you dim ? It's a fact that they are charging more for EU or british paying customers than their other games... no matter if you try to use fancy words and think that having it about even as the market is pretty settled in that Euro is a bit higher than the USD and the GBP above Euro again.

Nothing about tinfoil hats, it's a fact. Eod

[Sephiroth56]

Mr. Cryptic "just-believe-me-already-FC-is-great" talks about "tinfoil hats"...

That made me laugh, thanks for that!

I've addressed every single point you've made at me, and even cleared up some misconceptions you have about what a stock is, and who owns the game. Conveniently, you left out answering any of them, but it's fun to see that you saw the replies, but had nothing to say in your defense.

Are you dim ? It's a fact that they are charging more for EU or british paying customers than their other games... no matter if you try to use fancy words and think that having it about even as the market is pretty settled in that Euro is a bit higher than the USD and the GBP above Euro again.

Nothing about tinfoil hats, it's a fact. Eod

Do you mean "QED"? Nihil quod erat demonstrandum. I've never said that it's fair, but I've tried to shed some light on the inner workings of a company. It's still a valid complaint, it's just that it's possible to understand it. Instead, you say Funcom is deliberately screwing over their EU and UK customers. You have no intention of understanding what I'm saying, and you're instead making strawmen and attacking them.

The question stands: What specifically makes FC's titles have a bigger discrepancy than most other company's titles, big and small?

That was never the question I set out to answer, if you look at what I've posted. I've set out to clear what a "fixed price" really means, and why there's differences in euros and dollars. How that translates to AO is something I've never commented, and I've said it's a valid complaint.

[Snakebite]

(Jobe, Nac, Ely etc but never finished Inf)

What do you mean, inf isn't finished?

[Leetlover]

FIX THE MISSION SYSTEM.

Mhm, and don't make it to easy or repetive either. Lets say you open a locked door and a bomb goes off. Maybe the nuke should be adjusted to actually mean something. Could be fun.

Reusing stuff (for example neretva which which is SO much just for a symb) thats new in AO might also be more fun than just adjusting the xp in inf-missions. The mobs there are a bit predictable. It's just much hp and damage. lox-mobs are better imo.

[Pennypacker]

Do you mean "QED"? Nihil quod erat demonstrandum. I've never said that it's fair, but I've tried to shed some light on the inner workings of a company. It's still a valid complaint, it's just that it's possible to understand it. Instead, you say Funcom is deliberately screwing over their EU and UK customers. You have no intention of understanding what I'm saying, and you're instead making strawmen and attacking them.

No, i meant end of discussion. And yes, funcom is deliberately screwing over their EU and UK customers. This issue has been taken up numerous times, on both game suggestions, monthly updates and other subforums, and has not been answered or replied to once in the years it has been brought up. And i've also cancelled my account with this as reasoning once upon a time.

And, I do get what you are saying, if this was a new issue i would agree, but this has been going on for years, and while the marketing department has updated TSW and AoC sub fee's they skipped AO.