Friday with Means - September 4th, 2009 - Dragoncon

[Amosco]

Aye bump for this.

Once the engine is done FC should try get some new players in the game. Definitely think it will appeal to more people with the new updated look.

FC apparently peaked at 60,000 players back in 2002 and has steadied to ~10,000 players in 2008 if you go by this chart. WTB more ppl in AO!!

I tried to look closely, but I couldn't see AO's line on that chart beyond 2006 (which was at ~10,000 at that point). So, I'm not sure how many players AO has now according to that. Though, I've seen that chart before and always wondered how accurate it is, since it is my understanding that Funcom has never really announced the playerbase for AO the way Blizzard often has for WoW.

However, I do think that once the engine is released, and if there is a significant marketing push for AO at that point, we could see subscriptions jump back up to around 30K at least. Although, it depends on when The Secret World is released in relation to the time when the AO engine update gets released. I think Funcom might end up cannibalizing AO's subscription base once TSW goes live. I know I'm looking forward to playing TSW at this point.

[Shareida]

Hrmpf, those guys get to have all the fun.

Coder Monkeys are supposed to deliver, let the PR people do the Vaporware, hmmkay?

[Eponyx]

I tried to look closely, but I couldn't see AO's line on that chart beyond 2006 (which was at ~10,000 at that point). So, I'm not sure how many players AO has now according to that. Though, I've seen that chart before and always wondered how accurate it is, since it is my understanding that Funcom has never really announced the playerbase for AO the way Blizzard often has for WoW.

I seem to remember that the initial launch in NA and the Nordic European countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland.) There was sold at least 100K units of the game. How many of those that did actually subscribe I really don't know, but back then "disaster" launches was relative common although not as bad as it was for AO. Still I would assume that about 60K or so would maybe be a bit low at the time. If we are above or below 10K now I really don’t know and I hope we are abow.

Disclaimer: I don't have any hard info to back this up other than what I remember from what was being mentioned when visiting FC at launch day. And as always this is my thoughts and has nothing to do whit FC or ARK.

[BugsCoT]

+16 points: Epo

[Elis]

No major expansions, hard dates or big surprises were made public at this panel as we wanted to confirm that (with the exception of the engine) the major focus of the team for the next while is to continue isolating and removing old issues from the game and improving the existing game experience.Thanks to all who made it to this year's panel!

I just cant help my myself. Does this mean that we can also expect cities and alien pathing to be fixed soon? (not talking about instanced city)

[Technogen]

Does this mean that we can also expect cities and alien pathing to be fixed soon? (not talking about instanced city)

No, it'll be a while until they are able to get to that from what I understand. (talked to a gm in game about ours)

[Ismail]

If only i had the money to come ;/.

[Lheann]

There is an article that was released on one of the mmo mag websites after the dreadful 12.6 patch had been live and the hordes left. The article addressed how the player base had gone from 64kish to 31kish in just over a week. Gaute being his usualy PITA responded that to the questioner about 12.6 as if it wasno big deal all the people left. Something about "real gamers" would stay and would respect the changes they had made.

I don't know but 33kish accounts gone in a week was bad news.

Epo,
I would hope with the totally crappy population I am seeing these days on RK1 is because we are under 10k. Cause if we are not and the numbers do go down more then AO with be a Massive Single Player Online Waste Of Time. MSPOWoT for short.

How bad is the population on RK1 at low levels you ask? Spent 2 hours in the subway with my twink killing stuff over and over. In two hours I saw two other twinks. Now before someways says it was the time I was playing. It was prime time US EST. Took a run out to crippler cave and guess what no one there either. It was truly a 3 to 3.5 hour stretch of prime time that no new toons where on the way up in the usual spots.

I started a new toon today for the heck of it. So NI has some loot tables. But dang if the experience is not stupid and boring. If that stays the intro to AO with the new engine then AO is done for.

Would have been for FC to have something for Dragcon that said AO is still here. The fact thatnothing beyond what we already knew is being worked on is telling.

I have said it before and I will say it again. For any MMO to be successful at the WoW level they are going to have to have aspects of the game that are easy and enjoyable to repeat and the game has to be forward looking for future growth. Getting started has to be a no brainer and game play start to end has to be viable with out grinds and camping. I am not saying it should be handed to you but there has to be an acceptable level of game play from start level to endgame level that does not drive people mad.

I actually think the difference between a max level toon and endgame toon should be reflected in the effort and equipment used on them. What I think got lost with AO is that a max level toon with middle of the road gear should be enjoyable to play and be able to do a lets say 70% of the content in that gear.

[Dancingrage]

@Lheann: Part of that problem is the playerbase, who being the most hardcore of the hardcore at this point, expect nothing less than a toon decked out in billions and billions of credits worth of gear. Grinding alien raids in farm cities until their blood turns green from the Mt. Dew ingestion and all relativity fades away with only the singularity of 'uber' as their pole star.

Because of this, what results is a super-high level of play is what's expected of EVERYONE.

US timezones have been lower population for a while now, not much to be done about it.

At this point we know the beginning needs to be rewritten, so going over it again won't do anything. We in the playerbase are getting too antsy and hopped up with waiting for what 12 or so people are going to be doing with hundreds of megabytes of code. Take a few chill pills, a few thousand yoga breaths, and relax a bit.

[Sama]

i have to agree with Lheann and am sad that i have to. in an effort to distract myself from the bevy of inf mishes as i pushed my first toon to 220 i rolled a few alts to start some twink projects. Unfortunately i discovered what a few of my org mates had already told me. lowby leveling is dying and fast. On NI i found a few things going on, 1 veteran players quickly going through the content, 2 a legion of completely lost noobies trying to cope with island life and even more bewildered at what to do on the mainland, and 3 many a "vet" condescendingly bashing the lost ones. as i progressed past NI i soloed a majority of my way to 30ish in mostly empty playfields. then nothing. it was mostly waiting around to get a team which generally turned out to be pocketed. then after spending time in totw which seemed to be populated with froobs, it was offer to push for tl4. man it was horrifying. it was either get a twink to help level or suffer at slow solo. no teams on tiig beach, no one killing devs, etc etc. it was painful...


i am very excited about the new engine and know it will lead many people to try ao again or for the first time, but will they stay? i have had friends try ao and most wash out cause the are completely lost if i am not there to step by step them. PLEASE FIX THIS!!! there are many great ideas posted on these forums pertaining to this and i would rather see this fixed instead of anything else. cause if it doesnt change soon it wont matter if end game pvp is balanced, cause there wont be a game...

/offtopic rant...

[Keldros]

I think Funcom might end up cannibalizing AO's subscription base once TSW goes live. I know I'm looking forward to playing TSW at this point.

They need to consider offering a discount for people who subscribe to multiple MMOs.

I mean, it's possible to have AO and AoC subscribed on the same account now (although you need different logins for the two games).

[Fekal]

- Today: Mean announces that the dev team is isolating and removing old issues from the game.

I wonder what old issues that is going to be removed, fixers?

[heruharoth]

bump for smoothing down the learning curve BEFORE the new engine arrives. I say again, some people may come for the graphics, but noone will stay because of them because there's much better out there anyway. I firmly believe that most players that try AO and then leave do so because they are (here I go again) clueless about what to do, where to take their characters.

In regards of old content, I would be happier if they said "make old content more appealing than it is now" instead of fixing it...so many playfields that show great work by designers...and no character in sight. Let's see...

p.s. I already jumped into EVE online...havent played AO for 2 weeks myself.

[Worldofalts]

Means and Co. is already aware of new player problems as you can see below

I agree though, the beginning needs to be redone alongside the new engine or before, rather than afterwards

Originally Posted by means on July 3, 2009

AO Learning Curve

There has been a great deal of discussion recently on the beginning experience" of AO. For example this discussion here:

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...d.php?t=556269

I can't count the number of times I have played the "beginning" of AO. I can full agree that:

1. It is confusing.
2. Overly complicated.
3. Difficult to make money without previous knowledge.
4. Somewhat lost in terms of story.
5. Lacking the obvious direction that new players need to get started.
6. Lacks profession specific content to help you learn your profession.
7. Has massive room for improvement.

Having time I would like to completely alter the beginning of the game. The learning curve is steep and the amount to learn is frightening. Some adjustments will be made...but I'm not sure when we will get to them. There is another problem as well.

Anarchy Online IS complicated.

At some point, whether it is level 2 or level 200, players will look around and be stunned by the sheer complexity of AO. This is part of what makes AO the game that it is. AO is a game for a specific kind of person. Removing this complexity would remove a large part of what makes AO the amazing game that it is. Players return to AO specifically for the complexity and level of character customization. Efforts can be made to smooth out the beginning of AO in terms of the "WTF Factor" but the jarring moment of realization that separates AO players from everyone else will still happen at some point in the experience. We can only hope that moving this moment later into the experience will result in more players joining the community.

Thank you to all who took the time to look at the first moments of AO with fresh eyes and to relay your impressions to us. It is not always easy to know the best direction to take for the future of our universe...and hearing the same ideas and impressions from many different sources certainly helps. When the opinions of the community coincide with our own it makes it easier to proceed knowing we are doing the right thing. There were some excellent ideas we had not considered that will now get attention thanks to your individual efforts.

[Eponyx]

I wonder what old issues that is going to be removed, fixers?

Not Only fixers but also traders, shades, crats, engineers, MPs, NTs, Agents, Soldiers, Keepers, Enforcers, Doc's, MAs and Adventurers and just leave us, me, Monsters left, they might of course implement the "new" class forum troll thought it's a fixer, traders, shade, crat, engineer, MP, NT, Agent, Soldier, Keeper, Enforcer, Doc, MA and Adv combo.

Here there should be a disclaimer but I realy don't bother, no one take notice of it anyway.

[Ebondevil]

Here there should be a disclaimer but I realy don't bother, no one take notice of it anyway.

Wah Wah Wah, Whine, Funcom/Ark are doing Horrible things, Wah wah wah, Eponyx said so.

Disclaimer: Please take the above the way it's intended, in Jest!

[PhoenixOfAges]

The topic of population comes up all the time but especially around this time of year. The reason for that being how many are out doing other things for a stretch during the summer months. People generally play the most when they have a consistent daily pattern. During the summer months this daily pattern is different for a lot of people so the in game population goes down.

In a month or two the population will perk up again as it always does as people are back to their more consistent daily routine. This does not mean we will have a high population as AO doesn't have that many players, it will be better than it is now though. Things to perk up the population would be good but as I said it's always at it's lowest about now which sparks all these doom and gloom posts about how there's no one in game.

[JampeSL]

One of the things that really annoys me as a returning player who rolled a new toon is the run speed at low levels. The run from beach to the vendor feels like it takes forever. Then you have the quests on the island too. More running around at snail pace. That experience just turns you off.

[topa_boss]

the run speed is fine there, just think of 220 run speed as a bonus

[Zirreall]

So many veteran peeps leaving game, including myself, and, you guys at DC partying..lol. I feel a lot of irony. Pfft, who am I - only played this game since the beginning - server rollbacks and all - only gave up after 8 years....

If only the newbs to this game could keep up...sigh

???????

New vaporware engine will not save this game