I don't know if someone already posted this in this thread, because I didn't bother to look, but if you have Comcast, you can get a free subscription to Fileplanet.
1. Could we please stop argueing that Funcom and Fileplanet have a "right" to do this, and we dont have the "right" to expect a free beta? This discussion has nothing to do with our rights our how lawful their actions are. The discussion is that potential customers are being shunned in exchange for some cash.
2. The fact that Funcom and Fileplanet are business's trying to make money does not make this morally right. Its not even for sure a good strategy because as you see, a lot of people are turned off from the game by this.
3. Lastly, the common use of this strategy again does not make it morally right or strategically right in this situation.
It really saddens me to see people letting companies dictate what to expect.
I would like to know how this works financially(like did fileplanet and gamespot pay FunCom for their right to distribute open beta? or did FunCom just give it to them?) Either way, I'm not turned off by it at all. We've seen this in the past with virtually almost every MMO(I believe fileplanet started the trend with AC2). If you wanna crack at it, you'll pay a fee to fileplanet which really isn't that expensive imo for a "VIP" preview of the game. What is it, 6 or 7 bucks? Thats not bad. The only thing I've been slightly turned off by is the fee that apparently is associated with the early access program, but you apparently will get 10 extra days of play time if you take advantage of it. And lets be honest, I doubt FilePlanet or FunCom are making that much $$ off of this whole open beta, probably just chump change to them.
1. Could we please stop argueing that Funcom and Fileplanet have a "right" to do this, and we dont have the "right" to expect a free beta? This discussion has nothing to do with our rights our how lawful their actions are. The discussion is that potential customers are being shunned in exchange for some cash. 2. The fact that Funcom and Fileplanet are business's trying to make money does not make this morally right. Its not even for sure a good strategy because as you see, a lot of people are turned off from the game by this. 3. Lastly, the common use of this strategy again does not make it morally right or strategically right in this situation.
It really saddens me to see people letting companies dictate what to expect.
1. That is, however, the core of the argument. For me, I fail to see how "customer's are being shunned". If Funcom decides to open up the server's to 50,000 fileplanet subscribers, how is that harmful to potential customers. It only becomes an issue to players who feel that they have a right to a free test of the game.
2. You can't make a point that it is "morally wrong" without demonstrating a right to a free test. Otherwise this is purely a business decision, of which it is very debateable whether this hurts them at all.
3. Actually that depends on what morals you are basing this on. If you are basing this on code based morals (such as Bible, Koran, etc) I'd be interested in understanding how you apply them here. Otherwise, I'll assume you are basing this on society's general sense of morals, in which case common use/practice weighs heavily on what is "morally right".
It really saddens me to see people with such a warped sense of entitlement.
have u thought that maybe the reason they are doing this is that they are trying to get adults to participate in the beta and not little whinny kids. so the adults can do their jobs as BETA TESTERS?
have u thought that maybe the reason they are doing this is that they are trying to get adults to participate in the beta and not little whinny kids. so the adults can do their jobs as BETA TESTERS?
If you get yourself informed you will see that FC has posted a FAQ regarding this "open" beta on their forums. This point was precisely in that FAQ, and they said that his was absolutely not the case.
I have really enjoyed following this thread because it's an interesting peek into how differently people tend to think. There are rational posters trying to explain to irrational posters why they are irrational. And of course, people being people, the irrational don't pay any attention to the rational. LOL
1. Could we please stop argueing that Funcom and Fileplanet have a "right" to do this, and we dont have the "right" to expect a free beta? This discussion has nothing to do with our rights our how lawful their actions are. The discussion is that potential customers are being shunned in exchange for some cash. 2. The fact that Funcom and Fileplanet are business's trying to make money does not make this morally right. Its not even for sure a good strategy because as you see, a lot of people are turned off from the game by this. 3. Lastly, the common use of this strategy again does not make it morally right or strategically right in this situation.
It really saddens me to see people letting companies dictate what to expect.
1. That is, however, the core of the argument. For me, I fail to see how "customer's are being shunned". If Funcom decides to open up the server's to 50,000 fileplanet subscribers, how is that harmful to potential customers. It only becomes an issue to players who feel that they have a right to a free test of the game.
2. You can't make a point that it is "morally wrong" without demonstrating a right to a free test. Otherwise this is purely a business decision, of which it is very debateable whether this hurts them at all.
3. Actually that depends on what morals you are basing this on. If you are basing this on code based morals (such as Bible, Koran, etc) I'd be interested in understanding how you apply them here. Otherwise, I'll assume you are basing this on society's general sense of morals, in which case common use/practice weighs heavily on what is "morally right".
It really saddens me to see people with such a warped sense of entitlement.
Wow, now you are bringing ideology and religion into this. Well, I obviously see that there is no point arging about this with you. You have your ideology, nobody can help it.
For you FC and FP can charge whatever they want because they are a business and it's good for them. So you go ahead and pay.
But we are customers. For us an open beta is not a paid beta. They are full of marketing spin regarding the reason why the do it, and now they also call this an "open" beta, which it certainly is not, as we have to pay. So here is some more marketing spin. Now, as you are into ideology, you can also talk about honesty if you want. As I said I have no problem with paying if everything is clear straight from the beginning. The problem here is that it's so obvious FC is making up excuses and hiding them behind marketing spin.
Yes FC and FP have the right to charge for this, they are businesses. We are customers, we are the ones who always pay in the end and so we have the right no to agree. FYI, these people eat and pay their rent thanks to us.
And we are certainly not here for a "free ride". Purchasing a game 50 bucks and then paying 15 bucks a month to play is certainly not a free ride.
I have really enjoyed following this thread because it's an interesting peek into how differently people tend to think. There are rational posters trying to explain to irrational posters why they are irrational. And of course, people being people, the irrational don't pay any attention to the rational. LOL
And the point I am making, is that using FP to host Beta for their subscribers has been a fairly common practice, so I'm not sure why all the crying now.
Other games use fileplanet, but you don't have to pay. What is different with AoC is that you have to pay.
This was already said in this thread, in other threads and all over the web.
another thing to keep in mind is that apparently the client is almost as big as Vanguards(which was 17gig). Thats a lot of bandwith, especially considering some MMOs if you downloaded them are nothing more than a few gigs at that. Granted you may just be downloading some few meg launcher that then downloads the rest of the client from FC
another thing to keep in mind is that apparently the client is almost as big as Vanguards(which was 17gig). Thats a lot of bandwith, especially considering some MMOs if you downloaded them are nothing more than a few gigs at that. Granted you may just be downloading some few meg launcher that then downloads the rest of the client from FC
Yep you are right. That's huge. I have even see people saying it's bigger than that.
As you seem to suggest this could be the reason why FP is charging. But what I see here is one more reason to give us torrents
1. Could we please stop argueing that Funcom and Fileplanet have a "right" to do this, and we dont have the "right" to expect a free beta? This discussion has nothing to do with our rights our how lawful their actions are. The discussion is that potential customers are being shunned in exchange for some cash. 2. The fact that Funcom and Fileplanet are business's trying to make money does not make this morally right. Its not even for sure a good strategy because as you see, a lot of people are turned off from the game by this. 3. Lastly, the common use of this strategy again does not make it morally right or strategically right in this situation.
It really saddens me to see people letting companies dictate what to expect.
1. That is, however, the core of the argument. For me, I fail to see how "customer's are being shunned". If Funcom decides to open up the server's to 50,000 fileplanet subscribers, how is that harmful to potential customers. It only becomes an issue to players who feel that they have a right to a free test of the game.
2. You can't make a point that it is "morally wrong" without demonstrating a right to a free test. Otherwise this is purely a business decision, of which it is very debateable whether this hurts them at all.
3. Actually that depends on what morals you are basing this on. If you are basing this on code based morals (such as Bible, Koran, etc) I'd be interested in understanding how you apply them here. Otherwise, I'll assume you are basing this on society's general sense of morals, in which case common use/practice weighs heavily on what is "morally right".
It really saddens me to see people with such a warped sense of entitlement.
Wow, now you are bringing ideology and religion into this. Well, I obviously see that there is no point arging about this with you. You have your ideology, nobody can help it.
For you FC and FP can charge whatever they want because they are a business and it's good for them. So you go ahead and pay.
But we are customers. For us an open beta is not a paid beta. They are full of marketing spin regarding the reason why the do it, and now they also call this an "open" beta, which it certainly is not, as we have to pay. So here is some more marketing spin. Now, as you are into ideology, you can also talk about honesty if you want. As I said I have no problem with paying if everything is clear straight from the beginning. The problem here is that it's so obvious FC is making up excuses and hiding them behind marketing spin.
Yes FC and FP have the right to charge for this, they are businesses. We are customers, we are the ones who always pay in the end and so we have the right no to agree. FYI, these people eat and pay their rent thanks to us.
And we are certainly not here for a "free ride". Purchasing a game 50 bucks and then paying 15 bucks a month to play is certainly not a free ride.
1. It is an "open" beta, as you do not need an invite from Funcom. The first 50,000 fileplanet subscribers to request keys will have access. So claiming it is dishonest is not accurate. You claim you have no problem paying if everything is clear straight from the beginning, yet you are complaining. Their press release clearly stated the need for the Fileplanet subscription, so it seems to be pretty clear from the beginning.
2. Regarding the "free ride" comment, claiming that because you intend to spend $50 for the game plus $15 per month should grant you a free open beta is sort of like looking for a free ride, although a temporary one.
Reminds me of Exxon Mobil execs who testified before Congress recently that they were hardly making any money at all in the oil business. $4.00/gallon just isn't enough for them. And of course no one is FORCING you to drive.
Likewise, these poor international game Corporations, they struggle along just to scrape by and make a few pennies of profit each year. /sarcasm
1. It is an "open" beta, as you do not need an invite from Funcom. The first 50,000 fileplanet subscribers to request keys will have access. So claiming it is dishonest is not accurate. You claim you have no problem paying if everything is clear straight from the beginning, yet you are complaining. Their press release clearly stated the need for the Fileplanet subscription, so it seems to be pretty clear from the beginning.
2. Regarding the "free ride" comment, claiming that because you intend to spend $50 for the game plus $15 per month should grant you a free open beta is sort of like looking for a free ride, although a temporary one.
Now your arguing really becomes ridiculous.
It's pretty obvious that you always try to answer besides the point. I'm sure you are not an idiot and I also want to believe you are not here to troll, even if it looks so as you purposedly try to answer besides the point; so this leaves one possibility: you sound too much like you are on FC's pay bill. We know FC people are here and you are so obvious, there's no need to hide anymore. You can now stop spinning the spin.
Regarding point 1, I will let you go back and read what was said. No need to explain to you X times what was already said.
Regarding point 2, I mean come on. How old are you? What you say sounds like from the mouth of a teen. No harm intended here, but really this is ridiculous. Makes only sense to say something like this from a teens point of view. I earn my own money, thank you. And I certainly don't want to and I don't have the time to take part in a beta of an unfinished and of course still buggy game and going through a slow 20 or 30Gb download just because I want a "free ride". Open your eyes and then you can stop answering besides the points we are making.
Furthermore, FYI as this is obviously also something you still don't know: usually people never pay to take part in a beta, and very often they are also paid for this. While For example Microsoft gave 1 copy of Vista Ultimate to its 20'000 beta testers (needed to report only at least 1 bug) which is worth around 500$ around here, FC doesn't give them a free game box. And the beta testers aren't asking for one.
And as was said, a paid beta is not an "open" beta, it's a paid beta. Period. You can spin it how you want it won't change anything.
Anyway, no point in arguing with you. Seems like you are on FC's pay roll, so everything we say won't change anything, you will always answer in the same way. But we are customers. We are the ones who pay. Thanks to us these people can eat and pay their rents.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Dont want to test it, thats what OB is a test. Then dont.
There will be 370k buddy keys floating around and most likely a trial and quite possibly another weekend coming.
If people get so up tight about things like this, they save yourself the headache and wait it out.
Great thing about this game is that its not a race
Dont want to test it, thats what OB is a test. Then dont. There will be 370k buddy keys floating around and most likely a trial and quite possibly another weekend coming. If people get so up tight about things like this, they save yourself the headache and wait it out. Great thing about this game is that its not a race
Hehehe, a wise voice on these forums
Be carefull with talking about keys and trials, they will say you are here for a free ride.
Of course. We are making our voices heard because we don't agree with the way this beta was handled. And we need to do it, because if we don't and everyone agrees without saying anything like some people on these forums, then soon paid beta will become a standard.
Avery, I don't find it strange there isn't any exclusive news about it as there is nothing "open" in this beta. Limited keys, arguably paid process and NDA.
What would be the difference if they just anounced: "We are increasing number of people in closed beta by 50,000. New keys will be givven out by FilePlanet."
It's 8$ people. Give it a rest. You cant even watch a freakin movie for under that. Hell you cant even go out to dinner with 8$. Seriously, if you cant afford 8 bucks for a few weeks of gameplay you have more important things to worry about. Like not starving to death! Chill out. If you don't want to help pay for the bandwidth usage then don't freaking PLAY. It's that simple. Someone has to pay for the terabyte of bandwidth this is gonna take. And it's not like it's unusual. These days almost every MMOG does this. Talk about a stupid subject for the trolls, haters and AoC bashers to jump on.
AOC IS THE DEVIL!
oh well...it may be just 8$ but other mmos managed it without these. LotR 3-4 day beta was free too...and pretty much any other beta i played before was open and free. i wont be playing it cause i find it ridiculous to say its open when this actually isnt. I m very disappointed by funcom once again. I do understand absolutly that there is massiv costs for so much bandwidth but they could have managed this differently. its sad but i wont pay for an undone game that only will last for what....1 week? c mon...i rather buy myself a new manga and have it forever...
It's 8$ people. Give it a rest. You cant even watch a freakin movie for under that. Hell you cant even go out to dinner with 8$. Seriously, if you cant afford 8 bucks for a few weeks of gameplay you have more important things to worry about. Like not starving to death! Chill out. If you don't want to help pay for the bandwidth usage then don't freaking PLAY. It's that simple. Someone has to pay for the terabyte of bandwidth this is gonna take. And it's not like it's unusual. These days almost every MMOG does this. Talk about a stupid subject for the trolls, haters and AoC bashers to jump on.
AOC IS THE DEVIL!
oh well...it may be just 8$ but other mmos managed it without these. LotR 3-4 day beta was free too...and pretty much any other beta i played before was open and free. i wont be playing it cause i find it ridiculous to say its open when this actually isnt. I m very disappointed by funcom once again. I do understand absolutly that there is massiv costs for so much bandwidth but they could have managed this differently. its sad but i wont pay for an undone game that only will last for what....1 week? c mon...i rather buy myself a new manga and have it forever...
All I hear is blah blah blah I'm a dirty tramp. Dude, do you have sand in your vagina or something? You better close your legs because I can see your vagina from here. Go ahead and by yourself another SWEET awesome MANGA that you can have forever.. I mean isn't half the fun ro play MMOs (or any game for that matter) when it IS released? If you cannot afford this game and realize down the road that you don't like it, then I would go to assume that you're not old enough to even be playing it!
Everything these days are a money gouge and its up to the consumers to be stupid enough to fall victim (like me and all the Halo 3 hype.. do you have your helmet?? Well I DO!/// sigh *cry*).
Product Director Jørgen Tharaldsen explains why we have chosen to go the route we annouced today:
Quote:
Hi everyone, as you can see we have made the big announcement you have all been waiting for today. We naturally see a lot of questions popping up, and I won’t even attempt to answer them all here. We will however try to go through the major ones so you may understand our reasoning, and hopefully get the details you need at this point.
First of all Fileplanet has posted a FAQ on their site where some basic questions are replied. You can find that here.
They will update this FAQ in the days to come as more questions pop up.
The registration to sign-up is now live, and you can find it here.
So, on to the meat of this somewhat lengthy article, read or delete at your pleasure:
WTF, only level 13 / SMART move on the level cap (pick a variant)
We have on purpose chosen to cap the Open Beta at level 13. As someone points out it is a quest junction in the game for the Destiny quests. It is however far enough to give you many (many) hours of entertainment, while giving access to both solo and group gameplay. How many hours is a bit up to you, and how many characters you create. If you are smart about it and team up (which we all know you will ;-P) you will also be able to access content for a tad higher levels. As you move into some quests which demands a certain level that will be the end of the experience. For now.
For those of you who are disappointed about the level cap; at Funcom we have always seen Beta PRIMARILY as a tool for development, a beta is there to test the game so it is as good as possible when we launch. Perhaps you have seen other solutions by other MMO games in the past, but by doing it this way we are able to test all we need, while hopefully also ensuring you get a great taste of all the new aspects we bring to the genre. As you can make several characters you can test out a lot before we launch, perhaps even making up your mind on your primary. This also means we get a focused testing on where we know the major load will come when we launch, which is at the instances running the start. Oh, for those of you wondering, when beta ends your character dies, and once we launch you will need to start a new.
Paying for Open Beta?!?!
The way Fileplanet works means that you will have to eventually pay, yes. This is not something we control, but please be aware that distributing, organizing and preparing such an activity is something extremely few gaming sites can cope with. I am not sure how well versed you are in the cost of internet downloads or what it takes to set things like this up, but I assure you, the Conan beta has a definitive cost for Fileplanet as well. Not just for the Peta byte of data going out, but for setting this whole thing up. When we started to look for a partner for Open Beta we didn’t have to think even twice, as IGN / Fileplanet are the best ones in the world on that. Simple as that. Extremely few companies are able to host and arrange something like this on the scale they do it. For us, to know that our partner can be fully trusted on everything from customer service to download speeds, was of the essence. Why we didn’t do it all ourselves? We have up until this point, tens of thousands have been selected, and we for sure will to a greater degree some weeks from now. But…as we move into final push we need final push attention too. Simple as that.
I know you will continue to discuss this aspect of it as we move on, and some of you are / will even be angry about it. Please, don’t be, this is a BETA, it is for TESTING Age of Conan BEFORE the LAUNCH. You do not have to sign up for this, it is voluntary. There is no god given right that everyone who wants should get access to a beta, remember that we are only trying to make the best possible game for launch, and the best partner we could find for that part of the Beta was Fileplanet. Age of Conan doesn’t start 1st of May, it starts when we launch. I hope I don’t come across as harsh here, we do love you guys and girls (group hug everyone) but please also understand our choices.
Will there be an NDA?
We might keep it up a bit to let the main stresstest rush go by, but it will be lifted way before we launch. Soon everyone can talk about what they are playing instead of what they think they will be playing. We really look forward to this of course! This marks the start of a new chapter for us, and you all, we are now soon moving into live services! Soon everyone
When will I get my keys and know if I am selected?
You will get a notification from Fileplanet next week, but you are able to register your email and get notification when you can sign-up next week. This does not require a Fileplanet membership. After that point in time it is a FIRST COME – FIRST SERVE rush to get keys (this is a normal way for Fileplanet to do it btw). The client downloads will go in batches though. To stagger the load this will need to be a bit staged as our MASSIVE download is a challenge for any network. This is done to ensure best possible download speeds
Is it available for everyone?
Yes, people from all over the world can sign up. Just last month we had people from a whopping 191 countries who visited the Age of Conan site, so of course we worked with Fileplanet on making it global. It will play towards US datacenters though. We are now moving into launch universes for our server parks, and this means that for this test other gamers will play on US ping times.
Only 50.000 players?
Only?!! Yes, it is what we need to stress test this part of the beta. Please understand; this will give us the data we need to move to launch. It is a small premiere for us if you like. At the same time it allows us to check strain over numerous servers, while at the same time giving us enough time to scale and fix for launch set-up.
Will general beta go on?
Yes, general beta will go on at different universe (Euro server parks). If you have already signed up through our own beta pages you might still have a chance of being picked, even though the chance is getting a tad slimmer as you may understand. We are soon launching though!
What about all the other questions?
This hopefully answered some of the most important ones, and our forum addiction means we will follow upcoming topics as well.
I hope that those of you who want to will get a spot in the beta, and that you will all have great fun when you get there. You have been amazing and waited for us and now everything moves into final stage. You have been part of the same rollercoaster we have been through, but this is it! Open Beta! Then launch!! Even though I know many of you would have wished for “complete, open, every single one being able to play for weeks for free, for as many levels as possible Beta” (TM); if you think about it, really think about it, and if you were working in Funcom, I am sure you would have agreed we have made the best approach. We chose this way because it is the best course of action to prepare for launch, and that is after all the goal of any beta.
WTF, what a lot of marketing “#¤¤#%
It’s the truth, hopefully you will understand our choices. This is a major hallmark in the development history of Age of Conan, and actually, it is great fantastic news. Isn’t it? Should some of you still be angry when you do get to enter the game; do like me, vent some steam by chopping of a few Pict heads
Have a great night everyone, hope to see you in Hyboria soon
wait, so I could subscribe and pay 8 bucks to fileplanet, and still potentially not get invited to the beta?And im sure a lotta people will be waiting til the exact sec signups become available so the 50k keys will go fast.
Comments
I don't know if someone already posted this in this thread, because I didn't bother to look, but if you have Comcast, you can get a free subscription to Fileplanet.
http://gameinvasion.comcast.net/gameinvasion/sales/
Couple points i'd like to make:
1. Could we please stop argueing that Funcom and Fileplanet have a "right" to do this, and we dont have the "right" to expect a free beta? This discussion has nothing to do with our rights our how lawful their actions are. The discussion is that potential customers are being shunned in exchange for some cash.
2. The fact that Funcom and Fileplanet are business's trying to make money does not make this morally right. Its not even for sure a good strategy because as you see, a lot of people are turned off from the game by this.
3. Lastly, the common use of this strategy again does not make it morally right or strategically right in this situation.
It really saddens me to see people letting companies dictate what to expect.
I would like to know how this works financially(like did fileplanet and gamespot pay FunCom for their right to distribute open beta? or did FunCom just give it to them?) Either way, I'm not turned off by it at all. We've seen this in the past with virtually almost every MMO(I believe fileplanet started the trend with AC2). If you wanna crack at it, you'll pay a fee to fileplanet which really isn't that expensive imo for a "VIP" preview of the game. What is it, 6 or 7 bucks? Thats not bad. The only thing I've been slightly turned off by is the fee that apparently is associated with the early access program, but you apparently will get 10 extra days of play time if you take advantage of it. And lets be honest, I doubt FilePlanet or FunCom are making that much $$ off of this whole open beta, probably just chump change to them.
Just register for account and download from free server they have!
WWIIOnline The Real War!
2. You can't make a point that it is "morally wrong" without demonstrating a right to a free test. Otherwise this is purely a business decision, of which it is very debateable whether this hurts them at all.
3. Actually that depends on what morals you are basing this on. If you are basing this on code based morals (such as Bible, Koran, etc) I'd be interested in understanding how you apply them here. Otherwise, I'll assume you are basing this on society's general sense of morals, in which case common use/practice weighs heavily on what is "morally right".
It really saddens me to see people with such a warped sense of entitlement.
have u thought that maybe the reason they are doing this is that they are trying to get adults to participate in the beta and not little whinny kids. so the adults can do their jobs as BETA TESTERS?
If you get yourself informed you will see that FC has posted a FAQ regarding this "open" beta on their forums. This point was precisely in that FAQ, and they said that his was absolutely not the case.
I have really enjoyed following this thread because it's an interesting peek into how differently people tend to think. There are rational posters trying to explain to irrational posters why they are irrational. And of course, people being people, the irrational don't pay any attention to the rational. LOL
1. That is, however, the core of the argument. For me, I fail to see how "customer's are being shunned". If Funcom decides to open up the server's to 50,000 fileplanet subscribers, how is that harmful to potential customers. It only becomes an issue to players who feel that they have a right to a free test of the game.2. You can't make a point that it is "morally wrong" without demonstrating a right to a free test. Otherwise this is purely a business decision, of which it is very debateable whether this hurts them at all.
3. Actually that depends on what morals you are basing this on. If you are basing this on code based morals (such as Bible, Koran, etc) I'd be interested in understanding how you apply them here. Otherwise, I'll assume you are basing this on society's general sense of morals, in which case common use/practice weighs heavily on what is "morally right".
It really saddens me to see people with such a warped sense of entitlement.
Wow, now you are bringing ideology and religion into this. Well, I obviously see that there is no point arging about this with you. You have your ideology, nobody can help it.
For you FC and FP can charge whatever they want because they are a business and it's good for them. So you go ahead and pay.
But we are customers. For us an open beta is not a paid beta. They are full of marketing spin regarding the reason why the do it, and now they also call this an "open" beta, which it certainly is not, as we have to pay. So here is some more marketing spin. Now, as you are into ideology, you can also talk about honesty if you want. As I said I have no problem with paying if everything is clear straight from the beginning. The problem here is that it's so obvious FC is making up excuses and hiding them behind marketing spin.
Yes FC and FP have the right to charge for this, they are businesses. We are customers, we are the ones who always pay in the end and so we have the right no to agree. FYI, these people eat and pay their rent thanks to us.
And we are certainly not here for a "free ride". Purchasing a game 50 bucks and then paying 15 bucks a month to play is certainly not a free ride.
Yes, funny isn't it?
Other games use fileplanet, but you don't have to pay. What is different with AoC is that you have to pay.
This was already said in this thread, in other threads and all over the web.
another thing to keep in mind is that apparently the client is almost as big as Vanguards(which was 17gig). Thats a lot of bandwith, especially considering some MMOs if you downloaded them are nothing more than a few gigs at that. Granted you may just be downloading some few meg launcher that then downloads the rest of the client from FC
Yep you are right. That's huge. I have even see people saying it's bigger than that.
As you seem to suggest this could be the reason why FP is charging. But what I see here is one more reason to give us torrents
2. You can't make a point that it is "morally wrong" without demonstrating a right to a free test. Otherwise this is purely a business decision, of which it is very debateable whether this hurts them at all.
3. Actually that depends on what morals you are basing this on. If you are basing this on code based morals (such as Bible, Koran, etc) I'd be interested in understanding how you apply them here. Otherwise, I'll assume you are basing this on society's general sense of morals, in which case common use/practice weighs heavily on what is "morally right".
It really saddens me to see people with such a warped sense of entitlement.
Wow, now you are bringing ideology and religion into this. Well, I obviously see that there is no point arging about this with you. You have your ideology, nobody can help it.
For you FC and FP can charge whatever they want because they are a business and it's good for them. So you go ahead and pay.
But we are customers. For us an open beta is not a paid beta. They are full of marketing spin regarding the reason why the do it, and now they also call this an "open" beta, which it certainly is not, as we have to pay. So here is some more marketing spin. Now, as you are into ideology, you can also talk about honesty if you want. As I said I have no problem with paying if everything is clear straight from the beginning. The problem here is that it's so obvious FC is making up excuses and hiding them behind marketing spin.
Yes FC and FP have the right to charge for this, they are businesses. We are customers, we are the ones who always pay in the end and so we have the right no to agree. FYI, these people eat and pay their rent thanks to us.
And we are certainly not here for a "free ride". Purchasing a game 50 bucks and then paying 15 bucks a month to play is certainly not a free ride.
1. It is an "open" beta, as you do not need an invite from Funcom. The first 50,000 fileplanet subscribers to request keys will have access. So claiming it is dishonest is not accurate. You claim you have no problem paying if everything is clear straight from the beginning, yet you are complaining. Their press release clearly stated the need for the Fileplanet subscription, so it seems to be pretty clear from the beginning.2. Regarding the "free ride" comment, claiming that because you intend to spend $50 for the game plus $15 per month should grant you a free open beta is sort of like looking for a free ride, although a temporary one.
Reminds me of Exxon Mobil execs who testified before Congress recently that they were hardly making any money at all in the oil business. $4.00/gallon just isn't enough for them. And of course no one is FORCING you to drive.
Likewise, these poor international game Corporations, they struggle along just to scrape by and make a few pennies of profit each year. /sarcasm
Now your arguing really becomes ridiculous.
It's pretty obvious that you always try to answer besides the point. I'm sure you are not an idiot and I also want to believe you are not here to troll, even if it looks so as you purposedly try to answer besides the point; so this leaves one possibility: you sound too much like you are on FC's pay bill. We know FC people are here and you are so obvious, there's no need to hide anymore. You can now stop spinning the spin.
Regarding point 1, I will let you go back and read what was said. No need to explain to you X times what was already said.
Regarding point 2, I mean come on.
How old are you? What you say sounds like from the mouth of a teen. No harm intended here, but really this is ridiculous. Makes only sense to say something like this from a teens point of view. I earn my own money, thank you. And I certainly don't want to and I don't have the time to take part in a beta of an unfinished and of course still buggy game and going through a slow 20 or 30Gb download just because I want a "free ride". Open your eyes and then you can stop answering besides the points we are making.
Furthermore, FYI as this is obviously also something you still don't know: usually people never pay to take part in a beta, and very often they are also paid for this. While For example Microsoft gave 1 copy of Vista Ultimate to its 20'000 beta testers (needed to report only at least 1 bug) which is worth around 500$ around here, FC doesn't give them a free game box. And the beta testers aren't asking for one.
And as was said, a paid beta is not an "open" beta, it's a paid beta. Period. You can spin it how you want it won't change anything.
Anyway, no point in arguing with you. Seems like you are on FC's pay roll, so everything we say won't change anything, you will always answer in the same way. But we are customers. We are the ones who pay. Thanks to us these people can eat and pay their rents.
Dont want to test it, thats what OB is a test. Then dont.
There will be 370k buddy keys floating around and most likely a trial and quite possibly another weekend coming.
If people get so up tight about things like this, they save yourself the headache and wait it out.
Great thing about this game is that its not a race
Hehehe, a wise voice on these forums
Be carefull with talking about keys and trials, they will say you are here for a free ride.
Of course. We are making our voices heard because we don't agree with the way this beta was handled. And we need to do it, because if we don't and everyone agrees without saying anything like some people on these forums, then soon paid beta will become a standard.
Avery, I don't find it strange there isn't any exclusive news about it as there is nothing "open" in this beta. Limited keys, arguably paid process and NDA.
What would be the difference if they just anounced: "We are increasing number of people in closed beta by 50,000. New keys will be givven out by FilePlanet."
oh well...it may be just 8$ but other mmos managed it without these. LotR 3-4 day beta was free too...and pretty much any other beta i played before was open and free. i wont be playing it cause i find it ridiculous to say its open when this actually isnt. I m very disappointed by funcom once again. I do understand absolutly that there is massiv costs for so much bandwidth but they could have managed this differently. its sad but i wont pay for an undone game that only will last for what....1 week? c mon...i rather buy myself a new manga and have it forever...
oh well...it may be just 8$ but other mmos managed it without these. LotR 3-4 day beta was free too...and pretty much any other beta i played before was open and free. i wont be playing it cause i find it ridiculous to say its open when this actually isnt. I m very disappointed by funcom once again. I do understand absolutly that there is massiv costs for so much bandwidth but they could have managed this differently. its sad but i wont pay for an undone game that only will last for what....1 week? c mon...i rather buy myself a new manga and have it forever...
All I hear is blah blah blah I'm a dirty tramp. Dude, do you have sand in your vagina or something? You better close your legs because I can see your vagina from here. Go ahead and by yourself another SWEET awesome MANGA that you can have forever.. I mean isn't half the fun ro play MMOs (or any game for that matter) when it IS released? If you cannot afford this game and realize down the road that you don't like it, then I would go to assume that you're not old enough to even be playing it!
Everything these days are a money gouge and its up to the consumers to be stupid enough to fall victim (like me and all the Halo 3 hype.. do you have your helmet?? Well I DO!/// sigh *cry*).
For those of you whining about this being a Fileplanet exclusive beta event here is your answers directly from the horses mouth.
Source:
forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php
Product Director Jørgen Tharaldsen explains why we have chosen to go the route we annouced today:
Hi everyone, as you can see we have made the big announcement you have all been waiting for today. We naturally see a lot of questions popping up, and I won’t even attempt to answer them all here. We will however try to go through the major ones so you may understand our reasoning, and hopefully get the details you need at this point.
First of all Fileplanet has posted a FAQ on their site where some basic questions are replied. You can find that here.
They will update this FAQ in the days to come as more questions pop up.
The registration to sign-up is now live, and you can find it here.
So, on to the meat of this somewhat lengthy article, read or delete at your pleasure:
WTF, only level 13 / SMART move on the level cap (pick a variant)
We have on purpose chosen to cap the Open Beta at level 13. As someone points out it is a quest junction in the game for the Destiny quests. It is however far enough to give you many (many) hours of entertainment, while giving access to both solo and group gameplay. How many hours is a bit up to you, and how many characters you create. If you are smart about it and team up (which we all know you will ;-P) you will also be able to access content for a tad higher levels. As you move into some quests which demands a certain level that will be the end of the experience. For now.
For those of you who are disappointed about the level cap; at Funcom we have always seen Beta PRIMARILY as a tool for development, a beta is there to test the game so it is as good as possible when we launch. Perhaps you have seen other solutions by other MMO games in the past, but by doing it this way we are able to test all we need, while hopefully also ensuring you get a great taste of all the new aspects we bring to the genre. As you can make several characters you can test out a lot before we launch, perhaps even making up your mind on your primary. This also means we get a focused testing on where we know the major load will come when we launch, which is at the instances running the start. Oh, for those of you wondering, when beta ends your character dies, and once we launch you will need to start a new.
Paying for Open Beta?!?!
The way Fileplanet works means that you will have to eventually pay, yes. This is not something we control, but please be aware that distributing, organizing and preparing such an activity is something extremely few gaming sites can cope with. I am not sure how well versed you are in the cost of internet downloads or what it takes to set things like this up, but I assure you, the Conan beta has a definitive cost for Fileplanet as well. Not just for the Peta byte of data going out, but for setting this whole thing up. When we started to look for a partner for Open Beta we didn’t have to think even twice, as IGN / Fileplanet are the best ones in the world on that. Simple as that. Extremely few companies are able to host and arrange something like this on the scale they do it. For us, to know that our partner can be fully trusted on everything from customer service to download speeds, was of the essence. Why we didn’t do it all ourselves? We have up until this point, tens of thousands have been selected, and we for sure will to a greater degree some weeks from now. But…as we move into final push we need final push attention too. Simple as that.
I know you will continue to discuss this aspect of it as we move on, and some of you are / will even be angry about it. Please, don’t be, this is a BETA, it is for TESTING Age of Conan BEFORE the LAUNCH. You do not have to sign up for this, it is voluntary. There is no god given right that everyone who wants should get access to a beta, remember that we are only trying to make the best possible game for launch, and the best partner we could find for that part of the Beta was Fileplanet. Age of Conan doesn’t start 1st of May, it starts when we launch. I hope I don’t come across as harsh here, we do love you guys and girls (group hug everyone) but please also understand our choices.
Will there be an NDA?
We might keep it up a bit to let the main stresstest rush go by, but it will be lifted way before we launch. Soon everyone can talk about what they are playing instead of what they think they will be playing. We really look forward to this of course! This marks the start of a new chapter for us, and you all, we are now soon moving into live services! Soon everyone
When will I get my keys and know if I am selected?
You will get a notification from Fileplanet next week, but you are able to register your email and get notification when you can sign-up next week. This does not require a Fileplanet membership. After that point in time it is a FIRST COME – FIRST SERVE rush to get keys (this is a normal way for Fileplanet to do it btw). The client downloads will go in batches though. To stagger the load this will need to be a bit staged as our MASSIVE download is a challenge for any network. This is done to ensure best possible download speeds
Is it available for everyone?
Yes, people from all over the world can sign up. Just last month we had people from a whopping 191 countries who visited the Age of Conan site, so of course we worked with Fileplanet on making it global. It will play towards US datacenters though. We are now moving into launch universes for our server parks, and this means that for this test other gamers will play on US ping times.
Only 50.000 players?
Only?!! Yes, it is what we need to stress test this part of the beta. Please understand; this will give us the data we need to move to launch. It is a small premiere for us if you like. At the same time it allows us to check strain over numerous servers, while at the same time giving us enough time to scale and fix for launch set-up.
Will general beta go on?
Yes, general beta will go on at different universe (Euro server parks). If you have already signed up through our own beta pages you might still have a chance of being picked, even though the chance is getting a tad slimmer as you may understand. We are soon launching though!
What about all the other questions?
This hopefully answered some of the most important ones, and our forum addiction means we will follow upcoming topics as well.
I hope that those of you who want to will get a spot in the beta, and that you will all have great fun when you get there. You have been amazing and waited for us and now everything moves into final stage. You have been part of the same rollercoaster we have been through, but this is it! Open Beta! Then launch!! Even though I know many of you would have wished for “complete, open, every single one being able to play for weeks for free, for as many levels as possible Beta” (TM); if you think about it, really think about it, and if you were working in Funcom, I am sure you would have agreed we have made the best approach. We chose this way because it is the best course of action to prepare for launch, and that is after all the goal of any beta.
WTF, what a lot of marketing “#¤¤#%
It’s the truth, hopefully you will understand our choices. This is a major hallmark in the development history of Age of Conan, and actually, it is great fantastic news. Isn’t it? Should some of you still be angry when you do get to enter the game; do like me, vent some steam by chopping of a few Pict heads
Have a great night everyone, hope to see you in Hyboria soon
Best regards
Jørgen Tharaldsen
Product Director
Ownage, I also could understand that downloading 20gigs everytime would be one disgusting server bill.