With the decline of players on many servers merging is the only option to retain those players I think. Not many want to reroll and do everying all over.
FC is just full of crap employees. It should be quite alarming that they can't even come up with measures to make server transfer possible. All they can give players at the moment is "no can do".
Ahh, the backlash effect. Been following the fall of FC since June and it actually is a lot more entertaining than playing their game itself. 5.80 NOK stock sounds quite awesome FC, I'm glad you're doing so well!!
Originally posted by FischerBlack Having been through merges in the past, they tend to have 2 effects. 1. They improve gameplay for subscribers 2. They provide a signal to the wider community that sub numbers are shrinking. I think its a tough call for a studio to make. They need to balance the welfare of current players with the image hit that comes from the announcement. But of course if it does happen the haters will all do victory dances for a few days.
It might seem like a tough call to make, but in my opinion there's only one approach to take that will serve them well in the long run: do what's best for your players.
Customer numbers are a factor of acquisition and retention. Retention is secured by providing for the players you have, and the only acquisition you will have after 3-6 months is through expansions (kind'a a re-launch) and word-of-mouth. The latter is "acquisition through retention", so a factor of retention.
So do what benefits your current player base. They're your key audience now, whether these were the people you aimed for at the start or not, and they're the ones who will bring you new customers, if any. And throw in an expansion somewhere down the road so your faithful players have a good selling point when they recruit their friends. Just don't let them feel that the expansion takes away from what you're doing for them now.
My two cents anyway. But then I don't work with MMOG development. :-)
The sad thing is that you don't work for either SOE or Funcom, will somebody give this man a job!!!!
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
The time it took for the pvp update to be released severely hampered development in other areas. Yes, they were working on other things at the same time. But had pvp been ready earlier then those devs could have been working on other things since. However, that's in the past, and there's nothing they can do about that.
Fc's problem now is that they are all words and not ENOUGH action.
Yes, they FINALLY got the pvp update out, well done FC. But how long will it now take them before Ymirs Pass actually hits the test servers? How long to re-itemise the high levels to make the dungeons appealing? How long to get Commons District and the 2 high level dungeons in?
Yes, they've only got a finite amount of devs. I feel for them. But the longer they refuse to give CONCRETE information on what is actually ready for test, then harder it's going to be to get people to return. Just look at the backlash of Vanguard for an example.
And communication doesn't just mean "we are aware of the problem and are looking into it, we won't release it until its perfect". Action speaks louder than words.
Anarchy Online had a horrible start too and it became a good game. It regained the respect of the fans and media. Hell PC Gamer even gave it mmorpg of the year one year. So hope is not lost for AoC. Will it ever have a huge amount of subscribers? Probably not, but they can have a very healthy(fairly large) population if they keep improving the game. The new Conan movie will probably draw in some new players also when it comes out.
If servers merge it can be a good thing for those that play, it has benefits I think outweigh the negatives.
I agree with this. Companies probably don't like the perception that merging servers creates, but at the same time it will help to strengthen the game experience for current as well as future subscribers.
I would love to see AOC make a turn around. The game has some positives, but to me seems to have been mismanaged. The only way I will ever, ever give the game another chance is with a substantial free trial. Preferably this trial would happen in a few months, because right now I'm preoccupied with WAR. And if I get bored with that there is MInes of Moria. And if I get bored with that there is Star Wars The Force Unleashed. And if I get bored of that there is Fable 2. There's lot's of competition out there for my gaming dollars as we bring 2008 to a close.
Launched in May and server merges coming in Sepyember or October. Does not look good for the steaming pile of crap that AOC is.
Don't merge the servers and your screwed -
Perhaps they should have considered this when they so off handedly MOVED, DELETED, and BANNED people that were unhappy?
Merge the servers and you get comments like yours.
Perhaps they should have considered this when they so off handedly MOVED, DELETED, and BANNED people that were unhappy?
Either way doesn't really effect non constructive comments like yours.
Non Constructive? We didnt just arrive in a pissed off mood here dude. We were driven this way by FUNCOM. We posted constructive post after constructive post. They chose to ignore us. When we protested this and started to demand answers on things like well, THE OOM errors and CTD issues, they began the MOVE,DELETE, BAN stuff and made enemies of bewildered customers. They are merging the servers for a reason and it is mostly due to the damage they did to themselves through their treatment of paying customers on the forums.
How about you let the people who pay to play the game inform FC what they think. Don't like it either way, best to move on, prancing around screaming fail isn't healthy you know.
Im pretty sure FUNCOM is now interested in any potential customers thoughts. They have no choice but try to win back customers after so gleefully sweeping them under the rug! I am still a customer actually, as I purchased a 2 6 month accounts. I have the right to speak my mind certainly until then....
Merging them can be good for those who have poor levels in numbers on them and I think its the right way to go forward - screaming fail and POS the game is without saying why is OOO.
I think we all know why its a POS. Repeating the stuff over and over just draws more attacks from the likes of you.
Some people are like slinkies, they dont really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
Or they can do like ao and nothing and let the players continue to bitch... The ao german server has a very high pop of tumbleweeds if you ever go there.
I knew from day 1 there would be server merges. Interest in the game was far higher than expected at launch, of course, due to worn-out WoW players looking for another game. As a result FC opened new servers to accomodate the flood.
Indeed, but again the original quote is not on server merges. There were questions posed to the developers at the recent Dragoncon panel. You can find the log here.
I understand there is a lot of feedback on the subject but the idea of taking a discussion on character transfers and conforming it into server merges is not the intention of the original post.
I take it that will be PAYED character transfers ?
No official word on that but they are looking into the system at hand. Just wanted to stress here that there are no server merges planned and the quote was taken from a discussion on character transfers not server merges.
Comments
With the decline of players on many servers merging is the only option to retain those players I think. Not many want to reroll and do everying all over.
There can be only one
Server merge is needed. As a player without it I would barely consider coming back to empty servers even if the game becomes awesome.
DDO has the balls to do server merge and I /bow at Turbine. Once again they paved the way to others MMO studios.
FC is just full of crap employees. It should be quite alarming that they can't even come up with measures to make server transfer possible. All they can give players at the moment is "no can do".
Ahh, the backlash effect. Been following the fall of FC since June and it actually is a lot more entertaining than playing their game itself. 5.80 NOK stock sounds quite awesome FC, I'm glad you're doing so well!!
It might seem like a tough call to make, but in my opinion there's only one approach to take that will serve them well in the long run: do what's best for your players.
Customer numbers are a factor of acquisition and retention. Retention is secured by providing for the players you have, and the only acquisition you will have after 3-6 months is through expansions (kind'a a re-launch) and word-of-mouth. The latter is "acquisition through retention", so a factor of retention.
So do what benefits your current player base. They're your key audience now, whether these were the people you aimed for at the start or not, and they're the ones who will bring you new customers, if any. And throw in an expansion somewhere down the road so your faithful players have a good selling point when they recruit their friends. Just don't let them feel that the expansion takes away from what you're doing for them now.
My two cents anyway. But then I don't work with MMOG development. :-)
The sad thing is that you don't work for either SOE or Funcom, will somebody give this man a job!!!!
but yeah, to call this game Fantastic is like calling Twilight the Godfather of vampire movies....
The time it took for the pvp update to be released severely hampered development in other areas. Yes, they were working on other things at the same time. But had pvp been ready earlier then those devs could have been working on other things since. However, that's in the past, and there's nothing they can do about that.
Fc's problem now is that they are all words and not ENOUGH action.
Yes, they FINALLY got the pvp update out, well done FC. But how long will it now take them before Ymirs Pass actually hits the test servers? How long to re-itemise the high levels to make the dungeons appealing? How long to get Commons District and the 2 high level dungeons in?
Yes, they've only got a finite amount of devs. I feel for them. But the longer they refuse to give CONCRETE information on what is actually ready for test, then harder it's going to be to get people to return. Just look at the backlash of Vanguard for an example.
And communication doesn't just mean "we are aware of the problem and are looking into it, we won't release it until its perfect". Action speaks louder than words.
Top 10 Most Misused Words in MMO's
If servers merge it can be a good thing for those that play, it has benefits I think outweigh the negatives.
I agree with this. Companies probably don't like the perception that merging servers creates, but at the same time it will help to strengthen the game experience for current as well as future subscribers.
I would love to see AOC make a turn around. The game has some positives, but to me seems to have been mismanaged. The only way I will ever, ever give the game another chance is with a substantial free trial. Preferably this trial would happen in a few months, because right now I'm preoccupied with WAR. And if I get bored with that there is MInes of Moria. And if I get bored with that there is Star Wars The Force Unleashed. And if I get bored of that there is Fable 2. There's lot's of competition out there for my gaming dollars as we bring 2008 to a close.
Updated the original post.
-Computer specs no one cares about: check.
-MMOs played no one cares about: check.
-Xfire stats no one cares about: check.
-Signature no one cares about: check.
------------------------------------------------------------
-Narcissism: check.
Don't merge the servers and your screwed -
Perhaps they should have considered this when they so off handedly MOVED, DELETED, and BANNED people that were unhappy?
Merge the servers and you get comments like yours.
Perhaps they should have considered this when they so off handedly MOVED, DELETED, and BANNED people that were unhappy?
Either way doesn't really effect non constructive comments like yours.
Non Constructive? We didnt just arrive in a pissed off mood here dude. We were driven this way by FUNCOM. We posted constructive post after constructive post. They chose to ignore us. When we protested this and started to demand answers on things like well, THE OOM errors and CTD issues, they began the MOVE,DELETE, BAN stuff and made enemies of bewildered customers. They are merging the servers for a reason and it is mostly due to the damage they did to themselves through their treatment of paying customers on the forums.
How about you let the people who pay to play the game inform FC what they think. Don't like it either way, best to move on, prancing around screaming fail isn't healthy you know.
Im pretty sure FUNCOM is now interested in any potential customers thoughts. They have no choice but try to win back customers after so gleefully sweeping them under the rug! I am still a customer actually, as I purchased a 2 6 month accounts. I have the right to speak my mind certainly until then....
Merging them can be good for those who have poor levels in numbers on them and I think its the right way to go forward - screaming fail and POS the game is without saying why is OOO.
I think we all know why its a POS. Repeating the stuff over and over just draws more attacks from the likes of you.
Some people are like slinkies, they dont really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
This never would have happened without GG's departure! NEVER!
Some people are like slinkies, they dont really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.
What kind of merge they going to do?
merge 2 dead server into one?
or merge a dead server to a popular one like (tyranny or Deathwhisper)
I don't think that has been brought up yet. Unsure though.
-Computer specs no one cares about: check.
-MMOs played no one cares about: check.
-Xfire stats no one cares about: check.
-Signature no one cares about: check.
------------------------------------------------------------
-Narcissism: check.
Or they can do like ao and nothing and let the players continue to bitch... The ao german server has a very high pop of tumbleweeds if you ever go there.
Indeed, but again the original quote is not on server merges. There were questions posed to the developers at the recent Dragoncon panel. You can find the log here.
I understand there is a lot of feedback on the subject but the idea of taking a discussion on character transfers and conforming it into server merges is not the intention of the original post.
I take it that will be PAYED character transfers ?
No official word on that but they are looking into the system at hand. Just wanted to stress here that there are no server merges planned and the quote was taken from a discussion on character transfers not server merges.
Are there still no server merges planned?
Server merges are planned for before the christmas holiday.