Av is a small development team trying to please a community filled with trolls, crybabies, liars, andd thieves.
With the changes I have seen in this beta, the decision to re-launch as a new game is going to be a good one. The game has been re-imgined while remaining true to its core. Doing this while re-using the already developeed IP.
I also think Tasos learned a lesson in software development. Never think that risk is mitigated because you are using third party deliverables. You always need interal QA checks on annyhting delivered from a 3rd party. I won;t go into detailss but most of the bugs in beta have been directly related to this.
I won't say to much cuz of NDA but I haven't seen this many people in Darkfall since original release, maybe even more. I hope AV doesn't release this game until its ready, otherwise the STEAM community will give them hell (ie WarZ).
I love the Darkfall Online concept, but do not feel that Aventurine can deliver and here is why...
I've been following Tacos and Aventurine for about a decade now. Tacos reminds me a lot of what we know about Bill Gates except one thing... Bill Gates knew when to back off and in bring in the professionals that were going to take Microsoft to the next level. Tacos on the other hand has to be the show and dictator on all things Darkfall. Things have stooped so low at Aventurine, Tacos has even started blaming interns for things going wrong.
I really do wish the best for the players. They've waited a long time for Aventurine to get their act together with this project.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
I love the Darkfall Online concept, but do not feel that Aventurine can deliver and here is why...
I've been following Tacos and Aventurine for about a decade now. Tacos reminds me a lot of what we know about Bill Gates except one thing... Bill Gates knew when to back off and in bring in the professionals that were going to take Microsoft to the next level. Tacos on the other hand has to be the show and dictator on all things Darkfall. Things have stooped so low at Aventurine, Tacos has even started blaming interns for things going wrong.
I really do wish the best for the players. They've waited a long time for Aventurine to get their act together with this project.
You don't know what you are talking about. Lets take a look at the "professionals":
Look at FunCom games and how they are developed and launched (AoC, AO). These guys unlike Av literally faked in game footage and released it. The introduced more content before the got the basic mechanics working. These were AAA titles with hundreds of developers working on them.
Look at VG and its development debacle. Again, this game would release features before basic game mechanics were functional. I won't even go into the fact they they refused to ban hackers until most of the population left.
As for Microsoft. I work with Microsoft as a partner and they are nothing close to proofessional. I can list a litany of amature action they engage in. Failure to define products, they won't give you project dealines at all, they will convince partners to put money on the line for a general date of release then postpone for a year.
Let us not even talk about the non AAA guys like MO.
The reality is that very few games succeed in the MMO sphere. Av's practices are somewhere in the middle and they are hugely understaffed. While they occasional say some stupid stuff, they have done an amazing job witht he resources at hand.
Darkfall 1 - 11 Developers increasing to ~30 at launch
Darkfall 2 UW - 55 Developers (last 4 months)
Vanguard SOH - 150 employees
Guildwars 2 - 250 Developers
Wow (Blizzard) - 4,900 Employees
Obvioulssy the Blizzard number are not all wokring on WoW but the number is HUGE in comparisn to the Av team. Unless you have tried to develop using limited resources just stop compaining.
I love the Darkfall Online concept, but do not feel that Aventurine can deliver and here is why...
I've been following Tacos and Aventurine for about a decade now. Tacos reminds me a lot of what we know about Bill Gates except one thing... Bill Gates knew when to back off and in bring in the professionals that were going to take Microsoft to the next level. Tacos on the other hand has to be the show and dictator on all things Darkfall. Things have stooped so low at Aventurine, Tacos has even started blaming interns for things going wrong.
I really do wish the best for the players. They've waited a long time for Aventurine to get their act together with this project.
You don't know what you are talking about. Lets take a look at the "professionals":
Look at FunCom games and how they are developed and launched (AoC, AO). These guys unlike Av literally faked in game footage and released it. The introduced more content before the got the basic mechanics working. These were AAA titles with hundreds of developers working on them.
Look at VG and its development debacle. Again, this game would release features before basic game mechanics were functional. I won't even go into the fact they they refused to ban hackers until most of the population left.
As for Microsoft. I work with Microsoft as a partner and they are nothing close to proofessional. I can list a litany of amature action they engage in. Failure to define products, they won't give you project dealines at all, they will convince partners to put money on the line for a general date of release then postpone for a year.
Let us not even talk about the non AAA guys like MO.
The reality is that very few games succeed in the MMO sphere. Av's practices are somewhere in the middle and they are hugely understaffed. While they occasional say some stupid stuff, they have done an amazing job witht he resources at hand.
If they are so unprofessional, why are you a Microsoft partner? The OP asked us to summarize how we feel about Aventurine and I did. Nothing more, nothing less. I agree with you on Funcom. As far as Sigil goes, that was a prime example of why Nepatism in a game studio is a very bad thing... I could be wrong, but an industry professional instead of in-laws may up a companies chance of success.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
I love the Darkfall Online concept, but do not feel that Aventurine can deliver and here is why...
I've been following Tacos and Aventurine for about a decade now. Tacos reminds me a lot of what we know about Bill Gates except one thing... Bill Gates knew when to back off and in bring in the professionals that were going to take Microsoft to the next level. Tacos on the other hand has to be the show and dictator on all things Darkfall. Things have stooped so low at Aventurine, Tacos has even started blaming interns for things going wrong.
I really do wish the best for the players. They've waited a long time for Aventurine to get their act together with this project.
You don't know what you are talking about. Lets take a look at the "professionals":
Look at FunCom games and how they are developed and launched (AoC, AO). These guys unlike Av literally faked in game footage and released it. The introduced more content before the got the basic mechanics working. These were AAA titles with hundreds of developers working on them.
Look at VG and its development debacle. Again, this game would release features before basic game mechanics were functional. I won't even go into the fact they they refused to ban hackers until most of the population left.
As for Microsoft. I work with Microsoft as a partner and they are nothing close to proofessional. I can list a litany of amature action they engage in. Failure to define products, they won't give you project dealines at all, they will convince partners to put money on the line for a general date of release then postpone for a year.
Let us not even talk about the non AAA guys like MO.
The reality is that very few games succeed in the MMO sphere. Av's practices are somewhere in the middle and they are hugely understaffed. While they occasional say some stupid stuff, they have done an amazing job witht he resources at hand.
If they are so unprofessional, why are you a Microsoft partner? The OP asked us to summarize how we feel about Aventurine and I did. Nothing more, nothing less. I agree with you on Funcom. As far as Sigil goes, that was a prime example of why Nepatism in a game studio is a very bad thing... I could be wrong, but an industry professional instead of in-laws may up a companies chance of success.
Because OEM vendors hedge thier bets across multiple oeprating systems. I have worked on everythng from Microsoft, Android, QNX, Green Hiils, andd more.
Darkfall 1 - 11 Developers increasing to ~30 at launch
Darkfall 2 UW - 55 Developers (last 4 months)
Vanguard SOH - 150 employees
Guildwars 2 - 250 Developers
Wow (Blizzard) - 4,900 Employees
Obvioulssy the Blizzard number are not all wokring on WoW but the number is HUGE in comparisn to the Av team. Unless you have tried to develop using limited resources just stop compaining.
More perspective:
Miasmata - 2 developers, brothers in fact. Game got largely positive reviews as well, with a better UI, graphics, and representation of their game.
Obviously the Darkfall UW number is HUGE in comparison to the Miasmata brothers, but AV still can't use their greater resources to produce something of quality.
Darkfall 1 - 11 Developers increasing to ~30 at launch
Darkfall 2 UW - 55 Developers (last 4 months)
Vanguard SOH - 150 employees
Guildwars 2 - 250 Developers
Wow (Blizzard) - 4,900 Employees
Obvioulssy the Blizzard number are not all wokring on WoW but the number is HUGE in comparisn to the Av team. Unless you have tried to develop using limited resources just stop compaining.
More perspective:
Miasmata - 2 developers, brothers in fact. Game got largely positive reviews as well, with a better UI, graphics, and representation of their game.
Obviously the Darkfall UW number is HUGE in comparison to the Miasmata brothers, but AV still can't use their greater resources to produce something of quality.
Mismata is a single player game wtritten on an existing game eengine. To get an idea of the orders of complexity between this and an MMO.:
MMO game engine
Server architecture
Client server syncronization
Cleint security
Sever security
Each one of these is likely more complex than an entire single player game.
Now lets mention that yyour game was relased 2 weeks ago. Not like you have mucfch time or expeure to even claim anyhtijng is good or not.
Darkfall 1 - 11 Developers increasing to ~30 at launch
Darkfall 2 UW - 55 Developers (last 4 months)
Vanguard SOH - 150 employees
Guildwars 2 - 250 Developers
Wow (Blizzard) - 4,900 Employees
Obvioulssy the Blizzard number are not all wokring on WoW but the number is HUGE in comparisn to the Av team. Unless you have tried to develop using limited resources just stop compaining.
More perspective:
Miasmata - 2 developers, brothers in fact. Game got largely positive reviews as well, with a better UI, graphics, and representation of their game.
Obviously the Darkfall UW number is HUGE in comparison to the Miasmata brothers, but AV still can't use their greater resources to produce something of quality.
Mismata is a single player game wtritten on an existing game eengine. To get an idea of the orders of complexity between this and an MMO.:
MMO game engine
Server architecture
Client server syncronization
Cleint security
Sever security
Each one of these is likely more complex than an entire single player game.
Now lets mention that yyour game was relased 2 weeks ago. Not like you have mucfch time or expeure to even claim anyhtijng is good or not.
Well I may not have had much time, but last I looked its metacritic average was higher than any of the individual critic Darkfall 1 reviews on metacritic.
Also, yes they don't have multiplayer. However did you know that Darkfall Unholy Wars has the advantage of being based on an existing game called Darkfall? I mean maybe the adding of 'roles' in an expansion for an existing game and trying to fix a few bugs along the way requires the additional 50 employees or so, but I would struggle very hard to say with a straight face that means the 55 people working on Darkfall UW did a better job than the 2 devs who have a functional game that is released.
Ok so I was wondering the exact question before I preordered the game. I was curious because I saw alot of negative feedback and comments about AV here AND on their own official boards. But after spending more time on their boards and the beta forum, I can say I'm not longer worried. They have had great communication with the playerbase (1-2 updates on the forum a day about what they are working on and bugs they find.) Also they regularly comment on feedback and threads from beta players. They seem to also be working around the clock and pushing out alot of patches this past week. So for anyone wondering if they are a company worth supporting, from what I've seen so far Iw ould definately say yes.
In the future it could change, maybe they're more enthusiatic because it's so close to launch of their new game. But if they continue at the rate they're going, I'd say it's one of the most hard working small company I've interacted with.
Customer service? It was fine. I wouldn't count that as a positive for the game developer, customer service reps work FOR the company, they are not IN the company.
Updates? Eh. So - so, nothing that my guild at the time really wanted to see. Consistently disappointed by them and when they finally introduced community spotlight members information was undescriptive.
Listen to the players? All they do is fluff to "settle" us, they don't REALLY listen. Fun hulks, anyone?
I dealt with them when I played darkfall, for awhile, before I quit and sold my account due to laden issues/not trusting the company..
Their communication, deadline prediction, and view of the state of the game are beyond off. They settle for less to satisfy the vocal minority. They tend to focus on satisfying the worst possible crowd for the health of a sandbox mmorpg. This is why all of their efforts are towards removing grind, making it easy for new players, and making pvp more accessable...rather than putting more sand in the sandbox.
but
when it all breaks down...they are the ONLY development studio with a playable full loot sandbox with clan warfare politics as the focus of gameplay. Its basically this game, a few barely functional versions...none of which have made any significant progress in improving over the course of years... and most have died. OR you can play a shallow themepark "uber pvp" with zero risk type game.
You like this type of game this here is all you get.
Second AV gets real competition, and that competition isnt a bunch of clowns, this game and this company are in serious trouble however.
Listen to the players? All they do is fluff to "settle" us, they don't REALLY listen. Fun hulks, anyone?
Almost every single update to the game was based directly on player feedback...
I would say, they're mavericks. Many publishers over the years have tried to get them to change the game into an instanced WoW clone, and they refused.
small dedicated company with a game thats far bigger than there company...
It may take some time but I have high hopes for dfuw and AV they are doing all the right things right now in beta its just going to take them a while to get everything fixed but so far very happy with there work lvl.
I too am happy with the newfound communication. My inner cynic, however, reminds me that they communicated just like this during the Darkfall beta. Hopefully they learned that the devs are not supposed to drop off the map when the game goes live.
I learned early on they cannot meet deadlines. Although I do think they are doing a great job on the game this time around.... the picture is how I learned deadlines would not be met.
small dedicated company with a game thats far bigger than there company...
It may take some time but I have high hopes for dfuw and AV they are doing all the right things right now in beta its just going to take them a while to get everything fixed but so far very happy with there work lvl.
I too am happy with the newfound communication. My inner cynic, however, reminds me that they communicated just like this during the Darkfall beta. Hopefully they learned that the devs are not supposed to drop off the map when the game goes live.
if the game ends up being totally amazing but they never communicate will you leave the game because they dont communicate?
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
I learned early on they cannot meet deadlines. Although I do think they are doing a great job on the game this time around.... the picture is how I learned deadlines would not be met.
WOW !!!!
I think that at this point what is really noteworthy is not the lack of credibility that AV has with the whole delay after delay , broken promise after broken promise , or the fact that they ban anyone that points that out on their forums ; what is really noteworthy is that :
Somebody's actually still using IE as a browser???
I was double-charged the subscription (for DF:UW) for reasons unkown to me, i contacted support and the money was back on my account in less than a week.
I still plan on buy DF:UW at release. This beta sounds pretty rough though, at the moment AoW seems to be a much better buy. From the outside looking in Adventurine seems over ambitious. It doesn't seem like there talent matches their ideas.
That being said. I'm not sure I've seen a game where the the player base thinks so little of the developer, but love the game so much. That says a lot for the systems they have in place.
I still plan on buy DF:UW at release. This beta sounds pretty rough though, at the moment AoW seems to be a much better buy. From the outside looking in Adventurine seems over ambitious. It doesn't seem like there talent matches their ideas.
That being said. I'm not sure I've seen a game where the the player base thinks so little of the developer, but love the game so much. That says a lot for the systems they have in place.
If anyone is interested in knowing more about the current state of the beta prior to buying the game, feel free to PM me.
Comments
Expresso gave me a Hearthstone beta key.....I'm so happy
Av is a small development team trying to please a community filled with trolls, crybabies, liars, andd thieves.
With the changes I have seen in this beta, the decision to re-launch as a new game is going to be a good one. The game has been re-imgined while remaining true to its core. Doing this while re-using the already developeed IP.
I also think Tasos learned a lesson in software development. Never think that risk is mitigated because you are using third party deliverables. You always need interal QA checks on annyhting delivered from a 3rd party. I won;t go into detailss but most of the bugs in beta have been directly related to this.
No matter how cynical you become, its never enough to keep up - Lily Tomlin
One word... Amatures.
I love the Darkfall Online concept, but do not feel that Aventurine can deliver and here is why...
I've been following Tacos and Aventurine for about a decade now. Tacos reminds me a lot of what we know about Bill Gates except one thing... Bill Gates knew when to back off and in bring in the professionals that were going to take Microsoft to the next level. Tacos on the other hand has to be the show and dictator on all things Darkfall. Things have stooped so low at Aventurine, Tacos has even started blaming interns for things going wrong.
I really do wish the best for the players. They've waited a long time for Aventurine to get their act together with this project.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
You don't know what you are talking about. Lets take a look at the "professionals":
Some perspecctive:
Obvioulssy the Blizzard number are not all wokring on WoW but the number is HUGE in comparisn to the Av team. Unless you have tried to develop using limited resources just stop compaining.
If they are so unprofessional, why are you a Microsoft partner? The OP asked us to summarize how we feel about Aventurine and I did. Nothing more, nothing less. I agree with you on Funcom. As far as Sigil goes, that was a prime example of why Nepatism in a game studio is a very bad thing... I could be wrong, but an industry professional instead of in-laws may up a companies chance of success.
Fear not fanbois, we are not trolls, let's take off your tin foil hat and learn what VAPORWARE is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaporware
"Vaporware is a term used to describe a software or hardware product that is announced by a developer well in advance of release, but which then fails to emerge after having well exceeded the period of development time that was initially claimed or would normally be expected for the development cycle of a similar product."
Because OEM vendors hedge thier bets across multiple oeprating systems. I have worked on everythng from Microsoft, Android, QNX, Green Hiils, andd more.
More perspective:
Miasmata - 2 developers, brothers in fact. Game got largely positive reviews as well, with a better UI, graphics, and representation of their game.
Obviously the Darkfall UW number is HUGE in comparison to the Miasmata brothers, but AV still can't use their greater resources to produce something of quality.
Well, with Adventurine being a small company I'd like to believe they want to impress and deliver the best quality end product.
I'd like to think they will live and learn from Darkfall 1 ( The good and the bad ) and use that experience to further develope themselves.
It's not the dog in the fight, It's the fight in the dog right?
Mismata is a single player game wtritten on an existing game eengine. To get an idea of the orders of complexity between this and an MMO.:
Sounds good! What would you say about the game so far? Struggling with the thought, if I should buy it now and get into the beta -> play the game....
Well I may not have had much time, but last I looked its metacritic average was higher than any of the individual critic Darkfall 1 reviews on metacritic.
Also, yes they don't have multiplayer. However did you know that Darkfall Unholy Wars has the advantage of being based on an existing game called Darkfall? I mean maybe the adding of 'roles' in an expansion for an existing game and trying to fix a few bugs along the way requires the additional 50 employees or so, but I would struggle very hard to say with a straight face that means the 55 people working on Darkfall UW did a better job than the 2 devs who have a functional game that is released.
Ok so I was wondering the exact question before I preordered the game. I was curious because I saw alot of negative feedback and comments about AV here AND on their own official boards. But after spending more time on their boards and the beta forum, I can say I'm not longer worried. They have had great communication with the playerbase (1-2 updates on the forum a day about what they are working on and bugs they find.) Also they regularly comment on feedback and threads from beta players. They seem to also be working around the clock and pushing out alot of patches this past week. So for anyone wondering if they are a company worth supporting, from what I've seen so far Iw ould definately say yes.
In the future it could change, maybe they're more enthusiatic because it's so close to launch of their new game. But if they continue at the rate they're going, I'd say it's one of the most hard working small company I've interacted with.
Unscrupulous.
Customer service? It was fine. I wouldn't count that as a positive for the game developer, customer service reps work FOR the company, they are not IN the company.
Updates? Eh. So - so, nothing that my guild at the time really wanted to see. Consistently disappointed by them and when they finally introduced community spotlight members information was undescriptive.
Listen to the players? All they do is fluff to "settle" us, they don't REALLY listen. Fun hulks, anyone?
I dealt with them when I played darkfall, for awhile, before I quit and sold my account due to laden issues/not trusting the company..
They bite off more than they can chew.
Their communication, deadline prediction, and view of the state of the game are beyond off. They settle for less to satisfy the vocal minority. They tend to focus on satisfying the worst possible crowd for the health of a sandbox mmorpg. This is why all of their efforts are towards removing grind, making it easy for new players, and making pvp more accessable...rather than putting more sand in the sandbox.
but
when it all breaks down...they are the ONLY development studio with a playable full loot sandbox with clan warfare politics as the focus of gameplay. Its basically this game, a few barely functional versions...none of which have made any significant progress in improving over the course of years... and most have died. OR you can play a shallow themepark "uber pvp" with zero risk type game.
You like this type of game this here is all you get.
Second AV gets real competition, and that competition isnt a bunch of clowns, this game and this company are in serious trouble however.
Almost every single update to the game was based directly on player feedback...
I would say, they're mavericks. Many publishers over the years have tried to get them to change the game into an instanced WoW clone, and they refused.
I too am happy with the newfound communication. My inner cynic, however, reminds me that they communicated just like this during the Darkfall beta. Hopefully they learned that the devs are not supposed to drop off the map when the game goes live.
I learned early on they cannot meet deadlines. Although I do think they are doing a great job on the game this time around.... the picture is how I learned deadlines would not be met.
if the game ends up being totally amazing but they never communicate will you leave the game because they dont communicate?
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
WOW !!!!
I think that at this point what is really noteworthy is not the lack of credibility that AV has with the whole delay after delay , broken promise after broken promise , or the fact that they ban anyone that points that out on their forums ; what is really noteworthy is that :
Somebody's actually still using IE as a browser???
Really ?? IE ??
I mean just , WOW....
Mindblown !!
Iiii-iiiiiit's.... me!!! *Hooray*
I have an example of billing.
I was double-charged the subscription (for DF:UW) for reasons unkown to me, i contacted support and the money was back on my account in less than a week.
I consider that good support.
I still plan on buy DF:UW at release. This beta sounds pretty rough though, at the moment AoW seems to be a much better buy. From the outside looking in Adventurine seems over ambitious. It doesn't seem like there talent matches their ideas.
That being said. I'm not sure I've seen a game where the the player base thinks so little of the developer, but love the game so much. That says a lot for the systems they have in place.
If anyone is interested in knowing more about the current state of the beta prior to buying the game, feel free to PM me.