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Drop 3 and a bit more
Been playing for about a month now.
I couldn't quite get why the game has so low pop.
But now I get it.
So...drop 3 came.
And guess what ...
It's buggy.
And some of the bugs are so upfront and obvious-AKA the gadget bug- that I have to wonder if there are actual people testing anything,and if they have eyes.Or at least,one eye.
I don't know...when you come out in social media and all over the internet and you talk
about your 100 pages of bug fixes,and how you delay the drop in order to iron out the bugs,and you end up with this,is it my fault to consider the possibility that you might be full of s$$#t?
I like this game,but I don't see it going anywhere and it is really a shame.
Given the current active population-I'm guessing <100k players-it will either go F2P
and hope for a miracle,or it will stay sub/credd only and try to milk out the dedicated fans until it goes to maintenance mode and then shuts down.
It will certainly not attract new players pulling s!@#t like the drop 3.
It is not just the drop,I'm not an expert,but as a consumer what I perceive is generally the feeling that they are not very competent in the technical and managing aspect of running an MMO.
I will miss the combat.Makes WoW feel like my momas' Tab targeting game indeed.
But then again WoW...sorry but not even in your dreams Carbine.
Comments
In the end, I guess cancelling christmas (and halloween) wasn't enough. If your people either aren't capable of or are too understaffed (remember those layoffs?) to produce bug free content (or both), you won't get bug-free content.
...those lay-offs were sad. How on earth could Carbine have "too many employees" if they had so FEW employees that they had to cancel Christmas just to try to get this drop out without major bugs?
It's actually common to be overstaffed at release to handle the huge amount of players, only to let people go once the hype wears off.
It's not actually common to cancel Christmas, though.
If you're at a point where you have to cancel Christmas just so you can do more bug testing on a different update (even after changing your schedule from monthly to quarterly), perhaps you aren't so overstaffed, after all.
I actually feel bad for Carbine and for the people who wanted to like this game (hell I was one of them, I purchased and played for about two months). With WoD this week and SWTOR's expansion on the horizon the bell is tolling for WS.
I'm not even sure B2P or F2P would save the game at this point.
Drop #3 seems to have brought more headaches. There are dozens of threads of folks complaining about the bugs and what not. Carbine really didn't have any other choice... they had to show something... anything before the WoD release. Carbine needed more time and probably more resources (money + people to debug) but I wouldn't be surprised if NCSOFT just told them to "deal with it" considering they aren't on NCSOFT's happy list at the moment.
The only other (unrealistic) option would be to tell your remaining playerbase that Drop #3 is delayed till January to iron out the bugs... telling them that no new content whatsoever isn't coming out for at least the next 3 months.
God this really sucks to hear. I had such high hopes for WS it looked like they had some fresh ideas for a bit there but then it just kinda collapsed under its own hype.
Seems like this issue has become more of the industry rule rather than the exception.
Again takes me back to my argument this industry needs intensive regulation.
At the very least the US gamers need the same protections and rights as EU and Aussie gamers are being afforded.
With an Industry that is incompetent, ill-prepared, and outright dishonest, we need the right to a full refund for any reason within the first 90 days of purchase.
We need the same if not better ownership right that EU gamers enjoy with the rights to selling and trading games we " lease " .
The fact that the US is once again behind the rest of the world in technology and digital rights is no surprise, but the incompetence and or corruption in the US government is costing US gamers billions of dollars every year.
Billions sadly not going to push the industry forward but rather being mismanaged and wasted by game developers who are clueless.
Its a same with every super (or not so super) AAA P2P(sub) MMO these days, started with SWTOR, promised monthly updates, it stood up for 2 months (or 3, i dont remeber any more) but what they released wa ssuper buggy, they even cancelled some things day before patch, layed off > 2/3 of its staff, then 6 weeks, then 8 weeks, then 8-12 weeks, then 13 weeks. But at least it went F2P
ESO - same deal - hyped super duper monthly updates, then released ultra buggy content, then backpeddaled to quarterly releases, but they didnt even deploy whole lat patch, and what they did deploy broke basic things.
WS - just look up.
But what it important is that fanbois and companies alike boasted that "subscription is justified because of super monthly updates to the game". Yea, right, do they consider us idiots? Its more likely "pay 15$/month for super buggy quarterly updates". And then they dont understand why WoW is still no.1 rofl. for 45 euros i get whole new game every 3 months (hell you could get DA3 or new CIV preorder for 30-35 euros instead 1 instance and mabye new daily area. Sorry guys.
You are 100% accurate.
I have always trashed the F2P model I can not stand it, but if game developers will not honor point of sale contractual obligations it is getting harder and harder to defend the sub based model, especially now that most sub based models are actually combining them with a cash shop anyway.
Frankly we need some huge international class action lawsuits over some of these sales promises they make then break.
If you promise monthly updates as part of your sale, then you should be legally bound to provide them or refund that month subscription fee.
Nice one, Carbine at its best.
Announcing these awesome 100 pages of bugfixes (how did these 100 pages even appear at first?), and then they need another 50 pages to fix the new bugs?
Incredible!Hodor!
If this (MMO) industry was regulated, you wouldn't have an MMO industry. Oh you mean the rights to own video games.
Hmm copyrights is a very thin line topic. The truth is if people were capable of trading or selling all their games (PC too) the problem is video game companies will either go out business or will be left with just a few companies who are willing and capable of the risk. Oh wait we have that right now don't we?
It's a given that buy/sell used games or gamestop really does hurt the gaming industry, there's no doubt about it because it hurts sales. And while it's been around for awhile the problem is in the last 10 or so years the idea of buying/selling used games has been advertised aggressively and with that the gaming industry's profits has shrunken.
So yeah I am all for personal property but I think a line does have to be drawn somewhere. But then again businesses do have a right to their intellectual property and restrict it with DRM. But I think I do agree if they decide to take it further I may just stop buying games altogether... Geez, such a thin line between love and hate for copyrights.
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Just remember all the smack talk and hype they were dishing out in April.
It's hilarious to read their quotes now.
Bunch of poo.
You (I) can trade games all you (I) want in EU and every quarterly report i see from gaming companies is increasing revenue/profit. Along with video games/entertainment industry growth. Just look at kickstarter and how good projects fare. People throwing money at them left and right.
I could trade/sell WS, and who exactly would want to buy it lol. You can get new for <10$.
The only probles are (and what you REALLY wanted to say:
1. releasing BAD games is bad idea
2. EXTREME profits in gaming industry might go away (though i highly doubt it)
I heard that theory thrown around quite a bit, but its so nonsensical and devoid of any sort of realism. Basically it says:
"Hardcores are most important, and masses (sheeps) relogiously follow hardcores without any consideration. If hardcores are happy than whole playerbase is happy, and sea of casuals just stays subbed to worship hardcores. Content should be too hard/demanding for casuals so they can "look forward" to something."
So in basics it says that casuals stay subbed because of content they DONT/CANT play.
I was pretty amused to see that WS devs adopted that theory.
Reality check: hardcores are so small group they dont affect anything. Unless you want Darkfall type game/numbers FIRST and FOREMOST you have to make sure casuals have ton of (casual) stuff to do and whatever is left over you may throw some small amount of hardcore stuff in
And im a hardcore. But im not stoopid/entitled. Where is now that Alber_gamer (or similar, just look up his posts for example)
Ive said it before and i say it again: IF you are hardcore DONT expect AAA title to cater to you, YOU are (or should be) concern no. 5165485 on their list. In other words, AAA title is not your home (never will be)
No. What is common is to have a resource (staffing) plan. And - for sure - you would expect a drop off, post-launch, in game developer type staff. If all goes pretty much as planed however you will have a managed process of staff being let go / redeployed etc.
This is not as planned.
Its not a bunch of poo. The gaming industry has been experiencing shrinking profits because of buy used or sell games. Most game companies (even EA) don't generate a massive amount of profits. In fact EA for quite a few years was losing money and wasn't until last year or the year before where they started to reap some profits. This year they barely made anything compared to last year. ActivisionBlizzard though is different but that's because they make makes primarily PC games and they have their cash cow WoW and you can't trade/sell PC games. But even Taketwo hasn't made much money (with the exception to this year).
The truth is most gaming industries don't make a ton of money and the buy/sell used games hurts their profits big time. But at the sometime game companies have been coming out with digit copies which I am willing to bet is helping their profits. And they're doing this to reduce the trade/sell used game which they get no money from, just like from piracy.
Also EU may be a large market in the gaming industry but when you compare it to the overall market, especially Asia and US it's a small market. Plus I couldn't find any details on the property rights of ownership. I heard they passed a law but never was I able to find the details about it, and what matters are the details because lets face it obamacare passed and many people are now starting to find out what it truly is. Perhaps you have a link of the law that took place in EU and Aussie?
Also I am no sure how you can trade/sell WS when it's a PC game and the registered key has been used already (by you).
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