Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Quick update from New Game Director

AmazingAveryAmazingAvery Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188

 

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=167066

Silirrion

Game Director



A Quick Update

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just wanted to take the opportunity to give you all a quick update going into the weekend on the post-update status and the immediate plans.

Firstly we are very happy to see that the vast majority of the out of memory related crashes have been resolved. As I mentioned in a post earlier we have seen the number of these reduced by 80-90% with this update and we will of course be working through the remaining minority of them to squash those as well, this update though has made great inroads in that department.

There is one new crash issue related to the graphics engine that some users have encountered and we are currently looking to roll out a small fix for that next week presuming that the testing of it goes fine over the weekend and early next week. It's not effecting a huge amount of users but enough that we would like to resolve it sooner rather than later.

Once that is done we are getting pretty close to being able to roll the next update out to the test server. There still a couple of minor things we need to tie off first internally but you will see more detailed notes on what is included when we roll it out. It will though see the start of testing for Ymir's Pass as well as the second stage of the PVP update. Keep your eyes peeled for more details shortly.

We are very pleased to see so many people enjoying the new PVP systems and we are following the activity and the feedback to see where we can tweak, poke and improve the system even further across future updates.

Enjoy the weekend!

__________________

Craig 'Silirrion' Morrison

Game Director

 

 

Ymirs's Pass to come potentially with the next Notoriety System sounds like another good patch in the making. I have equally seen many people where who are saying the memory issues is not an issue anymore. Good stuff to acknowledge the small issue for some users too.

EDIT:

 

Originally Posted by New Game Director, Silirrion



Greetings Hyborian adventurers!

It is a great honor to be here and to have been asked to step into this role. It’s definitely a little strange to be back here on the forums after having been involved in starting up the original Age of Conan community over three years ago (and a big hello again to those of you who have been around since those early days!). I have been very excited to see how the game and the community around it have developed since then and I am thrilled to have this chance to guide and support your adventures in the world our team here has crafted and built with such hard work and dedication.

I am really looking forward to being able to help us continue to immerse you in the Hyborian age and continue to improve your game experience.

Obviously, so soon after the launch, there are many things that you all want to hear about. I can assure you that the team are busily working away preparing great new content and looking at the areas of the game that the community have highlighted as being important to them.

As well as working to complete the coming content updates (In the shape of the upcoming PVP updates, Ymir’s pass and new level 80 dungeons amongst other things) we are also now working hard on the games items and gem systems, and how the budgets for character statistics can be refined and improved as one of our main focuses for the next few months. We are also working on ensuring that the trade-skill system is developed further.

We will bring you more details on these things over the coming weeks as we move them from internal development to the test server, so you can be sure that there is plenty of development to come.

Those of you that know me from Anarchy Online will hopefully know this already, but for those that don’t, I hope you will find over the coming weeks, months and years that community is a very important part of the development process for me. It’s where I came from. I do read the forums each and every day and we will be trying to take a more active role in the community itself, both here on the live forums and on the test forums.

I, like all of you out there, started out as a fan of MMOs first and foremost. I’ve been playing, writing about them and working on them for over a decade now. It’s been a strange combination of hard work, luck and the support of many talented people on our teams that has brought me here today speaking to you all. At heart though I will always be a gamer and I am really looking forward to the opportunity to keep you all enthralled in the world of Conan.

We will be providing you with many more opportunities to crush your enemies!

 



Comments

  • Lobbyboy69Lobbyboy69 Member Posts: 201

    Excellent news. I think I may resub in 2010 when everythink is working as intended.

  • ThachsanhThachsanh Member Posts: 331

    Give credit when it's due. This is a good update. You can actually see the different in the communication tone. Boy, if this dude were in charge a few months ago, who knew where AoC might be right now.

  • DistopiaDistopia Member EpicPosts: 21,183

    Hmm ,actually acknowledging bugs without lip service and excuses? Did I wake up in lala land today?

    For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson


  • UnfinishedUnfinished Member Posts: 881
    Originally posted by Malickie


    Hmm ,actually acknowledging bugs without lip service and excuses? Did I wake up in lala land today?

     

    That's Craig, quite the breath of fresh air, aint he?

    Give him a year and you might just see the game we were promised.

  • GrayGhost79GrayGhost79 Member UncommonPosts: 4,775

    See I may have stayed if this was the tone FC had before I cancled. He's admiting there are issue's and they seem they actually want to address them. It's to late for me cause im DarkFall bound now but in the Future if Craig is at the helm of a FC title I may give it a shot.

  • HYPERI0NHYPERI0N Member Posts: 3,515

    I look foward to when a finished AOC comes out next year.

    Another great example of Moore's Law. Give people access to that much space (developers and users alike) and they'll find uses for it that you can never imagine. "640K ought to be enough for anybody" - Bill Gates 1981

  • smokeyjonsmokeyjon Member Posts: 77
    Originally posted by HYPERI0N


    I look foward to when a finished AOC comes out next year.

     

    He also has an awful lot of housecleaning to do in the GM department and customer relations department.  I won't even contemplate re-subbing until all traces of Famine and his merry band of idiots have been purged and replaced with actual professionals, and the GMs all replaced with properly trained professionals who have access to the necessary tools to provide helpful and consistent customer service.  All of this is in addition to somehow fixing a fundamentally broken game.

    I'm not holding my breath.

  • RawizRawiz Member UncommonPosts: 584

    Remove Erling Ellingsen and hire 20 more devs and I might consider re-subbing one more time. Subbing at the moment is just as pointless as using a comb when you're bold.

  • AmazingAveryAmazingAvery Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188
    Originally posted by Rawiz


    Remove Erling Ellingsen and hire 20 more devs and I might consider re-subbing one more time. Subbing at the moment is just as pointless as using a comb when you're bold.

     

    I believe they just took on between 18-25 ppl I forget how many exact, jobs got posted and filled for the HQ in Norway.

    Erling is good, remember he has restrictions on what and what can not be said too, some of that I guess is dependant on the Director.



  • MoLoK_MoLoK_ Member UncommonPosts: 307
    Originally posted by AmazingAvery

    Originally posted by Rawiz


    Remove Erling Ellingsen and hire 20 more devs and I might consider re-subbing one more time. Subbing at the moment is just as pointless as using a comb when you're bold.

     

    I believe they just took on between 18-25 ppl I forget how many exact, jobs got posted and filled for the HQ in Norway.

    Erling is good, remember he has restrictions on what and what can not be said too, some of that I guess is dependant on the Director.

     

     

    Hey are you saying Erling was Gaute's b*tch? 

  • octaocta Member UncommonPosts: 245
    Originally posted by AmazingAvery
    Erling is good, remember he has restrictions on what and what can not be said too, some of that I guess is dependant on the Director.



     

    What are you talking about?  Erling "personally" felt all the major features got in at launch.  You think Gaute made him say that?

    He's just as bad as Gaute in the overhyping  bullshit spin department.  The game can only get better if they can find some way to get rid of him.

  • WSIMikeWSIMike Member Posts: 5,564

    Well Bravo!

    An update with actual information, no PR spin and acknowledgement of what's still wrong, what's been fixed and what's being worked on. Straight, direct communication - as it should be.

    Good news, certainly, for the AoC faithful who've stuck it out. Looks like your patience and dedication may finally pay off.

    Just as much as I criticize when I feel it's deserved, I give credit when it's due. And, at least for this update, I think credit is due.

    Time will tell (one update isn't enough to totally convince after all... but it is a big step in the very right direction :-p).

     

     

    "If you just step away for a sec you will clearly see all the pot holes in the road,
    and the cash shop selling asphalt..."
    - Mimzel on F2P/Cash Shops

    image

  • AmazingAveryAmazingAvery Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188
    Originally posted by WSIMike


    Well Bravo!
    An update with actual information, no PR spin and acknowledgement of what's still wrong, what's been fixed and what's being worked on. Straight, direct communication - as it should be.
    Good news, certainly, for the AoC faithful who've stuck it out. Looks like your patience and dedication may finally pay off.
    Just as much as I criticize when I feel it's deserved, I give credit when it's due. And, at least for this update, I think credit is due.
    Time will tell (one update isn't enough to totally convince after all... but it is a big step in the very right direction :-p).
     
     



     

    Lets hope it all works out good in the end Mike. It's a good start for Craig and a good opportunity to keep it up.



  • AmazingAveryAmazingAvery Age of Conan AdvocateMember UncommonPosts: 7,188

    Updated first post with the introduction too.

    Best part for me is : "As well as working to complete the coming content updates (In the shape of the upcoming PVP updates, Ymir’s pass and new level 80 dungeons amongst other things) we are also now working hard on the games items and gem systems, and how the budgets for character statistics can be refined and improved as one of our main focuses for the next few months. We are also working on ensuring that the trade-skill system is developed further."



  • VespersVespers Member Posts: 246
    Originally posted by AmazingAvery


    Updated first post with the introduction too.
    Best part for me is : "As well as working to complete the coming content updates (In the shape of the upcoming PVP updates, Ymir’s pass and new level 80 dungeons amongst other things) we are also now working hard on the games items and gem systems, and how the budgets for character statistics can be refined and improved as one of our main focuses for the next few months. We are also working on ensuring that the trade-skill system is developed further."



     

    It's good that FC finally dropped the man who was responsible for the mess that AoC is currently in. Yes, AoC is a pretty bad game in most people's opinions(there are some who like it) and since Gaute Godager was the man in charge then the total responsiblity rests with him.

    Fortunately, the company knew enough to ask Godager to step down and allow a person, Craig Morrison, to take over. It seems he has experience fixing games that started out badly. The question is, Is it too late to fix the game? Dunno. It all depends on how much cash FC has and is willing to spend on making AoC the game that it was suppose to be at launch. It looks like they has a plan to fix the broken areas of the game, add in content/features that were suppose to already be in game, work on ingame tweaks/balancing, and begin to add in new content that would normally be slated to be released in a new MMO by this time post launch. It's a big task and it wont be done overnight but hopefully in 5 or 6 months down the line many of these ideas will be put in game for players to enjoy.

    Now, the question is, How should they beg for the players, who quit due to the misrepresentation of the game, to come back and give AoC another try? I dont know but for starters they MUST give the players who quit a free month to try it again to see if AoC has improved. That in itself isnt nearly enough though. They also need to look at giving out experience potions, free mounts, as well as special Welcome Back type gear. They basically just need to suck up and wine-n-dine these players in order to make ammends for their poorly released game.

    Oh, dont let me forget  to add that they need to better train their GMs to think of their paying customers as being their bosses and not the other way around.

  • WisebutCruelWisebutCruel Member Posts: 1,089

    I've seen just as many post bashing the new PvP patch as I've seen praising it, so it's nowhere near a success. However, that patch was put in development by Gaute under his direction, not Craigs. The fact that Craig is willing to take the heat for Gautes' screwups  says alot about Craigs' character compared to every other FunCom employee who has shown their face for lip service since AoC went into development.

    So this patch is not a deciding factor for whether people should go back or not. The next couple of patch cycles under Craig should be examined by anyone thinking about going back before they resubscribe. Those will show the true direction AoC is heading in. Although I do believe Craig will show good progress with the next few patches, I take nothing for granted until I see it. There's still others who can hinder Craigs direction of the game, and I want to know that they are truly leaving it in his total control.

  • snowchrome2snowchrome2 Member UncommonPosts: 239
    Originally posted by Lobbyboy69


    Excellent news. I think I may resub in 2010 when everythink is working as intended.



     

    QFTW

  • TerranahTerranah Member UncommonPosts: 3,575

    I won't be spending another dime on this game unless they give me a free trial at some point down the road.  And right now there is no time for a trial because WAR is live.

  • ImjinImjin Member Posts: 366
    Originally posted by AmazingAvery

    Originally posted by Rawiz


    Remove Erling Ellingsen and hire 20 more devs and I might consider re-subbing one more time. Subbing at the moment is just as pointless as using a comb when you're bold.

     

    I believe they just took on between 18-25 ppl I forget how many exact, jobs got posted and filled for the HQ in Norway.

    Erling is good, remember he has restrictions on what and what can not be said too, some of that I guess is dependant on the Director.



     

    LOL that evening with the credit card is still buying your loyalty?

    Well as someone else said at least this guy seems to be communicating. Sadly its too late for many but I am always amazed at the companies that dont get this. MMOs seem especially bad at it. Maybe its all of that time in front of computers?????

    Fungerer som det skal

  • SceptrumSceptrum Member Posts: 37

    Craig is already doing good stuff I see.

    But IMO, if Funcom wants to be serious in getting people back then sacking Erling Ellingsen might be one way to go, no matter what great a guy he is. As someone said it in another thread, he's the very face/symbol of AoC's mess and Funcom's crap reputation.

    RIP Blackguard. May a resurrection come.

  • DistopiaDistopia Member EpicPosts: 21,183
    Originally posted by Sceptrum


    Craig is already doing good stuff I see.
    But IMO, if Funcom wants to be serious in getting people back then sacking Erling Ellingsen might be one way to go, no matter what great a guy he is. As someone said it in another thread, he's the very face/symbol of AoC's mess and Funcom's crap reputation.

     

    TBH, I think people read to much into E.E.'s often overly optimistic portrayal of AOC's launch. That's his job in the end as a PR rep. He's supposed to fill in every line with a positive, while detracting your attention away from the negative. Doesn't matter who they have doing it, the end result will be the same.

    The problem was the head dev should not be doing this, which is essentially why Gaute received so much flak. Rather than spinning information to the public, he practiced such tactics toward customers who see the truth first hand, very bad move on his part.

    For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson


  • skeaserskeaser Member RarePosts: 4,208
    Originally posted by Rawiz


    Remove Erling Ellingsen and hire 20 more devs and I might consider re-subbing one more time. Subbing at the moment is just as pointless as using a comb when you're bold.

     

    Sometimes it takes a bold man to use a comb...

    Sig so that badges don't eat my posts.


  • slask777slask777 Member Posts: 706
    Originally posted by Thachsanh


    Give credit when it's due. This is a good update. You can actually see the different in the communication tone. Boy, if this dude were in charge a few months ago, who knew where AoC might be right now.

     

    Craig is like that. Besides being the biggest fanboy this side of the universe, he took AO and turned it around completely when he took over the reins and I believe he will do the same here. He actually listen to the players, and tweak stuff after their wishes. Not like GG. That man is responsible for alot of the bad stuff AO went through those early days. Just give Craig some 5-6 months to clean up the mess GG left behind and you'll see AoC eventually becoming what it was supposed to be at launch.

    lol...I sound like a fanboy talking like that

    ---
    Grammar nazi's. This one is for you.

  • Ender4Ender4 Member UncommonPosts: 2,247

    They would have to completely revamp the combat system, up the instance caps to like 100 players per instance, revamp the gathering system forcing competition over resources and triple the time to kill in PvP for me to even consider coming back.

  • WisebutCruelWisebutCruel Member Posts: 1,089
    Originally posted by AmazingAvery

    Originally posted by Rawiz


    Remove Erling Ellingsen and hire 20 more devs and I might consider re-subbing one more time. Subbing at the moment is just as pointless as using a comb when you're bold.

     

    I believe they just took on between 18-25 ppl I forget how many exact, jobs got posted and filled for the HQ in Norway.

    Erling is good, remember he has restrictions on what and what can not be said too, some of that I guess is dependant on the Director.



     

    You might want to look at the interviews with Ellingsen again that mmorpg.com did. He flatout stated the new devs were brought in for the expansion.

Sign In or Register to comment.