Originally posted by abal In Funcom's Q409 presentation we can read:
Summary Operations: Customer retention improving in Age of Conanin early 2009 Continued investments in Age of Conanand new MMOs in development New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition Trial marketing Digital download Win back campaigns Although they don't specify numbers, it seems to indicate that player retention is improving and this means that the number of subscribers tends to increase.
Actually, by FC stating that they are retaining(retention) more of their current customers, they are infact indicating that AOC is slowing the actual decline(or sub cancellations) making the AOC playerbase more stable. This statement has nothing to do with the playerbase increasing what so ever. Now, in this point just a few lines below the "Customer rentention" line which reads " New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition" it clearly indicates that FC has a plan that will focus on bringing in new subs. I think that we all know that they want to launch some type of program that will try to win back the 700k+ cancelled subs. If FC ever gets that type of program launched then AOC will start to increase their playerbase.
Just to sum it up from Funcom's Q409 presentation, AOC is not currently increasing subs but has infact slowed down and maybe even stopped the bleeding off of player subs and hopefully in the near future they will launch their "Win Back" program to actually ADD to their playerbase.
• Customer retention improving in Age of Conanin early 2009
• Continued investments in Age of Conanand new MMOs in development
• New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition
• Trial marketing
• Digital download
• Win back campaigns
Although they don't specify numbers, it seems to indicate that player retention is improving and this means that the number of subscribers tends to increase.
Actually, by FC stating that they are retaining(retention) more of their current customers, they are infact indicating that AOC is slowing the actual decline(or sub cancellations) making the AOC playerbase more stable. This statement has nothing to do with the playerbase increasing what so ever.
Now, in this point just a few lines below the "Customer rentention" line which reads "• New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition" it clearly indicates that FC has a plan that will focus on bringing in new subs. I think that we all know that they want to launch some type of program that will try to win back the 700k+ cancelled subs. If FC ever gets that type of program launched then AOC will start to increase their playerbase.
Just to sum it up from Funcom's Q409 presentation, AOC is not currently increasing subs but has infact slowed down and maybe even stopped the bleeding off of player subs and hopefully in the near future they will launch their "Win Back" program to actually ADD to their playerbase.
Look, Xfire was the reference for saying AoC lost many players when play hours was decreasing up to December. Since december play hours in a regular weekday have increased from 3500 hours to about 5500 hours. That is about a +60% increase. Same to number of Xfire gamers, it increased from 900 to 1350 in a weekday which is like +50%. So regardless of how you look on it there are more people playing AOC now by the month based on the consensus of the standard that was set with regards to Xfire before December. just my 2 cents.
And, yes we players also see many new and old faces back in AoC. I personally think population is growing. Not crazy fast like some want to say, but it is definitely growing.
Originally posted by abal In Funcom's Q409 presentation we can read:
Summary Operations: Customer retention improving in Age of Conanin early 2009 Continued investments in Age of Conanand new MMOs in development New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition Trial marketing Digital download Win back campaigns Although they don't specify numbers, it seems to indicate that player retention is improving and this means that the number of subscribers tends to increase.
Actually, by FC stating that they are retaining(retention) more of their current customers, they are infact indicating that AOC is slowing the actual decline(or sub cancellations) making the AOC playerbase more stable. This statement has nothing to do with the playerbase increasing what so ever. Now, in this point just a few lines below the "Customer rentention" line which reads " New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition" it clearly indicates that FC has a plan that will focus on bringing in new subs. I think that we all know that they want to launch some type of program that will try to win back the 700k+ cancelled subs. If FC ever gets that type of program launched then AOC will start to increase their playerbase. Just to sum it up from Funcom's Q409 presentation, AOC is not currently increasing subs but has infact slowed down and maybe even stopped the bleeding off of player subs and hopefully in the near future they will launch their "Win Back" program to actually ADD to their playerbase.
And, yes we players also see many new and old faces back in AoC. I personally think population is growing. Not crazy fast like some want to say, but it is definitely growing.
No offense to you because I truely believe that you perceive there to be an influx of new players. However, just because you are seeing more new players doesnt mean that there arent old players who are leaving the game. You have a perception that the game is increasing, the official quarterly report states differently. Between your perception and the official stats from Funcom's Quarterly Report, I think that I am going with the quarterly report as to which is more accurate. Again, im not trying to say pick a fight with you rather im just going with the official imformation from the actual company and not a player's speculation or Xrossfire's unofficial numbers. Now, with that said, I know FC to tweak it's reports to make a prettier picture that it actually is, so if you can get your hands on some solid facts stating, without a doubt, that AOC is currently increasing in subs, instead of what is stated in their report then I will concede this point to you.
• Customer retention improving in Age of Conanin early 2009
• Continued investments in Age of Conanand new MMOs in development
• New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition
• Trial marketing
• Digital download
• Win back campaigns
Although they don't specify numbers, it seems to indicate that player retention is improving and this means that the number of subscribers tends to increase.
Actually, by FC stating that they are retaining(retention) more of their current customers, they are infact indicating that AOC is slowing the actual decline(or sub cancellations) making the AOC playerbase more stable. This statement has nothing to do with the playerbase increasing what so ever.
Now, in this point just a few lines below the "Customer rentention" line which reads "• New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition" it clearly indicates that FC has a plan that will focus on bringing in new subs. I think that we all know that they want to launch some type of program that will try to win back the 700k+ cancelled subs. If FC ever gets that type of program launched then AOC will start to increase their playerbase.
Just to sum it up from Funcom's Q409 presentation, AOC is not currently increasing subs but has infact slowed down and maybe even stopped the bleeding off of player subs and hopefully in the near future they will launch their "Win Back" program to actually ADD to their playerbase.
And, yes we players also see many new and old faces back in AoC. I personally think population is growing. Not crazy fast like some want to say, but it is definitely growing.
No offense to you because I truely believe that you perceive there to be an influx of new players. However, just because you are seeing more new players doesnt mean that there arent old players who are leaving the game.
You have a perception that the game is increasing, the official quarterly report states differently. Between your perception and the official stats from Funcom's Quarterly Report, I think that I am going with the quarterly report as to which is more accurate.
Again, im not trying to say pick a fight with you rather im just going with the official imformation from the actual company and not a player's speculation or Xrossfire's unofficial numbers.
Now, with that said, I know FC to tweak it's reports to make a prettier picture that it actually is, so if you can get your hands on some solid facts stating, without a doubt, that AOC is currently increasing in subs, instead of what is stated in their report then I will concede this point to you.
Haha, well more or less does not mean much to me as long as I get more and more players to play with, and I really do on the two servers I play. Population have increased a lot. I think this link forums.ageofconan.com/forumdisplay.php describes pretty well whats going on right now. Newcomer forum is full as ever now and I am hardly pressed finding anyone at all unhappy with the game upon return. That is a very good sign
With regards to the Quarterly report I just want to say one thing that I have said before. 6 month subs for those 700 000 people starting up AoC in Mai and June ran out in December. Let's say 10% of the people signing up in June pressed the 6 months sub option for 14 $. 10% of 700 000 is 70 000 people. 70 000 * 14$ * 3 months = 3 Mill $. Lets say 75% of these players quit the game at one point. 75% of 3 Mill $ is 2.25 Mill $. This means FC got 2.25 Mill from subs not playing the game in Q4 2008. In other words even if number of active gamers was the same in Q4 2008 and Q1 2009, FC would make 2.25 Mill less. So, your logic has some shortcomings.
FC expect to make about 1.5 Mill less in Q1 2009 compared to Q42008 pr their financial guiding so I think even their numbers revenuewise spells a some population increase. Not to piss you off that is, but you have to realize that the 6 month subs of players that quit from the start up population play a major role. Once you have realized that it is easier to see that even revenue show a population increase.
It seems ever since the numbers of 100,000 players was announced for WAR, I have seen a lot of anti WAR posts or War comparisons lately on the forum. If you go to the WAR forums you dont see it?? Why?ee I think people for some reason feel WAR has taken away the subscribers from AOC, in which I must say couldnt be further from the truth.
I played AOC when it first came out with high expectations, The first 20 levels was a lot of fun, but after that the game got so boring and buggy that it was almost impossible to play. You stack that with the lack of customer support from Funcom and lack of patches drove people away from the game. It had nothing to do with WAR being released. Funcom did this to themselves.
As far as WAR being a failure, I have played that as well and it kept my attention for a lot longer. It was 10x more polished out of the box that AOC. No comparison whatsoever. I think AOC has the most promist there was something about it that said,"this game could be incredible". But I like the 100,000's of thousands that left dont want to play games on their potential. The truth is Funcom dropped the ball and released the game to early. It was way to buggy, and way to instanced for my liking. Its really to bad but hey thats what happened, and WAR bashing wont change that.
It seems ever since the numbers of 100,000 players was announced for WAR, I have seen a lot of anti WAR posts or War comparisons lately on the forum. If you go to the WAR forums you dont see it?? Why?ee I think people for some reason feel WAR has taken away the subscribers from AOC, in which I must say couldnt be further from the truth. I played AOC when it first came out with high expectations, The first 20 levels was a lot of fun, but after that the game got so boring and buggy that it was almost impossible to play. You stack that with the lack of customer support from Funcom and lack of patches drove people away from the game. It had nothing to do with WAR being released. Funcom did this to themselves. As far as WAR being a failure, I have played that as well and it kept my attention for a lot longer. It was 10x more polished out of the box that AOC. No comparison whatsoever. I think AOC has the most promist there was something about it that said,"this game could be incredible". But I like the 100,000's of thousands that left dont want to play games on their potential. The truth is Funcom dropped the ball and released the game to early. It was way to buggy, and way to instanced for my liking. Its really to bad but hey thats what happened, and WAR bashing wont change that.
Bashing other games is the only thing AoC fans can do. They cannot have a real discussion about AoC because the game fails on so many levels and they know it.
AmazingAveryAge of Conan AdvocateMemberUncommonPosts: 7,188
Originally posted by Timoshenko
Bashing other games is the only thing AoC fans can do. They cannot have a real discussion about AoC because the game fails on so many levels and they know it.
But you don't know anything about AoC since october last year first hand, yet think it is ok to come here and try to tell everyone how the game is now? LOL
Disgruntled EX-players have nothing better to do right?
Bashing other games is the only thing AoC fans can do. They cannot have a real discussion about AoC because the game fails on so many levels and they know it.
But you don't know anything about AoC since october last year first hand, yet think it is ok to come here and try to tell everyone how the game is now? LOL
Disgruntled EX-players have nothing better to do right?
If you examine my full post history (and I'm sure you have) you will also find that I have installed the game TWICE on my computer. You know why? Because like many other suckers I listened to the hype again and resubscribed, only to be disappointed.
If you want we can go do 1vs1 on Fury or Aquilonia right now. I can PM you the name of my character
p.s. Better luck next time with your conspiracy theories.
• Customer retention improving in Age of Conanin early 2009
• Continued investments in Age of Conanand new MMOs in development
• New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition
• Trial marketing
• Digital download
• Win back campaigns Although they don't specify numbers, it seems to indicate that player retention is improving and this means that the number of subscribers tends to increase.
Ok I see, an independant gaming tool is not a reliable way to gauging population levels but something that Funcom says is? Oh yeah, that makes alot of sense.
• Customer retention improving in Age of Conanin early 2009
• Continued investments in Age of Conanand new MMOs in development
• New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition
• Trial marketing
• Digital download
• Win back campaigns Although they don't specify numbers, it seems to indicate that player retention is improving and this means that the number of subscribers tends to increase.
Ok I see, an independant gaming tool is not a reliable way to gauging population levels but something that Funcom says is? Oh yeah, that makes alot of sense.
You have to realize most people on this forum are the same people who believed Funcom in beta when they said that DX10, sieges and bunch of other stuff are not in beta because they want to "keep things fresh" for launch. I tried to tell those people that maybe the real reason is that those features are either crap or unfinished but fanbois called me a "hater".
Some people just believe ANYTHING a company tells them. They don't understand that for a company like Funcom it's all about subscription numbers. Just like many companies out there, they don't give a shit about anything else but money and they are willing to do ANYTHING for you to resubscribe. Lie, cheat, whatever..
Funcom has been caught lying in the past many times and the people still run the company. Why do people think anything has changed?
people who claim xfire is worthless are wrong. Players who use xfire follow the same trends as players who don't. Take a look at WAR to see an example of just how accurate it can be. It's not good for finding out total population, but great to see if a game is bleeding subs or not.
however comparing two game's xfire stats to each other and trying to guess population does not work, nor does it give accurate results. There are too many factors such as compatability issues and demographics
There is no doubt AOC is still losing customers. Funcom already said that revenues will be down 25% this quarter compared to last. Seeing as AOC is by far the biggest source of AOC revenues, it's pretty easy to put 2 and 2 together. My guess is they are never going to do the free trial. It will cost a huge amount to pay for the bandwidth. It's like Dx10, they have basically stopped working on that since they know it won't make a difference for subscriber numbers. There goal now is to keep the players they have until they launch their next MMORPG. As far as Warhammer.. Mythic gave numbers as of Dec 31st.. and they were significantly lower than the numbers they gave for October. Given the fact that there was a drastic decrease between october and december (given by mythic), there is no reason to believe that Warhammers numbers magically stabilized on Dec 31st. The Jan 31st 'announcement' was not met well by players who were expecting a lot more from the upcoming expansion.
actualy your info on aoc is wrong. they still doing the dx10 and the number of players is steady to slight increase as they add more content they also have a expansion planned. since that new director for the game took over it has improved alot.
Where is your proof that players are increasing? Because your servers population increased after mergers? of course it did because players from other servers were moved onto your server. But that is not proof of overall player growth. You are just seeing more players on your server. You are not giving any proof that servers are increasing, just your opinion.
I am giving proof that subscribers are decreasing.
1. Funcom gave Revenue numbers for the 4th quarter
2. Funcom said Revenue numbers for this quarter would be 25% lower than 4th quarter
3. Almost all of Funcoms revenue comes from subscriptions in AOC.
The only way for Funcom's revenue to drop by 25% (which funcom themselves said it would) and for there would be an increase in AOC's subscribers is if AO suddenly stopped bringing in ANY income at all, or else the number of AOC boxes sold in the 4th quarter was drastically higher than the number of boxes sold in this quarter. AO has been very steady with it's revenues over the past 3 years.. there is no reason to expect a big drop in revenues from AO since nothing has changed. As for box sales, well that speaks for itself. Simply put, Funcom has said there will be a 25% decrease in revenues.. and there is no place within their company for that big of a drop to come from except subscription fees from AOC.
Also in their announcement in the middle of February, they said " our retention rate is improviing"... which means the rate at which they are LOSING players has decreased... they did NOT say they were gaining subscribers... they said there weren't losing them at as high of a rate anymore.... which is something even the biggest trolls would admit. If they were seeing an increase they would have said it.
I am giving you evidence which has been stated by Funcom themselves that AOC is still losing subscriptions.. where is your 'proof' that it is gaining subscribers? Either provide your evidence of growth, or despute my evidence which was given by Funcom itself.. but please stop this ' you are wrong, aoc is growing because i say so' nonsense.
Bashing other games is the only thing AoC fans can do. They cannot have a real discussion about AoC because the game fails on so many levels and they know it.
But you don't know anything about AoC since october last year first hand, yet think it is ok to come here and try to tell everyone how the game is now? LOL
Disgruntled EX-players have nothing better to do right?
You know Avery.. I've seen you say this 3 times in the past few weeks. I started playing AOC only a few months ago(Dec-Jan). The game is ok for the first few days, but about lvl 25 it really started to suck. It was like the new car smell. The combat mechanisms were fun for awhile, but then after the newness wore off, you realized they were worse then most games. The graphics were great, but after the first few days, the gameplay keeps you from enjoying them because everything feels so claustrophic. And I'm sorry, but loadscreens suck in a modern game.. I can't believe how many loadscreens this game has for a game released in 2008.
Poor combat, crappy gameplay, loadscreens and boring endgame. I payed about $10 for my month, which I think was worth it for the first few days (which were fun in a new-car small sort of way).. but I was not even close to subscribing to this game, and that was in January.... not October.
Originally posted by steven1966 You know Avery.. I've seen you say this 3 times in the past few weeks. I started playing AOC only a few months ago(Dec-Jan). The game is ok for the first few days, but about lvl 25 it really started to suck. It was like the new car smell. The combat mechanisms were fun for awhile, but then after the newness wore off, you realized they were worse then most games. The graphics were great, but after the first few days, the gameplay keeps you from enjoying them because everything feels so claustrophic. And I'm sorry, but loadscreens suck in a modern game.. I can't believe how many loadscreens this game has for a game released in 2008. Poor combat, crappy gameplay, loadscreens and boring endgame. I payed about $10 for my month, which I think was worth it for the first few days (which were fun in a new-car small sort of way).. but I was not even close to subscribing to this game, and that was in January.... not October.
It's whatever floats your boat I guess. It is a subjective opinion, just as mine where I can't get myself to continue trying out the Warhammer trial because the combat is so slow and boring, and like how I couldn't take the crappy animations and slow combat in Lotro.
I get my fill in AoC, which is fast paced combat and good lore behind it (I really love the lore, so I guess it's a big factor for me). I get to PvP and quest with groups of people, in either small skirmishes or big raids. This game has what I need to be satisfied, and is continuing to bring me joy. If I get bored of it, I will simply stop playing.
We all have different opinions about things, and you obviously are seeking something else.
True, WAR didnt hit the 1 million mark, it barely has 300K subs. But i don't complain, my server (Karak-Azgal, EU) is full, i even queue on weekends to log in. Last night i followed an assault on The Maw with at least 100 other players and met with pretty much equal resistance from destros.
Tried AoC again using a buddy key. There were some people pointlessly running about, ganking newbies. After playing WAR i'm kind of used to get messages through general chat where the action is, and what's the status of the war. In AoC i was just running about killing mobs and escaping some crazy russkies bend on killing me all the time. Can't say i didn't enjoy it but the instanced world, shitty quests, broken raiding and lack of meaningful PvP till the endgame is too large of a put off to go through with Conan. In WAR i can join the action in Tier 1 and be of use to the war effort. In AoC you're pretty meaningless till you join the guild and start guild warfare which takes way too long to accomplish.
I think in terms of the hype and money poured in AoC, is a much worse fail than WAR. Number of bugs and gamebreaking issues were incomparably bigger in AoC's case. Unless the core of the game gets a revamp, i don't think it's going to pick itself up ever again...
Where is your proof that players are increasing? Because your servers population increased after mergers? of course it did because players from other servers were moved onto your server. But that is not proof of overall player growth. You are just seeing more players on your server. You are not giving any proof that servers are increasing, just your opinion.
I am giving proof that subscribers are decreasing.
1. Funcom gave Revenue numbers for the 4th quarter
2. Funcom said Revenue numbers for this quarter would be 25% lower than 4th quarter
3. Almost all of Funcoms revenue comes from subscriptions in AOC.
The only way for Funcom's revenue to drop by 25% (which funcom themselves said it would) and for there would be an increase in AOC's subscribers is if AO suddenly stopped bringing in ANY income at all, or else the number of AOC boxes sold in the 4th quarter was drastically higher than the number of boxes sold in this quarter. AO has been very steady with it's revenues over the past 3 years.. there is no reason to expect a big drop in revenues from AO since nothing has changed. As for box sales, well that speaks for itself. Simply put, Funcom has said there will be a 25% decrease in revenues.. and there is no place within their company for that big of a drop to come from except subscription fees from AOC.
Also in their announcement in the middle of February, they said " our retention rate is improviing"... which means the rate at which they are LOSING players has decreased... they did NOT say they were gaining subscribers... they said there weren't losing them at as high of a rate anymore.... which is something even the biggest trolls would admit. If they were seeing an increase they would have said it.
I am giving you evidence which has been stated by Funcom themselves that AOC is still losing subscriptions.. where is your 'proof' that it is gaining subscribers? Either provide your evidence of growth, or despute my evidence which was given by Funcom itself.. but please stop this ' you are wrong, aoc is growing because i say so' nonsense.
Sadly all the financial facts in the world won't convince some of the diehard fans here.
They will just respond with: "That's BS!! Age of Conan is gaining subscriptions because today there were a lot of people ganking each other in White Sands!!".
You know Avery.. I've seen you say this 3 times in the past few weeks. I started playing AOC only a few months ago(Dec-Jan). The game is ok for the first few days, but about lvl 25 it really started to suck. It was like the new car smell. The combat mechanisms were fun for awhile, but then after the newness wore off, you realized they were worse then most games. The graphics were great, but after the first few days, the gameplay keeps you from enjoying them because everything feels so claustrophic. And I'm sorry, but loadscreens suck in a modern game.. I can't believe how many loadscreens this game has for a game released in 2008.
Poor combat, crappy gameplay, loadscreens and boring endgame. I payed about $10 for my month, which I think was worth it for the first few days (which were fun in a new-car small sort of way).. but I was not even close to subscribing to this game, and that was in January.... not October.
It's whatever floats your boat I guess. It is a subjective opinion, just as mine where I can't get myself to continue trying out the Warhammer trial because the combat is so slow and boring, and like how I couldn't take the crappy animations and slow combat in Lotro.
I get my fill in AoC, which is fast paced combat and good lore behind it (I really love the lore, so I guess it's a big factor for me). I get to PvP and quest with groups of people, in either small skirmishes or big raids. This game has what I need to be satisfied, and is continuing to bring me joy. If I get bored of it, I will simply stop playing.
We all have different opinions about things, and you obviously are seeking something else.
Very nice ^_^ There's no sense in people yelling zomg haters, zomg fanbois, you're all binded QQ!! LOLz!
It's a matter of preference, I see very few people keeping a subjective approach to the game they don't like especially when it comes to AoC, it's a phenomenon I don't quite understand. You'd think AoC shot their dog.
I also agree with the WAR trial, I won't finish it I found the game very bland. I like the art style though but there's something about it that makes it seem old even though it's new. The first thing that striked me in the high elf area was how tightly packed in the mobs were. I felt like I was in a F2P game honestly, which really surprised me. I liked the choices of classes too, but overall to me the game did not feel special at all.
But whatever we all have things to nit pick at and not like in this buffet of MMOs.
You know Avery.. I've seen you say this 3 times in the past few weeks. I started playing AOC only a few months ago(Dec-Jan). The game is ok for the first few days, but about lvl 25 it really started to suck. It was like the new car smell. The combat mechanisms were fun for awhile, but then after the newness wore off, you realized they were worse then most games. The graphics were great, but after the first few days, the gameplay keeps you from enjoying them because everything feels so claustrophic. And I'm sorry, but loadscreens suck in a modern game.. I can't believe how many loadscreens this game has for a game released in 2008.
Poor combat, crappy gameplay, loadscreens and boring endgame. I payed about $10 for my month, which I think was worth it for the first few days (which were fun in a new-car small sort of way).. but I was not even close to subscribing to this game, and that was in January.... not October.
It's whatever floats your boat I guess. It is a subjective opinion, just as mine where I can't get myself to continue trying out the Warhammer trial because the combat is so slow and boring, and like how I couldn't take the crappy animations and slow combat in Lotro.
I get my fill in AoC, which is fast paced combat and good lore behind it (I really love the lore, so I guess it's a big factor for me). I get to PvP and quest with groups of people, in either small skirmishes or big raids. This game has what I need to be satisfied, and is continuing to bring me joy. If I get bored of it, I will simply stop playing.
We all have different opinions about things, and you obviously are seeking something else.
Very nice ^_^ There's no sense in people yelling zomg haters, zomg fanbois, you're all binded QQ!! LOLz!
It's a matter of preference, I see very few people keeping a subjective approach to the game they don't like especially when it comes to AoC, it's a phenomenon I don't quite understand. You'd think AoC shot their dog.
I also agree with the WAR trial, I won't finish it I found the game very bland. I like the art style though but there's something about it that makes it seem old even though it's new. The first thing that striked me in the high elf area was how tightly packed in the mobs were. I felt like I was in a F2P game honestly, which really surprised me. I liked the choices of classes too, but overall to me the game did not feel special at all.
But whatever we all have things to nit pick at and not like in this buffet of MMOs.
i totally agree, perfect description of whats going on. many people over here talk about AoC like if it killed their father and raped their mother...
i Enjoyed War maybe the first 3 weeks, then i noticed a pattern, doing the samethign over and over and over, then when i wanted to get into a group for a chapter quest, nobody around, so i ran around doing the same instance over and over and over.......you get my point....subscription cancelled, Mythic get more creative would ya.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Of the two games I've only really played AoC, and it's not failing me. I try to log a few hours a day to get some pvp mini-games, and great fun it is:)
So if AoC is a failure compared to war, then war's got to be truly amazing.
AoC dropped below 100k subs and just stabalized after being the 4th highest selling game last year.
In the world of failures Age of Conan wins by over 3 times ;p Failure is measured by subscriptions in MMOs.
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War is just a better game it has more leveling content, it is focused on PvP while AoC has no focus, it has around 400 PQs, with many being well scripted. Unlike Funcom who focused on an expansion, Mythic worked on fixing the game..so it is no wonder why Mythic is doing better today than AoC.
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AoC plays and feels more like a F2P game after tortage, so I'm wondering where all the money allocated to develop age of conan went, they said they lost 33 million, but it seems more like a fraud. maybe million dollar bonuses to all or something.
Comments
Actually, by FC stating that they are retaining(retention) more of their current customers, they are infact indicating that AOC is slowing the actual decline(or sub cancellations) making the AOC playerbase more stable. This statement has nothing to do with the playerbase increasing what so ever.
Now, in this point just a few lines below the "Customer rentention" line which reads " New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition" it clearly indicates that FC has a plan that will focus on bringing in new subs. I think that we all know that they want to launch some type of program that will try to win back the 700k+ cancelled subs. If FC ever gets that type of program launched then AOC will start to increase their playerbase.
Just to sum it up from Funcom's Q409 presentation, AOC is not currently increasing subs but has infact slowed down and maybe even stopped the bleeding off of player subs and hopefully in the near future they will launch their "Win Back" program to actually ADD to their playerbase.
Actually, by FC stating that they are retaining(retention) more of their current customers, they are infact indicating that AOC is slowing the actual decline(or sub cancellations) making the AOC playerbase more stable. This statement has nothing to do with the playerbase increasing what so ever.
Now, in this point just a few lines below the "Customer rentention" line which reads "• New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition" it clearly indicates that FC has a plan that will focus on bringing in new subs. I think that we all know that they want to launch some type of program that will try to win back the 700k+ cancelled subs. If FC ever gets that type of program launched then AOC will start to increase their playerbase.
Just to sum it up from Funcom's Q409 presentation, AOC is not currently increasing subs but has infact slowed down and maybe even stopped the bleeding off of player subs and hopefully in the near future they will launch their "Win Back" program to actually ADD to their playerbase.
Look, Xfire was the reference for saying AoC lost many players when play hours was decreasing up to December. Since december play hours in a regular weekday have increased from 3500 hours to about 5500 hours. That is about a +60% increase. Same to number of Xfire gamers, it increased from 900 to 1350 in a weekday which is like +50%. So regardless of how you look on it there are more people playing AOC now by the month based on the consensus of the standard that was set with regards to Xfire before December.
just my 2 cents.
And, yes we players also see many new and old faces back in AoC. I personally think population is growing. Not crazy fast like some want to say, but it is definitely growing.
You have a perception that the game is increasing, the official quarterly report states differently. Between your perception and the official stats from Funcom's Quarterly Report, I think that I am going with the quarterly report as to which is more accurate.
Again, im not trying to say pick a fight with you rather im just going with the official imformation from the actual company and not a player's speculation or Xrossfire's unofficial numbers.
Now, with that said, I know FC to tweak it's reports to make a prettier picture that it actually is, so if you can get your hands on some solid facts stating, without a doubt, that AOC is currently increasing in subs, instead of what is stated in their report then I will concede this point to you.
Actually, by FC stating that they are retaining(retention) more of their current customers, they are infact indicating that AOC is slowing the actual decline(or sub cancellations) making the AOC playerbase more stable. This statement has nothing to do with the playerbase increasing what so ever.
Now, in this point just a few lines below the "Customer rentention" line which reads "• New initiatives for customer retention and customer acquisition" it clearly indicates that FC has a plan that will focus on bringing in new subs. I think that we all know that they want to launch some type of program that will try to win back the 700k+ cancelled subs. If FC ever gets that type of program launched then AOC will start to increase their playerbase.
Just to sum it up from Funcom's Q409 presentation, AOC is not currently increasing subs but has infact slowed down and maybe even stopped the bleeding off of player subs and hopefully in the near future they will launch their "Win Back" program to actually ADD to their playerbase.
And, yes we players also see many new and old faces back in AoC. I personally think population is growing. Not crazy fast like some want to say, but it is definitely growing.
No offense to you because I truely believe that you perceive there to be an influx of new players. However, just because you are seeing more new players doesnt mean that there arent old players who are leaving the game.
You have a perception that the game is increasing, the official quarterly report states differently. Between your perception and the official stats from Funcom's Quarterly Report, I think that I am going with the quarterly report as to which is more accurate.
Again, im not trying to say pick a fight with you rather im just going with the official imformation from the actual company and not a player's speculation or Xrossfire's unofficial numbers.
Now, with that said, I know FC to tweak it's reports to make a prettier picture that it actually is, so if you can get your hands on some solid facts stating, without a doubt, that AOC is currently increasing in subs, instead of what is stated in their report then I will concede this point to you.
Haha, well more or less does not mean much to me as long as I get more and more players to play with, and I really do on the two servers I play. Population have increased a lot. I think this link forums.ageofconan.com/forumdisplay.php describes pretty well whats going on right now. Newcomer forum is full as ever now and I am hardly pressed finding anyone at all unhappy with the game upon return. That is a very good sign
With regards to the Quarterly report I just want to say one thing that I have said before. 6 month subs for those 700 000 people starting up AoC in Mai and June ran out in December. Let's say 10% of the people signing up in June pressed the 6 months sub option for 14 $. 10% of 700 000 is 70 000 people. 70 000 * 14$ * 3 months = 3 Mill $. Lets say 75% of these players quit the game at one point. 75% of 3 Mill $ is 2.25 Mill $. This means FC got 2.25 Mill from subs not playing the game in Q4 2008. In other words even if number of active gamers was the same in Q4 2008 and Q1 2009, FC would make 2.25 Mill less. So, your logic has some shortcomings.
FC expect to make about 1.5 Mill less in Q1 2009 compared to Q42008 pr their financial guiding so I think even their numbers revenuewise spells a some population increase. Not to piss you off that is, but you have to realize that the 6 month subs of players that quit from the start up population play a major role. Once you have realized that it is easier to see that even revenue show a population increase.
It seems ever since the numbers of 100,000 players was announced for WAR, I have seen a lot of anti WAR posts or War comparisons lately on the forum. If you go to the WAR forums you dont see it?? Why?ee I think people for some reason feel WAR has taken away the subscribers from AOC, in which I must say couldnt be further from the truth.
I played AOC when it first came out with high expectations, The first 20 levels was a lot of fun, but after that the game got so boring and buggy that it was almost impossible to play. You stack that with the lack of customer support from Funcom and lack of patches drove people away from the game. It had nothing to do with WAR being released. Funcom did this to themselves.
As far as WAR being a failure, I have played that as well and it kept my attention for a lot longer. It was 10x more polished out of the box that AOC. No comparison whatsoever. I think AOC has the most promist there was something about it that said,"this game could be incredible". But I like the 100,000's of thousands that left dont want to play games on their potential. The truth is Funcom dropped the ball and released the game to early. It was way to buggy, and way to instanced for my liking. Its really to bad but hey thats what happened, and WAR bashing wont change that.
Bashing other games is the only thing AoC fans can do. They cannot have a real discussion about AoC because the game fails on so many levels and they know it.
But you don't know anything about AoC since october last year first hand, yet think it is ok to come here and try to tell everyone how the game is now? LOL
Disgruntled EX-players have nothing better to do right?
But you don't know anything about AoC since october last year first hand, yet think it is ok to come here and try to tell everyone how the game is now? LOL
Disgruntled EX-players have nothing better to do right?
If you examine my full post history (and I'm sure you have) you will also find that I have installed the game TWICE on my computer. You know why? Because like many other suckers I listened to the hype again and resubscribed, only to be disappointed.
If you want we can go do 1vs1 on Fury or Aquilonia right now. I can PM you the name of my character
p.s. Better luck next time with your conspiracy theories.
Ok I see, an independant gaming tool is not a reliable way to gauging population levels but something that Funcom says is? Oh yeah, that makes alot of sense.
My gaming blog
Ok I see, an independant gaming tool is not a reliable way to gauging population levels but something that Funcom says is? Oh yeah, that makes alot of sense.
You have to realize most people on this forum are the same people who believed Funcom in beta when they said that DX10, sieges and bunch of other stuff are not in beta because they want to "keep things fresh" for launch. I tried to tell those people that maybe the real reason is that those features are either crap or unfinished but fanbois called me a "hater".
Some people just believe ANYTHING a company tells them. They don't understand that for a company like Funcom it's all about subscription numbers. Just like many companies out there, they don't give a shit about anything else but money and they are willing to do ANYTHING for you to resubscribe. Lie, cheat, whatever..
Funcom has been caught lying in the past many times and the people still run the company. Why do people think anything has changed?
people who claim xfire is worthless are wrong. Players who use xfire follow the same trends as players who don't. Take a look at WAR to see an example of just how accurate it can be. It's not good for finding out total population, but great to see if a game is bleeding subs or not.
however comparing two game's xfire stats to each other and trying to guess population does not work, nor does it give accurate results. There are too many factors such as compatability issues and demographics
actualy your info on aoc is wrong. they still doing the dx10 and the number of players is steady to slight increase as they add more content they also have a expansion planned. since that new director for the game took over it has improved alot.
Where is your proof that players are increasing? Because your servers population increased after mergers? of course it did because players from other servers were moved onto your server. But that is not proof of overall player growth. You are just seeing more players on your server. You are not giving any proof that servers are increasing, just your opinion.
I am giving proof that subscribers are decreasing.
1. Funcom gave Revenue numbers for the 4th quarter
2. Funcom said Revenue numbers for this quarter would be 25% lower than 4th quarter
3. Almost all of Funcoms revenue comes from subscriptions in AOC.
The only way for Funcom's revenue to drop by 25% (which funcom themselves said it would) and for there would be an increase in AOC's subscribers is if AO suddenly stopped bringing in ANY income at all, or else the number of AOC boxes sold in the 4th quarter was drastically higher than the number of boxes sold in this quarter. AO has been very steady with it's revenues over the past 3 years.. there is no reason to expect a big drop in revenues from AO since nothing has changed. As for box sales, well that speaks for itself. Simply put, Funcom has said there will be a 25% decrease in revenues.. and there is no place within their company for that big of a drop to come from except subscription fees from AOC.
Also in their announcement in the middle of February, they said " our retention rate is improviing"... which means the rate at which they are LOSING players has decreased... they did NOT say they were gaining subscribers... they said there weren't losing them at as high of a rate anymore.... which is something even the biggest trolls would admit. If they were seeing an increase they would have said it.
I am giving you evidence which has been stated by Funcom themselves that AOC is still losing subscriptions.. where is your 'proof' that it is gaining subscribers? Either provide your evidence of growth, or despute my evidence which was given by Funcom itself.. but please stop this ' you are wrong, aoc is growing because i say so' nonsense.
But you don't know anything about AoC since october last year first hand, yet think it is ok to come here and try to tell everyone how the game is now? LOL
Disgruntled EX-players have nothing better to do right?
You know Avery.. I've seen you say this 3 times in the past few weeks. I started playing AOC only a few months ago(Dec-Jan). The game is ok for the first few days, but about lvl 25 it really started to suck. It was like the new car smell. The combat mechanisms were fun for awhile, but then after the newness wore off, you realized they were worse then most games. The graphics were great, but after the first few days, the gameplay keeps you from enjoying them because everything feels so claustrophic. And I'm sorry, but loadscreens suck in a modern game.. I can't believe how many loadscreens this game has for a game released in 2008.
Poor combat, crappy gameplay, loadscreens and boring endgame. I payed about $10 for my month, which I think was worth it for the first few days (which were fun in a new-car small sort of way).. but I was not even close to subscribing to this game, and that was in January.... not October.
It's whatever floats your boat I guess. It is a subjective opinion, just as mine where I can't get myself to continue trying out the Warhammer trial because the combat is so slow and boring, and like how I couldn't take the crappy animations and slow combat in Lotro.
I get my fill in AoC, which is fast paced combat and good lore behind it (I really love the lore, so I guess it's a big factor for me). I get to PvP and quest with groups of people, in either small skirmishes or big raids. This game has what I need to be satisfied, and is continuing to bring me joy. If I get bored of it, I will simply stop playing.
We all have different opinions about things, and you obviously are seeking something else.
It is preferable not to travel with a dead man.
True, WAR didnt hit the 1 million mark, it barely has 300K subs. But i don't complain, my server (Karak-Azgal, EU) is full, i even queue on weekends to log in. Last night i followed an assault on The Maw with at least 100 other players and met with pretty much equal resistance from destros.
Tried AoC again using a buddy key. There were some people pointlessly running about, ganking newbies. After playing WAR i'm kind of used to get messages through general chat where the action is, and what's the status of the war. In AoC i was just running about killing mobs and escaping some crazy russkies bend on killing me all the time. Can't say i didn't enjoy it but the instanced world, shitty quests, broken raiding and lack of meaningful PvP till the endgame is too large of a put off to go through with Conan. In WAR i can join the action in Tier 1 and be of use to the war effort. In AoC you're pretty meaningless till you join the guild and start guild warfare which takes way too long to accomplish.
I think in terms of the hype and money poured in AoC, is a much worse fail than WAR. Number of bugs and gamebreaking issues were incomparably bigger in AoC's case. Unless the core of the game gets a revamp, i don't think it's going to pick itself up ever again...
Where is your proof that players are increasing? Because your servers population increased after mergers? of course it did because players from other servers were moved onto your server. But that is not proof of overall player growth. You are just seeing more players on your server. You are not giving any proof that servers are increasing, just your opinion.
I am giving proof that subscribers are decreasing.
1. Funcom gave Revenue numbers for the 4th quarter
2. Funcom said Revenue numbers for this quarter would be 25% lower than 4th quarter
3. Almost all of Funcoms revenue comes from subscriptions in AOC.
The only way for Funcom's revenue to drop by 25% (which funcom themselves said it would) and for there would be an increase in AOC's subscribers is if AO suddenly stopped bringing in ANY income at all, or else the number of AOC boxes sold in the 4th quarter was drastically higher than the number of boxes sold in this quarter. AO has been very steady with it's revenues over the past 3 years.. there is no reason to expect a big drop in revenues from AO since nothing has changed. As for box sales, well that speaks for itself. Simply put, Funcom has said there will be a 25% decrease in revenues.. and there is no place within their company for that big of a drop to come from except subscription fees from AOC.
Also in their announcement in the middle of February, they said " our retention rate is improviing"... which means the rate at which they are LOSING players has decreased... they did NOT say they were gaining subscribers... they said there weren't losing them at as high of a rate anymore.... which is something even the biggest trolls would admit. If they were seeing an increase they would have said it.
I am giving you evidence which has been stated by Funcom themselves that AOC is still losing subscriptions.. where is your 'proof' that it is gaining subscribers? Either provide your evidence of growth, or despute my evidence which was given by Funcom itself.. but please stop this ' you are wrong, aoc is growing because i say so' nonsense.
Sadly all the financial facts in the world won't convince some of the diehard fans here.
They will just respond with: "That's BS!! Age of Conan is gaining subscriptions because today there were a lot of people ganking each other in White Sands!!".
It's whatever floats your boat I guess. It is a subjective opinion, just as mine where I can't get myself to continue trying out the Warhammer trial because the combat is so slow and boring, and like how I couldn't take the crappy animations and slow combat in Lotro.
I get my fill in AoC, which is fast paced combat and good lore behind it (I really love the lore, so I guess it's a big factor for me). I get to PvP and quest with groups of people, in either small skirmishes or big raids. This game has what I need to be satisfied, and is continuing to bring me joy. If I get bored of it, I will simply stop playing.
We all have different opinions about things, and you obviously are seeking something else.
Very nice ^_^ There's no sense in people yelling zomg haters, zomg fanbois, you're all binded QQ!! LOLz!
It's a matter of preference, I see very few people keeping a subjective approach to the game they don't like especially when it comes to AoC, it's a phenomenon I don't quite understand. You'd think AoC shot their dog.
I also agree with the WAR trial, I won't finish it I found the game very bland. I like the art style though but there's something about it that makes it seem old even though it's new. The first thing that striked me in the high elf area was how tightly packed in the mobs were. I felt like I was in a F2P game honestly, which really surprised me. I liked the choices of classes too, but overall to me the game did not feel special at all.
But whatever we all have things to nit pick at and not like in this buffet of MMOs.
(,,,)=^__^=(,,,)
It's whatever floats your boat I guess. It is a subjective opinion, just as mine where I can't get myself to continue trying out the Warhammer trial because the combat is so slow and boring, and like how I couldn't take the crappy animations and slow combat in Lotro.
I get my fill in AoC, which is fast paced combat and good lore behind it (I really love the lore, so I guess it's a big factor for me). I get to PvP and quest with groups of people, in either small skirmishes or big raids. This game has what I need to be satisfied, and is continuing to bring me joy. If I get bored of it, I will simply stop playing.
We all have different opinions about things, and you obviously are seeking something else.
Very nice ^_^ There's no sense in people yelling zomg haters, zomg fanbois, you're all binded QQ!! LOLz!
It's a matter of preference, I see very few people keeping a subjective approach to the game they don't like especially when it comes to AoC, it's a phenomenon I don't quite understand. You'd think AoC shot their dog.
I also agree with the WAR trial, I won't finish it I found the game very bland. I like the art style though but there's something about it that makes it seem old even though it's new. The first thing that striked me in the high elf area was how tightly packed in the mobs were. I felt like I was in a F2P game honestly, which really surprised me. I liked the choices of classes too, but overall to me the game did not feel special at all.
But whatever we all have things to nit pick at and not like in this buffet of MMOs.
i totally agree, perfect description of whats going on. many people over here talk about AoC like if it killed their father and raped their mother...
Niether game failed nor is failing.
Both are generating millions of dollars in profit, and AoC has a rising subscriber base (WAR will probably soon, as well).
Both are great games.
He who keeps his cool best wins.
i Enjoyed War maybe the first 3 weeks, then i noticed a pattern, doing the samethign over and over and over, then when i wanted to get into a group for a chapter quest, nobody around, so i ran around doing the same instance over and over and over.......you get my point....subscription cancelled, Mythic get more creative would ya.
No way AOC is a much better game than warhammer.
Both games have people playing them who enjoy themselves.
I'd say they are both successes.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
No way WAR is a much better game than age of conan.
Of the two games I've only really played AoC, and it's not failing me. I try to log a few hours a day to get some pvp mini-games, and great fun it is:)
So if AoC is a failure compared to war, then war's got to be truly amazing.
"nerf rock, paper is working as intended."
- Scissors.
Head Chop
War started growing, before free trials, after going down to 300 subs, and never had the population that AoC had.
www.uptowar.com/view/43-servers-shuting-down/15337.html
AoC dropped below 100k subs and just stabalized after being the 4th highest selling game last year.
In the world of failures Age of Conan wins by over 3 times ;p Failure is measured by subscriptions in MMOs.
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War is just a better game it has more leveling content, it is focused on PvP while AoC has no focus, it has around 400 PQs, with many being well scripted. Unlike Funcom who focused on an expansion, Mythic worked on fixing the game..so it is no wonder why Mythic is doing better today than AoC.
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AoC plays and feels more like a F2P game after tortage, so I'm wondering where all the money allocated to develop age of conan went, they said they lost 33 million, but it seems more like a fraud. maybe million dollar bonuses to all or something.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427