Originally posted by neonaka

Mathew did what no other writer had the balls to do.

Give an honest review of a mediocre game.

In his interview he asked some very serious questions in regards to some of the problems players of AoC are facing.

What did the guy do, well in his first response he didn't answer the question at all, he just tried to sell his game more. Going on and on about how good the game is and will be. Didn't really do anything but re-enforce Mathew and his wondering what they plan to do about the issues.

Next series of questions just got danced around and dodged because the guy had no damn idea how to answer it and make a positive spin on it. So he just DIDN'T answer them.

When I read this post I pulled 3 co-workers over to my desk, I asked them NOT to read "Mathew's Thought" just the question then the response. Keep in mind all 3 of these guys are gamers.

They all 3 read it... got to the bottom... and I asked "So what do you think, did the dev answer anything this guy asked."

Their response almost in unison "That guy is an idiot".

That pretty much sums it up. How do you respect an idiot? You don't.

 

So was Mathew hard on the dev? No he asked some questions that are plagued all over the net, to try to get an official respose, and instead he got a tap dancing lesson.

 

Mathew don't listen to these in the MMORPG community who want great games but will settle for the most mundane piece of mediocrity produced as of late.

You keep your brass balls, and write the truth.

I hope all you AoC fans hear the clanking noise as Mathew walks by.

(He IMO has written the best article on AoC to date)

This is the last long chunk of replies I'm making.  The other two are in te discussion threads for part 1 and2 of the article if you missed them.  I'll do my best to keep my replies orderly.

Here they are:

@BlueCadwal - Journalists are expected to be objective and seek the truth.  It is becoming rarer that we encounter such reporters in this day and age.  Often the economic realities of the situation dictate that you listen to your editor when he tells you the sponsors won't like what you have to say.  Stradden published my work without editing me.  That speaks of his integrity as Managing Editor.  The fact that you find me biased is odd considering I wrote a piece which is backed up by fact.  Hard to be biased when you foundations are documented.  While you may disagree with my right to comment on answers given, you need to remember that analysis of company statements is not outside the purview of a writer.  In addition, the entire article was written prior to the answering o those three questions.  In context it made more sense to address them within the Q&A.  As I stated elsewhere I would be more than happy to cover every MMO launch with a similar piece.  The decision to do so lies with Stradden, however.

As to why I don't go in-depth into other launches in this article I can only restate what others said to you: it's outside my scope.  I don't have to point out the obvious (that pretty much every launch suffers from issues) when I am evaluating AoC's release.  The reason AO as chosen to b included in th article is also obvious.  It is Funcom's other game, and it had a horrible release.  I would have thought it obvious from my writing, but AoC is portrayed as being the better of the two launches by far.

Your assertion that Funcom deserves slack because they are a small company does not bear much relevance.  Funcom has run an MMO for years, is a traded company, and has been able to finance the development of AoC themselves.  In terms of MMO development houses they're not small at all.  Not to mention that deciding to step into the boxing ring means people will throw punches. Funcom is tough enough to take them.

@AOCtester - I don't think questions phrased like yours are likely to be answered with even as much relevance as mine received, if they were to be answered at all.

@jusomdude - Unfortunately both the EA PvP servers in the EU were filled pretty quickly.  Even the one with the dumb name (Wildsoul) had problems. :)

@Shelil - I don't miss much.  Feature cuts happen in MMOs, to be sure.  My article does not discuss this aspect of AoC because my article is about the launch.

@MightyJudge - I think they failed to do their homework at Funcom, yes.  More importantly, I think they failed to communicate when they were having troubles.  Gamers prefer to know what is going on.  Leaving us in the dark messes with that pseudo-democratic feeling we all think is ours to cherish. ;)

@davvin - If you prefer for the worst you can only be pleasantly surprised.  You were prepared to face those disconnects and crashes.  Funcom wasn't prepared to fact as many players as arrived.  I won't deny that the launch could have been worse.  Which doesn't mean there weren't any hitches . . . there were plenty.

@thamighty213 - Nothing at all lackluster about shipping a million units.  I think maybe if you were to do a bit more research you might have a lot more respect for that accomplishment.  It is something to be proud of.

@Artermis - So if I'm not impressed when a Dev answers my questions, is that a crime?  Everyone poops.  My comments on his responses do not indicate a lack of respect any more than his spin doctoring does.  He's doing his job and I'm doing mine.

@Ragemore - Wouldn't be much of a read if I'd written: "The servers opened for Early Access and a lot of us got to play.  It was super cool how my Guardian killed things in the Jungle for hours while my friends and I BSed on TeamSpeak.  Thanks for launching the servers.  Bye!"  Every single thing I addressed in my article occurred.  These are my experiences as well as those of guildmates and community members.  I am sorry if you believe that I should have focused on the "positive" but "Billy was able to log in and play for two hous with no problem" is pretty mundane, not to mention doesn't help anyone improve future game launches.  I fail to see "the other side" of a launch.  It launched.  People played.  Some had issues, I detailed some of those issues.  Seems fairly straight forward to me.

@Ozmodan - I'm past 50, as I mentioned previously.  I am still enjoying the game.  EQI veterans tend to care less about lack of quests, we're just happy we don't have to type "what orcs", "which orcs", "where orcs", etc. just to pick up the one quest in a whole zone. :D

@neonaka - Thanks for the comments.  I don't expect every single question to get a clear answer when I ask something in an interview.  I do have to admit I'd hoped for a bit more, but we work with what we're given, right?

***

Thanks once more for the comments you've all given.  It's good to see so many people invested in discussing AoC.  Please let me know if you've got anything to add.  I'll try to keep checking back. :D