Bill Roper = http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3169387

He's the guy who screwed over any of you who purchased and subbed to Hellgate: London. Remember the farce where he practically stole your money?

Now, he's screwing any of you who purchased and (lifetime) subbed to Champions Online!

Honestly, if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, looks like a duck, IT'S PROBABLY A DUCK!

hahhahahaahha omg i pissed my pants!!!!!!

"Honestly, if it quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, looks like a duck, IT'S PROBABLY A DUCK!" ««««««««because of this

this has been brought up a million other times. If you look at his track record he has more successes than failures during his time with blizzard as compared to HGL. Great attempt at something that's been repeated a thousand times though.

Originally posted by TheStarheart

this has been brought up a million other times. If you look at his track record he has more successes than failures during his time with blizzard as compared to HGL. Great attempt at something that's been repeated a thousand times though.

This is the first Bill Roper is amazing thread since CO was released.

http://forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?t=50291

See? Bill Roper is amazing.

Originally posted by Psatiyah

http://forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?t=50291

 

See? Bill Roper is amazing.

NOT as amazing as "amazing  ultimate fanboy Avery"

Its not a one man show for the failure of Hellgate. Blame the players for the hype and went for life subs where Hellgate itself was buggy and poorly performed even in demo.

Originally posted by Dirktooth

Its not a one man show for the failure of Hellgate. Blame the players for the hype and went for life subs where Hellgate itself was buggy and poorly performed even in demo.

Of course it isn't.

But someone has to be accountable for these failures. When you see companies failing IRL, it's the CEOs that are seen to have 'failed', not the secretaries, toilet cleaners, receptionists etc.

BILL ROPER (the amazing man that he is) is THAT figure - thus, held responsible for both failures.

And this has what to do with Champions online?  Thought so, its just stupidity torwards one guy.

Bill Roper's greed, payment plans, and general BS ruins games that other people have put countless man hours into.  Hellgate wasn't all that bad if it would have been priced out like Guild Wars, but the crap they came up with was just absurd.  I can't wait to see how he'll screw up the Star Trek IP.  Maybe he'll have a single player version and a subscription plan where both have cash shops.  Oh and you have to buy each game seperately.  Really wouldn't surprise me.

Keep the 'creative' people (systems and content) separated from the market weasels. They should have no interaction at all. Let the productive people make the game, then tell marketing to sell it. Letting marketing have any say in design will stink it up.

Mark Jacobs on Bill Roper:

"What’s most important — something that so many developers forget — is you also need to deflate the ego a little bit.”

He also said that no matter how great you think your game is, developers must listen to the community. “It doesn’t mean you have to follow what they say, but you always have to listen,” he said. “The test of greatness is to know how to look at it and either incorporate it or learn from it. We might listen to the wrong advice, but we always listen. That’s how I think all developers have to be because nobody is that smart and nobody is right all the time.”
 

Cryptic and Roper are a perfect match.  Neither listens to their community.  Their way of relating info is releasing a, 'This is how it is' note, and never looking back.  LISTEN to your players (You too Jacobs haha.  I know EA makes it impossible, but still if you knew you were teaming with EA you should have never said something like this in an official outlet.)
 

Devs are nerds who think they are rock stars.

Originally posted by Bureyku

Mark Jacobs on Bill Roper:

"What’s most important — something that so many developers forget — is you also need to deflate the ego a little bit.”

He also said that no matter how great you think your game is, developers must listen to the community. “It doesn’t mean you have to follow what they say, but you always have to listen,” he said. “The test of greatness is to know how to look at it and either incorporate it or learn from it. We might listen to the wrong advice, but we always listen. That’s how I think all developers have to be because nobody is that smart and nobody is right all the time.”
 

Cryptic and Roper are a perfect match.  Neither listens to their community.  Their way of relating info is releasing a, 'This is how it is' note, and never looking back.  LISTEN to your players (You too Jacobs haha.  I know EA makes it impossible, but still if you knew you were teaming with EA you should have never said something like this in an official outlet.)
 

A true statement in it self.

Concerning the article the OP posted I enjoy this quote from it:

"We tried to be a standalone game and a free-play game and an MMO and an RPG and a shooter. We were trying to be something for everybody and ended up really not pleasing many people at all...."

Borderlands is coming out next month it's a Free-Play MMO / RPG / Shooter lets see how well that does without trying to rob players through a life-time subscription fee.


 

Originally posted by MMO_Doubter

Devs are nerds who think they are rock stars.

No, those are the only ones in charge. The lower level devs, often just as skillful if not sometimes better, are often set up to be real rock stars. One example is of a dev I know personally... Green mohawk, tattoos all over the place..ect Sadly its the people in charge of these companies that tend to come across as ubernerds.

It wont always be nerd centric though, the industry is attracting all sorts of people now.

Originally posted by Rabenwolf

It wont always be nerd centric though, the industry is attracting all sorts of people now.

It`s a growth industry - like oncology. (take THAT - Warhammer Alliance!)

Too many projects for the talent pool, IMO.

Originally posted by Bureyku

Cryptic and Roper are a perfect match.  Neither listens to their community.  Their way of relating info is releasing a, 'This is how it is' note, and never looking back.  LISTEN to your players (You too Jacobs haha.  I know EA makes it impossible, but still if you knew you were teaming with EA you should have never said something like this in an official outlet.)
 

Well, they HAVE responded to the community outrage this time - they're giving full refunds to people who bought 6month or lifetime plans now.... LOL!

http://forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?t=51309

*edit* It's like they're admitting failure

Originally posted by Psatiyah

Originally posted by Bureyku

Cryptic and Roper are a perfect match.  Neither listens to their community.  Their way of relating info is releasing a, 'This is how it is' note, and never looking back.  LISTEN to your players (You too Jacobs haha.  I know EA makes it impossible, but still if you knew you were teaming with EA you should have never said something like this in an official outlet.)
 

 

Well, they HAVE responded to the community outrage this time - they're giving full refunds to people who bought 6month or lifetime plans now.... LOL!

 

http://forums.champions-online.com/showthread.php?t=51309

 

*edit* It's like they're admitting failure

Link is dead. 

A Dev already deleted it he commented by saying whoever is having an issue to call customer support.

Anyone else enjoying all the posts on the official forums from players claiming they have been "FlagShipped again." I know this is the first game I have bought in my lifetime that I have felt ripped off from purchasing. I should have checked the forums before I ran out and bought the retail.

 

Originally posted by Dreken

A Dev already deleted it he commented by saying whoever is having an issue to call customer support.

Anyone else enjoying all the posts on the official forums from players claiming they have been "FlagShipped again." I know this is the first game I have bought in my lifetime that I have felt ripped off from purchasing. I should have checked the forums before I ran out and bought the retail.

 

Nah, we're all just trolls who live to destroy perfect games before they release.

Yup, one of the guys most responsible for Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft is just one of the worst video game developers ever.

Champions Online's "problems" and Hellgate's issues do not take away from the fact that these three games are perhaps three of the best PC games ever.  No one thinks RTS without Warcraft and Starcraft.

Originally posted by lethys

Yup, one of the guys most responsible for Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft is just one of the worst video game developers ever.

Champions Online's "problems" and Hellgate's issues do not take away from the fact that these three games are perhaps three of the best PC games ever.  No one thinks RTS without Warcraft and Starcraft.

WRONG WRONG WRONG

To correct you, what makes Bill Roper a total loss to any company is when his leash is *off*... when he was at Blizz, his leash was *on* (to no surprise, as Blizz knows its shit) and so he wasn't able to go around doing all these idiotic things (like the payment plans for hellgate and champions, which have basically turned out to be scams, especially in the former's case and quite possibly as we shall see in the latter's case).

The only thing we can credit Bill Roper for, for Diablo, warcraft and starcraft, is not inflating his ego so high that he was able to fuck over Blizz!

So, offering refunds is bad?  This whole topic is made of awesome.

like the payment plans for hellgate and champions, which have basically turned out to be scams

How exactly was Hellgate London's lifetime sub a scam? Are you insinuating that Flagship knew  the game was going to go under in a year, and intentionally ripped people off? Because that would make you incredibly foolish and naive.

As far as the Champions lifetime sub is concerned, that's a good deal, as quite obviously, Champions will be around for a long time (see: CoH).