All Posts by Digna

Originally posted by Amalaric

People are just angry because no decent MMO has been released since the Ultima Online / EverQuest days.

Regardless, that doesn't excuse poor behavior and lack of courtesy. Unfortunately, thats the way of the world these days. One major change since computers( and cells with text, mobile PDAs etc) became a mainstay of life (or so says my 86 year old grandmother who couldn't survive without her email/IMS) is the disconnection of people from people. Anonymity is a wonderful advantage (not that people are EXACTLY anon as very few mask their IP when directly connect to the INet) for people who would otherwise be small-minded and nasty to a very few to become loud and obnoxious to many..with no effort!

Another unfortunately fact is that people rarely look 'for the other person's perspective' or if they do, they think "I could deal with that" and don't take into consideration that everyone is different. Not just from the perspective of race or heritage but from general experience. To give an example of a term which is bruted about more and more is the word 'raped'. '....we PvP'd and i raped him...' or ' ....that gaming company took your money and disappeared..you got raped'..... I doubt very much that most of the people who use the term really know what it is like to be raped and if they did I think it unlikely they would use the word so casually. But it's has become more and more common for people to use the concept. I can't change that my my stomach turns every time I read that in casual print....People just don't realize what a single word can do when uttered casually and without forethought.

Anyway, that's all for me. I hope someone sees this and maybe give a bit of thought before they casually smash people in the future.

Originally posted by fiontar

Does anyone doubt they will include people who registered under a buddy key, but don't purchase the game, in the next PR buzz of "XXX,XXX AoC accounts have been created so far, showing the game continues to grow at a fast rate..."?

Another opportunity to fudge their numbers...

I very carefully read all of the posts here and grumbled when I read this. I thought i was going to be the first to point it out. In general, $3 time X number of trial accounts means nothing (sure I'd like 1.5 million or so but for a gaming company even if they get that much, it means little). It does allow them to make an announcement as to the percentage of growth in paying customers.. PAYING ming you, not the standard 'we have X number of accounts....' when everyone knows that a sizable number of them are canceled or trials awaiting cancellation. This is a generally well thought out PR job akin to the bait and switch of carefully doctored books going to the 3rd party accountants.

Personally, I'm disappointed they waited as long as they did to add buddy keys in. I recognize that if they have allowed them in the beginning, a lot of their paying customer base never would have manifested but even so, it's just one more in a long line of less than savory expectations for this game.

As far as the current player base, no one outside the organization knows and therefor I won't speculate. That last 'number' bruted about was 700K but everyone knows that was accounts since the game opened. I am sure it counted all active accounts but think it's also likely that it counts all the account which have singed up and failed to re-sub. Just saying 'my server has a healthy population' means nothing. There are no factual numbers and given the fact that some servers (say PvP ones) tend to get a somewhat greater backwash of players (no offense to PVP'r with the 'backwash' term) any given server might have a greater number players.

Anyways, I hope anyone who is enjoying this game continues to do so. I didn't care for it, but I bought it 'of free will with both sound mind (wife might disagree) and sound body' and so I am ultimately responsible (though I to this day remain amazed at some of the stuff they allowed to go through QA/QC for such a large name title).

Originally posted by page

but it's not really looking good for ANY games in beta for 2008,

 

2009?

I haven't played AoC in a while (and based on what I keep reading I won't ever be again!) but I am curious. I can understand mages have a 'range' value for casting. Did they just decrease it by a percentage or did they make it close to a 'touch' value? I didn't get that part from the preceding posts.

I waffled back and forth but I figured that WAR will be the last game I play for a while 9(with the posible exception of AION as my bro will be playing that) so why not go for broke. I'm still occasionaly disappointed with AoC but such as it is. One game's failings (IMO) will never be the same across the board  for the rest. If WAR tanks (and I don't think it will) I'm hanging up my hat a few months earlier than planned.

Long story short, I bought mine 60 minutes ago at a brick and mortar and have my codes registered. Good to go!

I always find it easier to buy in-store (which i did 30 minutes ago!) because you have item in hand.

2 of the codes, the live game head start and in-game item, didn't work giving an error 'Code not valid' . I assume those will be 'valid' once OB closes and the game ramps up for retail release, though I thought it odd that I couldn't apply them. Anyone else seen this?

Edit:

Answer found in number 25 of the below link.

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/239/view/forums/thread/186505

Apologies. I should have mentioned US servers. Thank you though.

I canceled my account a while ago partly because I'm not fond of the game and partly because I am leery of getting stung with one of those sub charges that take place 5 days before the actual date 'to avoid your valuable downtime' as per the gaming company. (I have no knowledge of FC planning this but I've gotten stuck in that loop before so better safe than sorry)

One thing I haven't tried though is the PvP servers. i figured I'd give the game one more go on a PvP server and was wondering what was the best community (IE the least childish smack for legit questions and the best guilds). Any opinions?

Originally posted by plateau01

'Lofty'? Way to go with the strawman Digna. I'm merely citing this as evidence, when posts showing improvements that thoroughly contradict the trolls are ignored you know that the forum is being spammed and 'hijacked'. People are choosing not to come here simply because it's far from being a reliable source of information on the state of the game - positive evidence gets drowned out and all the while the trolls continue to make the same repeated claims in spite of  evidence such as this.

I never said or even implied that there aren't people posting here who've played the game and A) don't like it for reasons A, B and C or B) have had technical difficulties which have understandably colored their perception of the game. Yet another strawman. I do want to hear those views as much as the next person while bearing in mind that this is one person's experience of the game as much as my experience is my own for all it's positive and negative aspects. This was addressed to those who post without acknowledging the evidence and improvements, and who have never played the game in the first place and yet make claims to it's natures as if they're an authority. These opinions are usually from those who bleat the loudest, as if hyperbole and repetition gives weight to their opinions, which are not formed from personal experience. As to those who've played it, I want to hear the good and bad, but there should be an acknowledgement that fixes are coming through fast and the state of the game is tending in the right direction quite quickly.

So how about addressing what I actually said?

You said quite plainly that haters had hijacked the forums, many of who hadn't played the game. I said 'and many who have played the game' in rejoinder.

Better break open your own bale of hay, mate.

Moreover, you didn't 'cite' anything. You made a general statement with nothing to back it up, which is exactly what you accuse the haters of. Hence MY observation that your comments were just as meaningless as those you spoke against.

I would give the sound rating a +1 (especially the music) and the immersion a -2 but otherwise the review was great. TY.

The bottom line is that if a GM observes an issue, say griefer camping and then PVP killing, ban. Short term but toos them off and lock the account for an hour (or whatever period is deemed best).

If something is 'reported' but not substantiated and the ban accurs because of that...bad business. If a GM sees a pattern and bans an account, they should have submit immediately to someone who can review the logs. If thier database is in any way shape and form up to current standards, they should be able to mine the data and pull all the info they need to confirm right then and there. THEN perma ban.

Originally posted by plateau01

I've come to realize that these forums have been hijacked by the haters (and it's the same few individuals - many who have never even played the game but rather trawl the net for anything negative, sometime quoting it verbatim as if it's their own experience, over and over again),

Sure there are foolish individuals ON BOTH SIDES....but I'm sorry to inform you, mate. You feel more justified in your 'lofty' observations because you are on the side of good but in reality your statements are just as meaningless and empty as those you decry.

The Direct X versions 9/10 options were left in the simpleconfig setting but the DX10 is greyed out and not available. There are NO options for DX whatsoever in the actual game under video settings. Interesting.

..

Authentication Server, not yet.

It was a review of Tortage. Little else. A good find, yes but a stunning review of 'AoC: This is 100% of the The Game,' no.

Yay. I parked my mount there day 1 and now I can get him out. I hit forty 4 days ago so it will be nice...