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Originally posted by haratu

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Originally posted by Vespers
This is a total Ad campaign to promote the sell of a particular MMO.
Shame on Dana for reposting this.
I assume that we can now be expecting other MMORPG.COM staff members to promote other various MMO advertisements as well, as singling out one specific MMO to advertise for would be seen as favortism.
This so called review is nothing short of Ad Spam cleverly hidden in the reviewer's personal opinion of the game. In any other instance of Ad Spam, it would have been deleted and not reposted as news by Staff personel.

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So none of the other posts in the 'news' section are professing the features of a game? The link from the OP was to AoC section, and it was announced in the news section like almost every other game.
 

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Again, this is not a review, but a blatant advertising scheme.

From the article refered to by the OP:

"So, other than free trials, what is Funcom doing to try to boost their player base? Well, they've also placed an increasing series of discounts on their recurrent subscriptions: three months (20% discount), six months (30% discount), and twelve months (45% discount). The rate discounts are nearly double what the multi-month service savings used to be. A twelve month subscription works out to be about $8.25 per month USD. Your Veteran Points are earned upon payment for the duration of your subscription, so you can use them immediately to improve your gaming experience with a variety of social, mount, pet, and enhancement rewards. Shortly after discounting all prices, FunCom decided to sweeten the pot with additional perks that add even more value than money savings, although this deal is only good until December 1st, 2009. Extend your membership for three months and get guaranteed beta access to Funcom's new supernatural MMO "The Secret World". Extend for six months and receive an Epic Nemedian Helm (usable at level 40) for each of your Age of Conan avatars that grants a 10% increase in gained experience while worn. Extend for twelve months and your account will be granted a FREE download of the "Rise of the Godslayer" expansion upon its release sometime in the first half of 2010."

This is a total Ad campaign to promote the sell of a particular MMO.
Shame on Dana for reposting this.
I assume that we can now be expecting other MMORPG.COM staff members to promote other various MMO advertisements as well, as singling out one specific MMO to advertise for would be seen as favortism.

This so called review is nothing short of Ad Spam cleverly hidden in the reviewer's personal opinion of the game. In any other instance of Ad Spam, it would have been deleted and not reposted as news by Staff personel.

Let's say that NCsoft actually did what they said and banned 27,000 accounts. You people do realize that these Botters will simply buy another copy of the game and start a new account.
Ok, so 27,000 x $40 is almost 1.1 million dollars. Do you seriously think that NCsoft didnt plan this?
Once these Botters get new accounts, NCsoft will let them go about their botting business for another month or so and then they will mass ban a whole new batch of them yet again and make over a million dollars yet again.

Folks, NCsoft is in business to make money and these tactics prove that they are good at it.

Yes, I have played Aion since beta and I like the game but I am realistic about what is going on here.
Well, at least I will get a week or 2 before the Botters are back at full strength so I may as well enjoy it while I can.

I have had a similar situation in the past. I clicked on a resub by mistake and promptly called the MMO company(it wasnt FC) and was told I wouldnt be able to have a refund. However, since the resub hadnt went into effect yet, and since I hadnt benefitted from any goods or services from the future transaction, Visa fully refunded my money.
I dont know about what is right by law or what is wrong by law, only that when I have a problem with credit charges, Visa always comes through for me.

THAT, my friends, is good customer service.

Funcom may want to pay attention to Visa's customer relations, because if they did, they would still have the OP as a happy customer instead of a lost customer who will not recommend the game to people who asks about it.

[quote][i]Originally posted by Raltar[/i] [b][quote][i]Originally posted by Blurr[/i] K I'm gonna pick on your points about EVE. Don't mean to be nitpicky but EVE is actually a pretty good comparison because it's probably the closest thing we've got now to what STO will be like, as far as space combat anyways. [/quote] Blurr, as I told that other guy, comparing STO to EvE is like comparing Pong to Doom. STO has THREE ship types. EvE has probably more than FIFTY and thats assuming you devide the ships in EvE up into groups based on what skills are required to fly them. Its like comparing Pong and Doom. They may both have "projectiles" of a sort, but it doesn't make them the same kind of game. STO and EvE both take place in outer space and thats where any logical comparison between these two these two games would end.[/b][/quote]

Dude, STO has ALOT more than just 3 classes of ships:

Light Cruisers
Miranda  Class
Centaur  Class
Soyuz Class
 

 Science Vessel

Nova Class
Aurora Class
Quasar Class
 

 Escort

Saber Class
Rapier Class
Ushaan Class
 

 Cruiser

Constitution Class
Excalibur Class
Vesper Class
 

 Research Science Vessel

Olympic Class
Hope Class
Horizon Class
 

Heavy Escort

Akira Class
Zephyr Class
Norway (Oslo re-fit) Class

 Heavy Cruiser

Constellation Class
Stargazer Class
Dakota Class
 

 Long Range Science Vessel

Intrepid Class
Cochrane Class
Discovery Class
 

 Tactical Escort

Defiant Class
Vigilant Class
GallantClass
 

 Exploration Cruiser

Galaxy Class
Celestial Class
Envoy Class
 

 Deep Space Science Vessel

Luna Class
Sol Class
Polaris Class
 

 Fleet Escort

Prometheus Class
Phoenix Class
Cerberus Class
 

 Battle Cruiser

Sovereign Class
Noble Class
Majestic Class
 

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Originally posted by nihce
Dude, you play aion. Lemme ask you a question - if you got tired of coca cola would you buy coca zola if it was the same price and exactly the same taste only name changed. Don't come here laugh at us untill you drink coca zola ...

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I maybe wrong but are you comparing AOC to Aion?

I played Aion for a month and rarely did I see any bugs. Gameplay was pretty lame and grindy but it is extremely polished.

It has been a LONG time since I played pre-CU SWG but I seem to remember that all of the classes were not balanced at all. For instance, I had a wookie CH who walk up and tame a baby Rancor. After awhile of that baby rancor growing up, I was able to easily solo a whole nest of adult rancors with using nothing but my pet rancor. Combat Medics were just as bad with their poison attacks, or pistoleers who would continuously pistolwhip or even smugglers who would continuously keep knock-down on his target. Most class types had some unintentional exploit. Back then, everything was easy-mode.

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Originally posted by Thorgrimm
Nicely done Avery. 
Looking at your window, how did you get both the Mammoth and the Collector's Edition items.  I missed something. :-)
See you later...

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The accounts are setup so that a player can put in as many codes that they want in order to get a variety if items.
I know people who pre-ordered from Gamestop and Bestbuy and they put the codes from both orders onto one account to get both mammoth and rhino.
Before I quit I had the snow mammoth, regular mamoth and also the rhino.
I just pre-ordered one game but my account must have gotten flagged differently during Friends and Family testing phase which allows my account to get every bonus that AOC gives out.

As to the OPs question......might try buying a discounted 3 month playtime first to see if the longterm playability is there for you. If it is then after the 3 month time comes up for renewal then simply buy the 1 yr play time.
I say this from experience. When LOTRO came out I spent $199 for a lifetime subscription. I played maybe 6 months and that was it.
Make informed decisions through personal experience and dont make impulse decisions based on what seems like a great deal. The discounted 1 yr subscription is a good deal if you have already been playing AOC for quite awhile, but for someone starting out, I say to just take it slow and be patient. The way the economy is these days I dont think many people can afford to throw money away.

Im glad it is saving you money but guess what, you are already a subscriber. My focus was more of getting people BACK into AOC and Im not that concerned with current players. If people are currently playing AOC even after all the shit that went on then they are die-hard players and they have no plans on leaving.
Changing the monthly subscription is more for potential players and not as much as current players. Yes, current players will benefit from a monthly subscription fee decrease but it will also bring in new subs, something that a 3,6,12 month contract wont do nearly as well.

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Originally posted by AmazingAvery
I will through out the notion that was it not Anarchy coming it at a higher sub rate that normal at the time and people cried foul? and now in another game FC reward players by reducing the price (which is still more expensive than other popular games)
. There is nothing in current announcements where this is aimed at new subscribers. Obviously it applies but the "marketing" is diffferent than some in the thread try to make it out to be in the official forum posting. (no doubt in future may see something)
As for the initial LOTRO comment I made it was simply that Turbine is persistent in offer's it also reduced the monthly sub rate when signing up for multi months play too quite a few times during it's history.  (I am not talking about differences in game just in price plans)

     Lotro offers:

• 12-Months - $112.99
• 6-Months - $59.94
• 3-Months - $29.97
• Monthly - $14.99 Lifetime - $199.00 (when available)        Age of Conan offers:
  • 12-Months - $98.93
  • 6-Months - $62.96
  • 3-Months - $35.98 Monthly - $14.99
  No lifetime sub option    All I am pointing out is: This is nothing new I think the perception that because a discount is available there is something wrong, IS wrong. Why is this so sensitive to the non playing AoC readers? (can't get my head around why trying to make a fuss about....?) Are people saying that because they lowered the price it fails in some way? then what about other games where it is cheaper and they have more subs... price has nothing to do with it. This benefits current players more than before today so it is good news.

 

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Avery, I can see your point but there is a major difference in comparing LOTRO and AOC.
LOTRO has a stable playerbase that has been constant for a few years now. AOC is slowly bleeding away it's subscription due to whatever influence.
LOTRO has reached it's plateau but AOC in still in a declining mode.
Funcom needs to steal away players from other games and frankly, CASH is a major driving force on this planet. If 2 games are simular but one costs $9.99 and the other costs $14.99, a fair amount of players will play the $9.99 game simply because they are cheap or poor.

As to why it is soo hard for AOC to win back it's old players even after they have improved the game some much since launch.....
If you went to a restraunt and ordered a sandwich and when you bit into that sandwich you found a bug, would you eat there again? How about if the restraunt manager offered you a free sandwich?
Most people wouldnt just because of there first bad experience has jaded their view of that restraunt.
However, if the restraunt manager told you that he was very sorry about the bug in the first sandwich and that instead of selling you a sandwich for the normal price of $8.99, he would sell you a sandwich for only $1.99 each time you come to his restraunt.
Eventually you will become brave and try out the sandwich for $1.99 and you might enjoy it and start eating that that restraunt more often and even tell your friends about it.

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Originally posted by Aercus

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Originally posted by maakaatuu

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Originally posted by Aercus

Link to original article and Google translated version. 
"Players of Funcom game Conan has become increasingly dissatisfied, says games expert.
Jonas Blich Bakken
 
 

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What is their main problem with the game? Why are they dissatisfied?

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That's funny. You neglected to copy the fact that the article is from 2008

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What are you talking about???
The link that the OP gave is dated 10/24/2009
http://translate.google.com/translate?prev=hp&hl=en&js=y&u=http%3A%2F%2Favis.dn.no%2Fartikler%2Favis%2Farticle8575.ece&sl=no&tl=en&history_state0=

What article are you saying is from 2008?

Even though EQ1 is pretty old, I think it still has the best PvE end game raiding, followed by EQ2 and then WOW.

Dont kid yourselves.
Mythic will be looking at the computer stats of most applicants to closed beta. This is still a business regardless of what they promised through some promotional BS.
Early closed beta will be needing high performance rigs to run the game decently. They will most likely use the lower end computers towards the end of closed beta.
If they dont get enough high end computers with the CO LT/6mth subs they they will add testers from general beta applicants.

Bard and Disciple duo will work very well together.
Disciple will be able to tank most mobs and bard can add buffs and do CC.
Bards buffs will make the disciple a DPS machine.
When the shit hits the fan then the bard throws up bard speed and both of you get out safe.

Currently, the GMs in AOC are pretty helpful, however, 800K players who initially played AOC at launch will never forget the absolute horrid customer service they received from FC GMs. It took about a year for FC to finally properly train their GMs.
It is good that FC now understand the importance of having professional GMs in game and perhaps they will have a very large, well trained GM corp at the release of TSW.

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Originally posted by Blackwell99

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Originally posted by FC-Famine

 

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Originally posted by Blackwell99
 
 But what you can't tell me is any reasonable contribution he has made to forward AoC's customer base. Because at the end of the day....that is what counts.
 

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Subs really have nothing to do with anything here I think. I thought we were talking about what hasn't been done? :D
 
 
 

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You lost me here
Subscriptions is the YARD STICK in which Craig is judged.....nothing else really matters ( as I'm sure you know)
You can make sieges run properly, balance classes perfectly, turn water into wine....whatever. But if that number doesn't change...it will mean nothing.
Plain and simply--nothing else matters....yes it's very Black or White. EG: Subs good------No Subs; Bad....... Money Good...No Money; Not Good.
So what hasn't happened? The game is in a state where it has actually "de evolved" due to poor decision making by the GD (see patch 1.05 and the murder system for details). The brand hasn't progressed. It hasn't improved. It hasn't even maintained it's subscriber base, It hasn't stayed relevant. Since these things haven't happened...If I were the CEO... I'd launch him like a lunar probe.
You want to defend Craig?.... Be My Guest.
Ironically, it may be your job that becomes a victim of his poor decisions.
 
 

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I find myself having to agree with Blackwell on this.
The people who paid to have this game developed did so with the intention that they would make alot of money from a large subscriber base.
The subscription numbers is how investors measure a Lead Developer/Game Producers success. You can make the best game in the world but if you cant maintain an adequate subscriber base then you fail. Craig may have improved the development of the game but he has failed to stop the exodus of players nor has he suceeded in bringing in a substancial number of new subscribers. The people who have funded this game are not stupid in the least. They see the downward trend of subscriptions from the initial 800K+ to the less than 80K that is currently playing the game. Im reasonably sure that Craig isnt stupid either. He is also aware of the continuous downward spiral of subs and im sure he has been sweating his job for a few months now.
So, Famine, you are incorrect regarding the idea of subs having nothing to do with this thread. In all MMORPGs, subs are the most important statistic of all.

With that said, I believe that Blackwell is mistaken in his concern that Famine may lose his job due to Craigs miscalculations.
Famine seems like he understands his position with Funcom and he seems to be performing his job duties as expected. I doubt FC will dismiss Famine due to the failure of AOC, but rather FC most likely will make a lateral transfer of Famine from AOC over to TSW.
Craig, on the other hand, well that remains to be seen.

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Originally posted by prototypo
I know im necro-ing but i have this real gut feeling that DCUO will not be free to play, but a P2P with a cash shop like in CO
Even the president of the company said they are not ruling out subs for it
tentonhammer.com/node/62571

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The question is still open about how we’ll handle subscription in DCUO and The Agency. We’re going to see how FreeRealms goes and see how that business model works for us. We may very well end up with subs in DCUO and The Agency. If we can make enough revenue, though, we may consider going goods only.

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tentonhammer.com/node/62571 was posted on Feb. 3rd 2009.

and the OP's thread of
http://www.onelastcontinue.com/10953/gamescom-2009-dc-universe-online-impressions/
was posted on Sept. 8th 2009

All "Gut Feelings" aside, I would put more accuracy in the OP's post about the game being FTP.

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Originally posted by VultureSkull
I hold the opposite opinion to you, Mr Blackwell.
I think Craig is the best thing that has happened to AoC and will continue to steer the game as he has done since joining, to more and greater success.
 
I think to much eye service is being paid to the player in games anyway, so long as a game is heading in the general direction of what the mass of the players wants then that should suffice. It remains true that all games cannot appeal to all people. Or all aspects of a massive game can appeal to all it subscribers.
The easist way as a player to show this is to vote with you wallet. If the game is so terrible then it will fail, if it is not then it will appeal to a niche group, or is it immensely successful then it will be called WoW!
 

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I agree and disagree with this.
Yes, Craig has taken a game that was half developed at release over a year and a half ago and has gotten it to a point that it should have been for it's initial release. In that aspect, Craig has done what he was hired to do.

However, Craig has not succeded in steering AOC to any success at all. In the MMO world, gaming companies measure success by the number of subs each game has. The subscriber rate has been at a continuous decline ever since the game's release.
It doesnt matter if Mr Avery or Mr VultureSkull think AOC is a success and it doesnt matter if Mr Blackwell thinks AOC is a failure. It just matters what Funcom thinks of the game. If they think of it as a failure then they will cut funding/development and may even close it down. If they think it is a success then FC will allow AOC to remain open and continue to support the advancement of the game.

MMORPGs are a business and if the AOC subscriber rate continues to decline then Funcom will, at best, put it on Life Support, like AO currently is.

The last sentence from VultureSkull is 100% true. People will stop paying for a game that they no longer like to play or we will start to see new people adding their subscription fees along with the players who currently subscribe to the game.

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Originally posted by glofish

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Originally posted by Vespers
What really concerns me is that apparently some people do not know what the term "Racist" actually means because if they did they wouldnt keep throwing that word around so freely.

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How about instead of wanking off while listening to the sound of your own voice you read the title of this thread?

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I read the title.

Let's break it down for you small minded people.

Aion was developed in Asia.
Aion is an MMO.
OP thinks this particular Asian MMO is Crap.

Dont need to be a rocket scientist to understand it.

Calling an Asian MMO an Asian Grinder is not an inflamatory remark, but an actual MMO style. The Asian playstyle is a marked difference in playstyle when compared to the Western type of MMO. The vast majority of Koreans enjoy a grinding levelling pace in MMOs and the majority of Western players look more towards the faster levelling of the WOW type themepark MMOs.
So, since China/Korea are in Asia and they tend to make the levelling process very grindy, the term Asian Grinder as an MMO description is acceptable.

When a player from North America/Europe hears a MMO refered to as an Asian Grinder than the Western players know what to expect from that Asian developed game.

What really concerns me is that apparently some people do not know what the term "Racist" actually means because if they did they wouldnt keep throwing that word around so freely.

Personally, I play Aion and I am liking it ATM but I doubt I will play it longterm. There are too many MMOs coming up that I am planning on playing.