Originally posted by NiteShadow

I dont know if you can play on  US Servers w/ EU origin, but on Set its very busy all the time. Set also has Oceanic region / players doing pugs after 2am EST even, for 3-4hrs.

The useal primetime is busy and filled w/ mutiple pugs at any given time going on, w/ places for people to join in after 5-6pm EST, all the way up to 2AM easily.

Theres even 2-3PM EST Raids going on, but not as much. (pugs)

BRC during peak hrs/primetmie has over 20 instances running.

I am in a guild, and never pug useally - but just giving you an idea. Theres lotsa players on Set ;) I see people doing Black Castle, and Sanctum constantly. So you shuld have that midrange help and the raiding side there for you too.

PVP Wise its pretty busy too., You have a few guilds rivaling constantly, and though Global can be bad , its really not that bad lately -most of the idiots have left or stopped being idiots. Guilds have Battlekeeps , and Sieges happen pretty much weekly as well .

GL!

 

 

Set is also a great choice. I think because of the Oceanic community like you say it is busy for more hours outside the popular regular times. I am considering making a new character there this weekend :)

Yea I think the graphics are pretty good, I just hate the invisible wall half way in the river from the 2nd pic :(

Overall they are very nice and detailed.

Originally posted by Kyleran

Originally posted by thinktank001

Originally posted by Anubisan

I feel like I've heard that somewhere before....

 

hehehe,  a DF vet having flashbacks. 

 

The parallels between MO and DF are frequent.

Let's hope the end result turns out better.

Experiencing both at similar levels before release MO is already in better shape than DF in my opinion. MO just has a lot more substance already.

I paid EUR 54.95 which translated to Canadian $  Jul 21, 2009 MORTALONLINE.COM MALMO $86.10 for the Box. If there are just EU servers to start that is ok with me as alright inet connection.

Originally posted by SirPaco

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

(())

In this case I honestly feel that the wording in "extend" was clearly written and the onus is on the customer to understand what any deals are and encompass.

 

There were two main points from the discussion that took place in this thread (which you probably did not read because it is long but np I will conclude it for you) are

- that since the customer was purchasing an extension to a subscription which has yet to take effect since he still has 1 month game time before that subscribtion starts, there is a VERY strong case for him to get his money back. (in many cases the cooling off period does not require a valid reason for canceling, there is NO ONUS ON THE CUSTOMER AT ALL)

- that in the worst case scenario, even if Funcom were not legally obliged to refund the money, common sense, good business practice and reasonable customer oriented policy (which is crucial in a MMORPG since customers NEED to come back) should have pushed those fools to refund the money.

No need to assume, I did read the whole thing which is why I replied. Sorry there is no case. If you buy a season ticket to a football game but never go you do not get a refund. If you pay for 1 yr gym membership there is no refund. If you pay for 12 driving lessons in a package upfront and don't take them there is no refund. If you subscribe on contract to TV and take TV package that is PPV there is no refund. If you hire a car for 1 week and it is a set price but you do not drive it anywhere there is no refund.

FC are well within their right to not refund. The writing was clear, the deal clear, it is a payment now and not at end of current cycle subscripton, We paid for a life time sub for father in law for LOTRO before the offer ended and it was a pay upfront offer. He still had 4 months left that he already paid for - didnt get that back.

Originally posted by finaticd

It is crazy that I got one of the rare misleading newsletters and was like one of the only people who got no correction.  My point is I know how many times it was reviewed and rewritten so to ommit anything that epic on a win back campaign is epic.

I'm a bit of a stickler for ethics, I just left the #1 elyos guild on myserver  because they invited a botter.

There is nothing wrong with that.

Simple fact is they did not set out to deceive and there was a forum post about it officially and they were quick to fix the error.

It was an email not newsletter.

Hardly call it epic, someone would come back anyway whether level 50 or not if they were interested.

Originally posted by finaticd

Originally posted by Antarious

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

Originally posted by finaticd

Originally posted by Xerith

The free level 50 character comes to anyone who hits level 50 on another character.

 

Did they say that this time? Funcom omited it last time in an effort to get more players.....pretty deceptive if you ask me.

 

What?

 

I'm pretty lost on that one myself.  When I had gone back for a month (last time) was when they first did this.  It was made very clear that in order to get that "level 50" you had to already have one...

 

So I really dunno... beyond... "what?" was a good response.

Actually, the Email sent out had nothing saying anything at all about requiring a level 50. So Funcom was deceptive once again. Or can you point out where it says it requires a level 50 in the cut and paste? Get real Funcom has no problem missleading potential customers. The 2nd one may be account specific but the first was missleading.

Here is a cut and paste from 3 mos ago:

 

Get An Instance Level 50 Character

Did you know that you can log in today, create a new character with the class of your choice and see that character instantly turned into a level 50? You can! This onetime offer, per account, allows you to start out a new character without going through the low levels - perfect for trying out a new class! The level 50 character is activated through character creatio

 

cut and paste from this week:  

Your level 50 , BLANK, awaits your return to Age of Conan!

Like I said "What" ?

There was nothing with purposeful intent to deceive but for you as a game and company that you hate and make so much time available to act on that you would only see one side.

The truth is the first (small) amount that was sent out had the above wording, there was a quick change when realized and was layed out as below.

Support did say to people

"Greetings,

As mentioned by some people in that thread, you must first have a level
50 character in order to gain the instant level-50 boost for an
additional character. In some circumstances a more vaguely-worded email
was sent out, but most should be getting the corrected one. You have a
character at 44; once you get that character to 50, the additional level
50 option will open up for you.

I apologize for any confusion."

The email that was sent out to the other 95% of people read:

"Did you know that you can log in today, create a new character with the class of your choice and see that character instantly turned into a level 50? You can! This onetime offer, per account, allows you to start out a new character without going through the low levels - perfect for trying out a new class! The level 50 character is activated through character creation."
 

So you are trying to say they "Puposely" attempted, instigated and invested time to deceive people. I submit they saw the error and acted it on fast, in doing so shows that there was not intended deceivement by correction.

Some people also petitioned and got something similar to this:

"Greetings!

Thank you for Contacting Funcom Customer Support!

Your character that is level 34, is close to the ability to gain the level 50 option. If you get this player to level 40, you can email me back and I can assist. Upon review of the policy for returning players only, they lowered the requirement.

I appreciate your patience and feel free to reply to this email atanytime for further assistance.

Regards,

....."

Brand awareness is a big thing. Marketing is obviously important to Funcom and something most people will say they did good at.

I bet a lot of the marketing budget was aimed at renting space out at conventions something FC actively been doing pre and post game release.

Even pre release when I won that comp to visit their HQ there were lots of different magazines and online sites like mmorpg.com that was there too getting a good insight and hospitality. They even did some real time fighting in funcom car park for us (have a video somewhere of it)

Some things I would of like to have seen better done would of been from the small things; Funcom sold the official license of the game in apparel terms to some Swiss company I think, never saw any official clothing from them after that which was a shame.

Second is the Age of Conan board game. Whilst not going to be a big seller the small things count and it would of been nice to see like a free months sub with purchase or some better tie in. (The game is great btw check out some images here under the box art picture)

Moving on from that we have larping, whilst not my things personally. A company gained the official rights to make larp gear based on the game www.youtube.com/watch

We also saw the Age of Conan paperback novels pre and post release too, some were good, some average-ish. Would of been nice to maybe see some game related things in there. Like a secret map to an area in game or something.

So there are lots of hits and misses in the public eye with physical items.

Generally I think that pre release AoC marketing was in full swing and they did a great job. These days how important is it to put the word out about the changes to the game?

We have the regular interviews and such before and after patches. We still have the conventions, PAX, GC and so on. What about the expansion? Well Funcom have purposely taken a different approach in not to give away much info so far, learning I guess from the ability and reach to over hype something that my leave a different impression. However, I have it on good authority we will be hearing a bit more in this area soon enough. The cautious approach is a good one for them here. When things are in place word of mouth will be good enough coupled with a brief marketing blitz just before and a steady scaled activity after.

I think it is important for Funcom to target potential new subscribers with their current online adverts. I see them in lots of places, especially on PC hardware / review sites.

Somethings I would suggest to them moving forward when they go out to conventions and public next year for Godslayer, would be to contact the manufacturor of the Hyborian Map that was bundled with the collectors edition - tart it up - highlight Khitai more and bundle it too with demo disks. Even if there is a standalone box for the expac stick it in there, give it out too like the inflatable swords.

Bottom line is that the game and the expansion need to be shape to make it worth the push to sell them.

Thanks for the article and insights.

Originally posted by finaticd

Originally posted by Xerith

The free level 50 character comes to anyone who hits level 50 on another character.

 

Did they say that this time? Funcom omited it last time in an effort to get more players.....pretty deceptive if you ask me.

What?

Originally posted by Cyborg99

Thanks for the link Avery (also you dx10 vids are awsome)

If you call yourself a gamer you would give AoC another unbiased try and see you like it. If you don't like it thats fine but give it a try first.

Sure, the game is not perfect. AT ALL. However, it has improved, I think many of the not so good points in the article are right.

Weighing things up to make a better informed decision is the right thing to do. Question is you want that information both good and bad preferably from current or recent subscribers who can put things across constructively. Not from people who make things up because they quit after the 1st month a year and a half ago, had so much of a love affair in that first month that 18 months later they are still in love and can't get over it.

I didn't write the article, I thought it nicely constructive for people interested here. Part 1 which I missed is far more less glossy.

Originally posted by Pelaaja

You fed the troll, shame on you ;)

And I added nothing constructive to this conversation, sorry.

I did ask you earlier on in the thread a question though, if you want to answer?

Originally posted by finaticd

 

You should not link those as Funcom may ban the OPs ;p The main thing is Funcom stopped working on AoC right after release and except for a skelly crew and then they did it again after they found out that this game was going to cost them money in the tune for 34 million and another 9 million of good will. 

[Don't Topic Hijack-Stay On Topic]

Well I just had delivered $300 case $400 mobo $80 water cooling parts haven't finished yet, there is so much new tempting stuff out there and I think PC gaming is a lot more better than console. Prices on lots of components are coming down.

Originally posted by MaGicBush

Well I have been trying to play the last few days, and now there seems to be random freezes. Specifically when opening inventory or accessing new places I have yet to see. The freezes last anywhere from 5 seconds - 1 minutes, this seems ridiculous as last I played at launch it didn't freeze like this(not from what I remember, I just quit for lack of content). I am trying a program called AoC Download Cache which is suppose to fix these "freezes. " They seem to be caused by missing data, and I guess AoC is always streaming missing data to the client. It seems quite a few others have this issue as well, so far that application has not helped. This is bad, I was at least expecting me to able to play the game. Though the freezes do let up after keeping the client running for a while. So on my return only complaint so far is this issue, which I don't understand why Funcom would set it up this way. I'll let the 14 days expire before I judge to harshly, and hope the download cache will improve this issue(only 5% download at the moment of missing data). A simple fix from Funcom would be to allow the "Full" client download(even though it would be around 25gb).

 

Other complaints I see people with are lack of players, which is just not true. I am playing on Cimmeria and see players everywhere(on my level 9 PoM/Necro I just started, and the 44 Barbarian on Tyranny). So not sure why so many complaints about population, unless the level 80 crowd is what players are talking about. Anyways having fun, just wish the frequent freezes would stop(if they do get resolved I will happily resub at this point).

That is pretty interesting to hear about the Download Cache. To be honest I would bite the bullet and just leave the PC on overnight for the download.

Good to hear about the no population issues on Cimmeria from your experiences. Reaffirms against those that have a different opinion who lets say played when you played and once earlier on at the start of the year and yet beg to differ from not having first hand experience. Still remains that some servers are better than others though.

I work for my ISP ahhh the benefits

Seriously though on an average High Speed internet connection, and lets take my ISP for example, we have 1.6 million customers in Canada and the middle package has a bandwidth cap of 60GB. We see less than 0.5% go over that per month and if they do there are no extra charges with a 3 strike rule. A person playing mmorpg's possibly say 3 of them and lets say another 2 online games like FPS's wont even come close to 25GB per month. Problems can arise if you download the games or large patches though.

Originally posted by rafaelrehn

 looks like you were getting 10 fps there

At the time that was from test server when Commons just got release the back end of it was not optimized (That back end part). Everywhere else was averaging 30FPS, these days though I had a bit of an upgrade and get way more. If I can decide whether to get an ATi 5970 now or a new Nvidia Fermi card later then as soon as either happens I will do some more videos. In meantime I now have 2xGTX 285's instead of 1 before and get over 40FPS constantly.

Also at the time I used the older fraps on some of those that was not the one optimized for vista or dx10.

I am tempted. Very tempted. Nearly clicked on purchase earlier today for a wait of about 5 days for them to be in stock. Here is Canada they are like $699 where in relation to the US $ should be more like $630.

New case turned up today Corsair 800d so there is bags of room in there for a new card. Whatever the new card I get will be going on EVGA X58 Classy too.

I just don't want to end up buying one and then a couple months later Nvidia shows it's hand and I weep.

Originally posted by Pelaaja

I tried the game 3rd time (1st time was 2 weeks at launch, 2nd when they started the trials) and I have to admit that it's in pretty good shape technically.

It still isn't for me (can't tell what is missing, it's just not there) but there's no reason to shame the game itself.

I agree with that article, they should've postponed the launch until now so the never unforgiving MMO-audience would've taken it to their own. But, the ball has been dropped and 3rd strike has been called by the umpire.

I agree with article too. If you could 'tell' what was missing what would you personally say it would be if you had too?

I think they have come along way with the changes. I reckon Godslayer will give the 'ummpfh' the game needs.

Originally posted by Sabradin

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

Originally posted by Sabradin

Originally posted by Sturmrabe

BUT WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?!?!?!

 

with a pre-tax loss and forecasted decrease revenue they have GOT to cut costs

 

-edit
and this is what i mean when i say 'i wonder' about them scratching aoc production (even the expansion) and just go with investing in TSW
nobodys going to trust them to give them loan money, and AoC isn't going to be giving them enough $ to survive, so they either rush the expansion (for quick cash)(or stop production depending on how far along it is/how much additional it will cost), only use enough money for server costs and the bare essentials, take what money they do have left and any additional money generated from aoc, and invest it in The Secret World

or suffer a long slow death (not so long in reality but when you see an impending doom, it usually feels like forever)

its a risk, but if they want to hope to have a future its a risk they just might have to take (personally I think they'll accept the long slow death)

 

Actually the main focus is AoC right now. I am sure TSW will be at some point in the future. AoC is their bread and butter until TSW release. This is why from previous recent job cuts AoC was minimal if at all effected and Godslayer too. The job cuts effected TSW. Godslayer is already been in the making for a year.

 

Side question. 

I just started playing Dragon Age.  Have you played it at all?

It feels like what Age of Conan hoped to be.  A Dragon Age mmo. (and if they would have pulled it off Dragon Age would just be a single player Age of Conan :) )

---

I don't deny that AoC is their money maker; but is spending what money the company has left in AoC production and the expansion the best idea?  Maybe instead lay low, soak in what revenue you can get and use it on the next game?  Otherwise it'll be a tip toe towards bankruptcy - one step decrease revenue, next stop cut costs.. decreased revenue, cut costs.. and on and on and all the while TSW hasn't been invested much in. 

Just some thought

I get where you are coming from. We have to remember how many years has Funcom been around? 1993.

It was only in 2005 they were listed on the Xchange. 5 Years or so now.

Godslayer and TSW will be done in Montreal. There is enough money in the kitty to make TSW and look after AoC. Before AoC there was just a large cash pile which we still have today. They don't need further investments right now. There is enough money to produce TSW, diversify into other casual browser games 1-3 mill each and at least 2 is in the making at the moment. TSW has been in the making for 2 year and 2 weeks so far. There is a history that has been rise and repeat for a while now. I am sure TSW has it budget which probably gets re-evaluated as time goes on and there is enough money already invested and to come to support it and AoC. TSW was started 1 year after The Longest Journey was released which a year before that work on AoC started. In all that time before AoC was released there was no income and survival was just fine for FC. A cycle of events that has not changed which has ensured money has filtered to the next game and so on.

One thing is clear, AoC has underperformed in predicted subs, after a great sales at release following years Q comparisons will pale - obviously. Naturally though the company has expanded right out with a large amount of people on a live game and one in development, that will swing around soon. Cutting costs back just makes business sense but doing it now like they are instead of in a years time is just sensible.

As for Dragon Age I finished it last weekend and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to ME2. :)

Originally posted by PwnedSideway

Can anyone link me a video of this? Preferably not on youtube because youtube doesn't show it for what it really is. I 'm looking for a download link.

Thanks.

I run the game maxed out. I know that you do not prefer YouTube. I uploaded a few there here is one www.youtube.com/watch yes this and others are done at 720p however this week with youtube offering 1080p uploads my next one within the next week or so will be 1080p. A lot of this youtube playlist is in DX10 www.youtube.com/view_play_list

Problem is for the size of the videos not a lot of places have a download for the size and streaming with it.

I do have one video with a download link here though www.filefront.com/13586611/TC_Final.wmv but it might not be worth the hour or so to download..

If I come across some smaller ones for an idea i'll definately pass on. Hope this helps a little.

Hey Shannon nice to see you contributing here :)

I liked the write up, it is important to point out the behind the scenes work.