Good news, I am glad things seem to be going in the right direction.

Secret World looks/sounds great

And for Conan, I was a guild leader, and to me the PvP focus/system, as well as siege updates are making me interested in re-subbing.

Well ... hats off to them I suppose.

Too bad they have to go out on a limb to bombard us with advertising with cheap pay-offs which don't really rock my boxers, but for sites like mmorpg.com I suppose Funcom is a very welcome customer.

age of conan is a vastly improved game now . outside of warcraft it proberbly offers the best mass appeal right now . if you tried it a year and hated it with a vengance like me its well worth downloading the free trial if your bored with your current mmo . if your looking for an mmo with a slightly more adult/darker edge to it this is also the game for you . good luck to funcom and good on them for turning this loser into a winner .

There are just two more major things I would like to see make it into the game.

A few different starting areas and tower sieges that would knock the socks off of WAR's keeps.

Then I'd be overwhelmingly happy :D

The only reason why this report "sounds" positive is because Funcom wrote off 23 millions in 4th Quarter.  Thats means that they get tax reduction (company valued at 75 million now instead of 100 million before) and thus they look like they have actually made 2 million profit this quarter.  Hope this clears that part of the "positve" twist up.

As a game I do not care about AOC.  I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta - then when it launched and I will always think of AOC as the most linear MMO created.  You would not be able to bribe me into playing through Tortage once more...  Even with the 5 mins memory leaks crashes gone.

Funcom does not change.  They robbed ppl of their moneys to finish up the game and are now aiming for new custimors to take the bate in next ad campaign.  Most ppl tho know that Funcom went far over the line in what is aceptable in terms of what they said was in the game and what was acutally in the box.  No company should ever be forgiven for cheating ppl into buying their product. 

Originally posted by Frobner

The only reason why this report "sounds" positive is because Funcom wrote off 23 millions in 4th Quarter.  Thats means that they get tax reduction (company valued at 75 million now instead of 100 million before) and thus they look like they have actually made 2 million profit this quarter.  Hope this clears that part of the "positve" twist up.

As a game I do not care about AOC.  I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta - then when it launched and I will always think of AOC as the most linear MMO created.  You would not be able to bribe me into playing through Tortage once more...  Even with the 5 mins memory leaks crashes gone.

Funcom does not change.  They robbed ppl of their moneys to finish up the game and are now aiming for new custimors to take the bate in next ad campaign.  Most ppl tho know that Funcom went far over the line in what is aceptable in terms of what they said was in the game and what was acutally in the box.  No company should ever be forgiven for cheating ppl into buying their product. 

What I don't get is how people can blame Funcom for what I highlighted in red.

It's your own damn fault. show me the pics of Gaute holding a gun to your head forcing you to hand over money. You should have done your research. You should have waited until the game launched and waited until the reviews started coming out. You bought into the hype, so you need to take some of the responsibility too.

Originally posted by Frobner

The only reason why this report "sounds" positive is because Funcom wrote off 23 millions in 4th Quarter.  Thats means that they get tax reduction (company valued at 75 million now instead of 100 million before) and thus they look like they have actually made 2 million profit this quarter.  Hope this clears that part of the "positve" twist up.

As a game I do not care about AOC.  I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta - then when it launched and I will always think of AOC as the most linear MMO created.  You would not be able to bribe me into playing through Tortage once more...  Even with the 5 mins memory leaks crashes gone.

Funcom does not change.  They robbed ppl of their moneys to finish up the game and are now aiming for new custimors to take the bate in next ad campaign.  Most ppl tho know that Funcom went far over the line in what is aceptable in terms of what they said was in the game and what was acutally in the box.  No company should ever be forgiven for cheating ppl into buying their product. 

You know in this time of reccession alot of companies that where in such a bad state of affairs according to us players would have already been forced to close it's doors, they haven't, yet you want to highlight something that has been used to help companies in time of need to cope with cash flow issues as a negative, I wonder would you take this stance if the company (if you work) you worked for was also getting some sort of help via Tax laws?

I played AoC, I enjoyed the game but left due to a lack of content at the lvl 60 range, I'm currently playing WAR and enjoying the game, however I do not wish any games company ill will over their product, even DFO deserves some respect (Not the imbecile Tasos) for trying to take on the big boys in a crowded MMO market.

It's been said before and I'l say it again, we are gamers who play games, why worry about what the suits are doing, if your that way inclined it's best to get out of the MMO genre now otherwise your just going to suffer years more heartache worrying about how well a games developer is doing or not doing.

To the hater shills like Frobner all I have to say is: Ohm nom nom nom.

AoC is kicking ass and growing, your smear campiagn hurt but did not kill AoC like you hoped it would. a few of us got a inside look at what's coming down the pike recently ..and it's going to bring in even more solid subscribers.

Originally posted by Capn23

Originally posted by Frobner

The only reason why this report "sounds" positive is because Funcom wrote off 23 millions in 4th Quarter.  Thats means that they get tax reduction (company valued at 75 million now instead of 100 million before) and thus they look like they have actually made 2 million profit this quarter.  Hope this clears that part of the "positve" twist up.

As a game I do not care about AOC.  I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta - then when it launched and I will always think of AOC as the most linear MMO created.  You would not be able to bribe me into playing through Tortage once more...  Even with the 5 mins memory leaks crashes gone.

Funcom does not change.  They robbed ppl of their moneys to finish up the game and are now aiming for new custimors to take the bate in next ad campaign.  Most ppl tho know that Funcom went far over the line in what is aceptable in terms of what they said was in the game and what was acutally in the box.  No company should ever be forgiven for cheating ppl into buying their product. 

 

What I don't get is how people can blame Funcom for what I highlighted in red.

 

It's your own damn fault. show me the pics of Gaute holding a gun to your head forcing you to hand over money. You should have done your research. You should have waited until the game launched and waited until the reviews started coming out. You bought into the hype, so you need to take some of the responsibility too.

I suggest you read the text in green before you actually blame me.  I was in fact one of the person who tried repeatedly to point out the real state of the game before it was launched.  Sites like MMORPG.COM deleted those posts even if they had full proof that DX10 was not working but then allowed posts claiming DX10 was in the game to stand. 

I played the game for months before retail and I know exactly what went on.  I knew exactly what the game was about and I felt it as my duty to warn ppl on how much of a fraud was really going on.   Everyone knows now how gigantic problem AOC had on launch.  Not just technical problems but also basic rulset problems - something this is now beeing fix, one year after game realeased. 

Here is the fact for you.  AOC was not ready when it launched.  It was far from it.  What did Funcom do ?  Did they delay the game ?  No ... because they saw a good chance of selling 1 million copies before WOTLK and WAR launched.  Did they tell ppl that the game wasn't ready ?  No they did not do so.  In fact they prevented EVERYONE in the general beta to acutally say anything about the true state of the game by keeping the game under NDA. 

Funcom conned ppl into buying a product that was not in any acceptable state.  Thats just a fact.  Ofc gaming sites like MMORPG.COM did their part in hyping up the game by allowing the "positive" posts to stand and banning all the "negative" posts based on NDA.  

What can we  - the players do when  a company behaves like this towards fellow gamers ?   We can keep pointing it out and tell the truth in the matter.   And hopefully we can prevent more disasters like Vanguard and AOC happening again in the near future.  Cause its simply not acceptable that any product is sold in the state that AOC was when it was released.

Originally posted by Frobner

Originally posted by Capn23

Originally posted by Frobner

The only reason why this report "sounds" positive is because Funcom wrote off 23 millions in 4th Quarter.  Thats means that they get tax reduction (company valued at 75 million now instead of 100 million before) and thus they look like they have actually made 2 million profit this quarter.  Hope this clears that part of the "positve" twist up.

As a game I do not care about AOC.  I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta - then when it launched and I will always think of AOC as the most linear MMO created.  You would not be able to bribe me into playing through Tortage once more...  Even with the 5 mins memory leaks crashes gone.

Funcom does not change.  They robbed ppl of their moneys to finish up the game and are now aiming for new custimors to take the bate in next ad campaign.  Most ppl tho know that Funcom went far over the line in what is aceptable in terms of what they said was in the game and what was acutally in the box.  No company should ever be forgiven for cheating ppl into buying their product. 

 

What I don't get is how people can blame Funcom for what I highlighted in red.

 

It's your own damn fault. show me the pics of Gaute holding a gun to your head forcing you to hand over money. You should have done your research. You should have waited until the game launched and waited until the reviews started coming out. You bought into the hype, so you need to take some of the responsibility too.

 

I suggest you read the text in green before you actually blame me.  I was in fact one of the person who tried repeatedly to point out the real state of the game before it was launched.  Sites like MMORPG.COM deleted those posts even if they had full proof that DX10 was not working but then allowed posts claiming DX10 was in the game to stand. 

I played the game for months before retail and I know exactly what went on.  I knew exactly what the game was about and I felt it as my duty to warn ppl on how much of a fraud was really going on.   Everyone knows now how gigantic problem AOC had on launch.  Not just technical problems but also basic rulset problems - something this is now beeing fix, one year after game realeased. 

Here is the fact for you.  AOC was not ready when it launched.  It was far from it.  What did Funcom do ?  Did they delay the game ?  No ... because they saw a good chance of selling 1 million copies before WOTLK and WAR launched.  Did they tell ppl that the game wasn't ready ?  No they did not do so.  In fact they prevented EVERYONE in the general beta to acutally say anything about the true state of the game by keeping the game under NDA. 

Funcom conned ppl into buying a product that was not in any acceptable state.  Thats just a fact.  Ofc gaming sites like MMORPG.COM did their part in hyping up the game by allowing the "positive" posts to stand and banning all the "negative" posts based on NDA.  

What can we  - the players do when  a company behaves like this towards fellow gamers ?   We can keep pointing it out and tell the truth in the matter.   And hopefully we can prevent more disasters like Vanguard and AOC happening again in the near future.  Cause its simply not acceptable that any product is sold in the state that AOC was when it was released.

I read the green...and can say without a doubt....you are biased

In green you say you "I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta"...what's your point? The starting area ISN'T the game.

The rest of what you say could be said about every MMO out there....so move on.

Originally posted by qbangy32

Originally posted by Frobner

The only reason why this report "sounds" positive is because Funcom wrote off 23 millions in 4th Quarter.  Thats means that they get tax reduction (company valued at 75 million now instead of 100 million before) and thus they look like they have actually made 2 million profit this quarter.  Hope this clears that part of the "positve" twist up.

As a game I do not care about AOC.  I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta - then when it launched and I will always think of AOC as the most linear MMO created.  You would not be able to bribe me into playing through Tortage once more...  Even with the 5 mins memory leaks crashes gone.

Funcom does not change.  They robbed ppl of their moneys to finish up the game and are now aiming for new custimors to take the bate in next ad campaign.  Most ppl tho know that Funcom went far over the line in what is aceptable in terms of what they said was in the game and what was acutally in the box.  No company should ever be forgiven for cheating ppl into buying their product. 

 

You know in this time of reccession alot of companies that where in such a bad state of affairs according to us players would have already been forced to close it's doors, they haven't, yet you want to highlight something that has been used to help companies in time of need to cope with cash flow issues as a negative, I wonder would you take this stance if the company (if you work) you worked for was also getting some sort of help via Tax laws?

I played AoC, I enjoyed the game but left due to a lack of content at the lvl 60 range, I'm currently playing WAR and enjoying the game, however I do not wish any games company ill will over their product, even DFO deserves some respect (Not the imbecile Tasos) for trying to take on the big boys in a crowded MMO market.

It's been said before and I'l say it again, we are gamers who play games, why worry about what the suits are doing, if your that way inclined it's best to get out of the MMO genre now otherwise your just going to suffer years more heartache worrying about how well a games developer is doing or not doing.

 

Funcom is in bad state of affairs... it lost 1/4th of the value of the entire company last year.  They survied now because they did not have to pay taxes cause they lost so much last year.   I really pitty ppl that still belvie one word that Funcom says - including financial statements. 

Here is a fact.  The future of AOC is very bleak at this point in time.  The next few months will probably determine if the content that the "170" ppl are working on in "AOC" will be launched as an expansion or just used in the other MMO game the company is making.  Thats how bleak it is... 

And before ppl start to talk down DFO to much - or their game director.  I just want to remind ppl that the darkfall way of doing things is EXACTLY the way that most MMO games should be going now in terms of releasing.  Few servers.. few clients sold (even tho alot of more could be sold) and alot of things are beeing fixed fast cause the problems are not widespread on 50+ servers.   I take my hat off for DFO for beeing honest about their product instead of trying to lie to ppl into preordering something that the company knew they could not deliver on day one.

You do realise there is a very long list of developers that have pushed out products that weren't ready, a few months down the line a big patch will come out to fix those issues, it happens in stand alone games and it happens in MMO's, you would have thought the lessons would have been learned by now wouldn't you.

The same mistakes are made time and again and no matter how many 1 man crusades there are to bring a company to account it just won't sink in, mistakes will continue to be made just as they are in real life, in fact the term "Lessons where learned" is such an overly used phrase that it has become embarrassing to hear it used now.

Again you really need to let this go otherwise your going to become bitter and twisted over some pixels that at the end of the day do not matter in the slightest to any of us, they are there to provide entertainment, or supposed to, but for some obscene reason some ppl need to take developers to task over their products as if it was a matter of life or death, it's quite pitiful really to see the lengths some gamers will go to to put gamers off future products just because they have an axe to grind.

Every developer out there has it's haters, I think I've seen every name of every developer used on this and other MMO forums as a target for hate at least once, if we all believed everything that was written we would be scared to walk into our games shops to part with our hard earned money.

It's also very obvious that your going to continue to post in a manner that will garner nothing but contempt for your stance, ppl really don't want to keep reading "The end is Nigh" and everything is "Doom Doom Doom", ppl who post are always going to be considered a sandwich short of a picnic and never be taken seriously, mainly because your taking this all far too personally and so out of proportion.

Ah I now realise who you are, I should never have mentioned DFO, or responded to this thread as it's going to end up a pointless and endless baiting contest now, think I'l pass on this one as I've already lost most of my hair to forum idiots.

You call that a bloody financial summary? Its a load of garbage, there are no numbers there at all the only thing they've bothered to mention there is the amount of employees they have and the size of their ridiculously big client, nothing more than bloody corporate propaganda going "Oh its fine! We're actually doing very well".

2D Boy had the balls to post their expenses for World of Goo even for simple things like testing, so why the hell can't these assholes who have repeatedly messed things up and scammed their customers do the same? They're being more secretive than the federal reserve for crying out loud.

Originally posted by Gestankfaust

Originally posted by Frobner

Originally posted by Capn23

Originally posted by Frobner

The only reason why this report "sounds" positive is because Funcom wrote off 23 millions in 4th Quarter.  Thats means that they get tax reduction (company valued at 75 million now instead of 100 million before) and thus they look like they have actually made 2 million profit this quarter.  Hope this clears that part of the "positve" twist up.

As a game I do not care about AOC.  I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta - then when it launched and I will always think of AOC as the most linear MMO created.  You would not be able to bribe me into playing through Tortage once more...  Even with the 5 mins memory leaks crashes gone.

Funcom does not change.  They robbed ppl of their moneys to finish up the game and are now aiming for new custimors to take the bate in next ad campaign.  Most ppl tho know that Funcom went far over the line in what is aceptable in terms of what they said was in the game and what was acutally in the box.  No company should ever be forgiven for cheating ppl into buying their product. 

 

What I don't get is how people can blame Funcom for what I highlighted in red.

 

It's your own damn fault. show me the pics of Gaute holding a gun to your head forcing you to hand over money. You should have done your research. You should have waited until the game launched and waited until the reviews started coming out. You bought into the hype, so you need to take some of the responsibility too.

 

I suggest you read the text in green before you actually blame me.  I was in fact one of the person who tried repeatedly to point out the real state of the game before it was launched.  Sites like MMORPG.COM deleted those posts even if they had full proof that DX10 was not working but then allowed posts claiming DX10 was in the game to stand. 

I played the game for months before retail and I know exactly what went on.  I knew exactly what the game was about and I felt it as my duty to warn ppl on how much of a fraud was really going on.   Everyone knows now how gigantic problem AOC had on launch.  Not just technical problems but also basic rulset problems - something this is now beeing fix, one year after game realeased. 

Here is the fact for you.  AOC was not ready when it launched.  It was far from it.  What did Funcom do ?  Did they delay the game ?  No ... because they saw a good chance of selling 1 million copies before WOTLK and WAR launched.  Did they tell ppl that the game wasn't ready ?  No they did not do so.  In fact they prevented EVERYONE in the general beta to acutally say anything about the true state of the game by keeping the game under NDA. 

Funcom conned ppl into buying a product that was not in any acceptable state.  Thats just a fact.  Ofc gaming sites like MMORPG.COM did their part in hyping up the game by allowing the "positive" posts to stand and banning all the "negative" posts based on NDA.  

What can we  - the players do when  a company behaves like this towards fellow gamers ?   We can keep pointing it out and tell the truth in the matter.   And hopefully we can prevent more disasters like Vanguard and AOC happening again in the near future.  Cause its simply not acceptable that any product is sold in the state that AOC was when it was released.

 

I read the green...and can say without a doubt....you are biased

 

In green you say you "I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta"...what's your point? The starting area ISN'T the game.

 

The rest of what you say could be said about every MMO out there....so move on.

Obviously you have very litle knowlegde of how beta works.  You know how often AOC beta had charecter vipes ?  You know that the lvling curve was changed few times so ppl could go faster or slower through the content ?  Obviously not.

The rest of what I say has nothing to do with other MMOs.  And just for you to get a clue - You are welcome to point me out another MMO game that was sold in 1 million copies - but then had about 100K ppl playing few months later.    That has NOTHING to do with what other MMO games are doing.  Go take a look what Darkfall is doing and maybe get a clue on what small companies should be doing things.   At least they are not stealing money from million ppl to finish the game.  Thats just Funcom's way of doing things. 

Originally posted by Frobner

Originally posted by Gestankfaust

Originally posted by Frobner

Originally posted by Capn23

Originally posted by Frobner

The only reason why this report "sounds" positive is because Funcom wrote off 23 millions in 4th Quarter.  Thats means that they get tax reduction (company valued at 75 million now instead of 100 million before) and thus they look like they have actually made 2 million profit this quarter.  Hope this clears that part of the "positve" twist up.

As a game I do not care about AOC.  I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta - then when it launched and I will always think of AOC as the most linear MMO created.  You would not be able to bribe me into playing through Tortage once more...  Even with the 5 mins memory leaks crashes gone.

Funcom does not change.  They robbed ppl of their moneys to finish up the game and are now aiming for new custimors to take the bate in next ad campaign.  Most ppl tho know that Funcom went far over the line in what is aceptable in terms of what they said was in the game and what was acutally in the box.  No company should ever be forgiven for cheating ppl into buying their product. 

 

What I don't get is how people can blame Funcom for what I highlighted in red.

 

It's your own damn fault. show me the pics of Gaute holding a gun to your head forcing you to hand over money. You should have done your research. You should have waited until the game launched and waited until the reviews started coming out. You bought into the hype, so you need to take some of the responsibility too.

 

I suggest you read the text in green before you actually blame me.  I was in fact one of the person who tried repeatedly to point out the real state of the game before it was launched.  Sites like MMORPG.COM deleted those posts even if they had full proof that DX10 was not working but then allowed posts claiming DX10 was in the game to stand. 

I played the game for months before retail and I know exactly what went on.  I knew exactly what the game was about and I felt it as my duty to warn ppl on how much of a fraud was really going on.   Everyone knows now how gigantic problem AOC had on launch.  Not just technical problems but also basic rulset problems - something this is now beeing fix, one year after game realeased. 

Here is the fact for you.  AOC was not ready when it launched.  It was far from it.  What did Funcom do ?  Did they delay the game ?  No ... because they saw a good chance of selling 1 million copies before WOTLK and WAR launched.  Did they tell ppl that the game wasn't ready ?  No they did not do so.  In fact they prevented EVERYONE in the general beta to acutally say anything about the true state of the game by keeping the game under NDA. 

Funcom conned ppl into buying a product that was not in any acceptable state.  Thats just a fact.  Ofc gaming sites like MMORPG.COM did their part in hyping up the game by allowing the "positive" posts to stand and banning all the "negative" posts based on NDA.  

What can we  - the players do when  a company behaves like this towards fellow gamers ?   We can keep pointing it out and tell the truth in the matter.   And hopefully we can prevent more disasters like Vanguard and AOC happening again in the near future.  Cause its simply not acceptable that any product is sold in the state that AOC was when it was released.

 

I read the green...and can say without a doubt....you are biased

 

In green you say you "I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta"...what's your point? The starting area ISN'T the game.

 

The rest of what you say could be said about every MMO out there....so move on.

 

Obviously you have very litle knowlegde of how beta works.  You know how often AOC beta had charecter vipes ?  You know that the lvling curve was changed few times so ppl could go faster or slower through the content ?  Obviously not.

The rest of what I say has nothing to do with other MMOs.  And just for you to get a clue - You are welcome to point me out another MMO game that was sold in 1 million copies - but then had about 100K ppl playing few months later.    That has NOTHING to do with what other MMO games are doing.  Go take a look what Darkfall is doing and maybe get a clue on what small companies should be doing things.   At least they are not stealing money from million ppl to finish the game.  Thats just Funcom's way of doing things. 

Obviously you don't

Beta does not mean "when it's released there will be no problems". Or maybe you have never been from beta to release in other games....dare I say....WOW? (released unplayable)

This is your way to bad mouth a company....nothing more....when all MMOs released have done bad after release....some more than others. Get over it

Originally posted by qbangy32

Ah I now realise who you are, I should never have mentioned DFO, or responded to this thread as it's going to end up a pointless and endless baiting contest now, think I'l pass on this one as I've already lost most of my hair to forum idiots.

 

 

 

 

I dont play Darkfall or have any intrest in that game.  You brought it up yes.  I can not comment on Darkfall in other ways than saying that I respect their ways of developing an MMO by allowing limited number of players into their game at start.  Thats something that all MMO developers should be considering.   Its to late for Funcom tho.  They went another route and it got them loosing 23 million USD - and they managed to go through an entire 4th quarter financial report without saying so...  NOw.... thas PR.

Originally posted by 0k21

You call that a bloody financial summary? Its a load of garbage, there are no numbers there at all the only thing they've bothered to mention there is the amount of employees they have and the size of their ridiculously big client, nothing more than bloody corporate propaganda going "Oh its fine! We're actually doing very well".

2D Boy had the balls to post their expenses for World of Goo even for simple things like testing, so why the hell can't these assholes who have repeatedly messed things up and scammed their customers do the same? They're being more secretive than the federal reserve for crying out loud.

You need to read the actual report for the numbers, not the presentation. Check Funcom's site for it.

Originally posted by Tiurinn

Originally posted by 0k21

You call that a bloody financial summary? Its a load of garbage, there are no numbers there at all the only thing they've bothered to mention there is the amount of employees they have and the size of their ridiculously big client, nothing more than bloody corporate propaganda going "Oh its fine! We're actually doing very well".

2D Boy had the balls to post their expenses for World of Goo even for simple things like testing, so why the hell can't these assholes who have repeatedly messed things up and scammed their customers do the same? They're being more secretive than the federal reserve for crying out loud.

 

You need to read the actual report for the numbers, not the presentation. Check Funcom's site for it.

No...we don't....and this is the irritation I get from this post. The actaul fact that you people care about any game maker's financial report amazes me....just play the game or don't

nuff said

that's good i guess. happy to hear it.

Only thing I can comment is this trend of MMOs being released unpolished and charging you $50 so they can finish their game while forcing you to stop playing their game because it currently sucks, especially when it's done affecting millions and when it's also released strategicaly before WAR and WOTK.

Gotta give thumbs up for DF, indy developer which is not worried about getting as much people as they can to spend $50 so they can finish their game.

If you want to make a pay-to-beta, make it as clear as possible - this is a lesson every MMO company should learn if they want a solid release. GW for example did that when they had months of weekends-only server avaiable for players, and for those who merely paid $10 for pre-order. And GW does not slash and bleed you for retail AND monthly fees although it is not technically a MMO, GW2 will be though.

And no, it doesn't have to be perfect, but playable.

 Yea positive twist if you consider they layed off 70% of their staff last year. Great company. How quickly we as consumers forget that these Norwegian corporate scum bags feed off their employees hard work and our hard earned money to create unfinished products before cashing out employees like chips at a gambling table. Sorry to all the fan boys and girls who enjoy Conan and Anarchy just don't forget your good time cost a lot of people their livelyhood. 

A link to the actual financial report and some numbers would have been nice, as otherwise this is largely a fluff PR piece.

Personally I think FunCom continues to demonstrate that they are much better at spin control and talking a good game than they are at making one.

If you like AoC, great.

if you don't like AoC, great.

What I continuosly fail to fathom is why some people take so much interest in Funcom's financial report...

I can totally understand people's undying bashing of Conan style of game play.

I can totally understand people's undying love of Conan's style of game play.

Granted, I am probably not enlighted as most people that visit MMORPG.com, as I am a normal beer drinking, sports loving, mmorpg playing fool.  I do not want to discount someone's interest in the financial report of Funcom, but can someone explain to me why that is so important and such a topic of contention?

Originally posted by Books

 Yea positive twist if you consider they layed off 70% of their staff last year. Great company. How quickly we as consumers forget that these Norwegian corporate scum bags feed off their employees hard work and our hard earned money to create unfinished products before cashing out employees like chips at a gambling table. Sorry to all the fan boys and girls who enjoy Conan and Anarchy just don't forget your good time cost a lot of people their livelyhood. 

If you do a search it was 70% of CS staff from the US offices not the Oslo ones. There was an equal amount employeed after launch to cope with demand, when that level of demand wasn't there what would you do?

In actual fact this trend is common place - please also check out Turbine who actually layed a lot of people off - oh and don't forget EA Mythic whom also followed suit. Why is it that no one brings the bigger picture up overall when other companies layed off more ppl?

Thinking 70% in total is wrong. More like 70% of 60 additional people that were most likely contract based to begin with.

Originally posted by Books

 Yea positive twist if you consider they layed off 70% of their staff last year. Great company. How quickly we as consumers forget that these Norwegian corporate scum bags feed off their employees hard work and our hard earned money to create unfinished products before cashing out employees like chips at a gambling table. Sorry to all the fan boys and girls who enjoy Conan and Anarchy just don't forget your good time cost a lot of people their livelyhood. 

It is the opinion of myself that using the layoffs of individuals to further one's argument\debate is pretty low. 

As Avery says, these people may (or may not have been) contractors.  Does the fact that these people lost thier jobs because they were contracts make a difference?  No.

Does the fact that these people lost thier jobs because they worked for company that may (or may not) been able to sustain an upwardly mobile profit?  No.

These people lost thier jobs.  It does not matter the reason.  I lost my job a while back and it was a rough time.  To bring up someone's layoff in these tough econonic times in an effort to strengthen one's argument for a silly mmorpg.com debate, no matter what side you are on, is not the most noble argument one can make in my opinion.

Originally posted by Skatty2007

If you like AoC, great.

if you don't like AoC, great.

What I continuosly fail to fathom is why some people take so much interest in Funcom's financial report...

I can totally understand people's undying bashing of Conan style of game play.

I can totally understand people's undying love of Conan's style of game play.

Granted, I am probably not enlighted as most people that visit MMORPG.com, as I am a normal beer drinking, sports loving, mmorpg playing fool.  I do not want to discount someone's interest in the financial report of Funcom, but can someone explain to me why that is so important and such a topic of contention?

If you can totally understand people's undying bashing of Conan then there will be scope for those people (99%) whom don't play will also branch out and look for other ways / poke holes / to bash and hate in other area's. Such as financial figures. These same people will tell you that it is because it is fun for them to try and figure out sub numbers, and that is all. For those that admit it for other reasons (and there are those out there that have mate), I pity these fella's.

But ask yourself this. Why is it that these same people (and we are talking just a handful here);

• Don't scrutinize other games / companies figures / reports to such a degree as AoC's (if it all is just a bit of fun / hobby - surely branching out to other games, some of which they now play, you would think same thing applies here and would be deserving of the same attention)

The bottom line is that I think - apparently people were so mentally scarred by Funcom that they become desperate enough to look for weakness and exploits that via misinformation, multiple accounts, lying about financial backgrounds, will do anything to tarnish the game, bring up conspiracy theories out of mid air, and so on. Then again there are those that are generally interested but are so much so without the malice or intent for it with purpose. Remember this is what I think in general and nevertheless opinion either way is of course perfectly ok.

Either way, doesn't really bother me. But trying to understand why for one side of the coin will give headache.

Originally posted by Skatty2007

If you like AoC, great.

if you don't like AoC, great.

What I continuosly fail to fathom is why some people take so much interest in Funcom's financial report...

I guess at some level its because if we didn't talk about every game that is losing subs or have troll v. fanboi threads there wouldn't be a lot to talk about.

When I see a developer do it I can understand it... in that sense its like politics.   Hey never mind how messed up my product is... look at that one over there hahaha omg what a train wreck.

But ya when it comes to the average poster here and it doesn't matter what game or what company its hard to understand.  Most people don't own stock in any of these companies and will never work in game development.  So there is no real personal reason to "care".

If you hate a game it won't matter if it has 10,000 subscribers or 10 Million subscribers you will still hate it.

If you enjoy a game same deal... you'll enjoy it regardless of subscriber numbers or profit reports.  Well unless they shut it down as has happened to a few games I enjoyed.

Frobner, you mind as well quit while your behind. If every company did what DFO did like you stated, MMO's would not be around anymore. I don't hate DFO, I do think the developers have some issues though regardless of if they are trying to be a niche game. And let's be honest here. Trying to be a niche game is an excuse and nothing more. Age of Conan is actually shaping up really well. I would love to go back and check it out, but I'm going to wait till this summer to see if they launch a Comeback campaign or something similar.

Originally posted by Antarious

Originally posted by Skatty2007

If you like AoC, great.

if you don't like AoC, great.

What I continuosly fail to fathom is why some people take so much interest in Funcom's financial report...

I guess at some level its because if we didn't talk about every game that is losing subs or have troll v. fanboi threads there wouldn't be a lot to talk about.

 

Would that suggest that people bring up such topics, such as financial reports, for the sake of debate itself and try to goad people into an argument, and not neccesarily because they truely believe in the argument they posting for?  I realize that I may be a bit of a nieve (sp?) forum participant given my lack of forum posting activity.

So, the financial report is actually irrevelant?  Its the opportunity to see what kind of debate that one can trigger is the reason why such nuances are brought up?

I realize I sound like a total noob in these posts <insert disparaging joke here>, but after reading these fourms for months, Its an itch I gotta scratch. :-)

Since I haven't figured out to reply to 2 different posts in the same response, the next is to Avery:  Does the fact that one doesn't like Conan, and tries to find ways to bash it at every expense (regardless of how irrelevant those arguements are to you), invalidate thier feelings toward Conan?

Tipping my poker hand, I generally agree with you Avery.   But to to discount thier feelings as 'mentally scarred' is implies that thier feelings towards Conan may not be on as solid ground as yours, and only feuls the fire that you aim to extinguish.

Again, I apologize if I do not undertand the nuances of forum posts, but it could be that both sides value the debate itself more than who has the "right" argument and who is "wrong"?

Originally posted by Frobner

The only reason why this report "sounds" positive is because Funcom wrote off 23 millions in 4th Quarter.  Thats means that they get tax reduction (company valued at 75 million now instead of 100 million before) and thus they look like they have actually made 2 million profit this quarter.  Hope this clears that part of the "positve" twist up.

As a game I do not care about AOC.  I played through the starting area over 15 times in beta - then when it launched and I will always think of AOC as the most linear MMO created.  You would not be able to bribe me into playing through Tortage once more...  Even with the 5 mins memory leaks crashes gone.

Funcom does not change.  They robbed ppl of their moneys to finish up the game and are now aiming for new custimors to take the bate in next ad campaign.  Most ppl tho know that Funcom went far over the line in what is aceptable in terms of what they said was in the game and what was acutally in the box.  No company should ever be forgiven for cheating ppl into buying their product. 

I remember you as one of the people saying AoC wasnt going to be online in a years time... You were wrong.

AoC is not in the class of Wow or even Eve (sub wise) but at least FC have enough players to keep the game running. And that is good for all the smaller MMO devs out there.

Guy seems to have an unwholesome personal vendetta against a game of all things.

AOC is the best out there right now......in my opinion.

Originally posted by Skatty2007

What I continuosly fail to fathom is why some people take so much interest in Funcom's financial report...

Well, I can only answer for myself of course, but here goes: This site is as much about the discussion of the MMO industry as much as it is of individual games. Endless hours are spent arguing fine points of development, planning, business models and so on.  In that context, the financial reports of the various current MMOs are very relevent as they are often sources of information on how a given game is doing that the companies do not otherwise release to the public.

I commented on this piece because on the one hand, the author presented us with a pile of fluff. The PR department of FunCom couldn't have written a better piece for them. It was long on cheerleading and short on actual numbers and factual analysis, even failing to actually link to any official report published by FC. As such, it wasn't a lot more relevent than someones opinion blog. However, it was also worth commenting that this is typical of FunCom who have demonstrated an amazing ability to "spin" their coverage and as a dev team are much better about "talking up" their games than they are about making them.

Originally posted by mackdawg19

Frobner, you mind as well quit while your behind. If every company did what DFO did like you stated, MMO's would not be around anymore. I don't hate DFO, I do think the developers have some issues though regardless of if they are trying to be a niche game. And let's be honest here. Trying to be a niche game is an excuse and nothing more. Age of Conan is actually shaping up really well. I would love to go back and check it out, but I'm going to wait till this summer to see if they launch a Comeback campaign or something similar.

I'm of the same mind, I'l be heading back to AoC after the Itemisation patch has gone live and settled down.

I still can't get my head around why each MMO has to have it's extremists spouting all sorts of crap at the normal player base who basically pick up the game and play it for fun, you'd think after playing MMO's since finding EQ1 back in 1999 I would have learned by now, but I still think that 99% of players are normal fun loving gamers.

As for DFO, I also don't hate the game and I applaud them for trying to get thier product out there, it's now not for me becuase of the antics of their head honcho and becuase of the abysmal distribution system, could you imagine if Blizzard took the same steps in delivering Diablo 3 to the market, it would take about 5 years for everyone to get their copy of the game.

Originally posted by orlac

Guy seems to have an unwholesome personal vendetta against a game of all things.

 

AOC is the best out there right now......in my opinion.

I don't think it's the game as much as the company he's got a "vendetta" against. To be honest I can see his point. Regardless of AOC being a good game or not, the fact remains that FC released a game that had horrendous issues, and a fair amount of stuff that was advertised as being in the game, actually not being there at all.

I call things like that "lies", and I'm surprised how quickly people are willing to forgive and forget being lied to. Yes all MMO's have issues at launch, that isn't in debate, most of them don't have the gall to advertise features on the damn box that they know aren't even in-game though.

Originally posted by Skatty2007

Granted, I am probably not enlighted as most people that visit MMORPG.com, as I am a normal beer drinking, sports loving, mmorpg playing fool.  I do not want to discount someone's interest in the financial report of Funcom, but can someone explain to me why that is so important and such a topic of contention?

Because the rest of the idiots here don't have enough of a life to be a normal beer drinking, sports loving bloke...

Originally posted by barkjj

Originally posted by Variant13

Originally posted by orlac

Guy seems to have an unwholesome personal vendetta against a game of all things.

 

AOC is the best out there right now......in my opinion.

 

I don't think it's the game as much as the company he's got a "vendetta" against. To be honest I can see his point. Regardless of AOC being a good game or not, the fact remains that FC released a game that had horrendous issues, and a fair amount of stuff that was advertised as being in the game, actually not being there at all.

I call things like that "lies", and I'm surprised how quickly people are willing to forgive and forget being lied to. Yes all MMO's have issues at launch, that isn't in debate, most of them don't have the gall to advertise features on the damn box that they know aren't even in-game though.

What's missing from the game that is being advertised?
 

Well I know they announced before launch that DX10 wasn't going to be in at launch, but off the top of my head I can't hink of any features that where announced that didn't make it into the game.

I followed the game for 2 yrs before it launched, built up a section in my old guild getting rdy for the game, was part of Northstar Alliance on Crom, so I know that what was announced ended up in the game.

However yes some of the big features where bugged, yes some of the features did need attention and reworking, but they did make it into the game and didn't end up a list on a website as some kind of fantasy todo list.

AoC when it released was 80% working as intended (Oh how we all hate that term) the 20% has more or less been delivered.

The game did release before it was really ready but when your up against the likes of Blizzards latest expansion coming out and wrecking your launch plans then you really want to make the most of your launch and grab as much media attention before the 500Lb Gorilla steals the limelight.

Personally speaking I was just glad they released the game and did'nt announce another delay, I was bursting at the seams each time they delayed the game, the official forums where a flurry of abusive posts each time the game got pushed back a month and ppl where screaming "Release it already, we don't care if it's not done, WE WANT IT NOW"  and oh how those same ppl they came back to the boards and whined and whined and whined when they got what they asked for.

I'm a long term MMO player and admirer, I'l still probably be playing these games for years to come, and I'm under no illusions that the same practices we see in place now by companies that release games that need work will continue for years to come, the only company that comes to mind that is bucking that trend is Blizzard, they have a winning formulae now and are sticking to it like glue, it's the main reason it takes forever and a day for their products to hit the shelves, but at least they have resolved the problems of pushing out a product that isn't in tip top condition, they should hold regular seminars on "How to build a working as intended MMO for the masses".

The trouble is that most of the income from AoC is being channeled towards their new MMORPG, AoC will get shelved alongside AO. AoC is over instanced and will be put on life support this year, with the DEV team shrinking in size already alongside the playerbase.

The reason they players staying for longer is that they hardly have any left now! Only the few that like instanced grindfests with nothing to do after LvL 80 are still playing. Even if this game was free to play I wouldn't tarnish my hardrive once again with that client from Scumcom!

How is something over-instanced? That is not the problem, instancing is fine. If you have a problem with it, I'm sorry. The problem with AoC is it's combat system and will always be it's combat system.

Originally posted by Agricola1

The trouble is that most of the income from AoC is being channeled towards their new MMORPG, AoC will get shelved alongside AO. AoC is over instanced and will be put on life support this year, with the DEV team shrinking in size already alongside the playerbase.

The reason they players staying for longer is that they hardly have any left now! Only the few that like instanced grindfests with nothing to do after LvL 80 are still playing. Even if this game was free to play I wouldn't tarnish my hardrive once again with that client from Scumcom!

Well Duh! ofc income is going to help pay for development of TSO, it's not making it's own income yet, you don't need to state the obvious around here.

As for AoC and AO dying when TSO comes out, hmm now how many times have we heard such statements before, oh yes I remember, when Asherons call1 came out they all said Everquest 1 would die, when DAoC came out they said AC1 and EQ1 would die, when Shadowbane came out they said EQ1 would die, when WoW came out ALL MMO's would die.

Very very few MMO's have actually gone to the MMO graveyard and the ones that have have surprised me, I never thought Asherons call 2 or Tabula Rasa would meet their makers but they did, and I bought the bloody things aswell, but I highly doubt AoC or AO will go the way of the Dodo anytime soon.

Originally posted by Frobner 

No ... because they saw a good chance of selling 1 million copies before WOTLK and WAR launched.

People claiming to know the intentions of others are usually too biased to be constructive contributors to a discussion. They're usually only out to spread their word as gospel and propaganda.

I feel cheated by funcom. They promised something they didn't deliver.
Therefor i want them to go bankrupt.

Originally posted by luciusETRUR

How is something over-instanced? That is not the problem, instancing is fine. If you have a problem with it, I'm sorry. The problem with AoC is it's combat system and will always be it's combat system.

I'd go as far as to say that most other MMOs have a boring combat system. The problem with AoC is that the casters get the easymode combat system seen in other MMOs.

I'm still sitting on a worthless, unused copy of the game. When the big patch goes live and then maybe has a week or two to clear remaining bugs and issues, I'll probably use the free month (rather than paying to reactivate my original account) just to see if the game has improved enough to be worth playing.

Like many, I'm still angry at Funcom for the rushed launch. Lest anyone forget, their quarterly report just prior to AoC launch showed they had plenty of cash on hand to extend development another six months at minimum. It wasn't a rush to launch because they ran out of money.

Frustrations were made worse because of all companies, Funcom should have known better. They already wrote the manual on how to ruin an MMORGP with a premature launch with Anarchy Online. That also provided the perfect case study of how an eventually good game still can not recover from a horrible launch.

I still, to this day, can not understand why they decided to launch when they did. An obviously premature launch was one hundred times more destructive than a competative launch window would have been!

Originally posted by fiontar

I'm still sitting on a worthless, unused copy of the game. When the big patch goes live and then maybe has a week or two to clear remaining bugs and issues, I'll probably use the free month (rather than paying to reactivate my original account) just to see if the game has improved enough to be worth playing.

Like many, I'm still angry at Funcom for the rushed launch. Lest anyone forget, their quarterly report just prior to AoC launch showed they had plenty of cash on hand to extend development another six months at minimum. It wasn't a rush to launch because they ran out of money.

Frustrations were made worse because of all companies, Funcom should have known better. They already wrote the manual on how to ruin an MMORGP with a premature launch with Anarchy Online. That also provided the perfect case study of how an eventually good game still can not recover from a horrible launch.

I still, to this day, can not understand why they decided to launch when they did. An obviously premature launch was one hundred times more destructive than a competative launch window would have been!

I'm going to assume you followed the game prior to release, if so you must have been aware of the umpteen push backs of the release date, and the screaming/shouting/abuse/name calling and spoilt children who all threw their toys out of the pram whenever the release was delayed again.

I remember vividly that there was a chorus of ppl who sang by the same hymn sheet "Release now we don't care if it's bugged, just release it" and they got their wish, I'l admit I was just as frustrated as everyone else at each delay, after 2 yrs I wanted to play the game, I had got sucked into the hype machine and was just as excited as anyone, but I resisted the temptation to join in that chorus.

Now the majority of the players got their wish and the game was released too early, but ofc everyone had to suffer.

AO was a terrible launch and yes Funcom should have learned lessons, again talk about an over-used phrase, but AoC was unlike anything they had done before and I have to say the launch of AoC went a thousand times smoother than AO's launch, I still remember logging into AO on the first day and not being able to move for a week due to the horrendous lag and other glaring issues. I logged into AoC on the first day and I must have crashed about 4 times in a period of 8 hours, (I got in on the early access pass) which tbh was acceptable to me.

So qbangy32, your advice here is

- be an apologist for mediocrity, 

- remain silent when a company intentionally lies and decieves it's customers,

- justify this unethical behavior with "oh well every mmo does that".

You may be willing to be a doormat for companies to wipe their feet on but thankfully Most are not .

When companies act unethically, don't sit there in silence, don't try and justify it, SPEAK OUT AGAINST IT or it will never Change.

Some people cant make the difference between marketing bs and truth, and companies like funcom survive cause of such customers. You can justify them as much as you want, that doesnt change the fact boxes had dx10 logo on them for example. Yes, most games have issues on release, but theres a huge difference between having to deal with few broken quests and people being able to change instance during fight for example. And its the sheer number of such problems that determines whether a game is ready or is just rushed to hit the sweet spot. WAR didnt have any real endgame when released too, yet it was times more polished than AoC is even now. And if you want to see what a major title like this should look like prior to release - go check Aion on China servers. Or just wait till its released here. Well, we have to see how NC deals with bots to proclaim it as a total success, and judging from our previous experience with L2 most of us are sceptical. Just like we were sceptical of Failcom being able to deliver all their promises, at least the people familiar with AO were

From the somewhat nebulous article on their quarterly financial support, it doesn't really shed much light on FC's finances. Yes, FC lost money in their previous quarters, but that was probably due as much to the recession of the global economy as it was any screw ups. Now that numbers are looking slightly up, it might be due to the media spinning things about 'green shoots' in the economy. I think the story right now that we can take home with us is that FC is intimately tied to the world's economy and is doing no better or worse than most companies out there.

Which means... that they haven't really divulged that much information and we're not really any the wiser for it.

 I hope they hang on in there. Anarchy Online, despite is faults and crappy launch, is quite a remarkable MMO for numerous reasons.

Originally posted by qbangy32

Personally speaking I was just glad they released the game and did'nt announce another delay, I was bursting at the seams each time they delayed the game, the official forums where a flurry of abusive posts each time the game got pushed back a month and ppl where screaming "Release it already, we don't care if it's not done, WE WANT IT NOW"  and oh how those same ppl they came back to the boards and whined and whined and whined when they got what they asked for.

Honestly they should have waited. AoC was the first computer game I've ever purchased where I actually felt ripped off and while I don't spend hours and hours bashing the game and/or Funcom I have zero plans to ever revisit the game no matter what they add or fix...I canceled my account and moved on.

MMORPG developers are going to have to face the reality that first impressions matter...they matter a great deal.

Originally posted by Frobner

Originally posted by qbangy32

Ah I now realise who you are, I should never have mentioned DFO, or responded to this thread as it's going to end up a pointless and endless baiting contest now, think I'l pass on this one as I've already lost most of my hair to forum idiots.

 

 

 

 

 

I dont play Darkfall or have any intrest in that game.  You brought it up yes.  I can not comment on Darkfall in other ways than saying that I respect their ways of developing an MMO by allowing limited number of players into their game at start.  Thats something that all MMO developers should be considering.   Its to late for Funcom tho.  They went another route and it got them loosing 23 million USD - and they managed to go through an entire 4th quarter financial report without saying so...  NOw.... thas PR.

You have your facts screwed up.

AV is only allowing limited people to play the game because they couldn't *afford* to increase capacity by adding servers, etc. This has been known for months now... It's amazing how only a couple months later, some will try and spin it into a positive anyway, as though history is somehow malleable and open to any revisions that suit them (well, then again, it happens all the time in history books... so there ya go).

This isn't some "wise release tactic" by AV... it's them dealing with their own inability to properly launch a MMO the only way they can.

Any other company that had more people wanting to play than actually could play would have launched a second server. Because AV can't, they have had to place a hard cap on the number playing. New people have to wait 'til more spots open up before they'll sell more copies and then hope they're "lucky" enough to get one.

Do you realize how many MMOs have launched in the last 10 years without having to artificially limit the population?

More MMO companies duplicating what AV did = fail.

As for the financial reports... it looks pretty good to me. There's all these people trying to talk it down, as though they have the insider info better than anyone else does... whatever. Point is this... FC are still around, they're still working on AoC, still supporting AO and are working on TSW... Despite the declarations that they'd go bankrupt within months of AoC's launch (wishful thinking for some, no doubt), they're still going, and with a pretty healthy team of people working on their two main projects. So they're doing *something* right.

Everyone going on about AOC and how it should have made Funcom bankrupt, well it wont. Anarchy online, Longest journey, are successful. yeah, Anarchy online probably aint gonna break any numbers barrier anytime soon, but it has done, and it has it faithful players.

  Tbh, let face it, if it had a drop of in profits in 4Q, that was AOC. Because AO, didnt have massive influx. It got it faithfuls. Funcom made it money out of AOC, when they sold it as a box game. Yeah, they would like people to join up, they would like to keep it going.

  So at the end of the day, even if AOC fails, I doubt the company will. it may take a while to get up from the hit, but I doubt it will fail.

If you say that a game will fail long enough, you will eventually be right. Most MMOs never even launch, they die in the womb. This one did launch. It is one of the best MMOs on the market. It does have a long future ahead of it. Yet one day you will be right, it will fail.

I think Funcom's business model for AoC is for a disposable MMO.  Meaning the revenue is generated primarly through box sales and the initial mass of subscribers, while keeping the costs low in terms of development and maintance.  Then onto the next MMO.

  To state that it is,"Your own damn fault", for being the victum of false and misleading packaging and advertisement is preposterous and wrong on every level. If this same person walked by a restaurant,saw a sign on the window that said,"All the steak you can eat for $3.99", walked in and and was served a plate of weenies,they would pop a cork. What's that? No one held a gun to your head to buy those weenies.

Originally posted by AmazingAvery

Originally posted by Books

 Yea positive twist if you consider they layed off 70% of their staff last year. Great company. How quickly we as consumers forget that these Norwegian corporate scum bags feed off their employees hard work and our hard earned money to create unfinished products before cashing out employees like chips at a gambling table. Sorry to all the fan boys and girls who enjoy Conan and Anarchy just don't forget your good time cost a lot of people their livelyhood. 

 

If you do a search it was 70% of CS staff from the US offices not the Oslo ones. There was an equal amount employeed after launch to cope with demand, when that level of demand wasn't there what would you do?

In actual fact this trend is common place - please also check out Turbine who actually layed a lot of people off - oh and don't forget EA Mythic whom also followed suit. Why is it that no one brings the bigger picture up overall when other companies layed off more ppl?

Thinking 70% in total is wrong. More like 70% of 60 additional people that were most likely contract based to begin with.

 

As one of the people who lost their jobs via Funcom we weren't contracted we were full time with no warning of future lay offs at the time of hiring. Also if you believe everything the internet tells you as the 100% truth of the situation you are lieing to yourself. More than just the people in the US we're laid off. Of course I wouldn't expect anything but pro Funcom statements from a zealot with conan advocate in their name. Keep drinking the koolaide. I'll be moving on and staying away from shady Funcom. 

Originally posted by pcolapat

If you say that a game will fail long enough, you will eventually be right. Most MMOs never even launch, they die in the womb. This one did launch. It is one of the best MMOs on the market. It does have a long future ahead of it. Yet one day you will be right, it will fail.

Fact:   Funcom gets almost all of it's revenues from AOC
Fact:  Funcom had revenues of 7.7M in the first quarter
Fact  Funcom said it anticipates revenues of 5-7M in the second quarter

Just do some math.  Funcom expects to lose 25% of it's subscribers since March 31st.  That is a huge number for a game that already has a minimal number of servers.

Yes, you can say that AOC will survive, and it probably will.  But who wants to play a game with no development team.  Look at how infrequent the patches are to AOC already.  They had  one in November, then another in February.. and have another one coming in 2 months or so.  You really want to play a game that only does a minor patch every 6 months?   That sounds more like a free2play game then a $15/month game.  As subscribers decrease, so does the development and QA team.  Funcom launched with very very thin endgame content and hasn't added much over the past year... with dwindling subscribers, that isn't going to change...........ever.

I have been playing AoC since beta and launch.  There truly is noother MMO like it today.  It has a lot to offer and FUNCOM has done a great job at introducing new features and making improvements to the game.

Beyond that anyone that has the time to concoct conspiracy theories or rant and rave about it not being ready really should re-examine their priorities in life, in other words, get one. 

If you haven't tried AOC you're in for a treat.  It's a great game worth a good look.

AoC is a great concept with bad ass graphics ... the end games lacks  alot ...and also that the pvp the game is get in a huge guild or get ganked ..... i played it , got to 80 made a tier 2 city ... and left .....will go back if they ever figure out how to make it so small guilds can make a impact .. my opinion huge guild = trolls and kids and immature ,,, small guild = elite, work well together ,know each other .. the combos are very fun bringing you into the game but after 80 lvs the repeative combos get old