Originally posted by Shannia

 

Originally posted by singsofdeath

You might want to read the facts again a bit. Not to defend much, but the developers -DID- believe that they would release the game March 25th when they last said it. According to the interview, the decision to delay was long in the talks, but not known to many people outside a very high level and only announced even to the majority of the company that weekend.

 

*shrug* You sound rather bitter, like many people. I guess i can understand that, but I for myself will just wait. I'm in no hurry and to be honest, FunCom hasn't lied to me more than any other gaming company (HOUSING WILL BE IN THE FIRST EXPANSION PACK OR BEFORE!!! Anyone remember Blizzard continually saying so? *smirk* Hooray!!)

 

Thank you for proving my point.  You don't tell the world all is fine one week and the next week push back six months.  You don't have your PR department tell the world on Friday we are commited to launching March 25 on Friday and before the weekend is over, push the launch date back until May 20th.  That is insane.  That was a freak'n Funcom press conference where they told the world they were commited to March 25th.  How many of those reporters at the Funcom press conference that told the world Friday that Funcom was commited to March 25 retracted their story to say the date has been pushed back to May 20th?  It is funny how it is HUGE news that everything is ok and hush hush when management gets caught telling lies.   What is even more depressing is some people accept it.  There is a thing called ETHICS in business and what we saw from Funcom this past weekend wasn't very ethical.

 

Its not as simple as you like to make it and its not that clear cut either. It is not an ethical discussion because no ethics were violated. As far as the devs knew, the plan was MArch 25th. Upon further consideration and TO DO WHATS BEST FOR THE GAME, the decision was made to move the date.

MMO dates are never firm until the game goes gold. Period. Don't try and put all the blame on Funcom for something that happens in the corporate world all the time.

It happens and we accept it and move on. If its in the best interest for the game then it is for the best.

The one thing I wish all companies would do is to stick to the Quarter system (We will release in a certain Quarter) and not give a specfic date. I wish all companies would keep dates to themsleves until its clear when they will release the game.

They are actualy listening to the beta testers, sorry you dont like that.

Originally posted by Produde

OP, do you have ANY experience in Corporate business?

There are many layers of people working a project like this. The "top brass" are the ones calling the shots.

The developers are doing their job while others make changes for whatever reason they choose.

Have you ever worked in an IT environment in any capacity? $hit happens, ALL the time...

Anything can go wrong during the development from hardware failure to software programming that takes time to identify and resolve.

You can be T'd Off for whatever you choose but the folks making MMOs are busting their humps to get it completed and working the way it's supposed to. For YOU!

OP, you would probably Bash them the same way if it was released unfinished with issues.

But in the end you can feel the way you choose....I wouldn't want your perspective on life....GL!

 

 

The fact they are delaying it is great.  The way in which they are communicating with the public is complete b.s.   It would have been MUCH better for them to tell the world at their Friday press conference they were delaying instead of preaching the party line of being commited to March 25th when they knew for a fact that was a lie.

Again, the delay isn't the problem.  It is Funcom's pattern of deceive the community that is my issue.

The problem, as I see it, is not that they are delaying AoC.

I think that is very wise.

The problem, I think, is that they may not be delaying it enough.

Based on the descriptions of the features, graphics, and other things in the game now, I suspect that whatever engine they have running it will not be sufficiently optimized to allow the majority of subscribers to actually play the game when the servers are under full load.

Funcom is notorious for the poor performance of Anarchy Online.  Now, I have heard many people say that Funcom does not want to make the same mistake again.

But that does not mean they will not make the same mistake again.  And that is what I expect is underway.

I would like to see some fully open to the public Stress Test weekends, similar to what WoW provided.   Clients provided through Fileplanet and other fast-download service providers.  Funcom should find out how AoC performs under real customer loads BEFORE they declare it Gold and ready to sell.

Otherwise, it WILL be another Anarchy Online.

And no one wants that.

whens war? :<

Originally posted by shinkan

Im glad their cleaning out serious problems/ bugs before lunch. And for OP, people like you will always complain, no matter what, if it hadn't been the delay, you would have axed them over all the bugs in game anyway... move on and find your next game to complain about, you wont be missed.

I would actually be less worried for the game if they were being less than open with the community than if they really  did not think there would be a delay until just last week.

Covering up the delay until the last possible moment means you could have perfectly competent managers who could have been manipulated by higher brass.   Being completely blind-sided by a delay means the managers didn't have their eyes open. 

Choosing to delay will only help the game, but Funcom does seems to have a habit of waiting to announce push-backs, giving more warning time would soften the blow a bit, I think. 

Originally posted by Shannia

Last fall, they push out their financials reporting that all is good and on schedule with AoC and less than a week later, BOOM, March 25 is the new delay.  Friday, they have a major press conference that all is well and they are commited to March 25 as the release date.  Then within two days, Funcom pushes the release date back to May 20.  Something stinks at Funcom as one hand has no freak'n clue what the other is doing at that company.  They need to get act together and just be honest with us.

I believe in companies that push back launches to make games are great as they possibly can.  However, I have no respect and will not financial support a company that consistant our right LIES to their community.

This is the 6th launch push back and I can deal with that.  Last fall, I can see as a mistake in financials going out one week and then the delay going the next.  But after a press release where they say they are commited to March 25th as launch day and two days later see a push back to May 20, I don't think so.  Enough of the lies and false information.

The push back didn't lose you customers, the outright LIES to the community did.

 

 

I don't think they have been lying. I work in the software business as well, won't tell you which firm or which field of software, but we had a product launch that was due out today pushed back, the announcement was made today, because we noticed a critical fault in the build that needed to be fixed. I would not call release dates being pushed back lying to your customer base, sometimes these decisions truly are last moment and there isn't much you can do about them.

I agree that pushing the release will be good for bugs, but will it be good for the game? most likely not. Having a release date to close to WAR and Aion will hurt AOC. I wouldnt mind living 8 weeks with some bugs if they patch it 8 weeks later, ive been playing mmos with major bugs a year after release.

To be hornest AOC is not only aimning for the MMO crowd but also Console gamers and I think this will hurt AOC gameplay more then anything else do i want to play a linear console game that try to be a MMO or an MMO thats easy and linear like a console game.

Will AOC be as linear as a console game with added capture the flag and PvP zones for sieges i think it will

Will crafting system offer anything new to MMOs not as far as i can tell.

Will AOC be a 2 week experience yes it will because Funcom want a piece of the casual gamer pie.

Will AOC Fail imho it will because what i want from a game isnt what AOC offer.

ill be looking at WAR if i want PvP and Aion if i want a game i know i wont max my char in 2 weeks.

Yah and if they released to soon and the game had a lot of bugs you would be the first person on these forums complaining about it.

Grow up.

Not true i only post here when bored and a bug wont make me bored with a game crappy gameplay will.

Originally posted by ruffer1980

I agree that pushing the release will be good for bugs, but will it be good for the game? most likely not. Having a release date to close to WAR and Aion will hurt AOC. I wouldnt mind living 8 weeks with some bugs if they patch it 8 weeks later, ive been playing mmos with major bugs a year after release.

To be hornest AOC is not only aimning for the MMO crowd but also Console gamers and I think this will hurt AOC gameplay more then anything else do i want to play a linear console game that try to be a MMO or an MMO thats easy and linear like a console game.

Will AOC be as linear as a console game with added capture the flag and PvP zones for sieges i think it will

Will crafting system offer anything new to MMOs not as far as i can tell.

Will AOC be a 2 week experience yes it will because Funcom want a piece of the casual gamer pie.

Will AOC Fail imho it will because what i want from a game isnt what AOC offer.

ill be looking at WAR if i want PvP and Aion if i want a game i know i wont max my char in 2 weeks.

 

You obviously don't understand that porting it to console doesn't magically somehow destroy how good it is.

I've played plenty of Console MMO's...in fact its how I got into the genre.  EQOA and, to a far lesser degree, PSO.  I wouldn't really call PSO an MMO by today's standard though, more like a Diablo type thing with an avatar lobby.  Still...EQOA played every bit like every other MMO I have ever tried.  In fact...it made the whole game MORE enjoyable because I could sit with the comfort of a controller instead of this stupid bulky keyboard.

Regardless...an MMO is an MMO.  I don't think you have anything to fear from "Console" taint.  EQOA was a harder game than half the MMO's I've played on PC anyway.

One things I think a lot of gamers do not realize is that many of these companies rely on investors to finance these games. If  you think about it, some of these games take up to 50 mil + to make and that is BEFORE they see any profit. There are not a lot fo game company's that can foot that kind of bill upfront. So these company's have to go to investors. Investors are the ones who set the release date, sometimes the money runs out and they have to release (IE Vangard) Release dates are something that most companies cannot control at all, they have to present good arguments for their investors to deley them. Otherwise they are forced to release the game.

I think some things have been forgotten here:

AoC devs stated last summer that the game was ready and only needed some polish and set October 30th as the GOLD date (ie the official will release date).  Most companies give you estimated dates and then post a gold date that most do follow.  AoC then set March 25th as the GOLD date, and guess what, just like last time it was anything but gold.

The game was obviously not finished last summer as reported.

Classe selection has been shrunk once again.

Marketing and devs are on two different pages obviously.

I have been following AoC for years now.  All of this is par for the course it seems with this game.

But keep in mind when a company sets a GOLD date that is an official yes it will come out date for all software companies.  Funcom has sullied this by constantly moving their GOLD date which is NOT typical for MMOs.  Their ESTIMATED release date is what gets moved.

Funcom needs to get its affairs sorted and let both hands know what is going on.

Originally posted by Shannia

Last fall, they push out their financials reporting that all is good and on schedule with AoC and less than a week later, BOOM, March 25 is the new delay.  Friday, they have a major press conference that all is well and they are commited to March 25 as the release date.  Then within two days, Funcom pushes the release date back to May 20.  Something stinks at Funcom as one hand has no freak'n clue what the other is doing at that company.  They need to get act together and just be honest with us.

I believe in companies that push back launches to make games are great as they possibly can.  However, I have no respect and will not financial support a company that consistant our right LIES to their community.

This is the 6th launch push back and I can deal with that.  Last fall, I can see as a mistake in financials going out one week and then the delay going the next.  But after a press release where they say they are commited to March 25th as launch day and two days later see a push back to May 20, I don't think so.  Enough of the lies and false information.

The push back didn't lose you customers, the outright LIES to the community did.

 

 

Door meet Shannia's rear end.

Seriously I have no clue how people can get upset a MMORPG that has to be pushed back a bit.  If it was to the extreme that Darkfail has done then maybe.. But I rather they push it back a few months then release Vanguard version 2 on us.

Another thing to consider, unlike most companys Funcom actually has brought us a MMORPG already....Not many of the failures that keep pushing back (erm Darkfall) can say that.

Well the problem that i see is they have not been able to fix sliding on the ground. Thats why i think they are trying to fix.

Originally posted by Shannia

The push back didn't lose you customers, the outright LIES to the community did.

  

I remember this game.. called.. Ultima 9.

It was going to be pushed back for about the 50th time.  Developer said it needed more polish.  People cried on forums saying release it now and we'll deal with it.

So they said ... ok...

A couple days later.. "omg why didn't you take time to polish the game".

No matter how you try to justify your statement.  Any developer that actually takes more time (it actually costs them money to do this.. you do reallize that?   That whoever is investing in them.. is letting them take more time with no return..) is doing a good thing.. a rare thing.

The game may or may not be good at launch.. but give it a rest... taking more time should ALWAYS be seen as a positive...

How many MMO's have been released to early... versus.. to late?

and your "outright lie" statement.. is in fact.. you being upset that its going to be an extra.. 8 weeks... omg.

***

To be honest I can understand since writers in hollywood are trying to gouge even more money out of the studio's... so there is nothing to watch.

Originally posted by vmoped

I think some things have been forgotten here:

AoC devs stated last summer that the game was ready and only needed some polish and set October 30th as the GOLD date (ie the official will release date).  Most companies give you estimated dates and then post a gold date that most do follow.  AoC then set March 25th as the GOLD date, and guess what, just like last time it was anything but gold.

The game was obviously not finished last summer as reported.

Classe selection has been shrunk once again.

Marketing and devs are on two different pages obviously.

I have been following AoC for years now.  All of this is par for the course it seems with this game.

But keep in mind when a company sets a GOLD date that is an official yes it will come out date for all software companies.  Funcom has sullied this by constantly moving their GOLD date which is NOT typical for MMOs.  Their ESTIMATED release date is what gets moved.

Funcom needs to get its affairs sorted and let both hands know what is going on.

Do you know why they call it gold date? Because the date is "good as gold" for the release. In fact it is synonomus with the day a game releases. IE the game went gold this xx/xx/xxxx date.

I am not saying Funcom should or should not have delayed, so all you fanboies don't read into this more than there is. It simply the facts.