<grabs bucket of popcorn>

This just proves to me canceling my account was the right move.

The game had way to much of a linear feel to it.

Not to mention I will not invest my time or money on a sinking ship.

economic recession aside, who didnt see this coming?  i'm positive we'll see more.

i do hope they pull through this downturn.  It would be sad to see a large company like Funcom (and most likely a becon of hope for emerging north European game developers) crash and have hundreds of people loose their jobs.

CFO quitting isn't whats interesting in the article.

"While Funcom's cash position remains robust at USD 39.4 million, the company reported a full-year net loss of USD 33.8 million. According to estimates by DnB NOR Markets, subscriber levels for Age of Conan are below 100,000, reports E24. "

A NET loss of 33.8m.  At this rate the company will be bankrupt by the end of this year.

Article goes on to say that the subscription peek was at 400k, now below 100k as the game suffers from "shorter than average subscription period."

I wish you AoC fans well, the financial message on the walls say REDRUM to FUNCOM.

Originally posted by mxmissile

economic recession aside, who didnt see this coming?  i'm positive we'll see more.

I don't know why you bother to even write anything. Why don't you just draw an Arrow and aim it at your Forum Picture.  Doing that would negate anyone having to even read anything you write, the point would be made.

Moving past Negative Nancy now...

Goodluck to you, Funcom... I personally thank you for trying to entertain us.  AoC's coming along great too, hopefully it'll make some of this lost money back.

Originally posted by Szark

Funcom's CFO Olav Sandnes has resigned after the company reported large losses in its fourth quarter financial results.

Funcom has reported its financial results for the fourth quarter, revealing an operating loss of USD 23.3 million, caused by a depreciation of USD 22.8 million due to the lagging performance of Age of Conan.

The poor performance is compounded by the announcement that the company's chief financial officer, Olav Sandnes, has resigned from the position.

"Funcom is a company with a substantial potential based on a unique combination of skill sets in a fast growing global market. I wish Trond Aas and the rest of the organisation all the best in realising the full potential of the company," commented Sandnes.

Read more here.

Why is it every time you report "news" here, it's always after there have been tons of threads about it days before? I'm starting to think your "news" comes from scanning the forums here, waiting a day or two ( or three ), and then comingout with the "news".

If they survive until the end of the year is going to be a miracle!! AOC had a enormous potential. If  the launch were smooth, with no crashes , and the game were complete they would be  insane rich. Maybe the other companies look at this mess and try to launch a complete product, because if they dont...well... look at FUNCOM now...

IMO it was another case of a game releasing with graphic requirements far above what the average user had or was willing to upgrade to.  In game issues failed to keep the player base. The world is in the great recession and MMO's are in their first depression....nothing around worth playing and especially not worth paying for.

---

Originally posted by mk11232
CFO quitting isn't whats interesting in the article.
"While Funcom's cash position remains robust at USD 39.4 million, the company reported a full-year net loss of USD 33.8 million. According to estimates by DnB NOR Markets, subscriber levels for Age of Conan are below 100,000, reports E24. "
A NET loss of 33.8m.  At this rate the company will be bankrupt by the end of this year.
Article goes on to say that the subscription peek was at 400k, now below 100k as the game suffers from "shorter than average subscription period."
I wish you AoC fans well, the financial message on the walls say REDRUM to FUNCOM.

---

23m came from the fourth quarter! At this rate they wont last another 4 months.

Something has to give. They are either going to have to sell AoC and try to get their other projects off the ground or sell the other projects and lay off the staff that is working on them.

With the subs under 100k (estimates are at 70k), funcom cannot keep both projects going and stay in business. They simply dont have the capitol. I bet they keep AoC and sell whatever virtual property they have in the other projects to keep AoC alive.

Good riddens. I hope AoC closes soon. Another lame theme park game bites the dust.

 Bleh, old news. Szark, you really need to get up-to-date with your info, this was already reported. And to be honest, whats the point of these news articles? We are not investors, sorry to say, but are 50 bucks is only that. News to me is the game closing down, not some financial officer leaving the company. And since the game is still running, this is only another news thread people will flame to death. So from the bottom of my heart, I thank you Szark, for not only being late on your news reporting, but also contributing to flame wars. When will this site ever get back to just talking about games, and not financial crap! I know, I know, some people do care about this crap. God forbid stock falls down a dollar in WoW or AoC right, your items might get deleted!

I specially want to thank MMORPG.COM for telling the actual facts about the state of the company.  Thats what MMO gamers need to know.   The Funcom version in the 4th Q report and presentation sounded nice - but it still tried everything to hide the fact that company had a huge loss.  But thats Funcom for you - PR through and through

Now they are forming their PR team for next MMO.  Now its up to the custimors of Funcom to let everyone know what the company stands for.  And yes... that includes their games never breaking NDA.   All need to know that.

Originally posted by Frobner

I specially want to thank MMORPG.COM for telling the actual facts about the state of the company.  Thats what MMO gamers need to know.   The Funcom version in the 4th Q report and presentation sounded nice - but it still tried everything to hide the fact that company had a huge loss.  But thats Funcom for you - PR through and through

Now they are forming their PR team for next MMO.  Now its up to the custimors of Funcom to let everyone know what the company stands for.  And yes... that includes their games never breaking NDA.   All need to know that.

This has nothing to do with Funcom,the whole economy is losing everywhere.Banks and i mean many banks closed,many homes lost,if big important institutions cannot survive right now,what makes anyone think a gaming outfit has any better chance?This is a time of luck,lucky people will survive others will not.Heck the big 3 auto makers are in big trouble,does that mean they make bad cars?

Even the guys making money ,there profits are way down,about the only lucky dude was that guy who made that pile of junk game for the iphone lmao,made 600k in 2 months.Geesh the big guys spend years developing a game,then are lucky to make anything and this guy makes 600k on game that is worth about 5 bucks to make lol....pure luck.It is like every single fad,needs a push ,then it snowballs on itself,friends tell friends then tons more an then everyone is paying to play something so pathetic,but they do it because everryone else is.

Originally posted by Wizardry

Originally posted by Frobner

I specially want to thank MMORPG.COM for telling the actual facts about the state of the company.  Thats what MMO gamers need to know.   The Funcom version in the 4th Q report and presentation sounded nice - but it still tried everything to hide the fact that company had a huge loss.  But thats Funcom for you - PR through and through

Now they are forming their PR team for next MMO.  Now its up to the custimors of Funcom to let everyone know what the company stands for.  And yes... that includes their games never breaking NDA.   All need to know that.

This has nothing to do with Funcom,the whole economy is losing everywhere.Banks and i mean many banks closed,many homes lost,if big important institutions cannot survive right now,what makes anyone think a gaming outfit has any better chance?This is a time of luck,lucky people will survive others will not.Heck the big 3 auto makers are in big trouble,does that mean they make bad cars?

Even the guys making money ,there profits are way down,about the only lucky dude was that guy who made that pile of junk game for the iphone lmao,made 600k in 2 months.Geesh the big guys spend years developing a game,then are lucky to make anything and this guy makes 600k on game that is worth about 5 bucks to make lol....pure luck.It is like every single fad,needs a push ,then it snowballs on itself,friends tell friends then tons more an then everyone is paying to play something so pathetic,but they do it because everryone else is.

 

So, Funcom's current situation is Mr.Greenspan's fault, not their own?

Btw, nice example of the car industry. The biggest failing car industry atm is the american car companies. I hope you know that the entire rest of the world has refused to buy these cars for several years now?

Those big mighty SUV's didnt appeal to the world market at all.

Sold like hot chockolate though....in USA. Must have been the "patriotic" reason.

So we now go into the closing debate on Funcom....like i predicted, with the explanation of Funcom's horrible numbers are all because of the financial crisis.

Remember GG measured FC to steak and WoW to McDonalds? McDonalds now has a bigger value than the UK government.

While GG now might be found at some MC, i hope EE and Craig still can afford their steaks.

i wanted to buy a pizza last week but then spend the money on 1 month age of conan sub

hmm...

I was reading the original article, they had 700.000 subscribers at one time, and they are now down to less than 100.000.
Apparently the reason because AoC is failing is because subscriptions were short lived.

It doesn't take a genious to understand that once you hit level 80 (in any MMO) people get bored, so unless you are WoW which can offer tons of end game, players will move to something else.
When developers will understand that fast leveling is bad for the game and for their pocket.
Slow leveling is good for the game because the player actually has time to play all the content and take it easy so they can enjoy the game instead of rushing to lvl 80, like a marathon.
Same for WAR, EQ2, LOTRO and so on, lots of low to medium content constantly skipped just to get to level cap as fast as possible, then once you get there you got no other goal to achieve and give up.
Developers should be smarter.
 

Originally posted by ste2000

It doesn't take a genious to understand that once you hit level 80 (in any MMO) people get bored

Indeed it doesn't. I too wonder about that. lvl 80 is max in AoC.

As I've said in other posts, I re-subbed today (ducks) I had a 71 reaver who I managed to frustratingly grind to 72 this afternoon. I bimbled off to Thunder River and lo, new (green) quests were there for me.  Excellent, I grabbed one called 'Lunn the Warmonger'...a piddling lvl 65 group quest.

This gets better.

Off I toddled, and further down the road I spied 'Lunn'. targetted, ran in, and POOF. Dead. One hit. I was.

A little bit later I spotted an LFG for 'Lunn the Warmonger', in a flash I joined 2 other players, a lvl 67 and a might lvl 80. Afore long we were a full six man group and we set out looking for this roving Lunn the Warmonger.

We found him.

I should mention that we were now mentored, ie- I was now an '80' with 65-70 armour, weps etc (which apparently doesn't matter in AoC as stats are not a big factor) and the others were also mentored. So here we are, 6 of us, 2 'real' lvl 80s and 4 made-up lvl 80s. In we go.

One-hitted I was.

One-hitted was another.

The other 4 tried hard, but couldn't get ol' Lunn down to less than maybe 60% before they too fell.

Lunn is a lvl 60 group quest. He'd wiped a lvl '80' in but a couple of minutes.

I'll be back to get Lunn tomorrow, the day after, day after that. until he falls. This is one thing AoC does offer players...A good kicking....And revenge.

Wow is next to Fall....cough, cough, hack, weeze....wth? Theya re still here, damnit! Ok, the Next WOW Killer is.....

Originally posted by Hamrtime2

 

---

Originally posted by mk11232
CFO quitting isn't whats interesting in the article.
"While Funcom's cash position remains robust at USD 39.4 million, the company reported a full-year net loss of USD 33.8 million. According to estimates by DnB NOR Markets, subscriber levels for Age of Conan are below 100,000, reports E24. "
A NET loss of 33.8m.  At this rate the company will be bankrupt by the end of this year.
Article goes on to say that the subscription peek was at 400k, now below 100k as the game suffers from "shorter than average subscription period."
I wish you AoC fans well, the financial message on the walls say REDRUM to FUNCOM.

---

 

23m came from the fourth quarter! At this rate they wont last another 4 months.
 

In accounting, a net loss does not necessarily (and usually does not) correspond to a loss of cash over the same period. Hence, Funcom's financial situation could be stronger than one might think simply by reading that one line from the press release.

A depreciation expense (in accounting) is typically a cost that has already been incurred for an asset. Rules (and principles) of accrual-based accounting allow companies to allocate that cost over time. So next year, Funcom will probably report additional depreciation expenses related to AoC; those expenses will represent costs they've already incurred, not costs they incurred during the reporting period.

This does not, of course, mean that circumstances are even close to rosy. It's just that it's easy for laymen to misunderstand the language used in financial press releases.

Originally posted by heihojin

Originally posted by Hamrtime2

 

---

Originally posted by mk11232
CFO quitting isn't whats interesting in the article.
"While Funcom's cash position remains robust at USD 39.4 million, the company reported a full-year net loss of USD 33.8 million. According to estimates by DnB NOR Markets, subscriber levels for Age of Conan are below 100,000, reports E24. "
A NET loss of 33.8m.  At this rate the company will be bankrupt by the end of this year.
Article goes on to say that the subscription peek was at 400k, now below 100k as the game suffers from "shorter than average subscription period."
I wish you AoC fans well, the financial message on the walls say REDRUM to FUNCOM.

---

 

23m came from the fourth quarter! At this rate they wont last another 4 months.
 

 

In accounting, a net loss does not necessarily (and usually does not) correspond to a loss of cash over the same period. Hence, Funcom's financial situation could be stronger than one might think simply by reading that one line from the press release.

A depreciation expense (in accounting) is typically a cost that has already been incurred for an asset. Rules (and principles) of accrual-based accounting allow companies to allocate that cost over time. So next year, Funcom will probably report additional depreciation expenses related to AoC; those expenses will represent costs they've already incurred, not costs they incurred during the reporting period.

This does not, of course, mean that circumstances are even close to rosy. It's just that it's easy for laymen to misunderstand the language used in financial press releases.

Accounting dictionary: Net loss - The bottom line of the income statement when revenues and gains are less than the aggregate amount of cost of goods sold, operating expenses, losses, and income taxes (if the company is a regular corporation).

Of coruse there is an expensive that Funcom is taking, the operation of the game, new game develop, paying back any costs accured during development, etc.  The fact is the net loss means that the company did not make enough revenue to cover these expenses. 

Also you quickly jump to acural-based accounting, how do you know if this is cash or accural or whatever is allowed in that country.  It doesn't matter if the company is taking into account deprectiated expenses.  The fact remains that if they took no the debt (i.e. the devlopment for the code, the code rights, royalties, etc) and cannot make enough money in teh fiscal year to cover that debt. 

In the end, when the market isn't buying your product and your losing more money than you can generate you are operationally bankrupt.  Now can they turn this around, theroetcially yes, practically I highly doubt it without a huge overhaul.

I get to quote myself from a previous prediction earlier this month "The real question will be their Q2 09' quarter to really see how the golden egg (AoC) is really doing. I predict that if the Q2 numbers are weak overall (for AoC), the stock will fall below $2 permanently which will utterly cripple their ability to gain future outside financing as they will have a year's worth of data showing their viability in the mmo market. AoC IP will be sold off to shore-up funding for their continuing adventures and Funcom will become a primariliy single-player RPG development (my long term prediction). They had great success with Dreamfall and they should stick with single-player RPG's."  Lets see what happens with the company.

What's this?  Their dynamic, carpal tunnel inducing combat interface isn't enough to keep people playing their game?  Big surprise there, heh.

Originally posted by heihojin

Originally posted by Hamrtime2

 

---

Originally posted by mk11232
CFO quitting isn't whats interesting in the article.
"While Funcom's cash position remains robust at USD 39.4 million, the company reported a full-year net loss of USD 33.8 million. According to estimates by DnB NOR Markets, subscriber levels for Age of Conan are below 100,000, reports E24. "
A NET loss of 33.8m.  At this rate the company will be bankrupt by the end of this year.
Article goes on to say that the subscription peek was at 400k, now below 100k as the game suffers from "shorter than average subscription period."
I wish you AoC fans well, the financial message on the walls say REDRUM to FUNCOM.

---

 

23m came from the fourth quarter! At this rate they wont last another 4 months.
 

 

In accounting, a net loss does not necessarily (and usually does not) correspond to a loss of cash over the same period. Hence, Funcom's financial situation could be stronger than one might think simply by reading that one line from the press release.

A depreciation expense (in accounting) is typically a cost that has already been incurred for an asset. Rules (and principles) of accrual-based accounting allow companies to allocate that cost over time. So next year, Funcom will probably report additional depreciation expenses related to AoC; those expenses will represent costs they've already incurred, not costs they incurred during the reporting period.

This does not, of course, mean that circumstances are even close to rosy. It's just that it's easy for laymen to misunderstand the language used in financial press releases.

If you just took a loss equal to your cash on hand, it's well beyond over and you've known for a long time coming. Can't say it's a surprise, but I do feel sorry for people who enjoyed the game and soon won't be able to play. Never played it myself.

---

Originally posted by mk11232

---

Originally posted by heihojin
In accounting, a net loss does not necessarily (and usually does not) correspond to a loss of cash over the same period. Hence, Funcom's financial situation could be stronger than one might think simply by reading that one line from the press release.
A depreciation expense (in accounting) is typically a cost that has already been incurred for an asset. Rules (and principles) of accrual-based accounting allow companies to allocate that cost over time. So next year, Funcom will probably report additional depreciation expenses related to AoC; those expenses will represent costs they've already incurred, not costs they incurred during the reporting period.
This does not, of course, mean that circumstances are even close to rosy. It's just that it's easy for laymen to misunderstand the language used in financial press releases.

---

 
Accounting dictionary: Net loss - The bottom line of the income statement when revenues and gains are less than the aggregate amount of cost of goods sold, operating expenses, losses, and income taxes (if the company is a regular corporation).
Of coruse there is an expensive that Funcom is taking, the operation of the game, new game develop, paying back any costs accured during development, etc.  The fact is the net loss means that the company did not make enough revenue to cover these expenses.

---

Which is why I said:
 

---

Originally posted by heihojin
This does not, of course, mean that circumstances are even close to rosy.

---

---

Originally posted by mk11232
Also you quickly jump to acural-based accounting, how do you know if this is cash or accural or whatever is allowed in that country.  It doesn't matter if the company is taking into account deprectiated expenses.  The fact remains that if they took no the debt (i.e. the devlopment for the code, the code rights, royalties, etc) and cannot make enough money in teh fiscal year to cover that debt.

---

I believe you have some fundamental misunderstandings about financial reporting, misunderstandings that are very common among the general public. These misunderstandings were evident in your assumption that Funcom's reported net loss corresponded to a similar loss of cash over the same time period. I was gently attempting to provide some information that might enlighten you.

Accrual-based accounting is so ubiquitous that one can reasonably assume that any corporation that is publicly reporting financial results is using some variation of accrual-based accounting. The precise standards vary from country to country, but the standards used are irrelevant in considering whether your assumption is reasonable.

Funcom's report of depreciation expenses are indeed pertinent, and precisely the evidence one would need to assume that their net loss did not correspond to a similar loss of cash. In accrual-based accounting, a depreciation expense is an allocation of a cost already incurred; it is simply a way of matching the cost with the time during which the asset generates revenue.

Now once again, I am not saying that Funcom's financial results are "good." I am simply saying that a reported net loss does not necessarily correspond to a similar loss of cash, and that a company's cash flows are often quite different from their reported earnings.

I am starting to think AoC is going to bankrupt Funcom before its all over.

i think everyone in here needs to get a perspective as to why the world is in the econmic state it is. Everyone was living beyond their means and it caught up to them.  Everyone in america based their livelyhood on inflated home purchases spurned on by laxed finacial regulation and frankly pure ignorance.  The rest of the world jumped on americas insatiable spending and bet their livelyhood on it. Now that we're tightening our belts the rest of the world has a reality check.  Funcom suffered from the same american business idea that you can shovel any kinda crap at someone and they will buy it.  it worls for a while but in the end everyone suffers.  The mmo market will survive the econmic problems in the world.  So will we as gamers. 

Originally posted by cylon8

i think everyone in here needs to get a perspective as to why the world is in the econmic state it is. Everyone was living beyond their means and it caught up to them.  Everyone in america based their livelyhood on inflated home purchases spurned on by laxed finacial regulation and frankly pure ignorance.  The rest of the world jumped on americas insatiable spending and bet their livelyhood on it. Now that we're tightening our belts the rest of the world has a reality check.  Funcom suffered from the same american business idea that you can shovel any kinda crap at someone and they will buy it.  it worls for a while but in the end everyone suffers.  The mmo market will survive the econmic problems in the world.  So will we as gamers. 

Very nicely said in a nutshell. Funcom is not the only company suffering losses and it's not entirely due to AoC.

NCsoft suffering losses, EA isn't too sure what to do with Mythic and so on.

i thought their subs were around 120 to 140K below  100K is dissapointing

Originally posted by Cynthe

Originally posted by cylon8

i think everyone in here needs to get a perspective as to why the world is in the econmic state it is. Everyone was living beyond their means and it caught up to them.  Everyone in america based their livelyhood on inflated home purchases spurned on by laxed finacial regulation and frankly pure ignorance.  The rest of the world jumped on americas insatiable spending and bet their livelyhood on it. Now that we're tightening our belts the rest of the world has a reality check.  Funcom suffered from the same american business idea that you can shovel any kinda crap at someone and they will buy it.  it worls for a while but in the end everyone suffers.  The mmo market will survive the econmic problems in the world.  So will we as gamers. 

 

Very nicely said in a nutshell. Funcom is not the only company suffering losses and it's not entirely due to AoC.

NCsoft suffering losses, EA isn't too sure what to do with Mythic and so on.

 

The strong will survife - the weak will fall.  Now... lets remind ourselfs.  What company released a half finished game 8 months ago that was lacking alot of features and content.?  And then "forgot" to tell the custimors about it - taking the game to 800 k copies sold with alot of unhappy custimors.  

Now... Is that a company that sounds like a strong one ?  Or from the car industry perspective.  Would that be one of the favorite company to survife considering it was selling cars that had no seats ?  I wonder....

And to the financial expert with 3 posts that obviously has no connection to Funcom's PR squad....  Just zip it.  

Both AOC and AO have proven alot of what FUncom stands for.  That includes total lack of respect from paying custimors to the extend of alot of unhappy ppl with how they have been treated.  And yet the company uses the same methods to go about their buisness.  Hopefully the gaming comunity  has now made it perfectly clear that they expect abit more from ANY gaming company than to keep NDA on their product FOREVER ! 

We will see if the next MMO from Funcom is gonna lift NDA.   Cause if not then its another sign that they havn't changed abit. 

Well .... i dropped from AoC after about 2 initial months. Not because of bugs, lag, ... but "we are doing great,  game does not have any problems, most smooth start in game industry ..." and similar nonsenses. I hate disohonesty. And Funcom was dishonest to his players. Warhammer i.e. had also its share of problems .... but I always had impression they are honest toward me. Ok, it is true also, that Warhammer start was probably indeed one of the best starts in mmorpg world.

But after few months of intense playing wotlk i needed short break .... and I have found that AoC has improved really a lot, nearly no lag, no memory leaks, .... Ok, gathering and crafting should be rewritten from scratch, can not be "fixed" in current state ... but otherwise i like a lot game, mechanics, realism.

Despite I have not problems admitting I'm Wow lover and wow for me is the best game ever ... I also hope Aoc And War will not only survive, but evolve. They are for me second best thing to wow.

I wonder what we will be saying about AOC one year from now?

Originally posted by Death1942

i do hope they pull through this downturn.  It would be sad to see a large company like Funcom (and most likely a becon of hope for emerging north European game developers) crash and have hundreds of people loose their jobs.

I hope they don't, they get everything they deserve for overhyping an incomplete game. It had the potential to be a great game, but instead of putting money into the development, they put it into advertising.

Sod failcom :)

I hope other mmo companys see this and believe that they have to release a completed game to get anywhere these days and stop lying through their arse that it's done.

Originally posted by Zutha

Originally posted by Death1942

i do hope they pull through this downturn.  It would be sad to see a large company like Funcom (and most likely a becon of hope for emerging north European game developers) crash and have hundreds of people loose their jobs.

 

I hope they don't, they get everything they deserve for overhyping an incomplete game. It had the potential to be a great game, but instead of putting money into the development, they put it into advertising.

A lot of the hyping came from fanboys though. That's the problem I have with rabid fanboys for unreleased games. At last wait until it's relased and you've played it!

In a way its really a pity. AoC had some really great elements, but in the long run there was too little of everything to keep me playing longer. Its just not really well planned and thought through to keep you entertained with new things. There was great landscapes and cool combat, and thats pretty much all. I still miss the action combat, really. But only humans, mediocre magic, relatively small world and after Tortage mostly boring quests. There is just too little game in the game.

I was very dissapointed  with age of conan as it was more of the same old MMO patern. with unnecessarily high graphic requirements.

I was looking for a game that was much more realistic and organic and not just the same old quest grinding or mob grinding   to me  AOC could have been auto generated  it felt more like a stage or prefab arena combat   more like a quest vending machine

I didnt even need to subscribe beyond the 30 days to see the writing on this wall

as an older player im looking for a game that uses a idealized reality  but one that is much more organic and immersive  some things I look for

food and water being important, crossing a desert  is trivial when there are no real water requirements also food is a powerful plot device  you can even have trade and caravans

I would have both clothing and armor be important you would want warm dry clothing in the icy north

I would have drastic death  exists but very difficult to actually "die" you would most likely die or be crippled for a short time

warm and cold and weather penalties to endurance and morale

climate and seasons

localized resources  where there is iron in the mountains  clay in the river 

I like to see more "quests" being organic or embeded  where the charactor can be hired as a worker  or a noob can even go out and gather wood in the forest to sell to other players to use in their fireplaces

I see new players coming into the game as a pesant having to scrounge and fight for food  like an olivar twist  and then join up with the city guard or the church  or the mage guild as an apprentice  and their powers and skills would be in line with their status.

skills and powers would be more sandbox  a fire ball spell would be constructed from different parts  such as power and range and color  so is it a big short range ball?  or a smaller long range ball?   same for sword attack combinations

I would also have combat encounters being much more diverse and interactive  such as stumbles and tumbles  and knockdowns and trips  and blindings  

I would have more interactive terrain doors that need bashing through

I would try not to have cripple game  like missing siege weapons  or boats and ships 

I would create a "GM" type of avatar that can be used to create organic chaos such as drouts or storms  or goblin raids  that are not typical of the usual generic spawn generators 

I would endever to have crafts to be very important and valued to the game world  gathering skills such as fishing and farming and ranching   and processing such as smoking or drying or grinding    and storage like   pottery or basket weaving   

think about a cold hungry wet tired soldiers morale and endurance  as compared to a warm, well feed, dry soldier  

thieves and criminals have allways been short changed... id actually have crimes and penalties and even jail and punishment as part of the game environment  as a matter of fact, a thief might actually get his start by being thrown into the local jail! Id have several ways to deal with jail like you could do your time proforming some non afk type jobs such as breaking rocks or digging trenches  but id also have ways like bribery or break out or sneek out ect.

I would also have player reputation with village venders  so the longer they know you the more it changes  do they like you  hate you fear you?

I think players and NPC villages should have a synergistic relationship  so as the player does work for the village the more prosperous the village gets (the blacksmith can now make basic iron swords instead of basic bronze swords because the player brought wood or metals)  this creates an actual bond or relation ship where the player cares more about the town and its fate  (id also have player housing instanced in different locations  in cities  villages  worksites wilderness  id even like to see guild villages  these would be preset locations  near expected building locations near water or resources or stratigic locations like passes.

I would have merchants have a small stock of basic goods jerkey and water  and have players create the rest,,, id have only local  player venders or auction house   I think a global auction is bad for gaming   want a fancy sword? goto a major city,   this allows for more market diversity and more "masters" and of course trade  (iceburg lettus from the north,, pinapples from the south,, id expect certain recipies or concoctions would have better benefits using more distant or exotic ingredients,, food and drink would also have a social factor  would you feed gruel to the queen?  or quail eggs?

id have forest fires  volcanos  earthquakes floods  blizzards  plagues  

as for PVP I would probably use  regonized and concentual pvp  though id also have non lethal bar fights available, my goal is fights would tend to be by some form of choice  if a thief breaks into a house players and guards might try to pummel and aprehend him but it was his choice to risk breaking in!

ive said alot in a concentrated post i hope you can make sense of it.

I had another game idea where players have to evacuate their home planet  and escape through a magic or technical portal  to a distant and totally unknown world.

before passing through the portal  you get to choose from a limited selection of  goods (figure they have to be specially designed to pass through the portal)

a pack or shoulder pouch or tool belt,,,food pack  water container ..shovel, ax,  large knife,,, rope  ect

so it would take several people to actually have all the items,, and items would be as multi use as possible  the ax could chop wood or as a weapon  ect.

all a new player knows is that where he lands is relativly safe and not too far from an outpost  (I was actually considering a mind wipe here and they would land and find a picture monument pointing to the settlement.)

players wouldnt know anything about their world   even what way is north, the weather, whats good to eat, or bad,  if there are any inteligent life/orcs   even if there are any planets in this solar system or even a moon until  they look up  or what animal or plant life is hostile . id even like to figure a way for players to be able to name  mobs objects and locations somehow,, maby a vote or sugest system

id even go as far as does this new world work like  our universe?  if not why not?  is it bright at night? why?  big moon?  glowing ether?   can it ever get really dark as in torch lantern and candle dark?  is the planet your on flat? square?   and where are you on the planet (or is it an exotic ant farm?) 

it is up to the players to discover all of this or learn from veterans  and learn to work and build in the new world   i expect there will be several  of these settlements scattered  around,, wether they will be  friends or enemies  is up to them  it is even possible for certain settlements to be destroyed or invaded or claimed  but terrain or distance would make this difficult.  

physicly players would be similar in size and strength  modified slightly by starting atributes and skills  so a spear or a bullet would be lethal within their parameters

I would also have some very origional and interesting  animals  that would have organic habits  forage  mating ect   there would be several ways to hunt these creatures  such as traping or stalking

there would be lots of skills and researching  learn how to construct bows or spears or steel swords  or guns or siege weapons  depending on the games theme. so players could choose to be a fur hunter or a smithy  or a healer  depending on which skills they work on.

im allways a big fan of default  + extra for extra effort,,,  for instance a smith can easily make an iron sword of his skill level  but it takes extra effort, time, and risk  to create a higher quality item like a reinforced iron sword , id also have a certain amount of resource recovery as from failed attempts.

I would hope if someone finds this Idea usefull would not just steal it without reasonable consideration

but i would love to see some game that is fun and adventurous but not the same spawn generators and stupid AI  and  vending machine quest givers 

Just an FYI:

This article is based on outdated data from Sept-Nov. 2008.

They published the article on Feb 23rd because they just got the estimates in from DnB NOR during for that period.

It does not reflect the 20% growth each month AoC has had over the past 3 months.

Furthermore anyone who has dealt with DnB knows how horribly inaccurate most of their data is with simple business credit much less with estimating MMO subscribership. I can only imagine their process in determining it.

I find that an article estimating the subscribers to be closer to 100k-120k done by lit on this very forums to be A LOT more accurate.

As a matter of fact Lit hates Funcom and still gives them higher numbers then the horribly inaccurate DnB report which is based on the same data that he is evaluating.

Current numbers are around 180k-200k and growing.

I can ony say that my expirence with AOC  was less than desired  instead of being revolutionary and out of the box  it was for the most part just another verson of existing MMO builds   there was one point I was in  a pyramid?  and there were these statues  that some of them shifted as you pass  which lead you to believe in a possibility for a very creative and origional encounter  but it was not to be,, they attacked and died in a very predictable and boring way.

I rember going into a catacomb in the northern city  whish was supose to be a difficult location but i found myself falling to sleep with boredom as the mobs had lots of hitpoints and damage but nothing else effectivy a big rat

I have just resubbed to AoC since i liked it, recently cancelled my wow account with a lvl 72 okey geared hunter as main and when't back to anarchy online :)

Many here complain about funcom and how they have dealt with customers but lets face it Anarchy has been around for over 7 years and while it is not wow density on players it feels fairly busy.

Finances are troubled in many areas, the car dealer saab might not even make it, volvo is not exactly in good shape, gm has some major problems, companys here in sweden have made a deal with the union to cut salaries to max 80% of the current instead of layoffs.