Message regarding Massive PvP - june 19 2008

[Mrbloodworth]

Thank you for heading over here to the boards to continue the discussion.

We are very serious about our Massive Siege PvP system and we became more aggressive on fixing several issues appearing in that regard. The bulk of the feedback can be summarized within two categories: a) Client performance and b) Content and collision.

I would like to say that most of you – our players – most likely have some time to go before you reach the stage where Siege Battles become a daily activity. It is unfortunate that some of these issues have arisen, but it will not be felt personally for most of our players as they will be addressed before you participate in Massive Siege. Funcom and I have a clear policy on focusing clearly and honestly on problems. This will give you predictability and the hopefully will be what you, our customers, see us as a company – clear and open.

Client Performance

The client performance seems to be the biggest issue. Luckily we already had several improvements of performance styled directly towards the siege battles in the pipeline when we got this feedback. We are confident that we will be able to get these update s to you within a short time. (We hope to get some out as early as on the Monday down-time!)

The improvements will include: a) ways to remove / hide performance impacting particles and sound, b) a more stylized view-distance (shorter and more pvp fitting) in the battle areas to increase framerate c) changes to how certain abilities and spells are being propagated. We are also confident that this fixes will greatly improve the framerate and overall client performance in the Siege Battles.

We will not stop optimizing this until we get to a stage where we are happy that all clients can host / participate in Siege PvP.

Content and collision

There were other problems with the siege battles as well. Luckily these are less severe in scope and it should be doable to address them all. We already have collision bug fixes for the dynamic collision in these areas on their way.

I hope you understand we do not take this lightly and that we are doing a strong push to address all issues immediately.

You can continue the discussion here.

Gaute Godager
Game Director

Linky

[schild]

Hay guys. The massive PVP comes AFTER player cities and crafting. Literally. In terms of game progressions. Someone needs to poke Gaute and ask if he doesn't understand the chronology of his own game.

[Venkman]

This doesn't really connote any sort of time frame. And he did say "our players – most likely have some time to go before you reach the stage where Siege Battles become a daily activity".

I'm glad they're working on graphics settings. I imagine they'll force all players to some similar level of graphics within a siege instance. At the same time, I also wish they push out prior the ability to save customized settings.

[Falconeer]

This is vaportalk, still I am usually mad when they just say nothing.

As much as it taste like a rubber bone to a hungry dog, I force myself to appreciate it and fake an optimist smirk.

[schild]

I think the most fun thing about this is we can blame powergaming asshats like LoTD for making these IMPORTANT ISSUES NOW instead of shit that will be fixed when the 1-79 game is finished. THX GUYS. YOU CAN TAKE THE SOCKS TO THE TRASH CAN NOW.

[Slayerik]

Well, I personally am glad they are working on their biggest selling point. By the time I hit 80, maybe they will have fleshed some of the real issues out with their MASSIVE SIEGE BATTLES!!!.

So for that, I salute the poopsockers. Or would that be sockpoopers.

[schild]

You're such a minority your avatar is black.

[Venkman]

The 1-79 game is less important than the endgame, unless they radically change the pacing of leveling. And it's not like they're going to take all their team resources and throw it at siege battles. They know that isn't for everyone... or we'd all be getting PvP-only quests on every server 

I'm glad they said something, anything. But that won't retain the LoTD-types anyway. Unless they get their siege stuff out before WAR launches.

[tazelbain]

>It is unfortunate that some of these issues have arisen

Yes. It was the cruel Hand of Fate that caused these issues and not the lack of preparation, time and testing. Fuckheads.

[schild]

Well, that's the point. Isn't it? PVPers are ADD to the extreme and uberguilds will hop from game to game like the necromunda barreling through content with no regard for craftmanship to see if it can hold up to their high standards of... I don't know, being loud assholes. That's pretty succinct.

[fuser]

This is vaportalk, still I am usually mad when they just say nothing.

As much as it taste like a rubber bone to a hungry dog, I force myself to appreciate it and fake an optimist smirk.

Free month expires tomorrow correct? I wonder how much of the playerbase will unsub until the game features are ready.

[Falconeer]

Well, humanity is so impatient.
I mean, the game is still tons of fun.
Whatever will get fixed, implemented, improved is more than welcome. And needed, of course.

But as long as it is so fun to play, and I am not sieging, I don't care that much. They will add PvP levels in a couple of weeks so border kingdoms will start to fill and I'll have my hands totally full. I was pissed when I got stuck in my first crafting quest, but once they fixed me I got back on fun highway.

Looks to me like the buzz right now is "get out before it sinks! run for your life!". It's all good as long as the quitters will give it a new chance in a couple of months. Assuming it is really losing people, I foresee september as the "Great Comeback Month".

[Jamiko]

I conditioned myself years ago to play MMOs at a slower pace as that allows me to enjoy it more fully. Content gets added all the time and I get to savor the current content. I wonder, game after game, about the people that rush as fast as they can to the level cap and then start complaining - only to do it in the next game to be released. Why?

Well, at least I am happy and perhaps in the more silent majority (for shame) of gamers. I will not be canceling my account in AoC any time soon.

[Mrbloodworth]

I think a lot of people, all the time forget , MMO's are never finished.

[Brogarn]

These games attract overachievers and they can't help themselves no matter how many times they get burnt. It's their nature.

[Lakov_Sanite]

aoc rants aside is there such a thing as a 'comeback' in mmo's? has any mmo ever gained more players down the line than they've lost since their peak? im not sure how many peak aoc subscribers there are but once attrition starts can a few patches really turn into positive growth again? I'd love to hear some examples from others games.

[Draegan]

You can go 20-80 in about 30 something hours if you're in a Keshatta grind group.  Or something like that.

[Rasix]

aoc rants aside is there such a thing as a 'comeback' in mmo's? has any mmo ever gained more players down the line than they've lost since their peak? im not sure how many peak aoc subscribers there are but once attrition starts can a few patches really turn into positive growth again? I'd love to hear some examples from others games.

EVE is a game that really turned around a negative first impression and then continued to grow. I don't know the numbers though on the initial attrition it suffered close to launch.

[slog]

I think the most fun thing about this is we can blame powergaming asshats like LoTD for making these IMPORTANT ISSUES NOW instead of shit that will be fixed when the 1-79 game is finished. THX GUYS. YOU CAN TAKE THE SOCKS TO THE TRASH CAN NOW.

I laughed.  What were they possibly thinking that the main features of the game would actually be working at release?

[Slayerik]

aoc rants aside is there such a thing as a 'comeback' in mmo's? has any mmo ever gained more players down the line than they've lost since their peak? im not sure how many peak aoc subscribers there are but once attrition starts can a few patches really turn into positive growth again? I'd love to hear some examples from others games.

Yeah, Eve.

This could be contributed to its unique skill system, offline training, and sandbox approach...as well as an awesome PVP/PVE fueled market and a solid PVP endgame. There really is no PvE endgame, unless you count running the same level 4 missions over and over.

[Venkman]

Aside from the good work CCP has done to make Eve more approachable, it enjoyed two spikes in the genre:

SWG: NGE. A good spike for Eve came January and February after the NGE broke. And I'm going simply by the concurrent logins on Trinity during those months. Seriously, it almost doubled.

WoW. This brought alot of first-timers players into the genre. Every legacy MMO has probably attracted some post-WoW player, and I'm sure some who came for WoW wanted the deeper connection between world and player that is Eve.

[Xuri]

I conditioned myself years ago to play MMOs at a slower pace as that allows me to enjoy it more fully. Content gets added all the time and I get to savor the current content. I wonder, game after game, about the people that rush as fast as they can to the level cap and then start complaining - only to do it in the next game to be released. Why?

Well, at least I am happy and perhaps in the more silent majority (for shame) of gamers. I will not be canceling my account in AoC any time soon.

Thank you, I'm not alone in this world.

"The journey is the reward."

[Lum]

You're such a minority your avatar is black.

Stygga, please.

[Rasix]

"The journey is the reward."

The journey is pretty much broken too. 

[LK]

Calling someone a Stygger is actually a punishable offense according to the GM staff.

[Draegan]

Calling someone a Stygger is actually a punishable offense according to the GM staff.

hahaha really?

[photek]

Calling someone a Stygger is actually a punishable offense according to the GM staff.

Form what has been shown from the GM staff.. Let's just say take everything with a huge grain of salt.

[schild]

PVP on a PvE server goes like this:

[Cthylla]: well look at your name
[Fearloathing]: lol
[Fearloathing]: we cant stop here
[Cthylla]: no we can't