Expansion Pack-Official Word

[__________griemdaall]

Originally posted by IronIce
I think with all the problems they had the CD Expansion Pack should be FREE!

Brilliant! Or better yet, maybe Funcom should just file for bankruptcy! Then the game would be a lot more fun for all of us.

[__________griemdaall]

Originally posted by Cloudeh
So Funcom decides not to tells us but let us find out ourselves, typical.

Actually no, Cz called me at home and asked permission to start working on an expansion. He said he couldn't get hold of you, so he called me instead. I gave him the go ahead just to get him off the phone, it was 4am and he woke me up.

Sorry I forgot to tell you.

[Maximilian]

Last man standing = Griemdall. Keep on going, man, hope you get a batch for it one day.

As a very famous person said: If we stop critizising we are no longer interested. (does my wife count as very famous person - well, at least for me ).

So long,

Max(imilian)

P.S. Nothing against your answers (lol), but, in my opinion, it should be the duty of the Funcom officials to be present out here and talk about such things as this is the 'official' forum. If things are as bad as some of us assume (what did you say in that side note?, ...), why not trying to reduce the bad temper on the boards by some food (philosphical discussion anyway).

[_________________mot]

Originally posted by Merkaba715
so everyone here at FC are liars? wasnt it on the boards a few weeks or months ago that there were never going to be an expansion pack? didnt Capt Fallout say so, and everyone, including FC reps say no? this is complete horse manure

Since when did people ACTUALLY start listening to what CptFallout has to say, he's the biggest whiner/ranter i've ever met since beta 2

[__________Merkaba715]

Originally posted by Cosmik
Er, no. A few months ago we said there were no plans to create an expansion at that time. Plans do change and now we do have plans to make an expansion pack. We never ruled it out completely.

You confirmed at that time that no time or effort would ever be put into an expansion pack untill the game was fixed and balance. I think everyone would agree that its far from it. You really think that you can compete with SWG when it comes out? I think we have all fallen for your empty promises before and will not let it happen again. This is just going to be a new bunch of bugs released into AO. You really think anyone is going to let you take our money after repeatedly ignoring your customer base? hell no. FC, you can stick this expansion where the sun doesnt shine, because I will NOT pay for items promised in the released product.

[______________Jennii]

Originally posted by IronIce
I think with all the problems they had the CD Expansion Pack should be FREE!

Be real. Funcom needs to make money too. They are constantly working on this game, and constantly working on improvments.

Anyone who thinks otherwise probably has never worked in the computer business.

All of the programming, maintenance, bandwidth, and public relations takes a huge amount of time and money. This isn't a hobby for them, it is a full time job, and they deserve to be paid. They need to eat to, so I want some real answers as to why anyone thinks this should be free.

[Atremis]

It's stupid to speculate on the cost of the expansion pack at this time. That said...

I seriously doubt it will cost any more than the game itself. More than likely, it will be significantly less than what the game is currently retailing for. With the game going for about 20 bucks in most places, and the upcoming special edition (which I bet will be in the 35-40 dollar range), my opinion is that this expansion will not cost more than 20 dollars, if even that.

If you can't afford to shell out 20 bucks as a one-time expense, why are you even playing AO, which has a yearly cost of something like $144?

[___________xenomorph]

Originally posted by Greebus


Be real. Funcom needs to make money too. They are constantly working on this game, and constantly working on improvments.

Anyone who thinks otherwise probably has never worked in the computer business.

All of the programming, maintenance, bandwidth, and public relations takes a huge amount of time and money. This isn't a hobby for them, it is a full time job, and they deserve to be paid. They need to eat to, so I want some real answers as to why anyone thinks this should be free.

couldn't have said it better myself!

[MORB]

As for fixing the existing game before releasing an addon, well, they never said they would stop to make patches until the expansion is out.

However, what annoys me is that it will divide the players into those who have the addon, and those who don't. AO is my first real MMORPG, but I played PSO on the dreamcast. When PSOv2 came out, you clearly had people with it and the others, hardly playing together.

How did it work in other MMORPGs with expansion packs, like everquest ?

[allenfox]

A special “perk” system will also be introduced. Earned through quests or by following special instructions, perks can augment your skills or provide special abilities, such as increasing your hit points or giving you the power to teleport back to your start city.

Now we fixers and NT's can start paying even more than our monthly fee for our nerfs! Woot! Fixer = transportation experts my a$$.

[Tricia50]

Real mixed feelings about this.

The team responsible for GM story telling stuff is getting off the ground, some really interesting involvements going on there, which I'm grateful for ...

... but with continuing mechanics and balance issues, as well as just a ton of server issues, I really don't think releasing an expansion pack and expecting an already ambivalent customer base to shell out another $20-30 is a wise or reasonable thing to do.

Yes, I understand that Funcom may be in financial straits--well, maybe Funcom has seen it's day, in that case.

Not sure what I'll be doing regarding purchasing this expansion pack ... depends on what my guild is doing at that point (many of us are simply fed up with the ongoing problems), depends on whether Funcom fixes fixers, depends on ... well, a lot of things.

Mostly, it depends on whether I think Anarchy Online is the best value in MMORPGs when the expansion comes out.

I do, however, think that Funcom has a policy of not disclosing information that they think will alienate their current customer base in the hope of attracting new customers ignorant of the ongoing problems. Bad policy, guys--all anyone who's new to the game has to do is check out the official and unofficial forums out there to see what's going on. It's better to acknowledge and address whatever problems you're having with the game and what steps you're taking to address them.

Whatever.

[Fludium]

thanks for all the fish.....


I agree with Merkaba.... why should we pay for this?


this is all about damage control now.....

[___________xenomorph]

Originally posted by MORB
As for fixing the existing game before releasing an addon, well, they never said they would stop to make patches until the expansion is out.

However, what annoys me is that it will divide the players into those who have the addon, and those who don't. AO is my first real MMORPG, but I played PSO on the dreamcast. When PSOv2 came out, you clearly had people with it and the others, hardly playing together.

How did it work in other MMORPGs with expansion packs, like everquest ?

Well think about it, they are just adding 2 new areas, the shadow realm ( planes of existence )and jobe, which means that the players without the exp will not be able to join teamates in those areas, as long as they do everything as they are now it shouldn't make a big difference.

Basicaly everyone with the exp will have better perks in the game, but come on if you can afford to pay the monthly fee you can afford the exp. I for one am for the exp, even though I rant about ao sometimes, hell look at EQ how many exp have they come out with thus far? It's not a big deal, this is my 1st mmorpg also and I don't see anything wrong with them coming out with a exp, the game has been out for almost a year now. Now if the game was out for only 6 months I would be pissed and agree they are getting money hungry.

We got at least 8 more patchs coming before the exp comes out, hopefully alot of bugs will be fixed by then. I know they are trying really hard to make everyone happy, and part of me thinks it is because swg is coming soon. But maybe this is what the game needs new zones to explore. I have been playing sence aug, 2001 and have seen it all. I for one would like some new places to explore.

[Stabdude]

I agree to some extent with some people in this thread. AO has certainly had its problems.

But now let me introduce some facts for people who don't know how software development works (which obviously applies to quite a number of people on these boards)...

There are two distinct development & content teams in the loop here:

1) "Live" - or bug fixing and client development
2) "New Content" - speaks for itself, doesn't it?

These two teams work completely separated from each other. They barely converse. The only things that they discuss have to do with critical new features in the client/server model which needs to apply to both "old" and new areas of the game. This can be described as "infrastructure".

Infrastructure development relates to such items as missions, team missions, XP distribution models, client interface etc. etc.

Ofcourse, there are separate functional teams working on such things as world content, static missions, events (ARK, anyone?) and MOB creation. These, again, work quite independently from the main coding teams. Ofcourse, they converse on such topics as monster attributes and mission content mechanisms, but that's really about it.

Bottom line : you can't expect Anarchy Online to evolve as the great game it is today unless Funcom is allowed to collect the neccessary financial support from such things as expansion packs. Every MMORPG on the market today (except Asherons Call, which is by now a marginal player only) uses expansion packs to develop its customer base and keep current customers interested.

Look at Everquest. It has - to this day - released 3 expansion packs, of which only ONE really includes any new functionality (Shadows of Luclin). SoL was really supposed to be EQ2, but IMHO they decided to play it out as a "basic EQ" expansion pack for one simple reason; MONEY.

EQ2 is certainly in the works (just take a quick look over to Gamespot or Gamespy) - but why release EQ2 while EQ is still a "hot item"? This, I suspect, is exactly what will happen to AO.

Expansion packs are the bread and butter of MMORPG development & cash flow. Deal with it.

Oh - and -=OT=- Loke - GO DOLPHINS :-) (btw : Where is the BistroMat drive in AO????)

[Virre]

This is getting to be a sad habbit. As a Norwegian I am pretty ashamed on how FC has handled this, all in total.

What scares me more is that people, some of them, see no wrong in beeing forced to pay for a expansion pack, with items that were some of the point to this game, to why we wanted to play it. Secondly, the game is not anywhere NEAR finished and balanced and FC now tells us they are working on a expansion pack? This shows prioritys is all wrong with FC.

In what finacial dreamworld does FC live in? To illustrate :

"I see a very nice car in a shop and decide to go in to take a closer look. A salesperson comes up to me and starts telling me about all the nice things that comes with it, AC, Sunroof, you name it. "Hmm sounds like a good deal" so I buy the car, only to learn that, "Hey, the AC doesn't work" and drive it back to the shop to tell them.. "We are aware of that and we are working on it.."..Very well then...and some more time passes and the AC has not been fixed the CD-Changer in the back, isn't there like I was told.. so I drive back again.. "The AC STILL doesn't work and the CD-Changer you told me about isn't there after all..." "Well, you actually have to pay for the CD-Changer... I say it because it helps sell cars"......... "

And THIS is the exact same thing. FC has made a promise of this and that, but not delivered the product. Conartistery I call it, because in a REAL world the car salesperson would have to A) Either give me what he promised at the pre-sale, since a verbal agreement has been found Legally binding as a written contract, or B) Refund me all my money, as the sale was based on FALSE advertisment and clearly shows that fact.

So I sincerly urge FC to see the insane in this. It's not OUR fault that they are in NEED of money and HAVE had a lot of problems. WE have and still are PAYING for this product, despite its problems, and this is the reward we get??

Funcom, You will go under if this is how you plan the future of AO. Please see this now, otherwise I will GLADLY come knocking on the door, demanding a refund. Because.. you know.. I am actually entitled to one, according to Norwegian Law.

Face Reality Funcom and start doing buisness like everyone else befor you has done. Quit SCREWING you players over, that will give you a hard time.. be aware of that.

[Stabdude]

Let's begin with the end here... (I know, I know - wrong approach - but I just had to comment on this...)

So I sincerly urge FC to see the insane in this. It's not OUR fault that they are in NEED of money and HAVE had a lot of problems. WE have and still are PAYING for this product, despite its problems, and this is the reward we get??

Funcom, You will go under if this is how you plan the future of AO. Please see this now, otherwise I will GLADLY come knocking on the door, demanding a refund. Because.. you know.. I am actually entitled to one, according to Norwegian Law.

Face Reality Funcom and start doing buisness like everyone else befor you has done. Quit SCREWING you players over, that will give you a hard time.. be aware of that.

1) Do you want AO to continue existing?
* Funcom needs money to accomplish this
* An expansion pack is "the easy way out" - sure
* BUT - what if it's the ONLY way out?

2) ... "Start doing Business like everyone else"...
* Sure. They already are. Look to EQ & UO.
* Not sure? Look to Mimesis, AC etc..

3) ... "Demanding a refund according to Norweigan law"
* No. Look in the EULA. Funcom B.V. is a company registered in SWITZERLAND, not Norway. Just because the devs&pretty much everyone else are actually situated in Norway, does NOT mean this is a Norwegian company, because it really isn't (atleast in the legal lingo).

* You're buying the right to use a product, not the product itself. This is typical of all software products. Start reading Dilbert, dude...

And - OH - by the way - I'm Norwegian too. SHOCK! HORROR! SUSPENSE!!!

[______________Fenris]

I would pay $20 to be fixed instead of fuX0Red. 8D

In all seriousness. I wouldn't mind paying for an expansion pack if I thought that I could play my character withought a lovely florescent orange layer of foam surrounding him. So yes my official answer is Yes an Expansion Pack is cool with me, If I am still here I will buy it. However, right now frustration is tipping the scales to George Lucas.

[MORB]

Originally posted by xenomorph


Well think about it, they are just adding 2 new areas, the shadow realm ( planes of existence )and jobe, which means that the players without the exp will not be able to join teamates in those areas, as long as they do everything as they are now it shouldn't make a big difference.

Basicaly everyone with the exp will have better perks in the game, but come on if you can afford to pay the monthly fee you can afford the exp. I for one am for the exp, even though I rant about ao sometimes, hell look at EQ how many exp have they come out with thus far? It's not a big deal, this is my 1st mmorpg also and I don't see anything wrong with them coming out with a exp, the game has been out for almost a year now. Now if the game was out for only 6 months I would be pissed and agree they are getting money hungry.

We got at least 8 more patchs coming before the exp comes out, hopefully alot of bugs will be fixed by then. I know they are trying really hard to make everyone happy, and part of me thinks it is because swg is coming soon. But maybe this is what the game needs new zones to explore. I have been playing sence aug, 2001 and have seen it all. I for one would like some new places to explore.

I agree with all you said (and I can afford to buy an expansion pack). New areas will be cool and all. I'm just a bit weary of the fact it can divide the community a bit, but I also agree that there's enough people playing so that ti won't really be a problem.

[Virre]

Originally posted by DevNull
[B]Let's begin with the end here... (I know, I know - wrong approach - but I just had to comment on this...)



1) Do you want AO to continue existing?
* Funcom needs money to accomplish this
* An expansion pack is "the easy way out" - sure
* BUT - what if it's the ONLY way out?

2) ... "Start doing Business like everyone else"...
* Sure. They already are. Look to EQ & UO.
* Not sure? Look to Mimesis, AC etc..

3) ... "Demanding a refund according to Norweigan law"
* No. Look in the EULA. Funcom B.V. is a company registered in SWITZERLAND, not Norway. Just because the devs&pretty much everyone else are actually situated in Norway, does NOT mean this is a Norwegian company, because it really isn't (atleast in the legal lingo).

* You're buying the right to use a product, not the product itself. This is typical of all software products. Start reading Dilbert, dude...

And - OH - by the way - I'm Norwegian too. SHOCK! HORROR! SUSPENSE!!!

First of all, Learn a little law Funcom might be REGISTERED in Switzerland, but their main office is located in Norway. And products sold in Norway fall under something called Kjøpsloven , below is a excerpt from it :

From : http://www.lovdata.no/all/nl-19880513-027.html

§ 33. Unntak fra reklamasjonsreglene.

Uansett §§ 31 og 32 kan kjøperen gjøre mangelen gjeldende dersom selgeren har opptrådt grovt aktløst eller for øvrig i strid med redelighet og god tro.



To answere your other questions :

1. Yes I want AO to continue, but NOT ON MY OR ANYOTHER players expence all the time. And there is nothing such as "THE ONLY WAY out" there are always other options. If this really is the only way out for FC, then they are BAD at doing buisness and should have waited with the release or they deserve to go bankrupt..

2. So EQ and UO are continously screwing their customers over then is that it? I suggest you also try to learn a little about how to do buisness and the value of lying and deciving you customers, Try and see where it leads.....

The rest is allready answered.. so please don't take us all for lamers when we post.. some of us do actually check out a few things first.....

[______________Scorus]

How are you planning on beta-testing this mega-patch? Obviously testlive ain't gonna cut it, as much as I enjoy it. And, are you actually going to listen to your beta-testers this time or will we have a replay of the first AO launch?

Scorus