Funcom: Storyline or Bust?

[______________Scorus]

Cz, Cosmik, Funcom events team, Funcom story team, anyone that reads this,

You have seen in the poll (not to mention in the reaction to the game launch, the reaction to the supposed storyline launch in October, and the high profile players such as Lorekeep and Gummiluv that have left because of the lack of progress) what your players think of your storyline efforts thusfar. My question is a simple one: what are you planning to do about your storyline in the near future (say, BEFORE the expansion)?

I am not looking for a "we can't say, but you'll love it" answer (re: the really great fixer thing that Cos announced months ago but would never elaborate on or produce). I am not looking for a laundry list of things you would like to do (re: the crat fixes that were announced over 6 months ago and never implemented). I want to know what you are planning to do. If you have no plans, say so.

I joined this game to be part of a big storyline involving the clans fighting for independence from Omni-Tek. I joined in order to take orders from and maybe, if I was a good player, even interact with the many important NPCs and clans/departments that you said were going to be in the game. I joined in order to be sent on important missions that needed to be done to advance the cause and bring my side a centimeter closer to victory.

I simply want to know if I should keep playing.

Scorus

[Aldo]

bump

[Arila]

bla bla bla normal whining.

we get the point back at post 2957892 about this subject.

The story is on a break now, it should be back soon, or so they say.

[______________Scorus]

Originally posted by Arila
The story is on a break now, it should be back soon, or so they say.

It can't be on a break until it starts, you know.

Scorus

[______________Saruzi]

From a certain reveiw of the expansion, the guy said he interviewed a top FC employee, forgot the name, I suck with names. Well, they said they were working on more-ingame stuff. They had a short spirt of in-game, and people conmplained about time zones, they thus are trying to convert what could have been months of story-line to in-game. It became clear to me this way. If this isn't the way then what is their excuse.

[_________Thunderlips]

Originally posted by Arila
bla bla bla normal whining.

we get the point back at post 2957892 about this subject.

The story is on a break now, it should be back soon, or so they say.

bla bla bla, another stupid response from a jackass!

[Arila]

Not my fault that you whiners dont seem to get enough off whining.

This issue have been talked about over and over and over. Use the old posts, and stop making new useless junk. They got the idea long ago.

And you can be a jackass your self.

[______________Scorus]

With all due respect, Arila, the game is as good as it is today because us 'whiners' kept on them until they fixed things. It is the only stimulus that Funcom responds to.

Scorus

[_________Thunderlips]

Originally posted by Arila
Not my fault that you whiners dont seem to get enough off whining.

This issue have been talked about over and over and over. Use the old posts, and stop making new useless junk. They got the idea long ago.

And you can be a jackass your self.

Thank you for proving my point even further. Except for a direct response to Ragnor, I have not made a single post about the story. Seems to me you are whining about people demanding something that was promised to actually make it into the game, as it has yet to be in. Thanks for being the jackass, again!

[Jhoanna]

*Jhoanna arizes from her grave only to get her sawed off, oh gee, I'm so proud of you therefore I have to blow yer brainz out of yer head mkay?*

- Jho loads her boomstick -

*say yer prayers, yer going down*

- unloads the boomtick in the face of the people in this thread including herself when she's the last one standing -

- fin

[Arila]

Call me a whiner. Call me a jackass if you want too. Atleast i like the other parts of the games besides the story.

Go play some DAoC

[Bionitrous]

When they said the Storyline was going to start October 31st, we waited. The Storyline started and it was good.

Now apparently it's 'on a break'. Well we were never told it's on a break.

However, if they say the Storyline will start again July 8th, most of us will probably be satisfied and again wait.

Most of us just want to know WTF is going on. Everything is in disarray and we're being given no clues as to what is being done to address seminal issues such as camping, pvp, or the Story.

It's no fun being in the dark and not even having a clue when your new lightbulb is supposed to arrive.

[________________Luke]

We're just mushrooms!

[_____________Dragoon]

I joined AO about 2 weeks ago (now its may 31 2002) In the advertisements wasnt it like " YOU decide the future of rubika" and stuff like that?
Well i havent seena storyline yet. mabey because im on ruby 2. And whats a storyline like? is it alot of gm events like raiding otuposts and stuff?

[________________Luke]

Dragoon,

i thought it would have been something like that too matey, sadly, you need to be in the right place at the right time when such an event occurs.

Events such as the assassination of Radiman did actually take place and were witnessed by a few players, so they did happen. Unfortuantely, even before the 'break' in the storyline, they were rarities and would count yourself particularly fortunate if you saw one.

That is not to say however, that much bigger plans have'nt been made for when the story 'resumes'. We live in hope........

So take heart dear friends.... we must be ever patient... and at the same time, keep a little pressure on FC to deliver to it's very eager and paying client base!

[______________Scorus]

Originally posted by Dragoon
I joined AO about 2 weeks ago (now its may 31 2002) In the advertisements wasnt it like " YOU decide the future of rubika" and stuff like that?
Well i havent seena storyline yet. mabey because im on ruby 2. And whats a storyline like? is it alot of gm events like raiding otuposts and stuff?

The storyline events that happened before generally were One-time events. This would be an attack on city X or outpost Y and all players from a side would come to defend against the NPCs and usually end up crashing the zone. There were also a couple of more rp oriented events that would supposedly lead toward storylines (Manteze declare war on clans; rogue OT employees try to assassinate leader of clans) but those storylines would never develop. See Lorekeep's thread on these forums for a good discussion of that problem.

Recently they have been toying with a storyline involving the Dust Brigade, but the only 'events' that that has really generated are when GMs occassionally change their name to 'Dust Brigade' or some such, make themselves level 250 and start ganking players in a city.

There have also been GM and ARK run events, but nothing that could be called a story. A story requires continuity and we haven't seen that yet.

Scorus

[___________Yorkforce]

In reguards to the original post .. I wonder also , i joined the game a few months back hoping to get involved with the AO story line, im still hoping.

Everything i have seen thus far .. has been the work of the players (helps if the events team isnt having problems) Funcom have many official departments and such , but its turned out the player run guilds that are named similar to the funcom departments are the ones creating the events , not funcom.

The talk about an expansion .. new land .. shadowlands *laugh*

anyways i guess to follow on the questions mine would be:

Funcom .. at the end of this year ,, Star Wars galaxys will be released .. the closest competition as in the MMOG Sci fi genre .. How are you going to be able to compete against a game that is:
14 times larger
skill based (no lvl treadmill)
Trade skills made as much appart of the game as everything else
More Professions
More Species
Better Graphics
Has a planned Space Expansion
Allows you to build complete cities
A PvP rule set thats far superior
Funding from a company thats got more pocket money than your entire treasury
700+ Skills
Char Customisation far superior to what is currently on AO
A *Storyline* thats backed by the creators of Starwars , Lucas Art.
Various missions from static to dynamic to player made that far out class your current system.
More Org Tools
?

cant think of anything else off the top of my head but i think its a good question.

[_____________Mr Bean]

Yes I know SWG will have that space expansion belive me they will break the One mil Mark by then EASY

[_________LordMaxwell]

Originally posted by Yorkforce

A *Storyline* thats backed by the creators of Starwars , Lucas Art.

That will likely end up meaning that almost NO story is produced. They probably want to go over every word out of every GMs mouth in events before hand. That's my real worry for Star Wars. (Well, and that they are still hooked on PvP. There will be two billion twelve year old Sith Gankers out there.)

[___________Yorkforce]

Originally posted by Lord_Maxwell


That will likely end up meaning that almost NO story is produced. They probably want to go over every word out of every GMs mouth in events before hand. That's my real worry for Star Wars. (Well, and that they are still hooked on PvP. There will be two billion twelve year old Sith Gankers out there.)

As i understand it, they are working together , rather than it going through Lucas Art then through Sony .. but luckily the game world is set up so the players can make an impact on the story without the need from Lucas Art and sony .. with that i mean the landscape will be constantly changing, with the player cities .. that can be destroyed etc .. of course there are limitations like you say that will be put in place to preserve the continuity of the star wars universe but considering the scope of the star wars universe , there is also a lot of lee-way to do as they please.

As to billions of 12 year olds running around as Sith's , that wont happen , Siths wont be players characters , even Jedi's will be rare and controlled as player charaters.

The PvP rule set is managed by consent , you wanna PvP , you set your city as a PvP area , if you dont, .. well you set it as a safe area, or if you just wanna fight the Rebels/Empire you set it to factioned (i think),You can even leave the PvP scene all together and become a shipbuilder for example , or stock your NPC shop keeper with your rares.
You can even create an entire city thats full of shops.
just as a taster of what you can do here is a list of the professions they have planned ..

Adventurer
Breeder
Botanist
Bounty Hunter
Brawler
Brewer
Chef/Cook
Chemist
Dancer
Doctor/Physician
Droid Engineer
Droidsmith
Explorer/Scout
Farmer
Gambler
Hairdresser
Interpreter
Jedi
Medic
Miner
Musician
Politician
Slicer
Smuggler
Tailor
Tamer
Tatoo Artist
Trader
Vehicle Engineer
Vehicle Builder
Writer
Weapon Engineer
Weaponsmith

Military:

Soldier
Marksman
Officer
Driver/Pilot
Gunner

i got that list from http://www.slicerhq.com/guide/guide_professions.php

they also just announced the other day of 2 new professions:

Image Designer
Squad Leader.

As ya can see only 13 professions are core PvP related , out of 40 professions thats not alot.

26 professions are based around Trade/Entertainment.

Add to that 12 species (i think) all with thier own language.


As alot of the landscape is gonna be based on these player run cities, and these cities can be temprimentle, the storyline with *just* that will be far superior to the random non communicated non impacting events we see now on AO.

To be able to control parts of the planets will constantly shift the power to and from the Empire and the Rebels ,this in itself will contain alot of story .. even if you do get ganked .. simple , hire bounty hunters to take each and everyone of them out.

I doubt it will be perfect , but its gonna be good.