Monthly Development Update: February 2012

[heilt-do]

Question.

1- Now that you have a more sophisticated and advanced "tool" configured to work well with AO, will it be easier, faster for the developer team to produce patches and, or instances for future patches?

[lindelu]

Question.

1- Now that you have a more sophisticated and advanced "tool" configured to work well with AO, will it be easier, faster for the developer team to produce patches and, or instances for future patches?

The updated tool that I mentioned is only related to the new engine. We still have to use all of our old tools so the day to day work will be the same, but now we're able to access and prettify the game world in preparation for the new engine release.

[3246251196]

{removed}

I do not care for graphics much. But, I do think that Tilkh is right. As games looks better - graphically - at an exponential rate newer and younger players are not going to be attracted to DX7 graphics; those that were around as younger players were not even teenagers.

A new engine combined with a new players start-up method (which is desperately needed) will be a great package for entising non-veteran players. I think a number of veterans are not bothered about graphics. They are - of course - annoyed about having to wait for the graphics update promises being pushed back. But it is time to just express acceptance: yes, the engine update was talked about multiple years agao, but it is coming. Of course, there are veteran players who have indeed left because they want an engine update and a portion of those are just waiting to subscribe again with the update.

However, I do not agree with your list of other games that AO should be equally (if not, better) comparable to. I do not think AO needs top class eye-candy because it offers enjoyment in so many other unique areas. But - yes - the engine does need upgrading.

The engine upgrade will not magically improve population over night, but it will increase the rate at which new players are joining and sure is a better state than is current.

[heilt-do]

Thanks you for answering my question Lindelu.

The engine upgrade will not magically improve population over night, but it will increase the rate at which new players are joining and sure is a better state than is current.

This. If the system is not even given a chance there's no way new players are going to join. AO has been going for so long it has now to adapt to a new generation of gaming. Us old vets have come a long way from "teens" now to having a family and more responsibilities, many lose interest and some just cant keep gaming anymore.

The time has come for AO to cater to a new generation and nowadays this is a tough battlefield with many new AAA titles coming out and some others becoming FREE to play. New GFX engine, new starter experience, new re balance will help bring the much needed new blood the rest is done by the system we so much love.

[Otansaanpas]

if i think of some game that i havent played, lets take Tabula Rasa for example.

"new startup experience" headlines isnt going to make me download it.
"new balance patch" isnt either.
cool screenshots might get me try the game
fluid gameplay, and non-boring combat might make me stay.

[Ahndracorvid]

Thanks for the nice long update. Looking forward to seeing that new video.

[Mekh]

Nice update... Al sounds very promising and interesting.

....Can't wait to see that video.

[Triadninja]

I'm very happy that progress is going well, and all the changes so far I fully agree with. I also can't wait for the new engine video, so we can finally see some of our favorite places in full bloom with the new engine.

Keep on chugging lindelu, and keep this gem of a game alive.

[Aiken]

WHEN will the new engine arrive?
How many times can the same question be avoided?
Surely you guys have an inkling how much longer it's going to take after all these years?

[Dagget]

No idea how Marketing can in any way impede a video being produced. Just saying it got produced this month but bumped back a few days smells funny. GD says video coming in Feb, Marketing should be backing that up. The *only* reason Marketing would have to butt in is if they plan to exclusive show the video at GDC next week in San Francisco. If so, then they could still *announce* a New AO video coming at GDC to whet peoples' appetite, like they and every other game company marketing dept. does for upcoming stuff.


As for the *possible* server merge, you really should point out that that is something to use as a fallback if the new engine/starter area doesn't bring in enough subscribers. Certainly, there will be a 10x population boom from the new engine launch, and you'll have to wait a good 6 months or so to see how things settle in terms of long term subscribers. A server merge would, at best, double the apparent population of the server people are playing on. Seems to me current dev time is better spent on getting that engine/starter stuff out the gate than working on 'Plan B' at this point - if the engine doesn't do what you need in terms of population, you'll have ample time after the launch to fill out details for a server merge.

[Uaintseenme]

having read the entire post, the only part I actualy believe is the title of the thread, yes, i do indeed believe it is February 2012.

Everything else smacks of desperate fabrication, falsehood and lies, intended purely to keep what little population remains in a state of false hope.

[Notcrattey]

having read the entire post, the only part I actualy believe is the title of the thread, yes, i do indeed believe it is February 2012.

Everything else smacks of desperate fabrication, falsehood and lies, intended purely to keep what little population remains in a state of false hope.

But you're just a party pooper.

No idea how Marketing can in any way impede a video being produced.

Maybe some things are being modified to the video to make it more marketable, who knows.

[haxi]

I don't see how people are excited or encouraged by this monthly update but more power to you.

[Mastablasta]

having read the entire post, the only part I actualy believe is the title of the thread, yes, i do indeed believe it is February 2012.

Everything else smacks of desperate fabrication, falsehood and lies, intended purely to keep what little population remains in a state of false hope.

Most of the population don't even read the forums.

[Odov]

So, to summarize our vision for 2012; for the next couple of months our combined efforts will strive towards three major goals: shipping the new player experience, the balancing act and the new graphics engine.

I knew it was ambitious, but to finish the first full month and not even have so much as a video? This goose chase is getting old. Personally, next month is my last update. After that I'll wait to hear it from a friend or some other website.. But I'm going to stop holding my breath and move on to other games. This is ridiculous.

[MachSchau]

In the history of MMOs every MMO that was once popular and then fell from grace never again regains that kind of popularity or population no matter what they change, develop or introduce.

If the engine came out in 2008 or 2009 when the population was still pretty decent then there would have been an influx of players to warrant having 2 (or 3) servers opened. But because of empty promises, setbacks, a shift in resources, AO got the short end of the stick and people left. People left because of those things and also left because of imbalances and player retention could not stay steady because of a crappy start up experience.

Realizing that they passed the point of no return in having the engine save the game, they discovered that they will need to balance the professions and change the start up experience to something more modern to make AO remotely viable.

The 2001 servers are a lot different than the 2012 servers (or whenever we got new ones). The population was so huge back then that having two servers (or 3) on that old of hardware was the right thing to do. With AO population low and the servers being a lot better than they were back then, it makes more sense to have everyone on one server to keep the MMO aspect a part of AO and to make it feel alive. Personally, I want people to play with at all hours.

It is a huge undertaking on what the team is doing and in some aspect FC cares some what about this game otherwise they wouldn't be doing all of this. I personally would want all the developers to focus on the 3 important things one at a time so they get out sooner because at this point it is important that they get punched out asap as opposed to splitting the team on the big 3.

[Zeephonz]

The new engine itself isn't necessarily going to increase the number of people trying out the game.

The issue is ensuring that the retention rate is high enough to warrant the work done.

[Mongoose]

First of all, nice update Lindelu.

having read the entire post, the only part I actualy believe is the title of the thread, yes, i do indeed believe it is February 2012.

Everything else smacks of desperate fabrication, falsehood and lies, intended purely to keep what little population remains in a state of false hope.

Everything is a lie? So you deny the existence of a video of the engine? Well, that will be found out soon enough (by next month). I would be pretty surprised if the video just flat out didn't exist. The grass being fixed is also a lie right? Well we should be able to see in the video that the grass in fact does display properly.

The rest of the update kinda just tells us what they hope to do in the future (regarding the startup area, prof changes, and server merge) without any really specific details, but the startup area thing sounds quite convincing to me: They've been adding new content and instances to the game in recent months, so why would they be incapable of making a starting area?
There is a team of people being payed to improve the game (and maximize profit for FC). They aren't just going to do nothing all day other than spread false hope, surely?
What was written about the server merge kinda implies that they are actually going to do it (which kinda surprises me). I don't recall means saying that a merge will definitely happen. I approve of a server merge (even if there is a massive surge in population, they can always add another server like when they added rk2 ages ago)

Whether the engine and marketing campaign happens or not, things like a server merge and new startup area are indeed very likely to happen in my opinion (just as rk3 was given the option to move to rk1/2), as they are things that the dev team are capable of doing with current resources.

[MrMojoRisin]

{removed by Anarrina}

Look at the other games out there..

SWTOR

Aion

Rift

Vindictus

Tera

All of those games spit on Anarchy.

Its the most obvious and you have over looked it. If your a developer.... god help us all.

Some of those MMOs are rubbish. I played Aion because I heard it was good last year and it's just another copy paste mmo, not fun at all. I still hold AO as the best MMO because of the content (exploring shadowlands is so much fun, it's bloody massive), community (no matter how small it is, people are nice) and the originality (I am sci-fi fan, i love being an Opifex Fixer, not an orc warrior).

[Mongoose]

Most of the population don't even read the forums.

I'd disagree there the thread has 3500 views in just a few hours. I know people view the thread multiple times, but still that's not bad at all.