Hello Everyone!

[Pomidor]

asing for PM and having locked PM is absurd. Anyways, here is PM I wanted to sent you, Morteia:

Eyemutants escaped from Omni-Tek secret labs!

Be aware, very dangerous eyemutants have been reporeted spoted in Wine area attacking eveything on sight. ICC announce prize for eliminating them.

Fact that such event could take place has something „behind” in AO story – failed experiments are part of this game. But most important is that we could get some flow on marked of very genuine Excellent Eyemutant Orb Lasers or close to it, because highest eyemutant in-game is ql 100 (never seen higher one) and engineers could use new shiny pistol. Along to them there could be wander other mobs which doesn’t exist in higher level, like 300 Medusas or borgs.
Note that eyemutants should be around 225-250 level range.

What do you think?

[WizMeister3000]

A monthly "ask the devs" thread, with players posting questions, and you picking a good portion to answer and then posting those answers with the questions, is a good idea that's also quite popular elsewhere.

For instance here's some inspiration for what I mean.

3 Thumbs up for this idea! (I will not reveal the provenience of the 3rd thumb for security reasons so far the best idea i've read.

[Agentcora]

Give a few players the ability and permission to start city attacks, unique encounters etc. Advertise this stuff in the proper forums (Life on Rubi-Ka, not that dead RP subsection) and give it a proper thread title, not an ambiguous one.

At this stage the game is practically dead RP and Lore wise. They certainly can't make it worse.

And if you give it to the right people, can probably make it better.

Make a list of items they can have on bosses, ql 300-400 oddities, miy's armour, social items etc.

Basically give them a stripped down Gm

Whilst in essence a good idea, it's very difficult to judge who you should give that to. We who are already involved in Events have seen power trips ending badly many a times. The power needs to remain with FC and ARK.


On topic: Welcome to the AO community!

[Morteia]

Welcome aboard, hope it's a long ride. I assume you are going to be the Community Manager for all three MMO's now?

Yup! I'm going to be working for AO, AoC, and TSW now!

Oh and... could you activate Personal Messaging on your account?

Haha, so sorry about that! I figured that the default was set to receive PMs. Fixed!

First, I think as CM you've just made a mistake, by stating that FC pretty much fired you... then decided to re-hire you because they made a mistake (again).

So that part, does not give me any more (probably less) confidence in the company as a whole.

This actually made me think about how I wrote my welcome message, I do believe you have a point. I just wanted to explain why I disappeared for a month and am now back. Please don't interpret it as Funcom making a mistake, but rather an opportunity for me to create a better relationship with our players, and actually take the time to listen. I'm just happy to be given the chance to come back and spend time with our players again!

asing for PM and having locked PM is absurd. Anyways, here is PM I wanted to sent you.

Yeah, I'm a big dummy. I didn't realize the default was "PMs off". That's been fixed so please feel free to send me this again!
_ _ _

As well, I notice a lot of you are requesting the return of Monthly Updates and something similar to the "Your Voice" that I run over on the TSW forums. This is wonderful and I will be working on this immediately to try and get something ready for May. I don't want to make promises I can't keep, so I can't promise things will be done by May, but I have some energy stims lying around here somewhere...

Keep the suggestions coming! I'm more than happy to listen and see what I can do.

[Vitalsigns]

Hi and welcome!

[Socrattes]

Weare used to some figure head posting an update once a month that the engine is making progress or almost done, professional re-balance is almost done, and lots of other great and wonderful things that are about to happen, all we had to do was wait. This started many years ago. So the figure head of the month then posted monthly excuses as to why it isn't done yet, just wait. The current Game Director doesn't even post monthly that the updates are coming and we should just wait.

Well, most of us have given up waiting, given up playing, given up paying. We don't care about AoC or TSW or any other FC game.

For the record, how many toons have you leveled to 220? How many twinks do you have? I understand you don't have to be a player to ask the developer questions, I just wonder if you have any idea what the problems are and how well you understand those issues.

Don't get me wrong, I am glad you are here, I am glad you have a job, and I am glad you are trying. We are a grumpy bunch because of the abuse our game has endured, the lack of positive changes to the game, and the loss of the large player base that once existed. We have had enough lip service and want to see results.

As for the new Game Director, NO, AO does not have enough content. Here is a little Q&A for you ...

Q: What does a 220 do at end game
A: Roll a new toon, done everything already

The main raids get really boring after a few runs. True, this happens in other games as well but there are still things you don't do till end game.

[Fhinn]

As well, I notice a lot of you are requesting the return of Monthly Updates and something similar to the "Your Voice" that I run over on the TSW forums. Keep the suggestions coming! I'm more than happy to listen and see what I can do.

I hope i don't come over as ungrateful, as I appreciate you 'reaching out' as it were, but are the dev team monthly updates now finished? I don't recall this being annonced.

I enjoyed the 'friday with means' series and Ilaliya's as well. I find it a great shame that they aren't continuing.

[Phargus]

I'm not sure anyone who looks that scared of beer friday is gonna last long in here, but welcome

[Psikie]

Yup! I'm going to be working for AO, AoC, and TSW now!

As well, I notice a lot of you are requesting the return of Monthly Updates and something similar to the "Your Voice" that I run over on the TSW forums.

I don't want to make promises I can't keep, so I can't promise things will be done by May, but I have some energy stims lying around here somewhere...

Would be a bad idea and setup for promises you can't keep due to limitations of the smaller (consolidated) dev team. Delays happen but a lot of promises have been delayed...for years.

Well, most of us have given up waiting, given up playing, given up paying. We don't care about AoC or TSW or any other FC game.

I really do not like this type of post, sorry but if you are in the batch of players that quit, why are you posting anymore if you don't care?

[Hulk]

Hi And welcome! I also play TSW and love that game as well. Good to see you here.

[Utopian]

I will just say this - actions speak louder than words. And we have had enough words.

[Zeephonz]

Amber needs to run a "What colour is my hair today?" competition.

[skranken]

Hey there, and welcome

I dont know if you have any control of the http://www.anarchy-online.com page, but it has not been updated since August 2012. It would be great if you could advert some events, news and other stuff there, or just bring some life back to that site.

I bet new players wanting to check out the game gets kinda turned of by seeing the ugly (sorry its not exactly eyecandy) and outdated frontpage to the game they consider giving a go.

Best of luck with your new/old job!

[lainbr]

Welcome back!

Since your title is Funcom Community Manager... does that mean that you're now leading the community management for all of the Funcom titles? Or just a sub-set? Or just AO/TSW? Perhaps you could tell us a little about what your new responsibilities are?

I'm sure that the Professionals would be interested in your "Your Voice" idea from the TSW forums. Many years ago, when I was a professional myself, we actually had a similar kind of monthly system here in the AO forums, that worked through the Professionals. I'm sure it would be nice to have some kind of responses from the developers from time to time, however it's achieved.

I think that the first question would probably be something along the lines of "What's going to happen to the System Changes (aka the Balance Changes), now that the development teams have merged?". We did get a statement that the Engine and the NPE are still very much in the works (though the schedule for that certainly seems to have slipped). In the February update, Ilalyia mentioned that Joel would be taking over the monthly updates... but that too is a little late now.

I guess that it's understandable that these things slip a bit with all of the upheavals in the restructuring... but nothing helps to settle a community more than a bit of active communication. Even when there's not a huge amount to say.

X

Welcome Morteia!

I pretty much agree with wise xtremm here. And... DO. NOT. MESS. WITH. MP. We are evil verborrage fellas and we wanna love :3

[Manicmouse]

Welcome!

Engine update plzkthxbye!

(Hi Lain!)

[mishikato]

Ged 2 werk awlrdy!

[Morteia]

For the record, how many toons have you leveled to 220? How many twinks do you have? I understand you don't have to be a player to ask the developer questions, I just wonder if you have any idea what the problems are and how well you understand those issues.

I actually do have a Nanomage who is a Doctor (I've always been a sucker for the frail ones that pack a punch), but it's not 220. I don't currently have any twinks, but my game knowledge comes from GM-ing AO for Funcom for 1.5 years. So, while I don't play as often as I'd like, I do have a bit of experience with the game.

I do try to absorb as much information about the game as I can. I won't lie, I'm no expert like many of you who play, but I'm not afraid to be corrected, or ask questions when I don't understand something. I'm a firm believer in the proverb, "He who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he who does not ask a question remains a fool forever."

Seriously, if I say something incorrect or I have misinterpreted something, correct me. I'd rather be corrected and know what I'm talking about that spouting misinformation.

I hope i don't come over as ungrateful, as I appreciate you 'reaching out' as it were, but are the dev team monthly updates now finished? I don't recall this being annonced.

They're most certainly not finished! It's just during the restructure, we've had less time to get updates together with all the shuffling around. I know you guys have been through -a lot- of shuffling lately, too. I'm going to be working with the team to get updates back on track for you.

I'm not sure anyone who looks that scared of beer friday is gonna last long in here, but welcome

THAT WAS A SURPRISE PICTURE! I love Beer Friday with the galactic passion of a thousand Super Novas (what does that even mean?).

Hey there, and welcome

I dont know if you have any control of the http://www.anarchy-online.com page, but it has not been updated since August 2012. It would be great if you could advert some events, news and other stuff there, or just bring some life back to that site.

This is something that I have noticed and it currently on my whiteboard of things to get done. Yes, I have a whiteboard because I like physically crossing things off of the list. There's really a nice feeling to crossing things off of a to-do list that you just can't replicate any other way.

[Socrattes]

I really do not like this type of post, sorry but if you are in the batch of players that quit, why are you posting anymore if you don't care?

Just because I gave up believing that someday there would be full servers, a new graphics engine, and profession re-balance doesn't mean that I don't have hope for AO still.

[Gatester]

Everytime the staff changes and reshuffles I feel like a foster kid who keeps getting new parents

Welcome to the AO forums (or perhaps welcome back as you were a former GM). Always interesting to see the new personalities that come into the AO forums, hopefully this restructure is one of the last for a while too.

[Lazy]

can we expect the same silence from you in regard to the future of ao as we've been getting from every other funcom rep so far?