Only 15 days since last forum post from the developers mainly about the beta and new engine and we are all out of comments about it and not even any trolling. I still say it was better when Means posted every week, at least I felt like someone MIGHT be listening to us or at least taking an interest and we had something to comment on each week. At any rate there is so much more we need in this game like get this engine finished and start working on a nice add on with the impact that SL had not the tiny Xan update. Nice start on story line development with the Borealis situation but don't stop now. Maybe even start a new profession for more variety. Good start on removing some of the no drops, don't stop it was a good idea, remove some more. It shouldn't be next to impossible to get some of the nice phats which is why it is so hard to keep new players. We have stagnated and that's not good and it all seems to hinge on the new engine. PLEASE get it done, we are dying out here.
Means was a very good resource for funcom that they have yet to fill those shoes. I feel the game came a long way from the point he took over up until the point he went to play with Ponies. He looked at all the little things that irritated players and improved the game. He had more panache than anyone at FC has now; he had a quasi-rockstar persona.I love the honesty he brought. ie -> Well, we just screwed the game up, we're working on a fix, hold on.
Last edited by lunarsolace; Oct 13th, 2013 at 20:11:41.
There is only 3-4 devs working on AO. I also wouldn't really call it work and moreso them addressing issues and finishing up what the other devs were working on. They also dont get any support from the "main" dev team because AO's code is bad and it would be a huge waste of time and money to train the people necessary to actually work on AO.
This engine beta is probably going to last a very long time and once it is done that will be it. Those 3-4 devs will more than likely address bugs, exploits and fix things regarding the engine and fix things in general. Nothing new will be released and re-balance may not even happen.
In the back of my mind I think FC may be banking on the engine to deliver more subscribers with its simultaneous release with Steam. But if that were to happen that would mean they would have to spend money and hire more people specifically for AO, or train their "main" dev team to handle AO code and let AO reap the benefits of a "zerg" dev team that actually can work on 3 MMOs and release worthwhile changes and updates in a timely manner, not this 3-5 year plan. But if FC decides to leave AO with a 3-4 person dev team despite the boost in activity and subscribers than I feel AO will be nothing more than what it is now.
So based on what you are saying here, I can assume a) You work for FC or b) you used to work for FC or c) You know someone who works for FC which is how you know the number of people working on AO and the fact that the game cannot have new content because the software cannot be worked with for that purpose and that FC will not staff enough people for that anyway. It's either that or this is your opinion. Either way I think that AO will get a new engine and that we will get new content the question, sadly, is when.
Last edited by Anarrina; Oct 14th, 2013 at 07:43:06. Reason: fixed broken quote tags
Shadow Ops
Everything that we see is a shadow cast by that which we do not see.
They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war.
Tired of little elves with bows? Fed up with spell-flinging goblins? Bored to death by the solitary world of linear games? Despair not. Freedom is on its way, and its name is Anarchy Online.
Web: http://www.shadowops-online.org | Twitter: @ShadowOpsOnline | AO: Milestones & History
The rough size of the AO dev team has been more or less public knowledge for a good while. And it's been getting smaller and smaller, Vhab and Lindelu for example quitting within last year. I think it's bit more than 3-4 tho, maybe bit over half a dozen or so (don't really know how many "artist" type devs they have).
The fact that other devs can't really work on AO has been confirmed in the monthly updates earlier this year. AO and the other projects share some resources like QA and customer support, but the age of AO codebase means the rest of the "live team" cannot really help with development much.
The best part of Friday with Means was the weekly communication, it showed they cared.
Its worth noting that you probably couldn't send a worse message to a community then making one of the first things you do after taking over for someone who held weekly personal communications is cut that and replace it with a formal monthly board briefing.
Last edited by Krause; Oct 15th, 2013 at 07:46:11.
Krause Equip
*** Krause's Evil WTB Thread! (Weird/Odd Stuff) ***
(Items like "Lost Faith/Hope", "Wreath of Insects", "Chirop Exoskeleton Wing Mesh", "Small Jar", "Old Barrel")
When the FWM started shifting its topic to Means's horses I think the weekly update had played out its role.
There is only so much that is to report before the devs have to share personal stuff, or who farted at the cafe on the corner.
If you want to read about the developers personal life you can ask if they have a blog, because it really has no place here.
Last edited by Alternity; Oct 15th, 2013 at 08:17:05.
What, are you serious? You really don't see any value in developers just talking and taking part in the community in an informal capacity?
I thought just showing he cared enough to talk with us every week and see what people were thinking was pretty much the entire point of it.
Krause Equip
*** Krause's Evil WTB Thread! (Weird/Odd Stuff) ***
(Items like "Lost Faith/Hope", "Wreath of Insects", "Chirop Exoskeleton Wing Mesh", "Small Jar", "Old Barrel")
This is a game. While people make the game, I could care less about what they do in their off time or what is going on with them and as mentioned they can go blog about it. I care more about what they are doing to improve the game and the inner workings of why things aren't done, why it takes so long, what updates are planned, when is something coming out etc etc, basically game related things.
However, it was always enjoyable to know that there was going to be something said by the dev on a particular day. While we got a ton of information, a lot of it became useless over time. Many things were said that were never implemented and will never be. This puts even more pressure on the company and the community of the game. The statements might have been true at the time but AO is a horrid game when it comes to implementation.
As far as game updates go now, they are ok. At least we are getting something. But they fail to address and answer important questions about the major updates. Maybe they dont know anything yet and thats ok, but at least say they dont so we dont feel ignored and in turn it makes them seem like dimwits.
Quick note: teal and notum blue could possibly be confused. Perhaps a firm gray for neutral whompahs so we can avoid accidental hilarious deaths via colorblindness. Possibly add an icon denoting faction of destination in the event AO happens to have colorblind players, so for instance, from ICC you would see (clan icon) Tir, no icon by Bor, and (OT icon) Omni-1 Trade.