No Longer Envisioned

[______________Xombie]

Hmm....a Linux port would have been neat, but from a business standpoint I can't fault Funcom for not putting resources into that. Tribes 2 had a linux port and it didn't sell all that great, neither did Quake 3.

Actually, on the contrary, there were a hell of a lot of linux users with Tribes 2. It was just mostly servers.

[Raik]

most fixers think they are the least bit of 'fixing' we need...
might as well ditch those and speed things up on the other pieces of 'envisioned'..
my 2 cr

[___________Akibiyori]

So apparently Funcom is again ignoring the fact that we dont care about these kinds of things and refuses to deal with the real issues.

I don't mean to crush you good intentions..and I thank you for your honesty in dealing with these things, but once again...no one really cares.
I for one was not aware there was a promise of slum mahem zones...and wasnt counting on it at all.

Other things Iwasnt counting on were all the bandaid fixes that you guys seem to think will permanently solve problems from not only recent issues but those of days gone by (case in point, the soldier, a lcass I have never even layed, but know got nerfed and nerfed again)

I love anarchy...I would adore to live in a world so beautifully diverse and marvelously created. (Side note...Dark Ages of Camelot is an EXTREMELY ugly game) I enjoy the small things in the game, how the little trash collecting machines will scatter when you come close, how the nano storms give you a sense of being caught in a real storm, how beautiful the landscapes are...

But I digress...

I could start on some of the problems..but I wont..because if Funcom bothered to read the forums and reply to the REAL issues there, they would know and I wouldnt have to tell them.

I also wouldnt have to mention that in the past two weeks, the moderators for the forums have posted twice, once right after the other, on a JOKE forum.

Thanks for the straight up answers though.
The answers...something all of us are after.
I've met one ARK who answers questions in game through the /petition function who actually seemed knowledgable and willing to spend a bit of time with me answering questions I had regardling the game and potential changes that might be made.
His name was Morandi. Everyone I know who has spoken to him has had nothing but praises to give.

Its people like that that really help IMPLEMENT the changes they have proposed, or at least try and get answers for you.

Please funcom...you're losing your already loyal clientel...please begin to act and try and correct some of the actual in game mechanics that truely need your attention.

[______________Nianna]

So now that we've removed some things from the envisioned list, how about adding some? Maybe we could get our scroll bars fixed?

I could care less about these trivial features but I sure would like it if my scroll bars worked right in shops and in my nano formula list. The scroll bars, the scroll cursor, and the page scrolling ability provided by clicking above or below the scroll cursor on the scroll bar frequently end up disabled as you are scrolling around the list.

And what about my bags? Will they ever stop rearranging themselves?

I'd like to see more focus on eradicating the simple bugs we have to deal with every day.

[________________zino]

A Linux client would really keep me in the game for much longer. As it is now I rarely take the time to reboot into Win32.

[__________obscure666]

anyone really think that this game will be played in large scale in over 4 years???
I feel that its a good game but in time there will be other games even greater an with better graphics......
I feel that the graphics is really good in this game but I must say that Q3 is moving alot faster than this game....
all the great 3d graphics looks good at my comp but this game tends to laaaaaag....
if there were anything you should do something about soon its the laaaag....
maybe its the servers I dont know but maybe you should take a look on your hardware funcom.
but anyway thx for a great game and there was nothing on the list that upset me....

have a nice day

hefy lvl 35 trader (clan)

[________________Seid]

I have some theories about the lag.
I run on a pretty hefty system, 1.2 GHz, 512 MB RAM

Comparing with performance in other 3D games with similar levels of detail, I think I can rule out CPU lag.

My FPS at times of "skipping" are usually the same as when not skipping.

Also, network load and server load seems to be nominal...

So there is no "lag" in any of the normal meanings of the word.

Still something is causing the game to skip and jump...

My theory is that the game halts processing of just about everything CRUCIAL, like movement, command, attacks etc while waiting for NON crucial eye candy like textures to load.

As an example, lets take something like Halflife or any of the mods for that game.

If a player joins the game using a model or texture you do not have cached locally, it is downloaded IN THE BACKGROUND with LOW priority. The action is NOT halted while waiting for the texture / model to be downloaded.

Now, in AO there are no custom textures, so no download is needed. And I would much rather see a model with generic textures moving fluidly while textures are loaded with low priority, than see everything pausing just to wait for some eye candy...

Similarly should UNloading of textures no longer used have lower priority than dealing with animation, movement and actions.

FC has a reputation for making very good looking games, and AO is indeed a treat for the eye, but eye candy is a luxury, not a necessity, especially in a game where real time processing of actions / movement is crucial.

So the conclusion is there is not so much lag in the common uses of the word, just wrong priorities in the processing, causing unnecessary "wait states".

While being a programmer myself, I have not done game programming of any kind, so comments from people more experienced in such matters would be welcome

[XtroXtreme]

Originally posted by Slinki
I didn't see anything in there about the promise that those of us that wanted to solo all the way to level 200 would be able to do so in single missions?
As it stands I think the cutoff point on single missions is from about level 50 to 90 according to your class and IP distribution.
Well, I guess some classes could maby solo to 200, but noone envisioned it taking them 10 years to do it!!!

Actualy they told the game magazines that before releasing the game, and obviously never cared to corect that. As a matter of fact you were supposed to play all your 200 lvls in one city without leaving, and as we all have seen that does not hold true past 10th lvl.

Quite simply they envisioned a lot, and sold the game on some of those envisioned things, and then half a year after selling the game they change their minds.
To use that old likening of a car: You buy your car without any wheels or seats, then a month later the company takes the car in and fix those wheeles while removing your motor. a few more moth later they fix the motor while removing the roof, etc. After half a year they get the car working, but decides that they like the car better without seats and therefore will never give any seats, even if they promised they would half a year earlier.

It is a crude likening I know, but quite accurate though.

[______________Tedric]

Pity. Currently there are no mmorpgs for Linux, AO would have had a big selling point in being the only one available - Linux users tend to be online a lot anyway, these sorts of games have appeal.

But I understand the decision. I'll just have to keep my Windows game partition and boot to Windows when I want to play AO. Here's hoping a Linux port becomes possible sometime in the future.

[__________Mindswayer]

Originally posted by EvilGlitch
You should add the following two items to that list:

1. Side advantages (other than those that are RPG story related)

2. Changing Professions (I'll write up why in the Game Mechanics forum)

Here is why:

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...?threadid=6820

[__________Mindshocck]

Well its too bad that non-combat missions were taken out. I just returned to this game with my sister, and am very pleased with how this game is beginning to develop. (I was scared it was gonna go under for a while!) I started a new character, an NT on Server 2, and already at lvl 29 I'm beginning to feel how missions are going to become a real pain in the butt. I don't think I'm going to be able to solo missions as an NT at higher lvls. Now, my MA would laugh her way through missions at 75%, but my NT is struggling at 50%, and is using top-of-the-line nanos for her level, and equiped a very nice Vekdor shotgun. I know docs have this problem, as do other 'casting' classes. I think some way to gain money should be possible without grouping or wasting IP on trade-skills. Too bad missions were not made to be Class-specific on the individual terminals, and the group terminals were the ones with all the monsters at super-close range. Owell...I guess it will be worked out before I hit 100. (I hope)

[_____________Altaire]

No big deal if you ask me. Nothing to whine over in that article.

Now, about those apartments .... Err Luxury apartments and guild housing.... Gimme gimme !


Thanks guys

Altaire

[______________Yeshua]

__________________________________________________ __
Missions that don't require at least some degree of fighting - Often times, the good intent of the designers turns out to be much more difficult to implement than first imagined. In this case, being able to gain XP without the need to kill things was a sincere desire to allow players to take different roles within Anarchy Online. However, through the course of the development cycle, it turned out that reaching a fair balance between risk and reward was much more difficult than first thought. While the team will strive to find alternatives to advancing without the need to kill things, this promise might never become realised. The players have our deepest apology.

__________________________________________________ _

I don't know. I think that what originally appealed to me about AO was the "promise" of being able to be a member of a virtual community. One that would be made up of all different kinds of people, doing all kinds of different things. As it stands we are all the same, murderers... Sure we have different titles, like soldier, and meta, etc... However, ultimately, we all do the very same thing, just in different ways. This was not how the game was ever presented. In this way Funcom is not only falling short on a promise, but also on basic design principal. It's like saying that you're opening a buffet restaurant when you apply for a business loan, but instead building an ice cream parlor. Sure, I'm only lvl 89, but this game is beggining to get very tedious and boring. I have been holding out for the "promise" that comes with a complete virtual community. If I just wanted to run around and kill all of the time, I could have kept on playing Unreal Tournament, which is a much more exciting way to kill anyway. I came to AO to experience something different, but I'm beggining to wonder whether or not the ability to explore the shear beauty of Rubi-Ka is enough to warrant the $13.00 monthly expendature. It seems to me that the only way to make this experience more interesting is to do away with this notion that you should have to risk "death" to advance. Not everyone came here expecting to have to kill all of the time anyway. Furthermore, if you're worried that people will just become tradesmen to get xp from making implants and crystals and such, what's the big deal? Who cares? Simply improving the xp yield of tradeskills by 500% won't make enough of a difference to make people choose tradeskills over hunting, if they're really looking to lvl quickly. currently it takes a week or two of tradeskills to get about as much xp as you can get in an hour of two of hunting!

All I'm trying to get accross is that not everyone wants to have to kill MOBS. Some of us are actually interested in socializing, and developing the culture and economy of Rubi-Ka. I'm not sure if it's laziness, or just stupidity that is keeping Funcom from making tradeskills a more viable option for players. Heck, I would even be happy if they would just lower the requirements for tradeskills considerably. I hate having to invest so much IP into something that yields next to no improvement in xp collection. 700 NP to recieve only 1010xp is rediculous. At lvl 89 I get 1000 xp for killing mobs that are 10-15 lvls lower than me. With 700 NP I can make QL 200 implants.

How many people do any of us know that will flock to trade skills instead of killing medussas, ninjas, blood-stompers, and the like, just because you get 3-5k xp per implant slot at QL 200 instead of 1k? I know of very few, and most have already shown a commitment to trade skills anyway.

I don't think I can justify sticking around if things don't change. It's just getting to be a big waste of time and money to do the same boring things everytime I log in. I don't know. And I will sincerely miss all of the many friends I've made. Thanks Funcom, for not keeping your "promise".