New CEO, bad start - booster pack?

[Intone]

Originally posted by ccl28
Okay, personally, its not the money that bothers me. What really bothers me is that I know that the following must have happened...

They realized that Shadowlands won't be out on time. They also realized that without the revenue from Shadowlands they'll go down faster than a $5 whore. So this new CEO decides to package the next few patches up and sell it as a (hehe) 'booster pack', because he thinks you guys are morons.

Shadowlands is not necessarily delayed, but might be more like an indication that FunCom is finally starting to listen our constant cry for high level content and meaningful PvP interaction.

We want meaningful content NOW, not in december! We want tools to shape the world and this is IT! Who cares about the crummy apartments when you and your guild can go colonize some nice location on the planet?

Finally meaningful moneysink to highlevel players! Blow those millions to buy guards and guardtowers to defend your place with.

I'm ready to pay something for this booster if it brings me new graphics, sounds and stuff already promised it includes. But more importantly:

-CLIP-
As with an expansion pack, a booster pack requires the original game in order to play. It will add benefits for those who own the booster but will still allow non-owners to participate in new gameplay aspects.
-CLIP-

This does not rule anyone out! OK, your graphics will lack something and may look ugly on your screen if you don't buy this, but you still will be able to participate in full.

Land control! Finally! Maybe this will bring some old friends back...

[Intone]

[QUOTE[i]If FC thinks our $13 is for nothing but the right to access their servers, and we have to pay $30 every few months for our content they are going down in flames - fast.

...They are basically just hording all the monthly content we would have gotten into a box and slapping a price tag on it. Rule one of making an expansion pack: If you can't handle building the Xpack and still maintain the content our $13 pays for then you shouldn't be making an Xpack. [/B][/QUOTE]

This stated booster will be much more smaller addition than Shadowlands and thus it is impossible to slap 15$ price tag on it. Let's just wait and see what they are going to charge for this and what it will include.

Hard to flame about the upcoming product that does not exist yet. We dont know the exact content yet. All we know is that it will include land control, which will be available to non-buyers aswell.

So let's cool down a bit and wait those specs on this one to be released...

[Peisinoe]

You don't have to know what the booster pack will contain to flame it. I think most of us who are blah about it are blah about the principle behind it. As has been stated many times, what is coming the booster is what was promised to be a part of this game at release. Any idiot knows that an expansion is not voluntary. How many people who play everquest right now only play the original copy? Calling them expansions and calling them optional is a marketing ploy. And it obviously works from the amount of ignorant posts that claim expansions are voluntary.

I'm just curious. Since they will put land control in for only those who pay for it, will I as an MP have to pay them later on down the road for my pet pathing fix? I mean over a year and pathing from all reports is even worse then at release. This must be such a huge problem that it'll require so much work that of course it must be sold as a booster pack. Oh, and how about weapon inits. Yea. They've been messed up for over a year as well. What a grand idea. Since it's such a hard fix that required so much time, why not make the players pay for that booster pack as well? Can you actually stop and think of the silliness of this? It's all good to make us pay for new content. But making us pay for what was suppose to be in the game already...that's just pathetic. Perhaps we should just turn AO into that other game (currently in beta and may it never see the light of day) where we just use real life money to buy and do anything in game.

And for those who pay 12.95 a month for 'connecting to a server' ha. Name me one subscription based game that does not provide content other then AO. The ONLY reason a company can get away with making you pay a monthly fee is by providing you with entertainment. In this case Funcom is just taking it a step further by making you pay more then any other game ever for 'content'.

It is really sad for me because the basis of this game is great. The managment really really really sucks, and it doesn't look to be getting any better under this new guy.

I love the ideas in the booster pack. I despise the company for making me pay more money for something I was promised I was buying when I dished out my first 19.95. I have played every online game known to man practically and I have not hated the managment as much as I do here. :P Oh well, it's just a game.

[Sean-Roach]

Personally, I'm looking forward to the "booster". And by the way, ANY analogy to TCG's is flawed. These days, Magic: the gathering booster packs include lands, so a person who already knows the rules, (and the advanced starter decks don't include instruction books either), can start play with a few booster packs alone.

Booster packs in TCG's add flexibility and options to your original deck, to this extent both a content-additive patch, expansion, and "booster pack" fit the bill for MMORPG's.

TCG's have "Expansion Packs" as well. The first for Magic: the gathering was based on Aladdin and the other Middle East legends. There have been some that flopped, (remember the color purple?), and for the most part all could be played exclusive of the parent TCG. For MMORPG's, an expansion pack has, so far anyway, always required possession of the original game, but frequently added enough content that at least some players could play in that area exclusively without visiting the original areas for many levels.

Personally, I feel the "booster pack" would probably be on par with the non-core source-books of a TableTop RPG, such as DnD, or any of the WoD products. You don't NEED "Blood and Tome" to play a decent wizard, but some of the things mentioned in there might give you some good ideas. Just because there IS a Mokole tribebook, doesn't mean every Werewolf storyteller needs to keep it in his library.

To me, an "expansion pack" would be more like the books that both mentioned TT RPG companies publish in hardcover versus softcover. A whole world described in your hands for instance, versus just one dungeon or adventure. This analogy fails in that in the TT setting, if you don't have a certain book, you will never encounter the contents of that book, where in an MMORPG, just because it isn't an option for you doesn't mean the person you're teaming with didn't have the option to choose from, (or that he didn't). After all, you CAN still play any TT RPG with JUST the players handbook. You CAN still play EQ in JUST the original 3 continents, with JUST the original 9 races. But if you do, you WILL encounter lizard people and cat people wondering your backyard carring items from their home expansions with them.

Any analogy is flawed of course, because if it wasn't flawed, it wouldn't be an analogy OF something, it would BE something. Or so I believe.

And I agree with the sentiment that comparing MMORPG's based on their relative strengths and weaknesses is a good thing. By finding the strengths, you can promote them, but more importantly, by identifying the deficiencies, you can focus on eliminating them, thus making the overall game more potent.

I do, however, agree with the belief that a company should not borrow resources from maintenance to build an expansion. If FunCom did this, they should be ashamed as we are already paying for the results of their work. Now, using a team that is being payed with monies invested in the upcoming expansion, but seeding it well with people who already know the code and system, that makes perfect sense. Also, by my narrow description, if the existing maintenance team is busy making sure the expansion isn't going to break the game for the remaining player-base, that is acceptable too. I hope FC is not doing the former, but I've heard that the world-builders are swamped, so I maintain my doubts.

Will I buy this mini-expansion? Yes.

[___________Zeroshift]

I can play diablo 2 on one of blizzard's closed server for FREE on battle.net. I can play red alert 2 for FREE on westwoods connection service. Hell, I can even play FREE games on zone.com (microsoft).

Mantainence of servers is NOT a good enough excuse to charge $13 a month.

Turbine knew what they were doing. They took your $10 each month and put it to damn good use. Interactive and continous stories, new dungeons/weapons/items/skills/etc. To top it off they held monthy dev chats to interact with the players.

Originally posted by Zylina


And for those who pay 12.95 a month for 'connecting to a server' ha. Name me one subscription based game that does not provide content other then AO. The ONLY reason a company can get away with making you pay a monthly fee is by providing you with entertainment. In this case Funcom is just taking it a step further by making you pay more then any other game ever for 'content'.

[___________Zeroshift]

Originally posted by Sean Roach


TCG's have "Expansion Packs" as well. The first for Magic: the gathering was based on Aladdin and the other Middle East legends. There have been some that flopped, (remember the color purple?), and for the most part all could be played exclusive of the parent TCG. For MMORPG's, an expansion pack has, so far anyway, always required possession of the original game, but frequently added enough content that at least some players could play in that area exclusively without visiting the original areas for many levels.

I don't consider the new sets "expansion packs" because you never had to buy the more expensive start decks. You could go strait to the booster packs to augment your current collection. Effectively making them just another booster pack.

[thresholdrpg]

When I buy a deck of (say 52) cards, I do not expect to have to pay more money to:

1) Actually get 52 cards when I opened up the original deck and found only 45 cards inside.

2) Fix the 12 cards that did not have any writing printed on one side.

Furthermore, when I buy a deck of cards, I'm not paying Hoyle $13 a month for the "right" to possess those cards and play bridge with my buddies.

[Ivo]

don't buy it.

kthxbye

[_______MartinDeShade]

To all those that think the price of the booster pack will be $10-$15. All I gotta say is 'HAHH!'

You litterally can't put something out in stores for less than $20, and only then if you only want a tiny package that starts and ends life in the bargain bin. They will have to charge at least $30 for it to make a super tiny profit off it. And that is without the normal 1 month free subscription that most MMO expansions come with.

Don't get me wrong. I know they aren't putting a package together to make money on the sales of the box. But to get new boxes at the retail stores. Its called 'Location Location Location'. Gaute in a chat interview on monday admitted as much. If not they could make it as a near free download (about $6), or send out the cd in the mail for (total $11). That is what they are doing with the 7day free trial after the first 7days are up. If you subtract the price of the first months subscription from the $20 fee and the $5 charge for sending the game cd in the mail, then you get those prices. But of course the retail outlets won't want to carry your products if you are price cutting them too much at your own store.


Martin

[Herodotus2]

I can't believe you guyz. You haven't even given this guy a chance.

I've just read the post from the discussions with AO's new CEO, and can't see what the fuss is about.

To me it seems as though he is trying to shake the game up a bit, make it something new, push it in a different direction. Veteran gamers like myself are becoming bored with the stale content, and I myself am looking forward to something new.

Providing this "content" is delivered in a balanced manner I cannot see any problem.

...No. Basically the areas that are controlled, will not be something you "stumble" onto, when you walk out of Omni-Entertainment to Omni-Forest. We make it so that the people not looking for this fight, wont be "hassled" with it. Roads and paths will generally speaking, not run through centres of the conflict.

It sounds as though the CEO is trying to balance it out for all players.

As for the costing element, as someone mentioned earlier this is a hobby, like photography.... how many times do you buy new kit, because your excited about it, or because someone has told you its better. Same thing applies here.

The cost will probably be no worse than £30, so so-long as they dont start making this a regular thing, which on all accounts it doesn't sound as though it will be, it shouldn't be a problem.

Shadowlands looks set to be delayed until early next year, so in some respects I can share some people's views that this is kind of a "filler", but I think Funcom are genuinely trying to alter / mix-up the game.

Look at the evidence.

1) New content planned for the next patch, to tie in with Shadowlands.

2) Level Caps on Nano's and equipment, to try and draw everyone to a level playing field.

3) New content in Shadowlands, and Land Control.

They ( Funcom ) are really working towards a battle which is what this game was all about, a war between factions.

I think they have been trying to get it on a stable playing field first. i.e. PvP balancing, and stable play zones, so that everyone stands a better chance when this battle finally does go ahead.

I mean PvP is becoming a little more balanced now. Something that is going to be crucial in order to keep people from simply over-powering their counterparts in a PvP situation.

I for one am looking forward to the changes.

[______________Talric]

They will make more money off this expansion pack if it was available to download.

It costs a lot of money for packaging , duplication and location in software stores.

WTF are they thinking if they don't allow it to be downloaded??

I DL'ed the game for the 7 day trial. I loved the idea that I didn't have to go to a store and buy the product. I got it direct.

Direct sales = more money for publisher.

The only reason I see they want to sell this on the shelf, is that they are bundling it with the original AO product.

Trying to get it out at the same time, both client and expansion when SWG is on the shelf.

Stupid

Where is my pet pathing fixes, Bow init fixes? This game is so good, I'm happy to play it, but these underlining bugs really cripple the game. Agents? What about the conceal vs PVP? I wish they address these issues before pushing out an expansion that is based on PVP! Yeah, Give Engineers some love too. I would not be interested one bit in this expansion if I was an engineer.

[_____________spaztic]

I agree talric.

It's all propaganda to deflect the release of SWG in december. All the MMORPGs are trying to get something on the shelves at the same time.
Funcom is trying for a last ditch effort to get money from its CURRENT player base. This patch wont get them more players. Hell the original packaging of the game states the inclusion of this BOOSTER allreay.

It all comes down to this:
Funcom KNOWS they are going to lose players when SWG is released. what better way to offset the loss of revenue? Simple, those who remain loyal to AO will buy this booster. Therefore Funcom won't look like it lost to much revenue when all the accounting is done at the end of the year.
Next after SWG is released, some of those who did leave will see that SWG has bugs, laggy, and crashes a lot (typical for a new game). So after a few months of playing SWG, Funcom will release the Shadowlands expansion.
This will perk the ears of those whose experience in SWG has been less than stellar do to the obvious "new game issues" may see the Shadowlands as a viable option.
Don't be fooled people!! Its all in the sales/marketing of a product. You need to time things perfectly to get the most cash. thats the bottom line here, not the gameplay or the players, its all about the cash $$$$.

[______________Talric]

There is no doubt I will try SWG. There are several unique systems offered that no other game has right now.

As a gamer, I will still have an active AO account. Most likely I will give SWG 2-3 month run. I always pay month by month.

After that 2-3 run, I'll see what makes sense for me to continue and pay for. I work for a living, so I can not play more than 1 online game at a time. Currently that is AO.

I suspect many other casual gamers are the same. Once I find myself playing SWG more than AO, I'll cancel AO. If SWG delivers, most likely a lot of people will be canceling in Feb.

Blam, out comes the expansion pack for you to look at..

Well, There is a term, a little to late. Something I pin DAOC with. Shadowland will not pull me back if I spend enough time in SWG. I would loose most of my friends and guild members during my stretch in SWG to bother comming back.

They need to fix game issues and improve communication.

14.5 patch notes, 1 sentance. A joke

14.6 Where's the meat?

They sure can have dev chats, and a full writeup on a booster pack, why the hell not on a simple patch we already paying for?

Fix pet pathing, Fix mez pets! fix bow init, fix player vrs play conceal, give Engineers a bone! Make Trade skills usuable. I want to be able to purchase a weapon from a player than an NPC!

Naah, We will give you PVP booster, that will make it possible for ganker guilds to put a tower up outside near the best XP spots! Yeah, 14.5 more outside hunting, while the booster makes it so only the umber guilds can hunt there.

Arg!

[Gridfan]

Hmm am I the only one to notice this?
In the dev chat it was mentioned that when a tower is put in a zone, the area with/around the tower (controller) will get a altered gas level.

I suddenly realized that at the same time that booster comes out.
AO will suddenly have the game mechanics to change gas levels in areas On The Fly. which could mean GM guided events/battles/skirmishes where the gas level changes.

Imagine suddenly seeing the gas level in a city change in a instant. Currently they need to patch to do that.
This booster indicate that mechanics will be available to
avoid patches. (if not it would be a pain to implement towers in general if you had to patch each time someone build a tower lol).

And as said in Dev chat. people that dont buy booster will still see/be able to interact with the towers in some way. just not to MAKE/setup them.

THen again. we are months away from booster pack. so who knows whats gonna change until then.

[_______________Snowl]

Wonderful, so when I run a mission, oops it's inside of Guild UberXYZ's newly founded area and they whack me. That's lovely.

I'm disappointed with the whole comment on the big guilds being able to pound on the little guys. I give this 3 months and 4 or 5 guilds will own it all, and you'll either be a part of them or playing solo.

Not interested in that myself. Certainly not going to buy a booster pack to help that idea along.

Of course, by the time this whole thing really rolls out SWG will be out and I'll be off in that universe anyway.

sad, I really liked the concept and premise behind AO, but alas it stumbled and broke it's face just like Mankind.net did.