Originally Posted by
securitywyrm
I think funcom has lost touch with their playerbase. They need to realize
1. Anarchy Online is not the 'latest and greatest' game. The surge in new players when they announced free accounts does not reflect an increase in overall population. If one paying player leaves and ten free players join, that is not an improvement.
2. The policies and procedures, especially when it comes to enforcement of the code of conduct, are on a "We don't have to tell you that/do anything, it's secret" policy. As a result, the common belief is that "For other than technical issues, calling an ARK is pointless."
3. Changes without reason. These changes being implemented, they need to show some documentation to the players of how they arrived at the decision to make these changes. This game has been going for four years. If you have players that have stuck with the game this long, it is not a license to treat them like sheep.
Funcom, Anarchy Online is an old game and it's not going to last forever. However, turning your backs on your players when they ask for respect will come around to bite you in the ass. When someone who has never played anarchy online looks at Conan, they're going to do a little research. If the top ten links they find when searching up "anarchy online" are people griping about how poorly they're treated in-game, what are the odds that player will join Conan?
For starters, the 1.6 patch is WRONG, because you're introducing new features without fixing old problems. I'm not talking about the big technical issues, but before you go 'fine tuning' the classes, maybe you should...
1. Fix some of the horrible typos and mis-quotes in the game. Example : Adventuring description still says "reduces falling damage". All of the "Gallant slave" nanocrystals have the wrong description. When last I checked many of the alien invasion items still have an 'invisible' requirement not listed in the description of the item.
2. Basic 'fix a setting and it's done' fixes. Playercity buildings is the big one. LOWER their view priority, so that they don't fully render when you could see even a tiny corner of it.
3. Turn the game 45 degrees. Think about it, your view is rendering a square around your character, making the distance in front of you the shortest distance. Add in the only 70 degree vision arc (on average), and you're wasting a huge ammont of processing power rendering what you can't see when walking about and can't see when you turn to look at it.
Funcom, it's a great game. However, it's not a cash cow like ultima online. The people 'addicted' to this game have alternatives out there. When a game has been going this long, the 'administration' and the 'players' of the game need to communicate instead of being artificially distanced.
Now, here's some suggestions to help shorten that distance.
1. You have a wide player base, and outdated graphical icons. Release a toolkit that allows the players to design their own graphics for the game and submit them to a team that reviews and implements them. Hold it as a contest, design new graphics for so many of those items that either have no graphic, or use a graphic already in use by 20 other similar items.
2. Start actually replying to suggestions in the game suggestions forum. If an idea is unfeasable, say what about the idea is unfeasable, and what is workable. Players want to know that their feedback is actually being recieved.