Engine Sooner than later

[monkier]

Howdy. I've mostly quit AO, but I still check in every week or so to keep up on the recent news and whatnot. Like many other players, i'm currently inactive, waiting for the new engine to come out to get back into the game.

Let me start off by saying that I understand Funcom's unwillingness to release too much information about the engine too early for fear of underwhelming people, and losing potential renews because the beta version didnt look as good as they were hoping for. (even if the beta version didn't look nearly as good as the final version)

However, I'd like to point out that it is also a potential danger that if Funcom never releases any information about the engine at all, people will just lose interest and forget about the game all-together.

So what i'm asking for is just a short preview of what the team has been working on all these years. I want to be excited about AO again.

[Antinoos]

In your question is the answer! ...maybe?

I hope not

[monkier]

In your question is the answer! ...maybe?

I hope not

Have more make a sword stone?

[Gora]

Let me start off by saying that I understand Funcom's unwillingness to release too much information about the engine too early for fear of underwhelming people, and losing potential renews because the beta version didnt look as good as they were hoping for. (even if the beta version didn't look nearly as good as the final version)

I really don't think that too many would stay away simply because an update underwhelmed - I agree with you that people could certainly move on before things hit Live.

I firmly believe that folks will come back pretty quickly once something gets released...anything gets released. I believe that long-term players want to cheer for FC and they're simply waiting for some finished 'thing' to cheer about.

[Ninjaloot]

I'm more interested in the balance update than the graphics engine tbh. Graphics dont change the way the game is played, its just... "fluff".

I'd like to think that people who leave AO or go on breaks do so because they are bored with the gameplay or content... not the graphics.

[Insane666]

while the new gfx engine has the pottential to make me play for another 5 years, the reballance has the pottential to make me forget this game alltogether

at this point id rather take the new gfx and throw the whole reballance into the trashcan

i admit im not too much optimistic about it after reading those prof docs fc so far released, id be much happier to stay with perma raging enforcers, nt;s spamming cb and doubles, acro+coon adventurers etc,,, then to risk it all with a reballance i have so little faith in left

i really hope im wrong, but i doubt it will make ao better, i rather dread the opposite

once again, hope im dead wrong

[nitr0]

I'm more interested in the balance update than the graphics engine tbh. Graphics dont change the way the game is played, its just... "fluff".

I'd like to think that people who leave AO or go on breaks do so because they are bored with the gameplay or content... not the graphics.

people that still play or will come back to AO like the gameplay it has...
but guess everybody will figure that out the hard way when ao is "balanced".

i wish FC would bring more footage of the engine too... even tho i can understand their concerns about frigthening people away (when u hear some people talk, they kinda really believe ao will look like aeon after engine update oO).

but dunno, maybe they should just do it... people that care too much about gfx are long gone anyways, and will never come back just because ao looks 6 years old instead of 10 after update.

[Rissa]

I'm more interested in the balance update than the graphics engine tbh. Graphics dont change the way the game is played, its just... "fluff".

^^ This ^^

Graphics alone won't break a game unless they are so bad that they impede game-play. AO's graphics are definitely old and dated but they are still perfectly serviceable. Would I like to see AO with a shiny new graphics engine? You bet I would, but-- and I have said this a half-dozen times on these forums-- new graphics alone are not going to fix the game's long term population issues. Only changes to leveling, itemization and class balance are going to do that and even then any "permanent" population increase is likely to remain small. Oh, and add advertising to that list of things as well.

[nitr0]

Graphics alone won't break a game unless they are so bad that they impede game-play. AO's graphics are definitely old and dated but they are still perfectly serviceable. Would I like to see AO with a shiny new graphics engine? You bet I would, but-- and I have said this a half-dozen times on these forums-- new graphics alone are not going to fix the game's long term population issues. Only changes to leveling, itemization and class balance are going to do that and even then any "permanent" population increase is likely to remain small. Oh, and add advertising to that list of things as well.

changing ao = dead ao.

there are so many so much better games out there (include tons of free ones), that are what u like ao to become.
if ao looses its identity and what makes so many ppl still play after all those years, it's a matter of month until 90% of the already not so huge population is gone.

NOBODY out there waits for a ao with different playstyle...NOBODY.
that's dreaming... and by feeding 10% of players who scream loudest on forums with "balance" ao goes down the drain...

[Insane666]

people that still play or will come back to AO like the gameplay it has...
but guess everybody will figure that out the hard way when ao is "balanced".

i wish FC would bring more footage of the engine too... even tho i can understand their concerns about frigthening people away (when u hear some people talk, they kinda really believe ao will look like aeon after engine update oO).

but dunno, maybe they should just do it... people that care too much about gfx are long gone anyways, and will never come back just because ao looks 6 years old instead of 10 after update.

was it a typo and yout meant aion or is there a aeon mmo out there i missed somehow?

if you meant aion, then i have to dissagree, it looks really poor, it looked dated at the launch day, and the poor gfx in my case was the biggest turnoff i had in this game

there are places in ao that look better then aion w.o even the new gfx engine

[Armus]

changing ao = dead ao.

there are so many so much better games out there (include tons of free ones), that are what u like ao to become.
if ao looses its identity and what makes so many ppl still play after all those years, it's a matter of month until 90% of the already not so huge population is gone.

NOBODY out there waits for a ao with different playstyle...NOBODY.
that's dreaming... and by feeding 10% of players who scream loudest on forums with "balance" ao goes down the drain...

Yep. And doing the balancing with the handgrenade method is almost 100% surely going to fail.

Hand grenade method=changing pretty much the whole game at once and then just hoping for the best. Like throwing a handgrenade into a messy room and hoping it will come out clean after detonation.

As opposed to finetuning and changing stuff over time. Which could have been much cheaper and much more reliable.

[Rissa]

there are so many so much better games out there (include tons of free ones)

You'll get no argument from me on this point, I could not agree more. I suspect that most of us that are left continue to play only for the sake of nostalgia.

if ao looses its identity and what makes so many ppl still play after all those years, it's a matter of month until 90% of the already not so huge population is gone.

NOBODY out there waits for a ao with different playstyle...NOBODY.
that's dreaming... and by feeding 10% of players who scream loudest on forums with "balance" ao goes down the drain...

AO has already lost it's identity. The game we have now is almost nothing at all like the game I learned to love back in 2003. Whether or not these changes were good for the game is evident in the population numbers: the current population is virtually non-existent compared to the numbers from back then. The game cannot evolve without change and yet evolve it must if it is to survive. There will likely be some casualties along the way and those of you that cannot adapt will simply not be a part of the new order. If this drives the population to zero (which I suspect it will not) then at least they tried. The alternative is to continue the slow death spiral until the game is really and truly unplayable (I know many that would say it is at that point already).

[Ninjaloot]

I'm not saying the devs should completely change AO in the balance update. But changes that make the game more enjoyable seem better to me than a graphics update. I'm more worried that I'll have to upgrade my PC and parts just to run AO decent... it already runs like crap on my PC.

I don't mind the dated graphics. I'm actually gonna miss them when they change in the graphics update. The dated graphics, to me, are the only thing that has remained the same since the game launched in 2001...

[drainbamage]

I'd say the rebalance isn't nearly as ambitious as it needs to be

[Mastablasta]

You're getting previews of what's been worked on every other week...

I don't mind the dated graphics. I'm actually gonna miss them when they change in the graphics update. The dated graphics, to me, are the only thing that has remained the same since the game launched in 2001...

You get to use the old engine after new engine launches.

[If6was9]

You're getting previews of what's been worked on every other week...


You get to use the old engine after new engine launches.

Meaning they plan to have two different builds available?

FC is hiding the new gfx because it's all Chinese. Updated AO is going to look like Enter The Dragon. Good thing my main is an MA.

[Hvyshadows]

You're getting previews of what's been worked on every other week...

If you're talking about the new engine/grpahics update, um, no we're not....

FWM: 12/10 - No engine preview or news
FWM: 12/03 - No engine preview or news
FWM: 11/26 - One pic of Pande sky and a short paragraph that says we're working on it
FWM: 11/19 - No engine preview or news
FWM: 11/12 - No engine preview or news
FWM: 11/05 - No engine preview or news
FWM: 10/29 - No engine preview or news
FWM: 10/22 - No engine preview or news
FWM: 10/15 - No engine preview or news
FWM: 10/08 - 6 pics of heads and sky
FWM: 10/01 - Short paragraph on how the sky is working
FWM: 09/24 - "With the increased scope of supporting both clients a Christmas launch is becoming less and less likely…but a Q1 2011 launch seems relatively certain."
FWM: 09/17 - No engine preview or news
FWM: 09/10 - No engine preview or news
FWM: 09/03 - No engine preview or news

Unless you're talking about some other kind of preview...

[monkier]

I want a video of the new engine, thats all. There was a 17 second clip of the engine released more than a year ago, and nothing but the occasional screepcap taken from their 3d modeler since. This thing they're theoretically devoting all of their resources to seems to be getting very little attention.

[quieter456]

I want a video of the new engine, thats all. There was a 17 second clip of the engine released more than a year ago, and nothing but the occasional screepcap taken from their 3d modeler since. This thing they're theoretically devoting all of their resources to seems to be getting very little attention.

Sorry but, some new engine has come out in the meantime and we think it would be best to use that one, so we will have to start from scratch again. See you in 3 years!

love fc