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Thread: A long overdue letter to the AO dev team

  1. #1

    A long overdue letter to the AO dev team

    Since everybody on the forums is so salty and bashes FC pretty much every second post, I'd like to offer the below:

    So I have returned to the game about a month ago after a break of almost 3,5 years. When I quit there were not many people in the game. There still isnt many, but it is not fewer than it was before. Different people but similar amount of population. I didnt expect many when I returned, I didnt really care, just wanted to play the game even solo. And guess what I'm actually having a good time.
    Yes, I have encountered the MB stack. Yes I've been gangbanged by agents on BS many times. Yes there has been power creep. Yes, I had to do inf missions again. Yet I still have a good time.
    And I am actually pretty dazzled by the amount of new content. POH is a yet another interesting encounter, the new ICC looks great, the NPE looks and plays great too. The profession rebalance brought some interesting changes. Froobs and paid players alike got a new playfield (The Reck). Levelling is not painful anymore in AO. There is very few grind left in the game. And all these were done by a really small dev team.

    Behold people, believe it or not, many of the biggest complaints/wishes have actually been addressed:
    - /assist in pvp was removed
    - froobs got decent weapon choices (revamped -000 weapons, Reck weapons)
    - MANY ways to level
    - Profession balance in PVM is much better than before
    - A LOT of cred sinks in the game. Prices have been normalized, although "recent events" also affected this

    I know new problems have arisen, but that's exactly what I said like 4-5 years ago: the playerbase will never be satisfied

    I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the dev team the effort they put in keeping the game alive this far, and hopefully much beyond. I know I know, they get salaries for this, but I am fairly sure that the team is doing this partly for passion.

    As lip service-like as this thread might seem, it is not, as I have nothing to gain writing this all down. I just wanted to point out that the effort is appreciated and despite the flaws that many here love to point out pretty much every opportunity they get, the dev team is doing a decent job.
    Last edited by aramsunat; Nov 7th, 2016 at 15:51:06.
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  2. #2
    Quote Originally Posted by aramsunat View Post
    Since everybody on the forums is so salty and bashes FC pretty much every second post, I'd like to offer the below:

    So I have returned to the game about a month ago after a break of almost 3,5 years. When I quit there were not many people in the game. There still isnt many, but it is not fewer than it was before. Different people but similar amount of population. I didnt expect many when I returned, I didnt really care, just wanted to play the game even solo. And guess what I'm actually having a good time.
    Yes, I have encountered the MB stack. Yes I've been gangbanged by agents on BS many times. Yes there has been power creep. Yes, I had to do inf missions again. Yet I still have a good time.
    And I am actually pretty dazzled by the amount of new content. POH is a yet another interesting encounter, the new ICC looks great, the NPE looks and plays great too. The profession rebalance brought some interesting changes. Froobs and paid players alike got a new playfield (The Reck). Levelling is not painful anymore in AO. There is very few grind left in the game. And all these were done by a really small dev team.

    Behold people, believe it or not, many of the biggest complaints/wishes have actually been addressed:
    - /assist in pvp was removed
    - froobs got decent weapon choices (revamped -000 weapons, Reck weapons)
    - MANY ways to level
    - Profession balance in PVM is much better than before
    - A LOT of cred sinks in the game. Prices have been normalized, although "recent events" also affected this

    I know new problems have arisen, but that's exactly what I said like 4-5 years ago: the playerbase will never be satisfied

    I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the dev team the effort they put in keeping the game alive this far, and hopefully much beyond. I know I know, they get salaries for this, but I am fairly sure that the team is doing this partly for passion.

    As lip service-like as this thread might seem, it is not, as I have nothing to gain writing this all down. I just wanted to point out that the effort is appreciated and despite the flaws that many here love to point out pretty much every opportunity they get, the dev team is doing a decent job.
    Yeah, removing assist and let Multiboxer assist via MB-Helper.....Great move -.-
    Carolus Hekthor Priamos - Advisor of S.I.N.C

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Hekthor View Post
    Yeah, removing assist and let Multiboxer assist via MB-Helper.....Great move -.-
    salty

    also offtopic
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  4. #4
    Sure, many good QoL changes has been made in the past few years. But the arrogant tone from Fc has increased a lot. I mean, they never post anything on the forums anymore, they never deliver monthly letters in time, they dont really keep a dialogue with their playerbase. This is the most annoying part. If there was one thing I liked about FC, it was their involvement in the community. Heck, even random posts from different devs/fc employees in random threads. It's all so monotone now.
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  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Oliveerz View Post
    Heck, even random posts from different devs/fc employees in random threads.
    Wishes, be wary of them. Yesterday, on the TSW testserver forums, a dev broke the radio silence that lasted for months there and chimed in on a discussion regarding one particular mechanic of one boss in a dungeon (a mechanic which most players will never see or notice).
    The gist of that message was "thanks for pointing out we need to make your life a little harder there".

    Comments on any of the real issues raised over the last months or even years ? Nothing.
    No further significant work is expected to be done on this project going forward.

  6. #6
    3 and a half years ago was just after the server merge and there was ALOT more people online After the merge than there are now.

    I have seen it quiet also though in the past but this was pre merge when the remaining playerbase was split across multiple servers. Now, all that you see on one server... is all you have and it is alot less in total.

    The number of people online has decreased and is continuing to decrease from what I see. When playing in outside zones, I can play all night and not see a soul. End game is busy and the end game instances are easily populated but even the newest content, "The Reck" instance ... quite often I dont see a soul when doing the quests on diff chars.

    Has Funcom pulled out new content... yes. Has Funcom made a move on rebalance ... yes. What has been done though is often started with good intentions and then dropped. This game should be free with the amount of development that is done on it. I wish they had never started on rebalance. They made alot of changes to few professions in the guise of "Theres more to come" and then just left the changed professions having to deal with unfair changes whilst other professions just live it up. They have a cheek charging what they charge when all they are giving is what they currently give. Alot of the remainding players have invested alot of money, alot of time, alot of effort and alot of their life into cultivating the characters they have so they are held at ransom.Either Let go a lot of years worth of time or be ripped.

    I am glad that after you're break, you feel renewed lease for life with the game but quite often... love looks at life through rose tinted spectacles.

    3.5 years ago had more posts in a single refresh somedays than you get in an entire week nowadays.

    The over inflated price funcom charge for AO is funding the games that otherpeople benefit from. Not entriely sure how many games have been made and flopped faster than a slap in the face but each flop is a slap in the face to the loyalists.

    The secret world is still going strong I guess but was still a massive flop compared to expectations especially when conbined with the number of years it was in development and when taking into account the amount of development it took away from AO. It was built on AO subs money (and conan and rich oiltycoon sugardaddy I guess). Ive never played it but the game I did play had limited attention by the developers because of the efforts put into it, since its come out, its like Funcom forgot AO even existed with the 1 man crew they give it. Lego popped straight away, im not even gonna talk about it but lately The Park and Hide & Shriek are two crappy games that offer a 2 minute playthrough before it will never be touched again by the players. There is no substance to them... just quick cheap hopeful cash injections. Will the 2 future conan games be any better? I guess time will tell but if past experience is anything to go by.. probably not. It wont stop them sucking out the resources that should go on AO though.

    But .. yay.. go funcom!
    Last edited by gresh; Nov 8th, 2016 at 19:44:06.
    The only things of importance you will ever find in this life are only those things which you place importance upon!

  7. #7
    I agree with your post almost to the letter, but wanted at least one forum post that does not bash the AO crew (if any). Not to mention that while vilification of FC as a company and its management can be justified, I think the crew itself deserves a thanks.
    By the way, at the time I quit, which was around 6 months after the server merge the game was just as dead/alive as it is now. Quite honestly I do not feel the difference in population, actually expected worse when I returned. However you are right, forum activity is much lower.
    * Cryborg Nano-Technician - Have a shoulder to cry on!
    Aramlash Fixer - Can't catch me!
    Aramsunat Engineer - 4 Blockers of the Apocalypse


    Devil Inside

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by aramsunat View Post
    However you are right, forum activity is much lower.
    If i had to guess, one the biggest reasons for low forum activity might have something to do with the complete radio silence from funcom. There's some very huge issues in game that really require some intervention and at least some sort of dev letter, but there's absolutely nothing official told about anything. Hell even the "monthly" dev letter only comes every two or three months now.

    While i was away from AO for a few years, i used to browse the forums every day for the first couple of years, but slowly began to quit checking in because there was nothing new from the devs like ever.
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    Quote Originally Posted by SoapTarder View Post
    its funny how AO requires so much grinding and effort to make any progress, both ingame and in Development

  9. #9
    The dev team, aka Michi, has gotten so much love after he took over. It's really not fair to say the community only complained/complaints.
    But we noticed after a year and some time more that it basically has come to what it was before: Weird changes, no explanations, plain silence. If Michi is to blame or if it's an order from Funcom to just go "Shuuuuush" on us - I don't know. But I honestly also don't care anymore.

    Today I logged into the forums and on page 1 there were posts from 3 days ago... At the beginning of this year you had to go to page 2 or even 3 to get all the unread posts since your last login. People are apparently tired, fed up. Friend after friend is cancelling their account(s), some people keep paying but never log in anymore. This game is crazy dead and that's why I left too. Not gonna waste any more money.

    I also agree with everything gresh said.
    Don't set yourself on fire to keep others warm.

  10. #10
    To be fair to Michi, if I were him I'd avoid posting here too. Some of the responses from the playerbase make the Youtube comment section a rosy walk in the park in comparison.
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  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Aiken View Post
    To be fair to Michi, if I were him I'd avoid posting here too. Some of the responses from the playerbase make the Youtube comment section a rosy walk in the park in comparison.
    To be honest - we live in time of social media. More and more communications between people and companies move from offline to online, and, if you work on internet project - you simply cannot avoid having strong, permanent and proactive communication channels in internet, will it be social networks or forums.

    Worst thing you can have from any kind of online service provider, no matter if its game, hosting, chat, video or other resource - is silence (complete or almost).

    Means wasn't more active in game development when it comes to game changes, but he was way more communicative via forums and other channels. And, while he was GD, - way less playerbase unsubscribed (at least visually). Forums were much more active, there were way more dialogues between playerbase and dev team.

    If you'll ask me - if official game representative can't spend 10 minutes per month writing regular newsletter - then I have a feeling that FC's priorities are somewhere else. Especially if you gonna recalculate newsletter's costs. If GD has (let's pretend) 3000$/month salary - then newsletter post costs FC 2,84$ (3000 / 22 work days / 8 work hours daily / 6).
    If company cannot "waste" 2,84$ for a thing that is extremely important (I hope they realise it is) - then, oh well, I'm very sorry.
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  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Artyomis View Post
    To be honest - we live in time of social media. More and more communications between people and companies move from offline to online, and, if you work on internet project - you simply cannot avoid having strong, permanent and proactive communication channels in internet, will it be social networks or forums.

    Worst thing you can have from any kind of online service provider, no matter if its game, hosting, chat, video or other resource - is silence (complete or almost).

    Means wasn't more active in game development when it comes to game changes, but he was way more communicative via forums and other channels. And, while he was GD, - way less playerbase unsubscribed (at least visually). Forums were much more active, there were way more dialogues between playerbase and dev team.

    If you'll ask me - if official game representative can't spend 10 minutes per month writing regular newsletter - then I have a feeling that FC's priorities are somewhere else. Especially if you gonna recalculate newsletter's costs. If GD has (let's pretend) 3000$/month salary - then newsletter post costs FC 2,84$ (3000 / 22 work days / 8 work hours daily / 6).
    If company cannot "waste" 2,84$ for a thing that is extremely important (I hope they realise it is) - then, oh well, I'm very sorry.
    You can read my mind
    Carolus Hekthor Priamos - Advisor of S.I.N.C

  13. #13
    Well ... at least one thing we can do ... as Arty said media is everything those days. I wonder if their CEO has some facebook, linkedin, tweeter and stuff account. If you (yes you reading this) have a facebook, linkedin, tweeter account - jump on him - ask publicly "what is happening with AO?" I might as well create some accounts to get to that. Make some waves people - make some WAVES !
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  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by PigBrother View Post
    Well ... at least one thing we can do ... as Arty said media is everything those days. I wonder if their CEO has some facebook, linkedin, tweeter and stuff account. If you (yes you reading this) have a facebook, linkedin, tweeter account - jump on him - ask publicly "what is happening with AO?" I might as well create some accounts to get to that. Make some waves people - make some WAVES !
    http://cdn.funcom.com/investor/2016/...eport_2015.pdf

    page 28

    and yes, he's on facebook. good luck with stalking lol

    jokes aside: it is not that bad of an idea to organize a movement, let's say everybody comments on the Conan Exiles post: "MAKE AO GREAT AGAIN"
    Last edited by aramsunat; Dec 6th, 2016 at 09:41:58.
    * Cryborg Nano-Technician - Have a shoulder to cry on!
    Aramlash Fixer - Can't catch me!
    Aramsunat Engineer - 4 Blockers of the Apocalypse


    Devil Inside

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by aramsunat View Post

    jokes aside: it is not that bad of an idea to organize a movement, let's say everybody comments on the Conan Exiles post: "MAKE AO GREAT AGAIN"
    Post link to the appropriate FC Conan Exiles post and I'll drop a comment

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by aramsunat View Post
    jokes aside: it is not that bad of an idea to organize a movement, let's say everybody comments on the Conan Exiles post: "MAKE AO GREAT AGAIN"
    Use neutnet and start it (yea because it will deleted from there if you start spam conan exiles post

    Nice idea anyway
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  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by dritst View Post
    Use neutnet and start it (yea because it will deleted from there if you start spam conan exiles post

    Nice idea anyway
    Err checked again, they are not actual posts, but status updates. And they are not publicly "defaceable" :P
    If you want something else, here's michi's twitter: https://twitter.com/themichizure
    He too can be found on Facebook, but similarly, the page is no free playground.

    Ah meh, im too old to be a rebel anyway
    * Cryborg Nano-Technician - Have a shoulder to cry on!
    Aramlash Fixer - Can't catch me!
    Aramsunat Engineer - 4 Blockers of the Apocalypse


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  18. #18
    I have tweeted Michizure a couple of times regarding my Concept art thread, but no responses yet so I'm pretty sure at this point that he is either ignoring random people, or does not read direct tweets at all.
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  19. #19
    Just a moment ago...

    "[Neutnet20]: [Shopping] WTH Blitzing services 50M per nano PST! [...]

    And when I mentioned that the economy is ruined, the fanbois replied with "it was ruined long ago". Really, before having this GD, blitzing a nano was 50 millions?

    What's the point of avoiding a rollback now?
    Last edited by Nursebones; Dec 8th, 2016 at 17:33:33.

  20. #20
    The economy was at its finest just when i played last time around summertime. Seeing somone offering 50m per nano screams sploited creds.
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