A small request for the european release of catacombs...

Gama

Fledgling Freddie
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Yes I know it won't be out until next march or so, but...

Set the game release date in the UK to be the friday BEFORE the day you patch the servers (invariably a wednesday) instead of after. The releases of SI and ToA here in the UK were... chaotic, to say the least.

If they had the game on the shelf before the official 'european release (patching of the servers etc)' and slapped a sticker on the front warning 'not usable until march 23rd 2005', which would be only 5 days after the game hit the shelves, it would save a lot of hassle (wonder how much time was wasted by people running from shop to shop seeing if they had it out yet, getting the managers to ring their suppliers etc... it wasn't just me, right? :p).

Anyway, its a long time off, but it would hardly be difficult for them to impliment, and would save a lot of people a lot of hassle, and whining etc :)
 

Eroa

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releaseing it at same date or a day after or so will cause less stress on the update server so ppl actualy might be able to update the game in a decent spd and not having to wait for 24h for it to update. Thats what i think atleast
 

Fana

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Really hope they release it in advance of the live date next time as well. I did exactly what you describe - spent half that day going from store to store trying to even get them to sell it to me since they either didnt have it yet or had it but had gotten the wrong release date for it. Finally talked one store manager into selling it to me and a friend just before stores were about to close. Stressful day to say the least.
And no, i didnt wanna wait til later since i wanted to be in on the first ml rush etc.
 

IainC

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Good points and we are constantly looking to improve the way we roll out expansions. We implemented a lot of the lessons we learnt from the SI release in ToA and I hope that the Catacombs release will be smoother yet.
As far as pre-release is concerned, this is something we've avoided in the past for support reasons. It doesn't matter how big the sticker on the front with the live date is, we'll still get hundreds of RightNow queries the day before live release complaining that the game doesn't work. Trust me on this...
I think the problem in the past has not been so much due to the release dates and the difference between continental and UK releases, but one of availability and distribution - actual numbers of boxes in shops. This is something we are looking closely at and there are several plans being put forward at the moment to resolve this.
 

Tilda

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Requiel, any chance GOA would considering running an advertising campaign in the UK, either on TV, or on Billboards/Gaming Mags?
It really seems that theres been very little done to raise public awareness of DAoC in the UK.

Tilda
 

Moriath

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Requiel

I beg to differ.

The last 2 releases have been available before the offical UK release date in most of Europe. I personally haven't had a problem getting the expansion but have had problems getting the expansion for the patch date. Which has put the UK community at a disadvantage to the rest of Europe.

Yes there does need to be more publicity and more copies sent out but that does not solve the problems of the UK community not being able to get the game for patch day which I believe the original poster is alluding to.

If you cannot get the UK distribution network to release the game on the official patch day then the only solution to the UK community frustration is to get it released the friday before.

Each time SI and TOA there is a mass of posts about where it can be got from and forcing the major retailers i.e. Game. By consumer pressure to release it early. We should not have to do that as it takes peoples time and effort on what is supposed to be a fun enjoyable pass time and what should be from our perspective a seemless transition from one version to the next (ideally)

Either that or make everyone's release date including all those in Europe the Friday after the patch. Its only fair imo.
 

Svartmetall

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Tilda said:
Requiel, any chance GOA would considering running an advertising campaign in the UK, either on TV, or on Billboards/Gaming Mags?
It really seems that theres been very little done to raise public awareness of DAoC in the UK.

Tilda

Oh Hell Yeah.

I've seen adverts for every MMO game under the sun...except DAOC. Haven't seen one single advert for it in the UK gaming press at all. Ryzom's still in Beta and I've seen more adverts for that than I ever have of DAOC in the UK press.
 

Belomar

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Tilda speaketh the truth. I love to meet total newbies to the game, but this seems to happen less and less due to minimal marketing. :(
 

Oro

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I tried Game in Falkirk, Carlisle, Edinburgh and Bromley within 2 weeks of release of ToA. None of them had any copies of DAoC or add-ons in stock. Ended up a friend managed to score a copy in Glasgow. If you know your geography then you'll know thats a reasonable random sample of the UK ;)

UK distribution of DAoC has always been a problem.
 

jnh

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i saw an SI advertisment in PC Gamer when that was released... but yeah, thats the only DAoC advert ive seen. go into game etc and they usually have a seperate fancy stand for a big rpg release, with the cardboard characters stood about the place, while daoc lasts 1 week in the "chart" and then if you want it from a store they have to order it in, or its hidden behind all the budget games :\

while i didnt get toa on release, i also understand that didnt go well. i seem to remember reading that people who ordered from amazon didnt get it till the following week, and some were two weeks behind, and they are the people you promote on the official webpage for buying the game...

if the game is release early, and you whack a huge notice on the official page, and a sticker on the plastic wrapping saying "not playable untill XX of Feb/March", and maybe even a leaflet inside the case that explains the way the server upgrades are mid week, and the early release is so people have the game on the patch day, then i cant see what the issue is with an early release. it gives 5 days to get the game, 5 days for activation incase anyone has any problems (and we all know that activation problems seem to happen quite a lot) and genrally just gives more time for a much smoother release.

the other thing, which i guess is being worked on by the sounds of it, is the number of copies distributed, and were too, the amazon thing is an example of that, and the confusion and wednesday release in game that was completely unexpected (i remember my mate telling me it was on shelves in game on the wednesday, and then people posting topics all over the place about were had it on what days, how much, and if they had any left)
 

GReaper

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Requiel said:
I think the problem in the past has not been so much due to the release dates and the difference between continental and UK releases, but one of availability and distribution - actual numbers of boxes in shops. This is something we are looking closely at and there are several plans being put forward at the moment to resolve this.

Release dates are important to all UK players. I don't want to be left without an expansion for a few days while the majority of players from the rest of Europe are on the servers in the new zones enjoying the new zones.

Please don't ignore this request for getting the UK release on a Wednesday. We're fed up of being treated like second-class customers when it comes to release dates for expansions. Every year so far we have to complain to GAME to try and get them to release it on patch day, please ensure that Catacombs is released on a Wednesday in the UK.
 

IainC

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GReaper said:
Release dates are important to all UK players. I don't want to be left without an expansion for a few days while the majority of players from the rest of Europe are on the servers in the new zones enjoying the new zones.

Please don't ignore this request for getting the UK release on a Wednesday. We're fed up of being treated like second-class customers when it comes to release dates for expansions. Every year so far we have to complain to GAME to try and get them to release it on patch day, please ensure that Catacombs is released on a Wednesday in the UK.
Unfortunately that's not something we can control. We ship the product on the same day across all of Europe - including the UK. The release date is set by the UK retailers and is on a Friday so that new releases don't show up on sales charts until they've had a whole week of sales. Game, Woolworths, PC World and all the other retailers get the boxes on the same day as their continental counterparts but, as I understand it, there is an agreement between them to hold back all releases until Friday.
 

Ormorof

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do we still have people reading boards with contacts within game? seem to remember with SI at least we were given a phone number to get the shops to ring if they wanted confirmation that they should sell it :p
 

Kami

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I usually dont even bother buying the new expansions for a week, cant be arsed with all the hassle :)
 

Theseus

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I have a little remark that is kinda off-topic.
If catacombs is released , it will cost the usual price off 30 € (i think that is what the price was ) wich i find normal. Then i think about new players, if goa puts money in advertising there product (thus for new players) it might just work out to be more of a cost then anything else. My reason is: Who will pay 100 € for a game that you have to pay for every month ? People wont like that idea. Ofcourse that price is pure speculative, if they reduce the price to the same amount as it was for the ToA all-in package it might be worth advertising the new Gfx etc... But then again i dont know what the numbers were when toa released :)

Maybe a sollution would be 3months free-play...
Just my 2cents,

Greetz,
Theseus
 

Gama

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Requiel:

If the main reason for not releasing it early is for worry of people installing it early and flooding RightNow... how hard would it be to put a little system clock date checker on the installer....

If System clock date > date of official patching, have a big ass popup saying:

WARNING THIS GAME IS NOT YET PLAYABLE, TO INSTALL IT NOW ANYWAY, PLEASE TYPE IN 'YES I WISH TO INSTALL IT ANYWAY, EVEN THOUGH I KNOW I CAN'T PLAY IT YET'

Like how it is with the Type YES to delete this character, thing, it would probably be easier to do that than any of the alternatives.... like sending a representitive to each english game shop explaining to the managers and staff that YES the can sell the game on the wednesday... or making it available to buy and download online through a 3rd party file DL placey thing, for example....
 

Gama

Fledgling Freddie
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Theseus said:
I have a little remark that is kinda off-topic.
If catacombs is released , it will cost the usual price off 30 € (i think that is what the price was ) wich i find normal. Then i think about new players, if goa puts money in advertising there product (thus for new players) it might just work out to be more of a cost then anything else. My reason is: Who will pay 100 € for a game that you have to pay for every month ? People wont like that idea. Ofcourse that price is pure speculative, if they reduce the price to the same amount as it was for the ToA all-in package it might be worth advertising the new Gfx etc... But then again i dont know what the numbers were when toa released :)

Maybe a sollution would be 3months free-play...
Just my 2cents,

Greetz,
Theseus

They will probably release a Gold3 pack with DAOC+SI+TOA+C (catacombs needs a better abreiviation) and 1 months free subscription, like they did with DAOC Gold2 on the toa release, and DAOC Gold on the SI release...
 

jnh

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they dont need to spend big on advertising, just getting it some decent review space in pc gamer etc would be enough, so far the biggest review was a single page, that was one month after release and was for the origional game, si got a column review, and toa... did it get one?!
 

Svartmetall

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jnh said:
they dont need to spend big on advertising, just getting it some decent review space in pc gamer etc would be enough, so far the biggest review was a single page, that was one month after release and was for the origional game, si got a column review, and toa... did it get one?!

Yes, it got 80% in the May 2004 PC Gamer. Right at the back of the reviews section of course.
 

jnh

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2 page spread reviews help alot :) noone pays much attention to the reviews at the end of the review section
 

Svartmetall

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jnh said:
2 page spread reviews help alot :) no-one pays much attention to the reviews at the end of the review section

Nope, but I imagine that's going to be PC Gamer's prioritisation and no-one else's.
 

Moo

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Svartmetall said:
Yes, it got 80% in the May 2004 PC Gamer. Right at the back of the reviews section of course.
the thing is how do you review a game which requires you to play it for months on end in order to experiance like 25% of the content...

Also can you really imagine a new player in this game right now ?

little or no groups before level 20, and assuming they do get to level 20 solo theres little or no grps there too because everyone pling until 40-45 when u might get a group somewhere...

then you gotta farm looooads of cash and shit for toa sc, then do artifacts and xp them for ages so u can compete

then you gotta go do mls, oh but wait everyones already done them so theres 1 raid every 50 years,

then you realise you need a bot to compete, so you buy a 2nd account and start all over again!
 

Svartmetall

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Moo said:
the thing is how do you review a game which requires you to play it for months on end in order to experiance like 25% of the content...

Also can you really imagine a new player in this game right now ?

little or no groups before level 20, and assuming they do get to level 20 solo theres little or no grps there too because everyone pling until 40-45 when u might get a group somewhere...

then you gotta farm looooads of cash and shit for toa sc, then do artifacts and xp them for ages so u can compete

then you gotta go do mls, oh but wait everyones already done them so theres 1 raid every 50 years,

then you realise you need a bot to compete, so you buy a 2nd account and start all over again!

All that, the "so you can compete" stuff, is only for people with just RvR as their goal. If like many players you enjoy the PvE aspect then you'll be having fun from day one.

:D

...
 

Fana

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Why try to get them to release on wednesday? As Requiel has already said GOA and Wannado have no control over this, its the choise of the distributers, not the makers (or lisence-holders in this case) of the game.

What i would like to see is that it is released *ahead* of the patch/live day. Say a week ahead - so that people can get it, install it, patch it - without having to run around and get stressed out of their minds on live day. That has to be good for GOA as well since it will lessen the load on the patchservers as well as customer support.

And just out of curiosity Requiel, how can you say that you know sticking a label on the boxes stating its not playable until x day/month will cause problems when you have never tried it (to my knowledge anyway)?

In short, why must an expansion pack be released the same day as it goes live on the servers? When i buy a ticket for an upcoming movie at the theaters i dont start complaining that i cant watch it right that instant^^
 

DrunkSkunk

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Svartmetall said:
All that, the "so you can compete" stuff, is only for people with just RvR as their goal. If like many players you enjoy the PvE aspect then you'll be having fun from day one.

:D

...

Svartmetall for PvE president :worthy:
 

jnh

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noones trying to get a wednesday release, they are trying to get a friday before patch day release so uk dont have to wait 2 days, and to try and solve any problems before hand, rather than getting the game on friday, spending 2 hours trying to activate it, then having problems and having no tech support from goa till they get back to the office the following monday.

its not really an issue now since its still quite a way off, but its better to put these ideas to goa early incase they want to implement them and can work things out from there end and do it
 

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