An open question to GOA

[dex]

Make Dyvet a server with noone on!



Oh wait.....

it already is so its got to be somit else lol

 

[Esselinithia]

We know why we can't hear plan A, but why we can't hear Plan B as worst case scenario?

 

[Gear]

We know why we can't hear plan A, but why we can't hear Plan B as worst case scenario?

Cause plan B actually turns the server back to coffee machine duties

 

[IainC]

We know why we can't hear plan A, but why we can't hear Plan B as worst case scenario?

Because people don't read things properly and partial quotes get passed around those who don't read forums. If I said that the backup plan was to reprogram the servers to crunch the advanced maths required to scientifically determine the optimum cup of espresso then suddenly it would be a fact that Goa were going to go into coffee research despite any disclaimers or denials that I put in at the time or afterwards. I've seen it happen over and over again which is why we try not to announce things until we're sure they are definitely going to happen at the time we've promised.

One thing I do want to do though is to publish an equivalent of the 'Letter From the Producer' that Mythic run from time to time, sketching out our roadmap for DAoC in the mid to long term. I'm pretty hopeful we'll be able to do that at the same time we announce the long term plan for Dyvet and the other small servers.

 

[Phantomby]

One thing I do want to do though is to publish an equivalent of the 'Letter From the Producer' that Mythic run from time to time, sketching out our roadmap for DAoC in the mid to long term. I'm pretty hopeful we'll be able to do that at the same time we announce the long term plan for Dyvet and the other small servers.

Aaaand that will be when?

I think the thing to try and impress upon everyone at GOA is that patience is running thin with the EU playerbase.

 

[Shike]

clustering of the frontierzones would be cool, I took out my NS and chanter for a spin the other day and it was terribly empty so something definetely needs to be done asap.

a chartransfer would be cool too i guess but after ive played on german server now without knowing german, I can live with that too, takes a while getting used to but it works.

 

[Arkian]

We'll keep at it until either it works or we come to an insurmountable obstacle. At that point we'll be able to announce what is happening.

I don't really understand this, do you not have a 'dropdead date' i.e. a date by which a solution must be available regardless of whether a solution has been technically ruled out?

 

[Ingafgrinn Macabre]

I don't really understand this, do you not have a 'dropdead date' i.e. a date by which a solution must be available regardless of whether a solution has been technically ruled out?

That's probably the point at which it is deemed impossible.

It's a game. Nothing is impossible to change, but if it takes too much time and resources, it'll take too much money for too litttle return.
If you'd really want, you could reprogram the entire game from scratch, so nothing is impossible, but that's not how companies interpret the word impossible

 

[Fatload BoysDoCry]

I understand the frustrations from lack of population but that is not directly GOA's fault - DAoC has been around a long time and in several areas has been bettered by subsequent games so many players have moved on. Its the natural progression of things.

GOA contributed to it, UO has been round 4 years longer than DAOC and has a higher subscriber base last time i looked. GOA as a gaming company are appalling tbh, i bet the XML has been down for 2-3 of the 5.3 years DAOC EU has been up. Constant problems with Open Transhit and their inability to address the population problem while having a GM or PR guy in Requiel who makes classic comments like i have in my sig.

EA/Mythic really need to re-consider giving GOA the WH contract.

 

[Thadius]

patience is running thin with the EU playerbase.

Its been thinner than Homer Simpsons hairline since the database crash tbh

 

[Arkian]

That's probably the point at which it is deemed impossible.

It's a game. Nothing is impossible to change, but if it takes too much time and resources, it'll take too much money for too litttle return.
If you'd really want, you could reprogram the entire game from scratch, so nothing is impossible, but that's not how companies interpret the word impossible

That was exactly my point, a business would define a deadline and not have a seemingly open ended timescale for finding a solution - which is all we are seeing at the moment.

 

[IainC]

There almost certainly is a deadline date. If there is though I haven't been told what it is and if I did I doubt it would be public info. This isn't an indefinite thing, we're working on a solution, of necessity it's taking a while as it's not a simple thing to resolve. If it was simple it would have been done already.

Fatload. What about the quote of mine in your sig is wrong? At the time I posted that it was entirely true, the population was lower but still healthy and there is a seasonal dip that happens every year over the Christmas period (when I posted that comment). I then go on to say how we're keeping an eye on the situation. The comic aspect of all that escapes me I'm afraid. It's a pretty weak basis for a flame in common with the rest of your points. Sadly this is entirely in keeping with pretty much every other post you make - a succession of weak points and strawmen arguments. If you have something constructive to bring to the discussion then I'd be interested to hear it, at the moment though you are just trolling and I'd thank you to stop trying to pretend that you have a point to make or that the quote in your sig is in any way relevant to your agenda.

 

[Gahn]

.....

Fatload. What about the quote of mine in your sig is wrong? At the time I posted that it was entirely true, the population was lower but still healthy and there is a seasonal dip that happens every year over the Christmas period (when I posted that comment). I then go on to say how we're keeping an eye on the situation ...

I guess the point Requiel is that we warned with a good long advance both of a population problem we were facing, actually playing the game day in day out, both of a general sense of frustration growing in the Community.
But u just dissed us with a: "it's a normal problem of the period of the year".
Now it adds nothing to tell ya "We told you", but it's a sad truth.

 

[Shike]

I guess the point Requiel is that we warned with a good long advance both of a population problem we were facing, actually playing the game day in day out, both of a general sense of frustration growing in the Community.
But u just dissed us with a: "it's a normal problem of the period of the year".
Now it adds nothing to tell ya "We told you", but it's a sad truth.

Most good companys dont give a rats ass about what their customers say and how they think etc.. Thats why GOAs servers are so crowded with people anxious to play. Imo, ban some more people trying to make a stand and see if it helps!

[/sarcasm]

 

[IainC]

I guess the point Requiel is that we warned with a good long advance both of a population problem we were facing, actually playing the game day in day out, both of a general sense of frustration growing in the Community.
But u just dissed us with a: "it's a normal problem of the period of the year".
Now it adds nothing to tell ya "We told you", but it's a sad truth.

I didn't dismiss it though. I acknowledged that the population was falling and that we would need to do something to remedy it. I also said we were keeping an eye on the situation. All I said was that the situation at the time wasn't as critical as people were suggesting it was. Back before Christmas, there were a lot of doom posts saying that the servers were already dead, all I did there was point out that the population wasn't as low as people were claiming and that the servers still had viable levels of players.

 

[Succi]

I feel sorry for requiel


his job seems worse than the iraqi information minister at the moment :/ but kudos for trying and keeping the professional tone

 

[Raven]

Well the question that needs answering has to be, why leave it this late to look into options? Everyone was saying a year ago that the server is on its knees, GOA didn't see or didn't want to see it though. Now the population has gone past the point of no return.

You should have acted much much faster than you have, but no, GOA as a company (not blaming you personally here) would rather try and get us to play mobile phone games on their frankly stupid web portal.

 

[prodical]

i think you should post on your main website in the camelot news bag or whatever relaviant section what these options are. hold a poll, or atleast let the people who play the game take a look and think about it. there is no point in saying that you have a Plan A and Plan B and then leaving us hanging and guessing what the intended solutions are. if your worried about people taking parts of what your plans are and dramatising them, or taking it onto fh for flame and ridicule and misquoting then let them off, refer them to your original post outlining your plans and leave it at that.

if your worried about your rep, just leek the plans to me and ill gladly leek them in turn

 

[IainC]

And the answer to that question is that we didn't. We've been looking at options since last year. You have to remember though that our options were very limited last year, the only things we could do at the time were the options we had for Glastonbury - close it or make it a different language server and neither of those options are good ones.
Over the last few months though Mythic have been making a lot of changes to the way that DAoC works and as a result we are being presented with more possibilities - ones that didn't exist before. We didn't want to take the options open to us when the issue first became apparent and I don't think any of our players would have wanted that either.

 

[Jor]

I like the idea of an open discussion about the problem. That's something I really missed over the years - a truly "official" forum (i.e. forum.camelot-europe.com or even the RightNow Support system, whatever) where GOA would discuss things with players and explains about the possible choices the player base has to develop things. We just don't know, what is possible (as in: technical, scriptable, server-side-doable) and what impact it would have on the game.

So if you cannot cluster servers of a different language due to the design concept of that game, just say it. That's a fact, we have to live with it. If other things can be changed, why not list them and let more people than GOA has think about these? Even more important - let the people that PLAY this game, think about that.

You just need someone to put technical things in a non-technical, game-related and understandable form so people can look at it from their point of view.

I won't do this in any "free/fan forum" but only at a "official" place. Everything that's being said there is considered to be correct and official. Do polls and ask people for ideas, I am sure you will get plenty.

I won't go into the server population dropdown thingie as there are a lot of possible reasons here, sorry.

I agree on the fact that players often enough and long time in advance tried to inform GOA about the population issue and have the feeling that the way GOA handled it (please don't misread!) and the timing really could have been much better.

I think we (GOA and the player base) should stand much closer in this to say so - neither GOA nor the players are monsters that should try to avoid each other, flame each other, blame everything on each other and stuff, TOGETHER we can make this a enjoyable game - let's do it.

There will always be misunderstandings, but that's life. A good start would be to increase the GOA/GM presence drastically, I saw a GM *once* in all these years or at least I believe it was a GM... when I played D4O (german T4C) I saw GM's almost every day. (ok - sometimes only every week, but you get the idea)

I think GOA needs people being online with us - play with us, feel the same we feel, talk to us. Would be nice to say "Hi" in /as to a GM, meet you on a keep defense, a relic raid, or whatever. We don't bite - you know? You got special powers as a GM... use it to make the game more interesting, more fun, more challenging and so on.

I hope I could explain what I mean with that "stand closer" thingie. I appreciate that you read and post here but at times I have the (bad) feeling that you (alone) can't do something...

/wave

 

[NavaloreShadowvar]

Well seeing that there is still 2 servers not clustered, Cumbria and Deira, with not cluster them with Dyvet, gives atleast more population overall, and gives the chance for people to level on all 3 realms since there will be 4 servers clustered together, im sure that would be a good idea, i mean fine its not language set for those 2 servers but english is a very common language, and im sure that wont affect the spanish or italian players, just like Mythic did with the Akatuski Server (or however you spell it ) they did change the language to english and clustered it with the devon servers.

Just an idea

 

[Redflower]

I feel sorry for requiel


his job seems worse than the iraqi information minister at the moment :/ but kudos for trying and keeping the professional tone

Seconded.

Let's face it, whether or not we knew the different options wouldn't make any difference, it's not up to us to make the decisions. The only thing it would change is the amount of whine directed at GOA and I think we've had enough of that.

Jeez it's a game, not the end of the world.

 

[knighthood]

Well seeing that there is still 2 servers not clustered, Cumbria and Deira, with not cluster them with Dyvet, gives atleast more population overall, and gives the chance for people to level on all 3 realms since there will be 4 servers clustered together, im sure that would be a good idea, i mean fine its not language set for those 2 servers but english is a very common language, and im sure that wont affect the spanish or italian players, just like Mythic did with the Akatuski Server (or however you spell it ) they did change the language to english and clustered it with the devon servers.

Just an idea

I actually cant believe Cumbria is still there tbh, the most ive seen it hit is about 60 people in the last 3 months, hell , how do they manage to pulll anything off on that server. 60 people ffs , and if they havnt even got round to sorting cumbria yet , wether deletin it or clustering it with dyvet, what hope is there for ours . Not like theyd need to worry about the language difference for cumbria either as when daoc started there wasnt a spanish server all the spaniards rolled here on the english ones and theres plenty of spanish guilds here.

 

[Soulja_IA_]

You have to remember though that our options were very limited last year, the only things we could do at the time were the options we had for Glastonbury - close it or make it a different language server and neither of those options are good ones.

Glastonbury Loved playing it before cluster even with low population as did a few others I know it also gave me option to play the 3rd realm and I spent lot time 7 Lvl 50's in total on that server and was getting paladin templated etc that was UNTIL they made it all german couldn't understand dam word making life very difficult.

Yes it was nice having more people but even with that in mind it was a pain in the arse trying to work out the translation even in RvR on my Scout "Was I in range" frigging waste of time trying to play.

So clustering with another server and language is a complete waste of time for Goa to consider again.

If Mythic have made changes in what can be implemented then surely Goa must have something in pipeline for Dyvet server so it would be nice if any possibilities Goa are intending could at least be consulted with playerbase of the server before you rush ahead and put something in place that will dissappoint a lot of people as you did with Glastonbury.

Soulja

 

[Jesmin]

It's not just up to GoA to keep the population alive.

As players, we've killed the English cluster with our clashing playstyles and overall negative attitude.

It may be hard to accept, but it's true.

 

[prodical]

It's not just up to GoA to keep the population alive.

As players, we've killed the English cluster with our clashing playstyles and overall negative attitude.

It may be hard to accept, but it's true.

well this is very true. all the whining and moaning and elitism didnt help. however people are short sighted and like to blame others before themselves ^^

 

[Eeben]

so after 5 months there is still not anything new on this problem, way to go goa ^^ tbh i dont get how it can take more then 1 month to find a solution? but thats just me. So when you find the solution how many months before it is ready an running? 5 more? i do feel sorry for you Requiel haveing to come here an try an explain why the company your working for is so incompetent

 

[Solarius]

Aaaaand it took just over 30mins for Jesmin's point to be made.

 

[Solarius]

Another potential spanner in the works for GOA is the political situation at EA Mythic. Not only does GOA have to wait for coding changes to the game that might be needed (at the same time as trying to roll out patches might I add - imagine the whine if 1.87 was delayed for an indeterminate time whilst GOA consider sorting Dyvet!), they have to consider EA Mythics long term plan.

After all, it'd be a nightmare for them if they spent several hundred thousand in an advertising campaign, only for EA to announce that with the launch of WAR, DAoC becomes F2P!!

Disclamer! I have not heard of any rumours of DAoC US going F2P, it's a hypothetical situation!

 

[disdain]

you really believe BW/WH whine made 90% of the english population to quit?

personally i blame that english/scandinavian attitude more; as far as i can tell 'we' are much more competitive then the players on french and german servers - where they have kept on playing, we have become much more frustrated with flaws in the gameplay (toa, rvr imbalance, whatever) and after a while thrown in the towel.