Two years !
[2004-21-01]
Hello all,
Yes, two years ago we started running the European version of Dark Age of Camelot.
We use the term 'running' loosely of course.
It was about 8PM,
Late as usual
the technicians had this tired look from the… very long days, shall we say…
partying hard all week
and as the more devout amongst us
the one guy who actually does some work occasionally while the rest of us laugh at him
were finishing our prayers to the great God of Informatics
youre guess is as good as mine here
, a horde of avid players
The three Frenchies who had managed to get hold of a box on time
rushed
trickled
onto our barely opened servers.
'operable'
This 21st of January 2002 was the beginning of a great adventure.
for the French only, everyone else had to wait a few weeks
A lot of things have happened during these two years on the European servers
If only
, and, as we say in France, a lot of water has passed under the bridge.
Newsflash, this isn't a French only saying
A flow of water, a river in spate even,
Poetry contest is over mate
when you see the list of major changes which have occurred since version 1.36, the one that was on the servers at the time.
Gamestopping bug fixes that should have been done before release
Let's see : in 1.45, the defenders of all realms discovered new epic zones,
Finally got the some of the content they paid for
jealously guarded by the most fearsome predators : the terrible dragons. After some fierce and terrible attempts, which unfortunately often ended in bursts of flame and smouldering boots
after Hibs got tired of fighting an impossible foe
, the heroes generally
'hero', very fitting description
decided to go and explore Darkness Falls, in order to try and hunt Legion, who had settled there with 1.49.
decided to check out the cool graphics on the portal they rarely get to use due to Dun PingPong then go down the local tavern instead
Well equipped, (the 40 to 50 epic quests being finally accessible)
finally written and bugfixed
, and well trained, (the trainers having agreed to teach them a couple of RAs), it was time for our heroes to find new challenges.
Farm RP's for the win
By a happy coincidence,
By a clever marketing ploy
Morgana, Balor, the Drakorans, the Morvalts and the Fomorians had chosen this moment to reveal their evil schemes. Under this menace, Avalonians, Valkyns and Sylvans called for help, which the realms promptly answered.
... called for rerolling and more subs
Thus began the time of exploration of the Shrouded Isles, with version 1.57.
Thus began the time of overpowered untested new classes
With the dangers averted for a while,
With our jobs safe for a while
the wise men of the realms plunged back into their beloved studies.
The zerkers disappeared to powerlevel savages
After some long hours of often painful experimentations, they finally mastered what the common adventurers would later call Spellcrafting and Alchemy.
We finally made it easier for powergames to pwn more
It was the beginning of a most prosperous era for the three realms
We made bags of cash raising subs and lowering service
, and, encouraged by the authorities' clever and opportunist policy of attractive prices,
?????
the brave adventurers finally decided to invest their hard earned gold pieces in a parcel of land to build their dream house. This was Foundations and 1.63.
Finally got the housing they had been promised for years
And now ? The heroes can finally enjoy a well deserved rest.
can finally RvR ML free while they can
Well, unless the latest rumours of far away islands, forgotten secrets and buried artefacts urge them to leave their cosy houses…
Until Timesinks of Atlantis forces them to PvE for countless hours in large groups in order to keep thier wtfpwn status
Yes, I am anticipating a bit, that's true.
Hey we gave bullshit release dates in the past, why stop now?
This is indeed another story, which won't begin before the end of next month…
Start of March
Some really impressive additions, indeed.
I'm applying for a spindoctor job, this is going on my CV as an example of my work
However there were big changes outside of the game too during these two years
For instance, Opentransit going downhill in quality.
: the number of players steadily increasing, 250.000 boxes sold
125,000 buffbot accounts sold, yippee
, and the consecutive opening of 5 more servers,
oops forgot this is the English section, no more servers for j00!
including the bloodiest and fiercest of them, Camlann.
COOP anyone? Nah
Last but not least, we have seen peaks of almost 30.000 players simultaneously.
for the few minutes before the servers keeled over from the strain
This of course led to a constant growth of the GOA teams working on the project.
More managers, less workers
They have almost tripled in size to better follow your wishes, to handle the bugs and community problems, to write more than 600 FAQs, publish 120 roleplaying texts, an on-line manual, three sites dedicated to the expansions, handle multiple animations and a campaign, all this in three languages !
AND fast patching, XML chronicles that work more often than not, subscription pages that aren't down when you most need them. We even hired someone who speaks English as a FIRST language to deal with a large portion of our customer base...............NOT!
All right, all right, as for the campaign it turned out to take a bit longer than was originally foreseen.
Just like everything else we do
Our translation teams deserve credits too.
They've spent so much time slacking off playing SWG that its only fair
The translation has had its share of problems and funny anecdotes and as for today, to give a few numbers, we have more than 1.000.000 words translated
Babelfish sent us a bill because of the amount of bandwidth we use
, three terminally crashed computers,
We had a fg vs fg fight on them, then the Albs showed up and the GFX cards commited suicide
two broken keyboards,
coffee spills ofc
and last but not least 327 litres of bad French coffee drunk.
the other 3 litres are floating around inside a few keyboards (see above)
There were difficult moments, we have to admit it.
We have to admit it now with all the serious competition out this coming year
We have been through tricky releases of new versions
Tricky, nice one
, the game has suffered from various bugs, with sometimes delicate consequences
Few pages out in the dictionary there. I think disastrous was the word you were aiming for
- we are by the way currently working on the ones that have not been corrected yet -
we are grudgingly getting off our arses now the axe is hovering
the animation campaign took too much time indeed, and the Chronicles of Camelot suffered from… chronic problems indeed.
Look I made a funny! See you've forgotten already
We don't bury our heads in the sand.
Hey, sometimes you just can't spin. The only thing that will do is an out and out lie.
Sometimes we have been confronted with totally unexpected situations
Like a server of a TWENTY FOUR / SEVEN game needing a reboot on a weekend. Bolt from the blue, that one. Who would have thought, honestly?
and have made our share of mistakes, we will assume all of them.
We will assume all of them ... never happened perhaps?
We are totally aware that being the first European firm to run a fully localised MMORPG is not in itself an excuse, and we of course wish to better the quality of our services in the future.
Amazing what competition and redundancy can do for motivation
For yes, we have learned a lot during these last two years.
How to get paid for getting away with murder, for instance.
Really.
Please believe me, I've got 5 kids to feed
For instance we reorganised the animations thanks to what we learned this past year, as you will soon see with the introduction of the weddings.
Probably another new definition of soon we weren't previously aware of
We will also reinforce our collaboration with Mythic, the American development team - in fact two of our fellow workers just left for the US to meet them this week.
2 of our workers just got a free holiday
Now here comes a third year rich in developments and additions, with for starters : Trials of Atlantis coming soon.
Even more bugs, enjoy
Before that we have to give you our biggest thanks.
SUCKERS!
Thanks to the Eyes and Ears, our volunteer team, for so many things, too much to list on one page.
Not enough space left after all this waffle
Thanks to all of you whoever you are
Oops we lost the list
, from those who are following us since the beginning to the ones who jumped into the boat later.
Bet you wish you had stayed on dry land
Thank you for having lived with us these 27 versions since that 21st of January 2002.
Am I talking to the customers or my flatmate?
Thanks for your support, your encouragements, and your critics too when we went through tricky times.
We enjoyed your 'critics' so much we closed the messageboards
It is by keeping you in mind that we are looking, day after day, to better the quality of the services we offer you.
When we find someone capable of doing it we will stop looking
Thanks, have a nice game, and know that we wish this third year, for you as for us, to be as successful and exciting as the last one !
But mostly us
The Dark Age of Camelot European Team
PS : a last big thanks to Morgana, without whom nothing could have been possible. Thanks for your dark, twisted, evil schemes, keep it up !
[2004-21-01]
Hello all,
Yes, two years ago we started running the European version of Dark Age of Camelot.
We use the term 'running' loosely of course.
It was about 8PM,
Late as usual
the technicians had this tired look from the… very long days, shall we say…
partying hard all week
and as the more devout amongst us
the one guy who actually does some work occasionally while the rest of us laugh at him
were finishing our prayers to the great God of Informatics
youre guess is as good as mine here
, a horde of avid players
The three Frenchies who had managed to get hold of a box on time
rushed
trickled
onto our barely opened servers.
'operable'
This 21st of January 2002 was the beginning of a great adventure.
for the French only, everyone else had to wait a few weeks
A lot of things have happened during these two years on the European servers
If only
, and, as we say in France, a lot of water has passed under the bridge.
Newsflash, this isn't a French only saying
A flow of water, a river in spate even,
Poetry contest is over mate
when you see the list of major changes which have occurred since version 1.36, the one that was on the servers at the time.
Gamestopping bug fixes that should have been done before release
Let's see : in 1.45, the defenders of all realms discovered new epic zones,
Finally got the some of the content they paid for
jealously guarded by the most fearsome predators : the terrible dragons. After some fierce and terrible attempts, which unfortunately often ended in bursts of flame and smouldering boots
after Hibs got tired of fighting an impossible foe
, the heroes generally
'hero', very fitting description
decided to go and explore Darkness Falls, in order to try and hunt Legion, who had settled there with 1.49.
decided to check out the cool graphics on the portal they rarely get to use due to Dun PingPong then go down the local tavern instead
Well equipped, (the 40 to 50 epic quests being finally accessible)
finally written and bugfixed
, and well trained, (the trainers having agreed to teach them a couple of RAs), it was time for our heroes to find new challenges.
Farm RP's for the win
By a happy coincidence,
By a clever marketing ploy
Morgana, Balor, the Drakorans, the Morvalts and the Fomorians had chosen this moment to reveal their evil schemes. Under this menace, Avalonians, Valkyns and Sylvans called for help, which the realms promptly answered.
... called for rerolling and more subs
Thus began the time of exploration of the Shrouded Isles, with version 1.57.
Thus began the time of overpowered untested new classes
With the dangers averted for a while,
With our jobs safe for a while
the wise men of the realms plunged back into their beloved studies.
The zerkers disappeared to powerlevel savages
After some long hours of often painful experimentations, they finally mastered what the common adventurers would later call Spellcrafting and Alchemy.
We finally made it easier for powergames to pwn more
It was the beginning of a most prosperous era for the three realms
We made bags of cash raising subs and lowering service
, and, encouraged by the authorities' clever and opportunist policy of attractive prices,
?????
the brave adventurers finally decided to invest their hard earned gold pieces in a parcel of land to build their dream house. This was Foundations and 1.63.
Finally got the housing they had been promised for years
And now ? The heroes can finally enjoy a well deserved rest.
can finally RvR ML free while they can
Well, unless the latest rumours of far away islands, forgotten secrets and buried artefacts urge them to leave their cosy houses…
Until Timesinks of Atlantis forces them to PvE for countless hours in large groups in order to keep thier wtfpwn status
Yes, I am anticipating a bit, that's true.
Hey we gave bullshit release dates in the past, why stop now?
This is indeed another story, which won't begin before the end of next month…
Start of March
Some really impressive additions, indeed.
I'm applying for a spindoctor job, this is going on my CV as an example of my work
However there were big changes outside of the game too during these two years
For instance, Opentransit going downhill in quality.
: the number of players steadily increasing, 250.000 boxes sold
125,000 buffbot accounts sold, yippee
, and the consecutive opening of 5 more servers,
oops forgot this is the English section, no more servers for j00!
including the bloodiest and fiercest of them, Camlann.
COOP anyone? Nah
Last but not least, we have seen peaks of almost 30.000 players simultaneously.
for the few minutes before the servers keeled over from the strain
This of course led to a constant growth of the GOA teams working on the project.
More managers, less workers
They have almost tripled in size to better follow your wishes, to handle the bugs and community problems, to write more than 600 FAQs, publish 120 roleplaying texts, an on-line manual, three sites dedicated to the expansions, handle multiple animations and a campaign, all this in three languages !
AND fast patching, XML chronicles that work more often than not, subscription pages that aren't down when you most need them. We even hired someone who speaks English as a FIRST language to deal with a large portion of our customer base...............NOT!
All right, all right, as for the campaign it turned out to take a bit longer than was originally foreseen.
Just like everything else we do
Our translation teams deserve credits too.
They've spent so much time slacking off playing SWG that its only fair
The translation has had its share of problems and funny anecdotes and as for today, to give a few numbers, we have more than 1.000.000 words translated
Babelfish sent us a bill because of the amount of bandwidth we use
, three terminally crashed computers,
We had a fg vs fg fight on them, then the Albs showed up and the GFX cards commited suicide
two broken keyboards,
coffee spills ofc
and last but not least 327 litres of bad French coffee drunk.
the other 3 litres are floating around inside a few keyboards (see above)
There were difficult moments, we have to admit it.
We have to admit it now with all the serious competition out this coming year
We have been through tricky releases of new versions
Tricky, nice one
, the game has suffered from various bugs, with sometimes delicate consequences
Few pages out in the dictionary there. I think disastrous was the word you were aiming for
- we are by the way currently working on the ones that have not been corrected yet -
we are grudgingly getting off our arses now the axe is hovering
the animation campaign took too much time indeed, and the Chronicles of Camelot suffered from… chronic problems indeed.
Look I made a funny! See you've forgotten already
We don't bury our heads in the sand.
Hey, sometimes you just can't spin. The only thing that will do is an out and out lie.
Sometimes we have been confronted with totally unexpected situations
Like a server of a TWENTY FOUR / SEVEN game needing a reboot on a weekend. Bolt from the blue, that one. Who would have thought, honestly?
and have made our share of mistakes, we will assume all of them.
We will assume all of them ... never happened perhaps?
We are totally aware that being the first European firm to run a fully localised MMORPG is not in itself an excuse, and we of course wish to better the quality of our services in the future.
Amazing what competition and redundancy can do for motivation
For yes, we have learned a lot during these last two years.
How to get paid for getting away with murder, for instance.
Really.
Please believe me, I've got 5 kids to feed
For instance we reorganised the animations thanks to what we learned this past year, as you will soon see with the introduction of the weddings.
Probably another new definition of soon we weren't previously aware of
We will also reinforce our collaboration with Mythic, the American development team - in fact two of our fellow workers just left for the US to meet them this week.
2 of our workers just got a free holiday
Now here comes a third year rich in developments and additions, with for starters : Trials of Atlantis coming soon.
Even more bugs, enjoy
Before that we have to give you our biggest thanks.
SUCKERS!
Thanks to the Eyes and Ears, our volunteer team, for so many things, too much to list on one page.
Not enough space left after all this waffle
Thanks to all of you whoever you are
Oops we lost the list
, from those who are following us since the beginning to the ones who jumped into the boat later.
Bet you wish you had stayed on dry land
Thank you for having lived with us these 27 versions since that 21st of January 2002.
Am I talking to the customers or my flatmate?
Thanks for your support, your encouragements, and your critics too when we went through tricky times.
We enjoyed your 'critics' so much we closed the messageboards
It is by keeping you in mind that we are looking, day after day, to better the quality of the services we offer you.
When we find someone capable of doing it we will stop looking
Thanks, have a nice game, and know that we wish this third year, for you as for us, to be as successful and exciting as the last one !
But mostly us
The Dark Age of Camelot European Team
PS : a last big thanks to Morgana, without whom nothing could have been possible. Thanks for your dark, twisted, evil schemes, keep it up !