Interesting stuff

[Flawless]

nuff said

 

[Fana]

Shows the number of daoc subscriptions have increased after each expansion.
Also shows that ffXI is still in its honeymoon-phase

 

[Escape]

What made DAoC lose 50k subscribers around the end of 2002... was it the LA nerf?

FFXI must have a huge Japanese market?

 

[Bloodhunter]

nerf final fantasy gifv more to daoc!

 

[Sharma]

Erh does that show DAoC as having 3 expansions? Uhm, ok.

Also FFXI has an absolutely massive amount of Japs/koreans and whatnot playing it AND a huge portion of the USA and Europe.

Final Fantasy is a very well established RPG series so it's hardly suprising.
And also RO is more popular than DAoC, that again has a massive Japanese market.

Seriously, what our thought of power gamers are here are lightweights compared to japs.

Think I remember seeing a group of Japs playing non stop for about 4 days straight on FFXI, which is a bit. :touch:

 

[Archeon]

Erh does that show DAoC as having 3 expansions? Uhm, ok.

Shouded Isles, Foundations, Trials of Atlantis

And didn't some Japanise kid die from playing games for too long?

 

[Wij]

Shouded Isles, Foundations, Trials of Atlantis

And didn't some Japanise kid die from playing games for too long?

Super-epilepsy-bots \o/

 

[Ning]

DAOC stats don't include euro servers players.

 

[GReaper]

Link to the main page of this: An Analysis of MMOG Subscription Growth

DAoC shows a little growth, but not much. If Mythic want new people in the game then it has to be easier for them to start. Levelling to 50, getting to ML10 and getting ToA templates is a long process which no new player should have to face.

 

[GReaper]

DAOC stats don't include euro servers players.

Check this press release:

Currently Dark Age of Camelot has more than 220,000 paying subscribers. The popularity of the game is evidenced by the fact that more than 60,000 people play simultaneously at peak times.

The 60,000 refers to the both European and US servers, as average US server numbers would never reach that number alone. The overall subscriber numbers probably includes European players as well.

 

[katt!]

Check this press release:



The 60,000 refers to the both European and US servers, as average US server numbers would never reach that number alone. The overall subscriber numbers probably includes European players as well.

I remember seeing a link to some press release saying SI EU sold ~150k boxes

 

[Litmus]

hmm nice £2 million made each month alone just in subcribtions for goa

 

[Ning]

£2 millions isn't that high for a compagny.

 

[Svartmetall]

DAoC shows a little growth, but not much. If Mythic want new people in the game then it has to be easier for them to start. Levelling to 50, getting to ML10 and getting ToA templates is a long process which no new player should have to face.

You have 6 50s, you obviously don't object to levelling all that much ...

What Mythic should really be looking at is how polarised the game is becoming between RvR players and PvE players...and especially at how hard RvR, the so-called "endgame" of DAOC, is now impossibly hard for new players to get into.

RvR players whine about the "levelling grind" (which begs the question, why aren't they playing Counterstrike or something with no PvE at all? ALL MMORPGs have levelling, it's not like Mythic introduced levelling in a patch or anything) but the RP/RR grind is far worse than any levelling. RPs - the only tangible reward for doing RvR - are painfully slow to come by for most of the playerbase. The elite(ist) gankers who boast about how getting 200K+ RPs a week is "easy" are completely divorced from the reality of the game for the vast majority of us.

At the end of 4 hours' PvE you will definitely have something to show for it - a new level, some nice new gear, more cash, whatever - whereas at the end of 4 hours' RvR you will probably have been rolled 20 times or more by uber-l337 high-RR high-ML artifact-bedecked gank groups and the eternal Alb zerg, with a pitiful few RPs to show for it and having had very little fun at all. THAT is the reality of RvR for many players now, and that's what Mythic should be looking at more than anything else. Being endlessly rolled by players against whom you have NO chance is NO fun, and since this is a game, why would you waste hours of in-game time on something that gives you nothing in return but an overwhelming sense of frustration and futility, when a good PvE group somewhere will be guaranteed fun and returns on your time investment...?

If RvR is this big "endgame" we're all supposed to be so eager to get into, then it needs to be made a damn sight less alienating and frustrating, have the huge amounts of downtime involved removed, and give a lot more tangible rewards for doing it.

 

[Path]

Some Japanese died after playing CS for ~30 hours straight in a net café; HC people that oO

 

[Dook]

You have 6 50s, you obviously don't object to levelling all that much ...

He's not a new player, and when he was he wasn't looking at 1 > 50, then SC, then ToA and then (finally) RvR viability.

I'd hate to be a newcomer.

Oh and let's not forget the major lack of potential groupage. People PLing alts tend to ignore the lowercons who actually need to group to level as opposed to getting PL'd...

 

[Lejemorder]

the japs there died after 30h must have been weaklings if they cant survive 30h with out food or water (human body can survie 3 weeks w/o food and 3 days w/o water).
and only reason some of the games got more then Daoc is simply the fact of they got alot and i mean alot of japs subscripter.
FF is the most popular game ever in japan so no wonder is got that many subscriters.
the only thing there destroy lvling for new ppl is /level and powerleveling, but i think ppl will stop rolling new alt all the times with MLs and artifacts (or even worse dont even bother lvling a new toon up).

 

[Silverblast]

No sleep can do things to you though, especially if you are doing something that requires concentration.

 

[Dook]

No sleep can do things to you though, especially if you are doing something that requires concentration.

30 hours without sleep is absolutely nothing. Concentrating or not.

 

[GReaper]

You have 6 50s, you obviously don't object to levelling all that much ...

My sig needs updating, I've got 8 50's.

Levelling a character is painfully slow unless you've either got a decent group or a character which can solo without much downtime. Lets say a friend of yours decided to buy a new copy of the game, he can't use /level 20 or anything as he's on a new account. The player would have to slowly go through levels 1-20 with very few people to group with. Once the player hits 20 then they can group with the few people who are levelling their alts without powerlevelling.

If such a player manages to hit 50, then they've got to either get a set of epic armour or try and get some spellcrafted setup. If this involves ToA artifacts/items then it'll require extra levelling and farming just to get the items. Various classes also need master levels to get abilities to help their group which should be part of their class. Many of the master level steps require zergs, how is a new player going to get people to help once most people have done all the steps on their main character(s)?

The levelling grind needs to be made easier for new players if Mythic wants any chance of allowing new players to join the game.

 

[Shneddi]

Some Japanese died after playing CS for ~30 hours straight in a net café; HC people that oO

i hope he did tbh.. sad bastard