Once again GoA, what are the plans for Dyvet?

[Cromcruaich]

Arite Crom - been spamming ur nfd forums from time to time with another name ;p But no dood, no misinterpretation, no misinformation and yes it does look rather gloomy until the discussions with EA mythic come up with something more viable.

Atm they have a 1-5 year plan for DAoC, which means basically they could pull the plug on it at any moment, despite what EA Mythic do. As I was told, GOA's customer's are GOA's customer base, they are losing money for years on this game now and they don't care too much about what EA want with regard to that (well there were some swear words said during that sentence but there's no need to repeat exactly what I was told with that regard) so basically EA need to pull their finger out much more if DAoC is to survive in Euro. Else the plug will be pulled and then they will focus on WAR. But with that said, I infer that some sort of exit strategy will be made for those still playing or wish to play - There's still 10,000 peeps playing - which I guess is what GOA is doing for the long term plan for the whole game and not just for Dyvet.

Didnt say misinformation, just misinterpretation - what i mean is dont mean your deliberately misinforming us

Weve talked about this a few times, I just really dont see why they would of continued to run daoc if it had never made a profit. Its not what large companies do. Or is there some break even point that they are trying to reach after the iniitial outlay? I just really really can't believe that an large organisation would of kept it running if they werent turning over a profit ever. I could understand it if they were now not making a profit, but want to keep the good will, but to say that as a whole its been losing money for years just doesnt add up. Maybe somebody told you porky pies? Did you see the accounts?

What goes hand in hand with that is why would EA buy into a team that had been unable to take the DAOC franchise and make it profit out of that to then run WAR? Surely the sensible thing would be not to take the risk and not even bother with WAR in EU, unless they think its a much better proposition.

 

[Imgormiel]

Didnt say misinformation, just misinterpretation - what i mean is dont mean your deliberately misinforming us

Weve talked about this a few times, I just really dont see why they would of continued to run daoc if it had never made a profit. Its not what large companies do. Or is there some break even point that they are trying to reach after the iniitial outlay? I just really really can't believe that an large organisation would of kept it running if they werent turning over a profit ever. I could understand it if they were now not making a profit, but want to keep the good will, but to say that as a whole its been losing money for years just doesnt add up. Maybe somebody told you porky pies? Did you see the accounts?

What goes hand in hand with that is why would EA buy into a team that had been unable to take the DAOC franchise and make it profit out of that to then run WAR? Surely the sensible thing would be not to take the risk and not even bother with WAR in EU, unless they think its a much better proposition.

No problems Crom. All I can say further on this matter is, go apply for any job at GOA in Paris, get an interview and ask the questions you need answering after the interview and I am pretty certain you will get the answers I got. I have no reason to disbelieve them given that I have been in France Telecom HQ and you might find that some of the stories they tell you are actually quite funny. I particularly liked the one about people protesting outside their office with pitch forks

 

[Bahumat]

Didnt say misinformation, just misinterpretation - what i mean is dont mean your deliberately misinforming us

Weve talked about this a few times, I just really dont see why they would of continued to run daoc if it had never made a profit. Its not what large companies do. Or is there some break even point that they are trying to reach after the iniitial outlay? I just really really can't believe that an large organisation would of kept it running if they werent turning over a profit ever. I could understand it if they were now not making a profit, but want to keep the good will, but to say that as a whole its been losing money for years just doesnt add up. Maybe somebody told you porky pies? Did you see the accounts?

Look at Sony or Microsoft, they lost money on their consoles but knew it would change for the better in the future.

Daoc and Goa are probably breaking even, or losing money. If they close the servers then no one will trust them for WHO. If they move you all to Mythics servers then people will still distrust them enough to choose Mythic when WHO comes out. Its a double edged sword, do they A) shut up shop and ship everyone to Mythic, or B) slowly bleed till 4th quarter and rely on WHO to heal their money wound.

What goes hand in hand with that is why would EA buy into a team that had been unable to take the DAOC franchise and make it profit out of that to then run WAR? Surely the sensible thing would be not to take the risk and not even bother with WAR in EU, unless they think its a much better proposition.

Potential quite simply. Name the most succesfull MMO's, Daoc, Ultima, WoW.

Now which one got fantastic advertising, yep its WoW. And for every 1 good player who thought "this is shit" or "this is not as fun as daoc", another 20 people blindly chose wow not even knowing what daoc was.

With EA's advertising and a top mmo team they can sense they're onto a winner. Who cares if they lose 1 million from daoc's current situation? They will make ten fold when WHO is released.

 

[Tallen]

I can't tell you just yet what the plans are, however they are not just limited to the marketing we're doing currently. I can tell you that we're taking the issue seriously and that senior people here and at Mythic are working on solutions. I don't want to fuel the rumour mill and I don't want to pull timescales out of thin air that may or may not be realistic. All I can say for the moment is that people are working on this now and as soon as we have a resolution it will be in the news.

Still nothing, a massive push off the back of lotm? And so far...nothing.

Surprised no-one seems to have picked up on this, any company in GOA's position who become oddly secretive when there is no reason to be are usually hiding something unpalletable or they simply have no ideas at all and are stalling for time.

The big question should be, why all the secrecy? We pay GOA for a service...if my gas provider started getting all cryptic when i quizzed them about my supply, I'd dump them like yesterdays cold rice pudding.

 

[IainC]

Still nothing, a massive push off the back of lotm? And so far...nothing.

Surprised no-one seems to have picked up on this, any company in GOA's position who become oddly secretive when there is no reason to be are usually hiding something unpalletable or they simply have no ideas at all and are stalling for time.

The big question should be, why all the secrecy? We pay GOA for a service...if my gas provider started getting all cryptic when i quizzed them about my supply, I'd dump them like yesterdays cold rice pudding.

To use your analogy the supply will continue, we've already assured you of that. We aren't ready to comment on the long-term solutions that we're working on yet as there's a lot of things that need to be ironed out between multiple parties first. As soon as we can announce that it will be, as always, in the Friday news first and not on Freddyshouse.

We aren't hiding anything, we aren't trying to cover anything up, it just isn't particularly helpful to start discussing things that may or may not happen. I've made our position clear already: we aren't going to stop supporting an English DAoC server and we aren't going to let it drop to an unsustainable population level. Currently the population is viable but dropping, we recognise that we need to act soon to prevent it becoming unsustainable which is why we've been working on solutions to the issue for some time now. I'm not entirely sure what else I can say to reassure people. If I have nothing new to say it doesn't mean I'm being secretive, just that nothing firm has been resolved yet and we can't tell you what is going to happen.

 

[Esselinithia]

Requiel: Making long term plans takes time, and it is easy to accept that.

The problem is: When do you start making the plans? If it takes a lot of time, you can start working on it in advance. Even if you are unsure about the date you will need them. So far you weren't prepared.

It is easy to understand why many players would like to see you to be prepared for it, and handle most problems professionally.

But hey, the delay is here, we can't expect to see you change the past to start thinking earlier.

But where are your short term plan? And if you need months to be ready to tell anything about the short term plans, some more time to implement them, then some people will ask: Will these fixes arrive in time? And how will you stop people from leaving because they think the answer is a clear no?

 

[Moaning Myrtle]

I've made our position clear already: we aren't going to stop supporting an English DAoC server and we aren't going to let it drop to an unsustainable population level. Currently the population is viable but dropping, we recognise that we need to act soon to prevent it becoming unsustainable which is why we've been working on solutions to the issue for some time now.

It's great you post here Requiel, but with respect, I think many people would disagree with you. The population is viable only on certain days at certain times. During the day there's barely 150 actual people logged on, and during the evening it isn't much better.

I know figures can be interpreted in a number of different ways, but the fact is when I log in I often am waiting 30 minutes or more for a fight in RVR. This is an experiance shared by many people in the UK Cluster community, it's not just my perception. That cannot be classed as viable surely?

 

[rampant]

Requiel - the problem is that the population has been declining since last summer - and GOA knew the problems back then - but chose to ignore them on the cluster (explaining them as a normal summer dip etc...) , now you tell us in March that GOA are looking at long term plans - not short term fixes!

Shouldnt it be a question of getting your collective arses in gear and doing something NOW with the plans developed LAST YEAR when the problem was becoming apparent!

As i have said in previous posts, GOA have taken their eye of the 'DAOC ball' and are now concentrating on plans for WAR rather than DAOC - even looking back on your previous posts you spend time working on WAR - advertising around europe (oh and some for daoc).

Thankfully i have recognised my addiction to daoc and stopped playing - but i would be feeling a very bitter and unhappy customer if i was still playing!

 

[eble@work]

Its now mid-March, we have a possible release for WAR in the final quarter of 2007, we probably expect a October to December release (Barring any announcements of a delay)

I’m sort of stuck in a catch 22 situation, for the times I play on the cluster now 8am to 12pm daily, there is little to no action (ignoring yesterdays Horner’s PVE quest through Mid).

Normally I log on have a look about see what CM have captured at 3am, try to fix up Hib towers/keeps as best I can.

Now with the server being almost dead at the times that I play, do I
a) hold on for this fix (no idea of when it arrives)
b) throw it all in and amuse myself until WAR (could be boring tho my GF would like it)
c) re-start on a US server (massive time sink and loss of my Euro chars)

We only have a few space cadets that think the server is OK, don’t get me wrong I actually think the server for the most part is friendly now that it has been for years, with reduced numbers it’s a fact if we don’t help out not a lot will get done.

But the actual numbers of people playing, just make it so damn hard to find anyone even to fight let alone kill. Most times I see a keep/twr in flames I go have a look only find a RR11 sorcs waiting with DI bot in tow, so I simply walk away and advise the Alliance not to bother going to the twr/keep.

Eble

(on the verge of throwing the towel in)

 

[Gahn]

Am i mad or i read somewhere from Requiel that they were looking both for a short term fix and an overall long term solution? Now i can quite understand that the long term solution takes time, but where the heck ended the short term one? Became a mid term fix? ^^

 

[scorge]

Am i mad or i read somewhere from Requiel that they were looking both for a short term fix and an overall long term solution? Now i can quite understand that the long term solution takes time, but where the heck ended the short term one? Became a mid term fix? ^^

the long term fix GOA are working on is called WAR...

 

[Ckiller]

Im really hopin for some fix!! Cos then im commin back to excal!!!!! I dont really like german clusters that much tbh

 

[Kami]

Its now mid-March, we have a possible release for WAR in the final quarter of 2007, we probably expect a October to December release (Barring any announcements of a delay)

I’m sort of stuck in a catch 22 situation, for the times I play on the cluster now 8am to 12pm daily, there is little to no action (ignoring yesterdays Horner’s PVE quest through Mid).

Normally I log on have a look about see what CM have captured at 3am, try to fix up Hib towers/keeps as best I can.

Now with the server being almost dead at the times that I play, do I
a) hold on for this fix (no idea of when it arrives)
b) throw it all in and amuse myself until WAR (could be boring tho my GF would like it)
c) re-start on a US server (massive time sink and loss of my Euro chars)

We only have a few space cadets that think the server is OK, don’t get me wrong I actually think the server for the most part is friendly now that it has been for years, with reduced numbers it’s a fact if we don’t help out not a lot will get done.

But the actual numbers of people playing, just make it so damn hard to find anyone even to fight let alone kill. Most times I see a keep/twr in flames I go have a look only find a RR11 sorcs waiting with DI bot in tow, so I simply walk away and advise the Alliance not to bother going to the twr/keep.

Eble

(on the verge of throwing the towel in)

Almost exactly the same position I'm in mate, very few Albs that want to do anything when I'm on so I end up solo PVEing or running about on my scout (rather be on my cabalist). I did try to start in the US but don't have the time, it'd take me months to get just one char near the level I have any of my EU characters at. I'm not playing WAR when it comes out, but I would like to still play DAOC casually. However it's looking bleak without a solution from GOA sometime sooner, rather than later.

Hang in there, US isn't a fix unless you have a lot more time than 4 hours a few nights a week.

 

[Yurka]

The problem is they need to spam alot of old players with some sort of reward system and your idea goes a little along the way to doing that. Then they need to get some marketing strategy behind it and seriously, LOTM was way under marketed. Obviously if people think they are getting value for their money and are given reason enough to spend it here they will Req and co are going to do something, generally because they know they have to and if nothing is done then enter FH soothsayers of DOOM for a few months till there's nothing left to talk about save Lotro and which chars/pictars/avatars/names people are using and playing till WAR is released :S

the game isn't going to bring alot of new players as wow and other mmorpgs cater for that market. Like in most games you always have the die hard community, who, need to come together and in effect play together. It's the same for all games... alot of the "quit" plays won't come back for all sorts of reasons, and just a new expansion won't make people want to rejoin. In a way its more of a put off, because of yet more PVE or work todo (though for some thats their cup of tea).

The italian and spanish servers are next to none, so would probably be the first to be added to the UK cluster. The the first instance there were always french/german/english cluster, the italian and spanish servers came last. Either way, the clusters who don't have the die hard community support will dry up, but the main 1-2 servers will always be full of their die hard fans who can't get enough of the game.

Games can bring out all new thrills and spills but players want to play a certain game they enjoy. Take QuakeWorld - based on quake 1 engine, still played. Unreal Tournment - loads more new version, the first still the best.
Half Life - loads more people still use the HL1 engine over source (esp in CS over CS:S)

Progression always leaves the non hardcore fans behind cause they're not willing to adapt or change enough to keep on playing their old, much loved game.

 

[Yurka]

I also think some of you lot should stop fucking moaning and take a reality check. Old things die - wounded things don't keep up, and then die. UK cluster is one of them, german/french servers are in a health state. The text may seem different, but it's still the same game.

 

[Sollac]

find it funny..all the elite fookedoff to avalon due to goa and the siege crew.

now some say dont like avalon tbh but wont come back unless goa fix dyvet.

perhaps they should come back and help solve the situation and reenergise the rvr on the server .

even if it means stating a target on fh every evening.(eg tonight albs attack bolg.......tomorrow mids attck eras, sat hibs attack bledmeer.

we all know where the fights are gonna be.

You guys need to be more proactive and rather sit on ya fat arses going "DOOM! DOOM!" get back here and start a fooking riot.

Help make the server more active perhaps all the kiddies and elitist tossers will return....

I dont like the fgv fg and 1v1 player attitudes, Im a realm v realm player (ok zerger to some) but we all need each other to survive.

relics are thereto be taken, not by ac i agree but its gonna happen.

If you want an english speaking server to live, help breath life into it

 

[Thadius]

find it funny..all the elite fookedoff to avalon due to goa and the siege crew.

now some say dont like avalon tbh but wont come back unless goa fix dyvet.

perhaps they should come back and help solve the situation and reenergise the rvr on the server .

even if it means stating a target on fh every evening.(eg tonight albs attack bolg.......tomorrow mids attck eras, sat hibs attack bledmeer.

we all know where the fights are gonna be.

You guys need to be more proactive and rather sit on ya fat arses going "DOOM! DOOM!" get back here and start a fooking riot.

Help make the server more active perhaps all the kiddies and elitist tossers will return....

I dont like the fgv fg and 1v1 player attitudes, Im a realm v realm player (ok zerger to some) but we all need each other to survive.

relics are thereto be taken, not by ac i agree but its gonna happen.

If you want an english speaking server to live, help breath life into it

Stating attacks on public boards are against the SOTG i thought? Because didnt a relic raid get planned and was subsquently binned when the admins got wind of it? Who knows?

So why come back? If one comes back, its not enough, 10 come back, still not enough. You will need at least 100 people to come back, that way rvr is still varied. The 8vs8 crew left to find more 8vs 8 fights, not sitting and pveing some keeps to death. I went to Us servers to do a bit of everything on the classic servers, no way am I learning a new language as i dont have the time or patience for it sadly. And German people do rock!

And liking 8 vs 8 doesnt make you elite now does it? I could call you a kiddy for liking to keep siege but its not everyones up of tea now is it? Sitting at a keep for 2 hours getting the wall down, killing the handful of enemies that defended and taking the keep. OF keep sieges were fun, but that time has passed and OF will never come abck and im glad in some ways.

You cant force people to play your way, you can have a moan and a whinge on here or other boards if you wish, but more than likely you will just get told to grow up.

Shame really, the people that "ruled" thid, if you can rule an mmorpg, especially a zone that is smaller than Tom Cruise have seemed to taken over the server and you can see the kiddy attitudes when it comes to viewing the RVR boards.

I admit, Manische can come across as a cock at times, but most what he says makes sense. People like to wind him up as he blows off far too easily

I suppose you have never tried Avalon/US servers have you?

 

[Thadius]

I also think some of you lot should stop fucking moaning and take a reality check. Old things die - wounded things don't keep up, and then die.cluster is one of them, german/french servers are in a health state.The text may seem different, but it's still the same game.

Truth. When something breaks, you fix it the best you can but it will always be in a weaken state

As for the health state, we have a new scrapegoat for the fall of Dyvet. The NHS!

 

[Yurka]

perhaps they should come back and help solve the situation and reenergise the rvr on the server .

even if it means stating a target on fh every evening.(eg tonight albs attack bolg.......tomorrow mids attck eras, sat hibs attack bledmeer.

we all know where the fights are gonna be.

sorry, but stating that on fh to the same 10-15 people who only read that fh section isn't going to being back 1,000~ people. The only incentives will be from goa, giving free lvls/artis/money to get people play; but even that won't do much to the people who have already adjusted to life on german servers (it takes 1-2 weeks max) and already have kitted out chars already.

dead horse flogging a stop <- Answer on a postcard kids!

 

[Thadius]

dead horse flogging a stop <- Answer on a postcard kids!

Can I have your babies?

I have gotten used to the US servers now, and tbh, only reason I play is that I need a good timesink. Im too busy levelling up lowbies on classic. If i cam back, what would I do?

I have ml10 chars, I have all my toons templated. On us, you can run with your epic on and still find fights you can win, on Dyvet your running round for hours looking for fights or end up spending 2 hours taking a keep, which is dull

 

[Yurka]

lol thadius, 2 good posts. Bloody hell FH made me laugh instead of crying at the thought loosing more brain cells reading it.

 

[Thadius]

lol thadius, 2 good posts.

You know where the rep buttons is

Try Off Topic sometime

 

[Sollac]

I suppose you have never tried Avalon/US servers have you?

if my post sounded as if i was having a go at others not what i meant.

we all have different play styles and need to find a way of making them all work together.

and yes i have a 47 heretic in lamorak....came back as missed my friends.

the us servers are now how excal used to be when i started...friendly and always grpable.

too many soloers in excal atm....probably due to not being able to find a grp because they dont fit the set up.

PUG's ftw:england:

also the competitiveness of players is directed at the enemy, not at players within your own realm...
be they solo, fg or zerg they all work together.

something excal lost along time ago

 

[Thadius]

the us servers are now how excal used to be when i started...friendly and always grpable.

Exactly, the game is dead over here. Many factors, such as WoW, took away the fanbase. Whereas the loveable Yanks always have people starting up

 

[Imgormiel]

Requiel - the problem is that the population has been declining since last summer - and GOA knew the problems back then - but chose to ignore them on the cluster (explaining them as a normal summer dip etc...) , now you tell us in March that GOA are looking at long term plans - not short term fixes!

Shouldnt it be a question of getting your collective arses in gear and doing something NOW with the plans developed LAST YEAR when the problem was becoming apparent!

As i have said in previous posts, GOA have taken their eye of the 'DAOC ball' and are now concentrating on plans for WAR rather than DAOC - even looking back on your previous posts you spend time working on WAR - advertising around europe (oh and some for daoc).

Thankfully i have recognised my addiction to daoc and stopped playing - but i would be feeling a very bitter and unhappy customer if i was still playing!

If you look at the true analysis of it, the pop took considerable drops since TOA and has been in decrement ever since due to one reason or another - not all of them are due to game problems. So what Req says is fair, my guess is they have been looking at this problem for much longer than you summize

 

[Yurka]

Exactly, the game is dead over here. Many factors, such as WoW, took away the fanbase. Whereas the loveable Yanks always have people starting up

I wouldnt say over here, as avalon/lyon has more population than the biggest clusters in the US

 

[Imgormiel]

I wouldnt say over here, as avalon/lyon has more population than the biggest clusters in the US

But that anomaly is unique and we all know why...

 

[Cromcruaich]

Look at Sony or Microsoft, they lost money on their consoles but knew it would change for the better in the future.

Daoc and Goa are probably breaking even, or losing money. If they close the servers then no one will trust them for WHO. If they move you all to Mythics servers then people will still distrust them enough to choose Mythic when WHO comes out. Its a double edged sword, do they A) shut up shop and ship everyone to Mythic, or B) slowly bleed till 4th quarter and rely on WHO to heal their money wound.



Potential quite simply. Name the most succesfull MMO's, Daoc, Ultima, WoW.

Now which one got fantastic advertising, yep its WoW. And for every 1 good player who thought "this is shit" or "this is not as fun as daoc", another 20 people blindly chose wow not even knowing what daoc was.

With EA's advertising and a top mmo team they can sense they're onto a winner. Who cares if they lose 1 million from daoc's current situation? They will make ten fold when WHO is released.

Thats pretty much the qualifications I made in my post. However the original quote was not making a profit for years - this is what didnt add up. As I qualified, I could see that they'd take a bit of a hit to maintain the good will for WAR and other projects.

In addition the situation here is different - GoA took on the running of DAOC as a profit making project - from the start - it needs to make a profit for them - they arnt the writers, just the hosts and vendors. Equally, they only take WAR on, or any other project which they support on the basis that it needs to make money. They are not positioned the same as the game authors.

 

[Cromcruaich]

We only have a few space cadets that think the server is OK

haha made me smile.

 

[gervaise]

US server peak population peaked at under 9k last night .....

LotR starts 4th April for pre-order in the US, haven't checked the UK pre-order details but I would be surprised if it didn't have an impact. Other games may as well long before WH comes out.

Maybe GoA is in negotiation to take over the US servers and unleash the power of RightNow on the US playerbase! They could market the Spanish server as an education tool (I'm not jesting either)