PC Gamer (Issue 111 page 110)

[Wicoa]

For those of you who read or subscribe to this magazine I urge you to turn to page 110 (issue 111). Where it clearly and neatly sums up the dreadful behaviour of GOA. Its only a short report by Jim Rossignol but its to the point and hits the nail on the head.

I re-rolled this thread due to silly arguements on the last, which I closed.

Seems that a fair few people are or have left the game.

How do people feel as this game stands. Please apply your thoughts and opinions, any facts are welcome too.

 

[galdora]

Love it as it stands. More content is coming and will be nice.

Started a hunter for the battleground areas. Because I have no solo RvR experience because my main is a healer. Hopefully hunter will be lvl 20 by the time we get the next patch.

Then look forward to DF and expansion. No hurry tho. Need to level alts to the right levels and SWG is not out for ages.

 

[old.chesnor]

I'm off to the US game. In my opinion the 3 month gap between 1.45 and 1.48 is unacceptable. Games like this rely on new content to keep people interested (and to be honest, there isn't actually that much high level content in 1.48).

The 1.49 patch with DF is (I imagine) significantly larger and more complex than 1.45-1.48. Unless GOA have learned lots from translating this patch, and manage the process more quickly for 1.49, we are looking at another 3 months....or more.

In the meantime Mythic steams ahead at its usual pace, PvP beta server with a command to copy your char to Mordred for high lvl character testing, announcement of the expansion, 1.51D etc..It is realistically going to be months or even years before we can expect to see those things at the current pace GOA is taking. I can accept being behind the US, but what I cannot accept is that the gap is constantly widening.

 

[SFXman]

lol, I had a thread earlier about a finnish PC magazine also dissing GOA
They're becoming famous already

 

[Solid]

in MMO games, Content is King, and currently EU DAoC is failing miserably.

Nothing new at all for my level 50 char in 1.48, sure i get to make 100 kills in the BG to gain rp, after that, no more BG for my lower level chars as your access to Bg is blocked after 100 kills, then what?

 

[old.Emma]

Dont forget you lucky lvl 50`s get to do your pain stakingly long and boring epic quest for your epic armour

 

[SilverHood]

getting bored of playing the same game. doing the same thing for the last 3-4 months

GOA = Game Offline Again

ROFL

 

[Vell]

Ok, I will be a bit more civil this time.

Personally, I find the arguement laid out by Jim Rossingol to be completely biased and one-sided. It is very much based on his opinions (which, admittedly, he shares with several players), rather than pure, hard facts, and the truth of the matter has been twisted by the author to be something it is not.

Some of his arguements are outdated (for example, EB having sole distribution rights) and no longer hold true. The fact is, there is enough supply out there for the people who want to buy the game, but unfortunately, there is not enough demand for the product, rather than the other way around.

Many of his arguements are simply going over old ground, most of which has already been answered to a satisfactory level by GOA, which Mr Rossingol would know if he had done his research first. Unfortunately, it seems he hasn't.

He also makes direct comparisons with the US edition of the game. Let us not forget, that the US version has been running for almost a year, whereas the European edition has been going for a little over three months. That is a big difference, particularly in the MMORPG industry. In fact, GOA have, in three months, achieved much much more than Mythic did in the first three months of the US game. That is something we should be thankful for, not ungrateful.

His 'no central community hub' for the EU edition is also very misleading. He implies that Mythic themselves run the community for the US version of the game. This is, in fact, not true at all. Most of you will have heard of Camelot Herald, and this is what Mr Rossignol refers to as the 'central community hub' for the US version. However, most of the information found on the Herald is also available to EU customers, most of the information is stored on the EU website in the 'customer service' section. A quick search will reveal exactly what you want to find - exactly how it works at Camelot Herald.

There are some parts of the Herald that are not available yet for the European customers, but GOA have already stated, as Mr Rossignol would know if he had done his research, there are definite plans to implement these features in the very near future. In fact, Camelot Herald did not pick up these features until 6 months after the US release, so for us to be getting them in the near future is indded a good achievement.

In fact, I would argue that Jim Rossignol should be ashamed of this piece of work - True, he puts forward the feelings of many of the EU-DAoC population, but he fails to provide a balanced arguement and he obviously hasn't done his research. Any journalist will tell you that this is an absolute must when writing a report such as this.

 

[Alrindel]

I re-rolled this thread due to silly arguements on the last, which I closed.

Here we go again.

Seems that a fair few people are or have left the game.

Many people do leave games after playing them non-stop for months on end. Unless you can actually produce hard numbers - how many subscribers did GOA have to DAoC in March, April, May and June? How many new subscribers did they have in the same period? What percentage of those players subsequently subscribed or returned to Mythic, and for what reasons? - you're just extrapolating a few posts to this bulletin board from people claiming they're quitting and buying the game (often from the same people over and over and over again but they never seem to actually go away) and using it as "proof" of the opinion you already had.

The little article from that Finnish gaming magazine was like that. the "journalist" didn't actually do any research, which is hard and boring, he just surfed the web a little and reported back what he read in bulletin boards. Is this one any better? Did they talk to anyone at GOA and get any actual figures?

How do people feel as this game stands. Please apply your thoughts and opinions, any facts are welcome too.

There are, with no exaggeration, dozens of threads with hundreds and hundreds of posts on this forum going back a good couple of months that have pounded this topic into the ground, and the only people who aren't sick to death of the whole thing are dedicated forum trolls and flamewar instigators. If you want to be taken seriously, you need to do your homework before you start to pontificate.

ps. It's a pretty poor reflection on your debating skills that you deleted your own thread simply because you didn't like the way that people jumped in and pointed out your own embarassing mistakes and misinformation.

pps.

 

[old.Whut]

I haven't read the report and frankly aren't interested in reading it.

What I AM fed up with is the pathetic excusers for GOA, who keep trotting out what a "wonderful job" GOA are doing for us all.

The server populations for Europe are dying (not a fiction, just look for yourself at the numbers drop off over the last few months, it shows a constant loss of playerbase. Compare that to the increasing playerbase of the Mythic hosted game). People with any sense know to buy the American Game and not faff around with this crap. The rest of us are trying to make the best of a bad job, with the investment of our money and game time.

Living in hope that GOA will get into the real world at some point is wearing very thin. They have had their chance, and have blown it.

The only redress they can give, is to issue a CLEAR timescale of patch updates for the NEAR future. THEN LIVE UP TO THEIR TARGETS!

Once they start getting that right, then the game in Europe is in with a chance.

From all that was promised, a patch schedule that would get us to 1.51D by the end of August 2002, is HIGHLY achievable. If they fail in that, then stuff them.

 

[old.chesnor]

Vell..

About supply and demand in the context of gaming. Word of mouth, advertising and the attitude of the community are the key here. Many players on the English servers are unhappy with GOAs handling of the game in the UK. The game has had little or no advertising in the UK. Its reputation is not good (I could not reccomend the EU game over the US one to a friend, as an example.)

About the fact that Mythic took a year to sort out these problems yadda yadda yadda. It took man millions of years to invent the wheel. Now my 5 year old kid can make one. You don't need to reinvent the wheel every time you make one. GOA should have taken a Mythic employee as a consultant to ensure that those early teething problems Mythic had, GOA did not.

And imho GOA have not impressed me at all, in any department. They are a company that have so far sold (estimating here) 20k copies of daoc EU wide and have had (to be kind) 10k 3month subscriptions. That equals (20k * £18) + (10k * £18) = £540000. These figures are obviously a wild guess, but my point is they have merrily collected half a million pounds, and have provided us with a quite frankly poor service. Sometimes you can take heart that a service genuinely seems to be improving (GOA could post some long term targets as to when they expect to 1.49, 1.50, PvP etc..) but I see no evidence of this. Their website is rarely updated and when it is the updates are inadequate.

Quite frankly, I can't imagine that anyone is satisfied.

 

[Wicoa]

Alrindel I don't mind if I was wrong I admit I made a couple of errors but what I didn't like was being flamed for it. I never slated anyone or did anything wrong. I re-rolled the post purely cause the other one did not achieve what I wanted it too. And so far this is much better, why do you elves think you're so superior OOOOOAAAHhhhhh Im a monkey (I suppose its Elvish nature)

Ehhh hello silverhood

"a patch schedule that would get us to 1.51D by the end of August 2002, is HIGHLY achievable"

Will this happen?

 

[old.chesnor]

Although I am a critic of GOA, I do know that "a patch schedule that would get us to 1.51D by the end of August 2002, is HIGHLY achievable" is in fact, without any question TOTALLY NOT ACHIEVABLE.

If you are going to make demands of GOA, or if GOA are going to post estimated dates for patching, the targets must be achievable and realistic. Making silly demands like this is not helpful. I'd be suprised if you get 1.49 by the end of August tbh.

 

[Vell]

Originally posted by Whut
The server populations for Europe are dying (not a fiction, just look for yourself at the numbers drop off over the last few months, it shows a constant loss of playerbase. Compare that to the increasing playerbase of the Mythic hosted game).

Oh look, another person who quotes random things without doing the research. I think you will find that the US servers are actually decreasing in population much more rapidly than the EU servers.

GOA should have taken a Mythic employee as a consultant to ensure that those early teething problems Mythic had, GOA did not.

I Believe they did. At least, we have been given many indications that the EU staff are in constant communication with the US ones, particularly for troublesome issues. (Anyone remember corrupted characters from beta? Don't forget, this was actually Mythic's fault for giving GOA the wrong version of the client).

Let us compare the US vs Eu situation with an assult course.

Mythic have been given a good head start on GOA. Now, because of this, GOA will be behind, but they also get to have a look at the tricks and traps that have befallen Mythic. So, in this way, yes, they do have the advantage. However, there is no doubting that Mythic got the head start, and no matter how GOA try to catch up, they will more than likely always be behind. That's the way the race is run.

Many of the issues that GOA are facing are actually nothing they can help on. Distribution is down to Wanadoo, not GOA. The fact that translation takes so long is because the code that Mythic wrote is not easily adaptable to translation.

No, the situation for EU DAoC is not ideal. I would be among the first to say that. However, the constant slamming of GOA by the people on these boards, as well as others who should know better (yes, I mean you Jim Rossignol), is unnecessary, and a lot of the time, inaccurate.

That is the point I am trying to get across. Everyone loves to have a scapegoat, it's just a shame that no one ever weighs up the arguements before jumping on the bandwagon and blaming GOA.

 

[Solid]

Chesnor hit the nail on the head on most points.

Sad but true fact is out of the Uk DAoC gamers, most are playing US version, and so its kinda obvious the English servers will be poorly populated.

Kinda Mythics fault in the first place cos Europeans dont like to wait for a game just cos its made in the US. A lot (and I will stick my neck out and say prolly 3-4K of the US populous is Europpean.

Is that not like shooting urself in the foot before u even begin?
Thats a sizeable chunk of a player base in EU that will not be on EU servers.

GOA started out at a disadvantage cos of this, but they aint done emselves any favors and now the player bae is dropping its gonna be a self torturing process till noone but hardcore GOA fanbois remain on these servers.

Those that absolutely love the game will more than likely move to the US, those that prefer eu players over yanks and dont wanna continue with poor service will quit DAoC altogether and move to pastures green.

Its evident Mythic has some major competition upcoming in the next few months with release of NWN and Shadwbane and SWG all tabled to go live before Sep 2002.

Whereas Mythic will have a reason for US subbers to stay (expansion pack and PvP server and patching) GOA will not have that luxury.

My speculation is EU DAoC will die a horrible slow death when new games are released whereas US DAoC will not suffer as bad.

once again, this is my opinion, not fact, I am not claiming I know best, just my opinion

Flame on (no doubt I will get some, I have come to expect it on this forum, esp in recent days)

 

[old.chesnor]

Vell. GOA are not a scapegoat. They are the company that takes our money every month. People who feel aggrieved about poor service are totally within their rights to whinge/blame/moan on these forums. If you dont like it, don't read the threads. You only make people angrier with your somehat odd defense of them. Are you trying to ingratiate yourself with them or something perhaps ? Are you E&E ?

Some people will look at the US game and the content that the subscribers there and feel aggrieved. I personally don't understand the mentality of people that don't, but hey. Some people are more patient than others, me I am not patient. Especially when I am paying money for what I feel is a sub-standard service (when compared to US).

Tell me who else is responsible, and I will blame them....

 

[Vell]

Originally posted by Solid
till noone but hardcore GOA fanbois remain on these servers.

I would disagree on this point. A large majority of players never read these forums, and don't spend time looking at Camelot Herlad to see what they are missing out on. They just get stuck in and enjoy the game as it stands.

Talking about issues in guild chat, it appears that many people didn't even know that the US version was different to the US version. Many others don't even have a clue what's in the US edition.

As avid readers of forums, we are much better informed that the majority of the playerbase on the situation. Most people won't read them, and will continue playing in EU version, without even realising that something is amiss.

 

[Solid]

Yes but Vell, how many people you reckon fall into each group?

I would say there are a lot of forum readers between Barrysworld, IGN EU and the Unofficial GOA forums run by J0nty.

And these are majority English Server players, I am talking about English servers of course in my previous post, I shoulda made that clear.

French and German Language players have nout to complain about, they are quite content.

What would you say? 500 players? 750? that are clued in and post on a forum or keep up to date with dev in US and forums here?

Take 750 off the combined EU English server population and wht r u left with?

not much imo, not enuff to have much RvR fun, I got players oin my guild already saying they are sick of spending 20 mins to get to frontier to see fights over in 6 secs cos of poor player base.

in US there is constant RvR 24hrs a day, esp on MLF server, and most servers that are established have capped population most of the time, even the newest servers have better population than excalibur.

I really do think English Language DAoC EU is doomed cos of player pop, or the lack of it

 

[Alrindel]

"a patch schedule that would get us to 1.51D by the end of August 2002, is HIGHLY achievable"

Will this happen?

I shouldn't think so. Once the 1.48 patch is rolled out some of their resources will be devoted to getting the Camelot Chronicles online and polished, to smoothing out little bugs and hiccups in the existing version, and running the events they have been working on over the past few weeks. Also, a lot of GOA employees will be on vacation (France = 5 weeks paid vacation + a couple extra weeks of unpaid "recovered time" thanks to the 35 hour workweek law) so expect GOA to be run by a skeleton maintenance crew through august.

Besides, I don't know what the next jump point will be, 1.49 or 1.50, but it certainly can't be 1.51D which was only installed on the American test servers today and isn't even ready to go live on the american player servers.

One of the favourite tactics of GOA-bashers on Barrysworld is to set up ridiculous standards for GOA to meet as straw man arguments (my favourite was the fellow that DEMANDED GOA fix a date for the opening of a european PvP server OR ELSE HE WAS QUITTING IMMEDIATELY... and this before Mythic had even announced how PvP might work, let alone opened their beta server... ) and then swear at them for not being able to meet them. Just scroll up and read chesnor's brilliant financial analysis of GOA's business model where he PROVES using REAL MATH (peppered with "estimating here" and "obviously a wild guess") that GOA is making pots of money off us all and yet their service is rubbish. Well, it must be true, after all, it's MATH!

The reason some of us actually try to counter this stupidity is that a game like this lives or dies on the size of its community, which is driven largely in the gaming world by word of mouth. Especially since GOA, like Mythic, has no budget for any advertising. They know perfectly well that the kind of person who plays this sort of game will find out about it and will be tempted to give it a try through the usual circles, the gamer press and the web. Chesnor says, "Quite frankly, I can't imagine that anyone is satisfied." and yet this board is stuffed with posts every day from people who had a blast in this or that fight, or who participated in an event and want to tell others, or who are looking for items or help in quests, or for guilds to join; in short, people who are having a lot of fun playing an excellent game that is stable, running on fast reliable servers with more than reasonable customer service. If we want new players to join us so that our communities can continue to live and breath - if we want that third english server added - we have to get the word out.

Finally, I have just one last thing to say: honestly, what is the point of starting a thread like this asking, "How do people feel as this game stands. Please apply your thoughts and opinions, any facts are welcome too."? Is it to help you make up your mind whether or not to keep playing? Surely when all is said and done, there can be only one important criteria. Are YOU having fun? Are you enjoying the game? Do you look forward to getting home and doing a bit of exploring or hunting with your friends in your spare time? If not, then for heaven's sake go and find something more enjoyable to do. And if you are - and I hope you are - then no amount of Bizarro Math, or shrieking demands that GOA implement patches that Mythic haven't finished yet, or frenchy-bashing, should change your mind. You silly monkey.

 

[Vell]

Originally posted by chesnor
Vell. GOA are not a scapegoat. They are the company that takes our money every month. People who feel aggrieved about poor service are totally within their rights to whinge/blame/moan on these forums. If you dont like it, don't read the threads. You only make people angrier with your somehat odd defense of them. Are you trying to ingratiate yourself with them or something perhaps ? Are you E&E ?

Some people will look at the US game and the content that the subscribers there and feel aggrieved. I personally don't understand the mentality of people that don't, but hey. Some people are more patient than others, me I am not patient. Especially when I am paying money for what I feel is a sub-standard service (when compared to US).

Tell me who else is responsible, and I will blame them....

Perhaps Scapegoat was the wrong word. Perhaps the phrase 'mountain out of a molehill' would be more approriate. The problems are really not as bad as some people would have you believe.

Also, let me answer a few questions:
Am I happy with the EU version of the game? As a game, yes. It is completely playable, no one could deny that, even if not as 'complete' as the US version.
Am I happy with GOA's handling of the game and community? Not entirely, no. I believe we should have been told at the outset of the problems with translation, and that it would take time.
Do I wish I had bought the US version? Yes, actually I do.
Will I give up on the EU version? Not a chance. Maybe it's just me, as a typical Sagittarian, to not give up. I am a very determined individual, and I will be here until the I stop enjoying the game, not because someone else says the grass is greener elsewhere. I will enjoy the game for what it is, not what it could be.

Am I in any way connected to GOA? Or do I want to 'ingratiate' myself with them? No. Pure and simple, No. I just don't think the situation is as black and white as you think, and I am willing to offer an opposing view to someone else.

We had a presentation at work recently about 'what makes a good team'. In every good team, there needs to be someone who will disagree, and throw peoples opinions and working methods up into the air, so that they can be examined and modified. Is that person always right? No, of course not. But he or she makes people think, and that is why their role is so important.

I would like to think of the EU community as a team, whatever realm or server we play on. And in that team, someone has to take the objective role.

 

[old.cerebus]

Does that person get to call everybody who comes up with an idea a retard or is that something you added?

I'm personally very happy with everything so far, I don't read anything about the American servers as I know there is no way I can get to what's on them.

If we all hated GOA and DAoC as much as some say, why do we play it most nights?

 

[Cedig]

Guys I think you're all falling into the same trap here. Not one of these responses has been research correctly. Words like "most of", "I believe", "the majority" its all opinion, no facts.

The only people who could counter this article with facts are GOA and Mythic.

The rest is just more opinions and rehashed ideas.

Perhaps PC Gamer would be prepared to print any response from GOA to counter the original article.... thats the only way to respond to poorly researched journalism

 

[Vell]

As a side note, I would just like to thank everyone so far involved in this thread, with the possible exception of one, for being able to hold a decent, intelligent discussion.
I apologise for my behavior in the previous thread Wicoa.


edit: posted this before i read cerebus' reply

 

[Brannor McThife]

Originally posted by chesnor
Are you trying to ingratiate yourself with them or something perhaps ? Are you E&E ?

I resent the implication here. Most E&E people are waiting for the patch too.

I play(ed) a Troll Warrior, and I have everything against Mythic who, in 10+ patches has only ever given a mere second's thought to warriors by giving their thrown weapons greater range. FFS, how many warriors have you seen throwing weapons? Can thrown weapons be forged? Hmm?

Sorry. But you should all have known when you started that the patch release here would be based on the translation rate. Go spend a few hours on Gorre and then tell me the translation should've been done "ages ago". Bullsh*t, that's a fekking lot of stuff to translate into two languages. Yes, we are "behind" in patches. And like soooo many games, someone is going to be weaker until the game is rebalanced a little more.

I read the patch notes, to see what's coming. Then I get on with enjoying the game.

And, People are not JUST leaving because of how GOA has handled things, lots of people have left because they're powergamers. They hit 50 flying, and got bored. So what do they do? Blame GOA.

I actually recall a conversation I had with a friend a long time ago, in which it was correctly predicted that we'd lose lots of PG'ers.

You have to ask yourself, what difference do those patches REALLY make? Do they stop you playing? Do they make you so weak that greens/greys can kill you?

I recently started a new alt and am thoroughly loving it. I've read all the patch notes and fixes/nerfs that'll happen to him. Do I care when the patch gets here? Not really, because I'm having fun.

At the same time. I'm not saying that everything GOA has done is spotless. However, I'm seeing lots of things starting to happen. Also, I don't think Vell is E&E. Are you? So many of you sneaking in the door nowadays.

As for me, well, I'll probably still be around here for a long time yet. I like this game. And have many good friends/enemies here. As in the early days with MUDs, we saw people come and go.

-G

 

[old.chesnor]

Well its never my intention to annoy anyone (except smite clerics and scouts in another thread, but thats another story). I enjoy expressing my opinion. I'm not always (in fact, rarely) right, I'm no financial or business analyst and I'm no expert in the world of online gaming. But what I am is a paying customer, free to express an opinion on a forum. These boards provide a place for me to do that.

I've had a blast playing this game, for sure and gaming is all about fun, but that fun comes at a cost (£6 a month) in this case. I personally always looked at how much more fun I could have playing the version of this game the US enjoy. The frequent patches they get. The way Mythic dangles the carrot and keeps people interested. Thats it, thats all my gripe is.

You pay your money, you take your choice. I am going to US because I will still have fun, but I will get regular content updates, a PvP server to play with, the expansion, DF, ingame CSR, events, a roleplaying server, battlegrounds, realm abilities, more servers......need I go on.

But to those content and happy to stay, have fun and don't be too hard on the whingers, just ignore them, they will go away eventually.

/me goes away

 

[cleeve]

if we are going to compare EU to US scenes - We have on thing that every US player would die for

EVENTS - I cannot wait to be involved in an event - they are fun , prove exciting for any level of player (and any mount of experience player it seems) and show that there is a very dedicated team of players and support people behind the scenes trying to improve things.

Yes I wish there was a bit more loving for hibernia - yes I do think that my realm lacks a little content, but the people who game in hibernia are top and a great laugh to game alongside. That cant be coded and cannot be purchased, and that is what keeps me playing this game

Revor

 

[Vell]

Originally posted by cerebus
Does that person get to call everybody who comes up with an idea a retard or is that something you added?

I did actually call my supervisor a retard the other day. She was saying that Gareth Gates was better than Will Young, and used the fact that G had been no1 for 4 weeks with his debut single, and W only got 3. So obviously, she got cvalled a retard. And deserved it

 

[Solid]

I think I hold a very unique opinion in that I have a gripe vs Mythic equally as much as I do against GOA.

Because of the way the game was sold in Europe, lots and lots of EU players dont play in EU, and its a considerable chunk of the potential EU player base.

Add to that lack of real marketting of this game and the well documented issues that players have with GOA we kinda started 20th on the grid in the Grand Prix whereas the yanks got Pole

My points is its a combination of things that have made some people (I dont claim to know who, or put a number on it, thast just silly speculation, and I made a mistake of spouting numbers in my last post) feel that they will stick with DAoC till something new rears its head.

I know I will, I am heager to try new things and most of my guild have agreed to stay together as a guild when/if we move to a new game, so at least a fragment of the community I have grown fond of in DAoC Prydwen will still be with me when/if I move on.

/em wonders if Vells exceptional person he/she didnt enjoy conversing was is Solid???

 

[Wicoa]

Apology accepted Vell some of my previous points were misguided and agreed with Alrindel.

My point of asking the question was to scope out how people felt in general because at the end of the day this game relies on people. I enjoy it very much and was getting concerned about people leaving, without others theres no decent rvr unless you want to toy with realm guards and crafters wouldn't have any customers. I should think I will be playing for some time to come.

I think that the point about if you enjoy it play it if you don't don't is good.

Please don't flame me for this but is it true that the Prydwen server or all servers are gonna be upgraded soon either connection or something else? Lag In rvr with a large force is a problem and even the mightiest connections can't withstand the heat.

Cheers
Wicoa

 

[old.Charybdis]

Hi folks.

Name's Richard Cobbett, I wrote the story in question for PCG. Don't plan to get into a flamewar here, thanks, but I'm certainly willing to chat about that article.

Back-history. First got hold of the game during the beta. Reviewed it for PC Format, where it did very well. Bought my own copy upon release. Do pay for my own account. Have played all of the major MMORPGs out there at the moment, plus a fair few on the way.

I mailed GOA before writing with my thinking, not specifically for the purposes of this news piece, but containing much the same arguments. No response. As a side note, due to lead times, this piece was written quite a while ago ;-)

I'm going to respond mostly to Vell here, since he's the one making most of the counter-arguments.

"It is very much based on his opinions (which, admittedly, he shares with several players), rather than pure, hard facts, and the truth of the matter has been twisted by the author to be something it is not."

Over thirty. Having written it, I showed the piece to a fair selection of users - I don't know their names, real-life or in-game, and other players. None had serious arguments against it, even a few die-hard fans. As for the fact-finding bits, they're certainly there - not to be blunt, but it's a very short piece and there simply isn't the space to go into the full details. It's principally a state of play update - not a full analysis of that game, a review of it (the review came much earlier)

As for the pure hard facts:

Our version of the game is out of date. FACT.

The patches have been late. FACT.

Getting hold of DAOC upon release was almost impossible. FACT -although the words 'in the shops' were apparently cut.

The servers feel almost empty. OK, this is one that is more of a matter of opinion, and other people may have had different experiences, but I find it a pretty regular experience to see an almost empty Looking For Groups list, and have done far too many horserides and long walks without encountering a soul. Certainly if you compare it to the population density of the other MMORPGs that I play. In a game revolving around team play, this strikes me as important. Likewise, I find it much harder to find people roleplaying than in any of the others. I can in AO, I can in EQ, I can in UO. But in DAOC, it's like a needle in a haystack to find someone interested. Your experiences may be different of course.

Contacting GOA officials takes days. Again, FACT to me. You may have had different experiences, but I kept a notepad and pen by my desk for about a month to test this one.

"Some of his arguements are outdated (for example, EB having sole distribution rights) and no longer hold true."

The ommitted words 'on release' are important here. In addition, as part of my little fact-finding mission, I travelled to several towns in the Bath area to try and find copies of it, plus up North while I was there a while ago.

"Many of his arguements are simply going over old ground, most of which has already been answered to a satisfactory level by GOA, which Mr Rossingol would know if he had done his research first. Unfortunately, it seems he hasn't."

They haven't been answered to my satisfaction. I know their REASONS for everything, but that doesn't mean that I have to be satisfied with them. The translation issue for instance is always going to be a killer, but that alone doesn't warrant the time spent.

"He also makes direct comparisons with the US edition of the game. Let us not forget, that the US version has been running for almost a year, whereas the European edition has been going for a little over three months."

The European edition was going for a long time during an exceptionally smooth beta. The European version has been beset with holdups and delays for code that is already available and has been superceded. Reasons are fine. Reasons are good.

"That is a big difference, particularly in the MMORPG industry. In fact, GOA have, in three months, achieved much much more than Mythic did in the first three months of the US game. That is something we should be thankful for, not ungrateful."

In the first part of the live game, GOA achieved exactly what it achieved during the beta and what it should have achieved, using already tested technology. This is what we should be expecting, not something to be thankful for. Give it to me for free, and I'll be thankful. Anything else, and it's payment for services rendered.

"His 'no central community hub' for the EU edition is also very misleading. He implies that Mythic themselves run the community for the US version of the game. This is, in fact, not true at all."

Is this the Camelot Herald that currently boasts as recent news posters:

Matt Firor (Producer)
Jeff Hickman (Director of Customer Support)
Mark Jacobs (President)
Scott Jennings (Programmer)
Sanya Thomas (Internet Relations Manager)

and the DNS entry

________

Registrant:
Mythic Entertainment (CAMELOTHERALD-DOM)
3919 Old Lee Highway, Suite 82A
Fairfax, VA 22030
US

Domain Name: CAMELOTHERALD.COM

_________

? I call that a central community hub, sure.

"However, most of the information found on the Herald is also available to EU customers, most of the information is stored on the EU website in the 'customer service' section."

Not what I mean at all. There is no talk of forthcoming events planned (yes, I know that Mythic is rubbish at this - and it's a big area that GOA can really, really make back points with if they run with the idea) or important news (such as the first dragon slaying), of cool stuff to look forward to, or the edits to the game in the near future. There's always talk of these things, but until they actually happen, they're air. See also Anarchy Online. And please god, don't let there be any AO diehards here to debate THAT one ;-)

(EDIT: But it's so far in advance of this version that it seems like a different game - all this stuff in developement that you won't see for so long that it's almost irrelevant.)

"there are definite plans to implement these features in the very near future"

There are always plans for this and plans for that. That's great. But DAOC has been more or less static since launch, and I tired of it a long time ago. It needs a CONSTANTLY updated gameworld, because PvE doesn't lend itself to long-term play in it, and RvR is decidedly an acquired taste, due to the limited nature of the conflicts both technologically and in terms of game mechanics. Bulk patches rather than constant updates do not help this. I frequently find myself unable to participate when it happens due to lag, but more than that, after a few sieges I simply got tired of playing RvR.

"In fact, Camelot Herald did not pick up these features until 6 months after the US release, so for us to be getting them in the near future is indded a good achievement."

Not really. The kit's there now, it's ultimately a matter of plugging it in and switching it on.

Ultimately, here's the key line:

"Do I wish I had bought the US version? Yes, actually I do."