Some friendly advice for GOA

[old.Lonewolf]

From the way I understand it

The patch server runs for all the servers i.e German, French, English etc, hence the nightmare of 1.45

Hence if patches are updated they need to do all versions before they can put it on the patch server, if they did English would be fine, the German would be ok, but the french would have thinks like You hit the bandits ear for 5dmg etc etc

Here in lies the problem, why not have separate patch servers for the separate languages, yeah it may take some spending and some infrastructure changes but everyone would be far happier, well a large proportion the community anyhow! You could even have dedicated teams for the languages thus increasing translation times.

Correct me if I am wrong in any of this pls as it is not meant as a flame but more a constructive debate pls don't treat it otherwise

I have been in online gaming for hmm about 3yrs now and time and time again companies completely shoot themselves in the foot for one simple reason COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION!!

We are your blood, your bread, your food in your kids mouths, we are your REVENUE!

All you need to do to make people happy is to give them an estimated date or a regular update on what is happening with the patches and/or PvP servers, extra British server etc!

All we need is a simple e-mail or forum post saying " We expect it to be finished July, but this is an estimate so don't treat it as concrete dates"

Thats all, as for a 3rd british server all that would be needed is a "Until Prydwen reaches 2000+ or 1500+ capacity we will not be looking into supporting a 3rd server"

And then all we need is following updates like "We do apologise but problems translating Cotswold into German has pushed the release date back to August we sincerely apologise and are working our hardest to get this rectified"

It isn't hard it isn't asking much its asking for COMMUNICATION!

Wireplay didn't do it and died, Multiplayer Zone didn't do it and its community died, Barrysworld did partially but nearly died too, Anarchy Online is still as bad, the list is endless

If just one company would get it right you just need a person dedicated solely to the community and stop duck taping their mouths with red tape and business orientated interests gagging them consistently, I know we all have superiors to please but a community unhappy is hardly something worthwhile to report to the board, we are people as well as customers and you should not treat us all as dopey imbeciles who will enrage at anything what we do enrage at is the lack of COMMUNICATION!

Correct me if I am wrong, but the community seems to be performing a mutiny or uprising and suggestions to solve the problems need to be addressed before people move to Star Wars Galaxies or back to EverQuest and this is the reality of things for DAoC

I love the game with a passion and hope these ideas are considered

Just my 2p

 

[old.Elasto]

Good post - It's something that a number of people have been saying for a while.

What we need is a European Sanya (Mythic PR) who can communicate, in all 3 languages, what's planned and what;s going on.

Just compare camelotherald.com with camelot-europe.com

:|

 

[old.Lonewolf]

I am not criticising what is in place at the moment because like most companies it takes time to implement these things, and I am sure they are working on it the problem is WE JUST DON'T KNOW because you've guessed it NO COMMUNICATION!

There is a running theme in this can you guess what it is yet?

And yes Elasto you are exactly right that is what we need

 

[m-a-n-t-i-s]

All servers have to go up at same time otherwise if one of the French players connected to Excalibur and patched up his client, it would then make him unable to play on his native language servers if they are a lower version.

 

[old.Lonewolf]

Well thats just a load of crap, all that would be needed is a simple message saying the patch on this server is so and so, if you play on so and so server you may have problems reconnecting to it after being patched on this one!

It is their problem and why not simply have it so when they return to their french server it repatches over the previous patch or allows them to download a converter to convert them back

Simple, its not rocket science its just common sense

Or do what they do on Pendragon and have a separate DAoC folder for each language so that the server patches to each separate folder, that way not affecting the other languaged DAoC accounts

There simple several solutions for that problem

 

[matax]

Lonewolf - nice post. I totally agree - this is effectively what I have been saying in other threads. I just want to know what is going on. The three words in the news item that made me laugh were "as you know" - I don't know, you've never told me !

Mattus - this has been discussed in other threads and there are ways around it. Apparantly if you use the US servers, you can play on the normal servers AND the latest patched 'test' server.

 

[old.Lonewolf]

Markum glad to see people share a amiable and concerned approach to trying to solve the issues that GOA have seemed to have got themselves into and not go mad as usual

 

[old.Elasto]

Just to clarify, the US version allows you to play on the test server by running a different .exe file.

It's patched differently etc.

Of course, Goa could do 3 different exe files for the different language servers - but I don't really believe goa would do that...

 

[old.Nacholay]

Greetings all around!

I am not sure about their patch server structure. It may well be that they have one for each language. As for the information policy: You are just plain right Lonewolf! If they just kept us updated every day (even once every 2 days) on what the current state is on all those new things (patch, chronicles, website enhancement...) we would be a happy and content bunch of little warriors. But I do fear we will not get it. After experiencing the deleting of some of my questions on rightnow (!!!) before they were solved, I feel even more ignored. I will stay with the game because things are looking up ingame, but not being 100% happy with the company that runs it here in Europe...

 

[m-a-n-t-i-s]

Of course there are ways round it...

My point is, you really think they give a shit?

 

[old.Lonewolf]

Of course they care! Thats a silly and naive way to look at how they are working, I am sure they read and hear everything we say its just the lack of feedback that is bothering

I mean christ filter e-mails to me and I would sift the information down as needed, or appoint a group of reliable members of the community in each language to do it, u don't have to pay them just supply them with the means to contact the necessaries in GOA and then go from there

They make out like it is an impossibility, become DOERS not PLANNERS GOA

 

[Ardwan]

Aye, make all the middies on prydwen into the email sifters....just send them enough to keep them going for a day or two, just long enough for us to retake our relics.

 

[old.Gorthol]

A very nice post lonewolf, with some great constructive points and ideas.
People would stop that whining, speculations and rumors if they need what was going on, but we dont we just get approx 1 news from kemor once every month and then thats it no more from GOA.
Kemor if you're reading this please forward this to your bosses, it would make the community a lot more happier and therefore you would perhaps get rid of some flaming and whining.
Atm not many people like GOA or have respect for the company, just imagine that changing.

Im still crossing my fingers.
GOA you have my blessings I love you

 

[Brannor McThife]

Originally posted by Lonewolf
but everyone would be far happier, well a large proportion the community anyhow! You could even have dedicated teams for the languages thus increasing translation times.

Now, I don't post much here...but I'm going to poke some holes in this. "everyone"? "Large proportion"? Um. No. There are far more German and French players than there are "English" players. And you don't think they have people dedicated to translation? Hmm...someone posted a good picture of a translation process on the old forums...something like have to test string lengths for display, etc.

All you need to do to make people happy is to give them an estimated date or a regular update on what is happening with the patches and/or PvP servers, extra British server etc!

Hmm... ALL they need to do? Very optimistic there...and totally unrealistic. Extra BRITISH server? What a load of bull. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. The english servers ARE NOT British. Get that out of your mind now.

Thats all, as for a 3rd british server all that would be needed is a "Until Prydwen reaches 2000+ or 1500+ capacity we will not be looking into supporting a 3rd server"

Well, you've said it yourself. The logic is there to be grasped.

And then all we need is following updates like "We do apologise but problems translating Cotswold into German has pushed the release date back to August we sincerely apologise and are working our hardest to get this rectified"

Um...this would just take time and interrupt the translation team.

If just one company would get it right you just need a person dedicated solely to the community and stop duck taping their mouths with red tape and business orientated interests gagging them consistently

Well, perhaps they're not interested in PR. Perhaps they've learnt that if they say something, and it doesn't happen, then they'll get (part of the reason the old forums closed) "BUT YOU SAID?!? FFS!!!" posts/emails.

Correct me if I am wrong, but the community seems to be performing a mutiny or uprising

There's a mutiny going on? Where? Really? Damn. I must have missed it. Last time I checked, lots of people were still playing, the powerlevellers are getting bored and leaving, and the RP'ers are going to start having fun. RvR is starting to last longer (on Prydwen) and it's only a matter of time before the Dragons start biting it.

Everything you have said, has been said before. Posting that here, at best, gets read by Kemor and Zargar. And they're what? GM's? You want something done? As I said before, email Camber...he seems to be someone important.

Best of luck, and please, if you only remember one thing I said, Prydwen and Excalibur ARE NOT BRITISH SERVERS.

-G

 

[old.Lonewolf]

I knew it was only a matter of time before a small minded individual had to come into the thread and ruin the calm nice harmony.

if you only remember one thing I said, Prydwen and Excalibur ARE NOT BRITISH SERVERS.

They are UK servers UK United Kingdom, I don't care if we have lots of Scandinavian, Dutch, Swedish anything they are classified as UK Servers and that is what they are there for so that argument I am not gonna really bother with, because until they are called European Servers your argument means nothing to me

NEXT!

Well, perhaps they're not interested in PR. Perhaps they've learnt that if they say something, and it doesn't happen, then they'll get (part of the reason the old forums closed) "BUT YOU SAID?!? FFS!!!" posts/emails

It is not PR that Public, I AM A CUSTOMER so it is called Customer Relations, its CALLED CUSTOMER SATISFACTION, ITS CALLED A PAYING CUSTOMER who is UNHAPPY!

So that argument is pathetic

NEXT!

Um...this would just take time and interrupt the translation team

you really have no idea do you,

"Hi Translation team how long you reckon gonna take guys?"

"Right we looking at June boss"

"K cheers!"

Holy Cow talk about disreputing there work! They should be supplying Management with a SCHEDULE anyhow on the estimated completion time! Its how business works!

And finally

Now, I don't post much here...but I'm going to poke some holes in this. "everyone"? "Large proportion"? Um. No. There are far more German and French players than there are "English" players. And you don't think they have people dedicated to translation? Hmm...someone posted a good picture of a translation process on the old forums...something like have to test string lengths for display, etc.

Last I looked the Barrysworld community was UNITED KINGDOM! As for dedicated teams you don't know that they do or not???!?

Why? NO COMMUNICATION

Is someone gonna supply me with a decent argument cause that one was plain pathetic

Stop making excuses for them and start helping them with constructive points not plain dumb personal attacks I am trying to help here not have a go at them

 

[old.Ukkeli]

Aye, we need this information.

 

[old.Lonewolf]

The key here is constructive debate, placid, calm, amiable opinions structured and sensible with evidence to support that way we avoid flames and problems and the thread degrading into a turf war again

GOA obviously need help and we as a community have to help them, or extend to them the knowledge that we are prepared to help

Maybe a small information hit squad should be made?

I doubt any feedback will be received in this thread from GOA but brainstorming is always good

 

[old.Lonewolf]

One last point on that reply Brannor posted

Hmm... ALL they need to do? Very optimistic there...and totally unrealistic. Extra BRITISH server? What a load of bull. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE. The english servers ARE NOT British. Get that out of your mind now.

I am asking for information on what the plans are not demanding or asking for one as u seem to be making out?

Oh well I hope you take my retorts in good faith

 

[old.Veritreus]

Originally posted by Lonewolf
They are UK servers UK United Kingdom, I don't care if we have lots of Scandinavian, Dutch, Swedish anything they are classified as UK Servers and that is what they are there for so that argument I am not gonna really bother with, because until they are called European Servers your argument means nothing to me

And precisely where does it say they are UK servers? Because they have a little flag indicating the language? Bah, what a ludicrous statement. There's more support for them being French servers cos that's where they're based. And I'd guess there were more people from outside the UK playing on them than inside.

I mean, I knew some people were a touch xenophobic, but you take the biscuit.

But anyway, yes, I would like to know these things, but on the other hand, don't you think it would drive the translation teams nutty if someone kept asking them every day "Are we nearly there yet?" Have you never been working really well, then someone came up and asked you something and you just couldn't get started again? After a few days of someone doing this you'd want to break their legs.

But the best point Brannor made, and one you seem to have completely missed somehow is that the old forums were closed precisely because they gave us dates. Because when those dates slipped there were even more threads dedicated to moaning about that than there are now moaning about wanting to know stuff. And they were usually just full of people swearing at GOA rather than anything even remotely constructive.

 

[old.Lonewolf]

Ok u call me Xenophobic, ok I will go to the French servers and ask them to allow me to read all the text in british

No wait they can't so I will classify them as Xenophobic they have to be xenophobic

This pisses me off that just because Britain is a universally known language everyone jumps on the band wagon saying Oh ur xenophobic because ur excluding the other nationalities

Why is it that any British or any other nationalities are immediately scrutinised on the French German servers but if we cry on the UK ones then we are wrong it isn't a british server sorry its now a EUROPEAN ONE??!?!?

No idea where ur coming from, but it certainly is more narrow minded than I am trying to be

And I don't know why ur making that point if the British servers were updated as soon as the patch came over instead of waiting for the translation of the other servers all the nationalities on the UK servers would benefit

So that argument completely bemuses me

I cannot include extra nationality in the debate I can only speak for my fellow countryman, so I apologise if it comes across that I am penalising other nationalities, but if DAoC came from France and you could get the patches immediately before other nationalities I am sure you would sing a different song

The only reason we are not getting the patches is simply because of the other nationalities and thats it, all be it a little tweaking for English and not US language

Besides I am Spanish and came over to England so how the hell u can call me Xenophobic I have no idea but anyhow that isn't the issue at hand

And the reason that GOA closed the forums was not to do with complaints or problems I was on their most days and there wasn't any posts about patches coming out or anything. Dates??? What dates all they posted about was 1.45 and some forum downtime and server downtime and that was it and that was like once a month

Your naivety is ur fault, they closed the forum because:

A) They take up server space ALOT OF SERVER SPACE

and

B) They have to pay attention to the community then hence more work more staff more costs

You made some interesting points all be it personal attacks but I have to say.......

..........next argument please

 

[matax]

Calm down all, before this breaks down into another flame war

I think the problems with the above postings was that Lonewolf meant to say English servers - he is talking about the language being used on the server, not that it is only for 'British' people i.e. those who live in the United Kingdom.

Remember the English servers are full of people from all over Europe for whom English is not their first language, but they speak/read/write it very well (and in some cases a lot better than those who are British). This also applys to the forums and language can easily be misinterpreted. Don't take everything always as literally as it reads.

 

[old.Veritreus]

Originally posted by Lonewolf
Your naivety is ur fault, they closed the forum because:

A) They take up server space ALOT OF SERVER SPACE

Bah, that's rubbish - they could get a 100gb raid array for a couple of hundred pounds.

and

B) They have to pay attention to the community then hence more work more staff more costs

You made some interesting points all be it personal attacks but I have to say.......

..........next argument please

Yeah right, like they paid any attention to what was said in the forum. Except for Kemor and the other GMs, who still look at forums in other places, they never looked in there.

And the rest of my post wasnt all personal attacks, only one sentence. You seem to have skipped the bits you can't respond to properly.

As for Britain being a universally known language... well other than saying it's English to start with... the only reason that more people know English than know French/German is that the schooling system in Britain is pants and can't teach foreign languages very well, whereas those on the continent are far better.

And sorry for calling you xenophobic... it wasn't the best way of putting what I was trying to say and was rather insulting. A better way of putting it would be to say that you're asking for things for yourself first, and sod the rest.

If DAoC was in French originally then I would say the same thing I say now... the French people can wait til the translation is done, just like I say the English speaking people can wait til the translation is done. It makes no difference to my perspective, especially as I'm English anyway

Patching the English servers separately to the French and German ones would excessively increase the number of technical problems GOA have to deal with, not just the patching issue, but also different bugs on different servers...

 

[old.Lonewolf]

Good points all round however.....

And the rest of my post wasnt all personal attacks, only one sentence. You seem to have skipped the bits you can't respond to properly.

I have no idea which parts I failed to respond to in your post I felt I covered all the points you made and I feel Markm read my post how it was meant to be read and I apologise if you read it differently

As for problems and bugs in more servers than one, two words

DEDICATED TEAMS

Each team would deal with each individual server for each language

Its not about me wanting something for myself now, it is about common sense, its about satisfying 4000+ british users I am not gonna sit here and shout for the French or German as I have no affliation with them

But what about Spanish, they have no servers, or Dutch, or Swedish??!

The majority play on the British servers and the only reason France and German have more players??!

HIGHER POPULATION

I thought that was quite obvious I didn't wanna take the piss

And besides they could use the UK server to iron problems for French and German alike.

As for the forums you could be correct about the size I am too ignorant to know for sure, but I can think of no other reason than not wanting to listen to views of the community or cutting costs for shutting it down

As for avoiding points I feel I have answered each one you have made tell me if I haven't please

Thanks for your input

 

[old.Veritreus]

Originally posted by Lonewolf
Good points all round however.....



I have no idea which parts I failed to respond to in your post I felt I covered all the points you made and I feel Markm read my post how it was meant to be read and I apologise if you read it differently

My apologies if I sound a bit harsh at times - I've got too much work to do - my dissertation is due in tomorrow - and I seem to keep coming here and posting instead. Aaaah, the stress!

As for problems and bugs in more servers than one, two words

DEDICATED TEAMS

Each team would deal with each individual server for each language

Its not about me wanting something for myself now, it is about common sense, its about satisfying 4000+ british users I am not gonna sit here and shout for the French or German as I have no affliation with them

Money.

That's all that really needs to be said, but if you look at the financial situation from their POV, they can spend less money by not employing dedicated teams for each type of server and instead getting the same people to handle all the servers.

And a fair point about not having any affiliation with the French and the Germans, but still, it's the same company that's supporting them so I can only assume they want the same things we do... patching, and patching now. They probably say "Dump those British servers and concentrate on us!"

But what about Spanish, they have no servers, or Dutch, or Swedish??!

The majority play on the British servers and the only reason France and German have more players??!

HIGHER POPULATION

I thought that was quite obvious I didn't wanna take the piss

And besides they could use the UK server to iron problems for French and German alike.

Ah, but then people would complain about being guinea pigs for the Frenchies and the Krauts

And more to the point, we'd end up with more bugs, as in testing the translations into the other languages, they probably manage to spot a few more bugs that would affect (or effect? See, my english sucks ) us.

I don't know, I think I missed the point here, as the British (hehe ) servers have a lower population than the French/German ones.

As for the forums you could be correct about the size I am too ignorant to know for sure, but I can think of no other reason than not wanting to listen to views of the community or cutting costs for shutting it down

As for avoiding points I feel I have answered each one you have made tell me if I haven't please

Thanks for your input [/B]

Well if you consider that many people run forums on their old machines (well, I say many... it can be done), and that these machines have less than 4gb... space isn't an issue. Hell, DAoC probably has more words in game than the old forums did and that takes up under 500mb on my hard drive.

Anyway, if I want to play DAoC tonight I'd best get some work done now

 

[old.Elasto]

"And more to the point, we'd end up with more bugs, as in testing the translations into the other languages, they probably manage to spot a few more bugs that would affect (or effect? See, my english sucks ) us. "

Have to disagree with that - their 'testing' on the last patch failed to pick up bugs that were known by Mythic and anyone who read the subesquent patch notes / forum comments / announcements etc etc.

Specifically, Caster negative damage - found and put right by Mythic in a matter of hours. It came as a complete surprise to Goa, which begs the question what sort of testing do they do ?

To those saying whining never solves anything - give me another avenu to voice my concerns, and I'll do it. I tried RightNow and got a reply back that they were working on the patch. Not answering my questions, just a blanket comment.

I'm a paying customer, my last resort is cancelling my account, so I - rightly or wrongly - cling to the belief that if the customers complain, the supplier will act.

Not sure how long that belief will last, as I see other players dropping out of EuroDAoC until the patch / support issues are sorted.

 

[old.Veritreus]

Two options:

A) There is an email address floating around somewhere for someone at GOA other than the GMs that read message boards.. no idea what it is off the top of my head though.

B) Email Mythic and voice your complaints to them. Before the forums closed there was a generic email complaining about them which I believe quite a few people sent off, and IIRC, got a nice response back.

 

[old.Lonewolf]

Hmmm very interesting points indeed and yes I see your points, I guess most avenues have been explored by us now, I guess there is not much else we can do for now

Concerns have been voiced and I guess its time to just hope

 

[Brannor McThife]

/ignore Lonewolf



-G

 

[old.Lonewolf]

HAHAAHA yeah they probably will :sleeping:

 

[old.Veritreus]

Originally posted by Lonewolf
HAHAAHA yeah they probably will :sleeping:

Well of course... you're only a customer, who are you to tell them how to run their business