Time for an objective view of GOA

[old.warriorgirl]

Real Life has made me take a few days away from the game... naturally I spent some time thinkinmg about the game and how I missed my friends.

So I have kept in touch by reading throught the forums...

...I see much fuss and bother about 1.48 - when the tests haven't even started here yet and the Americans are already up into the 1.50's.

...I read about the excitement generated about the new expansion - but will it really be available to us on GOA?

...I see that yet another RvR has been spoiled by system crashes. I am not sure why we should tolerate the heavy lag during relic raids let alone crashes. The raison d'etre of DAOC is RvR - so it is essential the technical side copes. Is it a similar case with the American servers?

...I have looked at the numbers logging in to play on the English servers - they are falling. No new blood. No chance of a future server three or sufficent populations for RvR servers or role playing server.

...I read about disappointments about the lack of events (what on earth are these?)

There are still some more days of my holiday left and thus more time for reflection.

Like:

£25 gets me the US version of DAOC within the week.

£20 gets me the newest release from Ultima Online - which I have never tried yet... even though it has grey whiskers.

£8 returns me to the wonders of Everquest.

£30 gets me Morrowind.... etc etc


BUT the friends I have made in the DAOC euro servers are amongst the nicest and most dedicated I have had the pleasure of meeting.

It is to those many friends I say that is IF I do decide to change direction (and that's a big IF) I will message you to say where my new personna may be found.

This game has great potential, but I do feel cheated and disappointed by the Euro servers - and I cannot see a lot of future here unless numbers increase and we no longer get treated like the poor relation.

<sighs>

Love,Trewly Divine (level 35 Thane on Pryd)

 

[Olgark]

Well said. The only reason I have not moved to the US servers is due to the people I have met in the game in the EU servers.

I wish now I had bought the US version last year when I was thinking about getting it.

Shadowbane has moved to being a August release latter this year now as well.

GOA have never delivered on a promise as of yet, they close down the forums on their web site cause they can't take criticism from the people that pay their wages ( namely us). Nah I think as soon as Shadowbane or one of the others come out I will be leaving GOA and EU camelot, shame cause I like the idea of the game and it has got great potential.
GOA makes me uke:

 

[old.Aird Fitzdeagle]

Does Mythic have official forums? No...
Does Verrant have official forums? No...
Will SB, SwG etc. have official forums? I highly doubt it.

And why?
It is human nature to complain if something doesn't go one's way...
And it is a 1000 times worth on the internet.
All the above companies don't have forums because their customers have more time for flaming than actual playing it seems.
Of course it is bad publicity. And if GOA was being 'afraid' (lol) about a hundred kids (and to prevent further discussion- I do not refer to actual age)(out of how many customers?) flaming the living hell out of them on some message board, then why the heck did they put up a link to BW on camelot-europe.com?

Do you think I am ok with going LD in the middle of a fight?
Do I like having to wait for the patches?
etc. etc. etc.

GOA is not the anti-christ... they are not any better than Verrant, Mythic etc.
I am not a preacher for GOA... I just think 90% of the critizism or rather flames are way over the top.
And I wanna bet that UbiSoft will get their fair share of flames about SB bugs... or do you honestly think it will be released bug-free and perfect?

 

[[TNN]Aardvark]

Originally posted by Aird Fitzdeagle
GOA is not the anti-christ... they are not any better than Verrant, Mythic etc.

No. Mythic are WAY BETTER than this. Hell, its a close call between GOA and Funcom for christs sake. Are GOA going to give us a reason for these server crashes? Are they going to FIX them? Are they going to hire some people to actually WORK ON THE GAME?

I highly recommend you ALL buy US, and stick together on a lower populated server. That way we keep the euro bond, but don't have to put up with poor service.

 

[old.Aird Fitzdeagle]

Hmm... so how come a lot of people start threads stating that GOA's service has improved?

When was the last apocalyptic server crash? During the relic raid on Prydwen/Albion?
Not GOA's fault... blame Mythic for using a buggy engine which can't handle large amounts of players in the same zone...

Like I said.. it is human nature to complain. But heck... every day there is at least half a dozen new threads (started by the same people most of the time...) demonizing GOA and promising the happy hunting grounds on US servers.

Well, I might switch to US rp servers when the expansion is release but for the time being.. I will stay.
And why, dare I ask, are you people not moving on to the US servers if service in Europe is so crappy?
"'cos of all my friends playing here." - Well, why don't your friends switch? Most likely because they can't really complain. Doh.

 

[Alrindel]

Cons: GOA is slow to patch to latest version of game, there are only two english servers (doesn't much care, I'm french and I only play mainly on Excalibur anyways ), there is no in-game real time customer support.

Pros: GOA's servers have very high uptime and are even more reliable than Mythic's, network access is excellent (for me, using noos.fr), the european community is wonderful (have guild members from france, UK, germany, sweden and more, play with friends from russia, spain, holland, finland, etc), subscription is in euros and is cheaper than US.

The aye's have it. I think GOA's doing an above average job on the whole and I'm happy to stay with them. YMMV.

 

[SFXman]

Alrindel I must agree with you on those PRO's and CON's although I don't mind there being no in-game CS, just simply because I have had no real problems (although I would LOVE to bust some cheater asses if I could call a GM there, cheats such as getting on top of MGs etc. etc.).
GOA DOES have a VERY good uptime on their servers and for me here in Finland the connection to Prydwen is superb with extremely few LDs since release.

 

[Keri]

Funny .. no one has mentioned the 2 crashes/reboots yesterday. There may have been more, I gave up after being kicked out of the game twice in less tham 30 minutes.

Before I get flamed, I'm not flaming GOA. I have a US copy, live on the west side of the Atlantic, but I choose to play EU.

 

[Xtro]

Originally posted by Aird Fitzdeagle


Of course it is bad publicity. And if GOA was being 'afraid' (lol) about a hundred kids (and to prevent further discussion- I do not refer to actual age)(out of how many customers?) flaming the living hell out of them on some message board, then why the heck did they put up a link to BW on camelot-europe.com?

Look again - GOA have now removed the links to BW forum Hmm wonder why?

 

[old.Aird Fitzdeagle]

I might be mistaken but someone (a BW mod, I think) posted that GOA was revamping/updating their webpage and that the link will be re-added.

 

[Alrindel]

Yes, there were two big zone crashes on Prydwen yesterday. These things happen on all large game networks.

According to http://ultima.lightning.net/daoc/en/history/Prydwen_en.html the average uptime for Prydwen is 99.92% I think that's a pretty good score, and GOA should be congratulated for it.

 

[Keri]

Originally posted by Alrindel
Yes, there were two big zone crashes on Prydwen yesterday. These things happen on all large game networks.

According to http://ultima.lightning.net/daoc/en/history/Prydwen_en.html the average uptime for Prydwen is 99.92% I think that's a pretty good score, and GOA should be congratulated for it.

Yes, I'm satisfied with the server uptime too. I have had quite a few l/ds lately, but those are not GOA's fault. I'm on cable, and there is a lot of utility maintenance (read "digging up the street") going on in my neighbourhood, so I suspect that could be the problem.

 

[Alrindel]

Originally posted by Xtro
Look again - GOA have now removed the links to BW forum Hmm wonder why?

Look again again - and there it is at the top of the list.
http://www.camelot-europe.com/en/aide/liens.php

It wasn't just the Barrysworld link that went missing, it was all three links in the "DAoC European sites" section, and they are all back. Could it be that it actually was a mistake by the HTML monkey who was working on that page? GOA in telling truth shocker!

 

[Xtro]

Tell the truth? surely not

 

[old.Aird Fitzdeagle]

Gee... everyone go and get a cuppa tea. Time to relax now.


Let us chant the famous words once more:
...It is just a game... It is just a game...It is just a game...

 

[old.Ayeye]

...I see much fuss and bother about 1.48 - when the tests haven't even started here yet and the Americans are already up into the 1.50's.

Thanks GOA

...I read about the excitement generated about the new expansion - but will it really be available to us on GOA?

Thanks GOA

...I see that yet another RvR has been spoiled by system crashes. I am not sure why we should tolerate the heavy lag during relic raids let alone crashes. The raison d'etre of DAOC is RvR - so it is essential the technical side copes. Is it a similar case with the American servers?

Thanks GOA

...I have looked at the numbers logging in to play on the English servers - they are falling. No new blood. No chance of a future server three or sufficent populations for RvR servers or role playing server.

Thanks GOA

...I read about disappointments about the lack of events (what on earth are these?)

Thanks GOA



Overall:

Thanks GOA

 

[old.Ayeye]

Originally posted by Aird Fitzdeagle:
GOA is not the anti-christ... they are not any better than Verrant, Mythic etc.

MWHAHAHAAHAHAHAHHA!
Tell me Aird, where have you been in these last years?

Btw Origin has an official forum!

 

[old.Aird Fitzdeagle]

You Richard Gariott on vacation in Italy?

Where have I been? Where have I been... depends on the angle yer looking at it...
Do you mean in a geographical way? Metaphorically?

Fact is, that not a single MMORPG publisher has an official forum.
I call it self-preservation.

I played EQ for a while... boards are full with whine & cheese.
Then I started playing DA... and the whining is even worse.

Brannor/Glauthrong posted an interesting link the other day.. "Grass is always greener on the other side"...
IGN forums- US players whining that we Europeans will have GM'ed events... I kept browsing through those forums... whine, whine, whine... and heck- they have 1.50 and still whine and whine... whine, whine.

We will get 1.50- then the "Where is the PvP server" whining will start...

People will stop playing DAoC? Doubt it... people still play EverPatch, don't they? Player numbers decreasing? 25+ °C outside... some human beings have a life actually and lounge around in the pool or do other real life things (real-life: that's the place where you eat and go to the bathroom, avoid the wife who is [hostile] and cons peeved off- for our L50 players ).

I am not a 100% satisfied customer... show me one.

SWG and SB! Happy hunting grounds... I bet a plat that the unofficial boards will be just as full of whine&cheese as these ones here...

Get a life, all of you nerds
or go and get a Neopet on www.neopets.com lol
PvP at its best... tonsa items and guaranteed no patch hassle.
And absolutely age appropriate for our top 10 whiners... teehee..

 

[Gekul]

I just want the battlegrounds so I can enjoy RvR

 

[old.Ayeye]

I am not a 100% satisfied customer... show me one

Yes this is right but with Daoc I am satisfied for 50% with Ultima Online 90% (and with GOA obviously 0%)
And this is a big difference.


However have a look here:

http://boards.uo.com/cgi-bin/wwwthreads.pl

Official UO forum.

and at last:

"Grass is always greener on the other side"...
[\quote]

I do not know if the grass is green on the other side but I know well here there is a big big pool of mud.

 

[SFXman]

UO as a game has depth with tons of skills/houses/dungeons but then again I can't see ANY decent form of PvP which I find the best part about DAoC. Sure UO has factions... but they are just pathetic... sure there is PvP, but that is even worse. I played UO for 3 years so yes I know what I am talking about

 

[old.Aird Fitzdeagle]

You will neither find 100% satisfied customers nor the 100% perfect game...
I, for example, like the way crafting is done in EQ... going out to hunt for raw material, fashioning your own epic armor etc. ... then on the other hand, for some reason I am completely hooked to DAoC.
I played UO for a month... didn't appeal to me it all.

In other words: it depends on the player... can't say I can give DAoC a "I like it for xx%"... I just like it. *shrug*

And yes- GOA screwed up a couple of times... and? Are they the sole black sheep amongst pure and selfless publishers/hosts?
They are trying to make up for their initial mistakes... I, amongst others, see improvements.

What have they done (specifically), so horrible, that you despise them so much?


Aird Fitzdeagle
Enchanter on Hibernia/Prydwen

Maker of fine chicken dinners since 1999 A.D

 

[[TNN]Aardvark]

Oh the grass is always greener on the other side argument. Yes, right, THATS the reason.

Fyi, I already play on US servers, so I know how much better it is. Sure theres whining on US boards, but thats because of game balancing issues, which will always be there. I have had NO problems with crashes or any other technical stuff on US servers, and I doubt that every single relic raid with >150 people involved crashes the servers, as they've been done many times before.

You can't say 'GOA are doing a good job, it could be worse' to justify the problems, they've been given a game that works, has worked for 6 months, and they can't make it work. I don't give a damn if the server is up 99.92% of the time, if the 0.08% is the time when it MATTERS.

 

[old.Aird Fitzdeagle]

Originally posted by [TNN]Aardvark
I don't give a damn if the server is up 99.92% of the time, if the 0.08% is the time when it MATTERS.

Yes, you are right... How could I be so blind? Since February 15th or so, there was 0.08% downtime! Always when it goshdarn mattered! I want a refund! *foams* I am going to godamn sue, you frenchy GOA frogs!! RarrrRRrrr!!

... and if you play already on the US servers and everything is so wonderful and perfect... why do you bother and play DA Europe still? Honestly - quite puzzled.

Perhaps you should give Neopets a shot? Very relaxing... good for the nerves.

Aird Fitzdeagle... welcome to the Twilight Zone...

 

[old.Ayeye]

What have they done (specifically), so horrible, that you despise them so much?

Again I post here things GOA has done until now

1) "Imported" Daoc in Europe (WOW)
2) Betatesting it
3) Patched at 1.45
4) saved the world from that hacker that enjoyed to attack servers (Funny eh? The hacker has striken 1 min after the publish of 1.45! Really funny .....)
5) removed forum from official site (WOW!)
6) did that flash movie "Orthographic projection of the frontiers" that I think nodoby cares to look at
7) Added an incomplete link page to main site (this one was really funny because they used this unofficial board to gather websites and the most funny thing is that they dind't tested that page since the link to daoc catacombs still points to daatlas! Note: CORRECTED NOW after removing link to Barrysworld and reputting it mwhahaha!)
8) Changed the cursor on the website
9) They are setting up test center
10) They are about ready to begin tests on 1.48 version that will be online at the end of june (if all goes well)
11) Sometimes they added some news to their daoc website

Lucky for us, France is playing bad in world cup so they can work instead of staring at the television)

That's all
I'm sorry but I think that they need to wake up, I'm really angry because I WANT TO SEE DAOC EUROPE PATCHED AT US VERSION AND REALLY FAST and if (in the beginning) I trusted Goa that this could be done, right now I think this can't be done ...
I have subscribed for 6 months and I will play until then but I will go on in flaming them UNTIL I SEE THEY ARE WORKING HARD TO IMPROVE THE SITUATION!
For example if they publish the patch 1.48 and then after MAXIMUM 2 weeks (yes 2 weeks, remember that now translation of 1.48 has ended so they can begin to translate 1.50) they go in official BETA TESTING of the latest US version and then publish it after 1 more week I will change my mind!
Do you think this is possible?

 

[[TNN]Aardvark]

Originally posted by Aird Fitzdeagle
... and if you play already on the US servers and everything is so wonderful and perfect... why do you bother and play DA Europe still? Honestly - quite puzzled.

Because my friends play here, and they aren't as willing to give up high level chars as I am. I play US for the game, Euro for the people. Now if I can only convince the people to play US...

 

[SFXman]

This thread is getting way out of hand
But... I have felt like moving to the US servers but I would have no friends there, would have to stand americans, and ditch some characters. I am not willing to do that for a few measly patches since I enjoy the game as it is here in Europe.

 

[old.Breydel]

I had 5 months the time to judge GOA. My objective view is the following:

GOA = Gathering Of Amatures

I have learned my lesson though, I'll never ever buy or pay for any game anymore that is been altered (patches, netcode, etc) by a third party.


Breydel
42 skald Prydwen (retired and as dead as a doornail)
44 warden MLF (active is an understatement )

 

[SFXman]

I don't actually remember such a thing every happening before... another company taking over the job of another, but just in another part of the world... strange. Guess it is not a good thing

 

[Chenuba]

Ayeye, you hit it right on.
The time waiting for patches is ridicolous.
Why shall we suffer from others wanting the "luxury in playing on servers with their "own" language (misspelled?).
IMO we should have been patched up from day 1, considering all the betatesting done on US servers. It looks like GOA has used NONE of the experiences from the US servers first 6 months.
Servers is ok, as long as we're not having a self arranged event (What happened to events ??) making 350 ppl LD in Dartmoor and getting to an empty dragon bed.
Last but not least, we're paying customers, well at least this month out, I predict DaoC will die out except for a few servers left.
GOA, promising patches with a "close to US" release is one big joke.

Just because things got better isn't it the same as being good.

GOA is IMO an arrogant, ignorant, amateur company, I'm positve I'll NEVER EVER again will buy a game where GOA is doing the hosting. Well done jerks at GOA, you screwed up and made people leave instead of telling others to join..