Age of Conan

Originally posted by Reklaw

Originally posted by altairzq

Originally posted by Reklaw

Definitly interesting artical, but it's a shame that i feel not everyone will understand it. I already just saw the first reply.

 

I'm sure you loved his theory about how to balance an MMO.. yes? Very professional, very interesting, very.. absurd.

Things don't always need to be professional to be intresting, neither do you need to love a theory for it to be intresting.

 

Do you find interesting someone that balances an MMO listening to the complains in the forums? Is that something that any developer with a minimum sense of decency should do? He says something like "If the complains are balanced, then I know we are doing a good job".. god.. this is the most stupid thing I have ever read from a developer.

Originally posted by altairzq

Originally posted by Reklaw

Originally posted by altairzq

Originally posted by Reklaw

Definitly interesting artical, but it's a shame that i feel not everyone will understand it. I already just saw the first reply.

 

I'm sure you loved his theory about how to balance an MMO.. yes? Very professional, very interesting, very.. absurd.

Things don't always need to be professional to be intresting, neither do you need to love a theory for it to be intresting.

 

Do you find interesting someone that balances an MMO listening to the complains in the forums? Is that something that any developer with a minimum sense of decency should do? He says something like "If the complains are balanced, then I know we are doing a good job".. god.. this is the most stupid thing I have ever read from a developer.

Are you referring to > "If I were an MMO developer and saw that every class envied every other class, I'd think to myself that I had things balanced just about perfectly." ?

and this > In fact, as a developer, I'd be very interested in tracking the number of posts on the forums that show which classes are envied by other classes. If the "flow" is well distributed, then I'd say that the game has achieved balance.

If so this is excactly what I meant when i said "people NOT understanding what they read". but If you meant something else i sincerely apologize.

Originally posted by altairzq

Originally posted by Reklaw

Originally posted by altairzq

Originally posted by Reklaw

Definitly interesting artical, but it's a shame that i feel not everyone will understand it. I already just saw the first reply.

 

I'm sure you loved his theory about how to balance an MMO.. yes? Very professional, very interesting, very.. absurd.

Things don't always need to be professional to be intresting, neither do you need to love a theory for it to be intresting.

 

Do you find interesting someone that balances an MMO listening to the complains in the forums? Is that something that any developer with a minimum sense of decency should do? He says something like "If the complains are balanced, then I know we are doing a good job".. god.. this is the most stupid thing I have ever read from a developer.

It might aslo be good if someone asked this writer if he knows that some classes have more than one role (specs)  Its not as simple as just classes.   

As for balance.  Good balance is not based on how many are complaining about other classes.  Balance is build around giving all classes (or specs)  a role to play in the game and have EQUAL chance to progress as that class/spec as any other class/spec playing same role.  Balance is not reached by nerfing and buffing only.  Its about the general system that the game is based on.    Thats why for example the Arena system in WoW is not balanced cause some classes and specs are unable to progress in that system - and at the moment is creating more unbalance for other systems in the game. 

I want to add one more view to my earlier opinion.

This guy says game launched cause it was the right time.  Still... this is probably the only game of those coming that will get better with time - cause of the really high PC spec to be able to enjoy it.  Low graphic quality in the game makes it worse looking than WoW in medium settings.  So basicly instead of thinking - WHOA lets make some QUICK money!!  - They could have thought - we have good top quality graphix.  NOw lets get the rest of the game to that standard. 

They did not.  

And its ofc a discussion on its own why a game that has been worked on in 5 years is launching with a graphical engine that doesn't support one single PC that was build at that time.   Maybe that tells us pretty much everything about where the real money went into.  It defently did NOT go into longterm planning of classes and abilites - considering that MANY classes launched with untested abilites.  And they are still beeing changed....

It doesn't take a NASA Computer to test the basics and most important parts of MMOs... That is the gameplay - and the LONGTERM gameplay.  But thats another thing Funcom isn't thinking about - They only think short term money and they will ofc pay the price.   

What a waiste of 25 millions...

Originally posted by AOCtester

I want to add one more view to my earlier opinion.

This guy says game launched cause it was the right time.  Still... this is probably the only game of those coming that will get better with time - cause of the really high PC spec to be able to enjoy it.  Low graphic quality in the game makes it worse looking than WoW in medium settings.  So basicly instead of thinking - WHOA lets make some QUICK money!!  - They could have thought - we have good top quality graphix.  NOw lets get the rest of the game to that standard. 

On medium AOC looks bounds better than what you would see in WOW in terms of textures imo . However graphics are a subjective topic and depends solely on the eye of the beholder.

Yes , they could have done as you suggested and attempted to try and get the game up to that standard across the board. But then again who says they  didn't attempt to do so , only to fail in their efforts?

They did not.  

And its ofc a discussion on its own why a game that has been worked on in 5 years is launching with a graphical engine that doesn't support one single PC that was build at that time.   Maybe that tells us pretty much everything about where the real money went into.  It defently did NOT go into longterm planning of classes and abilites - considering that MANY classes launched with untested abilites.  And they are still beeing changed....

I also think you may be over exaggerating the specs required to have a decently playable experience.

It doesn't take a NASA Computer to test the basics and most important parts of MMOs... That is the gameplay - and the LONGTERM gameplay.  But thats another thing Funcom isn't thinking about - They only think short term money and they will ofc pay the price.   

What a waiste of 25 millions...

So the reason is "marketing wants to release the game, no matter the state it is in" + "Gamers will buy anything, no matter how buggy it is" = "we will make loads of money"

Nice reasoning, from the numbers of copies sold, it looks true.

Anyways, I've learned from prev games. I w8 several months to see all the features finished and most of the bugs fixed, before I'm going to buy anygame.

Too bad, there are no enough gamers who realize that. If they had, we would get finished games on release.....

Originally posted by Reklaw

Originally posted by Reborn17

The author of this article is just like the vast majority of game developers out there, arrogant dinosaurs with neither creativity or a true love of gaming, let alone its players, and worst of all not tech savy.There are SO many technolologies out there that not only cut costs, but development times for projects much more complex than creating a game, even an mmo, by 70-80% for a few thousand dollars, many of which are used by the military and multinational telecommunication corporations but are available to anyone. Some of the biggest timesavers are actually free! Everyday there is some new technology coming out that lowers the cost and development time to create software because its such a concern and limiting factor as to what people can do. I'll be glad when dinosaurs of his ilk are extinct in the gaming industry or at least stop telling everybody "less time = less quality".  Even if this is how it was, its not the way it is anymore. 

 

 

Thanks for sharing this, if more people feel the way you do then this community is in more trouble then i orignaly thought.

I must admit i really LOL when i read it, as it's really amazing to see people actualy think the way you just explained. And even more funnyer you dareto call them arrogant, hehe i feel some people use words and have no clue what they mean.

Correction, mainstream publishers and developers, the rest stands as I wrote it. Ever heard of programs like Fujaba, eye-sys, Vue 6, Videotrace, Voodoo, Subversion or the Project Offset Engine ( made by 1 man  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkoi6WCCJHY already being used by a small indie called red 5 for an mmo ) which all cut development time and/or dollars by huge amounts so yeah, the belief that it is ok to release underdeveloped, re-hashed, cookie cutter mmos, claim the old paradigms are written in stone, and claim they don't need any ideas is arrogant, paving the way for indies http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqNFXPMH_gQ Maybe even for asinine asshats like you Reklaw :)

From the article

• You can develop quality software quickly, but it's going to cost a lot of money.
• You can develop software quickly and on a tight budget, but it's going to suck.
• You can develop quality software on a tight budget, but it's going to take a long time.

That is the worst statement ive ever seen. First if you have a small budget you need to "focus fire" meaning pick what you want your game to be and focus on that aspect. The problem with all unfinished mmo's is they are trying to do to much. They need to stop promising the moon and give players a complete fun game.