New Players: They have arrived.

[KullOfValusia]

For the past few weeks I've been seeing a dramatic change in the population. *Raids of the pug variety have been less* but lower instance runs have taken up the slack.

I think we have a shift in the makeup of the game's population. Although, the hardcore guilds still run raids in their tightknit non pug coteries... I have for the most part discounted these people as "players" because they are not an active precense in the gameworld. The real activity seems to be a surge in lower level population and activity. Thus, my thesis is this...

Funcom is actively engaged in the "fresh blood" strategy. They have for the most part disengaged from the endgame users and super vets(just let them farm the emperor/memory cloud or try temple!) They realized the last BIG update will be crafting(which is really Craig's magnum opus and not the new GD's) and that further major updates will be replaced with much smaller bits and pieces updates. By the time the fresh blood reaches 80 and have gone through all the raids and end game content with several toons (like the vets currently). There will be plenty to do for them...this is years and years from now.

So this leaves us with these scenarios.

*Vets will quit... yes some may quit playing but because vets seem to do the most un -beneficial of things and do the 1 year sub... no vet will actually "quit" and by the time their subs expire maybe 6,7,8 months from now, some tidbit of an update will provide enough carrot to keep them going.

*New players will trickle in and be the new bedrock of the game. Yes, and this is perfectly natural.

*PvP revival. Even free players end up paying something at some point. I think PvP is an untapped money resource. If the devs are careful it can be turned into a f2p wonderland and with a FC store that caters to mostly PvP a BIG revenue generator.
***I think the mentality needs to take hold in the minds of developers that PvPers and PvErs are two entirely different animals and seperation between the two with very little overlap (namely in PvE gear and AA abilities) is the best way to fix it.

*The game IS IN maintenance mode. If you think otherwise you are just not thinking straight. The more sparse attention from devs and the feel that they are taking many long time vets for granted should be clues. BUT I argue "what else did you expect?" The company is on the verge of financial implosion I s**t you not..and the only way through seems to be a strategy into mobile games(very smart move IMHO). Don't despair however if they can strike gold in mobile like in their earlier games it will invariably trickle down to AoC. Let's just hope they got some geniuses in their Montreal studios.

[Rydon]

Here we go again.

[Mellaus]

At beginning, when the new forum was set, that guy seemed quite normal, but thread after thread, you start seeing the pattern he's following, and that's seriously sad.

I must ask, what is the point of that thread ? Apart from ranting i mean.

[Buffarse]

It's like some poor mans Groundhog day without the humour.

I just wonder what he has against vets? It's like some personal crusade to dismiss and vilify people who have played this game for a long time.

*shrug*

Buff

[Argantes]

Funcom is actively engaged in the "fresh blood" strategy...

heh, how exactly? by doing nothing for the past 4 months?


bah, why do I even bother to reply to these topics.. must be procrastination at its best, I guess

[pelado]

I think there are at least 2 reasonable assumptions that can be made about RingOfSet.

The first being that he is likely a relatively newer player.
The second being that he really likes pvp.

I can only say the first is likely, yet the second must be true...due to little gems such as

Its almost a nonstop chorus .. the main problem of the game is PvP. Fix it, and the game is saved, champagne will fall from the sky, and the world will be free of disease and war.

On the subject, I do not disagree that PVP should get attention-- I don't particularly have much interest in it, but PVPers are paying customers just like everyone else. That being said, just about everything in RoS's posts, along with, what has aptly been described by the man himself as a "nonstop chorus", are all examples of an incredible solipsism on his part. We are told, with only the thinnest of veils, that in exchange for FC taking a direction that he would prefer and also directly benefit from(I mean by this, self-serving)-- that the game's population would surge and all FC's financial problems will be solved. This is simply a denial of reality, bereft any sort of justification.

The obvious contempt for the most loyal of FC's customers is actually alarming, it'd be similar to suggesting that a business eliminate retention measures for its most loyal customers in favor redirecting assets to please its newer, quite possibly less or not at all loyal ones. There is a reason that the majority of businesses offer perks and employ measures to retain customers-- because it works.
There comes a point when the claims made by some become self-discrediting and require no further clarification from us. I do believe RoS has reached this point-- and with it, garnered the ire of what seems to be a large portion of the community.

It has been said before in another thread, apologies to the contributor, I can't remember which one.

"All players, both old and new like,[at least the proposition of], new content."

[Rydon]

What he said ^^

[Vorbiz]

I'm going to close this one, because as much as I love seeing new topics... Yours all plug the same two points:

* Population
* Veterans quitting.

And it's now reached a point that your topics are going to be flamed to death, and I can't allow that.

Locked