Please Funcom, listen to us! - An open letter

[netsike]

Dear Funcom,

the reason why I opened this thread is that I'm afraid, AoC has bigger and bigger problems... I don't want to write the game is dying, but actually this is what's happening. It's a completely normal process, every MMO is going to die, but the question is when. And a lot of players feel like it's happening too fast with AoC...

We all know, that you guys have financial problems, lack of manpower and like this it's hard to finish what you've promised in the past or to roll out any new content. Everyone understands and accepts it, but we feel like the game is the last one on your priority list. We feel abandoned... We all don't know what's going on in Funcom, what's the state of AoC there, but this game NEEDS MORE LOVE AND SUPPORT!

Personally, I'm sad every time I return for a few months seeing that the player base decreases fast, guilds are struggling and ppl are complaining all the time. Friends, veteran players leave, but not because they don't like to play anymore, they are simply not pleased with the present state of AoC. Of course they would also like to see some new content, but the real fans stay even if they repeat the same over and over again.

Without being rude with you guys, let me share some thoughts of mine and my friends. This is what we would do different:

1. Change the server location: at the beginning we were happy about the merge, cause we thought the game will be active in the EU night time... but no, it feels like we just got max 20% of the player base and for this we had to sacrifice the good latency. It's a disaster for the PvP players and also bad for PvE, especially where timing matters much (Flame - removing Burning Skin for example...). We all think that moving the server to EU would help to increase the player base again. This topic got viral in the last time again, probably you've seen these threads already.

2. Merge the rest of the servers: that's another viral topic, everyone is begging for this! Please give us a statement if it would be possible or not! If yes, then it's something what you must do to keep people here and bring back some old Fury players. It would be good for Crom, cause minis would probably start fast and good for the Fury guys, who would like to kill the WB peacefully or progress better in PvE.

3. Fix the annoying bugs: it's unacceptable, that with every patch something gets broken and you guys don't fix them ASAP! We know, that the original devs left, but then why don't you try to contact at least one of them and ask for help or hire that person for a short time again. A lot of ppl are complaining about these major bugs and I'm pretty sure a few left because of lack of support. Let me just mention a few of them: guild renown bug, Saturday night group bug, JS raid bug, resurrection bug, disappearing mountains and cages, etc.

4. Get some new players: it feels like you guys gave up and don't do anything in order to get new players... Why? That's the only way how you can keep up the population! You should be super active in the social media, also on the forums, that's a cheap way. But you could also advertise the game somewhere and not just leave it how it is now. Or ...

5. ... Change the F2P model: this model is just simply too strict, it's not good for anyone, just for the completely new players to get some taste of the game. Why? Why don't you give them a bit more? Or for the players who want to return... I think it's not fair, that once we bought Khitai, we cannot enter when we are F2P, not even for questing. My ideas: remove the gold and inventory restrictions, give AA points for F2P too, let them enter the Khitai maps once they bought the expansion, but make dungeons unavailable.

6. Or remove F2P and make the game B2P: give the option for the veteran players to buy a lifetime sub or make the game completely B2P and get money through the Item Store. It would draw new players, that's 100% sure, especially that such a change would wake interest again on the game sites, what would bring even more. In this case I would also reward the veterans with something special.

7. Release the crafting update and unchained minigames as soon as you can: ppl are waiting for them for so long and they lost faith in you guys, cause these projects are always delayed and it feels like they never come. T6 can wait, cause it won't save the game... it will just make the hardcore players log in with their mains 1 more time on the week to clear the instance and that's it. 95% of the players don't even have the chance to go and succeed in T5 and almost the same amount cannot even kill Entity, Zodiac and the Emperor...

There's still a lot of thoughts in my mind, but I think I stop now. I hope a few players share my thoughts and also post theirs, I'm also curious about other's opinion. And I also hope, you guys at Funcom will finally take us serious now. We are the customers actually and we keep this game alive! Don't let this awesome game die!!!

Thanks for reading! Cheers,
Net

[Filter3]

maybe the last point, all else wont happen. at least not that fast how they should. so people will continue leaving the game. best pvp-fighting system in a mmo and its just getting ignored (pvp). its just lol.

[Itana]

+1 of everything u said

+ open transfers from rage!

[ckirmser]

The reason I'm here is because of f2p. I found the game fun, so I bought RotGS and recently subbed.

Also because of f2p, I might be able to get my gaming group to join up, but probably not as subscribers until they get a taste for the game.

As for servers, I'd want to see regional servers. I don't want lag because of a move to Europe, any more than you guys want it with servers in the US.

[Widmo]

Funcom. Why we still don't have Temple of Ymir? Good idea is make it 12-man instance.

[Belsvard]

AoC is perhaps the best MMO i ever played. it's sad to see it dying.
afaik fc is only holding it, not developing anything new.
i hope i'm wrong.

[ConanLogan]

Well, from all the mentioned points I think only one or two should be doable, and this would be 3) Fix that Bugs. By not fixing them you give us all the impression that you dont care anymore. Find some work-around at least, if they cannot be fixed 100% the way you would like to fix them. I guess Point 4) (some cheap social media adds) can also be done, im no expert on that topic though. Point 7) - I lost hope. For me "the crafting revamp" bacame smth like the "Wunderwaffe"... which also never came...

[Riamis]

+ open transfers from rage!

[Jota180]

So how do you expect Funcom to hire more people to bring more content if you want free to play to get everything, for free! All that would do is convince those of us who do pay, not to.

How do you square #7 with #3?

maybe the last point, all else wont happen. at least not that fast how they should. so people will continue leaving the game. best pvp-fighting system in a mmo and its just getting ignored (pvp). its just lol.

I'll tell you why I and most of the people in my guild ignore PVP and it's nothing to do with anything mentioned in the OP's post. It's everything to do with the type of people who play PVP and flame in global. It's a complete turn off for a lot of people in my guild alone, that plus the fact you're going to enter an aspect of the game as a complete newb up against people with a much higher rank with much better gear and more experienced in that game so your precious game time is going to be nothing but a death fest. Those things just don't make PVP appealing to a great many people despite AOC's superior combat system. If you want to entice more people into PVP you might need to get imaginative.

A possible way around this would be to have a PVP side game for new players that had gear advantages disabled which would reduce the imbalance. We did a guild PVP night once and there was about 11 of us and one pug guy but he sat the game out saying something about that sort of thing wasn't allowed (can't recall exactly) but if you want new people into PVP they may feel more comfortable doing it initially as a guild. Maybe allow it and don't give stats or rewards.

The game needs to encourage people to give PVP a real go and the current PVP players have at least as much interest as Funcom do in encouraging people to try it out.

[Projan]

8. Talk with us (In march 2015, FunCom have posted 150 times on one of their other forums. AoC forum have 30 posts, that include the translated posts as well)