Monthly Development Update: May 2015

[Kurt2013]

I would love to see these sources which explicitly stated that the new content was an anniversary event.

Have you actually read this thread?
If a question of "is something planned for this anniversary" is answered with references to new content and then there is the may update letter
http://www.ageofconan.com/news/month...pdate_may_2015
where it is fairly explicit, especially if you look at the context.
"will hold an anniversary celebration with great bonuses along with all new content."
and
"This year's celebratory content is going to be epic, so don't miss out on it! This new story line will be available to characters at level 20, scaling up to level 80. Our plan is for this new content to be a good source of XP for characters that are currently leveling. The max level characters will also benefit from the range of gear which will complement existing gear from other areas of the game.

We've got something for everyone during the anniversary! Happy Birthday Hyboria, here's to another year of thrilling adventures!"

This is at the very best misleading...
Also Ciriths post here in this thread as well as Sezmras letter in may did not mention paid for content at all...so i guess we were not the only ones mislead.
All avoidable by a few extra words in the letter. I assume Sezmra knows how to write and is not criminal, so i assume she was either not informed, told not to tell or mislead as well.

If i am wrong, please tell me what is the epic celebratory content where there is something for everyone DURING the anniversary?
Double AA gain does not work for f2p, so not for everyone. Sub offers are not for everyone (you can be subbed already). Paid content updates are also not for everyone (they are paid for and available not only during anniversary). New items you can buy are also not for everyone (same as with paid for content).
The sad thing is that probably not only the customers got a hit with this stunt (they probably will save some money), but everyone working on AoC did

[krippa]

I would love to see these sources which explicitly stated that the new content was an anniversary event.

it was implied. poor corporate communication. the fact that we have to pay for it doesn't bother me, but it's that no one at funcom decided to let us know that it wasn't free + the absurd price (1750 funcom pts, really?!)

[lmagowz]

Still nothing about crafting revamp, that's how Funcom listen to their players. I sure many people don't have any problems paying same price for crafting revamp

[tapwater]

Have you actually read this thread?....

Yeah I have read the thread, every post, and the may letter, and the email about the anniversary.

will hold an anniversary celebration with great bonuses along with all new content.

All that tells us is that there will be an anniversary celebration and there will be all new content released. They aren't actually lableling the new content as an explict anniversary eThat statement can be easily misconstrued.

The upcoming anniversary is a great opportunity to make a new area accessible.

They aren't saying it is a great opportunity to add a new anniversary event.

We want to include something more along the lines of an expanded, permanent version of recent Halloween or anniversary events.

They want to give us something that is similar to the old events, but permanent. I.E. not an event. Do note that events are limited time occurrences, typically occurring 1 time per year or in the case of the WB, 1 time per month.

This year's celebratory content is going to be epic, so don't miss out on it!

Perhaps the most easily misconstrued of statements. We are celebrating the anniversary of AoC with new content. We could easily say Thus celebratory content. But we aren't celebrating with a new anniversary event.

Also Ciriths post here in this thread as well as Sezmras letter in may did not mention paid for content at all...so i guess we were not the only ones mislead.
All avoidable by a few extra words in the letter. I assume Sezmra knows how to write and is not criminal, so i assume she was either not informed, told not to tell or mislead as well.

Definitely right here, we had no reason to suspect we would have to pay for this new content. I would call that being misled. Now whether by accident or on purpose, we can't know for sure.

If i am wrong, please tell me what is the epic celebratory content where there is something for everyone DURING the anniversary? Double AA gain does not work for f2p, so not for everyone. Sub offers are not for everyone. Paid content updates are also not for everyone. New items you can buy are also not for everyone.

We've got something for everyone during the anniversary!

This you have definitely hit with good reason. In their minds, they probably thought it was all for everyone in that everyone is perfectly capable of spending money on the new content, the sub offers, or getting subbed up to experience Double AA gain.

Though as a small side point, you can actually make use of Double AA gain as a f2p person. Things like xp urns still work, so technically you could pop an aa level while f2p. I assume the Double AA gain works for AA Expertise pots too, which are also usable by f2p.

So while technically true, it isn't in spirit of a nice celebration. It is a rather low/misleading move on Funcom's part and they should be held accountable for that.


To re-iterate one point, you can't really call this new Shadow of Vanaheim content an event since it is permanent content, always open, no matter when you come to game and buy it. It is just as readily available to new players next September as it is now.

Just because the world bosses started right around Christmas the first time, you wouldn't call all the world bosses a Christmas event would you? That is pretty much like equating Shadow of Vanaheim with being an Anniversary event.

the fact that we have to pay for it doesn't bother me, but it's that no one at funcom decided to let us know that it wasn't free + the absurd price (1750 funcom pts, really?!)

Totally agree with this point.

[Bibik]

The same wordings and sentances used with 6th anniversary. So do we must say 6th anniversary event wasn't anniversary content ?

Age of Conan turns six years old today, and we wish to celebrate the occasion with a brand new event, free gifts and a massive PvP update! The Anniversary Celebrations will last for two weeks, from today and until the 3rd of June.

[Kurt2013]

The first quote i did ("will hold an anniversary celebration with great bonuses along with all new content.") might fall into your category, but still it is quite obviously implied that new content is most likely part of the celebration. Especially if you look at past letters when this was the case.
The explicit labelling comes within the second quote ("This year's CELEBRATORY CONTENT is going to be epic, so don't miss out on it! THIS NEW STORY LINE will be available to characters at level 20, scaling up to level 80. Our plan is for this new content to be a good source of XP for characters that are currently leveling. The max level characters will also benefit from the range of gear which will complement existing gear from other areas of the game. We've GOT SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE during the anniversary! Happy Birthday Hyboria, here's to another year of thrilling adventures!")
So you are advocating a celebratory content at the anniversary that should have something for everybody is not part of the anniversary? Good luck at court with this strategy...
What else is the release of new content at the anniversary than an event? Here the link is not only implemented. Where is that epic celebratory content, if it is not the "shadows of vanaheim"? The sub offers? The double xp?

IF they wanted to do what you claim (give something permanent as in something better) the content would be free during anniversary and then paid for OR there would be the paid for content release in addition to "something for everyone" e.g. some introduction questline for the anniversary etc.. But what was done was neither of it.
I personally am sure we were not mislead by Sezmra or Cirith on purpose. They were far too decent in the past and too enthusiastic (as if they were really doing something good) for this. And you do not behave like this when you are deceiving on purpose. They wanted it to be a POSITIVE surprise, but probably something or someone interferred here. Most likely they got freedom to release some content info, but were told to keep quiet about any marketing issues, since "they will be decided later, but in time". This is what i meant that we were probably not the only ones mislead.

Oh, but the double xp works only if you have khitai expansion, so again not for everyone.
You are right about the shadow of vanaheim truly not being just an event, but the release is part of an event and this event is missing a lot of kind of promised content otherwise...
If world bosses would be released as part of christmas event celebration i would call that part by that name, yes. But the repeating events are obviously not. This makes it even harder to understand why they have not distinguished it with this content too. Celebrate the release with discounts or a free trial and then watch the money rolling in.

Something went seriously wrong there and i sadly see no incentive from them to fix it asap. Instead they keep on going fullspeed to the iceberg

Things they could do still to avoid more icebergs are:
- give massive anniversary discount on the new content for a week or two and probably a refund or extra stuff for those who bought it now for full price
- fix the price according to other permanent access packs (this should be a LOT cheaper than Turan adventure pack). at least for just the access pack. a deluxe pack with similar content to already existing expensive products should cost a LOT more than this.
- copy and past the old events from the last years, so that there actually is "anniversary content for everyone"
- fix the items from new sub offers and add some proper accountwide stuff
- apologize officially and on forum, website and media (since the stunt already got into the internet press)

damage control...

...

Edit: Seems Sezmra already did the fifth point of the iceberg avoidance list by posting: http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthr...ow-of-Vanaheim

Still sad how she is now forced to advocate the "purely coincidental and maybe badly timed" theory that was obviously given to them by a higher department (probably the same that is responsible for the mess anyway).

[tapwater]

The same wordings and sentances used with 6th anniversary. So do we must say 6th anniversary event wasn't anniversary content ?

Ummm, your kidding me right? You quoted the words which say "a brand new event".

....

Ok, we obviously won't fully agree on what their wording meant in the Dev letter. So we should just forget the badly worded communications from Funcom, and focus on what we actually have.

IF they wanted to do what you claim (give something permanent as in something better) the content would be free during anniversary and then paid for OR there would be the paid for content release in addition to "something for everyone" e.g. some introduction questline for the anniversary etc.. But what was done was neither of it.

They wouldn't "have" to give something away for free. That is just something they could have done. Probably would have gone over way better.

I personally am sure we were not mislead by Sezmra or Cirith on purpose...This is what i meant that we were probably not the only ones mislead.

Agreed.

Oh, but the double xp works only if you have khitai expansion, so again not for everyone.

I can't test this, but really? Does the AA window not open when you haven't bought the expansion? Or are the AA xp / expertise pots not usable if you haven't bought the expansion? Or is it just the buff for double AA's won't activate on a character that doesn't have the expansion. I would think it technically wouldn't matter if you have the expansion or not. For sure you wouldn't be able to spend those points, but I bet it would be technically possible to get them.

If world bosses would be released as part of christmas event celebration i would call that part by that name, yes.

Sort of was, in the same vague way you could interpret things here: http://www.ageofconan.com/news/doubl...ints_and_event

But the repeating events are obviously not.

So we could say the new content now is an "event" for the first couple of weeks, and then for all time afterward (with no changes of any kind to the content) it is just regular content that repeats every day.

Celebrate the release with discounts or a free trial and then watch the money rolling in.

That probably would have been a much better idea.

Something went seriously wrong there and i sadly see no incentive from them to fix it asap. Instead they keep on going fullspeed to the iceberg.
Things they could do still to avoid more icebergs are:
- give massive anniversary discount on the new content for a week or two and probably a refund or extra stuff for those who bought it now for full price
- fix the price according to other permanent access packs (this should be a LOT cheaper than Turan adventure pack). at least for just the access pack. a deluxe pack with similar content to already existing expensive products should cost a LOT more than this.
- copy and past the old events from the last years, so that there actually is "anniversary content for everyone"
- fix the items from new sub offers and add some proper accountwide stuff
- apologize officially and on forum, website and media (since the stunt already got into the internet press)

Yep. I totally agree with you here. If they had done what you are saying here, there would have been little for us to find at fault. I would have been much more satisfied with the Iceberg Avoidance Anniversary Event.

[Bibik]

Ummm, your kidding me right? You quoted the words which say "a brand new event".

So what ? Event is content. What is the difference between the 6th one with reuse of tortage assets and the current one with reuse of cimmerian assets ?

[Kurt2013]

...
I can't test this, but really? Does the AA window not open when you haven't bought the expansion? Or are the AA xp / expertise pots not usable if you haven't bought the expansion? Or is it just the buff for double AA's won't activate on a character that doesn't have the expansion. I would think it technically wouldn't matter if you have the expansion or not. For sure you wouldn't be able to spend those points, but I bet it would be technically possible to get them.

The window opens and you can use the books and potions, but they will have no effect at all. Expertise potions and books will be lost, if used without activated khitai expansion. At least it was so in 2014...

[tapwater]

So what ? Event is content. What is the difference between the 6th one with reuse of tortage assets and the current one with reuse of cimmerian assets ?

Last year:
The Tortage content was an event.
Acts like an event (limited time, unique bonuses, etc.).
Explicitly labeled as an event, which occured during a larger overall Anniversary Celebration.

This year:
The Vanaheim content is not an event.
It does not act like an event (unlimited time). You can buy it now, or 5 months from now. Play it whenever you want.
Not Explicitly labeled as an event. It is simply new non-event content which was released during the Anniversary Celebration.

The differences are clear.

The window opens and you can use the books and potions, but they will have no effect at all. Expertise potions and books will be lost, if used without activated khitai expansion. At least it was so in 2014...

Oh, well that totally sucks.