Marketing and how it is effecting the presentation of the game.

[shigazane]

I don't really know how to say this other than being incredibly blunt. If you are looking for a tl;dr version it is as follows:

The marketing is the thing hurting the game the most at the present and is detrimental to how the game is presented towards anyone that would want to join or return.

Now then... Allow me to expand on this:

Where is the promotion for purchasing anything related to this game? There are no avenues to buy your expansion outside of some other online market (amazon, ebay, etc). I mean really, most people I talk to on other gaming forums dont even know this game has an expansion (seriously just ask around). The expansion is not on the site, it is not on steam, and it is not even in account settings under "special offers".

Why is the expansion not for purchase on steam? A great deal of impulse buyers frequent steam and purchase whatever they can find at a discount price. They do this all the time with your other title (The Secret World). Whether or no they even play the game is not really even much of a point. A purchased copy is a purchased copy. Instead you offer starter packs that dont even provide incentive to purchase the expansion, let alone a subscription. They fail to bring back old players as well no matter how big of a discount you apply. The expansion should be on steam, it promotes your game. It shows that the game is being expanded on, that it has content, that it is worth at least picking up for a try. The fact that you even have the game up on steam and expansion as a purchasable is simply not acceptable by any means.

Why is there no promotion for it on the site? Instead you promote your failed f2p option that has not even managed to take the game off life support and your news articles that are a giant red flag as they show how little the game is updated. Heck half the articles state "we are working on it" with little to no sneak peaks as to what the systems will be like, mechanics, etc. This space should be used to promote your content, but instead you put hyperlinks to a signup and a matrix which comes off as intrusive for those just trying to get information on the game. Put your update notes here, show this game is still being worked on and updates are actually being completed! All of your competition does it. Hell even your other games do it. When feats and such were released there was radio silence. Not a single dang site posted much, if at all, about it simply because they don't even know this game is getting updates!

Why is this not even available on the account page!? TSW has this, Anarchy has this, why the bloody hell does AoC not have this? This is a smack in the face for those that are trying to get into the game, baiting them into viewing the in game cash shop just for the chance to try and get other purchases.

I have tried speaking out in the past, only to be ignored. I warned all the way back in 2013(along with a large majority) that the model change was going to flop with not only what it had to offer as my friends continued to bail from the game left and right eventually leading to my own leaving. I warned what it failed to put forward and promote with your response being "we have no means to make the game b2p like TSW" which quite frankly we all knew was a pile of bull from the get go as here you are now almost three years later thinking of finally opening of RotGS to those that have purchased it in the past. I am done coming on to these forums as the only means of even hearing the game is receiving updates or if any promotions are going on. Three years I have watched these forums to only see the same complaints from everyone that has tried your current model. I want to have faith in this game. I want to see it return to its former glory and see the world of Hyboria full of life! Yet all I continue to see is a lack of incentive and care for the product by the company behind it. Even if you do go through with this, I am beginning to lose hope that such a change will even do anything or get promoted.

I officially give up. I am done with trying to care for a game that still does not even have the care to promote itself. For three years I have waited, watching the forums, reading the posts. Trying to see if something would change. This is my third and final thread on these forums. Feel free to do with it as you please(lock, delete, flame, troll, disagree, discuss). I hope one day I can return to this wonderful game and start over with a fresh mind (maybe even a fresh start).

[Ernests]

You are absolutely right. When I spoke to my friends who like to play video games, then none of them know about the AoC. Seriously!
For the first time they hear about AoC from me.

[slackjoint]

You complete a payment for AoC and get linked to the TsW page , that says all in my opinion

[strangerism]

Incompetence and a stab in the back to the loyal players who stuck with this game all these years (denying a decent expansion since kithai). that's all from me.

[shigazane]

Just thought I'd drop by and thank the few that have posted their feelings here in a civilized manner. I hope that maybe this thread can eventually lead up to a change in direction with each voice. This game can not stay on it's current path if it wants to succeed. The playerbase has done its part in trying to promote this game. I know because I have spent my past days looking up the multitudes of game forum posts that show loyalty to not only the franchise, but the game itself. It is now Funcom's ballpark whether they do something about it or not. A simple "soon" is not going to cover it as that word has been thrown around here too much already.

[ErikT]

Proper promoting and marketing costs money. Lots of money if you want it to have any major effect. Funcom does not have lots of money currently.

This is an old game. Old games are pretty much ignored by a great many players as well as by gaming magazines and blogs - simply due to them being old. This means that any word-of-mouth promoting is likely to have very limited effect.

AoC is for all practical purposes in maintenance mode. There will not be any more real expansions or major updates to the game.
I am sure all of us (including the developers at Funcom) wish it was otherwise, but that's the facts.
Only thing that could change this is if Funcom got a sudden influx of large amount of money, so they could afford to hire more developers. This seems unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future.

Now one can either accept this fact and keep playing and enjoying the game such as it is, or leave it and move on in search of greener pastures elsewhere.
Complaining about the current state of the game will not do much good though.

[shigazane]

Proper promoting and marketing costs money. Lots of money if you want it to have any major effect. Funcom does not have lots of money currently.

This is an old game. Old games are pretty much ignored by a great many players as well as by gaming magazines and blogs - simply due to them being old. This means that any word-of-mouth promoting is likely to have very limited effect.

AoC is for all practical purposes in maintenance mode. There will not be any more real expansions or major updates to the game.
I am sure all of us (including the developers at Funcom) wish it was otherwise, but that's the facts.
Only thing that could change this is if Funcom got a sudden influx of large amount of money, so they could afford to hire more developers. This seems unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future.

Now one can either accept this fact and keep playing and enjoying the game such as it is, or leave it and move on in search of greener pastures elsewhere.
Complaining about the current state of the game will not do much good though.

The overall problem is that they do not really need to advertise. They just need to put the content they already provide at the forefront, which they fail to do. It costs no extra to put your expansion up on steam when you already have two pointless dlc packs where it should be. It costs no extra money to have it purchasable on the AoC main site for purchase. These promote the game without even having to advertise.

To say people don't pay attention to older games is just silly. WoW still has people begging for its updates, my friends still talk about the next update for lotro, people followed the graphic engine update on anarchy, people care about older titles. They have more content than newer games.

The point is they don't need to advertise. They just need to put available options that already exist in plain site.

[shigazane]

Now they have another title on the dang front page of ther main site. Why is this not on your exiles site? Probably another month to wait for an update that will probably just be for exiles

[redpooo]

Now they have another title on the dang front page of ther main site. Why is this not on your exiles site?

That's pretty normal really, they've just announced a new game, they may as well give it as much visibility as possible.

[Mellaus]

I for one am glad that the main page of FC's website is something related to Conan instead of some ugly Lego BS. That's just more legit.