Rift: Not Enough Chatter

It did not take long. I truly tried my best to avoid all discussion of Rift. Blogs could not sway me. Forums could not irk me.

Then the magic happened.

"Just before Beta 6, we made an anti griefing change that prevented enemy wardstones at hubs and towns from being destroyed by the opposing faction, and significantly boosted guard strength around PvE hubs. We’re pretty happy with how that worked out on the PvE servers...


In time for Open Beta, we’ve developed the ability to repeal those changes on the PvP servers only, to see if they can remain playable without it. Ideally, it’s our hope that there’s gameplay value in having people being able to band together to attack and defend those areas on PvP servers.  "

Scott Hartsman - Post Beta 6 - On Rifts, Raids, PvP, and Damage…

So, with a single move, Trion does something most developers do not want to do. Cater to more than one type of player.

We have seen the promises before of Developers who say they "want" to listen to the player.  They constantly look for feedback, yet how often does that feedback become an implementation. Why is it so many devs make changes that make you shake your head and wonder why?

It was a concern last beta, when these anti-grief changes were done, and then were carried over to PvP servers. The yells of "PvE players are killing our PvP" were shouted on the forums...and at the same time the PvE bunch were all "You got PvP in my PvE" and were crying over this issue, which caused this change to take place.

What is a dev to do? Usually the easy way out. Change the major core and cater to that "casual" crowd as so often happens as of late.

Not this time.

So, for those who continue to worry about Rift, because it is the same? Or is it becoming too easy? Is it catering to that one audience all game devs want...

For once, we may have a company who puts their customer first.

Cheers to Trion...

Oh, and ,my comment ban is removed. Trion and Rift deserve the discussion.

Age of Conan - As we go into October...

Age of Conan players are left with a bitter taste in their mouths.

With the announced layoffs, it seems that the forums have started to fill up at the community site for AoC with discussion of where Funcom is headed with Age of Conan.

Several posts really speak out for how everyone is feeling both in the community and in the game as well...

What makes you consider Unsubbing?

Sub decision coming

Oh AOC ... you disappoint me

Hurry up AoC!

This last thread speaks volumes.

What the issue boils down to is priorities of the Funcom staff.

Many surveys have gone out, and many times the forums fill up with the same concerns after this happens.

Not enough endgame and not enough PvP fixes.

The first issue is that the raids have been relatively the same (except for fixes to certain raids that already existed but were a buggy mess). As these raids grow stagnant, the team has been working on??...

Another 6 man dungeon.

If we look, most content has been new dungeons for small teams. It is getting old for many.

Guild Tools was another gripe that has been on the forefront of player concerns. We may not see any Guild changes (like the Renown system) until the end of the year.

Finally, PvP has done absolutely NOTHING since the new "Criminal" system went into place last year (around September actually)...except again for some "fixes".

Is Age of Conan just in maintenance mode? And how can they continue in that aspect with "The Secret World" being delayed?

Is the main push now for the free to play MMO that Funcom has been working on? As we can see, the Free to Play market is becoming lucrative for many companies (overseas and local to the US, like Dungeons & Dragons Online, which has seen a massive jump in the number of players since going free)..

Or is it that Age of Conan's issues continue to cause havoc for the team as they try and add new content? For example, the next patch is to include the Iron Tower which has been discussed for several months now (in the Tarantia Commons district which was added several months ago), yet the first iteration to hit Testlive is buggy beyond belief (with complaints of all bosses being bugged, issues with lighting and shading, etc...).

And for the Iron Tower, Funcom has put T3 raids in "dev" mode...meaning it will not show up for some time..

Vets are the main concern now, as with new games launched like Aion pulling scrips from EVERYONE who is a fantasy nut. Fallen Earth and Champions Online and their niche playing in those worlds...the vets who love the game are the ones Funcom should be concerned about pleasing.

Yet, all they will offer vets are rewards in the new vet program...which are things like horses and bags (which most vets have), Cassilda following you around and cheering you on like she does in the tutorial island (annoying) and BREAST ENLARGEMENT POTIONS...yea...everyone needs those.

So, with layoffs, this may not be a concern for Funcom, as moving to Canada allows them to take a huge tax break and really get motivated...but so far a lot of the team is not leaving Norway (as who wants to leave one of the top 5 best countries to live in?..I think it was #2 actually...lol - SOURCE)

So, really...where does this leave Funcom...and where does this leave Age of Conan?

Looks like scary times for AoC and those who love her, thanks to a company so many do not love...

Age of Conan - Community Letter

Craig Morrison's monthly letter on the latest news for Age of Conan is up.

This time he discusses Veteran Rewards and the Iron Tower instance...

"For this month’s letter I want to go into some details on the new veteran reward system that will go live with the next game update. The update is getting ready for the test server (at least when I am writing this, there is every chance the build will already be on the test servers as you read this!)"

Read more at the source

Age of Conan - End of month Community Letter

Craig Morrison, Game Director for Age of Conan has released the latest community letter detailing game updates for the coming year.

Some of the highlights include

• Rise of the Godslayer

Includes information on how the world will be less linear and more open thanks to Khitai not being well mapped unlike Hyboria in general.

Also, discussions on...

• Splitting the future updates up into smaller parts
• House of Crom and Iron Tower
• Tier Three Raiding
• Guild Renown
• And the Veterans System

Click this link to read more...