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Age of Conan: Anatomy of a Launch Q&A
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
To accompany Mathew Reuther's first article on The Anatomy of a Launch, he also had the opportunity to ask a few questions of Funcom's Jorgen Tharaldsen. In this unconventions Q&A, Reuther comments on the questions asked and the answers given.
Mathew
As there are significant overcrowding (queue) issues being experienced on a number of the more popular Early Access PvP servers, have any plans been put into motion (i.e. character transfers) to alleviate the pressure by offloading volunteers to other less populous servers?
Jorgen
We do have server transfer technology in place, but we need to see how things pan out a bit before making hasty decisions. We have the most pre-ordered PC game in gaming history, we have one of the fastest selling PC games ever, and we have sold way more a week after launch than I would have even dreamt of. We have hit well, and "everyone" wants to play Conan, which is great, but prior to shifting people around we need to make informed decisions. I have seen many posts on 'you should have known, you should have prepared', and we have! However, with the popularity we have, we are now facing conditions we never thought would happen. People love Conan, and they tell friends, which is awesome. In the meantime we are doing our best to ensure that we inform on load prior to people entering.
Mathew's Thoughts
While becoming a victim of your own success is tragic in funny way, the fact remains that server load balancing I vital to those players affected by these overcrowding issues. While it is admirable that the company wishes to avoid making any knee-jerk reactions, it is also damaging to allow the status quo to continue on for too long. A number of servers remain queued during prime play hours, and this impacts normal play. It is not fun when every half an hour you lose a groupmate for five minutes due to a crash and queuing. It is also disappointing when you cannot create new characters to join your guildmates after buying the game.
Read the whole thing here.
Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
Nice final words. Ha.
Matt,
As a "news source" you are supposed to be unbias and not jump to conclusions. Your entire Q/A reads like you're trying to bombard Jorgen since you interlaced your own thought into the article, which is not why he gave you the interview. He gave you the interview so that you could give a clear picture of what is happening within.
Following the interview article you should have placed a link to your thoughts (ie: The Anatomy of a Launch Article) rather than planting them in between the chat.
Honestly, for any company to see 1 million people signing up launch week is impossible. Why? Only 3 MMOs have ever had over 1 million players; even EverQuest has never broken the 1 million mark. With the industry as is, the most any company would ever expect is probably 500,000 because the vast majority of the marketshare lies in WoW or any of the other wonderful MMOs.
Some people will think I'm a fanboy, however I've never even touched the game. I won't say the problems aren't present because I know they are from past experience. I've played many MMOs that have had rough launches because no one anticipated the number of sign-ups or players that would be interested. In fact, WoW shared many of the problems that you're pointing out in AoC, and occassionally they still experience player queues on some of the servers.
If you're going to take an aggressive stance on one MMO's launch, then you should also target all the other MMOs that have had poor launches.
Let it be known that I hate WoW with a passion and will defend almost any MMORPG against it.
Current: FFXI (PC/360)
Want: FFXIV, Stargate Worlds, Star Trek Online
Past: AC, AoC, AO, Atlantica Online, CoH/V, DAoC, Dungeon Runners, D&DO, EVE, Everquest I+II, FlyFF, GW (all), Lineage 2, LOTRO, Mabinogi, Maplestory, PSO (DC/Xbox/PC), PSU (PC/360), PlanetSide, RO, Shadowbane, SWG (Pre-NGE), SotNW, TR, UO, Warhammer Online, WoW, WWIIO
While I agree with you that many an MMO has had a rough launch and WoW does still have login queues during peak play times. However I see no reason to need to point any of those out as this article is clearly about AoC and not any other MMO.
Based off this interview and the Anatomy of a Launch, if I didn't know about other launches, I would believe that Funcom is totally incompetent because they've botched 2 launches.While I agree with you that many an MMO has had a rough launch and WoW does still have login queues during peak play times. However I see no reason to need to point any of those out as this article is clearly about AoC and not any other MMO.
Matt has written is two articles about AoC that made it seem as though the game were a complete failure. In the Q&A he establishes his views on Jorgen's responses which for the most part seem overly critical of Funcom's response to the problems. At the end of the Q&A he seems almost hypocritical though in his Final Word.
However, since his main article is an Editorial, he should point out other flawed launches than just those relating to Funcom. His article reads as though Funcom cannot possibly launch a good MMO no matter how hard they try because he opens with Anarchy Online's launch. I won't deny that AO had a bad launch, because I remember running through Newland on a 56k modem ramming into walls or entering buildings by accident because of lag; however, other online games should've been added to point out that very few MMOs have perfect launches.
Sony, Turbine, Blizzard, and NCSoft have all had their fair share of rough launches and the public has a right to know that it isn't just an isolated incident.
Let it be known that I hate WoW with a passion and will defend almost any MMORPG against it.
Current: FFXI (PC/360)
Want: FFXIV, Stargate Worlds, Star Trek Online
Past: AC, AoC, AO, Atlantica Online, CoH/V, DAoC, Dungeon Runners, D&DO, EVE, Everquest I+II, FlyFF, GW (all), Lineage 2, LOTRO, Mabinogi, Maplestory, PSO (DC/Xbox/PC), PSU (PC/360), PlanetSide, RO, Shadowbane, SWG (Pre-NGE), SotNW, TR, UO, Warhammer Online, WoW, WWIIO
FInal thought from AOCtester....
Ask the dev why Funcom did not be honest about the state of the game at launch. Ask them why they publicly forced closed beta testers to be under NDA at the same stage that it was obvious that certain features and certain content would not be ingame at launch and would not be bugfree ?
Why fool the gamers ? Why not beeing honest ?
The closed beta testers knew the state of the game. And they also knew that this game would be launched at the 20th ready or not. But they were NOT allowed to say the true state of the game. Instead they had to listen to Funcom's PR about things testers KNEW was not true.
I didn't know they were having server queue time problems... probably because I chose a server which had the dumbest sounding name to me.
Based off this interview and the Anatomy of a Launch, if I didn't know about other launches, I would believe that Funcom is totally incompetent because they've botched 2 launches.While I agree with you that many an MMO has had a rough launch and WoW does still have login queues during peak play times. However I see no reason to need to point any of those out as this article is clearly about AoC and not any other MMO.
Matt has written is two articles about AoC that made it seem as though the game were a complete failure. In the Q&A he establishes his views on Jorgen's responses which for the most part seem overly critical of Funcom's response to the problems. At the end of the Q&A he seems almost hypocritical though in his Final Word.
However, since his main article is an Editorial, he should point out other flawed launches than just those relating to Funcom. His article reads as though Funcom cannot possibly launch a good MMO no matter how hard they try because he opens with Anarchy Online's launch. I won't deny that AO had a bad launch, because I remember running through Newland on a 56k modem ramming into walls or entering buildings by accident because of lag; however, other online games should've been added to point out that very few MMOs have perfect launches.
Sony, Turbine, Blizzard, and NCSoft have all had their fair share of rough launches and the public has a right to know that it isn't just an isolated incident.
He should bring no other compant into this- the fact is he is talking about Funcom. People know other games have had bad launches, but that doesn't mean that the player-base should just lay off and say "oh, it's okay, X company did this too". It just doesn't work that way, and it shouldn't.
The fact is Funcom had a bad launch, and they handled the server situation (and many other situations) poorly. People all complained when they had bad launches, so why should Funcom get slack? They deserve absolutely NO slack IMO, and I believe others will believe me.
They released an unfinished game as well as handled the server situation poorly. They deserve no more slack than other games, and the server situation it just another thing to argue about. I wouldn't be surprised if Part 2 complaiend about how they released an unfinished game to the market...
But, my point is, just because others did it doesn;'t mean they deserve the easy way out.
__________________________________________________
In memory of Laura "Taera" Genender. Passed away on Aug/13/08 - Rest In Peace; you will not be forgotten
Aye, giving developers slack is what causes others to think its ok to do the same crap.
Hell, my last bank lost $1k of my money and didnt bother to refund it. Doesnt mean its ok for my new bank to do the same.
There are 3 types of people in the world.
1.) Those who make things happen
2.) Those who watch things happen
3.) And those who wonder "What the %#*& just happened?!"
Nice how he totally missed out that Funcom only released half a game. By Godager's own admission the released version is only a platform. What the PC gamers have got with AoC is the chance to pay to further beta test a bug ridden mess ( well, half a mess ) so that X-Box gamers get a nice finished product in a year or so. Hopefully part 2 of the article will cover this.
If you didn't know this, their only other MMO never broke 100,000 players at any one time worldwide. Explain to me how they could reasonably predict so many people getting this game when their first game was hardly a success in comparison to your average console game?
Ask every other developer why they have an NDA. Asking why they're enforcing an NDA is like asking why a baby can't talk. NDAs are legally binding contracts. Now I don't know how they're fooling gamers and not being honest; however, I can assure you that several MMOs that I played at launch were lacking promised features up until the third patch. It's because players are becoming more and more anxious and losing their patience. What it all boils down to is giving the players what they want. Do they want a finished and polished product? Or do they just want it now? I'd personally rather have a flawed game now and let them fix it along the way. Is this the most logical? Hell no, it'll make them look bad in the long run; however, it'll please the players for the time being.Most people won't give 2 cents if they release a product early. People have become lazy and just don't care anymore. Very few people ever speak out. Hell, World of Warcraft still has many flaws in its structure, but 9 million people are willing to put up with it. I like those odds.
Here's an analogy.
You like to throw ball with your kid. You have no training or anything, you just casually throw ball. All of a sudden, you're forced to throw the final pitch of the World Series for whatever reason because no one else can do it. Odds are you're going to fall on your face or beam that batter. Why? You have no training on how to handle it. That is exactly what is going on at Funcom right now.
They are only used to managing one small MMO and now that hundreds of thousands of people are rushing to buy AoC they are unable to keep up with the demands of the major leagues.
Let it be known that I hate WoW with a passion and will defend almost any MMORPG against it.
Current: FFXI (PC/360)
Want: FFXIV, Stargate Worlds, Star Trek Online
Past: AC, AoC, AO, Atlantica Online, CoH/V, DAoC, Dungeon Runners, D&DO, EVE, Everquest I+II, FlyFF, GW (all), Lineage 2, LOTRO, Mabinogi, Maplestory, PSO (DC/Xbox/PC), PSU (PC/360), PlanetSide, RO, Shadowbane, SWG (Pre-NGE), SotNW, TR, UO, Warhammer Online, WoW, WWIIO
I don't think it was too hard to predict the interest this game had, in fact I'm not surprised in the least, it actually seemed obvious it was going to pull a big crowd if anyone thought about it for 3 seconds. The MMO market was getting stale, everyone has been playing WoW for 3+ years and WotWK and WAR is still a little off, so I think everyone was looking for something a bit different. Also, how could Funcom know? Market research...does wonders.
MMO's are still under estimated as far as audience is concerned, WoW just proved the possible potential of the MMO market, and it wouldn't take 1-2 billion to knock WoW off like some companies have stated... I truely believe WoW has past its high point and I think the MMO audience is poised for the next killer MMO. I think WAR will get a minimum of 2 million at launch.
Based off this interview and the Anatomy of a Launch, if I didn't know about other launches, I would believe that Funcom is totally incompetent because they've botched 2 launches.While I agree with you that many an MMO has had a rough launch and WoW does still have login queues during peak play times. However I see no reason to need to point any of those out as this article is clearly about AoC and not any other MMO.
Matt has written is two articles about AoC that made it seem as though the game were a complete failure. In the Q&A he establishes his views on Jorgen's responses which for the most part seem overly critical of Funcom's response to the problems. At the end of the Q&A he seems almost hypocritical though in his Final Word.
However, since his main article is an Editorial, he should point out other flawed launches than just those relating to Funcom. His article reads as though Funcom cannot possibly launch a good MMO no matter how hard they try because he opens with Anarchy Online's launch. I won't deny that AO had a bad launch, because I remember running through Newland on a 56k modem ramming into walls or entering buildings by accident because of lag; however, other online games should've been added to point out that very few MMOs have perfect launches.
Sony, Turbine, Blizzard, and NCSoft have all had their fair share of rough launches and the public has a right to know that it isn't just an isolated incident.
He should bring no other compant into this- the fact is he is talking about Funcom. People know other games have had bad launches, but that doesn't mean that the player-base should just lay off and say "oh, it's okay, X company did this too". It just doesn't work that way, and it shouldn't.
The fact is Funcom had a bad launch, and they handled the server situation (and many other situations) poorly. People all complained when they had bad launches, so why should Funcom get slack? They deserve absolutely NO slack IMO, and I believe others will believe me.
They released an unfinished game as well as handled the server situation poorly. They deserve no more slack than other games, and the server situation it just another thing to argue about. I wouldn't be surprised if Part 2 complaiend about how they released an unfinished game to the market...
But, my point is, just because others did it doesn;'t mean they deserve the easy way out.
I totally agree,most articles on AoC are like those bad taste pills with mint coating.Funcom fucked it up clear and simple why is it so hard to admit it.And yet lot of people are fine with that because previous games had bad launches.
AoC was close to 1 million copies sold the first week and don`t give us the "we did not expect it".It could have been a big success instead of a mitigated success.Now time will tell if AoC is simply a 100mts sprinter or a marathonian.
In the land of Predators,the lion does not fear the jackals...
About the NDA, are you actually avoinding the question or you didnt really understand what it was about? Its about FC FORCING ppl NOT TO disclose ANY information AFTER the launch, no one is arguing about sticking to NDA while it lasts. And no, most of the ppl dont actually like to pay to play an unfinished product.
As for the OP, I think hes done what many others failed before him, all those sites praising AOC like its the best thing we will ever encounter, and completely avoiding to speak about any of the issues it has. Thats where FC really did their job, spending money for advertisement.
which since a lot of people registered late instead of having 2-2 1/2 weeks to get prepared for the larger than expected number of players, they had 2-3 days. if you remember when they announced early access was full, they stated that it had been tracking with their expectations and then there was a massive influx (i believe that was on the 13th or 14th) and completely blew their expectations away.
personally i think their launch came off fairly well, but that is mainly because i was expecting a lot more problems with the launch than there was--i was expecting getting disconnected every 5-10 min and only getting to play for maybe 3-5 min with horribly unplayable lag and numerous other issues along those lines. so for me it was a good launch, because what i got was a playable game--not a perfect game by any means, there's plenty of issues needing fixed, but it is playable. now i do agree with several of you in this, we need to continue to try to push developers into having a "perfect launch". i don't think we ever will have a game that launches flawlessly, with no issues or problems, but it is possible (although a very slim chance because so many things can go wrong or be overlooked/misjudged) and in being possible we should help push them to get as close as possible to it.
1million units because the MMO market is so lacklustre at the moment i expect this to get broken again by WAR and then destroyed by KOTOR online
and they are discounting burning crusade in his comment yes a expansion but far surpassed 1m.
BTW i hate WOW that sounded a bit fanboi.
Dear god, this mathew guy has it in for funcom bigstyle. He gets to interview Tharaldsen. and then writes a review on it and puts in his 'mathew's thoughts'!!!
A bit of respect should be due no? Seriously how one sided and anti funcom can you get!
Knights who say Ni website!
It's clear the OP is disgruntled on how his experience went, and his entire article is colored by that, to the point he sounds like nothing has gone right at all.
Just as if I were to write a 2 part article, it would be about the absolute zero problems I have had, or my guild, and people would just complain that I am a fan and my judgement is clouded by my experience.
So how do we decide who is right, we take a look at all the players and their experiences, and make a judgment based on the majority of them, and in that case the game is a huge success at launch, we'll see if remains a huge success into subscription.
He could have written an article that focused on both sides of the story, and let players make up their minds or seek further information to judge, but he chose to see one side, which makes this the worst article I have read on MMORPG.com of which I have been a huge fan of for the last several years.
I suppose if Rant posting is to become the norm, I'll be looking for a better MMO news site to bring me ALL of the information so I can make informed decision with my gaming budget, and help me separate the good games from the bad.
Rage - Head Honcho of the Revilers
"Ragemore and Whine Less"
Geez have any of you even played the game?
My entire guild got past 50 in less than two weeks and boom there went the content.
I think the review was nice, there are far more major problems with the game than he mentioned.
Typical Funcom, launch a half finished game, provide abysmal customer support and hope people stay around long enough until they can add the content.
Sorry it did not take me long to find out that it is a pretty game on the outside, but the gutts of it are missing.
Mathew did what no other writer had the balls to do.
Give an honest review of a mediocre game.
In his interview he asked some very serious questions in regards to some of the problems players of AoC are facing.
What did the guy do, well in his first response he didn't answer the question at all, he just tried to sell his game more. Going on and on about how good the game is and will be. Didn't really do anything but re-enforce Mathew and his wondering what they plan to do about the issues.
Next series of questions just got danced around and dodged because the guy had no damn idea how to answer it and make a positive spin on it. So he just DIDN'T answer them.
When I read this post I pulled 3 co-workers over to my desk, I asked them NOT to read "Mathew's Thought" just the question then the response. Keep in mind all 3 of these guys are gamers.
They all 3 read it... got to the bottom... and I asked "So what do you think, did the dev answer anything this guy asked."
Their response almost in unison "That guy is an idiot".
That pretty much sums it up. How do you respect an idiot? You don't.
So was Mathew hard on the dev? No he asked some questions that are plagued all over the net, to try to get an official respose, and instead he got a tap dancing lesson.
Mathew don't listen to these in the MMORPG community who want great games but will settle for the most mundane piece of mediocrity produced as of late.
You keep your brass balls, and write the truth.
I hope all you AoC fans hear the clanking noise as Mathew walks by.
(He IMO has written the best article on AoC to date)
This is the last long chunk of replies I'm making. The other two are in te discussion threads for part 1 and2 of the article if you missed them. I'll do my best to keep my replies orderly.
Here they are:
BlueCadwal - Journalists are expected to be objective and seek the truth. It is becoming rarer that we encounter such reporters in this day and age. Often the economic realities of the situation dictate that you listen to your editor when he tells you the sponsors won't like what you have to say. Stradden published my work without editing me. That speaks of his integrity as Managing Editor. The fact that you find me biased is odd considering I wrote a piece which is backed up by fact. Hard to be biased when you foundations are documented. While you may disagree with my right to comment on answers given, you need to remember that analysis of company statements is not outside the purview of a writer. In addition, the entire article was written prior to the answering o those three questions. In context it made more sense to address them within the Q&A. As I stated elsewhere I would be more than happy to cover every MMO launch with a similar piece. The decision to do so lies with Stradden, however.
As to why I don't go in-depth into other launches in this article I can only restate what others said to you: it's outside my scope. I don't have to point out the obvious (that pretty much every launch suffers from issues) when I am evaluating AoC's release. The reason AO as chosen to b included in th article is also obvious. It is Funcom's other game, and it had a horrible release. I would have thought it obvious from my writing, but AoC is portrayed as being the better of the two launches by far.
Your assertion that Funcom deserves slack because they are a small company does not bear much relevance. Funcom has run an MMO for years, is a traded company, and has been able to finance the development of AoC themselves. In terms of MMO development houses they're not small at all. Not to mention that deciding to step into the boxing ring means people will throw punches. Funcom is tough enough to take them.
AOCtester - I don't think questions phrased like yours are likely to be answered with even as much relevance as mine received, if they were to be answered at all.
jusomdude - Unfortunately both the EA PvP servers in the EU were filled pretty quickly. Even the one with the dumb name (Wildsoul) had problems.
Shelil - I don't miss much. Feature cuts happen in MMOs, to be sure. My article does not discuss this aspect of AoC because my article is about the launch.
MightyJudge - I think they failed to do their homework at Funcom, yes. More importantly, I think they failed to communicate when they were having troubles. Gamers prefer to know what is going on. Leaving us in the dark messes with that pseudo-democratic feeling we all think is ours to cherish.
davvin - If you prefer for the worst you can only be pleasantly surprised. You were prepared to face those disconnects and crashes. Funcom wasn't prepared to fact as many players as arrived. I won't deny that the launch could have been worse. Which doesn't mean there weren't any hitches . . . there were plenty.
thamighty213 - Nothing at all lackluster about shipping a million units. I think maybe if you were to do a bit more research you might have a lot more respect for that accomplishment. It is something to be proud of.
Artermis - So if I'm not impressed when a Dev answers my questions, is that a crime? Everyone poops. My comments on his responses do not indicate a lack of respect any more than his spin doctoring does. He's doing his job and I'm doing mine.
Ragemore - Wouldn't be much of a read if I'd written: "The servers opened for Early Access and a lot of us got to play. It was super cool how my Guardian killed things in the Jungle for hours while my friends and I BSed on TeamSpeak. Thanks for launching the servers. Bye!" Every single thing I addressed in my article occurred. These are my experiences as well as those of guildmates and community members. I am sorry if you believe that I should have focused on the "positive" but "Billy was able to log in and play for two hous with no problem" is pretty mundane, not to mention doesn't help anyone improve future game launches. I fail to see "the other side" of a launch. It launched. People played. Some had issues, I detailed some of those issues. Seems fairly straight forward to me.
Ozmodan - I'm past 50, as I mentioned previously. I am still enjoying the game. EQI veterans tend to care less about lack of quests, we're just happy we don't have to type "what orcs", "which orcs", "where orcs", etc. just to pick up the one quest in a whole zone.
neonaka - Thanks for the comments. I don't expect every single question to get a clear answer when I ask something in an interview. I do have to admit I'd hoped for a bit more, but we work with what we're given, right?
***
Thanks once more for the comments you've all given. It's good to see so many people invested in discussing AoC. Please let me know if you've got anything to add. I'll try to keep checking back.