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Dark and Light: Q&A #9

Settlers of Ganareth has been a big controversy for Dark and Light. Today in the first of two Q&As, we concentrate on squarely on the prequel/beta that is currently under way.

image MMORPG.com: If our hype-meter is any estimate, Settlers of Ganareth has fallen short of some player’s expectations. Why do you believe this is?

The Dark & Light Team: We feel this is because many of our fans were waiting for Dark and Light, and Settlers of Ganareth is not as deep and complete as Dark and Light will be. Thus, some players may have been disappointed by SoG. We would like to remind players that SoG has been offered for free in order to start “pressing the ground” of Ganareth, that is, exploring this huge world and conquering territories. 

You can read the article here.

Dana Massey
Formerly of MMORPG.com
Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios

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Comments

  • Kaynos1972Kaynos1972 Member Posts: 2,316
    So basicly they are saying, our game sucks because SOG =/ D&L !  Lol give me a break.
  • TymoraTymora Member UncommonPosts: 1,295

     




    MMORPG.com:  Are you still on target for your announced release date?
    Dark and Light Team: We are still on target at the moment.




    Ya, WhatEVER !!!  More lies and misleading by the DnL team.  After 4 years, this mmorpg is still very far away from a completed release.

    After the last patch they botched, I cannot even log in anymore . . . again.  I've given SoG a very fair chance.  I've followed the game since 2003 with such high hopes.  I realize SoG is a prelude that is not complete, but it is an alpha build of a game that is over 4 years old.  If SoG is all they've done in that time, how will they have DnL ready by April?  Sorry, it's not going to happen, not for players like me who are expecting to see all the features they promised, without all the bugs. 

  • IijsIijs Member Posts: 457

    "the server now regularly welcomes numerous simultaneous players for free game sessions.

    LOL!!! Now there's a definitive answer! Numerous simultaneous players. Does that mean, before, they game irregularly welcomed single players for free game sessions?


    At least they are honest.
    Are you still on target for your announced release date?
    "We are still on target at the moment (but we may fall behind schedule next week/month lol)."

  • WarcriminalWarcriminal Member Posts: 244

    at least they are calling it a beta now....

    but they still have a LOT of work to do in the next 3 months

  • gzmaskgzmask Member Posts: 44

    Most of mature, wealthy and well-known game companies like blizzard, Turbine aren't making revolutionary games. Pain linear game play rules the whole industry, even with the newest game "DDO".

    At the same time, those un-mature, poor and newb companies like Farlans who dare to make sounds-like-revolutionary games such as dark and light or dark fall etc, are such a joke.

    Now, big companies are getting more and more used to feed us with linear online single ass sucking games with show-off graphics.

    No, how can we let this happen? Those who making mmorpg, should consider themself as making WORLDs, like the old Origin did. So don't bother us with the mutiplayer vs computer A.I & resetting world games, and we should support the company who still dare to make revolutionary games here, mentally image

    image

  • JackdogJackdog Member UncommonPosts: 6,321

    Never thought I would see a company that would make SOE look honest, ethical,  competent, and caring. Compared to this BS though SOE has my undying respect.

    I miss DAoC

  • ElapsedElapsed Member UncommonPosts: 2,329

    I'm quite impressed that MMORPG.com came with such hard hitting questions. I don't think you'd see such direct questioning and near insults to the game from any other wimpy site like IGN.com or GameSpot.

  • dippitydodahdippitydodah Member Posts: 130

    I spent two months on the forums excitedly awaiting more info and news.. then when I somehow was lucky enough to get into SoG it only took about an hour for me to go.. oh lord not again..

    This game is ALPHA to call this crap beta would be a compliment, if they release in april as planned then plan on getting ripped off big time. This team can't even release a PATCH without messing it up and that says alot for the future. They are slow to fix and develop content.

    I don't know about you guys, but what is it about computer developers that make them think it's ok to release half arsed uncompleted work and fix it a year later on our dime. That's called fraud in any other biz.

    Yes yes this is not the real game, however, if they release even by the end of the year it will be too soon and you'll get just what I experienced.. another unfinished, never will be finished, dying game.

    Three words,

    No

    Thank

    You

    image
  • DeadDOGDeadDOG Member Posts: 362

    sure the game has alot of bugs.

    this game's world is so big its going to take time to find them all. i am sure we have only tuched about 1/100 of the bugs.

    i can tell that this game is going to be one of the best MMORPG's to come out.

    and they will get all the bugs fixed. i can spend most of my time just exporing this game.

    i have made it to the SOG first level cap of 35. and the PVP has been fun.

    now with lots of new forts with the last update. and even some quests if you know where to look.

    guild have alot of say in this game there putting alot in to this game that no other game has even tried to do.

    like guild created content.

    when its running more stable most of the poeple that are crying about this game will be eating there words.

    it seems to me they have so much to put in to this game there only putting little things in at a time. to check to see if its bugged or not.

    kind of like building a computer you only put the main parts in ( video, memory,CPU,motherboard, PSU) to make sure they all work before you start adding in alot of other stuff.

     

     

    image

    www.DigitalMindz.com

  • CholaynaCholayna Member Posts: 1,604

    you have GOT to be kidding me!!! I didnt think that a company could get so low as to spout the BS they are now. Dont they realize tons of ppl read their forums? Dont they realize thousands tried out their "work in progress"? To spout the outandout total BS like they did is totally incredible. A new low for all devs in the mmorpg genre.

    Yes, they are finally calling it a beta. One shining truthful light.

    Newbies "dont have to start quests right away".......THERE ARE NO QUESTS!

    What got me the most was the comment about the players helping to make the game.(the game is supposed to be ready btw - this is just a freebie - the REAL game is not this bad and has tons more stuff)  My gawd! The players were telling them HOW TO fix the bugs!

    This company is so danged see-through its truly in the pathetic stages now. Kudos to MMORPG.com for direct questions. Have a feeling MMORPG.com KNEW they were getting a crapload of BS.

  • shaeshae Member Posts: 2,509

    I always get this icky, dirty feeling everytime I read something from the DnL team (farlane/np), there just so... is "slimy" the right word ?

    Big cudos to mmorpg.com for trying to get truth out of them though, although that's probably a stretch at this point.

  • BronxChuloBronxChulo Member Posts: 166

    Lol..... what a joke.  They gave the same "answers" that they have been telling everyone since the beginning.

    Also, they say they are still on target date.......  FOR THE MOMENT.  Did no one else read into that?

  • PhenomenorPhenomenor Member Posts: 5

    Ok, lets be clear about something:

    Combat in DNL sucks!! And as long at it does: DNL Sucks, no matter what you call it.

    The graphics and sound: great work. Maybe a lesson for the AD Team and Farlan: We fixed the network but where are the users!!!!!!!!

    GUYS, open your eyes, and see that you are losing in fact the interest of the people you are aiming your game at. You should fix the things that make other games eventually go down the drain.

    Gameplay, speed, nice combat, felxible moving, alternative and freestyle moving: take AC as example: briljant implementation. If you don't fix this, all is lost.

    Phen

    p.s. i played the game during beta for 10 minutes, in a stretch period of 6 weeks i was allowed and the servers were stable for ones. I had to cry so hard about combat, which is completely linear, that i didn't even care to see anything of the world anymore.

    image

  • WazzarWazzar Member Posts: 20

    Can't judge the game personally, but I made the application and went to download the game file about 7-8 days ago.  It has been the most abysmal file service on any game even EQ2 when it was under load.  They really should have set up more of their staff with PC's available 24/7 or at least broken the files up into single or multiple download format.

    Bit-Torrent is not my favourite download tool by far to be honest and HAVING to use it to download one file seems a joke if the ONLY person who is supplying a torrent seems to be ME!

    I get around 1-7k max download and MY machine seems to be UPLOADING at my max setting of 10-15k most of the time...

    Like I don't mind the sharing concept but I am only just over 50% of the file and my connection is high speed DSL 1.5 meg.  Hopefully I will have the rest of the thing by the time I get back to work after the vacation ;-p

    Should have spent more time BEING prepared than advertising their release date to be honest but I can't blame for being excited and wanting to please many but possibly alienating just as many in the process.  It still looks nice from the shots etc. but until I get in I can only GUESS!! lol

     

    All the best guys all the same.

  • FurrbawlFurrbawl Member Posts: 95

    Ah come on MMORPG staff, you can ask better questions than that! Put their feet to the fire.

    How about these questions:
    - Why do you think you can run 100k simultanious players with DnL when the SoG server has to be rebooted multiple times a day due to stability issues with only 18,881 registered players?
    - There have been a lot of complaints about in-game framerates. Is the engine going to be optimized for performance or is it at it's final state?
    - There are numerous log in issues currently. Why were these issues not discovered during beta?

    Your Q&A's with NP3 are too "fluffy" - you need to get hardcore with the developers. There are just too many unanswered and ignored issues.

    Faithless is he that says farewell when the road darkens.
    J. R. R. Tolkien

  • sorezsorez Member Posts: 39

    As far as i'm concerned its getting gradually better, Alot more stable than it was and they're fixing the bugs.

    The only thing letting them down is the poor/amateurish patching thus far and the permabugged issue.....

    Hopefully they already have the quests/crafting etc sorted and just not implimented yet due to the stability issues.

    Plenty of people are still playing no matter what all the flamers and whiners say... Get a life guys/gals

  • breakenbreaken Member Posts: 3

    im a settler with nothing better to do then bitch, can't play cause of patch to worsen things, they say on target huh, think ill wish in 1 and shit in the other lol

    image
  • TreklovTreklov Member Posts: 1
    "SoG has been offered for free " as long as you preorder DnL for 60 dollars image imageimageimageimageimage
  • Vai1018Vai1018 Member Posts: 15

    Stupid me, I replied to your post, and not to the topic thread.  I'm sorry, can you reply back to me with the text of what I sent, I lost my entire post when I submitted it.

    Thanks.

  • DanaDana Member Posts: 2,415


    Originally posted by Furrbawl
    Ah come on MMORPG staff, you can ask better questions than that! Put their feet to the fire.
    How about these questions: - Why do you think you can run 100k simultanious players with DnL when the SoG server has to be rebooted multiple times a day due to stability issues with only 18,881 registered players?- There have been a lot of complaints about in-game framerates. Is the engine going to be optimized for performance or is it at it's final state?- There are numerous log in issues currently. Why were these issues not discovered during beta?
    Your Q&A's with NP3 are too "fluffy" - you need to get hardcore with the developers. There are just too many unanswered and ignored issues.

    You cannot please everyone. Some of the posters say great questions, others say bad questions.

    The problem with your questions is that they're all negative to begin with. The best way to get information from someone is not to be accusatory in the question.

    For example, your first question isn't that far off from my question on the upward server capacity if you think about it.

    Also, the Q&A mentioned that its the first of two that concentrate on SoG. We have a question about how tough this game is on PCs in the second half.

    As to your final question... this is beta. So asking why something wasn't fixed in beta seems silly.

    Dana Massey
    Formerly of MMORPG.com
    Currently Lead Designer for Bit Trap Studios

  • SrynSryn Member Posts: 1

    A few short sentences.

    1. Flamers are always the loudest

    2. General public sees mostly flamer input = general public discouraged

    3. Farlan has implemented MANY improvements in the few weeks SOG has been open

    4. Give it a month and see what people are saying

  • treed0223treed0223 Member Posts: 84
    "Players are helped by Alchemic Dream"...what a joke, I'll still give it a month and see if they can make an automated patch.
  • RedRabRedRab Member UncommonPosts: 280


    Originally posted by Jackdog
    Never thought I would see a company that would make SOE look honest, ethical, competent, and caring. Compared to this BS though SOE has my undying respect.

    Now Jack, that's going a little far with regards to SOE. ::::31:: Otherwise you have my full agreement. It's the first time I've experienced a company continually mislead their own beta testers and I started beta testing MMORPGs on The Realm in '96. In my opinion their business pratices are at best dubious and their skill in the dissemination of misinformation would do the MI5 or the CIA proud. I'm not suggesting in any way this is deliberate on their part, it may simply be down to a lack of competence.

    “Hustlers of the world, there is one mark you cannot beat: the mark inside.”
    William S. Burroughs

  • TymoraTymora Member UncommonPosts: 1,295



    Originally posted by Sryn

    A few short sentences.
    1. Flamers are always the loudest
    2. General public sees mostly flamer input = general public discouraged
    3. Farlan has implemented MANY improvements in the few weeks SOG has been open
    4. Give it a month and see what people are saying



    Posts like this are typical from the players who are relatively new, with 1 post, for example . . .

    Dark and Light has been in development for over 4 years.  people get the impression that this game is still new and in its growing pains.  This is only half true.  It is NOT new.  It is so old that you can see it in SoG with its dated graphics (character models and animation, in particular, although the environments are still very good).

    Months ago on the DnL forums, things were good.  Everyone remained patient and optimistic, even after the many delays and postponed release dates, the first of which was supposed to be in August of 2003.

    It wasn't until recently that the whole community went to hell.  SoG does nothing to help the matter, and Farlan/NPCube do not communicate at all with the community, or their community service team -AD.

    Then take into account their terrible coding, distribution of the game, and patching, lack of content (yes, even for an unfinished game, remember it is over 4 years old!), and BUGS.  Beta testers have not been testing for months.  The closed beta was supposed to start again in January, but it hasn't.  now SoG is the beta, which is no surprise, but there is no official and specific way to report bugs, so how does the game improve?

    I can go on, but I think most of the community that has been around long enough to see the truth behind this game and Farlan/NPCube.  Once the newer community members are around for a while, they will see it too. 

  • RedRabRedRab Member UncommonPosts: 280

    [quote]Originally posted by LepidusAs to your final question... this is beta. So asking why something wasn't fixed in beta seems silly.[/b][/quote]

    I agree with what you have said Dana, and I fully appreciate the position mmorpg.com in is when dealing with development teams. However I have to comment on this one. Farlan have continually and repeatedly stated that SoG was not a beta. They even told their own beta testers this prior to SoG launch. It is then no surprise, given this, that the majority of people simply believe what Farlan stated and expected SoG to be a complete and stand-alone game.

    Now some of us might know SoG is a beta for Dark and Light because we have followed the project for some time and have insider knowledge to some extent, but others who do not have this perspective will take Farlan, NP3 and AD at their word. Remember it is only very recently that Farlan backtracked and admitted that SoG was indeed a beta, and this was only due to the fact it would have been too embarrassing for them to do otherwise in my opinion.

    P.S. I am not breaking NDA when I infer I have been in beta. Dark and Light beta, as stated by AD on the beta forum, ceased upon the release of SoG and will not resume for some time. When it does resume all previous testers will have to reapply to test. I'm just making this clear for obvious reasons. ::::31::

    “Hustlers of the world, there is one mark you cannot beat: the mark inside.”
    William S. Burroughs

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