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Growing Population
Davirok
Member UncommonPosts: 75
first of all, sorry if my english isnt perfect, but im talking about my experience in Indomitus (Spanish PvP Server) in the last month, so yes, im spanish xD
I want to say that people is coming to the game in big rows, although is nothing like it was in the start of the game, its really surprising that many ppl is coming to our server. Obviously there aren't many more MMO's out with AoC's quality nowadays, this game its pretty much fixed from bugs and its PvP its nearly balanced (you gotta have skills). Since WaR isnt really worthful from what ive heard and many people couldn't even get DF, i think that Lotro and Aoc are two of the three best mmo's out at the moment.
From my personal experience i have to say i'm glad to see guilds with 30+ new people growing and facing high level people. I would like that all the people who are in Fury right now came back to Indomitus but i know this won't be possible.
To all that dont know what to play and have never tried AoC, now it's your time to have fun with a bloody and stunning mmo.
Greetings,
Davirok, Necromancer LvL 80 (Indomitus PvP)
Comments
I know what you mean!!
I was on this half-dead server and after server merges it seemed like the population DOUBLED over night! It was amazing.
It seems like many new people are subscribing to AoC, yay!!!
Oh wait.. it was because of the merges.. never mind.
no, it's not about the merges, its all after the merges, thats why its surprising xD
Is it me or did the Spanish servers stay as they were?
Zingara (PvE)
Indomitus (PvP)
Both stayed the same had no other merges to them.
So come again? The man is talking about his experience with the Spanish servers in particular so there are two seperate things here if you didn't realise.
Davirok good to hear the Spanish servers are seeing fresh blood :P seems to be common theme all over.
Despite what we might read in the forums and feel ingame we won't really have an idea of this server population trend until we see the next public reports from FC, they are not straight forward nor easy to interpret, but should give a general idea, until then we can speculate to no end.
For the last 3 months I heard this game's population was growing multiple times EVERYDAY from fans...which turned out to be false per Funcom's Q4 08....if there was growth, Funcom would have stated that to spin the bad news into a positive.
Then funcom said they don't expect to have ANY population growth during the next three months, so until Q1 09 comes out, it is doubtfull there is any growth at all...I'm pretty sure there is no growth simply because there is zero hype and it has a very bad rep.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
lol...Ohh so FC said that. Perhaps you can link that information in here. lol..
http://www.funcom.com/funcom/frontend/files/CONTENT/FUNCOM-Q408-presentation.pdf
Pg. 13: "The subscriber numbers have been relatively stable for the last 2 months" It was still in decline the month before that...probably massive do to 6 mos sub lapses.
Pg. 12: "Future subscriber levels in Age of Conanare relatively uncertain. The Company invests in achieving growth in the game, but the likelihood of achieving this is relatively uncertain."
pg. 21: "Financial outlook: Revenue guidance of 6-8 MUSD for Q109 That would be 3 million less than this quarter and this quarter FC earned about 3 mil in extra (special) or non reoccuring revenue from sales and license fees....so they are projecting/accounting for subscriber stability.
******************************
Funcom said people are playing in the game longer like 20 times and that people are staying longer like 30 times and made a headline.(after most people left, of course the average sub will be reasonably long). Oh well is just pretty funny how the game is not actually growing in subs, yet we get to hear it daily. it's like crying wolf except this time the wolf probably will never come.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
Yeah 1.4 really brought some people back. Server pops really stabilized, too. Playing on Set and there are always people around. It's nice to see that this game is finally starting to live up to it's potential.
I resubscribed last weekend to have something out of the ordinary to do while waiting for WoW patch 3.1 and so far it has been quite good. When I got the game at the launch I never finished leveling my Bear Shaman to lvl 80 so that is my main goal this time before I take the decision if it is worth continuing subscribing or not. But I have hardly touched my BS but instead played on my lower level Conqueror so it might take some time for me to accomplish my goal of lvl 80!
So far I've been doing some questing in the Wild Lands of Zelata and there are quite a lot of people in the main village there and some people running around questing. It feels populated... there are never as many people in a lower level place in WoW nowadays, but then there are more of those there so the lower level population might be a bit more spread out. Which doesn't say anything of how it is in AoC on higher levels but it's good for now for me at least, for now. Too bad most of the people in the village (the name eludes me) are just fighting each other... :P I play on Fury btw.
You're going to have to be more specific, as far as how you reading that into what they said. I'm not seeing anything you quoted that says what you're saying it does.
I see that growth of the game is uncertain. (Of course)
And I see that subs have been relatively stable in the past two months. This may include slight growth - or slight loss - but its an improvement from the heavy loss of subs they were experiencing. And as I've posted, recent (past two months) population growth has probably only been marginal (i.e. relatively stable). Others have been more blindly optimistic about it, I know, but you're off at the other extreme.
What I am optimistic about is the overall change in direction, leading to what they're calling "relatively stable" subs. I think if they keep improving, and then get some hype going with retrials for old subscribers, they can turn things around more dramatically. I'd say that's currently possible, when it used to look more like hopeless.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
The projected earnings also contemplate the fact that during Q4 Eidos paid them the remaining part of the box sales, and that means less revenue for the Q1 09, and the amount of 6 month subscriptions that were not being renewed. They however can't plan during Q4 08 based on possible increases during 09 without having a real base, as they would be exposing themselves for legal backslash for misguiding their stockholders.
We won't kno till next Q report, and franckly we won't know for sure about the future of the game until quite a few of those occur, as FC has enough money to keep it working for at least a year without having a positive income, and thus far they are having a positive income.
Pretty pointless to go on claiming either or, this is more a "we will know when we have data" thing, people in the servers can say they see more and more people, and be just a subjective appreciation that doesn't reflect reality, and people in the forums can sy the trend stays in the decreasing side, based on projections, and it being just FC reflecting what public trade regulations ask from them. We, as players or forum goers basically know shit till we get real info made public.
I discounted the extra revenue they recieved, it accounted for 3 million if you read the report they itomize all additional sources of revenue and the projections would account for under 100k subs 3 months from now, which is what they have now.
Sorry, I guess critical thinking is above the scope of this board. For the last 4 or so months we have heard people are comming back in mass....but it was not true. It is still not true to this day...I noticed and admited to stability 2 months before they were reported....but for every person to resub or sub one leaves. I think people are confused and think server mergers and free X fers is some type of growth, which is silly or they just want to atract new customers.
If there was slight growth Funcom would have posted that all over the statements on each page, people are playing more hours (which was on so many pages) but the remaining playerbase are pretty die hard and niche.
Anyways, THE POPULATION IS NOT GROWING, just as it has not ever been growing since the first month...the only diffrence is that it is at rock bottom and is no longer shrinking.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
So you think there was a similar percentage of new subscribers raving about how good the game is, six months ago? I know that doesn't say that much about retention or growth, but it is an important first step, and to me seems promising. And of course, the fact that I like the game. That always seems like a good sign
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
I wont speak about this forum but at gamespot/gamefaqs Funcom pays people to hype the game.
Is pretty silly, no growth yet all these raves about how awesome the first 20 levels are...the game did not change much really aside from bug fixes, tech performance, which I had few issues with at release.so those people who left for the poor game mechanics would still be furious.
Funcom has reviewed all of its assets relevant for
impairment testing. This process has led to
recognition of an impairment loss of around
3,1 MUSD for Age of Conan due to a decrease in
numbers of subscribers for the game. Funcom Q4 10 report.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php?p=2926123&postcount=7 500 mains/alts on Tyranny in past 30 days - instead of merge servers let's open a new PvP server, again! http://forums-eu.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=106427
I will assume you have definitive proof of this "being paid" to post at the sites you mentioned.
You realize anyone can come on any forum and say anything, and to think someone will believe it without proof is ridiculous.
All I need is something from Funcom saying they paid these people, or more than 3 admissions from actual posters saying they work for Funcom. That should be easy to provide.
Now, myself, I think you work for Aventurine or Mythic, and are trying to get people to quit AoC. But, you know, I have as much proof as you, so who should we believe?
But, I will agree with one thing you wrote. If people left due to mechanics (say, the combat was not to their liking, the instancing was not fun to them, the fact no Elves or Dwarves exist in Hyboria)...then, yes, these people need not apply. But, if people left due to bugs or other weird issues that bothered them, they should try again, as it IS much better in that respect, including content and other changes to UI, and yes, some mechanics even.
Thanks
This would be aperfect time for them to start free trials so that they could pad their numbers as many companies do. I am not sure why no one over there has thought of that.
It would be a good time, but I don't know about perfect. I think they want to do another patch or two first, to really be sure to get the best retention. 1.05 is looking like it might be the milestone that'd qualify as perfect.
When I want a single-player story, I'll play a single-player game. When I play an MMO, I want a massively multiplayer world.
Funcom, 6 weeks into a 12 week quarter, acknowledges its revenue is going to go down anywhere from 1-3 million dollars (11-33%) via its Q4/08 revenue guidance.
The game is not growing. Pull your head out of the sand please.
I dont think the game is growing either. I think many AoC players are a bit shocked the game is not dead yet, and that is why they make up a story about growing numbers, just to be able to keep playing.
If AoC is so great, why don't you talk about what is so great instead of talking about the growing player base? I guess it is because there is nothing great to talk about.
This post just seems like another recruit post, made of utter pipe smoke.
You never see WoW official forums talking about numbers, they actually talks about the game they enjoy.
Litigator, your post is the best example of that numbers can be used to tell any story you like. I have seen your numerous posts on AoC population numbers and I can simply not belive that you have overlooked the fact that AoC 6 month sub ran out mid december. I suspect you are choosing to ignore this on purpose, with the intention to engineer the story that fits best with your agenda.
Lets say only 10% of the 700 000 people signing up for AoC in May June clicked the 6 month sub option. In that case 70 000 people would pay 3 times 14 $ in Q4 2008 regardless of if they were playing or not. This meanins that of FC's revenue for Q4 2008, almost 3 Mill $ came from these subscribers. Lets then again assume 75% of these subscribers just quit playing AoC earlier on for various reasons (discussed in so many other threads). 75% of 3 Mill is 2.25 Mill $. In other words, even if AoC had the same amount of active players now compared to december or november the revenue in Q12009 should be at least 2.25 Mill$ lower than Q42008. Looking on Q42008 achieved revenue result, which was like 8.7 Mill $ and the midguided revenue for Q12009, which is 7 Mill$, you see that Q12009 is not 2.25 Mill $ lower, it is in fact more like 1.7 Mill $ lower. This in fact indicate an possible increase in active players.
Now, to use your own terminology, the scenario above is a catch 22 for you. Either you have to say, AoC had better retention or aknowledge that AoC actually had an active subscriber increase from Q42008 to Q12009. You simply can not ignore the 6 months subs who probably contributed several millions to FCs operational revenue in Q4 2008. Or hey maybe since you are so good with numbers you can just change that first number, saying that nobody at all signed up for 6 months.
The bottom line is, you know what you are doing and you ignore the facts above on purpose to convey the truth you like the best. Kind of cheap.
Nor the fact that Eidos payd the remaining amount from the initial box sales to FC on Q4, which means they have to take that amount off their expectations.
We don't know, only the evolution of their revenue from Q to Q can give us an idea of the trend at this point, the appreciation of players and forum goers based in direct observation, opinion or reading around other's posts will always be too subjective.
Might as well, as from Q(uarter report) to Q(uarter report) fanbois QQ about Trolls manipulating numbers and speculating against FC to bury them and Trolls QQ about fanbois manipulating info to make things look better.
Litigator, your post is the best example of that numbers can be used to tell any story you like. I have seen your numerous posts on AoC population numbers and I can simply not belive that you have overlooked the fact that AoC 6 month sub ran out mid december. I suspect you are choosing to ignore this on purpose, with the intention to engineer the story that fits best with your agenda.
Lets say only 10% of the 700 000 people signing up for AoC in May June clicked the 6 month sub option. In that case 70 000 people would pay 3 times 14 $ in Q4 2008 regardless of if they were playing or not. This meanins that of FC's revenue for Q4 2008, almost 3 Mill $ came from these subscribers. Lets then again assume 75% of these subscribers just quit playing AoC earlier on for various reasons (discussed in so many other threads). 75% of 3 Mill is 2.25 Mill $. In other words, even if AoC had the same amount of active players now compared to december or november the revenue in Q12009 should be at least 2.25 Mill$ lower than Q42008. Looking on Q42008 achieved revenue result, which was like 8.7 Mill $ and the midguided revenue for Q12009, which is 7 Mill$, you see that Q12009 is not 2.25 Mill $ lower, it is in fact more like 1.7 Mill $ lower. This in fact indicate an possible increase in active players.
Now, to use your own terminology, the scenario above is a catch 22 for you. Either you have to say, AoC had better retention or aknowledge that AoC actually had an active subscriber increase from Q42008 to Q12009. You simply can not ignore the 6 months subs who probably contributed several millions to FCs operational revenue in Q4 2008. Or hey maybe since you are so good with numbers you can just change that first number, saying that nobody at all signed up for 6 months.
The bottom line is, you know what you are doing and you ignore the facts above on purpose to convey the truth you like the best. Kind of cheap.
Jasma, all I said is that the game is not growing. I completely agree with you that the 6 month subscriptions coming off the books would lower Funcom's Q1/09 revenue number.
I even agree with you that 10% is a reasonable number of people who subscribed for 6 months.
When I say not growing it does not mean the game is shrinking. I believe it is but the bleed has slowed down considerably. So let me throw out a couple ideas out there for you to consider.
#1: Any 6 month subscriptions booked after June 1st (for example, June 1st to July 31st when the game still had reasonably high sales) are going to carry over into Q1/09. So that money is not completely eliminated.
#2: I think 70,000 6 month subscriptions is on the high side.
So don't misrepresent what I say please.
That was supposed to be a joke...
Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his own blood. -Nietzsche
My bad, i guess my joke-o-meter got broken by all the flaming and trolling around this lands =(