I got a lifetime on CO and I'm not in the STO beta yet. Am I worrying about it? No, from what I hear, The servers are up only a few hours a week anyways. Cryptic have also said that all COX life and 6 months invites will be sent out by the end of December so we'll all get in.
Just to clarify some things: I am not one of the people affected, nor was I asked by anyone affected to do the column. I haven't subscribed to a Cryptic MMO since City of Villains was released. If something has affected me directly, I'm usually pretty blunt about stating so. You may not think so, but I do believe in journalistic integrity.
One of the goals of the column, as I stated when it first began, is to act as a voice for community issues and reactions to MMO gaming affairs. I quote myself:
There will be times it reads a little like an advice column for newer MMO players who are finding themselves indoctrinated into the community. Other times it will be thoughts on recent events or player interactions. Sometimes it will be "voice of the community trying to reach the ear of the big guys." Ultimately, it will adapt around the community and what they are saying (or want to say.)
From my experience as a reader, a column is not news. While it should hold itself to fact-checking (and I did check my facts, thank you - read below for one point on that), it is ultimately a place of author's opinion. In my case, it also includes presenting the opinion of other people. A column is a place where the author presents issues, and yes, pushes buttons. Ultimately, my goal is to present an issue and get people thinking and talking about it. Whether you agree with me or not doesn't personally matter.
In regards to the "given supposedly after the offer was expired" complaint: I chose this wording carefully. I originally chose to write "admittedly after the offer was expired." Why did I change the wording? Two reasons:
I was unable after over 10 hours of research to find or access any links on Daeke's statement, only on a retraction thereafter by StormShade. I see that links have been provided in this forum, and I appreciate the person who brought them forward as evidence.
There were many people claiming that "first access" was promised during the offer's availability. I was unable to find proof of this either.
Ultimately, with no proof to back up either a "definitely after" or a "definitely during" statement, I opted to go with the same wishy-washy language that was being used in discussion elsewhere. A good choice on my part? Probably not, and I should have expounded on both of those points above rather than shortening the phrase.
If I got any other facts wrong, I'm welcome to correcting them, as always, if given proof that I was wrong. You can ask any of my numerous press contacts with the various MMO companies, and know that I always ask for corrections if necessary and make them immediately after I'm aware there's a problem. I'm no more human than the rest of you, but I do recognize that I am held to certain standards and am more than happy to meet them.
I am one of those who got influenced by the beta offer when I bought the 6 month sub for CO. Fortunately for me, CO was such a bad experience that I don't really worry about not getting into the STO beta now. Cryptic is lead by people who have almost no understanding of what makes a game tick, it became very clear after they left CoX and had NCsoft hire a new dev team to take over that game, they turned it around and made it a lot better than it were while Cryptic handled it. So I have no expectations that STO will be worth anything.
Wow , talking about not getting your facts right. Cryptic developed COH jointly with NCsoft and after the 1st year or so. NCsoft decided to purchase the full rights to the game and hired on most of the development team from Cryptic. So basically the people that made it better was the same people that developed it in the first place.
If I had to guess they never said "guranteed beta access", since the legal reading of that is 100% access to the beta (much like if it said "guranteed internet access" in your isp contract - which it probably doesn't). Saying that no idea if that stands true for the US legal system.
Can anyone supply the text of the offer? That should clear up the question if they offered a contract or not.
Just to clarify some things: I am not one of the people affected, nor was I asked by anyone affected to do the column. I haven't subscribed to a Cryptic MMO since City of Villains was released. If something has affected me directly, I'm usually pretty blunt about stating so. You may not think so, but I do believe in journalistic integrity. One of the goals of the column, as I stated when it first began, is to act as a voice for community issues and reactions to MMO gaming affairs. I quote myself: There will be times it reads a little like an advice column for newer MMO players who are finding themselves indoctrinated into the community. Other times it will be thoughts on recent events or player interactions. Sometimes it will be "voice of the community trying to reach the ear of the big guys." Ultimately, it will adapt around the community and what they are saying (or want to say.) From my experience as a reader, a column is not news. While it should hold itself to fact-checking (and I did check my facts, thank you - read below for one point on that), it is ultimately a place of author's opinion. In my case, it also includes presenting the opinion of other people. A column is a place where the author presents issues, and yes, pushes buttons. Ultimately, my goal is to present an issue and get people thinking and talking about it. Whether you agree with me or not doesn't personally matter. In regards to the "given supposedly after the offer was expired" complaint: I chose this wording carefully. I originally chose to write "admittedly after the offer was expired." Why did I change the wording? Two reasons:
I was unable after over 10 hours of research to find or access any links on Daeke's statement, only on a retraction thereafter by StormShade. I see that links have been provided in this forum, and I appreciate the person who brought them forward as evidence. There were many people claiming that "first access" was promised during the offer's availability. I was unable to find proof of this either.
Ultimately, with no proof to back up either a "definitely after" or a "definitely during" statement, I opted to go with the same wishy-washy language that was being used in discussion elsewhere. A good choice on my part? Probably not, and I should have expounded on both of those points above rather than shortening the phrase. If I got any other facts wrong, I'm welcome to correcting them, as always, if given proof that I was wrong. You can ask any of my numerous press contacts with the various MMO companies, and know that I always ask for corrections if necessary and make them immediately after I'm aware there's a problem. I'm no more human than the rest of you, but I do recognize that I am held to certain standards and am more than happy to meet them.
Fair enough. I still don't know why you focused on ONE issue though, when there have been a great many controversies surrounding STO. It sounded as though you were going to touch on them, but then expounded on the beta access -- which to my mind isn't THAT important in the grand scheme of things especially when it was clear that no time line for beta entry was specifically given.
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
I thought it was a good article. Personally I think the entire controversey is trivial. I have my doubts with the game just entering closed beta that this game will release in February. What is the big deal about getting in beta early? My guess is the game is still quite buggy.
I think the criticism of the writer is absurd. Seems that some of you just want to troll instead of read the article.
I am one of those who got influenced by the beta offer when I bought the 6 month sub for CO. Fortunately for me, CO was such a bad experience that I don't really worry about not getting into the STO beta now. Cryptic is lead by people who have almost no understanding of what makes a game tick, it became very clear after they left CoX and had NCsoft hire a new dev team to take over that game, they turned it around and made it a lot better than it were while Cryptic handled it. So I have no expectations that STO will be worth anything.
Wow , talking about not getting your facts right. Cryptic developed COH jointly with NCsoft and after the 1st year or so. NCsoft decided to purchase the full rights to the game and hired on most of the development team from Cryptic. So basically the people that made it better was the same people that developed it in the first place.
Notice I said "is lead", its the leadership there is the problem, not the working men. Once they were gone the real people were free to put in the improvements everyone knew was needed.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
I bought the lifetime for CO because I enjoy CO. They have since the launch day of CO been slowly niggling away at my loyalness. The day 1 patch was a major upset. There's not even true global chat channels..the only way to get a global like chat channel is create one or join a guild where you can speak to everyone no matter what instance they're in. Insane high ingame costs for retcons and the constant refusals to even consider that their prices are not actually feasable within a reasonable amount of game play time is another niggling upset. The overwhelming unbalance when it comes to the very very very very few group dungeons is another upset.
But I've held on because I am having some fun, but as time has moved on there's not been much to really build the community until Halloween around the sametime that the Beta Started. Even then the moment halloween went away the community went back to being pretty much non existant in game.
Being a reasonable person I figured alright most beta's are atleast 6 months to a year long. To be fair and have a wide audience of testers most likely I wont' be on the first wave, fine I wasn't on the first wave. I enjoyed the halloween event and the new pvp map (the only pvp map that is actually fair to all builds pvp or pve). Time has strolled along and I've patiently been playing champions a couple of days a week (so not to burn through the very short amount of content). Then the worst thing happens.
They announce open beta dates. WTH is this? Open Beta dates? Barely 3 months after Closed Beta started? Basically this sings that even closed beta is a pure promotional showing. THere's no way in 3 months with the servers only being up for a few hours a week that closed beta is in any way shape or form making a true impact. Contest winners continue to be brought into the game. I figure alright one good wave by late November and the rest of us will be in and they'll just bring in the contest winners. Hell no..by some mere lucky post I ran into I see that they're going to continue keeping thos of us with 'gaurenteed' access waiting until nearly the end of december. At most I might get a week's worth of time in closed beta if the servers stay down. Sure I'll get rolled into Open but what the hell does that matter? The deal with my patronage to CO was Closed Beta. I could careless about Promotional Open Beta.
Cryptic by being very very uncommunicative about the issue and trying to even calm the stemming wave of anger, the outpouring loss of subscribers is just heading down a bad path. I can't overlook this failure on their part to be a Better Business.
Their business move is 100% shady in my book. If I'm not in closed beta by Christmas Day I will be asking for all my money back except for the months that I did play (its only fair they get paid for the couple olf months I have used their service). I won't buy STO no matter how good it is and I won't resub to CO. That is my current plan at this moment. I wish to be a reasonable customer with reasonable expectations. Just because its honoring the deal if they give me even 1 hour of closed beta access does not make it right..infact that makes it a pretty big helping of Bad Business pratices and that they dont' give a damn about payign customers or future paying customers. As much as I hate to say it Cryptic might as well rename themselves Funcom and sail under the Failcom flag.
Comments
When did mmorpg.com become the TMZ of gaming?
I got a lifetime on CO and I'm not in the STO beta yet. Am I worrying about it? No, from what I hear, The servers are up only a few hours a week anyways. Cryptic have also said that all COX life and 6 months invites will be sent out by the end of December so we'll all get in.
Just to clarify some things: I am not one of the people affected, nor was I asked by anyone affected to do the column. I haven't subscribed to a Cryptic MMO since City of Villains was released. If something has affected me directly, I'm usually pretty blunt about stating so. You may not think so, but I do believe in journalistic integrity.
One of the goals of the column, as I stated when it first began, is to act as a voice for community issues and reactions to MMO gaming affairs. I quote myself:
There will be times it reads a little like an advice column for newer MMO players who are finding themselves indoctrinated into the community. Other times it will be thoughts on recent events or player interactions. Sometimes it will be "voice of the community trying to reach the ear of the big guys." Ultimately, it will adapt around the community and what they are saying (or want to say.)
From my experience as a reader, a column is not news. While it should hold itself to fact-checking (and I did check my facts, thank you - read below for one point on that), it is ultimately a place of author's opinion. In my case, it also includes presenting the opinion of other people. A column is a place where the author presents issues, and yes, pushes buttons. Ultimately, my goal is to present an issue and get people thinking and talking about it. Whether you agree with me or not doesn't personally matter.
In regards to the "given supposedly after the offer was expired" complaint: I chose this wording carefully. I originally chose to write "admittedly after the offer was expired." Why did I change the wording? Two reasons:
Ultimately, with no proof to back up either a "definitely after" or a "definitely during" statement, I opted to go with the same wishy-washy language that was being used in discussion elsewhere. A good choice on my part? Probably not, and I should have expounded on both of those points above rather than shortening the phrase.
If I got any other facts wrong, I'm welcome to correcting them, as always, if given proof that I was wrong. You can ask any of my numerous press contacts with the various MMO companies, and know that I always ask for corrections if necessary and make them immediately after I'm aware there's a problem. I'm no more human than the rest of you, but I do recognize that I am held to certain standards and am more than happy to meet them.
Wow , talking about not getting your facts right. Cryptic developed COH jointly with NCsoft and after the 1st year or so. NCsoft decided to purchase the full rights to the game and hired on most of the development team from Cryptic. So basically the people that made it better was the same people that developed it in the first place.
Can anyone supply the text of the offer? That should clear up the question if they offered a contract or not.
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x202/NekoLLX/lolpok.jpg
and the infamous ninja Edit
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x202/NekoLLX/before1.jpg
http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x202/NekoLLX/after1.jpg
Fair enough. I still don't know why you focused on ONE issue though, when there have been a great many controversies surrounding STO. It sounded as though you were going to touch on them, but then expounded on the beta access -- which to my mind isn't THAT important in the grand scheme of things especially when it was clear that no time line for beta entry was specifically given.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
BWAhahahahahahahahahah!
Oh....good one.
I thought it was a good article. Personally I think the entire controversey is trivial. I have my doubts with the game just entering closed beta that this game will release in February. What is the big deal about getting in beta early? My guess is the game is still quite buggy.
I think the criticism of the writer is absurd. Seems that some of you just want to troll instead of read the article.
Wow , talking about not getting your facts right. Cryptic developed COH jointly with NCsoft and after the 1st year or so. NCsoft decided to purchase the full rights to the game and hired on most of the development team from Cryptic. So basically the people that made it better was the same people that developed it in the first place.
Notice I said "is lead", its the leadership there is the problem, not the working men. Once they were gone the real people were free to put in the improvements everyone knew was needed.
"You are the hero our legends have foretold will save our tribe, therefore please go kill 10 pigs."
I bought the lifetime for CO because I enjoy CO. They have since the launch day of CO been slowly niggling away at my loyalness. The day 1 patch was a major upset. There's not even true global chat channels..the only way to get a global like chat channel is create one or join a guild where you can speak to everyone no matter what instance they're in. Insane high ingame costs for retcons and the constant refusals to even consider that their prices are not actually feasable within a reasonable amount of game play time is another niggling upset. The overwhelming unbalance when it comes to the very very very very few group dungeons is another upset.
But I've held on because I am having some fun, but as time has moved on there's not been much to really build the community until Halloween around the sametime that the Beta Started. Even then the moment halloween went away the community went back to being pretty much non existant in game.
Being a reasonable person I figured alright most beta's are atleast 6 months to a year long. To be fair and have a wide audience of testers most likely I wont' be on the first wave, fine I wasn't on the first wave. I enjoyed the halloween event and the new pvp map (the only pvp map that is actually fair to all builds pvp or pve). Time has strolled along and I've patiently been playing champions a couple of days a week (so not to burn through the very short amount of content). Then the worst thing happens.
They announce open beta dates. WTH is this? Open Beta dates? Barely 3 months after Closed Beta started? Basically this sings that even closed beta is a pure promotional showing. THere's no way in 3 months with the servers only being up for a few hours a week that closed beta is in any way shape or form making a true impact. Contest winners continue to be brought into the game. I figure alright one good wave by late November and the rest of us will be in and they'll just bring in the contest winners. Hell no..by some mere lucky post I ran into I see that they're going to continue keeping thos of us with 'gaurenteed' access waiting until nearly the end of december. At most I might get a week's worth of time in closed beta if the servers stay down. Sure I'll get rolled into Open but what the hell does that matter? The deal with my patronage to CO was Closed Beta. I could careless about Promotional Open Beta.
Cryptic by being very very uncommunicative about the issue and trying to even calm the stemming wave of anger, the outpouring loss of subscribers is just heading down a bad path. I can't overlook this failure on their part to be a Better Business.
Their business move is 100% shady in my book. If I'm not in closed beta by Christmas Day I will be asking for all my money back except for the months that I did play (its only fair they get paid for the couple olf months I have used their service). I won't buy STO no matter how good it is and I won't resub to CO. That is my current plan at this moment. I wish to be a reasonable customer with reasonable expectations. Just because its honoring the deal if they give me even 1 hour of closed beta access does not make it right..infact that makes it a pretty big helping of Bad Business pratices and that they dont' give a damn about payign customers or future paying customers. As much as I hate to say it Cryptic might as well rename themselves Funcom and sail under the Failcom flag.
"Freedom is just another name for nothing left to lose" - Janis Joplin
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