Quote of the Day – A Treasure Trove of Turbine Turmoil

LOTRO’s launches in Japan and Korea were so disappointing they were immediately and quite effectively brushed under the carpet and never spoken of again.

-Aylwen, LOTROCommunity forums

Well, if you were looking to kick Turbine while they were down, Massively Overpowered linked to some forum posts earlier that will both set the “down” scenario and give you plenty of targets to kick.

In fact, if there is some Turbine issue you want to pick at, you’ll probably find it.  Infinite Crisis as an ill-conceived disaster that is hemorrhaging money?  Check!  Self-destructive rivalries between groups?  Check!  F2P conversions that did not meet expectations despite the external hype? Check!  Cheaping out on expansions?  Check!  Blizzard induced paranoia?  Check!  Leadership problems and rampant self-deception?  Check!  Neglect from corporate overlords?  Check!

Bad marketing ideas? Well, we had proof of that already, didn’t we?

I picked the quote at the top because that was an event I couldn’t even recall.

And while the author of these posts, a former Turbine employee, says he is not disgruntled, this does feel like an EA Louse-level event for Turbine, and I haven’t even gone through half of it yet.

Quote of the Day – If You’re Selling it, We’re Reviewing it

If I had paid money for H1Z1, I’d be pretty pissed off right now. Some players have already taken to demanding refunds. And I can’t blame them.

Polygon review of H1Z1

I laughed out loud when I saw that Polygon put up a review of H1Z1 on their site this morning.  But I have to admit that a review is a fitting response to Daybreak Game Company selling the game on Steam.  Not that Polygon hasn’t been on the H1Z1 beat already.

Yeah, yeah, cry me a river about that “Early Access” disclaimer.

I wouldn’t dream of endorsing a review of a product that was in alpha or beta and testing with volunteers.  But my view, and this is an opinion that I hold pretty strongly, is that once you are charging money and have a cash shop setup, trying to hide behind words like “Beta” (the long time Zynga ploy… do you want to be like Zynga?) or “Early Access” is a bullshit move.

The “Early Access” disclaimer has to compete with the pie-in-the-sky marketing vision about what the game might be some day way down the road when it is finished.

Tell me about the reality of H1Z1 please… I hear it isn’t actually an MMO

A “fully transparent” approach to game design would require the equivalent of “Warning: Lark’s Vomit” on the Steam store page and the SOE web site. (Since there is no Daybreak web site yet.)

And Daybreak Game Company is out there with not one but two early access events, with Landmark having mucked about in some sort of limbo for over a year at this point.  And to echo the quote at the top of the page, after my free time in Landmark I was pretty happy I didn’t pay any money for it.  And don’t get me started on the irony of a company whose motto is “Free to Play Your Way” and has a subscription program called “All Access” that doesn’t actually give you access to all of their games.

Yeah, I am on a bit of a rant here over what is probably a pretty small item in the grand scheme of things.  And it would certainly be fair game to ask how I reconcile this with Kickstarter campaigns and pre-orders and whatever other industry practices I don’t seem to take issue with that share some similarities with early access.  My primary goal in all things of late is the finished game, something I even mentioned in the earlier post about Crowfall.  I already have a day job in software development, I don’t need/want to keep fretting about code when I get home at night.

And who knows, the whole early access thing might work out.  I’m just not convinced right now that paid early access is a good thing for the industry, and it is Smed’s handiwork with Landmark and H1Z1 that has pushed me in that direction.

Anyway, cheers to Polygon for having a policy about reviewing early access games so people know what they are getting for their money.  How do you feel about that?

Quote of the Day – Bad Directions

Alliance characters that complete the Primal Combatant achievement are no longer being told to go to Orgrimmar to receive a reward.

World of Warcraft Hotfixes for February 9

That one just made me laugh.  It is a good thing that nobody reads the text, right?  Showing up in the enemy city looking for a reward might end up in an awkward situation.

Not that I haven’t spent time as an alliance player in Orgrimmar before.

 

Quote of the Day – When You Know You Are Making a Difference

Subject: Reminder to Renters who like to PVP

we will knock up to 200 mil off rent for every hostile sbu kill with legit killmails posted on zboard

we will knock up to 500 mil off hostile pos kills

you need to use judgement and dont throw caps willy nilly around those wont be srped but you can form bombers and other ships use scouts and so on

some renters have erned free rent by being proactive who have a understanding of pvp and we want to encourge those who know what they are doing to feel free to step up if you feel its in your scope of things you can handle.

you need to keep records and at months end get with your rental poc to work out discounts.

this appys to those who rent under NC/Bff you can check your rental manager if your region is covered

Lady [Scarlet] – via EVE Skunk

The NCDot rental crew has decided that they need to incent their renters to go out and clean up hostiles in their space.

Meanwhile, in no doubt completely unrelated news, while the conflict in the east continues there are reports that the so-called Reaver squad has started operations in the southwest region of null sec.

An undisclosed location in the Southwest… also, Caroline’s Star

Quote of the Day – Skepticism Blooms

“Sony Online Entertainment, newly rebranded as Daybreak, is a great addition to our existing portfolio of technology, media and entertainment focused companies. We see tremendous opportunities for growth with the expansion of the company’s game portfolio through multi-platform offerings as well as an exciting portfolio of new quality games coming up, including the recently launched H1Z1 and the highly anticipated EverQuest Next to be released in the near future,”

Jason Epstein, a senior partner at Columbus Nova

EverQuest Next is to be released in the “near future?”

[Emphasis in the quote was mine]

Okay, now I know they are yanking my chain.

Has Jason Epstein already been briefed on the usage of the word “soon” at old SOE?  Is this an attempt to avoid that word and its baggage or the beginning of a new empty phrase for the house that EverQuest built?

“Soon” Defined

I ask because I cannot see EverQuest Next being released during any period of time I would judge to be the “near future,” unless we start measuring against scales of time beyond the span of my life.  The foundation for EverQuest Next is in Landmark, and that has yet to be released or have a release date or even a date when they might be able to announce a release date.  So consider my eyebrow arched significantly at the idea of the “near future” in conjunction with EverQuest Next. (Also, Jason, a new name for that please?)

Of course, Mr. Epstein might not know any better at this point.  There has been a whole acquisition dance going on for a while now.  These things do not happen over night, they are months in the making.  And I am sure a bunch of people at the company formerly known as SOE are realizing that this was why Smed was gone at some point or why a bunch of strangers were camped in one of the conference rooms for a week or why that “interview candidate” who looked like a lawyer was being given a detailed tour of the build system. (That last one actually happened to me at one company.)

And while nobody is suppose to overtly lie about material facts during that dance, like any mating ritual, things do tend to be presented in the optimum setting.  The lights are dimmed, blemishes are glossed over, makeup is applied, guts are sucked in, promises are whispered in a moment of passion, all to make each partner more alluring.

Now though, we are at the morning after.  The harsh light of Daybreak is shining through the window, lipstick is smeared, promises are forgotten, and somebody clearly can only describe their belt buckle from memory once it is wrapped about what could be their waist, but only because that is where their pants end.

All pretense is at an end and all the bullshit is revealed.  It is time to get to work and actually deal with reality.  It might be only at this point that the actual idea of “near future” is being revealed and that all those nifty demos of the game do not make a whole.

Then again, there might be a simple answer to this nested in the very same sentence.  Mr. Epstein refers to H1Z1 as “recently launched.”  Perhaps his view of the world aligns with some of us on the outside of the company, that once you start taking money in exchange for your game it is effectively launched and all of this “early access” and “beta” talk is just posturing bullshit.

Anyway, we shall see just how “near” the “near future” really is and what being released really means to this newly “independent” Daybreak.

Also, can we just go with “DGC” when referring to Daybreak Game Company?  Writing “Daybreak” just feels odd still.

Quote of the Day – I Got Your Massive Universe Right Here!

“This amazing achievement shows not only how truly massive the PlanetSide 2 universe is, but also how inclusive its online community is,” said Annie Nguyen, Video Games Records Manager at Guinness World Records. “This title truly embodies the international, record-breaking spirit of Guinness World Records.”

Statement at Guinness World Records site

PlanetSide2 got an achievement in that they set the world record for most players in a single FPS battle, managing a peak of 1,158 in their “truly massive universe,” allowing them to join other distinguished record holders at the Guinness World Records site.

That is NOT Blawrf McTaggart!

Now maybe they can work their way up to 4,070 players, like the battle at 6VDT-H, or even 2,670 players, the peak number participating at one time at B-R5RB, because 1,158 is something like the population of Jita on a Saturday afternoon.

Okay, I know, this isn’t and apples to apples comparison.  Those EVE Online events weren’t hyped up attempts to set a record by getting people on a server.  They were just fights that happened because of player interaction.

Erm… that wasn’t what I meant.

I mean, having 1,158 players spread out over a whole world map is clearly more taxing than having at least double that number on the station grid in 6VDT-H… plus drones… hrmm…

Battles spread out over the map

Well, it is certainly easier to render spaceships than… wait, what are those?

Drop ships are not spaceships

Well, at least this record makes more sense than that time World of Tanks got awarded the record for the most concurrent players on a server for a game where you play 15 vs. 15 matches.

Anyway, congratulations to the PlanetSide 2 team!  They showed those other FPS games who was the boss.  Now back to MMOs.

Quote of the Day – Hard Earned Station Cash

Lawyers to get $2.75M for SOE/PSN/Qriocity Class Action Suit for 2011 Security Breach — We’ll Get 450SC

Feldon, Headline over at EQ2 Wire

Set the Wayback Machine for May 2011, back when EverQuest still needed its own subscription, I was still active on the Fippy Darkpaw time locked progression server, the instance group was flailing about in New Halas, free to play in Norrath was the exclusive domain of something called EverQuest II Extended, triple Station Cash sales were all the rage, and we had just killed Osama Bin Laden while dodging the rapture yet again.

It was also the time of the great Sony hack… erm… the FIRST great Sony hacking when the PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment were brought down.

It was a time of confusion, inconvenience, and unironic usage of the word “soon” by Sony employees.  I had just purchased a PlayStation 3 and I had just invested my game focus in EverQuest and EverQuest II, so it was kind of a disruption to have SOE go down for nearly two weeks… and through two full weekends.

But Sony tried to make it up to us.  On the PlayStation side of things there were free games handed out, while SOE had a whole Make Good Plan that included a 30 day free extension of all subscriptions, that triple Station Cash sale linked above, special goodies and events in individual games, and an extra 500 Station Cash for Station Access subscribers.  And Sony offered everybody a free subscription to a service to protect people from identity theft.

They tried to mollify us, but it was apparently not enough!

Lawyers were called in… by somebody… they seem to file class action lawsuits first, then go looking for a class to represent second… and a suit was filed.

And now, nearly four years later, I might end up with as much as 450 additional Station Cash.  It could be less if too many people sign up for the settlement… and you have to sign up… because there is a cap on Station Cash payments of four million dollars, which works out to 400 million in Station Cash.  So, by my calculation, if more than 888,889 people sign up, I could be out some Station Cash.

I wonder how many people had active SOE accounts back in that time frame in 2011?

You can also file for up to $2,500 in compensation for costs incurred by any identity theft that was a result of the hacking, with a cap of one million dollars on total payouts.

Finally, there is an interesting proviso that allows for a cash out of your Station Cash if, due to the “Intrusions” you did not sign in afterwards and created no additional accounts.

When you submit a claim for this benefit, your existing SOE accounts will be locked so that any wallet balances can be calculated. If your claim is approved, your wallet balance will be extinguished and your existing accounts will be closed.

If you are never coming back, I suppose that is an option.

And the lawyers in all of this are asking for $2.75 million for their trouble.

If you want your 450 Station Cash, you can find the details over at EQ2 Wire or in the email that will eventually find its way to you from Sony.

Note to Bhagpuss: Americans only. No Station Cash for you!  Says so in the official Commonly Asked Questions page for the suit.