Fire_Away

Ahem... while it may not "speak volumes" why are there less subscibers now than a year ago? Especially given we players are getting such a "great deal" now from the new and improved NCNC. Just asking a legit question, not seeking a flame war.

I'm the kinda guy that if the devs handed out twenty dollar bills I'd complain about not getting four fives.

But this is absolutely brilliant. How can these guys be so much smarter than me? Nice job.

Getting back on topic, I want to ask (in the nicest way I can) if it's not unreasonable to believe the following:

I love to play Cox. It's the best MMO on the market.

I believe everything in CoX should work as advertised. But it's not a perfect world so when it doesn't NCSoft should fix it in a timely manner. I believe the "known issues" list should be complete and up to date.

I should not have to be "buddies" with the devs to get what's broke fixed or have my point of view heard.

I do not care if NCSoft has 15, 150, or 1500 dev employees. But I do expect a level of service for my subscription fee.

I do not care who does what function at NCSoft. Tell me how my complaints are heard and act on them (even if it means telling me "no") and I will be happy.

I understand that when it comes to "new stuff" or changes in CoX my opinion on what should occur may not happen.

I know that chances are whatever I say in the forums (no matter how well I say it) I will be probably slammed for my opinion. So please Fire Away.

I know not of fanboys. But there certainly are "defenders of the faith" as you have taught me well Hallowed... Not that that is a bad thing.

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All this military talk has got my juices flowing.

Full disclosure: I did 26 years in the military; started out in communications and ended up Commanding Officer of a computer support organization. Now I'm retired and have mostly played CoX all day for the past 3 years (I admit I'm hooked and have no other real life). This is only my second post (I've been content reading the forum action from the sidelines but recently decided I needed to post in the forum to attempt to be a change agent for the game I love).

I also wanted to mention I attended the last dev meet and greet gathering and to a person they are friendly, intelligent, and dedicated individuals that most certainly rate our courtesy, admiration and respect. But forgive me if I fail to see the need to coddle them in order to have my point of view considered. To me that is as bad... or perhaps worse than being too blunt.

I agree with 95+% of the proposed guide. But before political correctness and the self appointed forum sheriff's posse completes the lynching of those that are upset or perhaps a little rough around the edges (I'm not talking about those who grossly violate the forums posting rules) may I respectfully make a one small point about this guide?

I take issue with much of the section on patience and bug fixes. As some of the games problems approach their 2nd year anniversary without resolution, I believe many of the player's complaints in this area are fully justified (albeit that some of these complaints were inappropriately expressed). The premise that the devs would fix everything if they could in an instant is more than a bit misleading.

My view is conscious decisions have been made to pursue new features over taking corrective action to have the game more effectively perform as advertised. I am opposed to these decisions. If it were my organization, I'd call a good old fashion military standdown from new stuff development and go on a massive bug fix effort. This is certainly not without its own pain/risk. But I believe it would be worth it.

This post is already a bit too long already but let me make one other quick point. Just because a task (mission) is hard or complex is not really a justification to leave it's accomplishment ignored or open ended. But as a military man, you already know that and I acknowledge that was not what you were implying. But unfortuately, in my opinion, that has been precisely the case here in some instances.

Congratulations on a nice guide that appears to be very well received.

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damn, sir...you nailed it.
i grow tired of all the lil bugs that get ignored myself. maybe if they wern't so obsessed with new content. fix what we already have! how about let an issue sit for 3-4 months and nail down errors. Am I the only person who wonders what roman/greek/spartian lore and costumes have anything to do with comic book heroes? I agree power set prolif was needed. it was an easy fix to a lack of choice situation. but the rest of I12? I have a feeling it is an egg about to be laid on the part of this game. I9-I1 will go down as being some of the best ever. I don't have that feeling about I12.

thanks for pointing out my frustrations, sir. carry on.

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a) 15 people (if you don't know what I'm talking about look at the dev digest and read the thread)
b) Stagnation kills MMOs
c) FREEEM Fifteen!


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Off topic. Please feel free to delete.

Wow you are so right! I need to stop pushing for things to function as they should and join the pity party over NCSoft staffing right away! New corporate slogan: We'll always give you something new... even though some of it will never work.

One thing I know as a noob forum poster is CoX currently has a level of customer loyalty (me included) that most corporations would kill for it. The product is so good and so enjoyed that the mere sign of criticism (real or perceived, articulate or obscene, justified or ridiculous) often immediately triggers a customer driven defense support system launch. This thread is a prime example.

If you ever really want abuse, sit the customer service desk at the cable TV company (or perhaps maybe record your very own conversations with them). Not too many call in to their cable TV provider to thank them for the new HD TV channels, sympathize with their corporate staffing woes (down to the level of making sure they get it right on who stayed and who left), and overlook longstanding flaws like signal loss or the removal of channels that they really want to watch. But this same kind of thing happens in CoX every day.

Can CoX maintain this fierce customer loyality in the face of increased competition? I don't know. All I know is I'm not a real hero (villain) but that I play one online... and it's really really cool. Apparently, in spite of the abuse and resource issues the devs have faced, many others feel the same way. And that certainly has worked to CoX's advantage... so far.

Roger your last Gelu Procellus. Wonder if more complained in the right way it would result in even more troops being added to the firing line. That would be sweet indeed. Out.

All this military talk has got my juices flowing.

Full disclosure: I did 26 years in the military; started out in communications and ended up Commanding Officer of a computer support organization. Now I'm retired and have mostly played CoX all day for the past 3 years (I admit I'm hooked and have no other real life). This is only my second post (I've been content reading the forum action from the sidelines but recently decided I needed to post in the forum to attempt to be a change agent for the game I love).

I also wanted to mention I attended the last dev meet and greet gathering and to a person they are friendly, intelligent, and dedicated individuals that most certainly rate our courtesy, admiration and respect. But forgive me if I fail to see the need to coddle them in order to have my point of view considered. To me that is as bad... or perhaps worse than being too blunt.

I agree with 95+% of the proposed guide. But before political correctness and the self appointed forum sheriff's posse completes the lynching of those that are upset or perhaps a little rough around the edges (I'm not talking about those who grossly violate the forums posting rules) may I respectfully make a one small point about this guide?

I take issue with much of the section on patience and bug fixes. As some of the games problems approach their 2nd year anniversary without resolution, I believe many of the player's complaints in this area are fully justified (albeit that some of these complaints were inappropriately expressed). The premise that the devs would fix everything if they could in an instant is more than a bit misleading.

My view is conscious decisions have been made to pursue new features over taking corrective action to have the game more effectively perform as advertised. I am opposed to these decisions. If it were my organization, I'd call a good old fashion military standdown from new stuff development and go on a massive bug fix effort. This is certainly not without its own pain/risk. But I believe it would be worth it.

This post is already a bit too long already but let me make one other quick point. Just because a task (mission) is hard or complex is not really a justification to leave it's accomplishment ignored or open ended. But as a military man, you already know that and I acknowledge that was not what you were implying. But unfortuately, in my opinion, that has been precisely the case here in some instances.

Congratulations on a nice guide that appears to be very well received.