Forbin_Project
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Posts
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Quote:I fail to see how you come to that conclusion.Originally Posted by Frosticus
I think the population of the game proves you incorrect.
Fact. The population of the game is lower than it was at its hey day.
Fact. NCSoft got together with Gamestop and Razer and designed a marketing campaign to advertise the next paid expansion "Going Rogue" in order to increase the number of people playing the game.
Fact. The more people paying for subscriptions means the games population will increase.
And as I said to Bill, no one is saying we wouldn't like to see marketing do more stuff. -
Quote:Nope.Originally Posted by Bill Z Bubba
Are you stating that these folks are suffering from sour grapes syndrome because you think that they care about the Razer stuff?
They are suffering from "Sour Grapes" because they are frustrated that their arguments about advertising were proven wrong over and over.
First it was NCSoft wasn't doing any advertising, which was proven wrong. Then they were quibbling over the definition of advertising, which was also proven wrong. Finally they tried to argue that advertising to a target customer base isn't effective, and that was proven wrong.
No one here has said that they wouldn't like to see more advertising across a broader spectrum. We've only refuted the argument that the company isn't doing any and provided proof to back it up.
The ones being childish are the people refusing to acknowledge that there are many valid types of advertising.
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Quote:I see we have another case of "Sour Grapes". Dry your eyes grasshopper that stinging sensation your feeling from getting spanked won't last forever.Originally Posted by Judas_Ace
Are you shopping for a new car? Because otherwise I'm not sure how you would know about the dealership offering that, since businesses only target ads at people that are already looking to buy.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Steampunkette
Before anyone asks: There is no open beta.
If an open Beta is announced for the "Wife" product, something is seriously wrong and you should, immediately, opt out of the closed beta. Even if you pre-purchased.
-Rachel-
Depends on if your into that sort of thing.
What you should actually be saying is that the "Wife" product doesn't come with an owners manual. Nor is there any technical support, or Customer Service to answer any questions you may have about the operation of said "Wife" product. It doesn't come with a warranty or a 30 day money back guarantee, and should you ever decide to trade it in for a newer model doing so will cost you half your stuff.
Batteries not included.
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Quote:Originally Posted by Judas_Ace
Giving bonuses with a preorder is great for people that are thinking of buying the game and looking at it. The issue is how do you get more people to look at it in the first place?
By advertising that people will get something from this store that they can't get if they buy it form another store. Businesses do it all the time in commercials. Only difference here is that it's done on the internet instead of TV.
Buy any new 2011 Ford car from our dealership and get free state inspections and replacement tires for the entire time you own the vehicle. (Yes a local dealership where I live is offering the tire thing)
Besides just who do you think advertising is directed at other than the people that might be interested in buying the product. Who do you think will buy more copies of GR. The people that go to Gamestop or some random group like the Amish.
The whole point of advertising is to target you customer base. That's why kosher foods are targeted mainly at Jewish people, feminine hy-gene products are targeted at women. AARP insurance targets Senior citizens.
This is a very common and effective advertising technique. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Slashman
Maybe I missed a post by you in that thread, but where did you cover the advertising angle exactly? By referencing a search on gamestop?
And if that is the case and that is perfectly sufficient advertising, why don't other MMOs(including the MMO giants) feel like it is enough?
Everyone from WoW to EVE to LOTR Online, Runescape, Perfect World, 9 Dragons, Age of Conan and Everquest uses banner ads on popular gaming and web comic sites.
Our 'advertising campaign' so far has been a bit of a joke. We used to have regular banners and webcomics on pvponline, but since that stopped years ago, we have done nothing even remotely close.
I suppose our ideas of effective marketing diverge greatly, but I'm wondering exactly how much you think the Gamestop promo has done to bring in new players and expose more people to the game.
Ah yes the "Sour Grapes" defense, how plebeian. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Judas_Ace
When people talk about advertising something, they're pretty clearly referring to doing things to draw particular attention to the product, not just handing to the retailer and saying "List this with your other MMOs for sale, kthx"
Doing things that draw particular attention to the product . . . just like this.
Anywhere else you buy Going Rogue all you get is the exact same thing everyone else will get when they buy it regardless if it's from the NCStore, Walmart, Best Buy.
BUT ONLY THE PEOPLE WHO BUY FROM GAMESTOP WILL GET THESE EXCLUSIVE ITEMS ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE THAT COMES WITH BUYING GOING ROGUE.
5 EXCLUSIVE POWER ENHANCEMENTS
A RAZER COH GR DESKTOP SKIN
A $5. DOLLAR COUPON FOR THE RAZER STORE
Well what do you know. that's the very definition of advertising you claim a company should be using.
Now no one is arguing that they couldn't be doing more, but they have started doing something. -
Quote:Funny it's third MMO they advertise having.Originally Posted by Elanthil
The company claims they ARE advertising...by way of having some kind of 'partnership' with Gamestop, apparently...funny, I go to Gamestop every week and have YET to see *ANYTHING* on their walls, racks or in/on the counters that has to do with this game.
I guess you aren't looking in the right place.
Of course you're probably going to point out the futility of advertising on the internet. Especially to gamers because everyone knows gamers don't use computers.
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Quote:Originally Posted by TerraDraconis
It means I have to use less creative names just to get something vaguely in the ball park of what I wanted.
I fail to see how your being forced to be more creative in thinking up a character name makes the name you finally get less creative. The less creative names are the ones that get taken first because they are the easiest ones to think of. -
Quote:Just a polite reminder, The main reason we don't see servers getting greyed out as often is because the devs have upgraded the servers to handle more people more efficiently.Originally Posted by Evil_Legacy
Back in the day when Freedom stayed grayed out.
I think population shift is a nice way to describe what we see in the amount of people online at any given time. This game has a very solid loyal core of fans, but while they are keeping their accounts active they do shift their playtimes and servers around for any number of reasons. The game also has a group of loyal "seasonal" customers. By that I mean the people that show up for a month or three every time a new issue/expansion comes out. Some keep their accounts active while they are away and others only pay for the time they are here.Quote:I still think you're right about this game will be around a long time, assuming that the most populated servers dont go "empty". I dont think the total population of game have decreased to a panic point but I think it's more like a population shift. When's the next free transfer thingy gonna happen? -
Quote:How dare people refute the doomcrying with facts. Simple truth is that despite all the doom and gloom people have been trying to proclaim every 2-3 months for six years about server emptiness, the game is still here and still going strong.Originally Posted by Evil_Legacy
There is always an excuse for the low population of the low pop servers. One day "oh it's everyone is in beta. "oh, everyoen is on test." "oh it's a weekday." "oh it's a weekend." "oh it's a holiday" "Oh it'a not a holiday." all said on one server. Over a course of time I heard all of those and more on a "particular" server. Hell I guess the pop will be up when hell freezes over and flying pigs win the super bowl while wearing "Hail Butter!" tan tops while ice skating into heaven to pull God's beard. Wake me up when that happens.
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Quote:Nail. Head. Hammertime.Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
That actually reminds me of another problem that's always eaten me, but I've always failed to put into words: bases are the result of cumulative character efforts. In essence, if I want a base that I'm not leeching off other people to fund, I have to make one myself, but that requires the cumulative effort of a lot of characters, and often not enough room in the base to give something to them all. Not to mention that not all of them make sense to share a communal space.
Here's the thing - I have as many costume slots as I can get unlocked on all my characters, give or take the free one here and there, and they're all filled with something I've given thought to and put work into. Each costume for each character is a piece of work in itself, but because each character has many, I feel accomplished at the end of the day. A base is just one large entity, and often shared between not just one and two, but between MANY characters, both mine and other people's.
As far as I'm concerned, bases will be useless for my purposes unless I can make, fund and develop one by myself, with a single character. Call it personal housing, call it personal bases, call it what you will. If my character needs a one-room apartment at the top floor for him to look depressingly out the window, an underground bunker in a space with 20 other people will not do. If my character needs his cave of solitude where he can be emo all by himself because no-one understands him, then a bed in the super group ward will not cut it.
Bases are, in essence, meta-game. They're an achievement for the PLAYER, not for the CHARACTER. A costume is a character thing. I made it, but I made it FOR HIM, to express his personality, his story and possibly his powers. A base is a player thing. The design belongs to the architect, the property deed belongs to the leaders, the other members are credited, but any way you look at it, it's something made by players for players with the help of players. It's meta-game, and therefore inherently much less interesting. -
Quote:Originally Posted by SuperFerret
It's possible, not everyone who plays the game is a regular on the forums. Mine says Nov 2006, which I guess is when I first activated a forum account, but I've only recently begun using it on a more regular basis.
It's also possible that he bought this account off of ebay.
It's also possible that he let his account lapse in Dec of 2006 and only reactivated it this July because he heard about Going Rogue and decided to come back.
It's also possible he reactivated an old account after he got his main account banned, and he's using this old one to get around the punishment.
We can speculate about all kinds of plausible reasons why he has a low post count and an old reg date.
Post counts and reg dates mean squat. -
Quote:I wonder how quickly people would have gotten the joke if they went with Clark Parker.Originally Posted by Bull Throttle
I just rescued Peter Kent from the Circle of Thorns... I couldn't shake the strange feeling that he didn't really need my help.
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Quote:In my perception of that style of character I would put him under the category of academic and use "Dr.", but that's me, I can easily see my preferred way of using the title reversed and an academic using "Doctor" and a medical practitioner using "Dr."Originally Posted by mousedroid
What about a guy who has mystical powers and only calls himself "Doctor" because an honorary PhD was bestowed upon him by Paragon U. after he foiled an attack on the Croatoa campus by a bunch of Cabal Sorceresses who couldn't get into the students-only midnight showing of the latest Twilight movie?
Actually the concept you describe has set my imagination off and I'm picturing this guy at the school with dozens of ancient tomes, scrolls, and whatnot. So now as I write this I'm leaning towards the "Doktor" spelling because the image is giving me that old world flavor that carries the history of Europe. -
Quote:None taken. Some people enjoy slotting their alts with IO sets. I prefer investing my inf in my bases. I only play casually so I rarely have enough to make a huge difference at any given time.Originally Posted by FourSpeed
Sorry - we're diametrically opposed on this issue, Forbin - no offense intended.
Regards,
4
Now I certainly wouldn't object if Smurphy "accidentally" emailed me 20 billion. cuz it sure would be a nice prestige boost for my bases.
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Character concept helps me decide whether a title should be spelled out or abbreviated. I could think of concepts where "Doctor", "Dr.", or even "Doc" would be appropriate. I'd need to know more of the concept to make up my mind.
Personally I'd use Dr. for a character with an academic concept,
Doctor for a character with a MD, PHD, DDO etc concept,
and Doc for a character with a corpsman/medic concept.
I'd even consider Doktor if the character had an old world European flavor. -
Quote:Originally Posted by Verene
I'd just settle for a cut to the interrupt time. Not sure if there's a logistical reason it needs to be that long but it's annoying to stand there 10 seconds only to have it interrupted by someone's ouro portal. At least it doesn't grey out when it gets interrupted like the dayjob porters - I often lose 3 charges on those to tp once.
Or you could simply move out of the flow of traffic when you want to use it. Every time I've seen what you describe happen it's because the person using the power is doing it next to a contact or trainer, in the middle of a crowded social area (under the AP statue, pocket d), near the entrance to a zone, city hall, AE building.
Get out of the way and it will happen a lot less. If someone follows you to screw it up, that's griefing so petition his sorry butt. -
Quote:Originally Posted by FourSpeed
Also, to put it in perspective (at least *my* perspective), here's what the
prices listed in Antoinette's post (and some I added) work out to...
I'm in a 2 person SG. We don't have anywhere near the earning power ofCode:Item Prestige Influence -------------------------------------------- Cabinet 100 50,000 Plant 100 50,000 Fluorescent Light 500 250,000 Desk (for stacking) 100 50,000 Fire Extinguisher 100 50,000 Corkboard 100 50,000 Medium SG Banner 1000 500,000 Large SG Banner 5000 2,500,000
a large group, and never will but, because we always run in SG mode, we
have a decently equipped base with storage, med bay, a couple tp's...
I listed a mere 8 items in that table. If I look at the cost via conversion,
at the current rate, that's 3.5 Million inf for just those 8 pieces. That's not
Walmart pricing, that's more than the most expensive furniture boutique
you've ever heard of pricing.
It seems to me that you are saying that we can get a lot more for our influence if we converted it to prestige than spending it on one of those purple pvp IO's on sale at the market. -
Quote:It can also refer to the games that let players take flaws for extra skill points. Mini-maxers will come up with the most convoluted logic and explanations to justify how they can take the maximum number of flaws that will have the least impact on how they play the character.Originally Posted by SerialBeggar
I've always thought the min/* part was in regards to resources used or is necessary to achieve the */max performance.
I have this 4 point phobia because I'm deathly afraid of butterflies, and another 3 point flaw for having a daughter, but I gave her up for adoption when she was born. -
Quote:We used to do this with Palladium RPG's. In that game the average stat was 3d6 but if you rolled 3 "sixes" for a stat you got to roll another d6, then once again if you rolled another "6". for a max of 30.Originally Posted by AnElfCalledMack
As a D&D min/maxer myself, I can give you a bit of the etymology. A "min/maxer" looks to maximise their strengths and minimise their weaknesses.
Then after picking your character class you got to choose skills. and a lot of the skills added even more points to to your stats. Then you went to your powers and equipment. Things like super powers, power armor, chemical/cybernetics also increased some of your stats.
Whenever we started a new Palladium campaign we dedicated the first night to just rolling up our characters and figuring out their abilities. We'd start the next night with our stupidly overpowered characters and laugh our butts off when the GM brought out something even worse from Rifts to turn our characters into fine red smears on the ground.
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Quote:Because we all know that new players, having never played the game, instinctively know that Atlas Park is the social hub and never choose Galaxy City as their starting zone.Originally Posted by SwellGuy
For the new player who doesn't buy Going Rogue and enters into Atlas Park or Mercy?
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Quote:Yes I do. I have multiple accounts and run both on different servers at the same time when I'm soloing.Originally Posted by SwellGuy
You play on multiple servers?
Right now while I'm online here I'm also toggling between Guild Wars and STO.Quote:Which one are you on NOW. That is one column. That is what 'online' means in English. -
Quote:I hope they do but I'm not gonna hold my breath. I've watched too many people get their hopes dashed when something didn't turn out to be what they imagined the devs were going to do.Originally Posted by Antoinette
They did mention changing it or at least looking into it though... *cross fingers*
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Quote:Darn right! I really hate the forced teaming STO has, because mooches use it to power level. They join other players missions without asking and then camp at the entrance/spawn point while other people do all the work so they can grab the end mission bonus for easy xp.Originally Posted by Decorum
That would be BAD! It has to be a separate, optional system.
Nothing turns people anti-social faster than forcing them to team with people they didn't go looking for.