Announcing Our European Community Coordinator

Uh, Mr Biridger, sir? Could you reply to my query about the download availability of the UK version - if and when?

Cheers,

MrCaptainMan (freedom)

PS while Im here I might as well reiterate how strongly I don't want to be segregated from the new friends Ive made on the US servers. And if you come out with the old 'We aren't forcing you to switch' chestnut, then let me say I don't want to be forced to choose between my new US friends and a whole load of new as-yet-unmade Brit friends.

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

[ QUOTE ]
Uh, Mr Biridger, sir? Could you reply to my query about the download availability of the UK version - if and when?

Cheers,

MrCaptainMan (freedom)

PS while Im here I might as well reiterate how strongly I don't want to be segregated from the new friends Ive made on the US servers. And if you come out with the old 'We aren't forcing you to switch' chestnut, then let me say I don't want to be forced to choose between my new US friends and a whole load of new as-yet-unmade Brit friends.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well said!!

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Infamy, infamy, they've all got it infamy!!!

[ QUOTE ]
Uh, Mr Biridger, sir? Could you reply to my query about the download availability of the UK version - if and when?

Cheers,

MrCaptainMan (freedom)

PS while Im here I might as well reiterate how strongly I don't want to be segregated from the new friends Ive made on the US servers. And if you come out with the old 'We aren't forcing you to switch' chestnut, then let me say I don't want to be forced to choose between my new US friends and a whole load of new as-yet-unmade Brit friends.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hear hear.

Incidentally, I will be in the UK for Christmas this year, and I was wondering...how is the gameplay over there on the US servers as compared to here in the US? Is there more lag, slower framerates, dropped connections, etc... I have the game on my laptop and I'll be playing via a DSL connection, so I was just curious.

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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Uh, Mr Biridger, sir? Could you reply to my query about the download availability of the UK version - if and when?

Cheers,

MrCaptainMan (freedom)

PS while Im here I might as well reiterate how strongly I don't want to be segregated from the new friends Ive made on the US servers. And if you come out with the old 'We aren't forcing you to switch' chestnut, then let me say I don't want to be forced to choose between my new US friends and a whole load of new as-yet-unmade Brit friends.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hear hear.

Incidentally, I will be in the UK for Christmas this year, and I was wondering...how is the gameplay over there on the US servers as compared to here in the US? Is there more lag, slower framerates, dropped connections, etc... I have the game on my laptop and I'll be playing via a DSL connection, so I was just curious.

[/ QUOTE ]
I can't say anything about frame rates as I've never checked. I play via a 2Meg broadband and get no lag, not even on test during the PCC Halloween event in Atlas Park.

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Infamy, infamy, they've all got it infamy!!!

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I don't want to be forced to choose between my new US friends and a whole load of new as-yet-unmade Brit friends.

[/ QUOTE ]
So it's sorta like, you'd like your cake, and you want to eat it, too?

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[ QUOTE ]

Incidentally, I will be in the UK for Christmas this year, and I was wondering...how is the gameplay over there on the US servers as compared to here in the US? Is there more lag, slower framerates, dropped connections, etc... I have the game on my laptop and I'll be playing via a DSL connection, so I was just curious.

[/ QUOTE ]

No noticable lag. No effect on framerate whatsoever.

No more disconnects than anyone else (and that means practically none these days if you have a stable connection).

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[ QUOTE ]

Incidentally, I will be in the UK for Christmas this year, and I was wondering...how is the gameplay over there on the US servers as compared to here in the US? Is there more lag, slower framerates, dropped connections, etc... I have the game on my laptop and I'll be playing via a DSL connection, so I was just curious.

[/ QUOTE ]

No noticable lag. No effect on framerate whatsoever.

No more disconnects than anyone else (and that means practically none these days if you have a stable connection).

[/ QUOTE ]

Sweet. At least now I know I won't have to put up with my mother-in-law for 10 days...

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I don't want to be forced to choose between my new US friends and a whole load of new as-yet-unmade Brit friends.

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So it's sorta like, you'd like your cake, and you want to eat it, too?

[/ QUOTE ]

Damn right.

What I mean is, in February Im going to have to choose between staying with my current version and subscription, with the advantage of having a by then hopefully half-decent hero and some solid teammates to play with but the disadvantage of terrible timezone differences, or saying byebye to them and starting over with the UK server, with a new Hero and another 30 quid or whatever to buy the game, with the advantage of being sure that most people I meet in-game are going to be eating lunch and ghoing to bed/getting up in RL at the same time as me.

Of course there is the third option, which Im surprised Bridger hasnt mentioned yet to back up his 'we aint forcing you to choose' claim, which is to continue to subscribe to the US version AND buy the UK one too. That way I have the choice and NCSoft gets twice the subscription. Then they could pay Bridger a bit more and he wouldnt have to moonlight and then he'd have enough time to answer my query about downloading. I mean, he must be really busy doing something, or surely he'd have read and replied by now?

MrCaptainMan (Freedom)

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

[ QUOTE ]


So, if you have any questions about CoH Europe, ask away and I'll do my best to answer them...

Cheers,

Bridger

[/ QUOTE ]

Guess I must have misunderstood this...

MrCaptainMan (Freedom)

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

just dropping a note saying welcome!

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Guess the expiration date on this thread has passed since it is now un-stickied.

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Hey all, sorry for the delay in getting back to you, but things are little busy here right now - more news on that soon.

Anyway...

ramas100 had a few more things to say:

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No one will be forced to buy the game again. If you are happy playing on the US servers, you are welcome to continue doing so.

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Yet you argue that there are good reasons why people will want to switch, so logically you expect most people to do so?

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I'm saying there are good reasons to have European servers, and there are good reasons why those servers will be seperate to the US ones. That's all. I am not trying to persuade any of you to switch, and I have no expectations either way.

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I'll fully admit that daoc is exactly where my secondary worry, about inferior service, comes from.

Thing is, I don't see how you break the vicious circle.

Localisation delays -> less population as vets hold out on US servers -> less money -> less capacity for your team to localise and run CS -> localisation delays.

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Like all vicious circles, the best way to break it is before it starts. As I have said before, there will be no localisation delays at launch, and we are currently putting the systems into place to ensure that, if there are ever any delays in patches and updates, they are at worst a matter of days.

Hero14 said:

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Really? Hmmmm.



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That would be my boss, not me

Jaggedy asked:

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Since my only language is English (real) then I would have to say no. I don't mean to sound overly negative. I can see real advantage in French & German servers. But why a separate server for the UK?

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Exactly the same reasons as for the French and German language servers, apart from the languages - dedicated customer and billing support, websites, message boards, community teams, competitions, events and more at peak European times. Once again, though, if you're already playing on the US servers and are happy, by all means stay there.

Mysteron said:

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quite honestly I don't want you wasting my ssubscription on translating your version of English to mine as there is no benefit at all for this

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I completely agree - although it's not 'my' version of English. I'm from Essex

MrCaptainMan asked:

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When the UK version comes out, I'll still be living in Poland. Is there going to be a Polish releease? If so, which language and server will it be in/on? If not, can I download the UK version from anywhere? And if so, can you tell me when?

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The game will be available in Poland. It'll also be available for download. The language you play in will be determined by which server you choose, and all European players will be able to select any of the European servers.

Okay guys, I'm afraid that's going to be it for now - as I said, we're pretty rushed here at the moment. As soon as I can, I'll let you all know what we're working on...

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As soon as I can, I'll let you all know what we're working on...

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What?? Not even a hint? How can we start the wild speculation without even a hint?

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Hey Bridger do you have a character in Virtue? A Controler? Because if you dont there is one Bridger lvl 6 in virtue. He was on my team and didn't talk much .

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The game will be available in Poland. It'll also be available for download. The language you play in will be determined by which server you choose, and all European players will be able to select any of the European servers.



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ah...so they don't plan to segregate us Brits from the French by virtue of which version we buy then. My (newly in Feb) downloaded version will let me access a French server just as a version bought in a shop in Berlin will let a German access a Spanish server. That isn't as bad as seemed earlier.

...hang on.

If this is the case, then why won't it let me access the US SERVERS?

Bah. Now Im still irritated and confused to boot.

MrCaptainmMan (Freedom)

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MArcs:

The Echo, Arc ID 1688 (5mish, easy, drama)
The Audition, Arc ID 221240 (6 mish, complex mech, comedy)
Storming Citadel, Arc ID 379488 (lowbie, 1mish, 10-min timed)

[quote[ QUOTE ]
quite honestly I don't want you wasting my ssubscription on translating your version of English to mine as there is no benefit at all for this

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I completely agree - although it's not 'my' version of English. I'm from Essex


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OK, if we had versions translated to various accents then I may consider abbandoning Justice, the Geordie server...would be like a really twisted version of home, and for the 1st few lvs you'd probably have the mobs being rescued from the citizens...

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I'm saying there are good reasons to have European servers, and there are good reasons why those servers will be seperate to the US ones. That's all. I am not trying to persuade any of you to switch, and I have no expectations either way.

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There are good reasons to have European servers, but I see no good reasons why they are segregated from the US servers. As a UK player I can choose to play on a German server, a French server, so why not a US server? Likewise, why can a US player not decide that he would be better suited to a European server due to working odd hours or being a native German speaker?

There are no benefits for the gamer in preventing US/European players corssing over into each other's servers. Having dedicated support hours etc. on European servers does not exlcude Europeans playing on US servers and vice versa.

I was looking forward to European release, the difficult decision as to how much time to dedicate to playing on my current, US based server, and how much to put into joining the new European community.

That decision has been taken away from me. I must play with my US friends, OR my UK friends under the system described. Welcome to the world of the Internet, not the Unitedstatesnet & the Euronet.

The localisation argument does not hold, if there will be no delays then the US client could include localisation and be used as a worldwide client, no need for a seperate English (United States) client for the States and English (Proper ), German, & French client for Europe.

I hope this is looked at again, seems a bad start to a European launch in my view. If SoE can get a European launch right, with all the things they managed to screw up in SWG then surely NCSoft/Cryptic can get it right too?

Looks like I'm stuck with all you crazy Americans for the foreseeable future

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Try to convince them to have one great server pool chooseable from everywhere in the world.

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just dropping a note saying welcome!

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ooo ooo, me too:

Hi!

even though i dont live in europe or speak many euro languages. Ive been reading your replies (bridger) to the questions and they all seem pretty thorough, looks like you a good man for the job and good luck.

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I'm saying there are good reasons to have European servers, and there are good reasons why those servers will be seperate to the US ones. That's all. I am not trying to persuade any of you to switch, and I have no expectations either way.

[/ QUOTE ]

There are good reasons to have European servers, but I see no good reasons why they are segregated from the US servers. As a UK player I can choose to play on a German server, a French server, so why not a US server? Likewise, why can a US player not decide that he would be better suited to a European server due to working odd hours or being a native German speaker?

There are no benefits for the gamer in preventing US/European players corssing over into each other's servers. Having dedicated support hours etc. on European servers does not exlcude Europeans playing on US servers and vice versa.

I was looking forward to European release, the difficult decision as to how much time to dedicate to playing on my current, US based server, and how much to put into joining the new European community.

That decision has been taken away from me. I must play with my US friends, OR my UK friends under the system described. Welcome to the world of the Internet, not the Unitedstatesnet & the Euronet.

The localisation argument does not hold, if there will be no delays then the US client could include localisation and be used as a worldwide client, no need for a seperate English (United States) client for the States and English (Proper ), German, & French client for Europe.

I hope this is looked at again, seems a bad start to a European launch in my view. If SoE can get a European launch right, with all the things they managed to screw up in SWG then surely NCSoft/Cryptic can get it right too?

Looks like I'm stuck with all you crazy Americans for the foreseeable future

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Most likely the "version" you buy dictates the support group that helps you. If you're in North America then you'd want the support group that's awake when you are. If you're in Europe then you'd want there support group. By "support group" I don't mean MMP Anon, I mean tech-support.

It all makes sense from a technical and business point of view. Which usually means it doesn't make sense from an end user's point of view. *sigh*

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I was hoping that a release in europe would bridge the gap across the ocean and let everyone play together. After playing Anarchy online for a bit Ive grown fond of playing side by side with folks from germany, finland, the UK and a whole skew of other euro nations.

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surely the english version is going be exactly the same as the american version ?, i mean i appreicate that it has a different support team and different websites but the game is still the bloody same at least for the english version so why cannot we at least be able to choose between american and english servers without having to have a seperate game ?

i dont see how having the same game on a different server is going to cause tech support or website problems as even though my version was downloaded from america if it has problems and i need support then the problems are going to be the same whatever version i have thus i could still phone the english tech support ?

or am i missing something ?

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[ QUOTE ]

Most likely the "version" you buy dictates the support group that helps you. If you're in North America then you'd want the support group that's awake when you are. If you're in Europe then you'd want there support group. By "support group" I don't mean MMP Anon, I mean tech-support.

It all makes sense from a technical and business point of view. Which usually means it doesn't make sense from an end user's point of view. *sigh*

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Why can the server you choose not dictate the support you get, I have no problems with US support hours at present. If I choose to play on a US server I know I'm going to get US server support hours. If that is what I choose to do then so be it.

The problem is choice, and that this release strategy completely removes the players' choice.

I will be able to choose to play on a German server, yet it is 14 years since I last lived in Germany -I doubt German language support will be much help to me -- I still have the choice to go play on a German server if I choose to though. Most likely my German speaking friends (whose English is a lot better than my German) would join me on a English language server.

Not allowing a worldwide community to be built up by putting up an Iron Curtain between European players and US players is such a step backwards for online gaming I am simply amazed that a it is CoH perpetrating this evil deed, this game has been a breath of fresh air as far as online gaming goes.

I'm just disappointed that the gaming community of the world is being broken up and categorised by continent in CoH, online gaming brings the world together (admitedly largely to flame, grief and annoy one another fom the anonimity of a PC), but with CoH that will not be the case - it will be Eurpeans in one room, and US folks in another - god forbid you have a friend in the US you want to meet up with ingame -- this is the Internet for crying out loud, he's the other side of all that water, it'll never work!!

Bottom line. There is no reasoning that justifies not giving players the choice to play on a US, English, German, or French server where-ever they are in the world. It's been done before, and it'll be done again (I hope).

I think I repeated myself a lot there, but it's 1am now and I've got to go to bed before I've got to go to work

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I'm saying there are good reasons to have European servers, and there are good reasons why those servers will be seperate to the US ones.

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I agree, there are good reasons to have Euro servers. Depending on what you mean by "separate" I may or may not agree with the second part of that statement. If "separate" means "not sharing space on the same hardware" then I agree. If it means "not located in the same country" I agree. If it means that "one version of the game will not let you play on both sets of servers" then I completely and 100% disagree.

If there really is a good reason for segregating your player base, then just tell us what the reason is. If it really is a good reason then many of us will accept it and will stop banging on about this topic. If it isn't a good reason then (obviously) we quite possibly won't.

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Exactly the same reasons as for the French and German language servers, apart from the languages - dedicated customer and billing support, websites, message boards, community teams, competitions, events and more at peak European times. Once again, though, if you're already playing on the US servers and are happy, by all means stay there.


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I would like to reiterate that the "dedicated customer and billing support, websites, message boards, community teams, competitions, events and more at peak European times" can and should happen regardless of whether there is an artificial segregation of the player base enforced.

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Mysteron said:
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quite honestly I don't want you wasting my ssubscription on translating your version of English to mine as there is no benefit at all for this

[/ QUOTE ]
I completely agree - although it's not 'my' version of English. I'm from Essex


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I apologise for not only the poor phrasing, but also the poor spelling in my post. I mentioned this as I was remembering DAoC's amazing ability to take what felt like years to translate from American into English.

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The game will be available in Poland. It'll also be available for download. The language you play in will be determined by which server you choose, and all European players will be able to select any of the European servers.


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The game is already available for download. That is how a lot of us international players got hold of the game in the first place. (Interestingly US players found that they could often not get to the download, presumably due to some location based IP filtering).

If the powers that be are going to persist with this segregation plan, will the US version still be available for download? Will it be the same download for the US version as for the Euro version? How will players be able to tell the difference and which version they want? Will location based IP blocking be used to determine who can and cannot download it, as for the US version (and if so, who will be blocked)? Will US players be able to download the Euro version?

Finally, I know a lot of us are still waiting for news about transferring characters from US servers to Euro servers: is it possible and is it free? (If you are trying to make me buy the game again, the transfer had better be not only possible, but implemented at launch, fast, easy to use, bug free and cost free! I expect nothing less after being forced to buy the same product again.)

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If there really is a good reason for segregating your player base, then just tell us what the reason is. If it really is a good reason then many of us will accept it and will stop banging on about this topic. If it isn't a good reason then (obviously) we quite possibly won't.

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He already has told us:

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as a few people have pointed out, it's a business decision. While City of Heroes may be played online, the people and companies responsible for running it are based in the real world, and that means that we have to deal with the same restrictions, limitations and practical concerns as any other multinational company.

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I think the key phrases here are 'business', 'real world' and 'multinational company'. Pretty much all multinational companies are organised into regional divisions, which are run as seperate profit centres.

And let's not forget that it's not just NCsoft that's doing it this way - from what I read, WoW is going to work the same way...

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