Nice to have an answer from the powers that be on the subject. Big thanks WW for going out of her way to apease us. I'm pretty satisfied with the marketing side of things now.
Still not sure about the server population side, obviously without knowing what this system is I can't comment much on it. But I feel it would have to somehow connect us to the wider CoX community (A.K.A us servers). Somehow linking all the EU servers in some way (while nice) feels more like a band-aid solution to me. We can but wait and see I s'pose...
Anyway, cheers for the effort.
P.S
Any news if there's going to be any physical marketing over here? Boxes I understand now, but are these partners retail chains that are going to have posters etc - or just retail websites?
Either way publicity is publicity. At least the only people to find about Gr aren't the people who already knew anymore ^^
P.P.S
Can you softly remind the marketing team to advertise the european version this time ^^
would be nice if they actually brought them to the right side hehe
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Maybe they'll do what Dark Age of Camelot did and cluster multiple servers together so that you can travel between them... it's a nice compromise between a full merge (which can cause character and SG name conflicts) and completely separate servers.
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Originally Posted by Myriad
Maybe a single shard solution where multiple servers handle all the zone instances?
No idea if such a thing would be possible, but it might solve some problems. |
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Not that any of this affects me directly because I live in the US, but I can't wait to hear what they come up with that will allow NA and EU to be one big family.
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Originally Posted by War Witch
Last topic: servers. Yes, the EU servers feel underpopulated at times, and that makes it harder to group. Last year we merged the forums to bring the EU and US communities together. There are, however, no plans to merge the servers, but we are looking at designing an in-game system that will help solve the problem. One of my big personal goals is bringing people together, and this will help with that agenda. (How's that for vague? What can I tell you, it's "in development.")
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That reminds me, tell us about these mysterious marketing people. Do they have names? Do they even have faces?|
Originally Posted by Lady Arete
But thank you War Witch. You've given reasons and answers. (If only the men/woman in black that you talked to could have talked abit this... earlier. By the way do they dress in black, are they men/woman or are they Nemesis automatons? ;D )
Yeay for War Witch. |
For some reason the words "CoX marketing team" have become synonymous with Pratchett's"Auditors" to me.
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yeah late night rambles i go on make no sense but was list merge i was onna bout dont know why there so against it!?!?! unless were going serverless |
Originally Posted by Lady Arete
Yeay for War Witch.
Thanks for the update  Really curious on this new feature that you were vague about. I suspect some kind of linky with the US. Maybe not a server list merge (I can still hope) but something close. However I would not know or be able to guess what it would be... But thank you War Witch. You've given reasons and answers. (If only the men/woman in black that you talked to could have talked abit this... earlier. By the way do they dress in black, are they men/woman or are they Nemesis automatons? ;D ) Yeay for War Witch. @fatalnova. I think you mean Server LIST merge, NOT Server merge. Server merge would mean two servers merged into one (and unhappy people). List merge would mean joint US and EU list (aka 15 servers). I do believe it was Server LIST you meant to say, just wanted to be sure |
Thanks for the update WW, always nice to get it straight from the top.
Will there be advertising on Steam etc to show that GR has launched and the game is all sparkly now?
I suspect the teaming thing will be an option to set a team as 'looking for members' and if a person then sets themselves as 'looking for group/team' they'll get an auto invite, or something similar.
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It might be - but don't read too much into that |
Originally Posted by Starsman
Yay, finally, Cross Server Teaming is coming!!!
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@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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Thank you for the official word War Witch. |
Originally Posted by War Witch
Hey everyone,
Now that I have got some more “official” information from our publishing/marketing teams in Europe, I figured I’d give you a quick update. I'll paraphrase as best I can. |
Another thing you might want to point out for the marketroids[1] is that the North American servers are cannibalizing the European servers and that, while the money all end up in the same stomach, this makes it difficult to keep the EU servers alive and busy.
If they are committed[2] to keeping the EU servers running, they simply must make it advantageous for English-speaking Europeans to select them over the NA servers. As the situation is today, there exist nothing but disadvantages in opting for the EU servers over the NA ones -- to the point that some players are foregoing the otherwise so effective veteran's awards to move from EU to NA.
[1] No, I'm pretty sure that's the official term.
[2] Aaah. Let's pause and cherish that thought for a moment. If everybody in Sales and Marketing everywhere were committed we might see a dip in sales and consumption, I suppose, but think about the peace and quiet!
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I teamed with an 8 year old American on Defaint server this evening - it was...different |
Originally Posted by Leif_Roar
they simply must make it advantageous for English-speaking Europeans to select them over the NA servers.
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@Golden Girl
City of Heroes comics and artwork
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You're right on both counts War Witch, they're not the answers I wanted to hear, but it is progress! To have at hand an official summary of the business factors behind the decision should help us all better understand why NCSoft and Paragon Studios choose this model of distribution. Without this information we would all be going around in circles working ourselves up into a frenzy (or even bigger one at least) based on speculation and rumour.|
Originally Posted by War Witch
Anyway, I'm sure they're not all the answers you wanted to hear, but at least you have "an official word" now, which was the goal of the exercise. So that is progress.
War Witch |
Now we know why, we can set to rest the rumours of the EU being shut down and many other perfectly sensible (as much as they were emotional) responses we've had as consumers.
If I'm right your response could be summarised by those three dirty little words that no customer likes to hear, but have grown accustomed to, it's just not economically viable.
I can live with that, and hope the EU forumites can too, after all, we wouldn't want bad business decisions to result in our favourite game going down the chute.
War Witch, thanks very much for taking the time and putting in the effort to get what essentially counts as the closest anybody can come to a "straight answer" from Marketing. Even if I don't like that answer, I do like the professionalism, determination and forthrightness you've shown in getting it to us. For that reason, I'll suck it up and live with it.
Thanks again.
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Originally Posted by War Witch
Hey everyone,
Now that I have got some more “official” information from our publishing/marketing teams in Europe, I figured I’d give you a quick update. I'll paraphrase as best I can. |
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| This isn’t just from me (because you guys already know that I love you), but the EU community is very important to both Paragon Studios and NCsoft as a whole, and have always been passionate about making sure you have a great time in the game. Everyone involved is committed to making sure that you feel loved and appreciated, and I hope that starts to come across, especially as we ramp up marketing and PR for Going Rogue. In fact, I’ve been told that NCsoft is about to announce a number of distribution partners that will sell and promote Going Rogue in Europe, including offering the prepurchase program that kicked off earlier this month. You’re also about to start seeing a lot more coverage of Going Rogue on your favourite gaming websites, blogs, press outlets, and advertising as the expansion nears its launch date. (Ok, that sounded kind of marketing-ish, but it's pretty much verbatim what they said.) |
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| Next up: the box. This is a big issue and I know some of you are pretty cheesed about it. So here is the information I got (which shouldn’t come as a surprise, really): because the game is online, and our consumers are predominantly online, it makes business sense to distribute online. Most MMO gamers in the EU are very net savvy and comfortable purchasing/downloading online. So NCsoft sells online because that is how more and more people are buying games, and we do get most of our new players from online distribution. There are boxes on the shelves in the U.S. because, from a distribution perspective, there is more demand here—a much lower percentage of people in the US have broadband compared to the EU. (I didn't know that part.) Plus online distribution and production is much less complicated in the US, with only a single language version and a handful of major retailers and distributors, versus three languages and dozens of distributors in Europe. So there are no plans for a box on shelves in EU, but you will see Going Rogue available soon in a variety of digital stores across Europe. |
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| Before you scream at me, remember, this isn’t something I have any say in. I’m just the messenger, so don’t shoot me! |
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| Last topic: servers. Yes, the EU servers feel underpopulated at times, and that makes it harder to group. Last year we merged the forums to bring the EU and US communities together. There are, however, no plans to merge the servers, but we are looking at designing an in-game system that will help solve the problem. One of my big personal goals is bringing people together, and this will help with that agenda. (How's that for vague? What can I tell you, it's "in development.") |
1)Merge the servers...Are we talking about moving all 4 euro servers into the same section as the US servers or moving all players into US servers...because at least for me, when i say merge the servers i mean move the servers to the same section as US so people can choose from freedom and union etc etc and not move players.
--This i'm hoping will happen in the future if numbers dont pick up, because the number issue is big on everyones mind and has for ages...though technical issues can be a problem- sadly we know
2)In-game system to help sort out the numbers....where atm any players guess is as good as mine to what excatly that is and how it can help..let alone when it's going to be ready....so i'll watch this and see what happens.
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Anyway, I'm sure they're not all the answers you wanted to hear, but at least you have "an official word" now, which was the goal of the exercise. So that is progress.
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overall i kind of expected this kind of answer while also happy we got one at last and that even though it doesn't always feel like it..we are in the minds of the back stage teams
Looking back at this thread i think the issues mention really are our voice, box sets and numbers within the EU- all EU servers which are important and while for me it sounds like i'm repeating myself in places and sound like i'm moaning or being depressing i'm really not..in this post anyway and just speaking my mind and hope that the numbers will pick up in what is clearly a bloody battle ground of numbers within the land of MMO games...and it doesn't help more MMO's are migrating to these lands as well...even from space.
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Thanks for trying War Witch and thanks for relaying what you could. Guess it's off to the prepurchase option then as I've seen something that interests me.|
Originally Posted by War Witch
Hey everyone,
*snipitty snip snip* War Witch |
Hope you had fun at PAX and that all goes well with the next issues.
Carrotly yours,
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Cheers for the info WW. Wish it was a bit more concrete but what can you do. Think I'll stick to the US side for Going Rogue now, I'll just have to make sure I don't alt too much so I've got a character available for Incarnates when they come along.
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Originally Posted by War Witch
Next up: the box. This is a big issue and I know some of you are pretty cheesed about it. So here is the information I got (which shouldn’t come as a surprise, really): because the game is online, and our consumers are predominantly online, it makes business sense to distribute online. Most MMO gamers in the EU are very net savvy and comfortable purchasing/downloading online. So NCsoft sells online because that is how more and more people are buying games, and we do get most of our new players from online distribution. War Witch
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I can see the logic in this however it still doesn't help our population (or get you more subscribers), can you tell us if an online advertising campaign for the EU is going to happen, perhaps on a few key European sites?
Also as the expansion for us is a digital download only, is there any way it can be sold on retail sites such as Amazon and Play over here, as I feel that would surely raise awareness.
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I have an inkling what it may be now you've been a little more specific about it WW. Those who played CO, for a brief time of course, will understand what I am hinting at. Guild Wars employs a similar system. If I am correct, then may I say that is a superb idea WW.|
Originally Posted by War Witch
Last topic: servers. Yes, the EU servers feel underpopulated at times, and that makes it harder to group. Last year we merged the forums to bring the EU and US communities together. There are, however, no plans to merge the servers, but we are looking at designing an in-game system that will help solve the problem. One of my big personal goals is bringing people together, and this will help with that agenda. (How's that for vague? What can I tell you, it's "in development.") |
Fury
Thanks for the reply Melissa, it's genuinely appreciated.
I definitely continue to have issues - but I'm old and cynical and I worked in marketing long enough to know that most of what Marketing says tends to be spin, q.v and doesn't always correlate to real facts.
I am actually ok with "no plans to merge the servers" - but I read your post carefully and what I didn't see is any long term commitment to the EU. "No plans to merge servers" doesn't equate to "We fully intend to grow European market share and continue to support the EU community."
I'm still very worried.
What would be really useful - and I don't know if this is possible - but an opportunity to connect directly with some of the Faceless Ones from behind the scenes via this forum who are responsible for marketing and infrastructure and the like, so that we can grill them face to face, so to speak. Would that be doable at all?
Thelonious Monk
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Kinda think they would get torn to pieces by the first reply | What would be really useful - and I don't know if this is possible - but an opportunity to connect directly with some of the Faceless Ones from behind the scenes via this forum who are responsible for marketing and infrastructure and the like, so that we can grill them face to face, so to speak. Would that be doable at all? |
@Damz Find me on the global channel Union Chat. One of the best "chat channels" ingame!
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Pretty much agree.|
Originally Posted by EU_Damz
Kinda think they would get torn to pieces by the first reply
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They will be torn apart like a lump of meat thrown into a pack of hungry wolves.
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Originally Posted by The_Thorny_Devil
Pretty much agree.
They will be torn apart like a lump of meat thrown into a pack of hungry wolves. |
Yeps.
Which is a terrible indictment of them. Maybe they need to actually get their faces in here, and let people rant at them.
Then once the ranting's done - and it will be short and sharp knowing how generous this community is generally - we can actually get a proper dialogue going - they can give us insight into what they are doing/planning and we can provide feedback about how things are working for us.
Thelonious Monk
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Oh gods...|
Originally Posted by Sojourn_EU
That reminds me, tell us about these mysterious marketing people. Do they have names? Do they even have faces?
For some reason the words "CoX marketing team" have become synonymous with Pratchett's"Auditors" to me. |
THEM!
Yes...Thats actually a really good parralel now you mention it...why didn't I think of that? Oo
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Originally Posted by Zwillinger
GG, I would tell you that "I am killing you with my mind", but I couldn't find an emoticon to properly express my sentiment.
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Originally Posted by Captain_Photon
NOTE: The Incarnate System is basically farming for IOs on a larger scale, and with more obtrusive lore.
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100 Quatloos says they make it to 1:30.|
Originally Posted by vorpal
Yeah. They won't last more than a minute.
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RELEASE THE HOUNDS!
Thanks War Witch for all your work on our behalf.
You have got me thinking (not often that happens) about this
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I will go away and ponder| One of my big personal goals is bringing people together, and this will help with that agenda. (How's that for vague? What can I tell you, it's "in development.") |
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If it is that (and I'm not sure why we're not mentioning it - perhaps we'll scare it away?) it would be an amazing boon. A phenominal improvement. I remember the difference when they added it to GW...|
Originally Posted by Wondering_Fury
I have an inkling what it may be now you've been a little more specific about it WW. Those who played CO, for a brief time of course, will understand what I am hinting at. Guild Wars employs a similar system. If I am correct, then may I say that is a superb idea WW.
Fury |
Anyway yeah, I'm not getting my hopes up, not that I doubt that the mystery solution might work, it's just I doubt it will be this.
Merging the lists would likely still cause name conflicts, because the character databases would have to be merged.
The only way they could avoid that would be to have the EU servers still use a different character database than the US servers while simultaneously being on the same server list. I imagine it would be possible, but there'd likely be some hiccups in functionality that would be less than intuitive to people (like global friends or channels not functioning cross-database).
Yay, finally, Cross Server Teaming is coming!!!