CoX player population is...?
By
Acemace,
Posted on: 2010-05-19 21:22 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
A guy I went to high school with found me on Facebook and stated that he had tried COH, but found the graphics not as good as WOW.
Are our graphics REALLY not as good as Wow's?
I find that hard to believe ...
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Missing the fact that you can't trust what you read in massively.com?|
Originally Posted by Luminara
Am I missing something (i readily admit that i lack any real understanding of financial data... i can barely follow my monthly checking account statement)? Would pre-purchases of GR account for the $1,100,000 difference between the estimated subscriber numbers and the actual revenue (can't convince myself that the booster pack theory holds any water)? Or is that 40,000 estimate just... well, bat-poo crazy?
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It seems like sheer speculation to me. If that is the case, it is not news or information. It's just a guess. And possibly one to irate CoH fans so that they will post comments.
I have seen quite a lot of this kind of behavior going on.
That is to say, these supposed MMO news sites that are filled with articles speculating things that aren't true or just plain posting articles that are completely erroneous just to cause reader feedback to occur.
It seems pretty common in our society now. It makes the writers look good to get feedback - regardless if it is good or bad feedback - and regardless of what the writer has posted involves legitimate information at all.
So either THEY(tm) are trying to "black ball" CoH through misinformation, they are just plain ignorant, poorly researching their subject matter, or fishing for feedback.
THEY(tm) are spreading misinformation.
If NCSoft isn't posting numbers, then it is all speculation.
If COH::GR can get some good product-facing in stores ... I certainly hope it get some facing in stores.
Anyone want to buy a CoH signature character standee?
These things could be good for store promotions, conventions, etc. Let alone the crazed CoH fans for whatever use that could come to their minds?!
Here's an example of the Boba Fett standee. For a while this was the best selling standee of all time.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000P1JWD0/?tag=hashemian-20
Standees are probably "print on demand" at this point.
PS - Just another idea for the DEVs there. I'm not selling the things. It's just an idea, and I am pretty sure there would be people that would buy them. I'm sure that a row of heroes/villains standing up behind the table at a convention would draw some attention.
I seriously think something needs to be done to bring in new players.
Or why not just do what all other successful MMOs actually do, which is advertise on gaming websites? No need to take the risk of reinventing the wheel when a few well-placed banner ads would actually do the trick.
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That's just it. Nothing is being done. Forget TV ads...but I'm not seeing COX on web comic sites or other gaming/tech sites.|
Originally Posted by Positivity
Or why not just do what all other successful MMOs actually do, which is advertise on gaming websites? No need to take the risk of reinventing the wheel when a few well-placed banner ads would actually do the trick.
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Perhaps I'm missing the bigger picture, but you put this much money and effort into an expansion and do minimal advertising. Is this an expansion squarely aimed at retaining veteran players? The expansion itself isn't something that's paid for on a monthly basis...it's a one time buy. Is NCSoft really OK with not pushing for maximum sales on this?
I'll probably never understand corporate business...
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Considering that a world based on an urban landscape with real-life proportions and details is inherently more boring than a fantasy-based world, I think he might have missed the point in his comparison. A more valid thematic comparison would be to compare CoX to CO, but CO's kind of a mix between CoX and WoW graphically. He should turn Ultra Mode up and give it another try.
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Originally Posted by BlueBattler
A guy I went to high school with found me on Facebook and stated that he had tried COH, but found the graphics not as good as WOW.
Are our graphics REALLY not as good as Wow's? I find that hard to believe ... |
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Originally Posted by The_Alt_oholic
Missing the fact that you can't trust what you read in massively.com?
It seems like sheer speculation to me. If that is the case, it is not news or information. It's just a guess. And possibly one to irate CoH fans so that they will post comments. I have seen quite a lot of this kind of behavior going on. That is to say, these supposed MMO news sites that are filled with articles speculating things that aren't true or just plain posting articles that are completely erroneous just to cause reader feedback to occur. It seems pretty common in our society now. It makes the writers look good to get feedback - regardless if it is good or bad feedback - and regardless of what the writer has posted involves legitimate information at all. So either THEY(tm) are trying to "black ball" CoH through misinformation, they are just plain ignorant, poorly researching their subject matter, or fishing for feedback. THEY(tm) are spreading misinformation. If NCSoft isn't posting numbers, then it is all speculation. If COH::GR can get some good product-facing in stores ... I certainly hope it get some facing in stores. Anyone want to buy a CoH signature character standee? These things could be good for store promotions, conventions, etc. Let alone the crazed CoH fans for whatever use that could come to their minds?! Here's an example of the Boba Fett standee. For a while this was the best selling standee of all time. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000P1JWD0/?tag=hashemian-20 Standees are probably "print on demand" at this point. PS - Just another idea for the DEVs there. I'm not selling the things. It's just an idea, and I am pretty sure there would be people that would buy them. I'm sure that a row of heroes/villains standing up behind the table at a convention would draw some attention. I seriously think something needs to be done to bring in new players. |
Standees? Nah.
Was the massively article speculating? Yup, I am sure.
Was the massively article malicious? I don't think so. Massively does a regular feature on CoH almost weekly. They help keep this game in the public's eye. However, I am sure NC Soft did not reveal any sub. info or anything like that so they are doing their own guesstimations.
NC used to be a bit more forthcoming with sub numbers but not lately. That smells a little fishy to me...
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that game is why i wasnt here earlier, it made me hate mmos. even had a good linkshell, but deleveling on death because of their puntitive debt penalties..and being suddenly unable to equip any of my gear, oh yeah, people who complain about a minor inconvenience here or there just do not know.
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Originally Posted by Radionuclide
They had more reason to be.
 --Rad |
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Originally Posted by MrHassenpheffer
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkRe_...os=YXAc1JW59wg
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You and I going at eachother like this... well...|
Originally Posted by Mr. DJ
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYubpuIe3cw
Ignoring anyone is a mistake. You might miss something viral to your cause.
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I guess that's because you're looking for a conspiracy.|
Originally Posted by TheJazMan
NC used to be a bit more forthcoming with sub numbers but not lately. That smells a little fishy to me...
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NCSoft used to reveal more detailed information than their competition and eventually decided it wasn't a good idea. Rather than smelling anything fishy, I found that decision totally unsurprising.
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it is kind of scary really. i posted the exact quote he used he OUTRIGHT SAYS THAT THIS IS A WORST CASE ESTIMATE, AND THAT IT IS NOT A DOOM POST but people still are confused about it. It seems that no matter how clear you make it, people will co-opt what a person says for their own purposes.
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Originally Posted by Organica
You can all disagree with the writer all you want. He didn't say we had 40,000 subscribers, he said at worst we had at least that much, and that was still a pretty good number.
He never said he believed that was an actual number. Sheesh, people really don't know how to read do they? |
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No. CoH with the upgrade it got in Issue 6 (not even counting Ultra mode) has considerably better graphics than WoW. Both technically more advanced effects, as well as higher resolution textures on scenery and players.|
Originally Posted by BlueBattler
A guy I went to high school with found me on Facebook and stated that he had tried COH, but found the graphics not as good as WOW.
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A lot of people though don't realize that because they don't look at the graphics. They see a bunch of buildings in a cityscape and think "boring", without taking the time to actually look at them. WoW's landscape is much more colorful, varied, and (ironically) cartoonish. I have to admit WoW's fantastic vistas can often look subjectively "better" at a distance, even though up close they're polygonal and pixellated. The lack of actual detail is a little disappointing given how much of a bigger budget they have to work with.
As far as Ultra mode, WoW isn't even close. They got some limited shadow mapping on players only a while back. They're getting reflective water in the next expansion.
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Compare NCSoft Q1 report for 2010 with the Q1 report for 2010. They earned about twice as much in Korean Won a year ago from CoX.|
Originally Posted by Samuel_Tow
How do you figure?
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That level of income was fairly close as I recall to what they reported back in those days when they still included subscriber numbers for CoX in the reports, which was somewhere in 110K-120K range at that time.
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Graphics are a whole lot more than polygon counts.|
Originally Posted by MTS
No. CoH with the upgrade it got in Issue 6 (not even counting Ultra mode) has considerably better graphics than WoW. Both technically more advanced effects, as well as higher resolution textures on scenery and players.
A lot of people though don't realize that because they don't look at the graphics. They see a bunch of buildings in a cityscape and think "boring", without taking the time to actually look at them. WoW's landscape is much more colorful, varied, and (ironically) cartoonish. I have to admit WoW's fantastic vistas can often look subjectively "better" at a distance, even though up close they're polygonal and pixellated. The lack of actual detail is a little disappointing given how much of a bigger budget they have to work with. As far as Ultra mode, WoW isn't even close. They got some limited shadow mapping on players only a while back. They're getting reflective water in the next expansion. |
Some games released for NES still have spectacular graphics.
If you have to admit that another game's vistas can often look subjectively better, then you just proved the point that its graphics are better.
A game that had the world's most technologically advanced rendering of a warehouse would be the same way.
A game is not supposed to be some kind of... place where people enjoy themselves!
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I completely agree with you on this. Well maybe not on the NES (there's only so much you can do with such a limited palette), but some SNES era games still look quite nice.|
Originally Posted by ChaosExMachina
Graphics are a whole lot more than polygon counts.
Some games released for NES still have spectacular graphics. |
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| If you have to admit that another game's vistas can often look subjectively better, then you just proved the point that its graphics are better. |
In general, the CoH world feels a lot more immersive to me. Partly that's due to the level of detail that exists even in mundane environments. Partly it's due to mechanics (mostly collision detection on actors). Partly it's due to CoH having some quite spectacular vistas of its own -- sunrise in several zones with full bloom and depth of field enabled, the instanced island in Cim, St. Martial at night, Croatoa at dusk, etc. They're just a bit more subtle since the world is designed to more closely resemble our own.
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I did that - but I can't really see much change between the two.
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Originally Posted by Sente_
Compare NCSoft Q1 report for 2010 with the Q1 report for 2010.
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Originally Posted by rian_frostdrake
it is kind of scary really. i posted the exact quote he used he OUTRIGHT SAYS THAT THIS IS A WORST CASE ESTIMATE, AND THAT IT IS NOT A DOOM POST but people still are confused about it. It seems that no matter how clear you make it, people will co-opt what a person says for their own purposes.
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Couple things:
1) I think we have less multiboxing than we used to, so there are fewer accounts even if we haven't lost a single human player. (0x8 playing, for instance.)
2) We DO still have people with extra accounts. I don't know how many, as a percentage of the population.
As far as graphics- the entry-level zones may not be anything to sing about but there's some good stuff in this game. I don't know what WOW has to show off, though.
Mini-guides: Force Field Defenders, Blasters, Market Self-Defense, Frankenslotting.
So you think you're a hero, huh.
@Boltcutter in game.
I dropped my second account... my three mates who all have second account are letting theirs expire...wont get into the specifics 
PS not a DOOM issue!
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Originally Posted by Exodus_V
I dropped my second account... my three mates who all have second account are letting theirs expire...wont get into the specifics
PS not a DOOM issue! |
Economy DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Naw...its more of a been there done it. Plus i rarely sit down and bang out 5+ hour play sessions anymore(life style changes)...i've been shielded from the economy woes(its the bad side of what i do in IT)...now in-game economy pvp lol...thats another story!|
Originally Posted by Westley
Economy DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I will say the game is getting better and better each day and so does the player base...besides the game and boards helps keep me young!!!
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You do realize that we're still about two months away from Going Rogue to actually release, right? Maybe a little less than that. |
Originally Posted by Slashman
That's just it. Nothing is being done. Forget TV ads...but I'm not seeing COX on web comic sites or other gaming/tech sites.
Perhaps I'm missing the bigger picture, but you put this much money and effort into an expansion and do minimal advertising. Is this an expansion squarely aimed at retaining veteran players? The expansion itself isn't something that's paid for on a monthly basis...it's a one time buy. Is NCSoft really OK with not pushing for maximum sales on this? I'll probably never understand corporate business... |
Advertising for games really shouldn't kick off until 1 or 2 weeks before your release.
And E3 is coming in a couple of weeks, which should spike awareness.
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Perhaps I'm living in a slightly different universe than you, but in what reality do game companies wait until less than 2 months before release to do aggressive advertising for their game?|
Originally Posted by Defenestrator
You do realize that we're still about two months away from Going Rogue to actually release, right? Maybe a little less than that.
Advertising for games really shouldn't kick off until 1 or 2 weeks before your release. And E3 is coming in a couple of weeks, which should spike awareness. |
Most games and expansions ramp up advertising well before that. Multiple interviews on as many sites as will have them. Banner ads all over the place(these should be going on for an MMO regardless of an expansion being near release or not). Taken a look at the The Old Republic website?
You hype stuff to make sales. Successful game companies and even terrible game companies do this because you want to draw attention to your product. You want people to constantly be in anticipation of what you are bringing. You want your game to be on the minds of potential customers all the time. You do not just sit on your *** and make a few website updates and then post a note about it on your own forums if you want to bring in sales.
Take a closer look at the game industry and how it works before you make statements like that. Bioware pushed Dragon Age so much that folks at Bluesnews and other gaming sites were talking about being sick of hearing about it.
The people on the forums aren't the ones who need to be reminded about COX...its all the other folks who haven't heard about it or who may not know enough about it to give it a try. Good grief...you realize that there are free to play MMOs that do more advertising than COX? That doesn't seem weird to you?
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Please don't use swtor as an example. They honestly have no need to create any hype for that game, it's Bioware and StarWars. The Bioware brand itself sells the game. |
Originally Posted by Slashman
Perhaps I'm living in a slightly different universe than you, but in what reality do game companies wait until less than 2 months before release to do aggressive advertising for their game?
Most games and expansions ramp up advertising well before that. Multiple interviews on as many sites as will have them. Banner ads all over the place(these should be going on for an MMO regardless of an expansion being near release or not). Taken a look at the The Old Republic website? You hype stuff to make sales. Successful game companies and even terrible game companies do this because you want to draw attention to your product. You want people to constantly be in anticipation of what you are bringing. You want your game to be on the minds of potential customers all the time. You do not just sit on your *** and make a few website updates and then post a note about it on your own forums if you want to bring in sales. Take a closer look at the game industry and how it works before you make statements like that. Bioware pushed Dragon Age so much that folks at Bluesnews and other gaming sites were talking about being sick of hearing about it. The people on the forums aren't the ones who need to be reminded about COX...its all the other folks who haven't heard about it or who may not know enough about it to give it a try. Good grief...you realize that there are free to play MMOs that do more advertising than COX? That doesn't seem weird to you? |
However, paragon studios could certainly take some tips from swtors marketing department.
I don't think advertising will be the miracle cure for this game. NC Soft wants to turn a profit and that's the bottom line. I am sure this game isn't raking in huge $ for them but it must be making solid profits. Advertising costs and I can't see them spending huge $ on ads. I doubt we'll see TV ads like WoW or in the theatre/movies.
I honestly think they have to get creative. Let companies run ads in game and make part of the agreement they do a bit for CoX. Things like comic companies (obviously not DC or Marvel) could put ads in their comics in exchange for an ad in game. You could make a stronger relationship with these other comic companies by putting their character in game. For example, have a SPAWN tf/sf that's just a one off and is all about SPAWN and his world/canon. CoX could spin this as an alternate reality thing etc so there is no direct connect with the canon.
Maybe some film companies would put a little ad in their campaign for us if we did the same for them in game.
The big issue is the age of this game. It can't directly compete with the new stuff as far as looks. Advertising has some work to do.