I19 going Live today?
By
AzureSkyCiel,
Posted on: 2010-11-16 08:19 in CoH and CoV General Discussions
Hell in the closed beta we hardly heard any peep out of them what so ever. The most we heard was from Avatea or Ocho when they posted a new thread. Aeon and Castle maybe posted a total of 7 times combined. I would guess that the higher ups have told everyone to not talk as much on the forums.
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I think they're doing just fine. Feeding a sense of entitlement, which is what your suggestion really amounts to, is one of the worst things a company can do if it wants to retain customers. Once you start down that road, the day you fail to meet their expectations you lose them. |
Originally Posted by Intrepic
The devs received an early gift this year: an influx of new and returning players to their 60 month old title. Some would say that was more than a gift - some would call it a miracle.
The devs have, in return, given their customers the gift of silence. After all, nothing communicates to customers quite like no communication at all. What the devs need to understand is that they are still in that "golden window" of opportunity with the recent influx of players that have been filling up the servers. You have them for the moment but you have not retained them yet, and there is a very real danger that when they depart they will drag some long time players with them. Silence is not going to help retain these players, iterating faster will. Right now your focus needs to be on customer service (communication!) and iterating FASTER than your competition. Iterating faster means that while new content goes out in ISSUES, game changes that improve quality of life for your players CAN GO OUT in weekly patches. It would give you the flexibility to announce today that "I19 is delayed until after the holiday, but here is inherent fitness while we work on it. Enjoy!". It is called agile and in this case it is the difference between frustrating your player base and delighting them. |
I doubt very much any meaningful number of new or old players are going to jump ship because I19 is going to end up releasing after Thanksgiving (which was also given as a possibility at the same event that set the hopeful date of the 16th), who not end up quitting very soon anyway even if it had released early.
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How delighted would people be this very second if the Devs announced (this very second) that they are delaying the release of I19 until say Nov 30th? Would that help them or us do anything productive, this very second?|
Originally Posted by Intrepic
The devs received an early gift this year: an influx of new and returning players to their 60 month old title. Some would say that was more than a gift - some would call it a miracle.
The devs have, in return, given their customers the gift of silence. After all, nothing communicates to customers quite like no communication at all. What the devs need to understand is that they are still in that "golden window" of opportunity with the recent influx of players that have been filling up the servers. You have them for the moment but you have not retained them yet, and there is a very real danger that when they depart they will drag some long time players with them. Silence is not going to help retain these players, iterating faster will. Right now your focus needs to be on customer service (communication!) and iterating FASTER than your competition. Iterating faster means that while new content goes out in ISSUES, game changes that improve quality of life for your players CAN GO OUT in weekly patches. It would give you the flexibility to announce today that "I19 is delayed until after the holiday, but here is inherent fitness while we work on it. Enjoy!". It is called agile and in this case it is the difference between frustrating your player base and delighting them. |
Frankly I'd rather them "waste" their time during this week doing everything humanly possible to get it out the door before Thanksgiving. I don't need them to tell me how they are doing right now. I need them working on the game.
I think that if we don't get it by this weekend then it'll be pretty obvious it's not going to happen before Thanksgiving. By the time Nov 22nd (next Monday) comes around they'll either A) have plenty of time to give us a full report about why I19 didn't happen yet or B) we'll be busying playing I19. That's enough "agility" for me as far as I'm concerned. *shrugs*
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All 17 of the people who are up in arms about a delay that was given as a possibility the same time as the goal date in an industry of "when it's done" will be sorely missed.
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Originally Posted by Intrepic
The devs received an early gift this year: an influx of new and returning players to their 60 month old title. Some would say that was more than a gift - some would call it a miracle.
The devs have, in return, given their customers the gift of silence. After all, nothing communicates to customers quite like no communication at all. What the devs need to understand is that they are still in that "golden window" of opportunity with the recent influx of players that have been filling up the servers. You have them for the moment but you have not retained them yet, and there is a very real danger that when they depart they will drag some long time players with them. Silence is not going to help retain these players, iterating faster will. Right now your focus needs to be on customer service (communication!) and iterating FASTER than your competition. Iterating faster means that while new content goes out in ISSUES, game changes that improve quality of life for your players CAN GO OUT in weekly patches. It would give you the flexibility to announce today that "I19 is delayed until after the holiday, but here is inherent fitness while we work on it. Enjoy!". It is called agile and in this case it is the difference between frustrating your player base and delighting them. |
At least until next week rolls around, I have to believe the devs are still trying to release ASAP. I don't imagine the devs want to put off a large and potentially problematic patch til the heart of the holiday season. If they can release sometime this week and work out the kinks, then they can enjoy Thanksgiving with their minds clear.
In a sense, the silence is almost encouraging. Obviously, absence of evidence of isn't evidence of anything, but the devs might be holding their tongues because they don't know when I-19 will be released. Maybe I'm just hopelessly optimistic, though. 
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Originally Posted by Iggy_Kamakaze
Nice build
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Weekly updates? You must be joking. I don't know of any MMO's that do that. You know, contrary to popular belief the customer is not always right. Sometimes the customer is incredibly unreasonable and impatient in fact. Give the Devs a break, they're working on it as fast as they can.|
Originally Posted by Intrepic
The devs received an early gift this year: an influx of new and returning players to their 60 month old title. Some would say that was more than a gift - some would call it a miracle.
The devs have, in return, given their customers the gift of silence. After all, nothing communicates to customers quite like no communication at all. What the devs need to understand is that they are still in that "golden window" of opportunity with the recent influx of players that have been filling up the servers. You have them for the moment but you have not retained them yet, and there is a very real danger that when they depart they will drag some long time players with them. Silence is not going to help retain these players, iterating faster will. Right now your focus needs to be on customer service (communication!) and iterating FASTER than your competition. Iterating faster means that while new content goes out in ISSUES, game changes that improve quality of life for your players CAN GO OUT in weekly patches. It would give you the flexibility to announce today that "I19 is delayed until after the holiday, but here is inherent fitness while we work on it. Enjoy!". It is called agile and in this case it is the difference between frustrating your player base and delighting them. |
And if you're in such an all-fired hurry for it to go live now, get on the beta server and help the Devs test it. I've been PM'ing back and forth with a guy in QA since yesterday trying to get the Dominator bug fixed. More people testing always helps.
I'm sticking with my prediction from this thread:
Time to dampen some spirits.
I did some research, and checked the various News posts on the CoH main page. These are the results I got:
4/27/09 - I15 Overview
6/26/09 - I15 Launch
7/15/09 - I16 Overview
9/16/09 - I16 Launch
2/24/10 - I17 Overview
4/28/10 - I17 Launch
8/17/10 - GR/I18 Launch
10/5/10 - I19 Overview
Looking at that pattern, an Issue Launch seems to come almost exactly 2 months after an Issue Overview is posted.
Two months from 10/5 is 12/5, and that's a Sunday, so we need to add 2 days, since Launches seem to happen on Tuesdays.
Using that patten, my expected Launch Date for Issue 19 is December 7, 2010.
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That date looked really familiar...hmmmm
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Originally Posted by Kheldarn
I'm sticking with my prediction from this thread:
Time to dampen some spirits. I did some research, and checked the various News posts on the CoH main page. These are the results I got: 4/27/09 - I15 Overview 6/26/09 - I15 Launch 7/15/09 - I16 Overview 9/16/09 - I16 Launch 2/24/10 - I17 Overview 4/28/10 - I17 Launch 8/17/10 - GR/I18 Launch 10/5/10 - I19 Overview Looking at that pattern, an Issue Launch seems to come almost exactly 2 months after an Issue Overview is posted. Two months from 10/5 is 12/5, and that's a Sunday, so we need to add 2 days, since Launches seem to happen on Tuesdays. Using that patten, my expected Launch Date for Issue 19 is December 7, 2010. |
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Somewhere around that time has always been my expected launch date, too, give or take about a week. Years of experiences have taught me that most issues come out in early December or around May. I have enough confidence in the devs to believe that they'll get this fixed before May, so early December it is.
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Originally Posted by Kheldarn
I'm sticking with my prediction from this thread:
Time to dampen some spirits. I did some research, and checked the various News posts on the CoH main page. These are the results I got: 4/27/09 - I15 Overview 6/26/09 - I15 Launch 7/15/09 - I16 Overview 9/16/09 - I16 Launch 2/24/10 - I17 Overview 4/28/10 - I17 Launch 8/17/10 - GR/I18 Launch 10/5/10 - I19 Overview Looking at that pattern, an Issue Launch seems to come almost exactly 2 months after an Issue Overview is posted. Two months from 10/5 is 12/5, and that's a Sunday, so we need to add 2 days, since Launches seem to happen on Tuesdays. Using that patten, my expected Launch Date for Issue 19 is December 7, 2010. |
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The only thing that might make Kheldarn's prediction true is the Kheldian bug.|
Originally Posted by Olantern
Somewhere around that time has always been my expected launch date, too, give or take about a week. Years of experiences have taught me that most issues come out in early December or around May. I have enough confidence in the devs to believe that they'll get this fixed before May, so early December it is.
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The Devs apparently intended to release I19 "around" Nov. 16th according to the public information we now have.
Trying to read the "tea leaves" of how things historically panned out will only serve us so far.
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Well, I've been away a few days and just found out about the Kheldian/dominator bug a few minutes ago. I'm assuming that Kheldarn will be correct only if the devs can't nail down that bug in time for a publish tomorrow (Thursday, November 18). Once they go past that, they're into weekend and then Thanksgiving vacations time. Of course, I'm all for their getting the bug fixed as soon as possible. There's certainly a chance we may yet see i19 this week, but I wouldn't count on it.
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Originally Posted by Lothic
The only thing that might make Kheldarn's prediction true is the Kheldian bug.
The Devs apparently intended to release I19 "around" Nov. 16th according to the public information we now have. Trying to read the "tea leaves" of how things historically panned out will only serve us so far. |
"Bombarding the CoH/V fora with verbosity since January, 2006"
Djinniman, level 50 inv/fire tanker, on Victory
-and 40 others on various servers
A CoH Comic: Kid Eros in "One Light"
Well there is still Thursday for release...issues have come out on Thursday before but it is looking increasingly unlikely that it will be released before the 30th.
Stupid Americans and your stupid Thanksgiving holidays 
We Brits don't get that!
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I can confirm this as well. It was pretty pathetic.|
Originally Posted by Teldon
Hell in the closed beta we hardly heard any peep out of them what so ever. The most we heard was from Avatea or Ocho when they posted a new thread. Aeon and Castle maybe posted a total of 7 times combined. I would guess that the higher ups have told everyone to not talk as much on the forums.
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Originally Posted by SwellGuy
Not necessarily. They could opt for tomorrow but if so I would expect an announcement about extended downtime for tomorrow's normal downtime. Though I wouldn't look for that announcement until around 3 or 4 pm PST.
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Originally Posted by Doctor_Gemini
Feeding a sense of entitlement
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Also, I'm pretty surprised to see certain forum goers actively saying, "Nobody plays Kheldians, just push it live." Really? Is it worth marginalizing all those players for your own I19 satisfaction?
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I was surprised by that too. It's very atypical of our forum community to be so dismissive of others.
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Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
Also, I'm pretty surprised to see certain forum goers actively saying, "Nobody plays Kheldians, just push it live." Really? Is it worth marginalizing all those players for your own I19 satisfaction?
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Originally Posted by DumpleBerry
Also, I'm pretty surprised to see certain forum goers actively saying, "Nobody plays Kheldians, just push it live." Really? Is it worth marginalizing all those players for your own I19 satisfaction?
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Originally Posted by Steel_Shaman
I was surprised by that too. It's very atypical of our forum community to be so dismissive of others.
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You know what they *could* do?
Finish an issue, and not even say anything about it. Then, once it's actually ready to go, they announce it. And then... we find out, a certain number of players must complete a certain mission arc before the issue is "unlocked". Then, once it's "unlocked", by the players themselves, they apply it.
maybe I shouldn't have said that....
Or Maybe .. They are busy, busy, busy trying to get the next two levels of Alpha slot ready as soon as possible (based on player feedback) AND.... busy working on the next levels of the Incarnate system to get those ready as soon as possible (based on player feedback). Maybe even All this as a christmas present to the players.
Sheesh, its not like trying to meet player demands is a full-time job or anything
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I agree. They suddenly imposed tighter and rather silly rules about what can be said on the forums, and suddenly the devs aren't talking nearly as much. And fired one of the devs (BaB) who talked the most. Someone higher up is getting control-freaky.|
Originally Posted by Teldon
Hell in the closed beta we hardly heard any peep out of them what so ever. The most we heard was from Avatea or Ocho when they posted a new thread. Aeon and Castle maybe posted a total of 7 times combined. I would guess that the higher ups have told everyone to not talk as much on the forums.
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Originally Posted by Lothic
I tend to see it more as indirect commentary on the Devs' reliance on these big monolithic Issues which cater to an "all or nothing" approach to how these updates are delivered. If we can reasonably assume that 95% of I19 is ready to go it's unfortunate we can't get that 95% now decoupled from whatever is still broken.
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Arc #40529 : The Furies of the Earth
Update from War Witch here. Not until after the Thanksgiving holiday.
d
Oh well. At least we know for sure. 
I figure they gave themselves up until like 2pm EST today as a deadline to try to get it done this week.
Apparently they didn't get it fixed yet...
Here's to hoping they'll get it sorted ASAP.
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I found this response in the discussion: "Issue 19 Launch Update" . Apparently, it will not be released until the after the holidays.
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Originally Posted by theOcho
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"The holidays"? You make it sound like this is being postponed into the new year. Try "just that one holiday next week" and you'll be right on the money.|
Originally Posted by STORM1980
Apparently, it will not be released until the after the holidays.
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Expect Issue 19 to be released the week of the 29th.
I can say definitively that it will not have gone live yesterday.
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So you're willing to just completely discount the possibility of retroactive time travel?|
Originally Posted by Marcian Tobay
I can say definitively that it will not have gone live yesterday.
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Don't you think you're being a little too narrow-minded about all this?
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The devs received an early gift this year: an influx of new and returning players to their 60 month old title. Some would say that was more than a gift - some would call it a miracle.
The devs have, in return, given their customers the gift of silence. After all, nothing communicates to customers quite like no communication at all.
What the devs need to understand is that they are still in that "golden window" of opportunity with the recent influx of players that have been filling up the servers. You have them for the moment but you have not retained them yet, and there is a very real danger that when they depart they will drag some long time players with them.
Silence is not going to help retain these players, iterating faster will. Right now your focus needs to be on customer service (communication!) and iterating FASTER than your competition.
Iterating faster means that while new content goes out in ISSUES, game changes that improve quality of life for your players CAN GO OUT in weekly patches. It would give you the flexibility to announce today that "I19 is delayed until after the holiday, but here is inherent fitness while we work on it. Enjoy!".
It is called agile and in this case it is the difference between frustrating your player base and delighting them.