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Cryptic hires former CoX content designer! Wait... Wut?

lokikinlokikin Posts: 624 Arc User
edited November 2012 in Champions Online Discussion
Ummm...

http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=431251

So you hire a content designer from a superhero game... then put him on STO...

:rolleyes:

Welcome to Cryptic, Dr. A...
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M-O-O-N, that spells @Rhyatt

Originally Posted by mijjestic: Ultimately, though, MMO players throwing stones at each other in this fashion is basically one nerd pointing and laughing at another nerd whose glasses are thicker.

Laws yes!
Post edited by lokikin on
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Comments

  • jasinblazejasinblaze Posts: 1,360 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    it is possible that they are just training there first and will shift here after neverwinter. possible not likely
  • visionstorm01visionstorm01 Posts: 564 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    I'm not surpirsed. Regardless of what game he used to work before, they (Cryptic/PW) would need to have actual content planned for CO for them to bring them here. And for all we're seen so far they don't.
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  • flyingfinnflyingfinn Posts: 8,408 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Like that is news....
    They hired bunch of CoH people, none to CO.
    Won't take long when the last 2 get ported to either Neverwinter or STO.
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  • arimikamiarimikami Posts: 475 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    He used to play CoH on Virtue server before he started working on it. Really cool guy. Even before being an employee he'd go out of his way to be helpful and encouraging to new players. Cryptic was lucky to get him.
  • twg042370twg042370 Posts: 592 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    lokikin wrote: »
    Ummm...

    http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=431251

    So you hire a content designer from a superhero game... then put him on STO...

    :rolleyes:

    Welcome to Cryptic, Dr. A...

    I guess you're old enough to know that your childhood dog didn't actually go to a farm that sad morning years ago. Also companies focus on the things that make them the most profit.

    Life sucks.
    _________________
    Wait? Whaaaa..?
  • nextnametakennextnametaken Posts: 2,212 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    In the past 48 hours 2,180 of over 12 million Steam users have played Star Trek Online, less than 627 have played Champions Online.

    Where would you put your latest personnel investment?
    In a shallow grave or in captains chair?
  • logandarklighterlogandarklighter Posts: 334 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    It there was more and better content here those numbers would change. Dr. Aeon would've been more than helpful in writing and producing that new content. I'll bet he could even spruce up the old content and make it more coherent.

    I can't help but think every time I see your posts nextnametaken, that following your logic inevitably leads to "they haven't made any new content and therefore they SHOULDN'T make any new content."
  • s3rjus3rju Posts: 268 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    In the past 48 hours 2,180 of over 12 million Steam users have played Star Trek Online, less than 627 have played Champions Online.

    Where would you put your latest personnel investment?
    In a shallow grave or in captains chair?

    you need to keep in mind that CO via steam is relatively new in comparrison to:
    1. when CO was released
    2. when STO was released

    in other words, not everyone plays CO from steam, and the same goes for STO.

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  • logandarklighterlogandarklighter Posts: 334 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    The ONLY reason STO isn't being treated as shabbily as CO is because of the Star Trek franchise. Notice how tightly the reins are held by CBS over there?

    I wish Hero Games hadn't sold the IP outright to Cryptic. I'm sure Steve Long and whoever else used to work on writing all the Champions books can't be happy with the way the IP is being treated. If the IP had been licensed instead, Hero Games would have more say and more influence to keep PWE and Cryptic from running the Champions IP into the ground like they are. If nothing else, they could've simply chosen not to renew the license and given it to some other game company that would've done a better job with it.

    Is NWN an original offering by Cryptic or a licensed IP? If the former, expect NWN to land here with CO in the basement of forgotten toys as they ramp up to churn out their next el-cheapo game.
  • yogid0nnieyogid0nnie Posts: 132 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    In the past 48 hours 2,180 of over 12 million Steam users have played Star Trek Online, less than 627 have played Champions Online.

    Where would you put your latest personnel investment?
    In a shallow grave or in captains chair?

    I will not play CO from steam. The lag in CO thru Steam is unplayable, almost flip book like. STO plays fine, go figure. Bottom Line, I can't be the only one with a problem in CO on Steam. So, even though I'm sure more people are in fact playing STO, the numbers are still off, some what.
  • lokikinlokikin Posts: 624 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    flyingfinn wrote: »
    Like that is news....
    They hired bunch of CoH people, none to CO.
    Won't take long when the last 2 get ported to either Neverwinter or STO.

    The folks over on the CoX boards are keeping track of where their beloved devs end up. Dr. Aeon is the only one to have been reported as being hired by Cryptic, at least as far as they know...
    twg042370 wrote: »
    I guess you're old enough to know that your childhood dog didn't actually go to a farm that sad morning years ago. Also companies focus on the things that make them the most profit.

    Life sucks.

    Actually, my childhood dog DID go to a farm, my uncle's, where he lived out his remaining days happily chasing chickens...

    And yeah, some portions of life do indeed suck. But other parts are freakin' awesome!

    :smile:
    _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

    M-O-O-N, that spells @Rhyatt

    Originally Posted by mijjestic: Ultimately, though, MMO players throwing stones at each other in this fashion is basically one nerd pointing and laughing at another nerd whose glasses are thicker.

    Laws yes!
  • cyronecyrone Posts: 1,028 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    yogid0nnie wrote: »
    I will not play CO from steam. The lag in CO thru Steam is unplayable, almost flip book like. STO plays fine, go figure. Bottom Line, I can't be the only one with a problem in CO on Steam. So, even though I'm sure more people are in fact playing STO, the numbers are still off, some what.

    I still play CO from my original install location from my time in closed beta. :biggrin: I avoid Steam as much as possible.
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  • shytalashytala Posts: 74 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    In the past 48 hours 2,180 of over 12 million Steam users have played Star Trek Online, less than 627 have played Champions Online.

    Where would you put your latest personnel investment?
    In a shallow grave or in captains chair?
    Actually I only turn Steam on, when I wish to use the wallet to buy Zen....otherwise I do not play CO through Steam. Because it lags me something bad. I can move like an inch per every 5 minutes if I play CO through Steam. So the numbers on Steam do not reflect reality really. Third party counting never reflects the true count on a Game.


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  • jasinblazejasinblaze Posts: 1,360 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    actually last quarter CO was more profitable than STO. how is that possible?
    huge license fees vrs no license fees
  • somebobsomebob Posts: 980 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Didn't Aeon work on CoX's Mission Architect system back in the day? Because if so, it makes perfect sense to plop him into STO where, you know, they have something like that to begin with. And where it needs to be ported to the newest version that NW is getting whenever it launches.
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  • logandarklighterlogandarklighter Posts: 334 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    somebob wrote: »
    Didn't Aeon work on CoX's Mission Architect system back in the day? Because if so, it makes perfect sense to plop him into STO where, you know, they have something like that to begin with. And where it needs to be ported to the newest version that NW is getting whenever it launches.

    Hm. Good point. But why not put him over in NWN then?

    Unless maybe his skills are better utilized with bug-fixing an existing system and/or taking the pulse of what content the current players make/want?
  • amosov78amosov78 Posts: 98 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Maybe he wanted to work on STO. However it's much more likely that they put him where the company thought they needed him based off upcoming content needs.
  • yogid0nnieyogid0nnie Posts: 132 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    amosov78 wrote: »
    Maybe he wanted to work on STO. However it's much more likely that they put him where the company thought they needed him based off upcoming content needs.

    Wish we could get a response like that here in CO, must be nice to have a staff twice the size of last year. :frown: Heck, I just wish someone would tell us they were still working on stuff; something, anything.
  • nephtnepht Posts: 6,883 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    People are surprised CO gets no new devs? The stick us with the kiddie devs then run off to Trek screaming MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

    Ahh life is good *smokes cigar* *does not know why* *does it anyway*
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  • gavinrunebladegavinruneblade Posts: 3,781 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Hm. Good point. But why not put him over in NWN then?

    Unless maybe his skills are better utilized with bug-fixing an existing system and/or taking the pulse of what content the current players make/want?

    He's a content creator. Yes he does know what people want and he writes very fun missions with good dialog and plot. Whether attached to NWN's upgraded foundry when it gets ported to STO or just to help get enough content into the next season he'll have plenty to do at STO.

    But I could just as easily see him at NWN.
  • spyralpegacyonspyralpegacyon Posts: 383 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    amosov78 wrote: »
    Maybe he wanted to work on STO.

    I'm not entirely sure if Cryptic is hiring for CO, but I can see him going over to STO after Stokeman said he couldn't kill off Defender or Witchcraft. :biggrin:
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  • thalast1thalast1 Posts: 78 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Don't you people get tired of all this?
  • darqauradarqaura Posts: 169 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    thalast1 wrote: »
    Don't you people get tired of all this?

    Tired of what? The fact that cryptic keeps ignoring CO except when they want to try out the latest cash cow for the zen store?

    :rolleyes:

    If there had never been a COH there would never have been a CO. :cool:
  • jonsillsjonsills Posts: 6,317 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    No, I think he meant tired of people who don't actually play the game, just log into the forums every so often to complain about it. And yeah, I kind of am.
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  • ktm1ktm1 Posts: 148 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    i play both sto and champs... longer for champs, but more recently on at sto, and i gotta say that the trolls abound on both sides of the fence. seriously, everyone bashes cryptic, but what they dont see is that they are doing the best they can with the cash flow they bring in.

    now i dont know much about how to look at business profit margins, or find out subs/ c-store purchase amounts etc. but i DO know how to read and follow popularity on social networking sites.

    - champions online - 64750 (approx) 'likes' on facebook
    - sto - 145000 (approx) 'likes'

    non cryptic game in same "genre" as champions?
    - dcuo - 460000 'likes' . that is 400k MORE than our measly 65k, of which honestly how many are not paying?

    now what this tells me is that cryptic has a VERY SMALL budget. that includes for staff, programmers, developement teams etc. and we should be VERY happy with what we get... and honestly if your customer base were the smallest in your genre you would try to get as many 'cash cow' items in the digital store as you could to
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  • shytalashytala Posts: 74 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    ktm1 wrote: »
    i play both sto and champs... longer for champs, but more recently on at sto, and i gotta say that the trolls abound on both sides of the fence. seriously, everyone bashes cryptic, but what they dont see is that they are doing the best they can with the cash flow they bring in.

    now i dont know much about how to look at business profit margins, or find out subs/ c-store purchase amounts etc. but i DO know how to read and follow popularity on social networking sites.

    - champions online - 64750 (approx) 'likes' on facebook
    - sto - 145000 (approx) 'likes'

    non cryptic game in same "genre" as champions?
    - dcuo - 460000 'likes' . that is 400k MORE than our measly 65k, of which honestly how many are not paying?

    now what this tells me is that cryptic has a VERY SMALL budget. that includes for staff, programmers, developement teams etc. and we should be VERY happy with what we get... and honestly if your customer base were the smallest in your genre you would try to get as many 'cash cow' items in the digital store as you could to
    What is with people quoting figures from third parties??
    Not everyone in the world hangs out on social sites or uses Steam or any other third party sites.
    I myself will never have a facebook account, thus meaning I can't 'like' CO on Facebook. I don't connect to CO through Steam either(unless I wish to buy Zen)....I also, do not connect or vote for CO on any other third party site, because they usually wish you to join their sites to do so.
    So making assumptions based on third party numbers is useless.
    Also, if I wished to talk up a Game, I could have multiple facebook accounts and use them to 'like' a game all day long, thus skewing the numbers completely.
    People need to stop assuming everyone on a game uses the same sites they do.
    Also a point here, if a game has a lot of workers, they too can 'vote' on facebook and other sites and thus skew the numbers. I take all numbers like that with a grain of salt.


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  • twg042370twg042370 Posts: 592 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    shytala wrote: »
    I myself will never have a facebook acount, thus meaning I can't 'like' CO on Facebook.

    I don't drive a car either, but that doesn't make me think that automobiles aren't a valuable way to measure traffic.
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  • lokikinlokikin Posts: 624 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    jonsills wrote: »
    No, I think he meant tired of people who don't actually play the game, just log into the forums every so often to complain about it. And yeah, I kind of am.

    I do hope you're not referring to me, since I've been consistantly posting, and playing, since launch...

    I almost never post anything like this. This one just bugged me a little...
    _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

    M-O-O-N, that spells @Rhyatt

    Originally Posted by mijjestic: Ultimately, though, MMO players throwing stones at each other in this fashion is basically one nerd pointing and laughing at another nerd whose glasses are thicker.

    Laws yes!
  • visionstorm01visionstorm01 Posts: 564 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    twg042370 wrote: »
    I don't drive a car either, but that doesn't make me think that automobiles aren't a valuable way to measure traffic.

    Uhmm... except that cars are a direct way to measure traffic, since they're the very thing that most people actually drive (unless they're driving a truck, motocycle, etc.), while someone "liking" a game in facebook doesn't even necessarily mean that they've ever even played the game (and in DCUO's case, it could just as likely mean that they're DC Comics fans and would "like" things DC just because they're DC).

    Fact is that people "liking" stuff in facebook tells us very little about the things they actually like or do (they could have just "liked" it to get something from a promotional event*) or the financial situation on any company. Cars, on the other hand, tell us a LOT about trafic--because they're directly related to it.

    *I've actually "liked" stuff just to get promotional items or such
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  • shytalashytala Posts: 74 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    twg042370 wrote: »
    I don't drive a car either, but that doesn't make me think that automobiles aren't a valuable way to measure traffic.
    Actually that doesn't make any sense.
    Cars are what make traffic, without them, there is No traffic. So of course they can be used to measure traffic....because without them, it would just be an empty road. An empty road has no traffic.

    On the other hand, Facebook and other 3rd Party sites, can Not be used to measure traffic for a Game or anything really. Because they can be lied to. Many people can go to Facebook, if they have an account, log in and vote 'like' for anything they want, even if they never played or used the thing they are 'liking'. This will of course skew any results from such a place. It also doesn't count those people who play CO, but do Not use Facebook or the third party site quoted.
    The only true way to measure traffic on CO, is by using the numbers from CO's servers, etc. themselves. Because they are the only things that can say who has and has not signed in and played the Game, no other third party site can say that.
    Thus people quoting numbers from third party sites is a useless way to prove their points, since the results of said sites are skewed badly.

    Let me give some examples of this:
    1. Someone quotes Steam numbers about how many people signed into CO in the last week, yet only half of the players of CO might use Steam(No, I don't know who uses Steam on CO)....Steam's numbers are then skewed because they are not counting half the playerbase of CO.
    Quoting the numbers of Steam to prove that only that many people play CO makes the point useless, because you are still leaving out the number of players who play CO, but do not use Steam. You can really only use those numbers to say that X number of people use Steam to access CO.

    2. That would be like me saying that all of you play a Game called Fragile(not a real game as far as I know)....just because I play the Game of Fragile, does not mean you play the Game of Fragile. So say I 'voted' for Fragile on a third party site, made sure all my Fragile friends 'voted' too, maybe even 'voted' multiple times with multiple accounts....this would not mean you could use those numbers to say that Fragile was more popular than CO.

    Thus all I was saying was that just because a third party site says that a certain number of their users 'voted/liked' CO and 'voted/liked' DCUO, does not mean that either game is more popular than the other, since we do not have access to the numbers from the Games themselves.

    So until someone can Quote CO's numbers....we are in the dark.
    By numbers I mean things like:
    1. Number of Accounts registered to CO.
    2. Number of Active Acounts registered to CO.
    3. X Amount of times said Active Accounts have signed into CO.
    Then the people quoting numbers at us might have something to stand on and prove their point with. Until then, they need to stop quoting third party numbers at us to try an prove whatever point they are trying to make.


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  • polishlightningpolishlightning Posts: 404 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    lokikin wrote: »
    I do hope you're not referring to me, since I've been consistantly posting, and playing, since launch...

    I almost never post anything like this. This one just bugged me a little...

    He was reffering to the poster he replied to.
  • quasimojo1quasimojo1 Posts: 642 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Yes, as a player there is a lot that is disappointing about this situation. I believe Cryptic is currently focusing on increasing the revenue/subscriber ratio, as it was probably unsustainable prior to On-Alert. Mods, catalysts, grab bags, vehicles..these things are relatively cheap to produce and increase revenue. Now HOPEFULLY once average revenue/subscriber reaches some target, they will be able to refocus on more big-ticket items like content and marketing to increasing the subscriber base.

    Now we can all be part of the problem or part of the solution. Although there is a lot to complain about as a fan of CO, complaining doesn't really help the situation; just the opposite, as all of the negativity can be contagious to other potential players and probably the development team as well.
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  • shytalashytala Posts: 74 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    twg042370 wrote: »
    :rolleyes:

    A large number of people use Facebook. A very large number. More than anything sitting on a server. Congratulations on not having an account. Your hero cookie is waiting for you in the cupboard.

    No it doesn't give you exact levels of game usage. And no one claimed that it did. It gives you a rough guestimate of the relative popularity of the games compared to each other. The same way the number of cars on a road gives you a rough idea about the state of the traffic.

    You can sit on a corner, look at the streets coming in each direction, and then go, "Durr. Dis street gots more cars dan dat street dere. I can't see all de streets length, but me thinkin' dat street has more traffic cuz what me can see has more cars. Me good at observational science. Go get degree now!"
    No your car thing made no sense....as in since you NEED a car to make traffic, you can then use cars to measure traffic.
    You do NOT need social sites to have traffic in games, so you really should not use them to measure game traffic.

    The thing is, no it doesn't, give you a rough guesstimate I mean. A lot of people will 'like' something on Facebook, without even once using or playing the item/game/etc. that they just 'liked'. A lot of that happens for promotional things or for things like free Zen or whatever a game calls it coinage.
    So social sites for use as even a rough guesstimate are flawed, because they can be LIED to. You can lie pretty well and all you want when all you have to do is press a little button to 'like' something. This makes those so called rough guesstimates useless, because the system is detrimentally flawed.
    This means such social sites can not be really used to even roughly determine if games are popular or not against each other. You can only really judge that by the 3 things I laid down in my last post. How Many Accounts, How Many Active Accounts, How Often an Active Account signs into the game.

    But enough arguing about this.
    I just disliked how some people were posting numbers from third party sites and then saying that proved their point. Because it did not prove their point at all.

    Oh and as for the no facebook account, I dislike social sites like that to begin with, I didn't have a MySpace account either lol. I really don't see the use to tell Everyone and their Uncle every little detail of my life, which is also why I do not have a Twitter account.


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  • jonsillsjonsills Posts: 6,317 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    On my Facebook page, I frequently "like" sarcastic E-cards. Does that mean I'm out there making sarcastic E-cards?

    There are also a few things I probably "liked" a few years ago, but have since lost interest in - I seldom go looking for things to root out of my page. Basically, using Facebook or other social-media sites to measure actual interest in something works about as well as, well, using these forums to determine what most CO players actually want...
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  • lohr01lohr01 Posts: 143 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Its really sad that's its become a nice little circle. If they don't actually invest content in the game the won't get people to play but they won't do it, so no one plays.

    so many thing I wish for this game that will never happen.
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  • skcarkskcark Posts: 715 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    shytala wrote: »
    (Insert annoying, difficult to read coloured text here)
    Actually that doesn't make any sense.

    No offense, i find your font choice really annoying, but being someone who plays CO via steam, and i do NOT like CO on Facebook, i agree.
    twg042370 wrote: »
    :rolleyes:

    A large number of people use Facebook. A very large number. More than anything sitting on a server. Congratulations on not having an account. Your hero cookie is waiting for you in the cupboard.

    No it doesn't give you exact levels of game usage. And no one claimed that it did. It gives you a rough guestimate of the relative popularity of the games compared to each other. The same way the number of cars on a road gives you a rough idea about the state of the traffic.

    You can sit on a corner, look at the streets coming in each direction, and then go, "Durr. Dis street gots more cars dan dat street dere. I can't see all de streets length, but me thinkin' dat street has more traffic cuz what me can see has more cars. Me good at observational science. Go get degree now!"

    If you somehow manage to get a degree while talking like that, i would be very very sad with the world.

    Cars work for gauging traffic roughly because cars and roads compliment each other. why make roads for cars, if no one uses cars? why have cars if no one makes roads to drive them on? (no, driving freely doesn't count as a valid retort here, for this sake, let's pretend if roads didn't exist, all roads would be filled with buildings, leaving no room to drive through)


    where as, there is no requirement for me to NEED to use third part crap to play CO, leaving it entirely optional. just like voting. but then i guess you'll argue "numbers show everyone who didn't vote, would have voted the worst guy anyway" because who needs fact when pulling random drivel out of thin air!
  • nextnametakennextnametaken Posts: 2,212 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Measuring population of the game played through the largest third party
    vendor of games on the planet is a sure sign of knowing how popular
    the game is among the population of players buying games from
    the only vendor advertising this game.
    There is no retail box, there is no web advertising or any advertising at all.

    We know for a fact there are over 12 million Steam users, Valve tells us so.
    We know for a fact there are over 4 million people on Steam this very moment, Valve is telling us so in real time.
    We know for a fact, through daily observation of the Steam top 100, that from August 2011 through June 2012 there was on average greater than 550 Steam members playing this game.
    With a few months where it dropped right off the chart between events.
    It has not appeared on that chart all summer or fall, when other games have breached the
    chart at around 480 players per 48 hour period.

    Out of 12 million Steam players, no more than 480 of them access the game in any 48 hour period. This is a fact.

    This is not at all like observing a road we can't see all of but more like counting all the Champions Online cars that pass a specific marker on a specific road that happens to be the most traveled road in each 48 cycle.

    The number of total cars is a known quantity, the number of Champions Online
    cars is no longer measurable on the road because they no longer rank high enough to chart and they haven't for months.

    Believe what you want.

    Whats the top comment about this game on Steam?
    Really liking this game, but it seems like a ghost town. I will be the only person in an entire zone sometimes. I'm about level 20 now and have never found a group (had to drop something like ten quests because they were group oriented),
    Thats been up there two weeks.
  • serendipitynowserendipitynow Posts: 554 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    As others have said facebook and steam figures are worthless.

    They have no baring on how many people do or do not play the game as each doesnt take into account people that dont use them but do play.

    Many people do not use facebook, and not all those who do and play will have liked the game

    not everyone who plays does so via steam, in fact a very small amount since its been available before it was on steam for far longer than it has been on steam
  • ktm1ktm1 Posts: 148 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    when scientists attempt to figure out how much percentage, or how high the population of something is in something else (sorry if confusing, ill use an example)

    like "how many microbes is in this lake water" they take samples from various locations and use those samples to create an approximation... they do not measure the whole lake.

    so by using samples from various locations (steam numbers, facebook numbers etc) you can get an approximation of how popular champs is. does that take into account that there may be people who have champs liked that no longer play? or who have extra account or two specifically to like champs (highly unlikely, that made me laugh)? no it does not. but in the above example the lake water near a sample may have a dead squirrel skewing the numbers as well. hence using multiple sources and laws of averages. remember the OTHER thing being compared will have the same variables, in this case the 'no longer plays' and the 'i'll fake account likes' in fact third party numbers are MORE reliable simply due to the fact that they are unsolicited. they may be incomplete. but if you take the SAME incomplete sample from both things you are comparing you will see a very reliable comparison.

    400k MORE sources of likes for dcuo. hell if you dont believe that just dl the game and log in.. way more people on (ive checked it out, not a fan of the game myself but can defenitely see its popularity)

    so my earlier point still stands.... based on how much cash they probably arent raking in, cryptic does NOT have the resources to pump out the content/fix all the fixes that pple think they do. im happy when they fix what they can and make what they can, because i like this game and all negativity does is breed more negativity.
    space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence
  • cascadencecascadence Posts: 505 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    ktm1 wrote: »
    im happy when they fix what they can and make what they can, because i like this game and all negativity does is breed more negativity.

    Pretty much my thoughts on this matter.
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  • angelphoenix12angelphoenix12 Posts: 313 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    how i see it, jack or crieg needs to know how co is really doing. and imho its looking very bad. i dont even know if they even come to the co boards.
  • skcarkskcark Posts: 715 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Measuring population of the game played through the largest third party
    vendor of games on the planet is a sure sign of knowing how popular
    the game is among the population of players buying games from
    the only vendor advertising this game.
    There is no retail box, there is no web advertising or any advertising at all.

    We know for a fact there are over 12 million Steam users, Valve tells us so.
    We know for a fact there are over 4 million people on Steam this very moment, Valve is telling us so in real time.
    We know for a fact, through daily observation of the Steam top 100, that from August 2011 through June 2012 there was on average greater than 550 Steam members playing this game.
    With a few months where it dropped right off the chart between events.
    It has not appeared on that chart all summer or fall, when other games have breached the
    chart at around 480 players per 48 hour period.

    Out of 12 million Steam players, no more than 480 of them access the game in any 48 hour period. This is a fact.

    This is not at all like observing a road we can't see all of but more like counting all the Champions Online cars that pass a specific marker on a specific road that happens to be the most traveled road in each 48 cycle.

    The number of total cars is a known quantity, the number of Champions Online
    cars is no longer measurable on the road because they no longer rank high enough to chart and they haven't for months.

    Believe what you want.

    Whats the top comment about this game on Steam? Thats been up there two weeks.

    So. What you're saying is... any game that isn't linked to steam or facebook is clearly always going to be empty/unpopular?
  • nephtnepht Posts: 6,883 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    s3rju wrote: »
    you need to keep in mind that CO via steam is relatively new in comparrison to:
    1. when CO was released
    2. when STO was released

    in other words, not everyone plays CO from steam, and the same goes for STO.

    You can take the CO and STO steam numbers and double them a lot of players have learned of those games via the PWE website.

    CO has a playerbase on the same size as DDO and Dark age of Camelot of about 1000 peeps on at prime time .

    Nobody crys DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM on those games forums.

    Apart from me :P
    nepht_siggy_v6_by_nepht-dbbz19n.jpg
    Nepht and Dr Deflecto on primus
    They all thought I was out of the game....But I'm holding all the lockboxes now..
    I'll......FOAM FINGER YOUR BACK!
  • shytalashytala Posts: 74 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Measuring population of the game played through the largest third party
    vendor of games on the planet is a sure sign of knowing how popular
    the game is among the population of players buying games from
    the only vendor advertising this game.
    There is no retail box, there is no web advertising or any advertising at all.

    We know for a fact there are over 12 million Steam users, Valve tells us so.
    We know for a fact there are over 4 million people on Steam this very moment, Valve is telling us so in real time.
    We know for a fact, through daily observation of the Steam top 100, that from August 2011 through June 2012 there was on average greater than 550 Steam members playing this game.
    With a few months where it dropped right off the chart between events.
    It has not appeared on that chart all summer or fall, when other games have breached the
    chart at around 480 players per 48 hour period.

    Out of 12 million Steam players, no more than 480 of them access the game in any 48 hour period. This is a fact.

    This is not at all like observing a road we can't see all of but more like counting all the Champions Online cars that pass a specific marker on a specific road that happens to be the most traveled road in each 48 cycle.

    The number of total cars is a known quantity, the number of Champions Online
    cars is no longer measurable on the road because they no longer rank high enough to chart and they haven't for months.

    Believe what you want.

    Whats the top comment about this game on Steam? Thats been up there two weeks.
    Not really, because not all Games are on Facebook or Steam.
    In fact I play an MMO(No I will not name it here) that is not on Steam at all or a retail box, etc.(it does have a Facebook page).
    It has been around for 14+ years now and has 60K Unique Accounts on it. Between 4K-8K of those accounts are active daily. By Unique Accounts I mean those that are not just a 2nd account for somebody. We are not counting 2nd Accounts for people in the number.
    It it part of a Niche market and thus not very well-known. But, it is also not on Steam and will probably never be on Steam, because if it hasn't made it on Steam in the years Steam has been around, it probably never will.
    It has a Facebook page, yet of the 60K Unique Accounts on the game, only 2K+ have bothered to like it on its Facebook page.
    Thus if you went by Facebook, you would think it was not very popular, yet the numbers the Company that runs the Game gives out on it are higher than the Facebook Page makes it seem. Thus the Facebook 'like' skews the numbers and thus your beliefs on how popular the game truly is.

    You can not take third party site voting as fact for anything. For third party sites can be lied to, I know some people who go to such sites to vote and lie their butts off, just to screw up the voting and to get a laugh....these types will also usually have multiple accounts with the voting site and thus skew the votes even more.
    Then there are times when promotions are being run, where if you 'like' the page of an item or game, you can get something for it....this also skews results.

    Now lets take your statistics for Steam.
    Those only count for those players of CO that play CO through Steam.
    Take myself, I do not use Steam to access CO, unless I wish to use the Steam Wallet to buy Zen....this means I am rarely if ever signed into Steam at all, let alone accessing CO through it(because with steam on, Lag is killer).
    I count as a player of CO, yet those who post Steam numbers as fact, discount me and others like me. They ignore that not everyone on CO uses Steam to access it. All the numbers on Steam do is inform you that X number of CO players use Steam to access CO....it can not tell you how many players who don't use Steam play CO. Steam is only ONE way of accessing CO. Thus why it may be fact that X number of players used Steam to access CO, it is NOT fact that Only those players accessed CO at all. Which is why I objected to people using Steam numbers or Facebook 'likes' as a way to say that CO is dying or becoming unpopular.


    [Insert Witty Signature Here]
  • ahazapeemaahazapeema Posts: 3 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    twg042370 wrote: »
    :rolleyes:

    A large number of people use Facebook. A very large number. More than anything sitting on a server. Congratulations on not having an account. Your hero cookie is waiting for you in the cupboard.

    No it doesn't give you exact levels of game usage. And no one claimed that it did. It gives you a rough guestimate of the relative popularity of the games compared to each other.

    I laughed. Thanks, mate! But no. With the huge license that is Star Trek I will assume alot of people that simply like star trek, but doesen't play wit will 'like' it one facebook. I know all my trekkie friends do. Yet, none of them had ever heard of CO before I told them about it.
  • immolatasiaimmolatasia Posts: 13 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Sometimes, I feel as though Cryptic or Perfect World just don't want this game to have new content. With decisions like these, I'm not quite sure what conclusions to draw.

    Having seen no new zone content, a plethora of bugs still unaddressed since launch and a slew of other issues, the last thing we need are pointless vanity items like vehicles, lockboxes, travel powers and other miscellaneous distractions.

    We need ZONE, mob, quest content. Real actual content that I swear the developers ignore. I don't know why. It seems to defy all sense or reason.
  • tfavsb10tfavsb10 Posts: 309 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    If they are hiring Aeon may I request he not let his lives work go to rest!

    I'm talking of course about AE (I posted a separate section about that).

    I think it would be fitting to add it to the power house...

    Its the thing I'm gonna miss most about COX
  • lokikinlokikin Posts: 624 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    tfavsb10 wrote: »
    If they are hiring Aeon may I request he not let his lives work go to rest!

    I'm talking of course about AE (I posted a separate section about that).

    I think it would be fitting to add it to the power house...

    Its the thing I'm gonna miss most about COX

    I'm guessing you missed that part about Dr Aeon being hired for STO, not CO...

    It was kinda the (now lost) point of the thread...
    _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

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  • nazacanazaca Posts: 183 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    Sometimes, I feel as though Cryptic or Perfect World just don't want this game to have new content. With decisions like these, I'm not quite sure what conclusions to draw.

    Having seen no new zone content, a plethora of bugs still unaddressed since launch and a slew of other issues, the last thing we need are pointless vanity items like vehicles, lockboxes, travel powers and other miscellaneous distractions.

    We need ZONE, mob, quest content. Real actual content that I swear the developers ignore. I don't know why. It seems to defy all sense or reason.

    Explorable content is expensive to develop and directly generates only minimal returns.

    The traditional solution to this is to make said content a paid expansion; doing so happens to be incompatible with the way they've structured their revenue methods and systems. Changing their methods and systems so as to make it possible incurs further costs.

    A boxed expansion's worth of explorable content costs them between 300k and 600k to make. (Maybe more, maybe less, depending on a number of factors I don't have access to.) It'll cost them about 40k to change their systems to make it possible to begin with before they even start developing it. They'll want to profit off it, cover opportunity costs and otherwise get paid ...

    As such: How much are we willing to pay for it? A million dollars, give or take?
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  • ashensnowashensnow Posts: 2,048 Arc User
    edited November 2012
    nazaca,

    In what way do you think that a paid expansion is incompatible with CO's current set up ?

    I'm not disagreeing with you, just seeking more insight into your point.

    'Caine, miss you bud. Fly high.
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