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What responsive Cryptic management looks like
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Posts: 1,687 Arc User
From STO's latest Ask Cryptic:
I'm just glad Dan Stahl addressed this directly so I'd have something to copy'n'paste here. I know LordGar's too busy and Jack's too apathetic.
We've had a pretty wild ride this last week, and before diving into the Ask Cryptic questions, I wanted to give an update on where we are at. Our Network Engineers have been working around the clock to address both the queues and the emergency downtimes. We believe that the long queue times have been addressed with recent changes, and while you still may see queues at times, the wait times have dropped dramatically. We also thank you for your patience during our emergency downtimes and apologize for it being rough. We are addressing a variety of issues (not all of them game related) rapidly and at times this has meant short notice downtimes. We did buy new hardware. We did upgrade the network. We did plan for all the new people, but sometimes bad things just happen for no good reason. We've had to replace some new hardware, rewire some networks, upgrade some firewalls, and pretty much anything else that you could think of from an infrastructure standpoint. We're sorry and we're working around the clock to whack the moles as they pop up. But in general, we've had more people in and playing the game than any previous update in STO. We're seeing record numbers of captains creating new Romulan characters. It's pretty awesome.
I'm just glad Dan Stahl addressed this directly so I'd have something to copy'n'paste here. I know LordGar's too busy and Jack's too apathetic.
Post edited by Unknown User on
Choose your enemies carefully, because they will define you / Make them interesting, because in some ways they will mind you
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends
Comments
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And so CO looks to STO's dev team in envy....
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Their Ask Cryptic gets so many questions answered about the expansion of all their features while Champions' Ask Cryptic gets nothing to show for it. Just a bunch of no's and maybe a story rounded out by the end of the year. STO has two or three stories in the works, seasons, older features expanded, and a load of serious questions answered.
I'm reaching the end of my enjoyment of this game. -
Come on, we're getting our content upgrades every 6 months.
(i wont bother adding any Smilies, sarcastic or other...)CHAMPIONS ONLINE:Join Date: Apr 2008Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
Godtier: Lifetime Subscriber
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STO is also selling +$100 item packs for this new expansion, so at this point there's no reason to compare our level of support to theirs.
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STO is also selling +$100 item packs for this new expansion, so at this point there's no reason to compare our level of support to theirs.
and what can we buy? Vehicles that a few people want? Considering the BEST versions of said vehicles cannot be obtained directly on the Z store but through drifter salvage or lockbox?
I got 2 vehicles and only spent globals on them...
Does Cryptic want my money?
More Costumes please (SHIELDS!!!! -.- )
More Powers please (Staff melee? Water blast? Plant Control?)
More Story Arcs/Lairs on existing zones
New Zones with tones of stories (YES I would pay for more areas or more stories)
FOUNDRY!!!!
There.... does cryptic want my money? I listed the things I would spend my money on... ball is on their court -
baroness1980 wrote: »There.... does cryptic want my money? I listed the things I would spend my money on... ball is on their court
Top 10 were Telepathy.. Am I right? ~Zac Posen -
lets see, Startrek IP- owned by hasbro- no upgrades and expansions, no IP
champions IP owned by Cryptic- no upgrades- no problems -
Hell, I wasn't even thinking of the copious amounts of new content STO is receiving. What is already understood need not be said, eh?
I just wanted to point out that Dan Stahl stepped forward to explain and apologize for the outages and long queues that have followed the back-to-back launches of Neverwinter and Legacy of Romulus. This is how games with actual executive producers operate.
Meanwhile, we don't have an executive producer. Not in the sense that STO has Stahl and Neverwinter has Andy Velasquez. CO just has a tiny group of staff flying by the seat of their collective pants, with one of them drawing a figurative short straw and having his name and the title "producer" attached to the latest rare communication with us. It was Brad Stokan last year, but somewhere along the way it became LordGar without any announcement. (I'm guessing Brad got too close to NW's event horizon, but I don't rule out a literal drawing of straws.)
Meanwhile, here we are, getting news on what happened to cause last month's outages by reading a report from another Cryptic game's executive producer and quoting it in our forums.
I want to be clear here: I don't blame LordGar, or TrailTurtle either, because it's not their job. This is an executive producer's job, and like I said, we don't have one.Choose your enemies carefully, because they will define you / Make them interesting, because in some ways they will mind you
They're not there in the beginning, but when your story ends / Gonna last with you longer than your friends -
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corrected- sorry wrong one
we found out about what was causing the server crashes by reading the LONG post on NWO forums, ours was something like.
we are having server problems, there will be maintenance on... -
Yeah, it is a bit of a horrendous joke here in champions compared to the other two Cryptic games being played. It's really sad that a company would let any game fall into such a state let alone one of the only two real Superhero MMO's out there. Partly it seems that it's because of how dated the engine is and they're at the point of "they can't anything with out breaking every thing", even STO is in a bad shape right now because of this. The company has a history of poor foresight, so planning anything in a long term just doesn't happen often, or in some cases well. Given this companies history i wouldn't doubt them trying to sell the game off or just closing it down if they can't do that simply because they can't really do anything more with it.
It's bad enough we don't really seem to have a dev team, but even if we did, how much can they really do with out breaking the game any more? -
You want to know what's sad?
I was just in the STO forums a bit ago, and there's a goodbye rant from someone for whom the final straw was that he couldn't start a fleet with his new Romulan character. He went on and on for paragraphs about how poorly he felt Cryptic had treated him in STO, how disappointed he was in their communication, and how they left bugs in the code for too long.
I would have corrected his misapprehension about who gets neglected, but I thought my language might have caused me to be banned..."Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension! -
Only portion of support or anything active here, is if you are dealing with Billing support.
Why? Because...
Or if nothing happens whilst game-breaking exploits happen....i (or you!) release a video forcing them to act out of emergency, which in the past has proven the only real method of getting support and causing them to fix/act upon anything.
Its sickening any of us have to resort to such extreme lengths to get something done around here.
Might have to do the same again soon...Mr Kryptos.... -
You want to know what's sad?
I was just in the STO forums a bit ago, and there's a goodbye rant from someone for whom the final straw was that he couldn't start a fleet with his new Romulan character. He went on and on for paragraphs about how poorly he felt Cryptic had treated him in STO, how disappointed he was in their communication, and how they left bugs in the code for too long.
I would have corrected his misapprehension about who gets neglected, but I thought my language might have caused me to be banned...
too late Jonsills, I posted our ask cryptic questions and answer threads on an NWO thread complaining about lack of communication from Devs. -
You want to know what's sad?
I was just in the STO forums a bit ago, and there's a goodbye rant from someone for whom the final straw was that he couldn't start a fleet with his new Romulan character. He went on and on for paragraphs about how poorly he felt Cryptic had treated him in STO, how disappointed he was in their communication, and how they left bugs in the code for too long.
I would have corrected his misapprehension about who gets neglected, but I thought my language might have caused me to be banned...
Yeah, that was definitely a person that could have used some perspective. STO players are treated like kings compared to what goes on here. -
You want to know what's sad?
I was just in the STO forums a bit ago, and there's a goodbye rant from someone for whom the final straw was that he couldn't start a fleet with his new Romulan character. He went on and on for paragraphs about how poorly he felt Cryptic had treated him in STO, how disappointed he was in their communication, and how they left bugs in the code for too long.
I would have corrected his misapprehension about who gets neglected, but I thought my language might have caused me to be banned...
Jon, I know we beat up on you sometimes.
But I appreciate this little note. Made me smile. In a rueful sort of way.
Thanks.
:
CellarRat33 :: formerly Bsquared
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"The great thing about glory unending is that it's dirt cheap!" - Tateklys
From the Adventures of Thundrax (canadascott)
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too late Jonsills, I posted our ask cryptic questions and answer threads on an NWO thread complaining about lack of communication from Devs.
link em i want to read themhttp://co-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=124755
The Nemesis system needs fixing and here's ideas:
A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business. Henry Ford -
I love this thread.
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I just...
What can we...
Ok, people are venting justifiable frustration. The situation here is deplorable and shameful, and it SHOULD be an embarrassment to PW and Cryptic and to J A C K. Is that it? Do they just get away with it? Is there anything we can do?
Seriously, I'm at the point where I'd be willing to participate in any action within reason that could make a positive difference. And this after having done the same for the CoH effort, which was and is valiant but has very little to show.
But I don't care. I want my highly customizable, story-driven Superhero MMO that there is a niche for but that the industry seems to be treating like a hot potato. And I'm willing to fight if there is a way.
The problem is, I'm a grunt, not a general. I have no idea how to proceed. What kind of action, if done en masse, could actually have an effect? Nothing? Really nothing? If so that sucks... various anatomical protrusions and protuberances.
But, seriously, any ideas? -
There is nothing we can do. When the company doesn't see a reason to support it as well as its other games, and when its not valid for a class action lawsuit, there is nothing you can do except leave.
The only other option is get hired by Cryptic and work on the inside to make the game better. -
crypticbuxom wrote: »There is nothing we can do. When the company doesn't see a reason to support it as well as its other games, and when its not valid for a class action lawsuit, there is nothing you can do except leave.
The only other option is get hired by Cryptic and work on the inside to make the game better.
And that's the sad truth, right there.Born a century ago and preserved by the potent magics of the Pearl of Gilgamesh, Alastair Victor Croswell has already outlived his beloved wife and scores of other heroes. And yet, decades after he began, the Old Man continues to take up the Sceptre of Kings to mete out justice and protect the helpless as Lord of an Empire of Ideals: The Imperial! -
I've just seen this. Would it be different for Champs in the future ?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/perfect-world-entertainment-unveils-cryptic-192300848.htmlPerfect World Entertainment Inc. and Cryptic Studios today announced the formation of Cryptic North, a new division of Cryptic StudiosCurrently, Williams and the Cryptic North team are working closely with Cryptic Studios on the continuing development of the highly-acclaimed super-hero MMORPG, Champions Online
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I've just seen this. Would it be different for Champs in the future ?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/perfect-world-entertainment-unveils-cryptic-192300848.html
DAFUQ is this a team created mostly for Champions? I have to say didnt expect that >_>
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! -
Unless something is announced directly here on the forums/website in the form of devs, my counter still ticks down.
If its true, I hope this Russell Williams doesn't aspire too far away from the core of Champions Online and end up changing it into something worse then where we've been before. If PWE would have gathered the original CoH crew, that would be something to look forward too.
Hopefully this new guy and his team respect the IP and the accomplishments this game has achieved. -
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Maybe not for Champions only. But from the news,it's their most important work to improve Champions now.
I'd have a stupid response but Cryptic has left me speechless @[email protected]"
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! -
Well, I will say that this gives me reason to look into the programming-language classes at Bates College (at least, I'm pretty sure they won't need somebody who's fluent in COBOL).
Especially if when they say "Seattle", they really mean somewhere more like Federal Way or Tacoma... (Hey, a man can dream, can't he?)
Edit: Oops, just reread, and it says "downtown Seattle", which probably means somewhere in Paul Allen's new Vulcan development on South Lake Union. S'pose I could just take the Sounder up, then ride the S.L.U.T. there. (That's the South Lake Union Trolley. Really. :biggrin:)"Science teaches us to expect -- demand -- more than just eerie mysteries. What use is a puzzle that can't be solved? Patience is fine, but I'm not going to stop asking the universe to make sense!"
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension! -
Well that sort of puts a muzzle on all those DOOM sayers their seems to be life in the old dog still.
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! -
That's.. I... *makes a small gurgling noise* That's good news.
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I've just seen this. Would it be different for Champs in the future ?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/perfect-world-entertainment-unveils-cryptic-192300848.html
Interesting and completely unexpected. Should we nudge TT to see if we can an update/introduction from the Cryptic North team? If I'm remembering correctly Williams did interact with the player base over on Pirates of the Burning Sea. -
Maybe not for Champions only. But from the news,it's their most important work to improve Champions now.
Yeup. Put it this way -- I have two weekly conference calls with the Cryptic North team, and Russel's in both of those about 50% of the time. Considering that one of those is specifically the community check-in, that's a strong sign to me where he's investing his time and energy.
The team is battle-tested in Champions already and they're gung-ho about the lore, so I'm excited about the story arcs to come. Some of the plans they've got for the upcoming arc have me pretty jazzed up.Well, I will say that this gives me reason to look into the programming-language classes at Bates College (at least, I'm pretty sure they won't need somebody who's fluent in COBOL).
Especially if when they say "Seattle", they really mean somewhere more like Federal Way or Tacoma... (Hey, a man can dream, can't he?)
Edit: Oops, just reread, and it says "downtown Seattle", which probably means somewhere in Paul Allen's new Vulcan development on South Lake Union. S'pose I could just take the Sounder up, then ride the S.L.U.T. there. (That's the South Lake Union Trolley. Really. :biggrin:)
Jon: yep, downtown. I spent four months living in Seattle back in the day, and I think I walked past it a couple times. :biggrin: -
Maybe it's a good time for that video resume.Brou in Cryptic games.
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Color me surprised. Let's hope CO actually receives the resources it deserves this time around.
A year from now, we'll see if this announcement lived up to the hype. -
I am guardedly surprised. this has the possibility of being good news. the verbatim is this "Currently, Williams and the Cryptic North team are working closely with Cryptic Studios on the continuing development of the highly-acclaimed super-hero MMORPG, Champions Online, as well as supporting efforts on both Star Trek Online and Dungeons & Dragons Neverwinter." so at the very least, for now co seems to be a focus, that is good. I really hope this works out, co should have grown and that is something that always bothered me how little was actually done with it, maybe this will be an attempt at that growth, have you looked for Melissa Bianco's resume yet?
bottom line is that crypic has yet to earn my trust enough to be happy about this news, but if it pans out, then I will be quite happy, and if new stuff comes out to buy, i will respond financially. please prove ncsoft's mistake and make this superhero mmo one we can be proud of and support. -
someguywhoplaysgames wrote: »Maybe it's a good time for that video resume.
Or my concept portfolio. have my degree now. -
trailturtle wrote: »Yeup. Put it this way -- I have two weekly conference calls with the Cryptic North team, and Russel's in both of those about 50% of the time. Considering that one of those is specifically the community check-in, that's a strong sign to me where he's investing his time and energy.
The team is battle-tested in Champions already and they're gung-ho about the lore, so I'm excited about the story arcs to come. Some of the plans they've got for the upcoming arc have me pretty jazzed up.
Jon: yep, downtown. I spent four months living in Seattle back in the day, and I think I walked past it a couple times. :biggrin:
Speaking of 'story arcs to come' Will these 'arcs' be in Comic Series format once again?
Because Comic Series arcs were AWESOME. -
agreed, anything permanent is awesome, no more temp stuff pleeease.
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someguywhoplaysgames wrote: »Maybe it's a good time for that video resume.
Do it brou! -
1. Does this mean we may get something apart from *shudder* lockboxes, vehicles and mini events?
2. Does this mean PWE has realized how much they screwed up NWO by making such a blatant cash grab during beta and are hedging their bets?
3. Does this mean Jack(whatever his name is) is so disgusted with Champions that he has moved it well away from the other two games Devs, who may have worked on it before,so they can't help with it?
Jonsills- I saw in one thread- Fortron(spelling?) is used.
Brou- Go for it
Nepht- I have a halfling and it's all mine bwahahaha.
That game is so hideous to look at after Champions, all the people are grey. I used the bright pink dye on the peasants garb just so I could see which one was mine.
I have been thru the Qulaar, I mean Dracolich crash.
The hunt for medkits, I mean heal the wounded.
Defending the cannon, I mean getting into the tower.
Beating up Black Talon, I mean the Large whatever it is.
Am now going through Westside, I mean the Tatters.
I keep having this sensation of deja vu when I manage to play but I can't work out why. :rolleyes: -
You want to know what's sad?
I was just in the STO forums a bit ago, and there's a goodbye rant from someone for whom the final straw was that he couldn't start a fleet with his new Romulan character. He went on and on for paragraphs about how poorly he felt Cryptic had treated him in STO, how disappointed he was in their communication, and how they left bugs in the code for too long.
I would have corrected his misapprehension about who gets neglected, but I thought my language might have caused me to be banned...
That only proves the theory that, if you'd look at the quality of a game based on forum feedback, each game would be horrible. -
blademaster5121 wrote: »Speaking of 'story arcs to come' Will these 'arcs' be in Comic Series format once again?
Because Comic Series arcs were AWESOME.
I'm going to have to agree wholeheartedly with this. Comics/Adventure Packs are the best part of the game, and we need way more. I miss the huge number of Task Forces that City of Heroes had.
I keep hearing how Whiteout was a failure of some sort, and - other than that bug that can make the final mission not complete, so you have to redo it - I see nothing wrong with it. in fact, it's my favorite for story content._________________________________________________
@flamingbunnyman in game. Formerly @Roderick in City of Heroes. -
blademaster5121 wrote: »Speaking of 'story arcs to come' Will these 'arcs' be in Comic Series format once again?
Because Comic Series arcs were AWESOME.
I'm in 100% agreement with you on that. MOAR Comic Series. -
1. Does this mean we may get something apart from *shudder* lockboxes, vehicles and mini events?
2. Does this mean PWE has realized how much they screwed up NWO by making such a blatant cash grab during beta and are hedging their bets?
3. Does this mean Jack(whatever his name is) is so disgusted with Champions that he has moved it well away from the other two games Devs, who may have worked on it before,so they can't help with it?
for 1 I don't know, I hope not.
2) I think it isn't about now but more of a business move. I think pwe has seen what jack has done with co and decided to make a new office.
3) I don't think that like I said with #2 I think it is because jack dropped the ball with champions online. (I gave jack a 2nd chance despite what he did to city of.) after this game launched he left this game in the back and never looked back.
I hope this new company will give champions what it needs to get to the point I think it should have been. I have always said this game has sooo much more potential then city of ever did. -
Speaking of 'story arcs to come' Will these 'arcs' be in Comic Series format once again?
Because Comic Series arcs were AWESOME.
I would love that. I just let go of my subscription, but if there are Comic Series or new powersets or (be still my heart) a new zone in the works I will definitely resub. -
We never got that island comic to go with the bird costume set.
I was hoping comics would have been the focus of the game. I can play almost endlessly if there were like 5 different comics to choose from at any time. And was expecting more to be added every year. -
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I think it's fair to share the good with the bad, and this shows there's someone trying in there. -
That only proves the theory that, if you'd look at the quality of a game based on forum feedback, each game would be horrible.
What theory? Yes WoW is loosing subs, but it still has the largest subscription playerbase (by orders of magnitude) over any other MMO. Yet, if you read player comments on its official forums, it's the same old stuff:
"New content taking forever is killing the game."
"10 years and all these <insert bug list here> still exist, you're killing gthe game..."
"With this latest Dev decision (despite ALL the feedback too); hyou're killing the game..."
One thing you can count on in ANY MMO - the official forums (if they allow player feedback) will always be more exceedingly negative then positive (whether the actual game deserves it or not.)
That said, I do find it interesting that the Cryptic CEO's comment RE: Cryptic North amd its purpose have been reported on gaming sites like Massively (link) - yet nothing about this was stated/posted as 'news' on the official CO website.
If they want to drum up 'buzz' for CO - you'd think they'd make some mention of this announcement on the official CO website.
Hate to say it, but, I don't think we're going to see an upswing (content production/rollout wise) for CO as I think this 'team' is the team that's been working on CO already for a while -- Cryptic just finally got around to officially announcing their formal existence publically.
Personally, I hope I'm wrong; but in the end the CO Dev team's future actions will prove me right or wrong (and I hope I'm wrong, but I'm not holding my breath.)Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012
PWE Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..." -
Huh. Maybe I'll buy some Zen and re-install.___________
[SIGPIC]Yeah, I'm blakerefuge.[/SIGPIC] -
crypticarmsman wrote: »What theory? Yes WoW is loosing subs, but it still has the largest subscription playerbase (by orders of magnitude) over any other MMO.
so deos this mean it now has more subs than *********? Which has increasing amounts of players?
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