Sto is working fine, has been for the hour i've been on it. Only thing not working is Chat, but i dont reallly need to hear all those tired Gorn jokes.... Theyre like grond jokes, but in space. :P
Sto is working fine, has been for the hour i've been on it. Only thing not working is Chat, but i dont reallly need to hear all those tired Gorn jokes.... Theyre like grond jokes, but in space. :P
So all you're doing on there is gronding instead. With an i. Yeah.
Update:
-Overall, all Cryptic games are having an issue with chat, and with transferring Zen into game.
-CO specifically is down because one of the servers we need to connect to, in order for NetOps to launch and open the CO server, isn't responding.
Both of these are being worked on, we have people handling them. Will update as I learn more.
Of course CO is still being worked on, woudln't surprise me if it wasn't actually being worked on though. It is the back list of their games and they just don't give a **** about it at all.
Of course CO is still being worked on, woudln't surprise me if it wasn't actually being worked on though. It is the back list of their games and they just don't give a **** about it at all.
it brings in the least amount of money. Of course it's the last on the list. Of course it's having more problems because of least attention. Of course we're all upset because we can't convince our friends to pay for it due to problems like this. It's all circular. No one's at fault. It's business. We hate that too.
It would bring in more money than any of them with even half the investment the others get.
Unfortunately that a high-risk gamble on a low-awareness property. A business manager can't justify that kind of risk.
The number one problem Champions has is that it is low-profile, has no big-name franchise weight behind it and the incentive for players to spend is obviously low.
It's a classic Catch-22, of course... investing, advertising and development could boost awareness and boosted awareness could spur more investment and development.
We also have the issue where many of the people who play/spend the most are the ones who seem to denigrate the game most vocally or give newbies a hard time for not knowing the game. This is bad for business because new players hear mostly negative criticisms. I can't even count the number of times simple questions have been met with insults and sarcasm. This lack of community is systemic. Veteran players/subscribers are angry about lack of content or unfixed bugs and new players get bummed out and are disincentivized to pay to play. Obviously not every subscribed, lifetime or otherwise veteran player is behaving this way but it is clear that it is a problem. I've heard from a large number of new players that the community is unfriendly, unhelpful and largely not conducive to an enjoyable experience.
All of this is noticed by GMs, moderators and developers. All of this goes up the chain. When players are clearly spending a sufficient amount on recycled content to keep the game afloat AND when new content development would be a significant cost/benefit risk AND when other games in the stable with significant franchise-weight are doing well then it doesn't take a lot of deep thought to realize that dumping more money into CO is a bad gamble.
The traditional top-down "throw money at it" approach will not work on a free-to-play game with little momentum and no franchise power behind it. What is needed is a bottom-up approach. Players need to stop spending money/zen on content that they feel is not worthwhile and they need to be extremely vocal in constructive ways. That does not mean flooding forums with grand schemes for new content that requires months of development. It means sending feedback to developers on what does NOT work, what we'd like to see that is reasonable on an extremely small budget and letting them know that lockboxes, trains and single-effect auras are not what we are looking for (even though, clearly, it is making money).
This also means that players need to foster a community of good will toward new players. Without an influx of new potential subscribers the people in charge of deciding where to spend development dollars will keep red-lighting any ambitious new project. When daily player numbers are abysmally low and new subscriber counts are in the dozens per quarter then things are going to stand still.
They likely won't "give up" on the game they will merely maintain the staus quo which, by all accounts, is doing well enough to keep it going. Champions Online is merely "surviving" and I would posit that if it were not for STO, NW and other games in PWE's stable then Champions would probably shut down before long since, in and of itself, it's quite likely not highly profitable and probably never was. Unless subscriber numbers and people spending cash for Zen drop below a certain threshold they will probably continue to float it. The superhero MMO genre is clearly not one that everyone (from a studio/developer standpoint) is clamoring to get involved in. Despite superheroes doing well in the box office it's not a huge MMO draw as other properties can clearly attest to.
I see a lot of negativity regarding the game both in forums and in zone chat, as well as in general chat, alerts, etc. The prevailing and pervasive attitude is that "the game is crap" but since there is nothing else to fill the niche that people will just suck it up and play until it's dead. (A death which players have been predicting since th game began.) Granted the game has a lot of issues to fix and hurdles to overcome but that couple with extremely low player/subscriber counts is precisely why we're very unlikely to see any major content updates as we would with other MMOs that are doing moderately well.
Despite its many problems I enjoy CO very much. Enough so that I consider it worthwhile to subscribe to support the game. However, having worked on the other side, I can clearly see that the costs involved with content development and asset building is something that, for CO, is going to continue to be along th elines of low-risk additions that require little time and little to no coding. Anything else is simply not a smart investment no matter how badly I might want it as a player.
Yeah, that's it... it's because they're too angry.
Well I got no reason to suggest that folks are stupid, I was in the midst of typing out an angry reply myself when I reread it and thought the better of it and decided to express my displeasure with sarcasm instead. I can understand feeling rage and I know sometimes it's easy to miss sarcasm on the internet sometimes. Besides there's no reason to turn on each other when we have a perfectly good company to be legitimately angry at ATM.
This is where company PR folks usually try to spread the blame around . . . or have I missed that already?
I hear constantly on forums and in game that the game has a critically low subscriber base. For once I want to see numbers that support this. PW doesn't keep the game open out of charity, it must be making money somehow.
They have no reason to give up on CO stop being negative. The reason for the downtime is that they're probably drunk/taking a nap before they get up to it :P Chill your breasts, children.
Everyone has an opinion as to what's wrong with CO... and mostly, they aren't wrong. The biggest problem though remains the same problem that CO has always had:
People who play MMOs are looking for a community. And CO doesn't offer that on a day to day, mission to mission basis.
Let's look at Alerts - Think about your experience in Alerts. 90% (or more) of the time, you join an alert... you run through the mission. People pretty much do whatever it is that they are going to do as far as the mobs... you kill the boss, you leave. Rinse. Repeat.
If you aren't talking, communicating, chatting, discussing, or planning. You know what you aren't doing?
Building a community.
There are only 40 levels. How many compelling instances are there that might actually require communication or even cooperation? The power of content that is hard enough to requires teams and dangerous enough that it requires specialization is that it FORCES PEOPLE TO COMMUNICATE. And in communicating, it creates community.
you people are ALL wrong about what is wrong with champions. whats really wrong with the game, is the fact that it doesnt work. but when it does work. the problem if you ask me is PVP imbalance, most trees of abilities are completely useless. if you cant theme and PVP at the same time then the trees are not balanced. dont nerf the strong abilities. buff the weak ones. like lifedrain, usually a brutal PVP tactic in any other game. but in CO lifedrain is worst than just standing still and taking a beating.
Everyone has an opinion as to what's wrong with CO... and mostly, they aren't wrong. The biggest problem though remains the same problem that CO has always had:
People who play MMOs are looking for a community. And CO doesn't offer that on a day to day, mission to mission basis.
Let's look at Alerts - Think about your experience in Alerts. 90% (or more) of the time, you join an alert... you run through the mission. People pretty much do whatever it is that they are going to do as far as the mobs... you kill the boss, you leave. Rinse. Repeat.
If you aren't talking, communicating, chatting, discussing, or planning. You know what you aren't doing?
Building a community.
There are only 40 levels. How many compelling instances are there that might actually require communication or even cooperation? The power of content that is hard enough to requires teams and dangerous enough that it requires specialization is that it FORCES PEOPLE TO COMMUNICATE. And in communicating, it creates community.
No Community = No MMO.
- KT -
That is because Alerts do not provide an actual challenge for anyone above level 20. You just need to attack the same guy the other person is attacking, and at level 40 not even that is required. You can even solo the lalert while the newbies in the team derp around.
Call Maverick if you need a DPS help, or Combat Medic if you need a healer.
I am known for having extremely good or extremely bad luck with drops.
But when people ask to require specialization, be wary because 99% of the time it means they're crying for boring WoW Tank/Healer crap.
The game already sort of asks for specialization. If you don't have someone with certain builds like Defiant, Invulnerability, Lightning Reflexes, etc. (hint hint tank builds) there's some content that is considerably harder than others. The mechanic is already there, whether you want it to be or not. It's not well implemented at all.
Fact: Alerts go a LOT smoother if you have a well designed and competent tank. You ever notice that? It's easier as a DPSer to pick off a mook or two and DPS them down while the tank ... tanks.
Fact: Alerts go a LOT smoother if you have a well designed and motivated support/healer. You ever notice that? It's easier as a DPSer (or tank) to pick off a mook or two or three and DPS them down while you're being healed.
The fact is, the Trinity isn't an artificial construct. It actually already exists in the game. We need to stop pretending that it isn't, is what I'm saying.
End game content, yes, we need it. But end game content doesn't matter when they can't keep players playing when they are giving the game away for free.
Community is what MMO players are looking for as a demographic. CO has never offered that.
Comments
Call Maverick if you need a DPS help, or Combat Medic if you need a healer.
I am known for having extremely good or extremely bad luck with drops.
-Overall, all Cryptic games are having an issue with chat, and with transferring Zen into game.
-CO specifically is down because one of the servers we need to connect to, in order for NetOps to launch and open the CO server, isn't responding.
Both of these are being worked on, we have people handling them. Will update as I learn more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ7clwC4-6k
@Sersaywastaken
championswiki.com
AAHH, SO NOW YOU GUYS
KNOW HOW WE FEEL
ABOUT THE NEVERENDING
'SERVER NOT RESPONDING'
ISSUE, NO? :biggrin:
Call Maverick if you need a DPS help, or Combat Medic if you need a healer.
I am known for having extremely good or extremely bad luck with drops.
it brings in the least amount of money. Of course it's the last on the list. Of course it's having more problems because of least attention. Of course we're all upset because we can't convince our friends to pay for it due to problems like this. It's all circular. No one's at fault. It's business. We hate that too.
championswiki.com
trust me on this, ulcer medicine tastes awful.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Coffee, chocolate, bacon, and phasers. What more do I need?
And this is taking so long I might go back to CHINESE Perfect World.
Call Maverick if you need a DPS help, or Combat Medic if you need a healer.
I am known for having extremely good or extremely bad luck with drops.
Very true.
There is. Problem is that it's 2400 baud dial-up.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
ARRRRGH!
...Ummm, 'not on a holiday'....wut?
If it was a ddos as suggested earlier in the thread not much they can do about that. I'm not sure what would be gained by attacking Cryptic.
Oh, so new years isn't a holiday all of the sudden? Didn't know that... dumbass
I'd say something but... not sure if I'm being double bluffed.
Unfortunately that a high-risk gamble on a low-awareness property. A business manager can't justify that kind of risk.
The number one problem Champions has is that it is low-profile, has no big-name franchise weight behind it and the incentive for players to spend is obviously low.
It's a classic Catch-22, of course... investing, advertising and development could boost awareness and boosted awareness could spur more investment and development.
We also have the issue where many of the people who play/spend the most are the ones who seem to denigrate the game most vocally or give newbies a hard time for not knowing the game. This is bad for business because new players hear mostly negative criticisms. I can't even count the number of times simple questions have been met with insults and sarcasm. This lack of community is systemic. Veteran players/subscribers are angry about lack of content or unfixed bugs and new players get bummed out and are disincentivized to pay to play. Obviously not every subscribed, lifetime or otherwise veteran player is behaving this way but it is clear that it is a problem. I've heard from a large number of new players that the community is unfriendly, unhelpful and largely not conducive to an enjoyable experience.
All of this is noticed by GMs, moderators and developers. All of this goes up the chain. When players are clearly spending a sufficient amount on recycled content to keep the game afloat AND when new content development would be a significant cost/benefit risk AND when other games in the stable with significant franchise-weight are doing well then it doesn't take a lot of deep thought to realize that dumping more money into CO is a bad gamble.
The traditional top-down "throw money at it" approach will not work on a free-to-play game with little momentum and no franchise power behind it. What is needed is a bottom-up approach. Players need to stop spending money/zen on content that they feel is not worthwhile and they need to be extremely vocal in constructive ways. That does not mean flooding forums with grand schemes for new content that requires months of development. It means sending feedback to developers on what does NOT work, what we'd like to see that is reasonable on an extremely small budget and letting them know that lockboxes, trains and single-effect auras are not what we are looking for (even though, clearly, it is making money).
This also means that players need to foster a community of good will toward new players. Without an influx of new potential subscribers the people in charge of deciding where to spend development dollars will keep red-lighting any ambitious new project. When daily player numbers are abysmally low and new subscriber counts are in the dozens per quarter then things are going to stand still.
So, how does it feel when you realize you just insulted a person's intelligence right as you were unable to perceive that he was being sarcastic?
Call Maverick if you need a DPS help, or Combat Medic if you need a healer.
I am known for having extremely good or extremely bad luck with drops.
Half asleep and grumpy, that is how i feel
Their official website is all in chinese.
I have no idea of where to click.
Call Maverick if you need a DPS help, or Combat Medic if you need a healer.
I am known for having extremely good or extremely bad luck with drops.
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Member of Paragon Dawn: Because some people like friendly helpful communities.
Yeah some things are broken... no I don't use/abuse them.. where would be the fun in that?
Maybe if I try Malaysian Perfect World...
Call Maverick if you need a DPS help, or Combat Medic if you need a healer.
I am known for having extremely good or extremely bad luck with drops.
I see a lot of negativity regarding the game both in forums and in zone chat, as well as in general chat, alerts, etc. The prevailing and pervasive attitude is that "the game is crap" but since there is nothing else to fill the niche that people will just suck it up and play until it's dead. (A death which players have been predicting since th game began.) Granted the game has a lot of issues to fix and hurdles to overcome but that couple with extremely low player/subscriber counts is precisely why we're very unlikely to see any major content updates as we would with other MMOs that are doing moderately well.
Despite its many problems I enjoy CO very much. Enough so that I consider it worthwhile to subscribe to support the game. However, having worked on the other side, I can clearly see that the costs involved with content development and asset building is something that, for CO, is going to continue to be along th elines of low-risk additions that require little time and little to no coding. Anything else is simply not a smart investment no matter how badly I might want it as a player.
Well I got no reason to suggest that folks are stupid, I was in the midst of typing out an angry reply myself when I reread it and thought the better of it and decided to express my displeasure with sarcasm instead. I can understand feeling rage and I know sometimes it's easy to miss sarcasm on the internet sometimes. Besides there's no reason to turn on each other when we have a perfectly good company to be legitimately angry at ATM.
This is where company PR folks usually try to spread the blame around . . . or have I missed that already?
People who play MMOs are looking for a community. And CO doesn't offer that on a day to day, mission to mission basis.
Let's look at Alerts - Think about your experience in Alerts. 90% (or more) of the time, you join an alert... you run through the mission. People pretty much do whatever it is that they are going to do as far as the mobs... you kill the boss, you leave. Rinse. Repeat.
You know what people aren't doing in Alerts?
Talking. Communicating. Chatting. Discussing. Planning.
If you aren't talking, communicating, chatting, discussing, or planning. You know what you aren't doing?
Building a community.
There are only 40 levels. How many compelling instances are there that might actually require communication or even cooperation? The power of content that is hard enough to requires teams and dangerous enough that it requires specialization is that it FORCES PEOPLE TO COMMUNICATE. And in communicating, it creates community.
No Community = No MMO.
- KT -
And then we'll be angry with chilly breasts. I'll keep my breasts at body temperature thank you very much.
hey, what channel is that on?
championswiki.com
That is because Alerts do not provide an actual challenge for anyone above level 20. You just need to attack the same guy the other person is attacking, and at level 40 not even that is required. You can even solo the lalert while the newbies in the team derp around.
Call Maverick if you need a DPS help, or Combat Medic if you need a healer.
I am known for having extremely good or extremely bad luck with drops.
championswiki.com
The game already sort of asks for specialization. If you don't have someone with certain builds like Defiant, Invulnerability, Lightning Reflexes, etc. (hint hint tank builds) there's some content that is considerably harder than others. The mechanic is already there, whether you want it to be or not. It's not well implemented at all.
Fact: Alerts go a LOT smoother if you have a well designed and competent tank. You ever notice that? It's easier as a DPSer to pick off a mook or two and DPS them down while the tank ... tanks.
Fact: Alerts go a LOT smoother if you have a well designed and motivated support/healer. You ever notice that? It's easier as a DPSer (or tank) to pick off a mook or two or three and DPS them down while you're being healed.
The fact is, the Trinity isn't an artificial construct. It actually already exists in the game. We need to stop pretending that it isn't, is what I'm saying.
End game content, yes, we need it. But end game content doesn't matter when they can't keep players playing when they are giving the game away for free.
Community is what MMO players are looking for as a demographic. CO has never offered that.