Arc Platform Updates and Q&A

dezstravus · October 2013

Hey Everyone,

We just posted a big update regarding the latest development status of Arc. Feel free to check it out and post your questions here in this thread! We'll do our best to reply to as many as possible.

http://sto.perfectworld.com/news/?p=1017551

We hope to be posting more details and information over the next month, as more features get fleshed out and we are able to make additional progress on the development side.

Thanks for taking the time to check out this update!

storatt · October 2013

Where are give-away's you guys promise some time ago????

" All current Arc users will soon be able to enjoy exclusive offers and giveaways, so start using Arc today and experience a new way to play your favorite game! "

chalpen · October 2013

Better. Now tell us why we cannot have two games running at the same time?

myrnwyn · October 2013

For once an update that actually is about forcing all to use Arc :P

As far as my reaction to this? All of my sighs.

collegepark2151 · October 2013

Steam, here I come... :mad:

ussberlin · October 2013

make STO dont work without ARC then i only play RSI when it starts thats what you get if you do this bull****

And whats with the Steam Version will it need ARC too or can we get the Updates over Steam then and without the launcher?

lan451 · October 2013

The goal of Arc is to replace our current game Launchers , not run in conjunction with them

Currently, Arc launches the game Launchers, but this is not the final design. A lot of the feedback we?ve received is that it feels inefficient to have Arc open the launcher, which in turn launches the game. This is only a temporary configuration while we work to ensure that Arc is 100% integrated with all our games.

Cool. That's really the only reason I'm not using the prototype Arc right now. It's kind of silly to have a launcher for the launcher. Once that's taken care of, I'll have no issues with Arc.

trhrangerxml · October 2013

I have over 2300 hours logged under the old client through Steam (god knows how many actual in game hours I have) and I use the STO client for Neverwinters and Champions. How will it change for people using Steam? Will Steam still be able to identify individual games or considering your move with Neverwinter, will you continue to do business with Steam?

dezstravus · October 2013

storatt wrote: »

Where are give-away's you guys promise some time ago????

" All current Arc users will soon be able to enjoy exclusive offers and giveaways, so start using Arc today and experience a new way to play your favorite game! "

Hey Storatt,

We're currently working on that. Short term, it's still our goal to give out some cool stuff once the next version of Arc is made available to players. It's likely that this would occur some time after the next big Arc update.

Long term, one of our goals is to create functionality within Arc that allows us to efficiently provide codes and other benefits to players. However, for the initial release, we're going to be focused on just the basic functionality (downloading games, viewing news, etc). Once we ensure that the core experience is solid, we hope to start adding the cool stuff!

saekiith · October 2013

No... simply No...
I do not need some gloated Vapor-Ware... it's bad enough you have to specifically say that you won't spy on us but this thing is just plain useless for anyone that does not intend to play all your other precious games or spam Twitter & Facebook with useless Ingame TRIBBLE.

Edit: I wouldn't even use the current Launcher if I would find a way to start STO without... maybe I'm just plain dumb here but it refuses to work for me without anything...

For me a "Launcher" is an inherently useless thing... If I want Infos I look at the Website, I do not need to be reminded EVERYWHERE I look that the next Lockbox is online.

mancom · October 2013

In my opinion there are two things that are truly great about STO and better than in other MMOs.

The first thing is the @handle system and how it allows one to always use the character name one likes and not worry abotu someone else "stealing" it.

The second thing is the launcher and how it is not some bloated background service and yet works really well with compressed data transfer, using already downloaded redshirt/tribble data to speed up transfers etc.

Please don't take away one of the two great things abotu STO. Don't force us to run yet another useless background service in an attempt to make us play your other games.

Btw: How will this work with STO installs via Steam?

collegepark2151 · October 2013

And now we know why there have been so many giveaways...

djconcentus · October 2013

So what I've gathered from this latest post is as follows: Either Perfect World is going to remove all of its stuff from Steam (including the Steam-exclusive Steamrunner for STO), or the Launcher you download from Steam is going to be replaced with Arc, which will open up when you try to run the game in Steam.

So either we're going to have an entirely separate program running in the background in addition to steam, or we're going to have to install an entirely separate program and run that as well.

Oh joy. :mad:

dezstravus · October 2013

ussberlin wrote: »

And whats with the Steam Version will it need ARC too or can we get the Updates over Steam then and without the launcher?

Greetings USS Berlin,

The current scope of development does not involve any changes to Steam. As with any software in development, plans are of course subject to change, though for now the goal is for it to remain possible to launch STO directly from Steam.

djconcentus · October 2013

dezstravus wrote: »

Greetings USS Berlin,

The current scope of development does not involve any changes to Steam. As with any software in development, plans are of course subject to change, though for now the goal is for it to remain possible to launch STO directly from Steam.

I retract my previous post. Will we continue to be able to buy Zen through Steam?

dezstravus · October 2013

djconcentus wrote: »

I retract my previous post. Will we continue to be able to buy Zen through Steam?

Hey DJ,

Yes, as far as I can tell there aren't any plans to remove the purchase flows from Steam. I will double check though, and if I hear anything different I'll post an update in this thread! Thanks for posting your question.

thestormsong · October 2013

Will Arc work mostly like the current launcher (start Arc, launch game, Arc closes), or will Arc have to run in the background while the I play the game? If it's the first, then I don't really mind installing it.

smokeybacon90 · October 2013

I have no problem with Arc, so long as it remains simply one option to play STO, and not the only one. Personally I have no need for any "coherence" or "consistent user experience" between PWE games, as I only play and care for one. Maybe others do need those things, and I shouldn't deny them the opportunity to receive them.

dezstravus · October 2013

mancom wrote: »

In my opinion there are two things that are truly great about STO and better than in other MMOs.

The first thing is the @handle system and how it allows one to always use the character name one likes and not worry abotu someone else "stealing" it.

The second thing is the launcher and how it is not some bloated background service and yet works really well with compressed data transfer, using already downloaded redshirt/tribble data to speed up transfers etc.

For item #1 - no changes are currently being made to the account and @handle system.

For item #2 - Yes - I totally agree that the current launcher is an amazing piece of technology. It's our goal to preserve the current functionality as much as possible.

mikefl · October 2013

I noticed that ARC still runs in my tray after closing the game and launches at start up of my pc. Is ARC going to always be running? Will ARC be tracking any of my other pc activities outside of PW games? Will I be able to close ARC after launching the game? (Currently when I play EA games, Origin can be shut down after your game is opened.) I'm not opposed to a universal launcher as long as that is all it is and it isn't tracking everything else I do. I uninstalled ARC awhile ago because it was always running and I didn't know what it was doing or if it was spying for China's NSA or what. Thanks!

rezking · October 2013

So...we'll be downloading/installing a games browser, "social" client AND the game.

I do NOT approve of Arc.
I do NOT want this adware on my system.
I do NOT want to be forced to use Arc to play this game.

EDIT: Give a non-Arc STO launcher more consideration (IOW just leave things as they are and offer Arc separately).

generalmoco · October 2013

Hey Dez, btw Haven't seen you around the forums.. Welcome!!!

Anywho, Once ARC is at the stage you guys want it to be, eg, having all the games run through it only... What will happen to us players that have the now "Old" launcher save somewhere in case of an emergency... *install and repatch the game through it*

On that note, will we still be able to run the game trough the launcher once ARC is up... or will our Launcher just shut-down and not let us patch nor access the game???

dezstravus · October 2013

lan451 wrote: »

Cool. That's really the only reason I'm not using the prototype Arc right now. It's kind of silly to have a launcher for the launcher. Once that's taken care of, I'll have no issues with Arc.

Thanks for the feedback, lan.

The perspective that you've shared makes sense. Long term, it's definitely our goal to integrate the various pieces of software into a single experience, though just to properly set expectations, we'll probably need to iterate through a few major updates for Arc before we're able to achieve this, due to the technical work involved in making this happen. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts!

lan451 · October 2013

I've got a question for you dezstravus, if you don't mind.

Right now I play both Champs and STO.

One of the great things about Cryptic games is that custom chat channels and /tells are cross game. So I often chat with my buddies in CO when I'm flying around in STO or sometimes the other way around. Every once in a while one of them will ask for help or want to run some event while they're in the other game.

When that happens I have to exit the game I'm playing, load up the launcher to the other game and then log in. It can take a bit of time. So my question is, will this new improved Arc allow me to swap between my games faster?

dezstravus · October 2013

mikefl wrote: »

I noticed that ARC still runs in my tray after closing the game and launches at start up of my pc. Is ARC going to always be running? Will ARC be tracking any of my other pc activities outside of PW games? Will I be able to close ARC after launching the game? (Currently when I play EA games, Origin can be shut down after your game is opened.) I'm not opposed to a universal launcher as long as that is all it is and it isn't tracking everything else I do. I uninstalled ARC awhile ago because it was always running and I didn't know what it was doing or if it was spying for China's NSA or what. Thanks!

Hey Mike,

Optionally, you can opt-in to share basic information about your machine with us. This data is used to track performance and to help us optimize responsiveness, download speeds, download reliability across different hardware, etc. However, this information is only gathered if you explicitly choose to opt-in to this feature.

dezstravus · October 2013

lan451 wrote: »

I've got a question for you dezstravus, if you don't mind.

Right now I play both Champs and STO.

One of the great things about Cryptic games is that custom chat channels and /tells are cross game. So I often chat with my buddies in CO when I'm flying around in STO or sometimes the other way around. Every once in a while one of them will ask for help or want to run some event while they're in the other game.

When that happens I have to exit the game I'm playing, load up the launcher to the other game and then log in. It can take a bit of time. So my question is, will this new improved Arc allow me to swap between my games faster?

Hey lan,

Right now I haven't seen a specific plan to increase the speed of swapping between games, however we do plan to add cross-game chat functionality that could potentially enable to you have a persistent chat window (through Arc) that stays open/available for use during the game transition process.

lan451 · October 2013

dezstravus wrote: »

Hey lan,

Right now I haven't seen a specific plan to increase the speed of swapping between games, however we do plan to add cross-game chat functionality that could potentially enable to you have a persistent chat window (through Arc) that stays open/available for use during the game transition process.

Sounds good to me. Thanks.

zeuxidemus001 · October 2013

I'm all for arc as long as I never have to actually use it.

lazarus51166 · October 2013

The goal of Arc is to replace our current game Launchers , not run in conjunction with them

Currently, Arc launches the game Launchers, but this is not the final design. A lot of the feedback we?ve received is that it feels inefficient to have Arc open the launcher, which in turn launches the game. This is only a temporary configuration while we work to ensure that Arc is 100% integrated with all our games.

Translation: Soon you'll be forced to use Arc because we'll be getting rid of all the other launchers, despite the fact that when asked the last time we told you that we had no plans to do such a thing

I called it. Yet again we were lied to.

You people cannot even make a WEBSITE work properly, I am not trusting you to actual code a freaking launcher.

This. There are parts of the website integration with the server that haven't worked in *years*

So what I've gathered from this latest post is as follows: Either Perfect World is going to remove all of its stuff from Steam (including the Steam-exclusive Steamrunner for STO), or the Launcher you download from Steam is going to be replaced with Arc, which will open up when you try to run the game in Steam.

I'm thinking its the first option there. Steam would never allow a company to essentially distribute their own version of steam via a steam game. It would be a very bad business move. In fact their tos doesn't allow companies to do things like that

The current scope of development does not involve any changes to Steam. As with any software in development, plans are of course subject to change, though for now the goal is for it to remain possible to launch STO directly from Steam.

A) steam doesn't allow companies to do what you're suggesting in the way you've said you're planning to do it.

You mean like how last time arc was advertised we were told there were no plans to force its use? Yeah, sure buddy. I'm not stupid. You lied about that, there is no reason you wouldn't be doing so now about the steam issue as well.

I have no problem with Arc, so long as it remains simply one option to play STO, and not the only one.

Except that the blog post explicitly said that they are getting rid of the launchers and having everything run through Arc. So by that logic it will be the only option

Optionally, you can opt-in to share basic information about your machine with us. This data is used to track performance and to help us optimize responsiveness, download speeds, download reliability across different hardware, etc. However, this information is only gathered if you explicitly choose to opt-in to this feature.

Yeah, because no company has ever lied about doing things like that. I'll believe that when I see proof that no data is being collected without permission and no adware is involved

cidstorm · October 2013

Sounds like wine users are going to have a period of away time.

Arc Platform Updates and Q&A

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