The power of marqueting

[Cruxie]

Seems that Everquest 2 is gonna be free to play.

Im furious because Istaria is much better game than Everquest 2 and we have a Free model too better than cash shop. But look at that "cute" page. And of course Everquest servers are full with more and more people joining.

Maybe with a new Istaria "free page", people realize that Istaria is better.

[Frith-Rae]

While I don't necessarily agree iwth the rest of it..

YOu do bring up a good point. Advertising or throwing the "free to play account available" option as a touting point in articles/reviews/such might help things out a bit...

Because most aren't gonna know we have that option unless they actively are looking at the game anyway.

[Romirez]

agreed. slightly more advertising should bring the servers up from like... 45 on Order, so something better. this game needs to advertise more, the population on order is TINY, and it's very quiet most of the time.

[Vahrokh]

We got a free to play account option?

Figures. I did not know about it AND I am playing Istaria. Figures those who don't.

Of all of the fantastic things Virtrium are doing, effective advertising is not one of them. Playing in a totally empty server = no fun.

[Riaken]

Marketing is one of the many informing the player aspects of game that is lacking. Besides Wiki Istaria, which doesn't give all info, people have so many questions that can't be answered. I don't even know most stuff in game. I sometimes rely on my white binder of Horizons for some info. And that thing is 6 or 7 years old. HC Horizons website that was shut off really hurt the knowledge of game.

[Fyrethorne]

I totally agree. EQ II is crap compared to Istaria. If they can get the players, then we should too!

[AmonGwareth]

EQ2 has two key things going for it that we don't have... First and foremost is that they are backed by Sony. i.e. they have deep pockets to do development and advertising. Secondly, they have a full development team and have since launch.

These two aspects alone allow them to do a lot of things that we would love to do, such as improve performance, create new content more frequently and with more variety, revamp areas more quickly, advertise to bring in lots of new players, and so forth.

We need to get the word out about Istaria! MMORPG, Massively, you name it, they need to know we're still here and we're still a good game.

[Teto Frum]

Being that this is an online medium with both technical staff and creative staff on the company ledger....in the age of viral marketing budget is no longer an excuse to not advertise. There are plenty of ways Istaria could get the word out without massive capital expenditure.

[Vahrokh]

I was thinking... have you ever been on imageshack.us or photobucket.com? Those are highly trafficked sites and often have Flash ads of "low end" or "low pop" MMOs short video clips running.
Do you think it'd be beyond reach ($$$) to send the istaria.com flash video clip to one of these places?


Edit: in response to Amon. Did the Sony pockets save SWG? Did EA pockets save Warhammer Online (another of the "could have been so good" titles I played). What about Age Of Conan flop?

I don't think you are bringing Istaria justice (!) and you are looking at the game with too much self criticism. Istaria surely can be improved but it's not poor by any means already.

In fact the biggest noticeable thing I met in years of talking about Istaria everywhere I could, it's the fact that people just don't know it ever existed. EVER existed.

Some even replied me that: "well, if I never heard of it, it's because it sucks" and that kind of made me snort smoke.


Proof I carry Istaria in my names and in my everything in every place / game I go:


http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...1013164838.jpg


My own space station is called Istarian Ancient Dragon's den

[awdz]

still a good game.

Actually, better than ever and better than most remember it, IMO.

[velveeta]

i try to do my part......

have we tried linking the official website to some social networks like facebook and myspace, or twitter?
i know there is an istaria page on facebook, but i don't think you can link it via the website - most peeps will go there first if interested!
haven't needed to go to the website myself, so if this is already being done, i apologise for this post....

[Fyrethorne]

"EQ2 has two key things going for it that we don't have... First and foremost is that they are backed by Sony. i.e. they have deep pockets to do development and advertising. Secondly, they have a full development team and have since launch."

Omg. They have all that and Istaria is still so much better than EQ2?! Wow. Either their dev team is crap, or ours is just Awesome! Or both!

[Riaken]

Omg. They have all that and Istaria is still so much better than EQ2?! Wow. Either their dev team is crap, or ours is just Awesome! Or both!

No, we have a great community, and that goes very far. When I played EQ and sometimes watch a friend play EQ2, it's a bunch of loot freaks. Items Items Items.