frozen AROP?

[Vlisson]

nothing happens? no change? no new info?

nothing goes live?

hmpf

the hype will flow away...

[Guaran]

Some graphics added in the council chambers, namely the lava. Even more stable graphically for me anyway.

Switch not flipped yet.

[oluviel]

I hope they release it in chapters this is endless.

[Fireclaw]

No I'd rather ARoP is released as a whole when its done. First, whether its released in chapters or as a whole the end result is the same: no ancient player dragons till the end of the year at the earliest (possibly end of next year). Second, if they release it in chapters EVERYONE will become ancient at the same time.

At least if its released as a whole there will be a short period of time (maybe 2 weeks) where some dragons will become ancient before everyone else and can at least feel special during that period.

[Blue Hasia]

No I'd rather ARoP is released as a whole when its done. First, whether its released in chapters or as a whole the end result is the same

not ture if it gets realse on blight in chunks then we can test the new parts and give feed back to tulga on how it went

[Fireclaw]

No I'd rather ARoP is released as a whole when its done. First, whether its released in chapters or as a whole the end result is the same

not ture if it gets realse on blight in chunks then we can test the new parts and give feed back to tulga on how it went

Oops. Guess I wasn't clear. What I want them to do is to release it in chunks on Blight shard (which seems to be what they are doing), but only have it go to the live shards when it is complete. I don't want them to release it piecemeal on the live shards.

[Mordoth]

the end result is the same: no ancient player dragons till the end of the year at the earliest (possibly end of next year).

Is this official word? I'd certainly hope it's not. If this is what happens, I'd think that Horizons is very likely to lose most of the current dragon player base, and their recent release of information on the Community Website is nothing more than a big tease. Regardless of how poor communication has been in the past, HZ Devs have never been THAT misleading.

[Keeneye Red]

[img]/Web/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif[/img]Fireclaw wrote: the end result is the same: no ancient player dragons till the end of the year at the earliest (possibly end of next year).

Is this official word? I'd certainly hope it's not. If this is what happens, I'd think that Horizons is very likely to lose most of the current dragon player base, and their recent release of information on the Community Website is nothing more than a big tease. Regardless of how poor communication has been in the past, HZ Devs have never been THAT misleading.

It is purely conjecture on Fireclaw`s part. Not official so no need to go jumping to conclusions.

[Fireclaw]

[img]/Web/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif[/img]Mordoth wrote: [img]/Web/Themes/default/images/icon-quote.gif[/img]Fireclaw wrote: the end result is the same: no ancient player dragons till the end of the year at the earliest (possibly end of next year).

Is this official word? I'd certainly hope it's not. If this is what happens, I'd think that Horizons is very likely to lose most of the current dragon player base, and their recent release of information on the Community Website is nothing more than a big tease. Regardless of how poor communication has been in the past, HZ Devs have never been THAT misleading.


It is purely conjecture on Fireclaw`s part. Not official so no need to go jumping to conclusions.

Yup pure conjecture on my part.[:$] I really hope I am wrong, but the devs haven't exactly given much to inspire confidence.[:'(] From what I saw on Blight it looks like only 1/6 of ARoP has even made it to Blight shard. And its been 4-5 weeks since Blight last received any update to ARoP.

[imported_Frith-Rae]

sorry guys I"m with FC on this one...

when they first said stuff about releasing the AROP in "Sections" live - this has been my concern from the beginning. I think its a HORRIBLE idea to let them think releasing it in sections is what we want..

given the history of how 'fast' things get from blight to live - given the HISTORY of how LONG this FIRST part of AROP has been pushed back (let's see..first it was December...hrm...its mid april now?!)

As far as I'm concerned if they release it in sections (live not on blight but live), then we are looking at MONTHS before the whole thing is released!

I mean right now "supposedly" 1/6th is on Blight, ok...and how long has that 1/6th on blight be there? And its still not ready for live?

And we want them to release that before they have parts 2-6 ready?!

No...no way. No way in Hell. Blight in parts - Fine! Great! All for it!

But don't push it live until the WHOLE THING is done on blight and ready to go.

otherwise we're going to have months of waiting ( tell me how this WON'T Happen!! I see NO Evidence anything BUT that could happen) - and my god..the fallout.

Release it all at once or just don't release it. But don't release part 1 untilpart Final is DONE! And ready to GO!

But then, Oluviel(sorry for misspelling I know I did) doesnt even want lore anyway...so...

[Goriax]

Actually I like the idea of sections just because it'll make a bunch ancient all at once. Sure, someone has to be first, but if they're first by only 30 minutes hopefully people won't go quite so nuts over it.

If it's released all at once there will be a mad scramble to be "first" ancient on the server and it almost certainly won't show the better side of dragons. Even already there's been indicationsof that when there was a (false) rumor that the first part was being released to live shards.

At least if it's released in chunks, then the mad scramble will only happen during the last chunk so the period of ugliness will be shorter.

[oluviel]

Idon't understand the concern about people becoming ancient all at once. I guess i have no desire to be a "special" dragon.If you choose to do the sections as they reach live then yes you will finish it. However, just because they release it in sections doesn't mean everyone will be up to date. Nor does it mean that everyone wouldn't finish it at the same time if they released it all at once.

[Death-knell]

No doubt, considering there will be some who will start and finish as fast as they can to be first. Personally I don't care if I'm first, but once its released I will probably work on it exclusively.....that is unless they release it in parts.

[Jaraiden]

Well, the adult RoP to Ancient should be released in portions. For several good reasons.

The hatchling RoP to adult is in sections - Statue of your Adult Self, Phylactery, and final fights (to power phylactery). Each had subparts.

In times past, when dragons age, certainly the Rite was a long, involved, process - likely stretching over a year (game year) or more. Patience and endurance being being a trait tested by the Elder Ancients then. Which should be tested now during the Rite.

I'm only talking in game stuff, not out of game mis-management of planning to allocat development resources forhaving the RoPs as in-game content at/near release.

As for any "rush" to be Ancient first. Who cares? For any newly added content, there is always a rush - events (using OOC knowledge to start/do them), features (fast tunnel to Werewolf island portal). So the sad part is, which player will post that Ancient "ding" first? It could be hollow bragging for some.

I and others know who the elder adults of Istaria are. And who the Ancients will be. The others will just bedragons that optimized game mechanics (intended or now) to be supersized.

So it is unavoidable the adult RoP to Ancient has been delayed. Management sought to devote time to post merge addedfunctionality (plot auction, guild plots, more plot features), blighted equipment, dragon claws (to use weapon crystals), and other side projects. Of course, the Sep. 1, 2004 merge was the result of overoptimistic server planning (subscription $$ not enough for hosting costs).

Just wait. We are all paying the price for mistakes of AE's management then. And Chris T hasmany of those same peopleat TulgAE. :: sighs ::

[refuse]

I and others know who the elder adults of Istaria are. And who the Ancients will be. The others will just bedragons that optimized game mechanics (intended or now) to be supersized.

How terribly elitist that sounds.

[Theolaerynn]

I think the wrong questions are being asked. I believe the correct question is which method will end with the most paying players.

[Pharcellus]

Yup, though I use a slightly amended version in my analysis of options:

"Which method will end with the most paying players for the long term."

[oluviel]

Considering the long term playerbase.
If it were to bereleased at oncethe devsmake the playerbasewait another 5-6 months and see nothing updated to live. Thus, making them more and more frustrated with the game, orthey can release bits and pieces sothe playerbasecan at least feel they are one step closer to ancient status, and not feel like it's never going to happen.

It's also easy to work it into lore as dragons are just now trying to reach the ancient status again. It takes time and discovery, and i know in this case iwould read the lore. When i know i can't finish the questuntil they release everything i will actually read the conversations.It lets people calm down and finish the quest slowly. If you burn through the quest in a day or two it's no real quest. These types of quests should be of epic status and take a lot of time and effort.

I finished the adult rop in3 days of moderate playonce it hit live. There's nothing epic about that.

I would like them to spend their time on this quest to truely make it hard, but i would also like to see the pieces that are ready to go be put out there for the playerbase to experience.

This is the last stage of our development. There is no special few who will be the only ancients, nor is there any title associated with being the first ancient dragon. It just shows who has more spare time.

[Fireclaw]

Yup, though I use a slightly amended version in my analysis of options:

"Which method will end with the most paying players for the long term."

The proper method for keeping players in the long-term is for the devs to keep some of their promises. Meaning if they said ARoP would go live by the end of January, then it should go live in January... and not January of the following year.

Whether ARoP is released in stages or all at once - either way the devs are going to get slammed.

If its released in stages, then the devs will be accused of teasing us when players find it cannot be completed for another 12 months. Furthermore, the general feeling of those going through ARoP will be "what a huge letdown" when they find they have to wait months for the next part to arrive with no estimate on when they will be able to become ancient. Also, releasing it in stages will break the flow of the storyline, making it harder to be fully drawn into the lore of the ARoP.

On the other hand, if its released live all at once, it won't be for another year, and in the meantime many players will no doubt quit. However, when it actually DOES arrive, it will be fresh and exciting raising the same excitement that RoP raised when it eventually came out.

The BEST solution is for Tulga to release the entire functioning ARoP immediately (next Tuesday). Unfortunately, it seems that very little of ARoP is complete, and it will be many months before even the next tiny piece of it hits Blight shard.

[Theolaerynn]

Yup, though I use a slightly amended version in my analysis of options:

"Which method will end with the most paying players for the long term."

Good point.