I find it funny that according from these boards, it would seem that the playerbase are actually more concerned with the way things go for Lineage II than the NCNA.
I've been running around for about a week trying to find game cards for L2 and nada, zip, zilch.
Every place I went had numerous copies of CoH, CoV, AutoAssault, Guild wars and the appropriate game cards for em. Every place I checked, they never even heard of Lineage2.
I love this game and try to tell about it to people every chance I get. Why doesn't NCNA do that? Isn't it in YOUR best interests to do that?
The dreaded EverQuest (which I hate so much) releases new copies when ever they come up with new major updates(Chronicles for us). Why can't Lineage 2 boxes come out each time a new Chronicle has been released? Change the looks (visual appereance - graphics) of these new L2 boxes to reflect the chronicles.
Surely if you release L2 in the same plain old box you did back in Prelude, people will think it's an old game and no one would buy it.
Anyway, done venting.
PS. never did find the L2 game card. Go Go CoV cards.
I think you are right though I wonder if this has more to do with the Korean offices than the US Offices.
Perhaps there is an arrogance in the Korean offices that they don't need to advertise as much (though you must admit there was a bit for C4 and because of it we do have some new players) as they have such a huge player base that they think the word of mouth is enough.
Having said this I have noticed that the stores in the Boston area (which I used to say always had 2 or 3 copies) now don't have any.
I find it funny that according from these boards, it would seem that the playerbase are actually more concerned with the way things go for Lineage II than the NCNA.
I've been running around for about a week trying to find game cards for L2 and nada, zip, zilch.
Every place I went had numerous copies of CoH, CoV, AutoAssault, Guild wars and the appropriate game cards for em. Every place I checked, they never even heard of Lineage2.
I love this game and try to tell about it to people every chance I get. Why doesn't NCNA do that? Isn't it in YOUR best interests to do that?
The dreaded EverQuest (which I hate so much) releases new copies when ever they come up with new major updates(Chronicles for us). Why can't Lineage 2 boxes come out each time a new Chronicle has been released? Change the looks (visual appereance - graphics) of these new L2 boxes to reflect the chronicles.
Surely if you release L2 in the same plain old box you did back in Prelude, people will think it's an old game and no one would buy it.
Anyway, done venting.
PS. never did find the L2 game card. Go Go CoV cards.
ANY NCSoft Game Card with work with ANY NCSoft game. If you find COH or other game then buy it to activate your L2 account, works great.
ANY NCSoft Game Card with work with ANY NCSoft game. If you find COH or other game then buy it to activate your L2 account, works great.
Thanks for that. However, I am well aware of this.
However, buying any other NCSoft game card doesn't really promote Lineage2 to the rest of the public.... if they are unaware of L2's existance. (eg: Window Shoppers/Potential MMO gamers/those who look to switch MMO's)
GameStop, Target (Electronics only) and Staples
Funny, these are some of the very same stores I went to find the cards. All of the GameStop stores in my town have been reduced to carrying maybe 5-10% PC games and 90-95% Console games in their inventory.
The dreaded EverQuest (which I hate so much) releases new copies when ever they come up with new major updates(Chronicles for us). Why can't Lineage 2 boxes come out each time a new Chronicle has been released? Change the looks (visual appereance - graphics) of these new L2 boxes to reflect the chronicles.
Doesn't EverQuest charge for each of these upgrades? Forcing the players to purchase a new one each time? (I honestly don't know, I played EQ for about an hour).
Yes, it does. You don't need to buy those things though.
I haven't played EQ for about 3 years now, but I betcha I can still fire up my old Plains of Power edition and get in w/o any problems.
Point is, EQ constantly has things on the shelf of stores.
Also, I live in a city that's geographically and population wise is one of the 16 biggest cities in USA(if anyone wanna question that and say I live out in the boonies :p )
Ironic, then, since I live in a city of perhaps 30,000 people, in one of the most isolated parts of Northern California (in relation to getting freight in and out).
Whats really ironic is that in every game store I go in, Guild War babes are standing tall left and right on massive displays and posters (and they are managed by NCSoft distributers, not the store), yet Lineage 2 has NOTHING, nada, zilch.
The only thing they've *ever* had in regards to lineage 2 was a few of the boring Chronicle 1 boxes with that guy on the front that really isn't all that appealing or attracts any attention.
The only thing they've *ever* had in regards to lineage 2 was a few of the boring Chronicle 1 boxes with that guy on the front that really isn't all that appealing or attracts any attention.
Exactly my point. When it is in stores, the box looks like crap, so why getting that when much more fancier looking games/boxes are nearby... :p
Why can't Lineage 2 boxes come out each time a new Chronicle has been released? Change the looks (visual appereance - graphics) of these new L2 boxes to reflect the chronicles.
Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes.
I pretty much rant about this every two months... I use different forms, but the message is still the same, just with different flavor.
I kinda like that idea to change boxes to reflect new chronicles, but OH irony, chronicles are free, so why make new boxes every time ? (spending money is a what a company hates most).
On any given day, I can walk to three stores in my local, fairly rural town and buy upwards of 20 L2 branded game cards.
I think that for your area, it's just lack of exposure to the 'game guys' that work there.
Every single local employee of GameStop, Target (Electronics only) and Staples know about L2 and have, at one point, played.
Get the word out. Just because they are idiots doesn't mean that NCNA doesn't get the word out.
Well, in all three states I've lived in over the past 2 years (different regions of the country too; midwest, southeast, north), there have been few, if any, copies of L2 available in any store. In December of 2004, I was able to find a beaten, bruised copy of L2 hidden away behind some other games. Bought that. Since then, never seen a single copy of the game. Haven't seen game cards in ages either. Most people that I talk to don't seem to know of the game, or else have heard only bad about it. The lack of advertising/availability in NA and Europe is just stupid, IMO.
I bought my copy back during C2 right when Teon went live December 04 I think. Only reason I bought it was I was bored with the games I already had. I really didnt know anything about L2 and the copy I bought was marked down to 20 dollars. Retail price was 49 dollars I would have never bought it at that price, not knowing anything about the game.
The copy i purchased is the only copy of L2 I have seen since. In a 50 mile radious there are 7 cities and several software stores, malls, walmart, targets you name it. But in all these stores since December 04 I haven't seen a copy of L2 or a time card with L2 on it.
Some of the people in these store know about NcSoft and L2 and most tell me "Oh I tride that game it sucks, I play WoW". I just laugh and leave. The other stores they have no idea what L2 and a few no about NcSoft. I usually get "L2 is that something new coming out" again I usually laugh and try to explain what L2 is.
Most people I know if they are not already playing L2 they don't know what it is untill I show them. Most of them then want to play L2.
usually they give up on L2 when they can't find the game, can't get the download to work or relise they have to buy a copy from Ebay and then have to spend a day or 2 updating before they can play it. I would say that 80% of the people I know end up buying a nice pretty new version of WoW at any one of the above mentioned stores and start playing it instead. Then 9 out of 10 times I get offered a 15 day free trial for WoW from them.
To date I still haven't seen a free trial of L2 anywhere. If I could get them I know I could get atleast 10 new players. Now multiply that times say 40% of the NA players. That would be a huge influx of new players. Even if only 10% would continue playing it would be a huge boost to the player base. I would say NcSoft is really loosing out with thier lack of advetising in the NA market.
I would say that 80% of the people I know end up buying a nice pretty new version of WoW at any one of the above mentioned stores and start playing it instead. Then 9 out of 10 times I get offered a 15 day free trial for WoW from them.
That's because the marketing folks at NC are not agressive enough...
I work in a high "computer science" knowledge area and most everybody plays WoW. I am the "black sheep" that plays L2.
I once check out one of the stations, and the guy (pro black hat) has like 3 WoW books at his station. Good greif where are the L2 books ? Just by taking my posts I could have made a great book. SirE's book of posts I would probably buy.
But most of all, I would buy Jute's book and Kiranya's book.
Oh, and would I ever buy a book by HGMspam... *drools*
The new GTCs come with a buddy code you can give your friends - I think it even skips out on the cost of opening an account permanently altogether, meaning that you can actually just start paying normally after that.
Indeed, better retail presence would certainly be appreciated. I hate hunting for games. :/
Yes, I'd like to see more marketing saturation. I live In a City with over 200,000 people in it. Compusa has it on thier website but they won't order it (don't know why). BestBuy has deleted it from thier computer entirely. Gamestop and EB Games don't carry them either. This is for either the game or the GTC's. I've gotten a work buddy interrested in trying it out, but I can't seem to get him a trial key OR find the game in town. I've suggested these stores start stocking a few boxes, but they just give me funny looks o_O .
Something has to happen if NCNA wants to get any new players that don't want to jump through several obstacle courses to find it.
I live in a metro area with over 500K people and not a game card to be found. For a while I could count on 1 furniture/electronic superstore having them (go figure), but even those are gone now. This despite the fact they had steady sales (I checked). But the reps from other companies pushed it off the shelf in the battle of the shelf space. There might be 1 or 2 somewhat battered copies of the game on the shelf, but no timecards. I used those card to send to friends and to my son. Can't do it anymore.
NCSoft does a pretty wretched job of marketing overall, but L2 seems like the red-head stepchild in NA.