This is the first-ever bi-annual player census. Data from this census will help the player community and the staff get a clearer picture of player averages, what players like and dislike, what they want and don't want, and this will influence how NCsoft moves forward to meet those desires.
It will only take about 10 minutes to complete the survey.
It is 100% anonymous.
You will be asked for details such as:
Your play schedule
Your play style
Your character averages
Your gaming habits
Your opinions about events we had in 2010
Your opinions about the current state of the game
Your opinions about things you'd like to see changed in the future
How taking this survey will help you and Lineage II:
Better GM events using a better understanding of players' average play-time schedule and timezone location.
Find out where you stand among player averages.
Find clarity on what issues with the game should take priority over others.
Determine the most popular suggestions for changes to the game on a development level.
Much more!
The Lineage II Bi-Annual Census will occur every 6 months. This first one will be open from April 28 to May 12, 2011. The next one will occur around October 2011. After the survey closes and results are analyzed, the results will be posted publicly, including some comparisons with non-survey game data.
Results from this survey will help influence future changes in Lineage II. Make a difference now!
I don't wanna start a troll, but using google spreadsheet is really a good option ? You don't really know where the data will be stored, and how it will be used. We don't use google apps and tools for this reason in my Junior Entreprise, and I'm a bit shocked of seeing it here. Especially since a Survey Motor already exist on the NCSoft Website (NCSoft Support Survey).
Anyway, I really love the way you do it, and I did it :) There are a lot of answers, but I would like to give a more textual answer/ advice / opinion, could I do it here / by pm / anywhere ?
I don't wanna start a troll, but using google spreadsheet is really a good option ? You don't really know where the data will be stored, and how it will be used. We don't use google apps and tools for this reason in my Junior Entreprise, and I'm a bit shocked of seeing it here. Especially since a Survey Motor already exist on the NCSoft Website (NCSoft Support Survey).
Anyway, I really love the way you do it, and I did it :) There are a lot of answers, but I would like to give a more textual answer/ advice / opinion, could I do it here / by pm / anywhere ?
Laby
Because of the high-volume of players expected to participate, and for many other reasons, we could not allow text-box answers. You can post feedback about the survey itself in this thread, as you have done, but for more comments about the topics in the survey, you can already find it all over the forums. Feedback on the forums is already always taken into account. Commentary on the forums about the topics and about the survey will not be taken into account when the survey results are calculated.
the questions relate to which update did u enjoy most and which other games do u play - wheres the l2 relevant part ?
Which update did you enjoy most: depending on what was released in that update, we can learn more about what players like in an update.
Which other games do you play: this relates to player population in-game at particular times. For example, if an existing competitor has a major update and we see our numbers go down during that time, we'll know from this survey that it's related to that as opposed to other things. We also can find out what in the update or game is different from Lineage II, and that in turn can influence our own marketing approach to Lineage II players. There are lots of reasons and relevance behind each question, but if do not want to answer it, that's okay too. :)
I see it funny when you ask how many characters are over lvl 20 on my MAIN account, and I have an option for 14, while you can only have 7 chars per acc.
I see it funny when you ask how many characters are over lvl 20 on my MAIN account, and I have an option for 14, while you can only have 7 chars per acc.
Which update did you enjoy most: depending on what was released in that update, we can learn more about what players like in an update.
Which other games do you play: this relates to player population in-game at particular times. For example, if an existing competitor has a major update and we see our numbers go down during that time, we'll know from this survey that it's related to that as opposed to other things. We also can find out what in the update or game is different from Lineage II, and that in turn can influence our own marketing approach to Lineage II players. There are lots of reasons and relevance behind each question, but if do not want to answer it, that's okay too. :)
uve asked what ppl want several times in many ways the answers will never (aside from statistically) be the same look at any event! your moving more and more toward one of those service providers that auto phone u once a day offering options ><
how about just for the human touch u offer us the same ? how many gms remember another chronicle, what other games do u play, what rules govern u and how do u apply this etc etc
Sace...it doesn't matter what any says here...your company treats the "community" like consumers not customers. Don't really care what you have to say or any representative from your company.
<label class="ss-q-title" for="entry_119">How do you generally communicate with other players in the game? </label> <label class="ss-q-help" for="entry_119"></label>
Because of the high-volume of players expected to participate, and for many other reasons, we could not allow text-box answers. You can post feedback about the survey itself in this thread, as you have done, but for more comments about the topics in the survey, you can already find it all over the forums. Feedback on the forums is already always taken into account. Commentary on the forums about the topics and about the survey will not be taken into account when the survey results are calculated.
Do you mean that by not providing text-box answers that players couldn't give there real opinion? That is my interpretation of that post. I like the ability to give my opinion I'm a paying customer not a consumer of your service.
Sace, your work on updates and communications with reference it have been a real breath of fresh air. Whilst many **** it, I applaud the endeavours and I know a great many do even if they do not post to that effect. Thank you.
Which update did you enjoy most: depending on what was released in that update, we can learn more about what players like in an update.
Not really.
For example, people that played a lowbie SE during the C2 update, might enjoy it in C2, although it was exactly the same change (introduction of VR buff, that made live healing unnecessary in PvE) that made their class obsolete later. They rerolled and currently play a tank... would it mean for you that tanks liked the C2 update?
There is another flaw in the questionnaire: it pays no attention to what most players on our servers would consider the first priority tasks for NCsoft: bug fixing (client freezes, mass disconnects, GameGuard issues), PlayNC issues (weird "security" changes; FRAUD SUSPICION, inability to buy the game online from many countries and other payment problems), website updates.
"Existence of a NCsoft store of in-game items (micro-transactions)."
-> More than "it's fine like it is", I don't want to see it ingame ever.
Also about the lore : it's terrible. This games only features night, bloody night and tempests of gloomy dust or rain of blood. This is completely emo and depressing. I want my TI memories back thank you! I really don't like the direction it's heading. It's becoming a world I don't want to enter.
Cataclysm is that way -------------------------> [EXIT]
<label class="ss-q-title" for="entry_5">Why did you take a break? </label> <label class="ss-q-help" for="entry_5">If you took multiple breaks, please choose one reason that covers all the breaks the best.</label>
I miss the Option : too many bots (i dont talk about current situation ofc now not more so much running around but in the past was this 1 of the top reasons to do a brake from the game)
[] Or means with cheater all? ranger user include farmbots?
Question: Why did u quit the game
Option: cuz i was bored of it / becouse this or that bla bla / or Becouse NC soft decidet to put a new "security update" without giving players time to prepare, and closing the ones out that lost / dont remember ALL of their account informations
I find this excelent idea. Well, a little late but still I really appretiate it.
I will put some commets here as it isnt allowed to enter text to the poll:
a) Which chronicle do you like or dislike:
I like Interlude the most. The next chronicle brought atribute system which ruined L2 and I hate them. This was somehow repaired at Freya update but still I am 100% persuaded that atribute system (mainly in PvP) was terrible mistake. I have to say I like Hi5 update.
b) What server do you play on the most:
I am EU player (GMT +1). The majority of players started when only NA servers were online. And the policy of transfering to other servers is not good. There are too many limitations (only one toon, only part of items...) If that should work correctly, players should have the possibility to transfer whole account with all items.
c) Why did you take a break:
I think option "I got bored." is missing.
Summary:
Pros - The best chronicle was Interlude, but Hi5 seems to be good too. I really enjoy higher rates and all those vitality items and buffs.
I like 2 months oly boss jewel (or generally oly jewels and their availability).
I like Sace communicationg with players on the phorum.
Cons - I hate atribute system which ruined L2 (mainly PvP).
I am sad that NCsoft destroyed alliance style of game and preferes clan style of game (OL buffs and so on).
I dislike instances. Fights for boss RBs were always the best and funniest part of L2. I can understand that instances increased availability of boss jewels but I am not sure if it worthed it.
I do not like future decreas of slots in parties. I would expect increase.
I hate attitude of NCsoft to players (see TW badges, security update, ...).
I am ambivalent to ban hammer on bots. On one hand they took spots for players and made very unfair advantage for their owners but on other hand material was cheaper and in enough amount and there was enough adena. I think if NCsoft tolerated bots for 6+ years this ban hammer has too cruel impact on economy. From my point of view "amount" rate of adena is inadequate. I am adult player, I have quite time consuming (but quite good paid :-) ) job. I would like to have fun and relax in game and not to farm forts or sel mahum over and over. To be completely honest if there would exist a chance I would buy adena at NCsoft because it would make my stay in game much better.
And speaking about Sel mahum. I really dislike how some toons have so much easier way of earning adena than others. When I see OLs or polers in sel mahum or archers in Plains I am so sad I am stupid EE...
I Absolutely HATE gdammed warrior/nuker locked field
it keeps driving away nukers from melee type and near every field 78+ is that way, WORST decision EVER
Clean PvE Cheaters, Clean PvP Cheaters.
Nice questions!
No, please, some people need PvP cheaters to win! Don't remove this!
PvE cheaters? Remove button bot report. 10 days reporting same bot and.... and... and..... the bot still botting.
I bet all my coins that L2 F2P would be success, I know it works in other places.
Everybody knows it, u GM's knows it...
So, why not F2P it?
What's the deal?
Sorry if I shouldn't had posted it here =x
it would be a good idea if NCwest could prove they had superior security than they have had in the past.
i would have thought the new account "features" were indicative of the questionable existing security. i wouldnt give NC my CC info to pay for microtransactions because of this.
i also dont want it to be a legal practice to buy adena or items. at that point anything below par levels or gear or skills is NOT going to have any use/meaning/fun.
i should know, ive been on enough un-named servers to say thats how they ALL end up. when max enchant is Z, all players with Z-1 enchants dont stand a chance.
and by the same token the atmosphere becomes stale. theres nothing to earn or fight for when that point is reached.
thats kinda why level cap increases are so common in MMO's. keeps top players happy to have a Goal.
I completed the all answer. I think everybody have to complete it, by this way how we can form the game!
If they NCsoft will complete our wishes by this detailed list, than it can mean a really big, nice and important rebirth for the Lineage 2!
Mostly I had problem with 3 questions, but first of all with 1.
I had the biggest problem with the "micro transaction system" question. Because here i support all the three answer.
I had same problem with "Graphic Improve" question.
Yes, I'm happy for the improving of graphic, only thing what about I'm afraid of, if the Lineage 2 example could get an Unreal 3 engine may the game won't give the same visual feeling.
Example still to nowadays I play with Contra action Game series they made about 20-23 years ago, so they aren't 3D, but their graphic has something so unique feeling, what makes for me much nicer graphic as many new FPS game hasn't now.
The fan is no only in PvP. Lot's of players like: PvE, RPG, Instances, Quests, etc.
If you want pvp pvp pvp pvp pvp, it's not here, is better. PvP and PvE need balance and our server have this.
Stay on topic, please. This thread is about the census itself, not a place for discussion what kinds of server-styles are better, or anything else.
No more questions will be added to the census at present. "Missed questions" and suggested questions may be added on the next one. As the census intro explains, the census will evolve to include popular questions and other relevant questions. This is only the first census, so it's a safe bet that the next one (circa October 2011) will include more topics that players want to comment on.
Nice set of questions, look forward to seeing the results!.
I thought one or two questions could have been broken down abit more maybe.
For example there was a single question about what you think of 'Castle Sieges, 'Territory Wars' and 'Olympiad'; My opinion of TW/sieges is quite different to my opinion of Olympiad, so would have been nice to have it as a separate question. Same with the general PvE and instanced PvE question.
1. When was the question why did you take a break in Lineage 2? I missed the "Private reason" like when someone have to move to another town or when someone need to go to hospital.
Here when I had to make a break for 2 months was the reason, that wasn't available time card in the shops.
2. At the "how do you like the XP rates?" was a missed option to. Because mostly the answers mean:
1, I like the currently xp rate
2, Would be good increase the xp rate, but not so important
3, Need improve the xp rate as soon as possible
Here I missed the decrease the XP rate option. I would vote to this option if it would be available, because I feel now too fast the leveling process.
If big amount of players will vote for c4-Interlude would we have any chances for new server with installed old version of game? :confused:
To be honest, chances are slim of that happen. There are currently no plans to host official servers that are for specific game updates.
Popular answers to questions in the survey do not guarantee any specific action. The census is not a voting system; it is for educational purposes for both players and staff.
To be honest, chances are slim of that happen. There are currently no plans to host official servers that are for specific game updates.
Popular answers to questions in the survey do not guarantee any specific action. The census is not a voting system; it is for educational purposes for both players and staff.
after all the GoD patch notes are out u should make a public vote wether players want to get that patch or not
atm many don't, at least end-game ones
Agree with that sentiment or at least have the option to adjust the update to reflect the wishes of the NA player base.
It would be nice to have the same ability to make minor but important change to updates to support local requirements like is done on the RU OFF servers.
To be honest, chances are slim of that happen. There are currently no plans to host official servers that are for specific game updates.
Popular answers to questions in the survey do not guarantee any specific action. The census is not a voting system; it is for educational purposes for both players and staff.
Yes, but I think some questions what was in this survey, shouldn't be to questions.
Like when you asked us in 5-6 question what we thinks about the cheaters, this is a bit funny.
Players ask the NCwest under 3-4 years, that bann bots, this action only happened only in the last 1 year, while this was problem since 2006.
Now who read the forum many times can read the posts of angry players who ask the NCwest to remove the PVP cheaters, while in the last 2-3 years the number of PVP cheaters strongly increased, the NCwest didn't do against them almost nothing.
While the NCwest write in his agreement these programs what these PVP cheaters use bannable.
Another funny question was when the NCwest ask us about the marketing and promotion of Lineage II.
Lineage II is a game for us, but it is a business for the NCsoft, it is a product what they have to sell, how many just they can have to sell, to sell in higher number of this product need to make promotion to this product.
While the Lineage 2 players has already told, that they would like to if the Lineage II could get much bigger promotion.
I totally agree if the NCsoft don't want open a server with an older update what never won't get update.
But some of results of these questions are really important to the future:
- Micro-transaction question
- Graphic improving
- class question
- PVP and PVE question
etc..
Most of us who spent or will spend time to complete this survey try to make by pure heart and hope to can help with his/her answers to the NCsoft and we all hope and would like to if these results would be visible things too.
on short them ask only what they care...not what we care...they have them own direction with them purpose not ours....like someone said for them we are consumers not costumers ...they will not ask if we like xp rate..because dont care...them ask only thing they care...and if dont like is easy to say " then quit" to say that to a player who pay about 3 4 years (myself not included thats why can do any update tmem whant with anypath i will not be afected) :D but for ppl who play long time should give more *** about.
To be honest, chances are slim of that happen. There are currently no plans to host official servers that are for specific game updates.
Popular answers to questions in the survey do not guarantee any specific action. The census is not a voting system; it is for educational purposes for both players and staff.
your post starts with saying here is your chance to shape future of game,and here you are saying it will have no chance to change anything(lol)no thx been playing since open beta and game was brilliant at start with live gms online to help player issues insteas of your unintillegent stereotype automated responses,and no real action over your player responses.
i still play but the spark for l2 is gradually getting extinguished by ncs lack of consistency and failure to deal with bots,3rd party software users(pvp+pve)
Some of the things in GoD update are nice (Instanced clan housing, mounts), but the shrinking of the party to 7 and the narrowing of classes to archetypes just doesn't sit well with me. While it was nice to have SOME areas specialized for melee/nuker/archer, there aren't very many high level places at 78+ that aren't general farming areas, which, ironically, ejected the nuker from being a member of the party at all. Gone was the ability to pull in the nukers in our clan to where we were hunting; it's focused only to 'melee only' or 'nuker/healbox' party. In my opinion, that reduced the versatility of partying.
I'm also not liking the trading of skills, because believe it or not there are players who use those skills to supplement the higher level ones - or, as amusing as it might sound, the Sorcerer/SH/Necro/SpS or their equivalent third classes spamming their pre-40 heals have actually saved the party from wiping a few times.
While I'm at it, WTH Earth Enchanter class? From Bladedancer to scarecrow-transforming cutesy thing. I can't even save my party from being aggroed; just me. And what good does that do? Frankly, the whole 'cute-fication' of my entire class just disappoints me. Doesn't feel in the LEAST bit heroic!
Still, I hope that the Bladedancers and Swordsingers get NEW fighting and attack and skill animations.
It also feels like a giant waste, really, if the characters we spent a long time working on, gearwise and skillwise and timewise, will essentially be reset at 85+.
Graphics improvement:
When are the rest of us going to get fingers as opposed to spade-shaped paws?
More face/hair options please.
And omg memory leaks. Please fix.
I know that the complaint's been raised elsewhere, but I rather liked the game's unique feel as opposed to it being a clone of something else.
I won't mind microtransactions for things like hats, accessories, and little things that make your character more unique; prettification without affecting gameplay in any important way. I will likely not spend the money on them however, if they're pissant little shadow items.
Matric + 1 i love your post...so true...automantic responses...and so on...Ncsoft lose ppl like that ...and what is marketing if start lose ppl ? maybe we are to moere? maybe them get alot of money along the years ...maybe them have all the expensive car..? just..just..:D
The form is missing a comment "question" where you can write freely.
also I wasn't happy with the question about taking a break, Specifically the reasons, you were only allowed to pick one, Multiple of them applied to me.
And for the contest questions, you either have to select I didn't participate, or a 1,2 or 3 for how good the event was, what if you decide not to participate because you think the event is bad form the get-go? That was my feelings on most of the out-of-game contests.
Also I want to say the same as the comment above mine, I really don't want GoD to come, if it's anything like what I hear, I am going to quit if that update happens.
The form is missing a comment "question" where you can write freely.
also I wasn't happy with the question about taking a break, Specifically the reasons, you were only allowed to pick one, Multiple of them applied to me.
And for the contest questions, you either have to select I didn't participate, or a 1,2 or 3 for how good the event was, what if you decide not to participate because you think the event is bad form the get-go? That was my feelings on most of the out-of-game contests.
Also I want to say the same as the comment above mine, I really don't want GoD to come, if it's anything like what I hear, I am going to quit if that update happens.
You know, you're missing some of the more popular and/or historically important old MMOs there on the list, like the old text-only MUDs (I played the hell out of those in the 1990ties), Meridian 59, UO, Second Life, MapleStory, A Tale in the Desert (probably still the best player-driven economy in an MMO), RuneScape, Kingdom of Loathing and probably quite a few more I played and already managed to forget about it. :)
I don`t see question : do you want lineage 2 to be multhread mmo :] you "improve" ig graphic and we players geting -25-40 fps in each update :] Optimise it that It will have nice graphic and wont make you LOL on 20 fps on i7 2600k 5,0 + sli gfx + ssd storages :p
after all the GoD patch notes are out u should make a public vote wether players want to get that patch or not
atm many don't, at least end-game ones
1rst of all I would want to play in it as it would go live = transfer your chars from live server to pts to test all things and then decide what to do or we will end like with this upate where half quests = dont work , tarasa quests were buged also and so on . But it will never happen so...
Pellegri, strange that you have really cool configuration and low fps. Here always 60 with 2 windows on TW. (playing on notebook: core2duo t6500, nvidia 103m, 3 gb ddr2)
Graphics options are on mid
There is another flaw in the questionnaire: it pays no attention to what most players on our servers would consider the first priority tasks for NCsoft: bug fixing (client freezes, mass disconnects, GameGuard issues), PlayNC issues (weird "security" changes; FRAUD SUSPICION, inability to buy the game online from many countries and other payment problems), website updates.
Totally agree. While now fraud suspicion has been replaced with "didnt pass fraud management test" or some similar idiocy, it still means romania, bulgaria and perhaps other EU countries cant really use CC in the game, i dont want to think of other countries not in the EU.
Also I have like 3-4 client breakdowns in a day, every time looks like a different issue, from not enough memory (video card with 1 gb, 3 gb in computer (xp tweaked to have a minimal footprint) for 3 clients tops) to position update. DC after soe/pr from GC, and we make bets how many ppl will drop from party, it happened none remained on after pr from GC, from full party all got DC.
M
I dislike instances. Fights for boss RBs were always the best and funniest part of L2. I can understand that instances increased availability of boss jewels but I am not sure if it worthed it.
fully agree on this (and on your other points) .. there are so many games with instances .. why destroy the unique part of l2 when it comes to be a "sandbox" where actions have consequences. Player interaction have been the strong part of this game and not the stupid pve grind with **** and slay mobs.
fully agree on this (and on your other points) .. there are so many games with instances .. why destroy the unique part of l2 when it comes to be a "sandbox" where actions have consequences. Player interaction have been the strong part of this game and not the stupid pve grind with **** and slay mobs.
While the pvp part is fun only the top clans were able to win these pvp battles for bosses excluding a good portion of the people from being able to enjoy the bosses and getting epics. So I am on the fence over it but then again, PVP now is Anakims on ranger and is not fun at all.
But kudos to the inept staff for implementing a bi-annual player census after 7 years... how is it possible any of you still have jobs? lol
I think that this Census lacks some options related to classes, which are the core of this game. People sometimes reroll because they deem their class is underpowered or another class is overpowered. Other stop playing alltogether because of disapointment from their class. I think that NC team needs to know the reasons why someone picks their main clas.
Class balancing questions need also to be addressed (are we satisfied from it or not), suggestions for improvements, etc.
I have only 1 wish to be implemented, pls create a pet with or give the existing pets an ability to pick up stuff automatically. It's annoying to go XP with my nuker and the most time I need is to pickup stuff.
hope this post was meant ironically.. cheaters still rules all pvp..
Strange, I see all PvP Cheaters banned by GM actions (chronus and naia).
+1 for GM's!
To be honest, chances are slim of that happen. There are currently no plans to host official servers that are for specific game updates.
Popular answers to questions in the survey do not guarantee any specific action. The census is not a voting system; it is for educational purposes for both players and staff.
Interesting fact there. Except for Marketing in the NcWest, do you see any of this going to Korea and being addressed for this market in the same way other markets get tuned setups for their play style.
Your reference to Lineage 1 is also interesting, I would have though you all may have gone into depth about what each game we liked and didn't like if we played them to allow NcSoft to "fix" their next mega game since they have said they were going to focus on core games from now on.
Thanks for the survey, I do hope it helps you all.
TL;DR? Don't worry about it this is provided solely for the benefit of NC Soft.
*You might want to inquire how long players have played alternative MMORPG products in addition to how recently if at all.
* Why did you take a break? Add the following options; General disatisfaction with the player community. Game concepts just not fun. Perceived poor implementation of game concepts. Finally, make it a check box instead of a choose one. Not everyone might have a single overwhelming reason they took a break.
* After taking a break, why did you choose to resubscribe to Lineage II? Add the following option; I had previously set goals that I hadn't finished.
*Add a comments section to permit amplification on choices made. I will add some of my own comments down below in regards to the final page where ratings are submitted on the game itself and events run.
Commentary:
Other forum denizens, please note I will neither respond nor explain myself to anyone except to provide clarity if so sought by NC Soft.
1. GM EVENTS - remember the point is to reward the players for having stuck around.
*First GM event to participate in was the Nostalgia event. I didn't participate in the contest portion, however I did enjoy the buffs portion in game.
*Gift of Vitality was a very nice thing to come back to the game to. I was at the bottom of level 68 and within 8 days, only playing for 2 hours a day, I found myself dancing for an 83 Dreadnaught and got powerleveled to 78. Since there isn't much to be had for the journey to level cap in this game, I'd opine that the game really doesn't start until you reach the relative community level cap. This event definitely helped alot.
*Freya celebration was a wash in my opinion. The gambling element was far too extensive for my taste. A better way to have done it would be 100% chance of gift and changing the low end gifts to useful items such as the BSOE, BREZ, and Fresh Milk - Event. This way even if you didn't get the great items like Anakim scrolls or the boss necklace you still had something alright to show for your effort.
*Clan Hall distribution. Can't really complain, a bit too much adena was removed with event I think, but overall it was fair.
*Catch a Tiger I enjoyed a great deal. Yes Moxie it was rather monotonous (I spoke to you directly about it on Fantasy Island while you were buffing everyone and turning us into pigs.) However, the rewards were extremely useful and pretty much guaranteed. I got a decent supply of Fresh Milks that helped me a ton in leveling my first sub (now level 69) and almost 90 mil worth of element stones which I have been able to successfully use as seed money to participate in the economy.
*GM Trick or Treat was also a wash. I never once saw a GM. I know some people did, but what is the point if most people can't participate?
2. General Questions about Lineage II as a "world-famous" MMORPG.
*Graphics - rated 2. Was great when it came out. Now its just bleh. The character detail is still alright and the sexiness is still there, however the environment is just boring. The basic mapping is so blatantly tiled and all sorts of blemishes. Not to mention the detail on the characters actually gets rather bad when you zoom in to try and examine the finer features in the armor or on the weapons. The shields and inside view of the fist weapons are excellent examples of just annoying lazy graphical design. World of Warcraft might be somewhat cartoony, however the attention to detail is beyond amazing. There are also numerous other games with considerably better graphics details and cohesiveness. A dedicated effort to replace the graphics engine with something new is definitely needed along with a total reworking of the game environment. Also the "at rest" animations of the characters is over done with such excessive motion while just standing about.
*Lore and story - rated 3. Just needs a professional author's touch to really make it shine. Better translation as well. No asian language translates directly into English. The translators need to identify the underlying ideas and concepts and then use them to modify the literal translations so that the English flows smoothly.
*Combat system - rated 1. The mouse targeting is glitchy at best and I don't really like the dependence upon the mouse for so much of the character control either. The responsiveness is slow though that just might be due to the network I have to play on. The ability to create worthwhile macros is non-existent. See World of Warcraft for an outstanding macro system. The UI needs an overall. I wish the health bars for myself, my pets, and my party were fatter and didn't fade out when clicking on something else if I don't wish for them too. This would make it easier to spot key information when playing the role of a healer in the middle of combat. My big background as a FPS player on PCs reflects my opinion of the roll of the mouse.
*Class system - 2 rated. Some classes have been rendered effectively useless by excessive overlapping of the most common buffs. See Prophet vs Warcrier. Also the homogenization of many classes takes away from the game while the class count is still so high. Kameals, just don't like them. Don't like their looks, and I feel they are overpowered in concept. The current planned 8 classes for Goddess might fix this a great deal, however I also rather like the distinctiveness of my BladeDancer. I do wish my BD could dance while using any bladed weapon.
*PvP activites - 3 rated. Alot of good concepts here. Just poor implementation. Hero's need all skills on very long timers at the very least. I also feel that Open Olympiad shouldn't be taken into consideration when determining winner of hero status for each class. Only class based should be taken into account. CP and CP pots, just get rid of them. Element, get rid of it, same for augments. These simply add to the ways the "haves" can really just dominate the "have-nots" thus making these things critical to being able to reaching a level of being able to compete on equal footing. TW wards, should be toned down in benefit, call it say a 5% boost to various stats rather than direct increases to primary attributes. CP and CP pots are the biggest problem by far.
*PvE activities - 4 rated. Instances are a nice solution to problems of overcrowding competition for lesser bosses. The system of making monsters highly resistant to some sources of damage and weak to others, I feel really hampers general hunting. It really makes nukers and archers feel they have spend their time soloing and greatly reduces their desirability in parties. For a community based game I feel that forcing a perception that certain classes must solo is just bad design. Raid bosses to tend to be boring in actual fighting. Until the combat and control system is improved however, I don't think much can be done about this.
*Player community - 2 rated. There are a number of good people who play this game. A few really smart players out there too. I do feel far too many are too close minded to other games however. Specifically many like to bash other games that they perceive as too easy despite never having played them. There are also a TON of idiots playing as well. Every time I log in and see hero shout on Chronos, I feel as if I am watching a debating match at the special olympics. Also the general lack of initiative on the parts of many players to learn and/or explore game features can lead to a good deal of frustration when it comes time to engage in activities that promote the growth of the clan in both PvE and PvP. The language barriers also make things very difficult at times. Worse of all is when I see people who speak English engaging in improper communication out of expediency since that only reinforces bad habits and/or confuses those who do not have that strong a grasp on English.
*NC Soft communications - 2 rated. Hey ya'll moved up compared to what I would have given ya'll 7 years ago. Ya'll still fall flat on yer face from time to time (security changes anyone?) However, ya'll have made strides in improving your efforts to talk to us. Hence why I am talking back right now. ;)
*NC Soft Customer Support - 2 rated. Got hacked a week after I returned. Didn't get an email saying why I found my account suddenly locked (first clue I knew something was wrong.) Furthermore, getting hold of someone over the weekend was **** near impossible. The hours available to call in is ridiculously short. Then there is the process to confirm account ownership. For gods sake just ask for an email of a photo identity scanned in and saved as PDF file. Or more proof is required ask for a photo copy of two or more sources of identity to be mailed to your offices and offer call back support when said identity confirmation arrives. Add in a service by which leaving account owners can transfer stewardship or ownership of their account to another with ya'll participating as the witness of transfer. Something similar to what CCP offers its EvE Online players. Customer service professionals in game and out of game should be the same people. My impression of in game support is that they have no power at all to deal with any issues and the ticket support option is there to give us the illusion of in game support.
*PvP cheater status - 2 rated. I still believe that a large number of people are using 3rd party programs to pvp. However I can't prove it, and quite frankly have long since given up hope of this ever being addressed.
*PvE cheater status - 4 rated. All I can say is, "Hell, it's about time." to quote Tychus Findley from StarCraft 2. This ruined the game back in the day. Never, ever forget this, the RMT crowd MUST buy new accounts when they get banned in order to service the legit player market. Killing off the legit player market by letting the bots run out of control just hurts everyone in the long run. Legit players leave, less demand for RMT servicing, so bots leave. Remaining legit players have fewer people to interact with, so they leave. Demand for RMT services shrinks again. This starts a self-reinforcing cycle of decay that leads a game to go from 10 servers to 2 servers. While a competing game that continuously fights the RMT market that launched only a few months later now boasts more than 13,000,000 subscribers. And Blizzard charges $16 a month too, not $15. Please do not forget this lesson, for your own bottom line if nothing else.
3. Game improvements forthcoming.
*New engine needed please and pay excellent attention to the environment detail. The ground, forests, hills, plains, and seafloor shouldn't look like they are tiled.
*Really just needs some fleshing to the story and better translation.
*Combat system - I'd like to see: keyboard movement with out lag, better key remapping, superior targeting abilities, collision with pets removed, better macro system, aggro control revamped (people can pull aggro doing nothing at all)
*Reasons to pvp are good, just get rid of CP and CP potions and put some serious cooldowns on hero skills (there should be significant strategic and tactical reasons to pop skills in pvp, not simply because they are up)
*Mana elixirs should restore alot more mp, say full MP restore with a 10 minute cooldown vice the current 5? Get rid of mob resists and weaknesses
*XP is fine
*Drops and items need to be improved, the fact that most people can't play hardcore should be considered a factor in how long it takes someone to craft an item if thats the route they choose to go, the masterwork or improved item (say antharas drops his essence and you do a quest to merge with yer weapon with it to improve it) will always take a fair bit more time and effort thus giving the hardcore player something to tout over the casual, the liquidity of adena in the market makes it hard to buy things, especially for those who play support classes and don't have boxed accounts they can use to assist in farming
*Crafting should never fail.
*Pet buffs going out to 10 minutes long and rebuffing when say the timer hits 30 seconds vice the buff being gone would be a huge benefit for pets. Mounts are ok, but not a big part of the game.
*More Clan Halls down the road?
*Haven't ever led a clan nor used the clan management tools in this game so can't speak here
*Questing sucks balls in this game, they are annoying with usually crappy rewards and require insane amounts of time to complete, questing needs to be overhauled to be a serious viable alternative activity for those who enjoy such
*Sucks. Can't alter the height of health/mana bars, remapping keys is a pain (better to just us a Logitech G13 or Nostromo instead), can't change width of chat box, UI responds sluggishly to commands
*Game is dead in my opinion, and no amount of clever advertising will bring it back, save yer pesos for more important issues
*Micro-transactions could be alternative way to address economic issues, dump the monthly fee and instead cap players to $15 bucks worth of micro transactions per month (keeps use of "daddies plastic" within reason) and sell adena, call it $1 per 2 mil adena, this caps each player to 30 mil adena per month maximum they could buy and this limits the potential influx of adena, alternatively you could also sell items with strong gambling aspects attached, i.e. element stones/crystals, BEWS/BEAS, variety of low level crafting materials, and other consumables
*NC Soft community involvement really is alright I'd say, it does feel like ya'll are employing gimmicks to keep what customers remain
*PvP cheater clean-up, get rid of CP Pots and one of the distinctions of why it is so hard to kill pvp cheaters will be gone
*This is pretty much spot on complete
Just a reminder, feedback on the forums is not included in the results and analysis of the census survey. The census results are only bases on the data collected as players fill out the survey. Comments and suggestions about questions in the existing census will be considered when the next census is prepared later this year.
In general, the entirety of the forums is assessed on a daily basis and is referred to directly for information on player feelings about particular topics. As such, feedback on the forums is best given in the form of separate topics, instead of all feedback about everything all in one thread. Each of the topics in the census have already-existing threads on the forums. If a player wishes to post about a particular topic, it is appreciated if they first search for existing threads on the topic and keep their comments relevant to that topic only. Further tips about how to post on the forums, and how to use the Search function are explained in the forum rules (http://boards.lineage2.com/announcement.php?f=137).
The census will be open until May 12, so if you haven't filled it out yet, please do so. It's already gotten over 2000 hits! :)
Considering that surveys that take around 10 mins to complete that offer no incentive have an avg respond rate of 15% and those with an incentive have an avg respond rate of 30% - the 2,000 or so response based on current server population is not bad at all...
Stay on topic, please. This thread is about the census itself, not a place for discussion what kinds of server-styles are better, or anything else.
No more questions will be added to the census at present. "Missed questions" and suggested questions may be added on the next one. As the census intro explains, the census will evolve to include popular questions and other relevant questions. This is only the first census, so it's a safe bet that the next one (circa October 2011) will include more topics that players want to comment on.
Judging by the posts from people on this thread, the biased bi-annual survey treated players more like blind test subjects than customers or players. Hence why I'm not doing it :D
Wow Tiffi, seriously awesome post there that reflects what a very large part of the players population think. It's just a shame that NC Soft will probably overlook it all.
Personally i think its just dust in our eyes. We got a lot promised over the last 5years i am playing this game here.
And the poor options to choose resultet that i didnt even made that census at all.
It's pretty much useless because they ask what they want (don't talk about the website), about topics they should already know about (cheaters), and they just seem to hide something behind some questions : do you like your class? do you think the classes are balanced?
We all know that's not because NC West suddenly has the power to modify that. So basically, it sounds like : "We found a solution to the problem of classes balance : GoD." Preparing the ground for future communication about GoD I assume.
I may be paranoid, but it really sounds like that. But just a friendly reminder as there wasn't any question directly about it : if I wanted to play Aion as a endgame for L2, I would play Aion right from the beginning, not play a bastard child of both. Changing at the end of the game where everything gets serious (competition, etc) is absurd. So I will quit if the new endgame of L2 becomes Aion. It's not a threat, it's a feedback on GoD's current patchnotes.
You can always talk about it with Korea, in case you might have a doubt that GoD will bring more players than it will lose. Just a doubt, a vague feeling, I don't know.
It's pretty much useless because they ask what they want (don't talk about the website), about topics they should already know about (cheaters), and they just seem to hide something behind some questions : do you like your class? do you think the classes are balanced?
We all know that's not because NC West suddenly has the power to modify that. So basically, it sounds like : "We found a solution to the problem of classes balance : GoD." Preparing the ground for future communication about GoD I assume.
I may be paranoid, but it really sounds like that. But just a friendly reminder as there wasn't any question directly about it : if I wanted to play Aion as a endgame for L2, I would play Aion right from the beginning, not play a bastard child of both. Changing at the end of the game where everything gets serious (competition, etc) is absurd. So I will quit if the new endgame of L2 becomes Aion. It's not a threat, it's a feedback on GoD's current patchnotes.
You can always talk about it with Korea, in case you might have a doubt that GoD will bring more players than it will lose. Just a doubt, a vague feeling, I don't know.
Agree it does look a bit like a pre softening of trying to sell the GoD concept which is going to be interesting as the NA player base isn't quite a 1:1 match of the Korean player base and it would be foolish to assume so..
in short Sace please don't try to use the results of this poll to justify the upcoming GoD changes as we all know that's based on Korean feedback (our feedback is dominantly against several points raised in GoD like the party size reduction & class simplification/mergers as well the whole Aion play style ).
TL;DR? Don't worry about it this is provided solely for the benefit of NC Soft.
*You might want to inquire how long players have played alternative MMORPG products in addition to how recently if at all.
* Why did you take a break? Add the following options; General disatisfaction with the player community. Game concepts just not fun. Perceived poor implementation of game concepts. Finally, make it a check box instead of a choose one. Not everyone might have a single overwhelming reason they took a break.
* After taking a break, why did you choose to resubscribe to Lineage II? Add the following option; I had previously set goals that I hadn't finished.
*Add a comments section to permit amplification on choices made. I will add some of my own comments down below in regards to the final page where ratings are submitted on the game itself and events run.
Commentary:
Other forum denizens, please note I will neither respond nor explain myself to anyone except to provide clarity if so sought by NC Soft.
1. GM EVENTS - remember the point is to reward the players for having stuck around.
*First GM event to participate in was the Nostalgia event. I didn't participate in the contest portion, however I did enjoy the buffs portion in game.
*Gift of Vitality was a very nice thing to come back to the game to. I was at the bottom of level 68 and within 8 days, only playing for 2 hours a day, I found myself dancing for an 83 Dreadnaught and got powerleveled to 78. Since there isn't much to be had for the journey to level cap in this game, I'd opine that the game really doesn't start until you reach the relative community level cap. This event definitely helped alot.
*Freya celebration was a wash in my opinion. The gambling element was far too extensive for my taste. A better way to have done it would be 100% chance of gift and changing the low end gifts to useful items such as the BSOE, BREZ, and Fresh Milk - Event. This way even if you didn't get the great items like Anakim scrolls or the boss necklace you still had something alright to show for your effort.
*Clan Hall distribution. Can't really complain, a bit too much adena was removed with event I think, but overall it was fair.
*Catch a Tiger I enjoyed a great deal. Yes Moxie it was rather monotonous (I spoke to you directly about it on Fantasy Island while you were buffing everyone and turning us into pigs.) However, the rewards were extremely useful and pretty much guaranteed. I got a decent supply of Fresh Milks that helped me a ton in leveling my first sub (now level 69) and almost 90 mil worth of element stones which I have been able to successfully use as seed money to participate in the economy.
*GM Trick or Treat was also a wash. I never once saw a GM. I know some people did, but what is the point if most people can't participate?
2. General Questions about Lineage II as a "world-famous" MMORPG.
*Graphics - rated 2. Was great when it came out. Now its just bleh. The character detail is still alright and the sexiness is still there, however the environment is just boring. The basic mapping is so blatantly tiled and all sorts of blemishes. Not to mention the detail on the characters actually gets rather bad when you zoom in to try and examine the finer features in the armor or on the weapons. The shields and inside view of the fist weapons are excellent examples of just annoying lazy graphical design. World of Warcraft might be somewhat cartoony, however the attention to detail is beyond amazing. There are also numerous other games with considerably better graphics details and cohesiveness. A dedicated effort to replace the graphics engine with something new is definitely needed along with a total reworking of the game environment. Also the "at rest" animations of the characters is over done with such excessive motion while just standing about.
*Lore and story - rated 3. Just needs a professional author's touch to really make it shine. Better translation as well. No asian language translates directly into English. The translators need to identify the underlying ideas and concepts and then use them to modify the literal translations so that the English flows smoothly.
*Combat system - rated 1. The mouse targeting is glitchy at best and I don't really like the dependence upon the mouse for so much of the character control either. The responsiveness is slow though that just might be due to the network I have to play on. The ability to create worthwhile macros is non-existent. See World of Warcraft for an outstanding macro system. The UI needs an overall. I wish the health bars for myself, my pets, and my party were fatter and didn't fade out when clicking on something else if I don't wish for them too. This would make it easier to spot key information when playing the role of a healer in the middle of combat. My big background as a FPS player on PCs reflects my opinion of the roll of the mouse.
*Class system - 2 rated. Some classes have been rendered effectively useless by excessive overlapping of the most common buffs. See Prophet vs Warcrier. Also the homogenization of many classes takes away from the game while the class count is still so high. Kameals, just don't like them. Don't like their looks, and I feel they are overpowered in concept. The current planned 8 classes for Goddess might fix this a great deal, however I also rather like the distinctiveness of my BladeDancer. I do wish my BD could dance while using any bladed weapon.
*PvP activites - 3 rated. Alot of good concepts here. Just poor implementation. Hero's need all skills on very long timers at the very least. I also feel that Open Olympiad shouldn't be taken into consideration when determining winner of hero status for each class. Only class based should be taken into account. CP and CP pots, just get rid of them. Element, get rid of it, same for augments. These simply add to the ways the "haves" can really just dominate the "have-nots" thus making these things critical to being able to reaching a level of being able to compete on equal footing. TW wards, should be toned down in benefit, call it say a 5% boost to various stats rather than direct increases to primary attributes. CP and CP pots are the biggest problem by far.
*PvE activities - 4 rated. Instances are a nice solution to problems of overcrowding competition for lesser bosses. The system of making monsters highly resistant to some sources of damage and weak to others, I feel really hampers general hunting. It really makes nukers and archers feel they have spend their time soloing and greatly reduces their desirability in parties. For a community based game I feel that forcing a perception that certain classes must solo is just bad design. Raid bosses to tend to be boring in actual fighting. Until the combat and control system is improved however, I don't think much can be done about this.
*Player community - 2 rated. There are a number of good people who play this game. A few really smart players out there too. I do feel far too many are too close minded to other games however. Specifically many like to bash other games that they perceive as too easy despite never having played them. There are also a TON of idiots playing as well. Every time I log in and see hero shout on Chronos, I feel as if I am watching a debating match at the special olympics. Also the general lack of initiative on the parts of many players to learn and/or explore game features can lead to a good deal of frustration when it comes time to engage in activities that promote the growth of the clan in both PvE and PvP. The language barriers also make things very difficult at times. Worse of all is when I see people who speak English engaging in improper communication out of expediency since that only reinforces bad habits and/or confuses those who do not have that strong a grasp on English.
*NC Soft communications - 2 rated. Hey ya'll moved up compared to what I would have given ya'll 7 years ago. Ya'll still fall flat on yer face from time to time (security changes anyone?) However, ya'll have made strides in improving your efforts to talk to us. Hence why I am talking back right now. ;)
*NC Soft Customer Support - 2 rated. Got hacked a week after I returned. Didn't get an email saying why I found my account suddenly locked (first clue I knew something was wrong.) Furthermore, getting hold of someone over the weekend was **** near impossible. The hours available to call in is ridiculously short. Then there is the process to confirm account ownership. For gods sake just ask for an email of a photo identity scanned in and saved as PDF file. Or more proof is required ask for a photo copy of two or more sources of identity to be mailed to your offices and offer call back support when said identity confirmation arrives. Add in a service by which leaving account owners can transfer stewardship or ownership of their account to another with ya'll participating as the witness of transfer. Something similar to what CCP offers its EvE Online players. Customer service professionals in game and out of game should be the same people. My impression of in game support is that they have no power at all to deal with any issues and the ticket support option is there to give us the illusion of in game support.
*PvP cheater status - 2 rated. I still believe that a large number of people are using 3rd party programs to pvp. However I can't prove it, and quite frankly have long since given up hope of this ever being addressed.
*PvE cheater status - 4 rated. All I can say is, "Hell, it's about time." to quote Tychus Findley from StarCraft 2. This ruined the game back in the day. Never, ever forget this, the RMT crowd MUST buy new accounts when they get banned in order to service the legit player market. Killing off the legit player market by letting the bots run out of control just hurts everyone in the long run. Legit players leave, less demand for RMT servicing, so bots leave. Remaining legit players have fewer people to interact with, so they leave. Demand for RMT services shrinks again. This starts a self-reinforcing cycle of decay that leads a game to go from 10 servers to 2 servers. While a competing game that continuously fights the RMT market that launched only a few months later now boasts more than 13,000,000 subscribers. And Blizzard charges $16 a month too, not $15. Please do not forget this lesson, for your own bottom line if nothing else.
3. Game improvements forthcoming.
*New engine needed please and pay excellent attention to the environment detail. The ground, forests, hills, plains, and seafloor shouldn't look like they are tiled.
*Really just needs some fleshing to the story and better translation.
*Combat system - I'd like to see: keyboard movement with out lag, better key remapping, superior targeting abilities, collision with pets removed, better macro system, aggro control revamped (people can pull aggro doing nothing at all)
*Reasons to pvp are good, just get rid of CP and CP potions and put some serious cooldowns on hero skills (there should be significant strategic and tactical reasons to pop skills in pvp, not simply because they are up)
*Mana elixirs should restore alot more mp, say full MP restore with a 10 minute cooldown vice the current 5? Get rid of mob resists and weaknesses
*XP is fine
*Drops and items need to be improved, the fact that most people can't play hardcore should be considered a factor in how long it takes someone to craft an item if thats the route they choose to go, the masterwork or improved item (say antharas drops his essence and you do a quest to merge with yer weapon with it to improve it) will always take a fair bit more time and effort thus giving the hardcore player something to tout over the casual, the liquidity of adena in the market makes it hard to buy things, especially for those who play support classes and don't have boxed accounts they can use to assist in farming
*Crafting should never fail.
*Pet buffs going out to 10 minutes long and rebuffing when say the timer hits 30 seconds vice the buff being gone would be a huge benefit for pets. Mounts are ok, but not a big part of the game.
*More Clan Halls down the road?
*Haven't ever led a clan nor used the clan management tools in this game so can't speak here
*Questing sucks balls in this game, they are annoying with usually crappy rewards and require insane amounts of time to complete, questing needs to be overhauled to be a serious viable alternative activity for those who enjoy such
*Sucks. Can't alter the height of health/mana bars, remapping keys is a pain (better to just us a Logitech G13 or Nostromo instead), can't change width of chat box, UI responds sluggishly to commands
*Game is dead in my opinion, and no amount of clever advertising will bring it back, save yer pesos for more important issues
*Micro-transactions could be alternative way to address economic issues, dump the monthly fee and instead cap players to $15 bucks worth of micro transactions per month (keeps use of "daddies plastic" within reason) and sell adena, call it $1 per 2 mil adena, this caps each player to 30 mil adena per month maximum they could buy and this limits the potential influx of adena, alternatively you could also sell items with strong gambling aspects attached, i.e. element stones/crystals, BEWS/BEAS, variety of low level crafting materials, and other consumables
*NC Soft community involvement really is alright I'd say, it does feel like ya'll are employing gimmicks to keep what customers remain
*PvP cheater clean-up, get rid of CP Pots and one of the distinctions of why it is so hard to kill pvp cheaters will be gone
*This is pretty much spot on complete
Agree it does look a bit like a pre softening of trying to sell the GoD concept which is going to be interesting as the NA player base isn't quite a 1:1 match of the Korean player base and it would be foolish to assume so..
in short Sace please don't try to use the results of this poll to justify the upcoming GoD changes as we all know that's based on Korean feedback (our feedback is dominantly against several points raised in GoD like the party size reduction & class simplification/mergers as well the whole Aion play style ).
Thx.
quick question Draeke
what is AION playstyle?
if youre talking about quest based levelling, i understand. if youre talking about pvp in special areas for special points to buy special pvp gear, then i must ask just exactly how is it different from what we have now? farming fame, farming tw, farming pvps it all happens here the same as it happens in AION.
if you mean 8 classes, tiered skill sets and combination skills, well that again already happens here. so often new players ask what the difference is between the top pvp classes. should they go Archer vs Mage.
i'm just wondering what you mean by AIOn play style.
Awesome Feedback I really hope NCSoft listens to it cause unlike you:
*Game is dead in my opinion, and no amount of clever advertising will bring it back, save yer pesos for more important issuesI still think this game has great potentional if they would fix the things you pointed out and improve on the rest... Together with a strategic relaunch kind of thing, huge advertising, new enigne - etc... Ofc they can also just take it all to Lineage III instead but they have to learn from this one way or another...
i find it good idea,and i hope all those answer analized good by u there at NCwest,but Moxie ,who decide about the questions,or maybe let be more specific.
about the pvp cheaters question(which u know is the bigest problem now)
why u ask us about what action u should take(clean or no)theres a thing called EULA?its obvious i think
if the majority of ppl choose "NOT clean pvp cheaters" what gona happen?u ll let them play w/o ban like u do now?
since u are the boss now,can u tell us honestly when u (NCwest) willing to stop hironic answers like "we do the best","we monitoring pvp cheaters etc" and take all the serious and apropriate and nessesary actions to prevent those programs from this game?
is there anyone else now,"upper" than you who take decissions about lineage2?if yes can u named him?
i ll apriciate if u can give answers to those questions
TL;DR? Don't worry about it this is provided solely for the benefit of NC Soft.
*You might want to inquire how long players have played alternative MMORPG products in addition to how recently if at all.
* Why did you take a break? Add the following options; General disatisfaction with the player community. Game concepts just not fun. Perceived poor implementation of game concepts. Finally, make it a check box instead of a choose one. Not everyone might have a single overwhelming reason they took a break.
* After taking a break, why did you choose to resubscribe to Lineage II? Add the following option; I had previously set goals that I hadn't finished.
*Add a comments section to permit amplification on choices made. I will add some of my own comments down below in regards to the final page where ratings are submitted on the game itself and events run.
Commentary:
Other forum denizens, please note I will neither respond nor explain myself to anyone except to provide clarity if so sought by NC Soft.
1. GM EVENTS - remember the point is to reward the players for having stuck around.
*First GM event to participate in was the Nostalgia event. I didn't participate in the contest portion, however I did enjoy the buffs portion in game.
*Gift of Vitality was a very nice thing to come back to the game to. I was at the bottom of level 68 and within 8 days, only playing for 2 hours a day, I found myself dancing for an 83 Dreadnaught and got powerleveled to 78. Since there isn't much to be had for the journey to level cap in this game, I'd opine that the game really doesn't start until you reach the relative community level cap. This event definitely helped alot.
*Freya celebration was a wash in my opinion. The gambling element was far too extensive for my taste. A better way to have done it would be 100% chance of gift and changing the low end gifts to useful items such as the BSOE, BREZ, and Fresh Milk - Event. This way even if you didn't get the great items like Anakim scrolls or the boss necklace you still had something alright to show for your effort.
*Clan Hall distribution. Can't really complain, a bit too much adena was removed with event I think, but overall it was fair.
*Catch a Tiger I enjoyed a great deal. Yes Moxie it was rather monotonous (I spoke to you directly about it on Fantasy Island while you were buffing everyone and turning us into pigs.) However, the rewards were extremely useful and pretty much guaranteed. I got a decent supply of Fresh Milks that helped me a ton in leveling my first sub (now level 69) and almost 90 mil worth of element stones which I have been able to successfully use as seed money to participate in the economy.
*GM Trick or Treat was also a wash. I never once saw a GM. I know some people did, but what is the point if most people can't participate?
2. General Questions about Lineage II as a "world-famous" MMORPG.
*Graphics - rated 2. Was great when it came out. Now its just bleh. The character detail is still alright and the sexiness is still there, however the environment is just boring. The basic mapping is so blatantly tiled and all sorts of blemishes. Not to mention the detail on the characters actually gets rather bad when you zoom in to try and examine the finer features in the armor or on the weapons. The shields and inside view of the fist weapons are excellent examples of just annoying lazy graphical design. World of Warcraft might be somewhat cartoony, however the attention to detail is beyond amazing. There are also numerous other games with considerably better graphics details and cohesiveness. A dedicated effort to replace the graphics engine with something new is definitely needed along with a total reworking of the game environment. Also the "at rest" animations of the characters is over done with such excessive motion while just standing about.
*Lore and story - rated 3. Just needs a professional author's touch to really make it shine. Better translation as well. No asian language translates directly into English. The translators need to identify the underlying ideas and concepts and then use them to modify the literal translations so that the English flows smoothly.
*Combat system - rated 1. The mouse targeting is glitchy at best and I don't really like the dependence upon the mouse for so much of the character control either. The responsiveness is slow though that just might be due to the network I have to play on. The ability to create worthwhile macros is non-existent. See World of Warcraft for an outstanding macro system. The UI needs an overall. I wish the health bars for myself, my pets, and my party were fatter and didn't fade out when clicking on something else if I don't wish for them too. This would make it easier to spot key information when playing the role of a healer in the middle of combat. My big background as a FPS player on PCs reflects my opinion of the roll of the mouse.
*Class system - 2 rated. Some classes have been rendered effectively useless by excessive overlapping of the most common buffs. See Prophet vs Warcrier. Also the homogenization of many classes takes away from the game while the class count is still so high. Kameals, just don't like them. Don't like their looks, and I feel they are overpowered in concept. The current planned 8 classes for Goddess might fix this a great deal, however I also rather like the distinctiveness of my BladeDancer. I do wish my BD could dance while using any bladed weapon.
*PvP activites - 3 rated. Alot of good concepts here. Just poor implementation. Hero's need all skills on very long timers at the very least. I also feel that Open Olympiad shouldn't be taken into consideration when determining winner of hero status for each class. Only class based should be taken into account. CP and CP pots, just get rid of them. Element, get rid of it, same for augments. These simply add to the ways the "haves" can really just dominate the "have-nots" thus making these things critical to being able to reaching a level of being able to compete on equal footing. TW wards, should be toned down in benefit, call it say a 5% boost to various stats rather than direct increases to primary attributes. CP and CP pots are the biggest problem by far.
*PvE activities - 4 rated. Instances are a nice solution to problems of overcrowding competition for lesser bosses. The system of making monsters highly resistant to some sources of damage and weak to others, I feel really hampers general hunting. It really makes nukers and archers feel they have spend their time soloing and greatly reduces their desirability in parties. For a community based game I feel that forcing a perception that certain classes must solo is just bad design. Raid bosses to tend to be boring in actual fighting. Until the combat and control system is improved however, I don't think much can be done about this.
*Player community - 2 rated. There are a number of good people who play this game. A few really smart players out there too. I do feel far too many are too close minded to other games however. Specifically many like to bash other games that they perceive as too easy despite never having played them. There are also a TON of idiots playing as well. Every time I log in and see hero shout on Chronos, I feel as if I am watching a debating match at the special olympics. Also the general lack of initiative on the parts of many players to learn and/or explore game features can lead to a good deal of frustration when it comes time to engage in activities that promote the growth of the clan in both PvE and PvP. The language barriers also make things very difficult at times. Worse of all is when I see people who speak English engaging in improper communication out of expediency since that only reinforces bad habits and/or confuses those who do not have that strong a grasp on English.
*NC Soft communications - 2 rated. Hey ya'll moved up compared to what I would have given ya'll 7 years ago. Ya'll still fall flat on yer face from time to time (security changes anyone?) However, ya'll have made strides in improving your efforts to talk to us. Hence why I am talking back right now. ;)
*NC Soft Customer Support - 2 rated. Got hacked a week after I returned. Didn't get an email saying why I found my account suddenly locked (first clue I knew something was wrong.) Furthermore, getting hold of someone over the weekend was **** near impossible. The hours available to call in is ridiculously short. Then there is the process to confirm account ownership. For gods sake just ask for an email of a photo identity scanned in and saved as PDF file. Or more proof is required ask for a photo copy of two or more sources of identity to be mailed to your offices and offer call back support when said identity confirmation arrives. Add in a service by which leaving account owners can transfer stewardship or ownership of their account to another with ya'll participating as the witness of transfer. Something similar to what CCP offers its EvE Online players. Customer service professionals in game and out of game should be the same people. My impression of in game support is that they have no power at all to deal with any issues and the ticket support option is there to give us the illusion of in game support.
*PvP cheater status - 2 rated. I still believe that a large number of people are using 3rd party programs to pvp. However I can't prove it, and quite frankly have long since given up hope of this ever being addressed.
*PvE cheater status - 4 rated. All I can say is, "Hell, it's about time." to quote Tychus Findley from StarCraft 2. This ruined the game back in the day. Never, ever forget this, the RMT crowd MUST buy new accounts when they get banned in order to service the legit player market. Killing off the legit player market by letting the bots run out of control just hurts everyone in the long run. Legit players leave, less demand for RMT servicing, so bots leave. Remaining legit players have fewer people to interact with, so they leave. Demand for RMT services shrinks again. This starts a self-reinforcing cycle of decay that leads a game to go from 10 servers to 2 servers. While a competing game that continuously fights the RMT market that launched only a few months later now boasts more than 13,000,000 subscribers. And Blizzard charges $16 a month too, not $15. Please do not forget this lesson, for your own bottom line if nothing else.
3. Game improvements forthcoming.
*New engine needed please and pay excellent attention to the environment detail. The ground, forests, hills, plains, and seafloor shouldn't look like they are tiled.
*Really just needs some fleshing to the story and better translation.
*Combat system - I'd like to see: keyboard movement with out lag, better key remapping, superior targeting abilities, collision with pets removed, better macro system, aggro control revamped (people can pull aggro doing nothing at all)
*Reasons to pvp are good, just get rid of CP and CP potions and put some serious cooldowns on hero skills (there should be significant strategic and tactical reasons to pop skills in pvp, not simply because they are up)
*Mana elixirs should restore alot more mp, say full MP restore with a 10 minute cooldown vice the current 5? Get rid of mob resists and weaknesses
*XP is fine
*Drops and items need to be improved, the fact that most people can't play hardcore should be considered a factor in how long it takes someone to craft an item if thats the route they choose to go, the masterwork or improved item (say antharas drops his essence and you do a quest to merge with yer weapon with it to improve it) will always take a fair bit more time and effort thus giving the hardcore player something to tout over the casual, the liquidity of adena in the market makes it hard to buy things, especially for those who play support classes and don't have boxed accounts they can use to assist in farming
*Crafting should never fail.
*Pet buffs going out to 10 minutes long and rebuffing when say the timer hits 30 seconds vice the buff being gone would be a huge benefit for pets. Mounts are ok, but not a big part of the game.
*More Clan Halls down the road?
*Haven't ever led a clan nor used the clan management tools in this game so can't speak here
*Questing sucks balls in this game, they are annoying with usually crappy rewards and require insane amounts of time to complete, questing needs to be overhauled to be a serious viable alternative activity for those who enjoy such
*Sucks. Can't alter the height of health/mana bars, remapping keys is a pain (better to just us a Logitech G13 or Nostromo instead), can't change width of chat box, UI responds sluggishly to commands
*Game is dead in my opinion, and no amount of clever advertising will bring it back, save yer pesos for more important issues
*Micro-transactions could be alternative way to address economic issues, dump the monthly fee and instead cap players to $15 bucks worth of micro transactions per month (keeps use of "daddies plastic" within reason) and sell adena, call it $1 per 2 mil adena, this caps each player to 30 mil adena per month maximum they could buy and this limits the potential influx of adena, alternatively you could also sell items with strong gambling aspects attached, i.e. element stones/crystals, BEWS/BEAS, variety of low level crafting materials, and other consumables
*NC Soft community involvement really is alright I'd say, it does feel like ya'll are employing gimmicks to keep what customers remain
*PvP cheater clean-up, get rid of CP Pots and one of the distinctions of why it is so hard to kill pvp cheaters will be gone
*This is pretty much spot on complete
Forget the lack of text boxes and the census ... just for this guys comments to korea ... it pretty much spells it out how everyone feels at this point.
if youre talking about quest based levelling, i understand. if youre talking about pvp in special areas for special points to buy special pvp gear, then i must ask just exactly how is it different from what we have now? farming fame, farming tw, farming pvps it all happens here the same as it happens in AION.
if you mean 8 classes, tiered skill sets and combination skills, well that again already happens here. so often new players ask what the difference is between the top pvp classes. should they go Archer vs Mage.
i'm just wondering what you mean by AIOn play style.
Quests end around lv 28, when you have to start grinding. The XP required per level is about the same for the old 79+ lvs, and mobs give about the same xp as the ones in den of evil or dino island, but they take almost 30 sec to kill each.
Aion has no endgame, you just go and try to mass pvp without any real objectives, and pve is lackluster to say the least.
Yes, combos and 8 classes will just make l2 another aion.
Forget the lack of text boxes and the census ... just for this guys comments to korea ... it pretty much spells it out how everyone feels at this point.
um no its not. epsecially on a few key points.
plus he says get rid of CP pots like 5 times over, we got it the first time and i dont agree they should be removed at all.
I got a question, sorry if some of them was asked, this thread is getting big...
Please rate each of the following in regards to possible future improvements to Lineage II. [Existence of a NCsoft store of in-game items (micro-transactions).]
Forget the lack of text boxes and the census ... just for this guys comments to korea ... it pretty much spells it out how everyone feels at this point.
imo only those below 80 think like that... or those who came here and will leave without achieving anything, because after exp is over there is nothing more in this game for them....
learn to pvp. thats the best thing that this game has against another games.
and graphics doesnt sux that much also(apart abnormal size objects which prevents you from clicking on nothing). if i would want cool graphics i would go and play aion. unfortunetly all new places and npc are looking already not like l2(cant compare to wow cuz i didnt play it)
from my point of view l2 is like a basketball/football or any other kind of team sport. You cant work here alone, you cant achieve here anything alone, nothing you will do here alone will make you want to play this game longer that short period of time because you are alone!
Sace forgot to include in census in the question "<label class="ss-q-title" for="entry_5">Why did you take a break? </label>" the option:
- game was boring...
GMT -4:30 Caracas - Venezuela is missing :rolleyes:
Oficial Time in Caracas was GMT -4 but Chavez wants to change all Venezuela including the UTC what all countries have been adopted.
The census is now closed, with over 2500 responses! :) Thank you everyone for taking the time to fill it out. Now begins the extensive analysis of the results, which will not over quickly. Once finalized, the results will be posted publicly so that everyone can see. :)
As comments and suggestions on questions to include or change, they have been collected and will be referred to when the next bi-annual census occurs later this year.
For the next census, do it before GoD's release and don't forget the question : "Do you want GoD to be applied here? (yes, no, partially...)"
And at the question "Why are you quitting?" don't forget to put a checkbox with "because of GoD".
For the next census, do it before GoD's release and don't forget the question : "Do you want GoD to be applied here? (yes, no, partially...)"
And at the question "Why are you quitting?" don't forget to put a checkbox with "because of GoD".
lmao while i do find this comment very ammusing, i myself am going to hang around and see if i like GoD b4 i decide to quit or not, im not to thrilled with the whole class merge idea, but who knows, it may turn out ok. we shall see
For the next census, do it before GoD's release and don't forget the question : "Do you want GoD to be applied here? (yes, no, partially...)"
And at the question "Why are you quitting?" don't forget to put a checkbox with "because of GoD".
Anyway I think if they add a question before the GoD release "Did you return to play with Goddess of Destruction" would get higher "yes" votes as the "Do you want GoD to be applied here" with "no" answer.
Anyway I think if they add a question before the GoD release "Did you return to play with Goddess of Destruction" would get higher "yes" votes as the "Do you want GoD to be applied here" with "no" answer.
I wish you'll win that bet, otherwise you'll have one party versus one party at sieges.