Post by Maeve on Aug 21, 2010 19:45:04 GMT -5
About the big huff over not really clearing up any questions at GDB today and about upcoming changes over on the forums.
Soooooo....
Time to cover a few bases here, post some video from the fan event (BTW, Massive amounts of support from the EU community, I'm seriously amazed and ecstatic at how many players told me they came just for the event tonight. To say that I talked myself hoarse answering all of their questions would be an understatement), and hopefully go to sleep soon.
Folks,
We came to GamesCom for 2 reasons: To speak with the gaming press about the new RvR pack for WAR as a "sneak peak" or "soft announcement"/to talk about DAOC being alive and well and coming up on almost a decade and to reach out to and speak with our European community. We spent hours upon hours speaking with interviewers from Russia, France, Germany, North America and all over, and had several interviews with Bloggers and at one point just sat down and spoke with some extremely dedicated fans who managed to find their way into the Business Lounge.
The players who came to the fan event tonight are some of the most dedicated individuals I've had the pleasure of meeting during my tenure. The hospitality and enthusiasm shown to us was amazing, and in kind Carrie and I spent hours answering every question that we could to the best of our ability. In the sense that we have a greater understanding of the mindset of the European Community and feel as though we're on our way to building a stronger relationship with them, the Fan gathering was a huge success.
So let's talk about my infamously quoted tweet for a moment:
"So I see the OnRPG article hit already...a little more detailed information will be coming out of #GamesDayBaltimore this weekend"
The tweet was a direct reference to the article published by OnRPG which, while the first article printed by the gaming media, was not a complete coverage of all of the talking points we've been hitting while at GamesCom and at Baltimore. Per the points we planned on talking about, there certainly should have been more details. I have not yet reviewed any recording of the event, nor have I discussed things with the team, so I cannot speak to what was actually said there, but I am confident they handled things appropriately.
For those that feel the need to assign blame, don't blame our marketing group, don't blame the developers and certainly don't blame Carrie. Feel free to assign the blame to me. The Community team pushed hard for us to have news to discuss with the players this week/weekend. We have been working hard at increasing transparancy and believe that the community deserves to know that we have been working on something significant to the future of WAR. The fact that we are working on new, paid content, that it is 100% RvR focused and that we're delivering a Skaven themed experience (which many, many have been asking for since the lanch of the game), is significant news. This was not an "official announcement", there was no press release, there's no videos or pomp and circumstance around it, hell, there isn't even an announced title for it. This was, pure and simple, a gesture that we want for the Community, the people who've supported us for the last 2 years, to know that we are working on delivering something new and fresh to you all. Some people call it Fan Service, we call it keeping you informed.
As some of the Core Testers have indicated on this thread, there are things that they have been privy to in recent months surrounding content that we have planned for the RvR pack. One of these things is the planned changes to the ORvR experience (and if any of them had talked about the details I'd be being, as Carrie puts it, "Mean Mommy Andy" right now). Well, if you watched our Video Blogs from Cologne, you know that Carrie talked about the removal of VPs and Zone Domination timers. We are completely redoing the ORVR experience and the new RvR Zone discussed will play into that experience.
Speaking of the new RvR Zone, one thing we discussed with the players here in Cologne is that this new zone is not designed to be the "new hotness" area so that everyone runs off there and leaves the Campaign stagnant. Rather we are planning to incoorporate it so that it is an organic part of the current ORvR experience, not something that detracts from it.
"Skaven...OMG TELL ME ABOUT SKAVEN"
Ok...we're planning on doing something new and interesting with them. And it's not like that other game that begins with an A, ends with and N and has a moon of Jupiter sitting in the middle.
That's it, that's all you'll get out of me for now.
if you follow my Twitter, you know I already plan on doing a Q&A here on the forums when I get back to the office next week where you can ask your questions all about the RvR Pack. I can't promise to answer everything, I can promise you'll hate some of my answers, but at least you won't have to listen to questions about tech support.
There will be more information in the coming weeks and months, public tests, "In Development..." posts, Video Grab Bags, Dev Diaries and anything else we can think of to get the news out to everyone about the RvR Pack...and yes, at some point there will be an "official announcement" replete with press releases, fancy graphic titles and all that jazz.
Oh yeah, and Games Day UK, where the UK Community will have the chance to grille Carrie and I for as long as they can stand it, or as long as my voice can hold up.
Time to cover a few bases here, post some video from the fan event (BTW, Massive amounts of support from the EU community, I'm seriously amazed and ecstatic at how many players told me they came just for the event tonight. To say that I talked myself hoarse answering all of their questions would be an understatement), and hopefully go to sleep soon.
Folks,
We came to GamesCom for 2 reasons: To speak with the gaming press about the new RvR pack for WAR as a "sneak peak" or "soft announcement"/to talk about DAOC being alive and well and coming up on almost a decade and to reach out to and speak with our European community. We spent hours upon hours speaking with interviewers from Russia, France, Germany, North America and all over, and had several interviews with Bloggers and at one point just sat down and spoke with some extremely dedicated fans who managed to find their way into the Business Lounge.
The players who came to the fan event tonight are some of the most dedicated individuals I've had the pleasure of meeting during my tenure. The hospitality and enthusiasm shown to us was amazing, and in kind Carrie and I spent hours answering every question that we could to the best of our ability. In the sense that we have a greater understanding of the mindset of the European Community and feel as though we're on our way to building a stronger relationship with them, the Fan gathering was a huge success.
So let's talk about my infamously quoted tweet for a moment:
"So I see the OnRPG article hit already...a little more detailed information will be coming out of #GamesDayBaltimore this weekend"
The tweet was a direct reference to the article published by OnRPG which, while the first article printed by the gaming media, was not a complete coverage of all of the talking points we've been hitting while at GamesCom and at Baltimore. Per the points we planned on talking about, there certainly should have been more details. I have not yet reviewed any recording of the event, nor have I discussed things with the team, so I cannot speak to what was actually said there, but I am confident they handled things appropriately.
For those that feel the need to assign blame, don't blame our marketing group, don't blame the developers and certainly don't blame Carrie. Feel free to assign the blame to me. The Community team pushed hard for us to have news to discuss with the players this week/weekend. We have been working hard at increasing transparancy and believe that the community deserves to know that we have been working on something significant to the future of WAR. The fact that we are working on new, paid content, that it is 100% RvR focused and that we're delivering a Skaven themed experience (which many, many have been asking for since the lanch of the game), is significant news. This was not an "official announcement", there was no press release, there's no videos or pomp and circumstance around it, hell, there isn't even an announced title for it. This was, pure and simple, a gesture that we want for the Community, the people who've supported us for the last 2 years, to know that we are working on delivering something new and fresh to you all. Some people call it Fan Service, we call it keeping you informed.
As some of the Core Testers have indicated on this thread, there are things that they have been privy to in recent months surrounding content that we have planned for the RvR pack. One of these things is the planned changes to the ORvR experience (and if any of them had talked about the details I'd be being, as Carrie puts it, "Mean Mommy Andy" right now). Well, if you watched our Video Blogs from Cologne, you know that Carrie talked about the removal of VPs and Zone Domination timers. We are completely redoing the ORVR experience and the new RvR Zone discussed will play into that experience.
Speaking of the new RvR Zone, one thing we discussed with the players here in Cologne is that this new zone is not designed to be the "new hotness" area so that everyone runs off there and leaves the Campaign stagnant. Rather we are planning to incoorporate it so that it is an organic part of the current ORvR experience, not something that detracts from it.
"Skaven...OMG TELL ME ABOUT SKAVEN"
Ok...we're planning on doing something new and interesting with them. And it's not like that other game that begins with an A, ends with and N and has a moon of Jupiter sitting in the middle.
That's it, that's all you'll get out of me for now.
if you follow my Twitter, you know I already plan on doing a Q&A here on the forums when I get back to the office next week where you can ask your questions all about the RvR Pack. I can't promise to answer everything, I can promise you'll hate some of my answers, but at least you won't have to listen to questions about tech support.
There will be more information in the coming weeks and months, public tests, "In Development..." posts, Video Grab Bags, Dev Diaries and anything else we can think of to get the news out to everyone about the RvR Pack...and yes, at some point there will be an "official announcement" replete with press releases, fancy graphic titles and all that jazz.
Oh yeah, and Games Day UK, where the UK Community will have the chance to grille Carrie and I for as long as they can stand it, or as long as my voice can hold up.
) has been consistently *correct*. 
