With the European free-to-play version of AION, Gameforge aims to address the most relevant questions from the community with the new video series “Ask AION” in the future. A step to finally show more transparency?
Nic, the Product Director of AION Europe, kicked things off and answered the most common questions that were tagged on Twitter with the hashtag #askaion in the first video.
That Gameforge has a questionable reputation among some players has not gone unnoticed by those responsible. Many a tweet was met with criticism that the Product Director handled very humorously.
#askAION Why does GF appear so damn greedy, incompetent and unsupportive in anything regarding Aion EU? Does none of you realize this?
— Rens Rikkerink (@Ikkerens) November 30, 2014
He emphasized that this is a company that relies on revenues. How else could they pay the employees and cover all the other costs? However, Gameforge is important that players do not lose the fun of the game. With more players, there would also be more possibilities, and currently, Nic assures, AION is doing very well and NCSoft, the Korean developer, is very satisfied with the work in Europe.
[intense_blockquote color=”#f2f2f2″ author=”Nic, Product Director Aion Europe”]I can assure you that Aion is not dying (…). There are no intentions to discontinue the game.[/intense_blockquote]
Patch 4.7 will come in March 2013
A very sensitive topic that is currently causing a lot of conflict within the community is of course the release of the major content patch 4.7, which brings new zones, large-scale siege battles, instances, and much more.
Especially in comparison to the other versions, they lag several months behind, which increasingly worries European players. The explanation lies in the translation. Unlike all other publishers, Gameforge has to translate the game into 7 different languages. The effort required to accomplish this is enormous, they say. “We are not just sitting here on our lazy behinds and hoping that the update will be released (…), but we are working very hard to get it done as early as possible.”
Anyone who wants to watch the video again and also learn something about events, server merges, and a hack shield client can watch the video here:
Mein MMO states: First of all, it is positive that Gameforge is rethinking its communication model and wants to focus more on the community in the future. Especially in the past, transparency has always been a bit of a problem, and players often wished for more openness – whether in TERA, Runes of Magic, or Aion. And when looking at SOE, particularly with H1Z1, Everquest, Landmark, and co, it becomes clear that intensive communication with the community can be invaluable. The video definitely makes a good impression, even if not all players may be satisfied with the answers.
In the official forum and in the YouTube comments, players are upset that Patch 4.7 is not set to release until March. Most do not simply accept the explanation that it is due to translations. For there is a contradiction: If it is so important to Gameforge that the fun of the game remains, why do they allow it to take nearly half a year longer than, for example, in America – have they perhaps bitten off more than they can chew with the languages? Why did Gameforge recently manage to publish the big update “Fate of Arun” for TERA, which certainly required the translation of many text passages, faster than the American publisher EnMasse? This is actually a subsidiary of the developer. Admittedly, the range of languages for TERA is a bit smaller, but one still wonders where the catch is.
At NCSoft in America, the update was released in early November. Below is the invasion trailer 4.7, so players can see what at least 3 more months they have to do without and get a sense of why they are not entirely happy with the delay:
