Lance Stites Talks About the State of Aion Today Executive Producer

[Mistress Stowastiq]

On July 26th, A player on Aiononline forums posted up some questions/petition with hopes of getting the Executive Vice President to answer. {CC}TrineSL sent the questions to him and he replied yesterday so I figured I should post up the answers since I can't find it here. Not sure why she did not sticky the thread. I know people here use Aionsource, but I have to check there to see if they also got a recent dev post. (Sorry about the formatting, I find it hard on the eyes. I pasted it as I found it except for main heading spacings.)

He answers at post #31 on page 4 of the thread. Page 1 has the OP/player's original questions and I posted them following Lance's answers.

Thread link:
http://forums.aiononline.com/na/showthread.php?t=19995

Re: Lance Stites Talks About the State of Aion Today Executive Producer

Hello everyone,

Thank you for the “invitation” to speak. I can appreciate that many in the community would to hear from the Studio Head on occasion and honestly, I enjoy the privilege of interaction with the players. I’m glad to answer the questions that I’m able, but let me lead off with pointing out the tone of the questions painting a bleak picture of Aion population isn’t necessarily accurate. It’s true that we’ve seen declines from our initial 30 day peak, but I would not characterize them as totally anticipated or unexpected. We have seen a percentage that have left after determining that Aion wasn’t what they wanted, but we’ve also banned a significant number of fraudulent accounts. In spite of this, we’ve seen our CCU and activations stabilizing, we still have a strong community and we’re committed to improving our service and product, including the recent 1.9 update and our soon to be released Aion: Assault on Balaurea expansion.

1.) Decreasing population

A. Does he as Executive Producer recognize this situation?

Yes, we track the numbers on a daily and weekly basis.


B. Are their any plans to regain population?

We’re working to deliver quality events that players can enjoy and are providing feedback and request to the core dev team. We think we made some good changes with 1.9 and think that Assault on Balaurea will further improve the game. We also have recapture plans in the works as well as other acquisition plans. We’re thoughtfully examining the proper timing to conduct this initiatives (bringing in new players in front of 1.9 and other quality updates may not result in the retention numbers we’d like, as an example.) Additionally, someone mentioned that “he’ll never give hard numbers”—I am sorry to say that this is indeed true. That information comes out of our finance group if deemed appropriate and as a publicly traded company there are things I’m simply not authorized to reveal.

C. Is there any thought (with failing pop) that Aion has not been westernized enough?

I think there could be an argument for this, there’s a lot of data and feedback we’re providing to the dev team and I believe the game has room for further improvement. I know the devs are working hard on updates and supporting all the serviced territories.

1. What about the activity increase during double xp weekends? Are you working to get that as a standard or was that an exception?

Mixed feelings on this one. Personally, I love ‘em. But you’ve sort of got to step back and consider what’s good for the long term health of the service. It’s great as long as it lasts, but when it turns off, you get a bit of a hangover. (But my Dad used to say the best cure for a hangover was to never stop drinking…)



2.) Westernization

A. What does this mean to the game? In what ways has it been implemented? What do we have different that Korea does not?

The bulk of westernization has been in the creative rewrite of the game and not in specific game play mechanics. We did participate heavily in the direction of the 1.9 patch.

B. No other Korean game has made a successful pass to the western market. We were told that Aion would break that trend. Currently this game is declining as well. Will you look at revamping it to be more?

If I put as much spin on my answers as was put into this question, the readers of this thread would be ticked off. Our number have seen a decline, but they’re stable and have seen some weeks of growth since 1.9. Aion is a good game, it has a good foundation and some good mechanics. It’s not the perfect game for every player, but it delivers on a fun experience. We’re going to continue to work to deliver the changes the NCW player base wants and needs.

C. What works in Korea does not work here. If it did, Aion would not be in it's current condition. Are you expecting a pure Korean update (Aion 2.0) to be the answer?

This is a question I have to be a bit evasive on at this time. We do have an initiative in place to address this question, but I can’t share the details just yet.



3.) Server balance

A. It was promised that Aion would maintain balance between race ratios. As a pvp centric game, this is essential. Where did these mechanics go during transfers?

This is a tough one, we really felt obligated to let players shift their characters during the merge. Friendships forged, legion allegiances—it’s a pretty important thing. So, we relaxed the restrictions to allow players to shift their own characters. We also have a situation where players have ended up with both races on a single server and need to move them around to solve that problem.

B. What are you going to do, to get servers rebalanced?

At this point, we’ve got a few ideas to help resolve the problem, but we need to verify our ability to execute. We’ll announce this when we have full, confirmed details.



4.) Promises unkempt/delayed

A.Do you feel NC west has kept it's promises to the community?

Not always, no. Frankly, we’ve committed to things we shouldn’t have with the best of intentions that we never should have. That being said, we don’t take it lightly when we have to delay things or break promises—it even pushes us into other bad decisions at times. We need to get better at that.

1. We were promised transfers back in February. Also that it would be handled professionally. What we got was 4 months late, and a free for all with tickets for major cases.

Agree. See above.

2. We were told of 1.9 with a 1st quarter release. July doesn't meet that.

I honestly don’t recall that, but if so, then yeah, that was a mistake to announce it. We get in between a rock and a hard place on a daily basis. This question would have been “why won’t you give us release dates” if we’d have held off until we were positive. We do actually try and be transparent, but we’re obviously going to have to be more careful when and what we release to improve our track record of keeping our promises.


B. Can we expect more communication from NC West on these things? It feels like Tamat is left in the dark a lot.

As above, we work in a dynamic environment. We don’t just code to solve a math equation, we create a subjective product that has to meet the definition of “fun”. Sometimes that takes a few passes to get right. And sometimes you have to chuck it and start over. And sometimes you announce a date and your lead designer comes down with the flu and is out for a week and you end up breaking a promise on a date. We run the risk of missing dates if we share to early.

I’ll tell you this much, we wouldn’t have a community team of what, like 10 people working on this game if it you as a community in general weren’t important to us. It’s easy to sit on the sidelines and cast stones. I’ll be the first to admit we’re not perfect, but we suit up every day and wade out into the fight to do our best to bring you a good product and the best product we can. This team cares about the product and we care about our players. We don’t often get easy problems, but the first thing we ask is “what’s best for the players?”

So, that’s it in a nutshell. I recognize we have more information we need to provide, so the production team is working on an open letter that’s got the next steps we’re working on.

Sincerest regards,

Lance Stites
Executive Vice President, Game Operations and Production
NCsoft West
Last edited by {CC}TrineSL - Siel; Yesterday at 03:20 PM. Reason: format

Op's original questions:

We have not heard from Mr. Stites since launch (here is a link). I don't believe there is anyone in the Aion community, that does not want to hear from our dear Director.

I know I would like to. If I could ask him some questions, it would be these...

1.) Population concerns

• A. We had to go from 12 to 4 servers. That is a worrisome reduction and trend in server pop.
• B. Are their any plans to regain population?
• C. Is there any thought (with failing pop) that Aion has not been westernized enough?
• 1. What about the activity increase during double xp weekends? Are you working to get that as a standard or was that an exception?

2.) Westernization

• A. What does this mean to the game? In what ways has it been implemented? What do we have different that Korea does not?
• B. No other Korean game has made a successful pass to the western market. We were told that Aion would break that trend. Currently this game is declining as well. Will you look at revamping it to be more friendly with our style?
• C. What works in Korea does not work here. If it did, Aion would not be in it's current condition. Are you expecting a pure Korean update (Aion 2.0) to be the answer?

3.) Server balance

• A. It was promised that Aion would maintain balance between race ratios. As a pvp centric game, this is essential. Where did these mechanics go during transfers?
• B. What are you going to do, to get servers rebalanced?

4.) Promises unkempt/delayed

• A. Do you feel NC west has kept it's promises to the community?
• 1. We were promised transfers back in February. Also that it would be handled professionally. What we got was 4 months late, and a free for all with tickets for major cases.
• 2. We were told of 1.9 with a 1st quarter release. July doesn't meet that.
• B. Can we expect more communication from NC West on these things? It feels like Tamet is left in the dark a lot.

-Kanshisha (been here since beta)

[SaviorSelf]

Even if the game has its faults, at least we got updates about the game (albeit slow at times) and what was going on (again, most of the time). The director at least seems like a normal person, and not answering questions like a corporate robot like all of the SE interviews. Nice to see he can just come out and say "Yeah we fucked up, but hey, we'll keep on trying; shit happens".

It actually felt like their was communication on this game. Granted I moved to Aion from FFXI where you didn't hear shit from SE unless they were releasing something, or at one of the few festivals a year (and even then, "We can't talk about anything, but lets have an interview!")

[Veyron]

As much as people may say that Aion has the worst customer support/Dev team/etc etc, coming from FFXI (as most people on these boards have) it's really, REALLY much better than SE... even if it's over twitter (which I hate with a passion!).

[Hyan]

I'd like to at least get my updates simultaneously with the Korean version, but as long as they keep apologizing and treating us like the princesses we are it's alright and they care more about us Westerners than SE ever did I guess.

I don't blame them though, catering to the loyal Korean fanbase is much better than trying to claim the whiny western market that moves to the next game in few weeks anyway. They are doing extremely well last time I heard.

[arus2001]

I must've missed the part where Aion players here were treated like princesses.

[Hyan]

That's what the "plz communicate with us", "apologize to us", "tell us you appreciate us!" is all about. The playerbase wants them treated like princesses.

And it seems to work quite well, since it looks like the community can forgive them for even missing the very basics of customer service as long as they seem like they're bending over to the community's demand for communication~

Brilliant marketing tactics.

[arus2001]

Depends on who you talk to, I guess.

No way around it, though. Aion is flawed. Complaints for varying issues may be minimal due to a silent majority either not being in a position to experience them (casuals) or just plain feel apathetic about speaking out because the West team is seemingly bound by the whims of Korea even for Westernization.

Hell, I remember when they added Double EXP weekends as a compromise until they could adjust TNLs. That never happened. The ninja drop nerf they had to get the Koreans to confirm still irks me. Then they go and fuck up on the merges and turn some basic MMO functions into overpriced cash grabs.

We've pretty much been second-class citizens long before being princesses, so don't let the musings of sheep that don't know things could be better fool you.

[Hyan]

Yeah I know the reality isn't so rosey. It's just funny how easy it is to fool people with fluff like this when they should be focusing on the flaws of the game and actually trying to sync the korean updates with the western version, which IMO is the basic part of customer service they should get right before I would start praising it.

[izembo]

double xp was never added till they could adjust tnls, it was till they could balance the leveling process not directly just lower xp required. they added more quests and upped quest xp, which is basically the same effect

[arus2001]

Not really. Part of the problem with quests in general is that straight up grinding was usually more profitable for your time, and to a large degree that's still the case. Of the new quests I noticed added, they're pretty much half-assed repeatables that love to send you to the other end of the map to kill X for Y drop that's not 100%. And while a lesser complaint, people have been wanting more cut-scenes or voice work to go alongside the quests. They've also nerfed some quests and their rewards, so go figure.

I think I once plugged the numbers into how many mobs you might need to kill to get a level in the late 40's. Result was something stupid over 1200. Multiply that by the time to kill and run to things, probably about 30s altogether, and you get a hell of a lot of time needed just for one level.

I could understand slower progression if there was a lot of content to keep people distracted, but given the rarity of Draupnir runs, SR is pretty much the only thing to do outside of grinding. Theo Labs comes later, but that was also an utter shithole until 1.9.

But yeah, dig back far enough on their old boards and you should find one of the staff talking about why they were starting the Double EXP weekends. Part of it was in response to TNLs, people's gripes against them, and their seeming inability to just change the data on their own as we later find out.

[Elites]

All aboard the FFXIV train guys, this game was good while it lasted but it's up to garbage right now.

[Meat]

i picked a fine time to start, i feel like i've adopted an aids baby

[Tellahh]

As much as people may say that Aion has the worst customer support/Dev team/etc etc, coming from FFXI (as most people on these boards have) it's really, REALLY much better than SE... even if it's over twitter (which I hate with a passion!).

Yeah, Aion may talk to the community on a regular basis (albeit twitter..). But, FFXI didn't start mucking shit up this badly dev wise for quite a few years TBH. I played FFXI since launch and I didn't mind the lack of conversation between the Dev team and American interviewers/game affiliates, at least they got shit done in a timely manner and did it relatively right. Yeah, there was some pretty buggy shit after each major expansion/patch but they had it fixed double-time.

I won't deny though SE royally fucked up towards the end development wise and started treating their playerbase shittier and shittier, at least they did it after a few years and not months like this game~.

i picked a fine time to start, i feel like i've adopted an aids baby

Fucking lol'd.

[Hitoshura]

All aboard the FFXIV train guys, this game was good while it lasted but it's up to garbage right now.

Dude.. the Meyers that was in the not a spy vent cyboring with andreabee? holy shit

[Pooky]

All aboard the FFXIV train guys, this game was good while it lasted but it's up to garbage right now.

Yep, I'll get right on a game who's developer had over seven years to work on and learn about mmos....and still can't even get fucking camera controls to work right with a mouse.

As much as I love IKJL to move my camera, I'll pass thanks.


The main problem with Aion is the playerbase. FFXI was shitty mind numbing grind, yet there was a ton of content once you hit cap. 90% of Aion's "endgame" content requires the playerbase to not be fucking pussies and actually PvP, not sit in their respective towns and camp rifts to do dailies.

The grind in Aion 1.0 (China) was 10000x worse than NA launch, yet it was probably the most fun I've ever had because the Chinese playerbase would actually fucking do something. Non-stop rifting, no carebear curses or guards; you could literally live in the opposing factions areas and just murder eveerything. Ever since 1.5 and NA launch its been nothing but QQing from whiny wow-casuals (granted not all are from wow, but it is the on hand sterotype) who bitched enough to get the game gimped as fuck; now they complain about having "nothing to do" because they raped their own endgame content.


TL : DR

Americans are pussies, and 90% of the problem with Aion.

[Hyan]

Nobody raped the endgame content but the developers by bending over to the whims of the playerbase.

Growing a pair of balls might help them run an MMO.

Although I guess that's only the problem with NA/EU devs, Korean version seems to be doing fine and probably Chinese too.

[Alderaan]

It's a completely different atmosphere playing on a Chinese server and i'm sure it's the same in Korea. You can't really compare that to NA/EU. When i can buy 10mil kinah along with my minutes, i don't have to worry about grinding for gold. Can get all my shit +15 in no time.

You also can't rape an endgame when one doesn't exist. I agree with Pooky that Americans are pussies but NC should have known that. Players today will not and refuse to entertain themselves and be their own content. I'm not speaking about myself of course, as i had no problem living in the core on my shitty templar. But in general, when the endgame is PVP, you get what you give and players are lazy.

If we had 1.0 for 6 months, then i think a lot of players would have eased into the game better. But when 35 of the 40 people i came to Aion with from FFXI don't make it past level 30, then somethings wrong.

[arus2001]

Mmm, so quality content is derived from the ability to screw other players out of it. At least that's my take on the hate on steps to shut down perma-rifting. People do make MMOs suck, though, I'll agree, but I'd hinge it more on, "I can do this, you can't stop me, so you suck!" schtick which was, coincidentally, the counter most pro-rifters spit out when people griped about not being able to actually play the game in their home turf.

If wanting to do something you pay for makes you a pussy, then by all means, stick a dick in me and make babies. The existence of PvP is all well and good when it's balanced, including the ability to avoid it, but this isn't Aion: Run Fire Temple From 30 to 40 and SR to 50. The whole checks and balances system is out of whack, among them being the Balaur actually doing something other than throwing a Dredgion around now and then at forts. Aion isn't a war, it's e-bullying, in-game and out.

[Pooky]

It's a completely different atmosphere playing on a Chinese server and i'm sure it's the same in Korea. You can't really compare that to NA/EU. When i can buy 10mil kinah along with my minutes, i don't have to worry about grinding for gold. Can get all my shit +15 in no time.

You also can't rape an endgame when one doesn't exist. I agree with Pooky that Americans are pussies but NC should have known that. Players today will not and refuse to entertain themselves and be their own content. I'm not speaking about myself of course, as i had no problem living in the core on my shitty templar. But in general, when the endgame is PVP, you get what you give and players are lazy.

If we had 1.0 for 6 months, then i think a lot of players would have eased into the game better. But when 35 of the 40 people i came to Aion with from FFXI don't make it past level 30, then somethings wrong.

If we had 1.0 for 6 months, there would be a LOT less people playing this game. Look at all the people whining about the grind now, and imagine that times a thousand. Slapping a patch on something doesn't make the game good or bad, what made 1.0 fun was the players not being afraid to play the game.

Mmm, so quality content is derived from the ability to screw other players out of it. At least that's my take on the hate on steps to shut down perma-rifting. People do make MMOs suck, though, I'll agree, but I'd hinge it more on, "I can do this, you can't stop me, so you suck!" schtick which was, coincidentally, the counter most pro-rifters spit out when people griped about not being able to actually play the game in their home turf.

If wanting to do something you pay for makes you a pussy, then by all means, stick a dick in me and make babies. The existence of PvP is all well and good when it's balanced, including the ability to avoid it, but this isn't Aion: Run Fire Temple From 30 to 40 and SR to 50. The whole checks and balances system is out of whack, among them being the Balaur actually doing something other than throwing a Dredgion around now and then at forts. Aion isn't a war, it's e-bullying, in-game and out.

You seem to be misunderstanding something: you pay to play a pvp game. Rifting, as flawed as it is, is a PvP element. (As a fun aside, most of the reasons why rifting is flawed is again the playerbase's fault. Very few PvP actively at 50, so their only option is to level a twink and rift.)

A lot of people have the same misunderstandings, they come from PvE fests like WoW and thought that Aion would (and should) be exactly the same: easy, casual, "safe" leveling, with lots of instances to run for quick and easy loot. The Korean Dev's added more PvE elements (1.0 had roughly 3-4 instances at launch, 80% of the instances we have now were from 1.5) in an attempt to cater to the western market without minimizing the PvP aspects; they failed for the simple reason that a lot of western players [i]don't want a a pvp game.[/p] They want WoW with better graphics, as tragic as that is.

If the majority of the playerbase would actually go and PvP instead of sitting in towns whining on forums, this game would be totally different; and if the playerbase had actually done what NCwest (naively) assumed they would, we'd have balanced servers instead of the Asmo-free ones we have now.

[Ryuushin]

I agree Pooky, however there are still some aspects that I think need to be fixed/adjusted. AP gain/loss needs to be fixed.. If high ranks don't lose a shit ton of AP they would PVP way more. People are usually saving up for their PVP set so they don't want to risk losing AP and therefore a lack of numbers in the abyss.