Re: RO2:HoS

by **Felixlynch777** Fri Nov 18, 2011 5:34 am

Wut, I might have deleted accidentally, was in a bit of a rush Razz

. Here it is again:

I've just closed several "RO2 is dying" threads. Not because we want to censor the forums, not because we don't care about feedback, but just because it all is getting a bit silly.

So lets chat a bit about the situation. I've said a lot of this before, but I'll mention it again just to make sure everyone gets a chance to hear it. RO2 had a rocky launch. You know it, we know it, everyone knows it. We learned a lot about hitting retail deadlines (when they are simultaneous with the digital launch), setting timescales, taking LOTS of risks, pushing the envelope on both gameplay and performance and more. So with what we've learned we'll certainly do a lot of things differently the next time we release a game. With that said, it's time to stop beating that dead horse. Whats done is done, and we should all look to the future, not the past. For our part we have been and will continue to work our butts off solving issues with the game as quickly as we can. We've already knocked out the lions share of the major issues, and continue cranking away at it.

So what about the player counts. Many people is touting the drop in player counts as the death knell of the game. Certainly I think we'd all be happy if they were as high as they were a few weeks ago. But this is really to be expected. We've been saying all along we expected to take a hit when BF3 and MW3 ships. You can't have two games come out with a combined marketing budget of $200 million dollars and not expect to have some players go check them out. Before BF3 came out peak player counts were around 3,000, now they are half of that. Peak players of 3000 at this point in the life cycle of the game is the best we've ever done. Especially considering the rocky launch the game had, I'm pretty happy with those numbers. Putting it into historical context though, even with peak player counts of 1500, the game is much more popular than any game we've ever done at this point in it's life cycle. Killing Floor for instance was peaking at about 800-1000 players at this point in its life cycle. Eventually however it grew to peak player counts in the 4000-5000 range.

So what does the future look like? As I've previously mentioned Killing Floor player counts dropped off pretty quickly after launch. But then something happened. Tripwire's commitment to the long term success of the game turned it around. Through polishing up the game, doing special promotions like free weekends and special themed events, and through releasing lots of free content for a long time after the release of the game it grew and grew. You see it is a key difference in the strategy of Tripwire vs the EA's and the Activisions of the world. Their strategy is to spend a 100 million dollars in marketing to get everyone to buy the game day 1, then to nickel and dime you for the next year with overpriced DLC's. Tripwire's strategy is to market the game as well as we can for the launch (although we aren't yet big enough to spend 100 million dollars), and then provide continued value for our customers over the long term. It is this long term value that in the end will bring the player counts up just as we did with Killing Floor. It will bring new players in, and bring existing players back.

So what are we working on right now?

First off we're making great progress on the mod SDK. We've recently released an update with functionality so modders can compile their own code to make mutators and mods. Soon we will release the full SDK with support for publishing mutators and custom maps. Why has it taken so long? Frankly we were caught off guard by the complexity of getting the modding tools working with "cooked content". All of these tools worked fine internally for or development content. But when you pack up and ship a UE3 game all the content gets "cooked" which reduces the file sizes and improves load times. So the SDK had a lot of issues handling this "cooked" content. But as I've mentioned we've got most of these issues worked out and will be shipping the full mod SDK soon.

Next we're continuing to work on polishing up the game and fixing issues. Two key things we're looking into is further reducing ping and increasing ping stability, and improving client side performance especially with higher player counts. That isn't all we are working on, but that is just a snapshot.

We are also starting work on our first batch of free content. This includes finishing up some of the features that didn't quite make the shipping date. We'll have more news on this going forward but suffice it to say we've got some cool stuff coming for the game.

The other thing I see a lot on the forums is grumbling about various aspects of the game, particularly that the game is either too realistic, or not realistic enough, or not realistic in the particular manner that whichever person posting the thread thinks the game should be. We're keeping our eye on the community and will certainly be incorporating community feedback as we move forward. You all can help us with this though by not making us wade through thread after thread that is either just blatantly flaming, or is just another useless "RO2 is dying" thread. Threads and posts like this make it difficult for us to get to the meat of what people's concerns and feedback truly are. So please help us receive your feedback by making well thought out and constructive posts, and keeping the flame thread/posts to a minimum.

I would also like to point out that no matter what we'll never be able to get the game exactly like everyone wants it. There are just too many differing opinions. So I would suggest that people play around with the tools we've provided to customize the gameplay to their liking. This is a really great testbed for you guys, and if someone has a certain type of custom setup that gets really popular, it shows us Devs that it is something the community likes. In our last update we added the ability to limit weapon and class perks, which allows those of you that don't like certain high end weapons to limit/prevent their use on your server. Additionally there is functionality to tweak a lot of gameplay parameters (damage, etc) as well. So on both ends of the spectrum you can easily make the game more/less hardcore. So start playing with those values and see if you come up with something that a lot of people like, then let the Devs know about it!

by **palto1826** Fri Nov 18, 2011 8:35 am

That is probably one of the best posts i have read from a developer...i will be purchasing this game soon felix...idk if it will be this weekend or next but soon...usually the end of the month sucks cause thats when all the bills are due and still gotta get my brakes fixed on my car...not that you care about mah personal finances and all but i already typed it and if i hit the delete button, somewhere a kitten dies
RO2:HoS - Page 3 Domo%20&%20domo%20vs.%20cat

RO2:HoS - Page 3 Domo%20&%20domo%20vs.%20cat

by **palto1826** Fri Nov 18, 2011 8:37 am

Felixlynch777 wrote:So I was lucky enough to be the commander today. Commander is like BF2, you get to force respawn people (respawn time is in waves of 25 seconds) and call in recon planes that show where the enemies are. You can also call in artillery, rockets and mortars on locations designated by your squad leaders. Luckily my team were good so they called in good positions. First artillery strike got 4 kills. Second got 2. My final one was amazing, 11 kills. I did accidentally call it in on my team's own position once, killed 2 of my guys (I must be in the American military trolololo).

Anyway a neat screenshot of a great triple kill I got:

and a nice screenshot of pyro being a douche

by **peacemaker_sanad** Fri Nov 18, 2011 9:22 am

palto1826 wrote:and a nice screenshot of pyro being a douche

One simply does not troll in RO2 : HoS.

by **Felixlynch777** Fri Nov 18, 2011 10:39 am

Lol I didn't notice that. It's impossible to spawn kill in RO2 anyway so he was just butthurt Razz

.

by **Felixlynch777** Fri Nov 18, 2011 10:45 am

Can we all prove Beazel wrong. Russian Maxim gun>>>>>>>>>>>>M60

Look at how you fire it, badass wooden handles and buttons XD.

by **BeazelWeasel** Fri Nov 18, 2011 2:10 pm

>>>>>>>

by **Felixlynch777** Fri Nov 18, 2011 2:50 pm

Look at it, it has two little wheels on it. That is about as badass as you can get.

by **Felixlynch777** Sun Nov 20, 2011 4:47 pm

A pretty funny glitch happened today. I was on the Maxim gun when I got shot. Weirdly though it continued to fire even though I was already dead XD. Here's some screenshots in order of what happened:

This is just a funny picture of the beginning of a round:

by **Felixlynch777** Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:42 pm

Fuck those wimp Javelins and RPGs, back in my day we destroyed tanks with these:

Also two Russians learn not to rush out of a doorway whilst I'm covering it with an MG34:

by **DeadCamper** Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:46 pm

How's the community? Are people friendly and helpful?

by **Felixlynch777** Tue Nov 22, 2011 4:58 pm

Well since it's a small game, it has the benefit of having a great community. The other day I was Commander, and these two Russian guys were squad leaders. They were really helpful and kept on asking me for orders and were organising their own squads really well. Everyone on my team were listening and trying really hard to work together and win.

I was with two team mates in a trench when one of the Russian squad leaders said they needed help on the right side. I said okay and asked the two guys with me if they could go to the right side and help. Immediately they both ran over to the right flank and fought off the attacking Germans. I've had great moments of teamwork like this playing with friends in BC2, 1942 and the such but the special thing was that these guys were just randoms who were smart and mature enough to listen to the squad leaders and commander.

The funniest thing though was that we lost a base and then I asked the Russian guys what they think we should do. Here is a rough quote of what one of them replied to me. Imagine it in a strong Russian accent Razz

:

"I think it's suicidal if we try and counter-attack. Let's fall back to the town hall and turn it into a fortress. We need a rifle in every window and machine guns to cover the flanks. We will bleed the Germans to death and win."

Is was like some action movie XD.

by **palto1826** Wed Nov 23, 2011 5:17 am

It would be awesome if for each side there was a voice changer so it gave you a Russian or German accent...overall it sounds great and I can't wait to play it...I may download it.today

by **Felixlynch777** Wed Nov 23, 2011 7:09 am

I'd wait until Xmas, it'll almost certainly go on sale. Smile

I saw this really funny post on the RO2 forum complaining about the lines when you get wounded:

Espicially the Russian "Dear ma, I'm hit, dear ma!" (Is that really what they say?) annoys me. I usually hear the same death/wounded scream multiple times a life. I could imagine them adding more lines but with two weeks left it is gonig to be hard.

The funny thing is the Russians aren't saying Dear ma, they are saying "dehr-ma" which is Russian for shit XD.

by **DeadCamper** Wed Nov 23, 2011 8:09 am

Oh for the love of... "Dear ma", really? That's almost like someone actually believing the Russians say "spaghetti" in BC2. pale

by **palto1826** Wed Nov 23, 2011 8:23 am

DeadCamper wrote:Oh for the love of... "Dear ma", really? That's almost like someone actually believing the Russians say "spaghetti" in BC2.

all this time i thought that the russians were quite fond of that italian cuisine

by **DeadCamper** Wed Nov 23, 2011 8:26 am

Russians only dine on baby hearts and "good intentions".

by **Felixlynch777** Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:37 pm

A great trailer for a mod coming out soon for RO2. Great sound:

by **Twintower415** Thu Nov 24, 2011 5:48 pm

gah.. 20 bucks.. I already spent the money on Shogun lololo

by **palto1826** Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:01 am

So after putting in maybe and hour of play on the game and only playing two maps, here is my thoughts...the overall feel was amazing...the game is very open so you rely heavily on strategy to get from point a to point b...running and gunning is completely out of the question (well at least at first when getting used to the game)...kills are very rewarding though its hard at first to know you've killed someone...also red lettering above a player does NOT mean they are an enemy...you have to know what the uniform looks like to know they are an enemy which I like because.it makes you think a second...recoil can be a bit excessive at least for the one automatic gun I used...shooting felix in the face is quite fun...the building design is great, definitely feels war-torn...I love that there is only a certain number of kits that can be used per side so not everyone will spawn in as one class...the biggest drawback for me is the sound so far, the guns sounds could use some tweaking...and sometimes I can hear muffled voices but the only ones around are my teammates right next to me...but overall I love the game but idk if its for everyone

by **Felixlynch777** Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:05 am

^Haha, when Palto shot me in the face I was laughing so much.

by **palto1826** Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:09 am

I think you were my first non teamkill...but that was for that grenade in the cellar...jackass Wink

love the game though...can't wait to get used to it...I didn't even look at the controls before I spawned in so it was really foregin to me

by **Felixlynch777** Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:14 am

Lol, I got a screencap of you after the cellar incident:

Also do the first mission of the campaign, it's basically just a training tutorial.

by **palto1826** Sun Nov 27, 2011 7:28 am

^hahahahahaha...nice...my leg is gone...yeah I was running around and couldn't figure out how to go prone so I was pretty much in the open the whole time

by **Felixlynch777** Sun Dec 11, 2011 2:00 pm

GGs Palto, some good games recently. I'll upload some funny pics tomorrow.

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