FAO Requiel

Aran_Thule · Post by **Aran_Thule** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:08 am

Hiya, just wondering if there is any news as to how the game is being advertised/sold in the UK and other countrys that dont have thier own language server?

At the moment with the crash and problems with restoration Prydwen has taken a serious hit, loosing whole guilds and lots of people, and has taken a major hit to morale.

We really need to see an influx of new blood but given the lack of groups at low level the only way i can see numbers joining and not leaving within a month is if we get a lot of people joining at the same time.

GOA recently did a great trailer, im hoping that this will be appearing on all the main magazine cd's as it would definately provoke some interest.
However unless the game itself is easy to find (ie in shops not just from online) a lot of peoples interest will wane before they even play.

Just wondering what if anything is being done?

Gandelf · Post by **Gandelf** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:24 am

Maybe one (possibly unpopular) solution would be to move the English servers over to the USA and have them controlled directly by Mythic?

Then we'd probably get a nice influx of US players to build up numbers.

Time zone difference is the only real setback. But, at least we'd get the latest patches before the European servers.

Mojo · Post by **Mojo** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:35 am

Gandelf wrote: Time zone difference is the only real setback. But, at least we'd get the latest patches before the European servers.

It wouldn't be a setback if all the players moved, It would be 24/7 peak time.

Ankh Morpork · Post by **Ankh Morpork** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:38 am

Tbh it's not a bad idea, but I just hope we dont get loads of lag if they decide to move it to US. Perhaps mythic could take over and get some server in EU? (other than GOA) imo they should place the server in the same block as I live

/Ankh

Dorin · Post by **Dorin** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:57 am

probably the budget for advers is too low or nonexistant at goa/mythic... not that i expect a wow-style adveristation but something abit bigger or so wouldnt hurt...

Ankh Morpork · Post by **Ankh Morpork** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 10:59 am

Yeah, what happened with the advertising Requiel mentioned we would see when we got Catacombs??

/Ankh

OohhoO · Post by **OohhoO** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:23 am

Ankh Morpork wrote:Tbh it's not a bad idea, but I just hope we dont get loads of lag if they decide to move it to US. Perhaps mythic could take over and get some server in EU? (other than GOA) imo they should place the server in the same block as I live ]/Ankh[/B]

TBH the lag I had on the US servers was about 1/10th of the lag I have on the euro servers. I remember reading somewhere too that the connection EU-USA is generally much faster than the connection EU-EU. Sounds wierd I know but as far as my experience goes it's also true.

Ankh Morpork · Post by **Ankh Morpork** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:35 am

Well thats nice

but I have almost no lag from GoA

/Ankh

Requiel · Post by **Requiel** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:37 am

There was advertising done before Catacombs. I was dispatched across the channel and sat in on several meetings with our PR agency in the UK where they discussed coverage and how to spend the budget. There were adverts in cinemas, double page spreads in magazines and reviews negotiated. I went on a three day tour of various magazines doing press interviews and guided tours of the game for journalists. I was interviewed for a cable TV station, several websites and all of the major games magazines in the UK. I then went back and did the same thing again for the agency handling our Scandinavian PR. The perception that the spending was largely invisible has been discussed at length internally.

We were also booked for two UK game shows this year. The first, Gamestar Live, was cancelled by the organisers, the other was Gencon however they had an unsuitable venue this year so we had to withdraw (this year it's at Butlins in Bognor Regis and they have no internet connection). Next year we hope to be at Gencon and possibly at Gaelcon in Dublin as well.

Distribution is something that's largely out of our hands. Retailers really set the availability of product not distributors. If they won't order it, it won't be on shelves. They tend not to keep games like DAoC on permanent stock as they have a limited amount of shelf space and they'll prefer to keep it for new releases and big franchises. This is one reason we've tried to improve the avenues to get the game from - either as a download direct or via web partners such as Play or Webhallen.

Ankh Morpork · Post by **Ankh Morpork** » Mon Nov 07, 2005 11:40 am

But if that's the case Requiel - how come nobody seem to have seen anything? Or was it just french advert?

/Ankh