Producer's Letter - September 2021

[marikazan-KT]

@Kibbelz You are asking people to remain calm and that you respond too constructive critcism yet cant even reply to a players direct message from september the 6th?

As someone who has spent large amounts with ncwest both past and present although not lately, you literally ignore a players direct  message,is it your intention to deliberately upset customers and lose them?

This game is going worse than original launch,and your bosses are repeating exactly the same mistakes over and over again you fail to listen and communicate, and take our money and support for granted.

I often get the feeling you think na/eu and oceanic players are stupid and will just keep giving you money for poor service,soon this version will be 1 server if you dont act and i mean actually listen too players.

And your daeva pass is overpriced and half the rewards are utter garbage and all the items should be sellable and crowns should be changed to account tradeable since we have zero good ways to get AP except kill a few bots or ganked in the abyss on guards.

NA market is always treated worse than KR servers with events this is wrong and needs too stop we pay money just like them and if you want mine your going to need to do way better even quna shop hasnt had Qol items added such as perma pets exp amulets or anything halfway helpful.

So theres your constructive polite feedback that will be ignore now like multiple posts over the 12 year history of ncwest in this region.

[HeartStrings-DN]

Please Read the Producers letter on the main Aion page

 

Thousands of Daevas from around the world have gathered to defend Atreia from the Balaur again. This time around we have followed the Korean service much more closely than when Aion was first released in the west. We launched with version 1.2 and are currently targeting to release the 1.5 update sometime next month. With the 1.5 update, we will see a large expansion to the Level 50 end-game for players through the Dark Poeta instance and the Daevanian Quests. We also may have a few quality-of-life changes that differ from the original release, but you’ll have to keep an eye out for posts about the upcoming 1.5 update soon. In preparation for 1.5 we have some EXP events planned so that you’ll be prepared to face Tahabata, as well as the Fearsome Gojira event starting this week!

[Rikona]

So we have the Griffon/Wolf speed boost event, Gojira event, and the Twitter Porgus/Ribbit event all running simultaneously.   Is all the dev time being put to work on events that suck?   Please just work on 1.5.

[Fappachino]

2 hours ago, Kibbelz said:

Posting a reminder to remain civil, please. The team here is definitely aware of the eager desire for 1.5 content and they are doing everything they can to bring it as soon as possible. Criticism (especially constructive) is absolutely welcome but please do your best to avoid being toxic.

Kinda hard to remain civil when your events are flopping harder than fish out of the water.  Players can only take so much before they're at a breaking point, and some have already been pushed past that.  The perception that's being casted from most of the community is that you are completely oblivious to what's happening in the community and your team simply don't care what happens to Classic.  Just to prove that I'm not being completely opinionated, Wasn't the EXP Buff supposed to end today after the maintenance according to your thread here.

Yet the event is still ongoing...

 

These events that you put out, specifically GM Flight Buff and Gojira, have failed since Day 1 of its release.  After numerous posts on the thread about the GM Flight bug, which I know you have personally seen, YOU as a CM didn't address it once and the devs did nothing to fix it.  Today with the Gojira event literally is just the same story in a different book, and I have no expectation of seeing you or anyone from the Dev or Community team saying or doing anything about it.

You want constructive criticism.  COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR PLAYERBASE!!!!!  It's literally the first word in your title and you've done beyond an inadequate job at it.  I'm pretty sure you'd get less complaints from the community if you were to simply address these issues publicly that way we at least know your team is at least trying and putting forth effort.  Your team works for the community, not the other way around.

[Yoloranger]

Great News!  Thanks for the update

For all of you who are rage quitting with the announcement, who have come on to these forums and spewed nothing but venom and hatred and negativity and what amounts to daily, written adolescent temper tantrums ...

Bye

[Wrathchild-KT]

lol, cant even embed a video on the forums anymore?

[Equilibria-DN]

4 hours ago, Kibbelz said:

Posting a reminder to remain civil, please. The team here is definitely aware of the eager desire for 1.5 content and they are doing everything they can to bring it as soon as possible. Criticism (especially constructive) is absolutely welcome but please do your best to avoid being toxic.

You cant turn around and say that, the game is dying and you expect people to have to wait another month for 1.5.

Also weve been screaming out for an update for 1.5 for months - then when we finally get one its still over a month away.

People have a right to be pissed off,

[2s22A500-DN]

19 minutes ago, Equilibria-DN said:

 

19 minutes ago, Equilibria-DN said:

You cant turn around and say that, the game is dying and you expect people to have to wait another month for 1.5.

Also weve been screaming out for an update for 1.5 for months - then when we finally get one its still over a month away.

People have a right to be pissed off,

Lol that’s exactly what’s wrong with this community. The game has been out for three months and you say you have been asking for 1.5 for months. So basically you wanted the game to be 1.5 one week or two after release. Feels like you should be upset with yourself. You all knew the game would have minimal content when it was launched and you still rushed anyway. 
 

With that said, NCSoft should improve their communication skills by a million times. How does NCSoft think that one CM that does a couple post a week is enough communication is baffling. The difference between great companies and regular ones is the PR/communication skills. I don’t care about not having 1.5 for a while but I care that they don’t communicate more. 

[Ele-DN]

13 minutes ago, Equilibria-DN said:

You clearly haven't played Aion much

Iv only been level 50 for over a week - the improvements 1.5 bring for in game drops such as skill books, balaur mats etc.

So before you go posting thinking you know what you're talking about, try again.

You must be the new one here. Why miss out on maxing out your gear before the next patch comes and makes then worthless?

[Viruz]

4 hours ago, Ele-DN said:

They lost more than that day after launch with p2w pass and p2w candy. Another month waiting isn't going to hurt anything...

In-game surveys is critical at this point. They need to know how the current "ACTIVE" player base will think and take actions. Where they are getting their feedback right now is beyond any of us. Most of the player base doesn't even read the forums here....

[Fungie]

4 hours ago, StormRocK-DN said:

we want this game free to play !!!!

go play retail Aion then LOL

[Rag-DN]

@Kibbelz I hate to keep beating a dead horse...but are you guys ever going to address the broken GM Flight buff? Siel Asmo side only had it working on day 1, other factions/servers it seemed hit or miss on it day by day.... It really gave players of the other faction where the buff was working an unfair advantage. There's been several posts made about it but not a single one ever got a reply from the NCsoft team. Tickets to support about it just got automated responses saying things along the lines of, "It's working as intended" or "For more assistance try looking on the official Aion Forums".   Ignoring this disaster only feeds frustration between the players and NCwest.

[Pyromage-DN]

Thanks for the info! Hopefully see you later.

[Squid]

12 minutes ago, Pyromage-DN said:

Thanks for the info! Hopefully see you later.

You will be back, You an Aion junkie . 

[Vashiro]

Hello dear @Kibbelz or whom else this may concern as I don't know who else might be reading the forums,

and to all the people that make fun of the "crybabies" and the "quitters", the reason why they're complaining is due to the fact that 1.5 arrived in Korea in a much much faster pace. We talk 2 months... Meanwhile here with NCWest, our 4th Daeva Pass has launched.. and is going for another 4 weeks. With that being said, we are truly far behind in comparison to how Korea was handling their patching pace.

You might ask why was Korea so fast? Well, the answer is quite simple, there are much more players who voiced their concerns and they all had pointed out how 1.2's version was not filled with enough content to view it as some type of end-game. Sieges are not necessarily "end-game" content. Sieges are are recurring events and are being treated as such and not something to look forward to for end-game alone. End-game at the end is the hard grind of AP, Gear, Manastones, Crafting, grind of Materials for bigger Crafts and/or Kinah to afford other misc items. 1.2's methods of AP grinding are very weak, actually ridiculously weak. 1.5's Dredgion as well as Dark Poeta will provide a new way to acquire AP.  You'll have a daily window where you can get some AP through a fun PvP Mode and also socialize with new people through the group finder which rather leads to a more positive effect for the community. Same thing will happen with the Dark Poeta runs.. or people soloing or 2 manning Dark Poeta for some good returns (more AP, Balic Materials, Gear for Vendor and/or Godstones).

Next to all what is listed, we'll get a new campaign chain upon completing all campaigns pre 1.5. That will also help a few to level easier to 50, as well as provide to some players useful titles.

Finally the Daevanion Gear Quests. These are hyped as well due to the fact that the weapon and gear set are very decent for certain classes and some look forward to the permanent title! There's so much to do in 1.5 in comparison to 1.2. Currently.. most of the players are just.... killing fortress and/or artifact guards daily due to the fact that PvP is not balanced in the Abyss, players su*ciding in the Abyss to not lose rank and rifting is almost dead since nobody bothers with it right now as most of the players that are interested in AP are roaming in the abyss while Beluslan/Heiron are mostly filled with bots. Additionally we're running Drauphnir Cave and Adma like bots every day with the lowest luck ever.

######

My constructive feedback is to release 1.5 in 2 weeks instead. Add a survey that rewards with 1x Dark Poeta Instance Reset Scroll for everyone as well as a 100% XP week and perhaps give Israphel a 200% exp event instead since you'll not LOSE anything to raise the amount of players on Israphel as most of them are currently inactive as well and hope for a new wave of players with the release of 1.5. Anyone who's just a bit smart knows that you plan to release 1.5 after or with the end of the Daeva Pass Season 4. That's why you just said "next month",.. in my opinion that's too late. Probably revenue will speak for itself in the next weeks.

Seeing how the majority is reacting to the "unknown" release date being next month and the uproar yesterday before the Live Letter dropped, you can easily assume that your decision is doing more harm than good. I personally know a few who've also decided to cancel their subscription instead of extending it or decided to completely put the game on ice and just play different MMORPGs. I am also one of those people that will stop logging in 15 days (since my Sub ends there and I will definitely not buy the PASS for this season) .. and perhaps come back when 1.5 is live. I am not sure if NC really wants to have a "pause" of revenue for 2-3 weeks from the loud "majority" of players. I see no way how it could affect your business negatively to release 1.5 earlier. Unless it has to do with the fact that your technical and dev team is located in Korea and manage not only NCWest but also JP, TW and perhaps China to save money on staff during patch deployments? It wouldn't surprise me if NCSOFT Korea is trying to release 1.5 simultaneously on every region mentioned at the same time..  which would be quite unfair to "us" and you in NCWest. O-well I hope I am not right.

 

######

Feedback for the Gojira event. 

The Quest rewards are really sad. "Greater" or lower tier potions are not something ANYONE would ever be "hyped" about. Especially when the amount of them is just 10x. The same thing applies to your scrolls. Nobody cares for 10x extra scrolls.. if we talked 50x, that would be fine. It doesn't hurt your revenue at all to increase these rewards as you're not directly selling them in the QUNA Shop at all. IT FEELS LIKE YOU'RE TREATING THIS GAME AS SOME FREE TO PLAY TITLE, O M G... We, the players have to either spend time to craft huge batches of thousands of scrolls for self-use or to sell it on the broker for others to buy. The amounts are really sad... and you're not creating an event that players look forward to, but rather  an event for players make sure to not attend as their precious time would be wasted for nothing of significance. 

I know it is late to change anything about this event, but for future reference....  reward with a minimum of 25 or a max of 100x Scrolls instead. A minimum of 50 or a max of 100 Potions/Serums instead. Make sure their GRADE is always MAJOR. Nobody is even giving a damn about Greater. You might argue that some people are still lower in level and need Greater. To counter that.. then just make these lower level quests reward with "Greater" instead of "Novice" and keep the SCROLLS on Greater TIER. Just don't throw "Novice" into question at all. 

- I am not going to partake in any of the coming events, it doesn't excite me at all, it's just... the truth.

Please release 1.5 earlier... See you when 1.5 is released I guess.. for now I will log in to do just what's "necessary" and log out again until my subscription runs out. I hope you can relay our feedback to the higher ups in NCW or NCKorea.

 

Cheers

 

[Nalariel]

Please let me breakdown why NCwest is faling so bad in western region.

-First NCwest never attempt to understand the diversity of this region. NA is a very diversely region because English language is using as international language we have everyone from everywhere from the globe. NCwest never learn or attempt any understanding different of cultures.
-Microtransactions success in China mainly because people were playing games from internet cafe it would be cheaper for them to buy boost in games than spend money and time in internet cafe.
-Aion classic was destined to fail in NA from very first day because candy scandal ,if people don't have to farm kinah ,coins basically you can buy everything from shop economy will be ruined. Free players who can't farm or survive in open world(during they can't get kinah or loots) are the one who died first from this point it causing ripple effects when free players can't survive those who subscribed get hit next with combination of bots, exploit ,AP trading and unlimited kinah from candy. And now we're at beyond point of no return. NCsoft and NCwest reputation ruined and I think players should learn too that selfish acts of themselves destroyed their own games. (Just like real world counterpart some elite people try to gain wealth ,powers for themselves at cost of everyone life and they will eventually ending their own survival too)
-There's no cure for being greedy there's no reasoning to make them sane for them death is only cure.

[1s6F174]

the timing of the 1.5 is purposely delayed until subs run out so they can get a resub for dark poeta

I really  dont care for dark poeta a single instance, I would rather the abyss fort instances (8 +1divine). its alot more content.

and dredge isnt specifically mentioned either strangely.

expecting people to pay for a resub for one boring 12+year old  instance is damn greedy imo.

I wont be back once New World goes live at the end of the month.

[Lurona]

Stop subbing for 90 days, you are filling a white check. Do 1 month and if you do not like it unsub.

[Titan]

The good thing about playing in NA is that we already know what is coming, 8.0 doesn't seem like a game changer. The only good thing is that we have one typ of items now, so no need to swap between pvp and pve sets.

[Vutraa]

Not longer paying, 2 months were enough, rift pvp is non existing. IS server is pretty much dead. Bye all.
NCWest you got my 30$. And even that is too much for your  pay to win type of game. This game should be f2p.

[Feary]

11 hours ago, Vashiro said:

Hello dear @Kibbelz or whom else this may concern as I don't know who else might be reading the forums,

and to all the people that make fun of the "crybabies" and the "quitters", the reason why they're complaining is due to the fact that 1.5 arrived in Korea in a much much faster pace. We talk 2 months... Meanwhile here with NCWest, our 4th Daeva Pass has launched.. and is going for another 4 weeks. With that being said, we are truly far behind in comparison to how Korea was handling their patching pace.

You might ask why was Korea so fast? Well, the answer is quite simple, there are much more players who voiced their concerns and they all had pointed out how 1.2's version was not filled with enough content to view it as some type of end-game. Sieges are not necessarily "end-game" content. Sieges are are recurring events and are being treated as such and not something to look forward to for end-game alone. End-game at the end is the hard grind of AP, Gear, Manastones, Crafting, grind of Materials for bigger Crafts and/or Kinah to afford other misc items. 1.2's methods of AP grinding are very weak, actually ridiculously weak. 1.5's Dredgion as well as Dark Poeta will provide a new way to acquire AP.  You'll have a daily window where you can get some AP through a fun PvP Mode and also socialize with new people through the group finder which rather leads to a more positive effect for the community. Same thing will happen with the Dark Poeta runs.. or people soloing or 2 manning Dark Poeta for some good returns (more AP, Balic Materials, Gear for Vendor and/or Godstones).

Next to all what is listed, we'll get a new campaign chain upon completing all campaigns pre 1.5. That will also help a few to level easier to 50, as well as provide to some players useful titles.

Finally the Daevanion Gear Quests. These are hyped as well due to the fact that the weapon and gear set are very decent for certain classes and some look forward to the permanent title! There's so much to do in 1.5 in comparison to 1.2. Currently.. most of the players are just.... killing fortress and/or artifact guards daily due to the fact that PvP is not balanced in the Abyss, players su*ciding in the Abyss to not lose rank and rifting is almost dead since nobody bothers with it right now as most of the players that are interested in AP are roaming in the abyss while Beluslan/Heiron are mostly filled with bots. Additionally we're running Drauphnir Cave and Adma like bots every day with the lowest luck ever.

######

My constructive feedback is to release 1.5 in 2 weeks instead. Add a survey that rewards with 1x Dark Poeta Instance Reset Scroll for everyone as well as a 100% XP week and perhaps give Israphel a 200% exp event instead since you'll not LOSE anything to raise the amount of players on Israphel as most of them are currently inactive as well and hope for a new wave of players with the release of 1.5. Anyone who's just a bit smart knows that you plan to release 1.5 after or with the end of the Daeva Pass Season 4. That's why you just said "next month",.. in my opinion that's too late. Probably revenue will speak for itself in the next weeks.

Seeing how the majority is reacting to the "unknown" release date being next month and the uproar yesterday before the Live Letter dropped, you can easily assume that your decision is doing more harm than good. I personally know a few who've also decided to cancel their subscription instead of extending it or decided to completely put the game on ice and just play different MMORPGs. I am also one of those people that will stop logging in 15 days (since my Sub ends there and I will definitely not buy the PASS for this season) .. and perhaps come back when 1.5 is live. I am not sure if NC really wants to have a "pause" of revenue for 2-3 weeks from the loud "majority" of players. I see no way how it could affect your business negatively to release 1.5 earlier. Unless it has to do with the fact that your technical and dev team is located in Korea and manage not only NCWest but also JP, TW and perhaps China to save money on staff during patch deployments? It wouldn't surprise me if NCSOFT Korea is trying to release 1.5 simultaneously on every region mentioned at the same time..  which would be quite unfair to "us" and you in NCWest. O-well I hope I am not right.

 

######

Feedback for the Gojira event. 

The Quest rewards are really sad. "Greater" or lower tier potions are not something ANYONE would ever be "hyped" about. Especially when the amount of them is just 10x. The same thing applies to your scrolls. Nobody cares for 10x extra scrolls.. if we talked 50x, that would be fine. It doesn't hurt your revenue at all to increase these rewards as you're not directly selling them in the QUNA Shop at all. IT FEELS LIKE YOU'RE TREATING THIS GAME AS SOME FREE TO PLAY TITLE, O M G... We, the players have to either spend time to craft huge batches of thousands of scrolls for self-use or to sell it on the broker for others to buy. The amounts are really sad... and you're not creating an event that players look forward to, but rather  an event for players make sure to not attend as their precious time would be wasted for nothing of significance. 

I know it is late to change anything about this event, but for future reference....  reward with a minimum of 25 or a max of 100x Scrolls instead. A minimum of 50 or a max of 100 Potions/Serums instead. Make sure their GRADE is always MAJOR. Nobody is even giving a damn about Greater. You might argue that some people are still lower in level and need Greater. To counter that.. then just make these lower level quests reward with "Greater" instead of "Novice" and keep the SCROLLS on Greater TIER. Just don't throw "Novice" into question at all. 

- I am not going to partake in any of the coming events, it doesn't excite me at all, it's just... the truth.

Please release 1.5 earlier... See you when 1.5 is released I guess.. for now I will log in to do just what's "necessary" and log out again until my subscription runs out. I hope you can relay our feedback to the higher ups in NCW or NCKorea.

 

Cheers

 

Just re-sharing this , so people can read it again and again. This is the absolute truth. Thanks for saying it out loud. Sadly it will remain unheard, just like the rest of our feedback.

Regards

[Neferupito]

This is from the Sanctus legion who's currently sitting at #1 spot of IS-E with double the AP of the 2nd legion. We've been sitting at 72/72 members since July/August.

[Makisekurisu]

2 hours ago, Neferupito said:

This is from the Sanctus legion who's currently sitting at #1 spot of IS-E with double the AP of the 2nd legion. We've been sitting at 72/72 members since July/August.

And some of them joined Re, so dunno what u trying to do with that post, they didnt quit.

[PastyPony-KT]

Israphel is in a death spiral merge or risk losing a good chunk of the player base .. 

 

[Kybele]

Israphel  is cant playable no more. Cant recruit for any dungeon or open world event. I didnt pay money for this!!