Message to NCWest.

[Lehaba]

I've been playing L2 since C1 and I've never cared enough to post on the official forums because I've known and ignored the way NCWest handles bots, but it's really a shame that you've allowed a great game to become the **** stain of the mmorpg market.

After seeing how the F2P business model is really just a last ditch effort to drum up some income without any concern about the well being of the servers, I'm glad to say that I'll never be returning to the game.

If you want a good F2P game, you need to do a few things:

1) Stop botters - it sounds easier than it really is, but there is nothing being done to the serious offenders (pvp botting/24-7 botters) and it is pushing away a big chunk of players.

2) Improve L2 store - power shirt is a terrible idea, same with destruction scrolls. You're getting short term income, but any sane person knows real profit comes from returning customers (long term profits). I've spent money in the store and would continue to do so if the game wasn't designed for programs.

3) Communicate with players - Everybody knows NCWest has terribad customer service, but it's not too late to change. A lot of new players get frustrated when they come to the game and find that the company running the game has worse customer service than the god ****ed russians running private servers with more real players than these lolservers have.


R.I.P L2, it was good knowing you.

[Flipsy]

Originally Posted by Lehaba

I've been playing L2 since C1 and I've never cared enough to post on the official forums because I've known and ignored the way NCWest handles bots, but it's really a shame that you've allowed a great game to become the **** stain of the mmorpg market.

After seeing how the F2P business model is really just a last ditch effort to drum up some income without any concern about the well being of the servers, I'm glad to say that I'll never be returning to the game.

If you want a good F2P game, you need to do a few things:

1) Stop botters - it sounds easier than it really is, but there is nothing being done to the serious offenders (pvp botting/24-7 botters) and it is pushing away a big chunk of players.

2) Improve L2 store - power shirt is a terrible idea, same with destruction scrolls. You're getting short term income, but any sane person knows real profit comes from returning customers (long term profits). I've spent money in the store and would continue to do so if the game wasn't designed for programs.

3) Communicate with players - Everybody knows NCWest has terribad customer service, but it's not too late to change. A lot of new players get frustrated when they come to the game and find that the company running the game has worse customer service than the god ****ed russians running private servers with more real players than these lolservers have.


R.I.P L2, it was good knowing you.

+1 to this post, I agree with all accounts.

[Spudnik]

two points of view. you say the shirt is a bad idea - i say it isn't.

and i don't have any need to prove myself to you.

Lineage2 and NCSoft are what they are. theres no sense changing what they are to suit your own ideas of who they should be; its much like telling a pig to dress up like a rabbit, or dragging a horse to water.

the boting isnt pushing anyone away, really. the botting (from my perspective) is a symptom, and not a cause. the cause is the need for high levels. you arent a good player if you arent max level, right ?

the game is designed for programs? since when? how? people bicycle on the autobahn all the time. how is either school of transportation wrong to take the autobahn ?

using a program to play for you is like cruise control. even in cruise control, you still have to steer.

[DrachaVonDrachen]

@OP
So you would like us to believe for 8 long years you have been lurking in the shadows holding your thoughts because you never really cared enough about this community until now? You believe NCSoft has let it get so bad you have been personally shamed in the eyes of the mmorpg market for playing this game... so embarrassed you must speak your mind? After this 8 year buildup of frustration (let’s not mention the billions NCSoft has made while screwing up) and adding to your shame pile, the best you can post is this?

1. Stop botters (brain storm here)
2. Improve L2 Store (not enough pretty hats)
3. Communicate with players (answer every whine faster)

I will not even give the first two any validity by addressing them, NCStaff have always communicated with me in a timely manner. Over the years and many issues, some of them user error, I can honestly say I have been pleasantly surprised at quick and helpful responses during the various hours and days. As with any company you will have employees that may not be your model representative or employees having bad days… but overall and taking into consideration the fanatical mental state of this player base, I think they do a great job.

[Belophan]

Anyone with account created in 2012 is either new players or player who got banned recently

[SeventhSin]

Originally Posted by Belophan

Anyone with account created in 2012 is either new players or player who got banned recently

I've been on this game since launch 2004, never have been banned. i quit in 2006 and didn't remember my old account name / have changed e-mails since then THUS... you're whole statement is invalid much like everything you say on these forums.

[Belophan]

Nope, ur statement is invalid

[Tool_of_Society]

Originally Posted by Belophan

Anyone with account created in 2012 is either new players or player who got banned recently

Forum software has been changed a couple times so if you never bothered to post again till recently your join date will be way off.

See for example this account which I started playing in closed beta..

[Seraph Castillon]

Originally Posted by Lehaba

1) Stop botters - it sounds easier than it really is, but there is nothing being done to the serious offenders (pvp botting/24-7 botters) and it is pushing away a big chunk of players.

They have very little reason not to step up the effort (other than the fact that it does take considerable effort) against bots now that the game is F2P.
If they announce a zero tolerance before starting to ban, they'd loose very little players.

Originally Posted by Lehaba

2) Improve L2 store - power shirt is a terrible idea, same with destruction scrolls. You're getting short term income, but any sane person knows real profit comes from returning customers (long term profits).

This is where you're wrong. This business model is made to walk the line of what's acceptable to the player base, always pushing that line further and cashing in. With games like lineage in particular, games that are nearing the end of their lifespan, there is little reason to hold back. There a huge amounts of money to be made with this strategy. People are stupid.
If they felt they could rely on returning customers they would have kept the game P2P.

Originally Posted by Lehaba

3) Communicate with players - Everybody knows NCWest has terribad customer service, but it's not too late to change. A lot of new players get frustrated when they come to the game and find that the company running the game has worse customer service than the god ****ed russians running private servers with more real players than these lolservers have.

Yes, they need to communicate more. About updates, eta's of fixes, game mechanics... everything.
And it's not just the Russians. Just about every private server that managed to break the 1k benchmark had better communication than these guys have.

[Lothlian]

Originally Posted by Tool_of_Society

Forum software has been changed a couple times so if you never bothered to post again till recently your join date will be way off.

See for example this account which I started playing in closed beta..

Forum software changed once since Beta. Look at my join date, that is when it changed.

[Spudnik]

twice, since beta. once was the upgrade to UBBboards, which had everyone re-register. second was the transfer to vBulletin. original reg dates were kept for all the existing forum members at the time. the first forum software upgrade was the solution to the first major security leak if you recall; they changed everyone's passwords and such, and made us all re-register.

but in April 2004 we had some wierd kind of software that had everything laid out in threaded view.

very hard to use, and from what i recall, also quite green.

[Discotech]

Bots have been around since beta, nothing is going to change as long as they provide some form of income, was subscription back in the old days and they probably buy stuff from the store to keep their botting at 100% efficiency, it's even worse now though with the current PK system, at least you could police a little back in the day and reporting has never seemed to do anything to the hardcore bot groups.

The store & F2P whilst milking the cow dry is a nice idea, I probably never would have come back if it wasn't free to play even though I'll likely buy some stuff from the store when I next get some cash, trying to get some old guildmates back from Hindemith to play with me

Customer service has always been awful, the lack of 24hour support combined will an apparent unwillingness to ban botters has been the bane of this game since beta and I doubt will change now 8 years later