Finally Multiplayer Gets A Lead Role [Archive]

Tomisama

06-30-2010, 12:32

“It’s multiplayer, is where we’re taking the game and doing something very different,” says Mike. “Multiplayer has always been a bit lower down the priority list for Total War. We did the multiplayer campaign, but there’s a lot more scope for doing interesting things.”

“I guess our aim is to get to a point where the majority of people who buy the game routinely play multiplayer.” Laughing, he adds, “I really, really want to talk about this a lot but I’m not being allowed to.”

“To try covering the point that Mike desperately wants to cover,” laughs Kieran, “it’s safe to say that there is a major multiplayer innovation in the works, which we haven’t nailed down yet.”

“It’s not unambitious,” ends Mike.
Mike Simpson, Creative Assembly’s creative director

http://www.pcgamer.com/2010/06/23/exclusive-shogun-ii-the-return-of-total-war/

:charge:

CBR

06-30-2010, 14:14

Sp00n

06-30-2010, 14:31

It doesnt matter how many new ideas and options they bring to the MP if theres no foyer its DOA.

Nelson

06-30-2010, 14:52

The overwhelming majority of players will still be SP. CA can improve the MP experience and that would be great. But they mustn’t ever forget who’s paying the bills.

IncubusDragon

06-30-2010, 14:58

Certainly saying the right words there... suddenly I'm wishing it was next year already, hehehe

Don't get me wrong, a chat lobby/foyer is high on my wish list too, but at the end of the day, I can't get STW or MTW to run on my machine, so it's the best chance I have of reliving some of the most satisfying gaming experiences I had.

ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88

06-30-2010, 17:48

Agreed. They might add in 1 or two new ideas, say, better MP campgain and a actual MP ladder system, but that's probably all they will do.

Swoosh So

07-01-2010, 00:27

Could not agree more spoon :) No multiplayer foyer and its already crap no matter what they add.
They should do the basics right then throw us their new innovations, mp foyer, ladder and balance, nice maps etc.
Tons of games now have great communications in game, world of warcraft for example having guild chat, whispers and several channels the players can chat in as well as the main chat and trade foyers/channels in the cities.
Keep steam if they want even though its a pile of steam... ....., but make a multiplayer foyer and let us at least have the ability to communicate for the love of god :p

Mike Simpson likes to talk about evolution and revolution in totalwar games...

Shogun Foyer: Excellent Design with ability to host tournament or seperate chat rooms, Simple and very functional.

Medieval Foyer: More basic but still "good" lost ability to make tournament or seperate chat rooms.

Rome Foyer: Terrible Design with Video running in background (bad idea) and worst colour scheme ever, Almost every player hated it.

Empire/Napoleon Foyer: There is none!

So the mp foyers devolved then became extinct, so hard to understand why this happened, its not even close to hard to throw in the simple yet excellent shogun foyer!
I feel so strongly about this and i bring the subject up every totalwar release, and with each release im more dissapointed.
I actually like NTW its OK but i cant bring my self to play the thing because of the lack of a foyer it just makes the whole mp experience so damn shallow

Aside from that will be interesting to see what they come up with for mp ideas, lets hope they dont go back to the ideas introduced in the shogun expansion tho, they were so bad i cannot even remember what they were lol! noone ever played them(dont want to be too critical as at least they tried and the ideas just did not fit with a totalwar game). Still we had the option to play them or not so wasent a disaster and i hope they do experiment with some new ideas as long as we have the option not to play them if we do not like them.

I'm really looking forward to Shogun mp campaign mode i must admit, give old opponent and some free time and let the good times roll :)
If the games a sucess and includes a good foyer i will with the assistance of friends setup a clan campaign, even if its just 1v1 we can allocate players to control certain generals or armies or simply designate the players to each battle as the clan leader sees fit.
The clan campaign that was run years ago was excellent for the community and almost all the big clans were involved even allowing unclanned players to join as ronin, was excellent and im sure with the ability to now run it fully in game it would be so much better now if we can get a community going.

If i were them id add a Mp chat foyer, and give clans the ability to register in game and have their own chat channels like the guild tab in world of warcraft, have friends lists and be able to whisper players as well as chat in the main lobby, also allow players to create tournament lobbies.

Tomisama

07-01-2010, 02:24

The overwhelming majority of players will still be SP. CA can improve the MP experience and that would be great. But they mustn’t ever forget who’s paying the bills.

Who is paying the bill these days?

With out even knowing how many of those playing are multiplayer or single player, as they are counted together, I think that there is enough evidence below to put multiplayer way over the top for Steam users playing on June 30th 2010.

Or am I mistaken?

Current Players Peak Today Game

23,490 61,410 Counter-Strike: Source
23,048 56,456 Counter-Strike
22,208 68,605 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer
15,165 19,668 Team Fortress 2
9,641 15,144 Left 4 Dead 2
6,382 19,741 Football Manager 2010
5,816 7,457 Garry's Mod
5,009 6,722 Battlefield: Bad Company 2
3,722 6,713 Empire: Total War
2,842 3,762 Killing Floor
2,692 6,723 Condition Zero
2,645 3,957 Left 4 Dead
2,572 6,136 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2,214 4,661 Napoleon: Total War
1,872 4,782 Day of Defeat: Source
1,613 1,613 Torchlight
1,602 2,694 Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Chaos Rising
1,556 1,636 Mass Effect 2
1,544 1,976 Half-Life 2
1,500 1,960 Grand Theft Auto IV
1,496 1,600 Global Agenda
1,454 1,654 Borderlands
1,445 2,098 Supreme Commander 2
1,427 2,429 Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II
1,424 1,671 Dragon Age: Origins
1,378 2,776 Mount&Blade: Warband
1,233 1,387 Portal
1,227 1,778 EVE Online
1,161 1,243 Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword
1,145 3,742 Football Manager 2009
1,083 2,081 Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
1,073 1,750 Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers
1,032 1,362 Mass Effect
795 1,046 Half-Life
758 948 Plants vs. Zombies
737 872 The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition
700 1,217 Day of Defeat
679 863 Sid Meier's Civilization IV
677 796 All Points Bulletin
627 875 Resident Evil 5
616 1,172 Just Cause 2
561 817 The Witcher: Enhanced Edition
559 634 Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition
552 1,189 Sniper: Ghost Warrior
552 709 ARMA II - Operation Arrowhead
528 712 Assassin's Creed II
454 743 America's Army 3
451 606 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
433 523 Star Trek Online
425 536 Defense Grid: The Awakening
421 518 Shatter
420 619 Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor
395 598 Half-Life 2: Episode Two
390 739 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
390 576 Company of Heroes
386 795 Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45
385 529 Call of Duty: World at War
377 542 Street Fighter IV
367 510 BioShock 2
355 424 Champions Online
349 823 Metro 2033
338 537 Audiosurf
334 597 Zombie Panic! Source
327 327 Red Faction: Guerrilla
322 828 Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising
322 532 Global Agenda Trial
316 451 Transformers: War for Cybertron
316 444 Half-Life 2: Episode One
312 592 Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
303 512 DiRT 2
298 655 TrackMania Nations Forever
295 377 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
295 366 X-COM: UFO Defense
295 362 Rome: Total War - Gold Edition
276 460 All Points Bulletin
266 335 Tropico 3: Absolute Power
263 305 Titan Quest: Immortal Throne
260 356 Hearts of Iron III
257 347 Deus Ex: Game of the Year Edition
254 323 Europa Universalis III: Complete
253 413 Overlord II
252 527 Saints Row 2
251 426 Osmos
247 304 Team Fortress Classic
242 330 X3: Terran Conflict
238 342 EVE Online Demo
233 391 Insurgency: Modern Infantry Combat
230 356 Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
223 652 Aliens vs Predator
222 265 Puzzle Kingdoms
216 302 King's Bounty: The Legend
212 334 Overlord
212 212 ARMA II
205 287 Medieval II: Total War
192 310 Darkest Hour
188 335 Race Driver: GRID
187 274 King Arthur - The Role-playing Wargame
187 261 Tropico 3: Steam Special Edition
176 420 Unreal Tournament 3
175 185 Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization

http://store.steampowered.com/stats/

Nelson

07-01-2010, 04:43

Well, the numbers are what they are so you are not mistaken, Tomisama. The data is not germane however as to the question of who pays the bills for Creative Assembly.

STEAM numbers don’t tell us much at all. First person shooters and traditional RTS games such as Star Craft dominated the MP numbers and did for years until MMOs arrived. Now 11 million people play WoW. What does that tell us about Total War? No more than STEAM statistics.

For the Total War franchise, SP accounts for an overwhelming percentage of players. CA knows this and has admitted as much. They would of course like MP to grow. They would like to increase sales for any play style. If they thought they could get a Total War MMO to fly they would be tempted to go for it!

drone

07-01-2010, 14:49

Brad Warrell (CEO of Stardock) posted on the Demigod forums some surprising stats on single-player/multi-player usage in the 2009 yearly report. Demigod was meant to be a multi-player game, the single player "campaign" was limited and the AI was not very good compared to good players, but only 23% of those that purchased the game ever went online to play it.

For Stardock, the more significant shock of Demigod has been the discovery of the low number of PC gamers who play strategy games online. Demigod’s single player experience, while decent, did not get anywhere near the care that the Internet multiplayer experience did. Despite this, only 23% of people who have purchased Demigod have ever even attempted to logon to play Internet multiplayer.

Demigod continues to sell thousands of copies weekly – enough to remain at retail during the Christmas season despite it coming out last Spring – but the number of people available to play online is typically less than 2,000 at a given time. This is in stark contrast to MMORPGs and FPS’s which tend to have very large online communities.

Our conclusion is that strategy games that we make and publish in the future will support multiplayer but will not sacrifice the single player experience to do so.
Developer Gas Powered Games has continued to update and provide support to Demigod despite its work on Supreme Commander 2. At the time of writing, two new demigods are nearly completed along with a couple of significant updates.
Having a good multiplayer is important, but it is not the end-all-be-all of a strategy game. That said, the multiplayer issues Demigod had at launch severely hurt it's potential.

ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88

07-01-2010, 16:07

CA will always play nice with the SP crowd. If they don't, it's simple business logic. Then the SP'ers and modders will ditch TW, then bye bye TW. BattleField Bad Company is a great MP game, I enjoyed it much, but it can not compare with TW. You can say how it has a lot of MP players, and true. But why does CA care about that game? It has no reason to, because in the end, SP players are paying the bills for TW, not MP players from different games.

Tomisama

07-02-2010, 00:49

For the Total War franchise, SP accounts for an overwhelming percentage of players.

Please understand, that I understand, that you are absolutely correct for what has transpired to-date.

I remember a survey here at the Org in the early days, that proved out that only 5% were active multiplayers at the time.

And that was pretty much considered to be a normal percentage rating for multiplayers of any game that provided the option then.

That was a long time ago in computer gamming time, and the world does not work that way any more.

In fact the research available for current consideration by developers, points clearly to the fact that games that have a multiplayer option sell twice as many units, as those who do not.

Now this was research on major manufacturer consol games, but without a doubt shows the direction things are going.

To confirm it, the numbers I presented show just one game having more players playing multiplayer, than any other game having players total!

That game was the only one clearly labeled as totally a multiplayer game, but we all know the many of the others are predominantly multiplayer also.

The reason that the Total War series is not yet a major leader in the race for the ever expanding multiplayer market; is that they have never really even tried to pursue that goal.

It has always been about single player, because that was “the game” from the beginning (safe, and I don't blame them).

Multiplayer was an add-on to capture an additional few percent of the market, but was never considered seriously as potentially money maker, capable of out grossing the single player base.

Add a little Steam, and all perceptions change; even the most conservative observer will have to admit the future of computer gaming is in one word; multiplayer!

People playing against and with other people, is more exciting, more enjoyable, and more meaningful, than people playing against and with computers.

A simple undeniable fact, in my book anyway :smile:

IncubusDragon

07-02-2010, 01:52

Tomisama

07-02-2010, 12:41

I'm still waiting on my broadband to be installed, so haven't experienced multiplayer without a foyer (I last played multiplayer with VI)... I'm assuming that no foyer means it's like a console interface (just a list of games to join like on a PS3 or something) - maybe trying to dumb everything down to console level, but why? Maybe they're toying with a cross-platform MMO concept, that's the only reason I can think as to why such an integral feature would be dropped.

This should probably be on a different thread, but since it’s here and I can’t move it, I will try to answer this nagging question.

In the beginning, with the onset of Shogun came the notion of personal honour.

The community was small by comparison then, and individual reputations were a priority.

Through the course of Medieval and Viking incarnations, we saw both the increase of population, and decrease in respectable behavior.

And with Rome and Barbarian a complete breakdown in social responsibility, and the lobby became a minefield of intimidation and bullying.

In the later days of Rome the quality of interaction was diminished to such and extent, that a Code of Honour was created by the Org multiplayers, to try to combat the trend downward.

https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k57/tomisama/codeofhonoursigned.jpg
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?104-Code-of-Honour

It didn’t work in the greater sense, but did in some small way did comfort a few that there were still people playing that had self respect, and would treat you decently online.

I personally miss the foyer, but am not sure I would want it back now.

Some things are best left as sweet memories.

Gregoshi

07-02-2010, 15:56

This should probably be on a different thread, but since it’s here and I can’t move it, I will try to answer this nagging question.

In the beginning, with the onset of Shogun came the notion of personal honour.

The community was small by comparison then, and individual reputations were a priority....

...I personally miss the foyer, but am not sure I would want it back now.

Some things are best left as sweet memories.

The STW MP community may have been small, but it was strong with the kind of enthusiasm that could grow it. I was never much of an online player, but it puzzled me how support of MP seemed to diminish with each release as MP/online was the direction of the industry as a whole. Tomisama, your observation about the foyer is surprising, but I think you may be right about leaving it a "sweet memory". The gaming industry seems to encourage trash talking as the prefered way to interact with your opponents - just look at gaming ads in magazines to see that. :shame:

Togakure

07-02-2010, 21:46

I think online behavior is a reflection of a bigger issue: a change in values/behavior at a macro-social level. Compare society in the 50s to society in the 60s, to the 70s, 80s, 90s and now. Notice anything? Because of this, I think it is unrealistic to think that any contrived mechanism could "bring back" honorable behavior. A noble notion to desire this, but in my opinion, doomed to fail. This is why I never subscribed to the CoH, though I never voiced this publicly because I didn't want to seem like I was sabotaging the effort.

Even "honorable" players can behave badly when they become upset over something that is important to them. Other "honorable" players can behave badly in response to incidents like these, particularly when they misunderstand the situation and are hasty to draw conclusions. Even the esteemed who trumpet about this have been guilty from time to time: I've seen it, even behind the closed doors of clans ("particularly" behind the closed doors of clans ...). We all make mistakes and no one is perfect. As said in a popular movie, honor is something one gives oneself (implied: or not ...).

I guess what I'm trying to say is: if you like the notion of honor, focus on maintaining your own honor (a formidable task), and worry not about the honor or dishonor of others. To do so is not only counter-productive, it can result in defeating the very ideal you are trying to uphold yourself.

Humbly. :bow:

Tomisama

07-03-2010, 00:51

(Just to be perfectly clear on what the code is, and is not.)

The Total War Multiplayer’s Code of Honour

The Code is for anyone who believes in self respect, respecting others, and fair play. You do not have to be a multiplayer to believe in these things; in fact you don’t have to play any games at all to consider The Code an excellent path for life in general, and to support it. The more Signers there are, the greater the possibility that the influence of The Code will prevail even among non Signers, and our community be a better place for it.

The Code is not an honour bestowed; but a pledge made! Whether the Signer adheres to the tenets proposed or not, let the little badge be a thorn in their side to remind them that once they had a noble ambition. It can also be there to alert others as to disreputable characters, when their actions do not match their promises.

The Code is the spirit of all of the best things we are capable of. When you wear the badge, you affirm the environment that you wish to operate in. It tells people that you are a person who is trying to make a difference. And they will be able to verify this by your actions, and know that you have a consistency of character.

Salute!

To Sign The Code please add your Steam ID to our Code of Honour Steam Group.

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/thecode

Thank You - Go With Honour - Keep The Code

Togakure

07-03-2010, 03:17

EDIT: Never mind. No matter how valid my point may be, it would likely only ruffle the feathers of self-proclaimed "honorable" folk here and result in a heated exchange, which ultimately adds little value. Post removed.

Tomisama

07-03-2010, 13:11

self-proclaimed "honorable" folk

No one signing the Code is self proclaimed, and why I posted the follow up.

Please read slowly:

The Code is not an honour bestowed; but a pledge made!

Whether the Signer adheres to the tenets proposed or not, let the little badge be a thorn in their side to remind them that once they had a noble ambition.

It can also be there to alert others as to disreputable characters, when their actions do not match their promises.

The Code is a pledge to do the best you can, and if you fail (and we all do), to remind us that we must try harder.

No one signing is claiming anything but a quest to reach for the highest ideals, that is all!

But no matter, there are none professing to even make the effort anymore, and why The Code was closed here long ago.

End of story :shame:

Tera

07-03-2010, 13:13

The Total War games have always been focused on single-player and in that aspect they have been very successful both critically and commercially. However, let's face a simple fact: single-player, PC-only games are not the mainstream product right now. Total War is very popular, but still a thousand leagues behind PC gaming behemoths like World of Warcraft and Call of Duty. Not to mention the huge world of console gaming. Total War has a hit a realistic 'cap' - anyone interested in its current formula knows about it, probably played it and at worst chose not to play it. Its traditional market is saturated - it is very hard to expand and break new ground. Growth is limited, and over time, decline is guaranteed.

Given these facts, it's only logical CA wants to do something different with Shogun2: Total War. So, the question beckons, how is Total War going to expand and continue to prosper? Analyzing's today's market, there are two routes available:
(1) Go Console --- an option that as far as I know has been shot down. With good reason since the compromises that have to be made to port the TW formula to consoles will not go down well with the existing core market. The actual product would also suffer.
(2) Go Multi-Player --- an option that CA has flirted with over the years but not quite given importance so far. If CA gives the multiplayer dimension its necessary funds, time, resources et al, they could attract a new, huge crowd which they have not been able to attract so far.

Let's wait and see.

Regarding Code of Honour, multi-player foyer, the changing behaviour of online gamers: When Shogun: Total War was released, the game was followed by a modest but hardcore crowd. The Internet was still young. The average age playing Shogun was quite high. But it is important not to underestimate the theme of the game: everything was about loyalty and honour. This theme, which was profoundly present and alive in the community, had a ripple effect on how people behaved in the foyer and on the forums. As such, I am confident that although today - in 2010 - the Internet AND the Total War community have changed a lot - Shogun 2: Total War will bring back the "mood" of honourable behaviour. That's in our hands, particularly the leaders of the clans and the administrators of the main forums.

Tera

Tomisama

07-03-2010, 13:46

(2) Go Multi-Player --- an option that CA has flirted with over the years but not quite given importance so far. If CA gives the multiplayer dimension its necessary funds, time, resources et al, they could attract a new, huge crowd which they have not been able to attract so far.

As such, I am confident that although today - in 2010 - the Internet AND the Total War community have changed a lot - Shogun 2: Total War will bring back the "mood" of honourable behaviour. That's in our hands, particularly the leaders of the clans and the administrators of the main forums.

Tera

Thanks for the validation and inspiration :beam:

Salute :bow:

Our number one rule for seven years.

1. Behavior and Responsibility

Clans will be held responsible for the behavior of all of their members, with any disrespectful behavior anywhere in our community costing that Clan the privilege to participate in this competition.
http://clanwars3540.yuku.com/directory

InsaneApache

07-04-2010, 10:44

Just my tuppenth worth.

The foyar in STW/MI was self policing. If a player made rude or inappropriate remarks they tended to be shunned. If they were a member of a clan, the Daimyo was informed of the members behaviour and in most cases it was left to them to sort it out.

If someone garnered a reputation for gloating over a rivals defeat or similar things, word got around and the belligerant was given a wide berth by the community. This left the numpty involved being only able to play n00bs and so they couldn't advance on the ladder or gain valuble experience.

The gradual decline started with MTW as it has been noted.

STW obviously had a cachet for a certain type of personality, RTW less so.

Apart from moderating the foyar (not a chance!) then I would suggest that self policing became the norm. A forlorn hope? Possibly. We must remember that STW was around in the very early days of the t'internet and things have moved on considerably since those days.

I blame the kids.

and regulars to the backroom know my views on juveniles. :laugh4:

Tomisama

07-04-2010, 15:40

then I would suggest that self policing became the norm.

https://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k57/tomisama/Map_Japan28.jpg

In the center top of this old web page is the short version of the Seven Principles
of the Bushito Code ("Way of the Warrior").

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushido

The Seven Virtues

Gi – Honesty and Justice

Rei – Polite Courtesy

Yu – Heroic Courage

Meyo – Honour

Jin – Compassion

Makato - Complete Sincerity

Chugo – Duty and Loyalty

Hopfully this will be revived in the game :bow:

Swoosh So

07-07-2010, 13:38

BORING!

I cant wait for the clan intrigue the backstabbing in the mp clan campaign the great danes and their briefcases disputing every decision! Bring it!

Ofc wolves were always honorable and would never participate in any of the above :)

Reenk Roink

07-09-2010, 01:38

I can't remember 5 years back, but did the R:TW Gamespy lobby have an ignore feature? If so I was regrettably unaware of it, because it was DEFINITELY needed.

Honestly an ignore feature is in most cases all a player needs to ensure a good, honorable, fun experience for him/herself.

Galvanized Iron

07-09-2010, 13:51

Well S2TW will have to work hard if they are to beat RTW, the jewel in the crown of TW MP. The main improvement I would like to see in MP is better stability, it is very annoying when game rooms "goes dead" in RTW, this means they need to dump both Steam and GS and set up their own service; like Battle Net for Diablo for example.

Swoosh So

07-23-2010, 20:55

Rome the jewel in the crown of multiplayer?

You have to be joking maybe the jewel in the crown of a pretender to the throne.

Shogun was the greatest mp experience of the totalwar franchise and had a thriving community where everyone knew everyone else on the battlefield.

Shogun:
Multiplayer Chat Foyer better than any that followed it.
Clan Campaings 50+ players.
Ability to create tournament rooms in game.
Great clan rivalries.
Amazing 4v4 battles that could be played on almost any map and still be balanced.
Player Ranking Ladders
Most balanced game to date
Units had the ability to walk or run without their ice skates
Maps were best designed of the series
Atmosphere was best of the series
Music was best of the series

Rome:
None of the above.

To many players Rome was the game of the series where creative assembly just gave up on multiplayer, it really was a shambles if you could watch the compeditive games of shogun or even mtw1 and compare them with rome there really is no comparison.

Anyway looking forward lets hope they do implement their own matchmaking service again like they had in shogun. It was perfect for the community simple yet functional. A chat foyer is a must tho, i couldent believe it when i found out etw and napoleon dident have one. sometimes ca can make very strange decisions which degrade the quality of their games for no apparent reason.

t1master

07-24-2010, 00:42

i didn't read and comprehend the entire thread, but you should know tomi, don't count yer chickens... etc.

anyhoo i hope it's good, but i don't hold a vigil or anything.

Swoosh So

07-24-2010, 01:08

so so ugly t1! :)

Tomisama

07-25-2010, 13:38

i didn't read and comprehend the entire thread, but you should know tomi, don't count yer chickens... etc.

anyhoo i hope it's good, but i don't hold a vigil or anything.

I am not smart enough to see anything but the best in everything :beam:

Swoosh So

07-25-2010, 20:08

With lack of new information on the game the mind wanders :D and gets into trouble :p

A question, has a mp game ever gained a huge audience recently without open betas?

Imagine if this video was from creative assembly, just imagine for a second what problems could have been avoided in the release of each of the totalwar games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuO2jZFTGSI&feature=related

Kinda dawned on me that CA miss alot of comunity input about their games and this is the reason they normally ship with terrible bugs to ai and missing game features the community want ie chat foyers.

tibilicus

07-26-2010, 03:05

Didn't CA used to have people from the community test the game (including MP aspects) before it was released? Up until RTW at least. I may be mistaken but I'm sure this used to be the case.

CBR

07-26-2010, 04:15

Tomisama

07-26-2010, 11:58

When you sign up at the Total War War Room, they ask if you would be interested in beta testing.

If you want to participate, this is a good place to start :smile:

http://www.totalwar.com/warroom

Swoosh So

07-26-2010, 18:38

Heh thanks tomisama but i dont want to beta test sonic the hedgehog :) im sure thats the kind of thing theyre on about.
I too have in the past beta tested totalwar patches but was wondering about a prerelease open beta.

pevergreen

07-27-2010, 02:07

Only for patches. The RTW 1.1 patch was the last one.

ETW had testing under an NDA. I was accepted into it, but they never sent me a patch/link/anything.

CBR

07-27-2010, 02:24

ETW had testing under an NDA. I was accepted into it, but they never sent me a patch/link/anything.
Ah OK. I was talking about the community test team that was involved with patches for the first 3 games. I know Activision also had its own testers and I remember encountering them when we doing MP tests for RTW 1.1.

ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88

07-27-2010, 16:47

AMP

07-28-2010, 19:42

If the multiplayer is getting a lead role you'd think having a foyer would be something standard to have for people to chat while not playing. You go from having one in STW to no foyer at all yrs later, but you can watch matches and play a multi campaign... very strange and doesn't make much sense.
Most of the things people talk about what they want to see and added in is really just common sense stuff for this day and age... you shouldn't have to request a lot of these basic features to be added in the yr 2010 of gaming... which is happening at the main site.

Gregoshi

07-28-2010, 20:11

A hush falls over the forum as the Legendary AMP returns. :bow:

AMP

07-28-2010, 21:15

ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88

07-28-2010, 21:17

Sp00n

07-28-2010, 22:26

I wasn't Legendary really... I just played way to much after work staying up all nite battling it out against strangers until they became strangers no more and some became great friends to play with. Those were some good times I must say and a good crowd compared to others out there.

:P I was off work for 4 months and just played Shogun solidly for that period, was a great crowd and I've struggled to find one as good in gaming since. I'd say you were key in creating a lot of the varied army types we saw, I never knew what I'd be facing when we played somthing I cant really say about Napoleon where you can pretty much guess the army each time.
I'd like to see more of the old Fears return I've seen you and NC, but where's Jst and Elmark?
Anyway nice to see so many of the old foes returning lets hope they can create a fraction of the spark of the first game.

Kas

08-30-2010, 23:13

Isn't it typical? A first release often the best...sequels get more bells and whistles, stunning graphics, an insane amount of key combination functions added... and the gameplay? gets worse and worse with each new version.

Sometimes it feels like they rip the heart out of it and forget what it's all about...many sequels are horrible...good looking abominations...bad jokes.
Shogun...great! Medieval...very ok. Rome...errr...that's when I quit TW.

Why so many here still have a Shogun avatar? because it was a great game! an experience many still hope to relive.

SP was lovely...MP was wonderful...not much was wrong with it. And a Foyer? of course!
A community just needs a foyer (+ other chat options)

The Shogun foyer wasn't always nice of course...idiots and bad behaving kids not something new, but it was still nice and an important community tool.

Maybe the Shogun atmosphere and awareness of the importance of decent behavior (clanmembers) helped...I dunno, but I agree with Swoosh, Tera and Apache.

I just hope CA still has an old pc with a working original Shogun on it....they should try it again...probably a refreshing experience.

Do we need to see a broken fingernail of a warrior monk when we zoom in? nope...we need great gameplay...something like we already had maybe?

Kocmoc

08-31-2010, 09:20

Well, the few units in STW was the key for the great balance, the gameplay was great and in no other TW game they come close to that experience. Yes, Rome was the time as many of the old player left, the gameplay and the balance was terrible. Maybe it was jsut a new game....

If you was used to STW, you did want to see something similar, that we didnt got, so we left.

40 units, 10k+ fighting on the battlefield, that sounds much better as, 12 different units and 4k fighting...
that it is very hard to or maybe impossible to balance 40+ units is no secret and never was the goal for CA, they tried to create somehow a gameplay and a certain balance, but never had a focus on how this plays in MP.

Many times, i asked myself, if some of the obvious bugs couldn't have been found in a beta?!?

Anyway, massive MP in a TW will be almost impossible, the only way is to dump the game down in many ways, go down to 2D, dont allow hilladvances or wood advances. Counter comes from unitstats, flanking and moral has no effect.

This is something we dont like to see, but this would make more player looking at MP.

Koc

Togakure

08-31-2010, 12:56

Going from STW MP to VI MP to Samurai Warlords mod MP really made it clear to me that fewer, well-balanced unit types with little or no upgrades is the way to go for a superior MP experience. It puts the focus back on team play and tactics; what units you take at what power level becomes more a matter of style than a requirement to win.

Kocmoc

08-31-2010, 13:56

i know from puzz3d, that in STW the balance within all units was around 10%, in MTW below 25% and from that time it grow more and more.

The problem you can also see right now in NTW, while the gameplay is actual quite good and you dont face many bugs, the balance is not really good.

In fact, if you want to play with a competitive setup you dont have a widespread range of options. Instead you can choose from 3-4 factions very similar setups.

There are surely 50% of units which no one is using. (if u have standard amount of gold used)

I didnt played for weeks now and im sure about how 90% of all armies are looks like.
You wont see an heavy cav army, you can only see a heavy melee units within the ottomans (or how they are called). Thats intended, thats historical maybe correct, yes. But it also limited the Setups and the possible ways to play the game.

I dont want to start a discussion about historical correctness vs gameplay/balance.

Kocmoc

08-31-2010, 14:26

Didn't CA used to have people from the community test the game (including MP aspects) before it was released? Up until RTW at least. I may be mistaken but I'm sure this used to be the case.

Yes, we did betatest for MI, not sure how it was with MTW. I just know that Mizus was quite active in working within the stats.

If CA is really goin for MP, than they need MPlayer, their own guys lack skills and also they need too long to find exploits or imbalances.
Im sure there are many good player out there to playtest their game and get very fast to the weak points.

I remember, that we had to sign a paper and than got a new Shogun.exe which allowed us to playtest their beta. I have no idea, if you still can do this in these times.
Invite some player to UK and test it there might be an option, i remember that AMP and me offered this back in 2002. :D

Anyway, im pretty sure, that we got tons of player, who are all interested that STW2 gets a success for the MP.

UglyElmo2

09-05-2010, 07:25

But have we not heard promises like that before? It always sounds like it is going to be a new MP revolution. RTW added the ability to play historical battles online and that is pretty much it when it comes to new fancy stuff even with all the hype in later titles. And then I'm not gonna mention the stuff we lost

So unless there are some real detail I'll be sitting here with my arms crossed defensive mode on...

CBR

You and me both CBR. If I remember correctly this is the first time CA admitted to not placing much time/effort into MP. By "a bit lower down the priority list", he means; "at the bottom."

I'm not sure if you were one of the ones present when the original MTW's lobby was being programmed and we were asked to test it for functionality . . . this was 3 days or so before MTW was released. :) It only got worse with RTW and has continued downhill from there. To me the lobby should be the first thing addressed, options and features next, then balance and gameplay. Patches never seem to address the lobby, options/features, only balance and gameplay, so that is why I say gameplay should be last on the list of priorities.

Swoosh So

09-05-2010, 10:17

Well the bar is set! the whole mp community has 1 thing at the top of their mind for multiplayer and thats a main chat lobby, not like the ones in mtw2 rome but like the one in the original shogun and mtw1 simple and effective. As soon as we hear if its shipping with one or not we will know exactly how much truth is in the MP is the focus statement. If CA keep quiet about it untill release then we can only assume there wont be one we need a statement from CA prior to release telling us what theyre adding for MP. At the moment were all stabbing in the dark for ideas if we know that a chat foyer is going to be in the game then we can start saying what we as a community would like in it - right now all our energies just focussed on getting the essential feature back in.

LadyAnn

09-05-2010, 17:15

The main reason I don't play N:TW anymore is the lack of the Foyer and it forces me to play pickup games with people in my zone. I would never be able to make acquaintance with 90% of people in my own clan, let alone the best players out there. Yes, you can add people to friend list (can't add to friendlist if you don't know the other person, can you?) That makes it very hard for new players to mix in.
Bring back the foyer, with effective "ignore" features (R:TW and M2:TW had defective ignore features). You may have a handful of foyers (for each zone, but I can easily go to another zone to play).
I guess game publishers don't want to take the responsibility to police the foyer. But an ignore button works marvel. Just need to test it a bit more thoroughly.

Annie

tibilicus

09-05-2010, 17:33

Regrettably CA is too distant from the people who play MP so I doubt the foyer will make a return, I just can't see it.

Magyar Khan

09-06-2010, 21:15

I have also not a good feeling when it comes to a returning foyer...... CA should do their upper best to create a community in that game..... cant their be a button be added in the game when pressed ur automatically connected to shogun2 major chatlobby or such....

Swoosh So

09-06-2010, 23:02

Nah magy it must be there for all, cant compromise on something so simple and important.

Magyar Khan

09-06-2010, 23:07

true but my feelings are bad on this..... i smell a dissapointment.... there is not a single sign pointing in that direction.... CA will use steam, CA has not a godo reputation in making good foyers and Steam is not offering enough.....

and if my feeling is right..... what do we accept as a best second?

Swoosh So

09-06-2010, 23:10

If theres no foyer theres no game for me at least, just my thoughts on it. I refuse to invest all my energy in a game that has no community.

vartan

09-09-2010, 18:37

Agreed. They might add in 1 or two new ideas, say, better MP campgain and a actual MP ladder system, but that's probably all they will do.
I'm not the philosopher of SP and MP and I'm certainly no statistician of the trends of SP and MP, whether one is gaining ground at the expense of the other, or whatnot. But what I can say is that a ladder system or any pro-active support and push of the MP community by CA is better than nothing. Great job creative director.

AMP

09-10-2010, 18:53

Everyone for some strange reason screams for a better AI when the fact is making an AI that can be competitive to you're average gamer in this game is next to impossible with today's tech. I don't know why they bother to beg, but they do. I'd rather play against a human player with equal footing than a buffed up AI in stats or more units just to give me a challenge.

I have a feeling too that they are just going to add one or two things and that's it.

They are gonna have steam again so the odds of a foyer diminish greatly. :(

The MP side lacks A LOT of features and information and how much will they add after all these years? Just take a look at STW MP all the way to NTW MP and look at how much has really been added over the past 10 YEARS.

I want STW2 to be great, but I'm sure it'll be lacking in many areas...

UglyElmo2

09-10-2010, 23:36

I want STW2 to be great, but I'm sure it'll be lacking in many areas...

Not if they decide to go to a subscription-based game, like Wow. Which would mean they would have a REASON (Monthly subscriptions) to make MP the focus, and to continually update the MP game.

As much as I abhor paying a monthly fee to play an online game, I would be willing to pay for Shogun 2 if it catered to the MP crowd and offered up continually improving features, options, and community enhancements.

Actually, I think the only way we could convince CA to even consider making MP the focus is if we can prove to them they could make a lot of profit from doing so. Monthly subscriptions might be THAT way.

I would pay $15 U.S. a month for an MP focused game, which offered clan tags, a great chat lobby with all the bells and whistles, and a continually improving game engine, and not only a battle mode, but a mega-campaign. I think CA would love to do such a thing now, but might not think there is a large enough market for it to make it profitable.

Swoosh So

09-11-2010, 06:07

I agree elmo it would be nice to see a totalwar thats constantly updated with new maps stat balances and new campaigns etc even for a fee. But i think CA are still a way off that theyre a completely different company from Blizzard who have massive pre release beta and alpha testing of their game before release by a large section of the community. It would be a massive shift for CA in philosophy and structure. If the blizzard community are shouting that somethings badly needed more often than not they get it. If any major exploits are found in the game theyre hotfixed within 24 hours or so. Also blizzard impliment mods that the community have created with a little modification directly into their game. I payed for wow for a good while but to be honest it was only because totalwar online degraded from rome onwards i just couldent stand to play it online. Also wow has its problems even though it makes so much money for blizzard. Some servers have a 1 hour queue to get on each night and if you want to fight a battle in battlegrounds depending on server the queue can be anywhere from 10minutes to 1 hour on some servers which is unacceptable for a game you pay monthly for and is one of the reasons i finally quit it.

Shogun2 with subscription and really well supported with a nice community with all the tools needed to keep the community going chat foyer, map editors, ca released maps every now and then units, campaigns all that would be great. But considering this is their first officially stated focus on multiplayer i think theyre miles and miles from producing a mp game that people would pay monthly for unless a hardcore fan. I mean were not even sure how much we can read into the statement, this is the big focus on multiplayer and so far we had lots of talk about ai being a huge focus and a single player campaign preview and a historical scripted battle. What id like to see from CA is some form of updates about Multiplayer, surely they can tell us if theres going to be a full chat lobby with player lists etc, i mean were all dying to know and everyones calling for it. We dont need to know all the multiplayer bells and whistles but some information on the basics would go a long way. I would really love to see a staff member for CA in a preview vid saying the community wanted it back so were giving it back ( chat lobby ) and theyre going to make sure the game ships with really well tested multiplayer maps and remaking the shogun classic maps that everyone loved so much, even throwing in a map editor or/and magys campaign map selection idea. These wouldent be big announcements in ca's mind i think but for the community these are the issues that count above all else.

Im rambling now off to bed!

Gregoshi

09-11-2010, 06:30

In the IGN.com Q&A, CA mentioned more on MP will be revealed in the future. I'm hoping they will cover the full range of the MP experience from logon to the end of game, game types/options and not just focus on what can happen on the battlefield with 56000 men.

Magyar Khan

09-11-2010, 14:39

swoosh and greg.... i agree....

i think ca has created their own problem too.... in their believe sp is their main income thay cant post too much about mp in their first 10 broadcasts..... ofcourse we cant manouvre 56000 men in mp, and im sure we dont have too for our best gameplay... we need an optimum vs manouvrability and how long combat lasts....

they would serve us a lot of the show us how the screens look from logon to endbattle.... and we can discuss about that.....

Kocmoc

09-13-2010, 09:05

well, to pay a monthly fee for a TW is just a joke.

To compare a game like WoW with a TW is a joke either. The first and surely most important difference is, that blizz need tons of Server to run a single world, the hardware is expensive.
In TW you need a single server and thats it, or you need a part of a sever, since the games itself are run on the computer of us customer. So whats is expensive for CA? Right, nothing.
They would indeed earn a lot of cash for doin only patches.

Next example, look at WC3 or SC2 (battlenet) there you also have to pay nothing, simply as the hardware isnt that expensive to run those games for millions of player.

While it could be a reason for CA to put more effort in the new S2 TW game, its also a silly thing to pay for this.

Im reading this "leadinrole" thing and i ask where this will be? TW games are not made for a mass-market, not if the game keeps as "complex" as it is right now. You had a lot to dump down, to actual get many more player involved.
This said, i dont believe, that there will be a huge changed of the battles in Tw, it mostly will keep same. Thats fine for us, bad for the "leadingrole". With Steam the whole thing wont work anyway. Steam is okay, but not good.
On the other hand i ask myself all the time, whats so hard to run an own Server? Is it really only about the money they can make with extra downloads on Steam?

Anyway, right now i just see the same steps from CA before a new games comes up. Tons of nice words, a lot pictures and almost no word about gameplay or how they actual want to give the new game this god damn "leadinrole".
No single word to the community, no word about how the beta tests will be done ( actual it surely will be the same crap betatester, who are not able to test maps or find simple bugs - where i did need like 10 games to find the most obvious crap), not a single step to involve the MPlayer, the modder are f***** as well. All in all the PR is terrible and if the MP is the goal, than the start is already terrible.

Koc

Nobunaga

09-13-2010, 11:34

Anyway, right now i just see the same steps from CA before a new games comes up. Tons of nice words, a lot pictures and almost no word about gameplay or how they actual want to give the new game this god damn "leadinrole".
No single word to the community, no word about how the beta tests will be done ( actual it surely will be the same crap betatester, who are not able to test maps or find simple bugs - where i did need like 10 games to find the most obvious crap), not a single step to involve the MPlayer, the modder are f***** as well. All in all the PR is terrible and if the MP is the goal, than the start is already terrible.

very true. I read somewhere that the game is to be released in FEB 2011... If this is true CA better start giving more information.

Magyar Khan

09-13-2010, 12:14

an idea for CA could be to bring out patches if needed and even bring a patch hidden in gamecontent like maps, new campaign and such.... instead of a monthly fee im willing to pay 4.99 or 9.99 euro extra for an improved game as an extra download-release

release a mapeditor for 5 euro
and release a new clan, a campaign and two new heros, 2 new units, one late era ship and 5 maps for the price of 6.99 and embedded the hidden balanced patch....

Swoosh So

09-13-2010, 12:38

I dont think balance patches and dlc can mix, cause then you cant play with those without the patches, tbh im still wondering if i pay for the base game let alone anything else, i recently bought the peninsular campaign for ntw from dlc and if im honest it wasent worth it for MP at all.

Gregoshi

09-13-2010, 14:27

I would appreciate it if we could tone down the bitterness that has been creeping this forum in the last several days - especially bitterness based on assumptions, predictions and so far very little information about the game and its development. Criticism of game details as they become available is allowed, but "CA bashing" is not. CA and some of its employees are patrons here too and are protected by the same forum rules as you and I. Thank you.

Swoosh So

09-13-2010, 17:11

its all good gregoshi.

Magyar Khan

09-13-2010, 19:04

for my reputation i did remarkably well hush swoosh xkissx

i still have plans to buy them a beer in london and perhaps in that case i may need you....

UglyElmo2

09-13-2010, 21:56

well, to pay a monthly fee for a TW is just a joke. Koc

LOL I knew I would get that reaction from someone eventually. hehe

Anyway, right now i just see the same steps from CA before a new games comes up. Tons of nice words, a lot pictures and almost no word about gameplay or how they actual want to give the new game this god damn "leadinrole".
No single word to the community, no word about how the beta tests will be done ( actual it surely will be the same crap betatester, who are not able to test maps or find simple bugs - where i did need like 10 games to find the most obvious crap), not a single step to involve the MPlayer, the modder are f***** as well. All in all the PR is terrible and if the MP is the goal, than the start is already terrible. Koc

I think you need a drink from Elmo's infamous Jug O Shine my friend. After a few sips, all your troubled thoughts tend to vanish, while you concentrate on just remaining standing. :)

Gregoshi

09-14-2010, 02:04

I think you need a drink from Elmo's infamous Jug O Shine my friend. After a few sips, all your troubled thoughts tend to vanish, while you concentrate on just remaining standing. :)
Elmo, can we keep a couple of jugs on site here? We may need it when MP details start emerging... :laugh4:

Kocmoc

09-14-2010, 13:57

Yeah, get us some info about MPlayer. Its really hard to judge anything, if all we get are some campaign infos and a few pics/vids. It looks nice as always, but it doesnt show us the smallest thing about MP part.

UglyElmo2

09-14-2010, 14:53

I will set up a direct feed to my best copper still, so we can have an almost endless supply of my Moonshine. Anybody have a few extra clay jugs around so we all can drink at the same time instead of waiting for the one to be passed? :)

Yup, Kocmoc, I too am a bit worried CA has changed its mind again and decided to concentrate only on SP.

drunkeneagle

09-14-2010, 17:25

UglyElmo2

09-14-2010, 20:36

http://www.nowgamer.com/features/916/shogun-2-total-war-creative-assembly-interview?o=0#listing

"We’re not really talking about multiplayer at the moment – but we are really excited about it in-house. What I can tell you is that we’re aiming to make multiplayer in Shogun 2 better than any multiplayer experience we’ve ever created before.
There are thousands and thousands of people out there who play Total War multiplayer hours and hours a week. We’re grateful for that, but we think we can offer them more still. We’re doing this for those guys, and I think they’re going to love it."

I guess that's the reason not much info coming yet.

Which is discouraging because that is what they have said in every release since the original STW which, to me, more than likely indicates they aren't giving it any more thought than in the past, and will tack on MP at the very end as normal.

Hopefully they will realize MP for what it is: A feature that keeps players interested in the series and increases the likelihood they will purchase the next release instead of leaving for other things. If they had worked to keep all the MP community since STW, their sales would be even greater than they are. It's not like the MP community had ever asked for much in the first place, and the time working on MP would have been well spent.

If there was great MP, those people who chose not to play MTW, RTW, M2TW, Empires and NTW, might have bought the game, just to continue playing with their clan/friends, even though the subject matter and time frame did not interest them much.

Gregoshi

09-14-2010, 20:52

Hi drunkeneagle and welcome to the Org! ~:wave: Thanks for sharing the link. I hadn't seen this one yet.

Not talking about MP yet. I'm guessing they need to get the SP aspect down first before working on MP, but that would just be the battle part. What about the part that wraps around the battles? Or is that in the realm of Steam and out of their control?

drunkeneagle

09-14-2010, 21:42

Thank you!Nice to be here. STW is one of my all time favourite games so I'm very happy CA are revisiting & updating it!

Regarding the statement,I do agree we have heard these sort of things said before but for this release I do believe CA are working on 'something' unique just for MP.
In another interview about this new feature,Kieran mentioned cryptically something along the lines of "scale and longevity" and "permanence and a larger number of people".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL60inmJ084
What all this means I'm not sure, but I'm certainly interested and hopeful:)

Swoosh So

09-14-2010, 23:12

5 mins searching the org brings up:

Statements of the past

Medieval Totalwar 2:

Have you got any new plans for the multiplayer component of the game?

Bob Smith: We have some ambitious plans for multiplayer battles. We can't go into further details on this as yet.

Source: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=133488

Empire Totalwar

Swoosh posts:
Well i have to say bringing back a compeditive ladder is a very positive step

"A brand new multiplayer component will include player rankings, leagues and ladders and completely new gameplay modes."

Creative Assembly reply:

We made the multiplayer fedback thread at .com for a reason.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?90403-More-Empire-Info-at-.com

Empire Totalwar Blog

Will multiplayer actually be considered when the game is created?
Multiplayer is very important to us this time around. A lot of the team are long-term multiplayer fans and we felt it was time to address their needs more openly.

Cant be bothered tonight to look for more.

I really hope they mean it this time round, Ill keep my opinion if i believe it to myself as i want to remain somewhat positive in the hope that they give a good mp game. 1 thing to take out of this is that we should all be posting on the .com what were posting here at least the compiled list of ideas.

Magyar Khan

09-15-2010, 00:31

well done.... that would be a good question towards CA in an interview.... show them the sumup and let them explain why now its different than teh promisses before....

Swoosh So

09-15-2010, 00:50

drunkeneagle

09-15-2010, 01:55

Some of the stuff they did impliment in empire but some not and in that post they confirmed them, the statement about mtw2 was complete fabrication there was nothing new in it for multiplayer. We all have to be patient i think and see what previews show us in the coming months. I kinda regret posting those comments but at the end of the day theyre just factual events that took place here and in ca interviews all available on the forums from a 5 min search.

All the statements you posted from the past are all correct of course.
I'm basing my small optimism on CA's latest release NTW. Where we now have Multiplayer campaigns(yes,finally) and drop-ins, which I'll admit I was really surprised by! I love them:)
So maybe very(very) slowly,they are finally coming around to the idea of MP as being a more important feature for future TW games(?) That's my hope anyway.

vartan

09-15-2010, 02:25

All the statements you posted from the past are all correct of course.
I'm basing my small optimism on CA's latest release NTW. Where we now have Multiplayer campaigns(yes,finally) and drop-ins, which I'll admit I was really surprised by! I love them:)
So maybe very(very) slowly,they are finally coming around to the idea of MP as being a more important feature for future TW games(?) That's my hope anyway.
This is my hope as well because I find the social aspect to be more valuable (in terms of humanity) than the single player by itself. The two together are complementary. The lack of either would be a thorn in TW's side, but the loss of MP would be a sharper thorn than the loss of SP in the long run, IMHO.

Magyar Khan

09-15-2010, 03:23

I would pay 5 euro if a CA employee with some status comes here and post something valueable....

UglyElmo2

09-15-2010, 05:02

@DrunkenEagle: Sorry, I forgot to say; "Hi" and welcome you to our discussions. I have gotten in the habit of not looking at one's post counts, or join dates, and thus miss the opportunity to welcome new patrons in the forums I visit.

Very nice to meet you, and feel free to enter any and all discussions. You optimism is a positive bright spot, which helps offset our sporadic feelings of negativity. :)

Gregoshi

09-15-2010, 05:09

I would pay 5 euro if a CA employee with some status comes here and post something valueable....
I put out an inquiry to see if we could get someone from CA periodically pay us a visit and comment where they can about the MP part of S2TW. Me fingers are crossed.

AMP

09-15-2010, 05:21

They should start by adding the much needed features in the wishlist which some of them have been asked for many years now. They also should start by giving the whole MP layout a major overhaul because right now it's just like stw almost without the lobby chat and stw was how long ago? Maybe they need someone with abit of imagination when doing it. I just hope they don't add like 1 or 2 things and be like "hey guys look at this addition isn't it cool look at what we gave you" and later on be like we're gonna add something else, but it's gonna be a DLC for 10$ doesn't that sound wonderful?

vartan

09-15-2010, 06:33

Magyar Khan

09-15-2010, 13:10

I put out an inquiry to see if we could get someone from CA periodically pay us a visit and comment where they can about the MP part of S2TW. Me fingers are crossed.

Nice Greg, tell them I personally stand for their safety here.... as from what i can see the place is just roamed by oldies and all are constructive and willingly to make the game the best in their series by default...

Sp00n

09-15-2010, 13:40

Would be nice to get some sort of CA representative here regarding MP, anything we post here atm is just pure speculation as we know nothing about what they are going to be bring MP wise with Shogun 2.

I'll be happy if they can just give us what we had with the original plus a MP campaign, a foyer/lobby being top of my list.

On a positive note they should realize that the MP community here is extremely passionate about Shogun 2's MP due to how good the originals was and thats maybe why its getting a little heated here of late, while I believe they have steadily improved the TW games in SP I can't really say they have done it in MP, however apart from the era and some niggling faults I quite like NTW which is a return to decent MP imo although still not at Shoguns level.

I've never been so excited about a game since the original came out and I'm sure CA have the same passion so lets wait and see what they announce in the coming months.

AMP

09-15-2010, 15:14

Oh boy is it easy to read between those lines, heh. Beef with the creative director's final decision on the MP lobby GUI?

Well the creative director's decision has been to keep the same lay out every year, so not only after all these years dose it look the same with better graphics it has the same much needed features/improvements. Would be nice to see something alittle creative done with it for once after all this time. :)

vartan

09-15-2010, 17:30

Well the creative director's decision has been to keep the same lay out every year, so not only after all these years dose it look the same with better graphics it has the same much needed features/improvements. Would be nice to see something alittle creative done with it for once after all this time. :)
^_^ I hear ya brother. They really need to AMP it up a bit!!!

Togakure

09-15-2010, 17:41

*groan* [/facepalm] Ugh ... are you spawn of Gregoshi by chance?

:smile:

Swoosh So

09-15-2010, 19:03

Right now i think theres nowhere better for CA to go for MP feedback (at least not what ive seen) they must get tired of wading through the stuff at the .com, wildlife on the battle map that attack peoples armies anyone? Dident think so..

Magyar Khan

09-16-2010, 00:06

i could ask warmann to make a thread where we collect the most silly threds in other forums.... lol wildlife if wildlife would be near human when their are thousands of them....

ELITEofWARMANGINGERYBREADMEN88

09-16-2010, 12:41

*groan* [/facepalm] Ugh ... are you spawn of Gregoshi by chance?

:smile:

Perhaps he is! :laugh4::pimp:

i could ask warmann to make a thread where we collect the most silly threds in other forums.... lol wildlife if wildlife would be near human when their are thousands of them....

Will take me awhile if I did that Magyar! :laugh4::laugh4:

AMP

09-17-2010, 18:04

The gamers at .com are to worried about so called realistic AI and realistic graphics which will never happen with this tech right now maybe in the far future it will be. And also them wanting more and more and more units on the field at once for a realistic amount to be displayed on the field.

When it comes to MP they haven't got a clue and most aren't interested cause they are SP gamers, so going their with MP is just a waste of time. Wildlife attacking units? King of the Hill battle mode? No Thanks...

I'd would prefer them to work on gameplay and balance... things like getting rid of the rubberband once and for all and also getting rid of units doing their own thing like trying to turn and flank a unit instead of attacking head on therefor the whole attack gets messed up. Also making sure the right unit number between cav and inf is balanced good. Things like that would be high on my list cause you know I'm a MP gamer mostly. :)

You can only do so much with an AI in TW... why do you think you have drop in battles?

vartan

09-17-2010, 19:13

*groan* [/facepalm] Ugh ... are you spawn of Gregoshi by chance?

:smile:
No comment other than Greg and I are unrelated whatsoever. We don't even know each other, no joke. :embarassed:

The gamers at .com are to worried about so called realistic AI and realistic graphics which will never happen with this tech right now maybe in the far future it will be. And also them wanting more and more and more units on the field at once for a realistic amount to be displayed on the field.
For example, I'm currently thinking of one battle in which one side had 20,000 troops, the other about 60,000. I really don't want my computer to explode trying to render 80,000 sprites, let alone models, on the screen. I'd rather it did 8,000, or maybe 16,000 (so either 10 percent or 20 percent of the actual amount), for performance purposes.

Things like that would be high on my list cause you know I'm a MP gamer mostly. :)
Precisely what I'm looking for as well. I'll have MP and a cup of coffee over SP any day. :laugh4:

Swoosh So

09-17-2010, 19:38

Amp you should explain what you mean by rubber band, CA maybe dunno what it means.

AMP

09-20-2010, 18:40

I think CA knows what rubber band on units means... I mean it is their game and it has been an issue ever since STW days. I can understand having units for a game like this because it only make sense, but I think everyone would like that rubber band to loosen up abit.

A unit shouldn't have to walk around buildings because the gap isn't big enough... that unit should be able to break up some and move through the buildings with no problem. Another example would be a unit losing it's charge or changing targets all cause a few soldiers from a unit touched an enemy unit... that unit should continue to it's target or destination unless a much higher % of it has made contact with an enemy unit. I've also seen units get bugged and stuck around buildings...

I think I heard in one of the 1st vedios of STW2 they talked about getting rid of 1on1s that go on when units fight... soldiers within a unit fight 1on1s only. I really hope so cause it's sad to see like 6 soldiers in a unit looking up at 1 guy on a horse while he melees someone on foot. If a soldier is out numbered and flanked or surrounded he should be stabbed,sliced, and speared in all those directions. I don't mind seeing sometimes some 1on1s, but not every single soldier I look at... it gets confusing as to why a unit won or loss when you're playing zoomed out like most do in mulitplayer. :)