Joel Bylos – MMO Fallout

Conan Exiles Delayed to January 2017

conanexiles_1

Conan Exiles is begin delayed, and for good reason. In an announcement posted on the Steam Early Access page today, Joel Bylos has revealed that additional funding has allowed the studio more flexibility in getting the game up to snuff before putting it on the store.

We have come to realize that we would like to spend a little more time creating our vision of Hyboria before we release it into Early Access. Having very recently secured additional funding for our studio which has made our financial situation much more flexible than even just a few weeks back, we want to take advantage of that and move Early Access to January 2017. With the extra time in development, we believe we can make a better game for you, the fans.

(Source: Steam)

The Secret World Letter Focuses On User Experience

Joel Bylos is back to deliver the February Game Director’s letter for The Secret World. If you haven’t been following recent events, the Funcom team has been focusing on improving the new user experience as well as the upcoming launch of Issue #11.

The revamped experience has expanded slightly in scope by improving the tutorials in the beginning and smoothing out the difficulty curve. When we go back and change things, we also find other ways of improving the early game experience.

Foremost, Funcom is addressing the long kill-times once players leave the opening Kingsmouth area, from 7 to 25 seconds according to their statistics to kill a standard enemy. In addition, the team is reducing population in some of the more crowded areas. Mission rewards have also been reconfigured and streamlined, with the story mode now appropriately handing out goodies up until the end of Transylvania in which the player will receive their first epic weapon.

Also in the works is Issue #11, set to be the finale in the Tokyo storyline. Players will learn more about the Orochi, fighting their way to the top of a randomized tower with secret floors to discover along the way.

You can read everything at the link below.

(Source: The Secret World)

Funcom Management Pulled Mankini

Those of you who follow The Secret World likely already know the story, but last week saw the addition and sudden removal of a mankini outfit from the in-game cash shop as part of the April Fool’s day patch. Not only was the item removed from the game without explanation, it was also removed and a refund applied to those who had already purchased the suit.

Joel Bylos posted on the official forums to explain that miscommunication caused the

To be clear: the Mankini outfit (and the wetsuit) was definitely an April Fool’s joke, and it was always my intention to have them be available for a limited time only in the store. However, it was never my intention to pull them from players who actually bought these items. Unfortunately, there was a miscommunication between my team and Funcom management on how this was to be handled. Funcom management feels strongly that the Mankini outfit goes against what The Secret World intellectual property (IP) is all about and they did not want this item to stay in the game permanently.

Bylos assured the community that Funcom is working to ensure that such a situation is not repeated in the future.

(Source: TSW Forums)

Age Of Conan Implements Patchless Events

Don’t you hate temporary events in MMOs? Forgetting the other issues around the time-limited nature of the event itself, then you have to put up with the obnoxious issue of the game requiring a patch (and thus downtime) both before the event begins and once it ends. Wouldn’t it be easier if there was a way to, oh, let’s say update an MMO with temporary event content without having to patch the servers? Well you are in luck! Age of Conan’s latest Game Director letter details a new system put into action with the recent fifth anniversary event. From now on, Funcom no longer has to patch the games to boot up or wind down a game event.

The new system allows us to create events and activate them whenever we wish. This means that we can run events on the fly, without taking down the servers and escalate them on the fly, as we did each day of the 5th Anniversary event. It means that a GM can kick start one of these events in the game by running a simple command. Obviously this has many applications, but the upshot of it is this – you can expect to see a wider variety of events in Age of Conan going forward.

The letter also reminds us that the merger of servers with similar rulesets is still coming this summer, along with a new network layer to improve server stability after everyone is tossed into one location.

(Source: Age of Conan)

Funcom Listens: The Secret World Receives Reticle Combat, Back End Engine Updates

The Secret World marks three months since launch, and while shakeups at Funcom have resulted in the team being moved around, the team is dedicated to keeping everything business as usual. In a continued effort to improve on the game, Funcom has been releasing near monthly “issues” updates, offering new quests and features. With the launch of Issue #4 on the horizon, new game director Joel Bylos has posted a letter from the director, detailing where he will be taking the game.

Starting with Issue #4, The Secret World will be treated to a much-requested feature, reticule combat. The update doesn’t radically change combat, and it is completely optional for players who might prefer the current system, but it is a welcome update regardless. Additionally, the Dreamworld Engine will be receiving some upgrades in the coming future to allow for more fluid animations. The upgrades will be used to improve player and NPC animations in The Secret World and Funcom’s future MMOs. The team is also looking into fixing up skills that have become filler.