NineMoons's Memento: The First CW in Rembrandt Server

Not going back to Colony Wars reporting here - I just wanted to post something as unique as this. Have a look at the results of the very first Colony Wars session in Rembrandt, in the aftermath of the clash of the titans of the former Carracci and Pachelbel servers.

Comments are welcome - just keep them civil, eh?

*taps foot* Explanation PLEASE!

I said that I would wait for this to be resolved before I blogged about it. One weekend later, nothing has been done beyond a nonspecific announcement of investigations to be done.



I had actually challenged the IAH moderator who stepped into this issue to reveal the results of the investigation, if any, to the public.

[The moderator appeared on Page 5; my challenge on Page 6.]

The community has kept the thread alive throughout the weekend. We're still waiting for a response, if any should be forthcoming, on this matter.

In the meantime, please feel free to debate this issue in the comments, as well as in the original forums post.

Please give us an explanation for this.

Original thread: Analyze this by Dem.

STOP PRESS: Here's the IAH response: Official Announcement for Notice Abuse. Read and learn, think about it, and if you have any more questions - I know I do - take 'em to comments ^^

Server Merge Commentary: Channels, Compensation, and the Staff

Since there are still people in the forums who are just jumping straight into the rants-n-raves mode before knowing what's going on, read this or die:

IAH is implementing a server merge for SEA / ANZ Granado Espada effective 7 October 2008.

News and Sources:

Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement

Bulletin 1: World Migration Family and Faction Migration Guide

[More bulletins to come, apparently, and I will update the post as they are released.]

Official Forum Threads for Comments and Complaints:

Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement

It's Maintenance Day! Ask [Mee Pok Tah] about the World Migration here!!

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I'm still not tout a fait ["completely"] happy with the continuing wait-and-see tactic regarding the number of channels available to players after the server merge. As I quoted in the previous entry, Hrin was left saying something about IMC, HBS, and IAH deciding on whether there would be more channels in the new servers only after the merge had been completed.

Maybe I should say it a little more strongly, though I'm not sure what good it might do me right now:

One of the fastest ways to assure the SEA / ANZ GE community of players, right the heck now when the news is still fresh enough to cause shock and anger, is to say that there WILL be more channels already implemented in the new servers, ready to use when we all log back in.

Corollary statements:
- More channels will assuage the fear of overcrowding, especially in the merged PK server which will play host to the denizens of the THREE old PK servers.
- More channels may allow for more boss raids, which will mean that better loots and items may become more accessible to more people and thus affect the new servers' economies.
- More channels will negate the fear associated with "Where will the newbies level now?", because more channels equals more space for everyone to level in.

There was a brief description of the supposedly new hardware and servers that IAH bought, which they'll be migrating GE to. The burden of proof of those new servers falls squarely on IAH - prove how new and how robust those things are by programming them to hold more channels.

I still remember the outcry when SEA / ANZ GE transitioned to its commercial phase because in that transition, all of the Channel 3s were dropped most unceremoniously. That lingered as a sore wound in the community because up until then, everyone had most cheerfully utilized the wide-open freedom of the New World in three separate channels. The irony of that wide-open freedom being abruptly curtailed, just when the game went into wide release and presumably looking for new players, was a hard blow to deal with.

The suggestion has been to bump the number of channels back to, at the very LEAST, three in each new server - and there are even those who are advocating four to six channels. My two cents involves assigning two channels for each of the old servers:

New PK server Bach: Six channels, two for each of the three former servers Cervantes, Caravaggio, and Vivaldi

New Non-PK server Rembrandt: Four channels, two for each of the two former servers Carracci and Pachelbel.

And, following the second corollary statement above, opening boss raids in at least two channels apiece, as initial concession to the large numbers of raiders pouring into each of the new, after-merge servers.

***

I also do not agree with having only the World Migration Package as the compensation for all players. The suggested items to be included in the package might not satisfy everyone. I might have suggested adding one thing to that package: 15 ABS for everyone. I'm not joking, at least this gives people a chance, however much of a chance that game is, at getting good items, as compensation for many items that may be lost in the process of merging.

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Finally, for everyone what's going to the Black Party GE PH Anniversary event on Saturday: Let's at least PLEASE try NOT to overwhelm CM Aethrin with too many questions about this server merge. My best piece of advice will be to READ THE LINKS ABOVE before going - and if you cannot find an answer to your burning questions, only then can you go ahead and attempt to have the CM look into it.

Be advised that the forum threads are already being manned by staff who are already making extreme efforts to accommodate everyone's questions. Ask THEM first, and preferably BEFORE Saturday - they're right there so ask them already!

Server Merge What The-?! Hilarity Ensues....

Okay, heart attack time for all of you who haven't yet heard of this:

IAH is implementing a server merge for SEA / ANZ Granado Espada effective 7 October 2008.

News and Sources:

Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement

Bulletin 1: World Migration Family and Faction Migration Guide

[More bulletins to come, apparently, and I will update the post as they are released.]

Official Forum Thread for Comments and Complaints:

Granado Espada World Migration Official Announcement

It's Maintenance Day! Ask [Mee Pok Tah] about the World Migration here!!

Please, for the love of Grace Bernelli or Andre Janzur, PLEASE read through the news articles and the official comments in the thread above, before anyone panics!

[And have some sympathy for the IAH staff because even while this development has caught everyone flat-footed, they are now the ones who have to face the collective wrath of the community.]

***

I've already had my freak-out over this news, so maybe I can contribute my comments and suggestions - in the hope that I've calmed down enough to be coherent AND rational, of course.

The major themes in the thread linked above have been:

Compensation for this sudden merge, and the losses that people may incur in its implementation
How the PK and the non-PK servers will be affected, respectively
Channels, or the current lack thereof
Items and how they will be dealt with in case of loss; special mention to items such as character cards, limited-edition items such as Divine Angel Wings, and the non-tradeable RNPCs such as Rio, Irawan, Feng Ling, and Bai Hu

And then there are the people who dashed headlong into the thread without knowing what's going on. I refer you again to the beginning of this blog post for the relevant links.

My comments on the themes:

Hrin mentioned something called the "World Migration Package":

We have proposed to IMC and HBS to allow us to have a World Migration Package for you guys.

To ease all migrants’ transition into the new worlds of Bach and Rembrandt, all users who log in between 7 September 2008, 0000hrs (GMT+8) -7 October 2008 0000hrs (GMT+8) will receive the following on 9 October 2008, Thursday, after the merger is complete:

a) 3 Combat Manual (1 day)
b) 3 Stance Manual ( 1 day)
c) 3 Forgotten Territory Pass (1 day)
d) 3 Ancient Territory Pass (1 day)
e) 3 Lucifer Wings (1 day)
f) 3 Devil Wings (1 day)

Yes, that is not a cure-all for all item losses, but it's a start.

Alternatively, a friend of mine suggests doing the following:

- Create a mule account for every server: specifically, one mule account that has only one family in each server
- Merc the characters you want to save
- Pass the items, the vis, and the merced characters to the mule account
- Pray the merge goes through properly
- Retrieve the stash from the mule accounts

The merge works this way:
Cervantes + Caravaggio + Vivaldi = Bach -> Three PK servers become one PK server
Carracci + Pachelbel = Rembrandt -> Two Non-PK servers become one Non-PK server

Since Viv and Pach were the last two servers to be released, some players from those servers have the complaint of lagging behind the other servers in terms of growth and age. The particular comment about Pach was that its population was simply going to be incorporated into Carracci.

The way I see it, yes, there will be problems with overcrowding, but at least it MIGHT become easier to get together for pick-up raids and missions. I can't really judge it until it's actual merge time, though.

When it comes to talking about channels, this quote from Hrin scares me:

As for additional channels, we will observe the situation after the world migration before we discuss further with IMC.

Um, BOO HISS...? It's my firm belief that having the additional channels will immediately assuage the community's fears of having overcrowded servers.... Though someone HAS pointed out to me that this is not a likely thing to happen. This might have been the one truly depressing thing about this. Where in heck are we going to find spots if all the spots get taken very fast?

I really hope IAH pushes for more channels.

And about the rather thorny problem of legacy items...I personally have no stake in it, but I understand that it DOES become a major concern for everyone who went to amazing lengths to get those items. I have nothing to say yet since I want to think about it some more. I guess that means there will be follow-up posts.

So, let's talk about this in the comments. Everyone is welcome, but no trolling or foul language please.

A Gamer's Bill of Rights: should there be a corresponding one for MMO gamers?

Source: Brad Wardell at www.edge-online.com


A Bill of Rights for console and PC gamers? Now that there's quite an interesting idea, the more so when you tool your perspective around for a bit and think about turning this Bill of Rights into a springboard toward putting together something similar for Massively Multiplayer Online Games.

Let's look at the Gamer's Bill of Rights in some detail. I believe that item Three should have the most application to the MMO environment.

Gamer's Bill of Rights, Three: Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game's release.

When this is applied to MMOs I believe that there will be a number of implications that should be taken into consideration by the developer of an MMO game.

MMO updates should have some frequency, since no one likes to be stuck at the endgame when there is clearly room for expansion.

The updates should include fixes for any bugs and problems in-game, and should be applied in timely fashion in order to keep the game running properly.

The content of such updates should be balanced between the needs of the newbies - since there are always newbies in MMOs - and the high-level players.

And the updates should definitely include constant beefing up against illegal and third-party programs [RMT-bots-broad-spammers, I rest my case].

If you were to make suggestions for an MMO Gamer's Bill of Rights, what would you consider as an inviolable right? Let's talk about it! Share your views in the comments!

The9 Bids for Development Rights to cGE - Implications?

Original inspiration for this entry from DeSanggria's Rumors on cGE

Original news piece, as quoted in the blog post, from RedlineChina's Rumors of The9 Attempting to Attain Development Rights to Granado Espada

Okay, let's quote that news article in full, since it's no more than a few sentences long.

"According to insider sources from The9, the company has agreed engaged in talks with Hanbitsoft and Granada Espada IMC to attain developing rights to Granada Espada. The9 is hoping to improve upon Granada Espada and alter the game to fit Chinese tastes if it acquires the development rights."

Aside from quibbling with the content of the report - how much does it take to write the game's very title properly? - I'm with DeSanggria on this one: there are several questions arising from this report, and from The9's efforts. Let's talk about just the stuff that appears in that article.

1. Define "attain developing rights". Does this mean that The9 alone will have the ability to modify Granado Espada to the tastes of Chinese gamers? Will there be no more oversight from Hanbitsoft and IMC Games?

A related big question might be: What does Kim Hakkyu think of this? Remember, he had been CEO of Gravity Co., Limited, and was the mastermind behind Ragnarok Online - but he left in a storm of internal political conflicts that had to do with other Gravity people tampering with his baby. I hope he talks about these plans considering that he's put a lot more effort into GE.

2. Define "improve". Does this mean modifying the game according to the players' tastes and requests, or according to what the company thinks will make more money? The first option is commendable but understandably far-fetched; the second is probably just my cynicism talking but is more likely to be true.

3. Define "alter the game to fit Chinese tastes". What happens if, in coming expansions, GE runs afoul of the Chinese censors? Are The9 really going to step in and dilute the game just to pass muster?

Just remember, The9 has already bent over backward to appease the censors with one of its other games - you know, the one that just happens to be the most massive MMORPG on the planet right now? There was such a flap last year when The9 actually changed the appearance of the Undead race in World of Warcraft: the Undead used to be part flesh, part skeleton, with bones sticking out, but in order to get around a censorship review, The9 modified the Undead models to show no more skeleton.

The move, predictably, infuriated the Chinese WoW community, the more so because it was such a sop to Chinese president Hu Jintao's statement about "[purifying] the internet of anything that might affect 'national cultural information security' or undermine [attempts] to promote a 'harmonious society'".

Read more about this flap here and here.

So, I myself am looking at this piece of news with apprehension because wow, way to dilute the game much? And to one of the largest potential GE audiences in the world ever at that? What happens if The9 screw up? Scary, scary thoughts.

Discuss this!

EDITED TO ADD 29 AUG: Oh, look, more commentary on the issue! The MMOtaku, occasional GE pioneer, comments on The9.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the quote that says:

“Although Granado Espada is considered a content-rich game, Chinese players are unable to feel it because the content is too deep for them.”

Holy effin' hell WHAT? "Too deep"? So maybe I should get angry, after all. If The9 intends to actually dumb down Granado Espada - I say we all take to the barricades. Viva Granado Espada!

If These Girls Played Granado Espada...

...We'd probably all be left eating their dust. They'd all have streaked toward Veteran and then Expert status, and they would have left no map unexplored, no dungeon uncrawled, and no raid boss undefeated.

And if they all got together in a server to form a faction - woe betide the population of that server. Even the famous factions of all five servers may likely stand no chance against these powerful, genre-savvy, literally world-altering girl gamers.

In other words: Be Afraid. Be Very Afraid.

[This is an entry written to celebrate the Granado Espada Gamer Girls.]

Girl Gamer #1: Fuu - Magic Knight Rayearth



The elegant "girl with glasses" and the mistress of the wind, who controls the great bird-form Rune-God Windam. Of the three Magic Knights, it's Fuu who takes the sudden trip to a magic world, and their new responsibilities, with the most ease - and that's because back on planet Earth, she loved to play RPGs!

While searching out the legendary mineral called escudo, she makes explicit references to mithril, the light but indestructible metal from Middle-Earth. She talks about gaining experience points and looking for treasure as they journey through Cephiro. And of course, she has no worries while fighting the many mobs they encounter in their magical journey!

...Not to mention, she's got that ginormous sword of hers! How does a slender girl like her wield that sword - the largest of the Magic Knights' weapons by far - so easily? The power of wind, of course!

Might as well ask how the slender female Fighter wields gigantic Great Swords, Polearms, Javelins, and similar weapons and never seems to break a sweat....

Girl Gamers #2 to 5: Konata, Kagami, Tsukasa, and Miyuki - Lucky Star



While diminutive Izumi Konata is the single biggest video-game player of the lead characters in Lucky Star, the twins Hiiragi Kagami and Tsukasa and their own "girl with glasses" Takara Megumi are no stranger to video games either.

They even have their own specialties: Konata's infamous for playing adult games even when she was underage, and loves MMOs - she might have even already heard of Granado Espada already! Smart and driven Kagami loves trivia games; Tsukasa loves cute games such as Keroro Gunso; and scariest of all, Miyuki's sweet and polite personality changes to something rather different when she plays video games!

Put all four together in a squad and you can just imagine how much devastation they could cause...Novia, Montoro, AND Sekhmet might have to cower in their respective dungeons when these girls come a-raiding!

Girl Gamers #6 to 8: Haruhi, Yuki, and Mikuru - The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya



If you ever wondered what would happen if "God" and two of her cohorts decided to play video games, then all you have to do is watch The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, in particular the episode "The Day of Sagittarius".

The Computer Research Society attempts to reclaim the computer that they claim Haruhi extorted from them, and challenge her club, the SOS Dan, to a computer game called "The Day of Sagittarius III". The Society's not above cheating in order to make sure of their victory - it's like people who knowingly use RMT and bots, knowing that they're illegal....

But of course the SOS Dan have BOTH an artificial human interface for the Integrated Data Entity [Yuki] AND the Creator [Haruhi] on their side! Yuki equalizes the playing field in dramatic fashion, and Haruhi leads the counter-attack, plowing into the enemy forces with all the subtlety of a sledge-hammer to the brain - and not only are the Society soundly defeated, they're also out five laptops!

And afterwards, it looks like every single Society member has fallen in love - or at least DEFINITELY admire - Yuki's 1337 skills. How should boys react when they've been handed their heads in a PvP match by a girl? They should be polite and friendly, of course, and NOT rude or overbearing!

Girl Gamer #9: Renge - Ouran High School Host Club



Last but definitely not the least is Houshakuji Renge, who fell into the Host Club's lives after mistaking "Shadow King" Ootori Kyouya for her favorite visual novel character. But here's the kicker - after the hosts disabuse her of that notion, she becomes extremely helpful to them, often contributing her vast knowledge of pop culture to the Club's plans and activities.

Part of that knowledge hinges on her mastery of the concept of "moe" - a/k/a the sort of intense interest that certain things can inspire in their fans. In this case, moe for the club hosts, which Renge knows inside and out.

Think of Renge as the type of player who not only wants her pioneering family to be strong in the New World - but drop-dead gorgeous, too! And people wonder who actually buys all the various costume and accessory boxes from the Premium Item Shop....

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If you've got any more examples of gamer-girl characters from anime, manga, TV, comic books, movies, and pop culture - tell me about them in the comments!

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NineMoons's 50,000 Hits Screenshot Prompt Contest Ongoing!

A toast to the ladies of GE!

Until Saturday, March 8, International Women's Day - here is a free space for you to praise your favorite ladies who are involved in one way or another in the world of sGE!

Let me begin by singing the praises of RCM Hrin: our steadfast and devoted Regional Community Manager, who not only makes time in her perennially packed schedule to engage in YM conversations with her players from all over, but also monitors the forums on a daily basis, and is a great treasure trove of GE information to boot!

I would stop short of declaring my undying love for her, but hope this suffices: ♥♥♥♥♥ ^^

Next, my dear buddy, chica, and best GE friend Anne DeSanggria, who keeps me honest at the same time she helps me squee my head off over the current hot eye-candy in GE. Thank you for your invaluable integrity and for your infallible common sense!

And I also want to say a big, big "Sarangheyo" to fellow females in the factions I've joined so far: in Cervantes, estrellante of ReBirth and MinistryOfLaw in WrathOfGod - thank you both for your being such kickass faction vice-leaders and overall wonderful ladies!

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Open Comments Thread! Say something nice for the ladies of sGE in the comments! She can be of any server, or be among the staff, or be among your local publisher's people - she just has to be an actual, verified female!

Hope to hear from you here~

Happy Valentines' Day to all - both the couples and the singles ^^

Have a good one and don't do anything I wouldn't do ^^

[Open Comments so you can greet people if you like! :D]

Open Comments Thread: The Soundbox

But before I get into that, have some official announcements about Chinese New Year, Valentines' Day, and RNPCs from RCM Hrin:

Feng Ling, new greeting cards, new RNPC costumes, Tierra de los Muertos, and upcoming holiday events!

***

I've got a few household chores to attend to during today's maintenance, and I will most likely be doing the work to the bouncy, infectious tune of Phynn's "Close Encounter" musical track. Those of you who do a lot of missions might recognize this as the background music.

So, that inspired me a little, and now I have a question for all of you who are looking for some way to kill the time till maintenance ends:

What is your absolute top favorite musical track from the Granado Espada soundtrack - and why?

Comments are open, though still moderated.

Hope to hear from all of you!