Happy New Year from DDO!

[Tolero]

A letter from our Executive Producer, Fernando Paiz to all DDO players! Click here (http://www.ddo.com/us/news/1872-happy-new-year-from-ddo)!

[Lifespawn]

hopefully it is something big like druids :)

[ComicRelief]

And a "Happy New Year!" to you, too, T.
;)

[Zirun]

Whoa, is it 2013 already?

These darn new years pass by so fast... Makes ya yearn for the old years of old, it does!

[RedDragonScale]

Hi Everyone!

On behalf of the DDO Team and everyone at Turbine, we hope you enjoyed a great end of 2011 holiday, and that your 2012 is off to a roaring start! DDO had another great year in 2011, and we want to thank our fans who played throughout the year and helped keep DDO going strong as one of the top F2P MMOs in the world.

We’ve had hundreds of thousands of new players join our free to play service, and DDO had another strong year of growth in 2011. We also welcomed in French and German speaking players to the Turbine service. We released a new crafting system, a new class, a new house ward, and adventure packs that added great gameplay, stories and loot to the high levels of the game! We hope you have all had the chance by now to build an Artificer character, play the new raids and try your hand at mastering the new Challenges. It all adds up to a pretty big year for DDO – but we are resolved to make 2012 even bigger.

As you may be aware, in a few weeks it will be Chinese New Year and 2012 begins the Year of the Dragon! This most popular of Chinese zodiac symbols stands for innovation, persistence, passion and leadership – all attributes that have become part of the story of DDO as well. This year we will have a fitting celebration as we have some huge plans to make this the biggest year ever for DDO!

How will 2012 be bigger than any year since our launch in 2006? The answer is pretty exciting! But I am not able to go into any details here today. Stay tuned and you should see us start rolling out some announcements by the end of the month! Then I will return to share with you more detailed plans for the year during the month of February before our anniversary. Trust me; it will be worth the wait!

In closing, let me once again wish you and your families a very Happy New Year and express our gratitude for being a part of our ongoing success that has helped us keep the game growing. We can’t wait to share more with you soon.

Happy Year of the Dragon!
-Fernando.


:sigh:


What's the matter? Fernando can't be bothered to actually post in the Forums himself?

Yet more disconnect between Turbine and the players.

Nice.

[Galeria]

I have to wonder why he bothered? It's a couple of paragraphs of marketing fluff.

Honestly, it's a little insulting that he really thinks "Great things coming, stay tuned" will make the players excited. We aren't kindergarteners. It again shows the huge disconnect between the guy running the game and the actual people who play the game.

Was this notice required by the Board of Directors or WB or something? It seems like an assignment half-heartedly turned in. Late.

[Ganak]

Hmmmm...methinks it may be vast and mysterious...

[grayham]

This is nice to see and looks promising. Thanks Turbine.

[AZgreentea]

Ah! Its Tolero!

Are you a ghost? Havent heard from you in so long I started imagining terrible things. :(

[red_cardinal]

hopefully it is something big like druids :)

Or a drow scropion wraith/radiant servant. :)

[sirgog]

So basically the 'news' is that we might get one or more dragons added to the game this year.

[die]

The Dragon Down Below....

Happy New Year,

[Cetus]

What a hunk of garbage that letter was. Thank you fernando for showing us you know how to spell, start new paragraphs, and use punctuation.

Do you honestly think you just told us ANYTHING in that "letter"? Thank you for letting us know that you hope we had a chance to roll an artificer class, or that we've had challenges and a new house introduced. We play the game, we know these things. Thank you Mr. Obvious.

Solid evidence for the disattachment between the players and the developers is provided by that letter, nothing more.

[Levonestral]

Trust me; it will be worth the wait!


Soon (TM) :rolleyes:


In all seriousness, looking forward to seeing what's coming up this year.

Though personally I'm hoping for some kind of some "stability" release; containing a large number of bug fixes and the completion of many long-since-forgotten things.

[Roland_D'Arabel]

What a hunk of garbage that letter was. Thank you fernando for showing us you know how to spell, start new paragraphs, and use punctuation.

Do you honestly think you just told us ANYTHING in that "letter"? Thank you for letting us know that you hope we had a chance to roll an artificer class, or that we've had challenges and a new house introduced. We play the game, we know these things. Thank you Mr. Obvious.

Solid evidence for the disattachment between the players and the developers is provided by that letter, nothing more.

/signed

+1

[Natashaelle]

Dragons, as a playable race, obviously http://www.asmfoot.fr/forum/images/smilies/smiley_ninja.gif

ZOMG !!!

[sweez]

Poor Fernando, it's like he's not even trying anymore

[spade413]

I agree that this letter is fluff, and contains no news for the future.

However, the post is "Happy New Years from DDO"

In the letter, we are, among the fluff, wished a Happy New Year.

I wasn't expecting news, I was expecting well wishes. I was HOPING for news, and instead received news that the news would be coming (and possibly that the news to come is more news of other news to come).

With that said, I can hardly be upset about the lack of news. I wasn't promised news, I was promised well wishes, which were offered.

Happy New Years, everyone at Turbine. And here's hoping the next letter will be the exciting news we were all looking for.

[Missing_Minds]

:sigh:
What's the matter? Fernando can't be bothered to actually post in the Forums himself?
Yet more disconnect between Turbine and the players.
Nice.

To be fair, a letter like this I honestly do expect to be posted in the manner that it was. I don't care what company/game, that is what I would expect and is proper actually.

But I will pick on this part of it.

"This most popular of Chinese zodiac symbols stands for innovation, persistence, passion and leadership – all attributes that have become part of the story of DDO as well. "

Well... I suppose an apparent lack of can be applicable given how much dragons do like to sleep. Eastern or Western.

[Missing_Minds]

Soon (TM) :rolleyes:

didn't we have an office poll or something guessing when the producer was going to use "soon"? I'd say that qualified.

[Taskmage]

Bottom Line:

2011 didn't work out like we thought it would, but at least it is now easier to make 2012 better, give us a week or two to figure out some ideas. Oh, and a happy new year.

--

Anyone seen those "hundreds of thousands of new players join our free to play service" during the last weeks? Guess he is counting the storage-accounts created due to that shared-plat-bank ****, not the people actually playing...

[Fernando]

While I did use the four-letter word "soon", I claim it really can't be considered the same as "soon (TM)" if is also time-bounded.

I would also like to claim that news of news is still news so long as the news to follow is awesome enough. You will have to let me know in a few weeks if this qualifies. :)

Cheers,
-Fernando.

[totalmir]

While I did use the four-letter word "soon", I claim it really can't be considered the same as "soon (TM)" if is also time-bounded.

I would also like to claim that news of news is still news so long as the news to follow is awesome enough. You will have to let me know in a few weeks if this qualifies. :)

Cheers,
-Fernando.

Staying tuned! ;)

[Khimberlhyte]

I would also like to claim that news of news is still news so long as the news to follow is awesome enough.
Are you, perchance, related to Donald Rumsfeld?

[Calebro]

Are you, perchance, related to Donald Rumsfeld?

lolz

[UnderwearModel]

Are my two words.

[badbob117]

While I did use the four-letter word "soon", I claim it really can't be considered the same as "soon (TM)" if is also time-bounded.

I would also like to claim that news of news is still news so long as the news to follow is awesome enough. You will have to let me know in a few weeks if this qualifies. :)

Cheers,
-Fernando.

Give us some kinda hint of what this new year Of the dragon will bring? New festival? New raid with a dragon? New dragon missions? Dragon cakes? Dragon race? Dragon invasion on market? Kobolds dressed as drag dragons?

Give us something! Anything! Just to tide us all over for the next few weeks! :D

[sherbertmachine]

Give us some kinda hint of what this new year Of the dragon will bring? New festival? New raid with a dragon? New dragon missions? Dragon cakes? Dragon race? Dragon invasion on market? Kobolds dressed as drag dragons?

Year of the Dracolich's? :D

[Hutoth]

Happy Year of the Dragon!
-Fernando.


Happy New Year to you as well and thanks for an awesome game!

[RedDragonScale]

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/6909/voteepoch.jpg

[voodoogroves]

While I did use the four-letter word "soon", I claim it really can't be considered the same as "soon (TM)" if is also time-bounded.

I would also like to claim that news of news is still news so long as the news to follow is awesome enough. You will have to let me know in a few weeks if this qualifies. :)

Cheers,
-Fernando.

Tease

[Galeria]

I would also like to claim that news of news is still news so long as the news to follow is awesome enough.

See, now this is a little more creative. I am curious now.

Thanks for posting, Fernando. :D

[Havok.cry]

I'm wondering what, in our past experiences, would induce us to "trust" anything he said?

[centuar1963]

A letter from our Executive Producer, Fernando Paiz to all DDO players! Click here (http://www.ddo.com/us/news/1872-happy-new-year-from-ddo)!

I just wasted time reading this post.... I got powned...
Now to get back to searching for someting interesting...
Maybe I should add, Happy new year to you also :) ... Now I added as much to the post as the author... +1 to me!!!!

[Captain_Wizbang]

I would also like to claim that news of news is still news so long as the news to follow is awesome enough. You will have to let me know in a few weeks if this qualifies. :)

Cheers,
-Fernando.


My prediction for 2012

http://i299.photobucket.com/albums/mm299/chefricochet/DDO/dnd41.png?t=1326073439

[Lifeblood]

While I did use the four-letter word "soon", I claim it really can't be considered the same as "soon (TM)" if is also time-bounded.

I would also like to claim that news of news is still news so long as the news to follow is awesome enough. You will have to let me know in a few weeks if this qualifies. :)

Cheers,
-Fernando.

It is so sad that you need to be reminded of this, it is "Soon™" ...not "soon (TM)"

[Joseph]

Why does he have a join date of 2006 - is that real or a mod edit? :p

[Galeria]

While his first post on the forums is recorded as this one (http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=2131644&postcount=1) on 04-06-2009, in it he states that he's been with Turbine since 2004ish so it's probably the correct join date.

[Sillk]

While everyone is bashing Fernando about not saying anything, I'll point out that he did give us 2 commitments.

1. "Stay tuned and you should see us start rolling out some announcements by the end of the month!"
2. "Then I will return to share with you more detailed plans for the year during the month of February before our anniversary."

He's basically saying, look for a press release of stuff in the next 3 weeks.

He won't give us all the info in a "Happy New Year" message.

It's probably going to be pretty big since they usually don't start stirring the "excitement pot" over nothing. I mean, they wouldn't just add 50% more staff to their design team if there wasn't a purpose.

[Hellllboy]

While I did use the four-letter word "soon", I claim it really can't be considered the same as "soon (TM)" if is also time-bounded.

I would also like to claim that news of news is still news so long as the news to follow is awesome enough. You will have to let me know in a few weeks if this qualifies. :)

Cheers,
-Fernando.

Im just happy you plan on a 2012 for DDO. :)

Every day this game stays online is a good one for me.

Thank you!

[RedDragonScale]

While everyone is bashing Fernando about not saying anything, I'll point out that he did give us 2 commitments.

1. "Stay tuned and you should see us start rolling out some announcements by the end of the month!"
2. "Then I will return to share with you more detailed plans for the year during the month of February before our anniversary."

He's basically saying, look for a press release of stuff in the next 3 weeks.

He won't give us all the info in a "Happy New Year" message.

It's probably going to be pretty big since they usually don't start stirring the "excitement pot" over nothing. I mean, they wouldn't just add 50% more staff to their design team if there wasn't a purpose.

I can't think of a good reason why he didn't just share the news now instead of delaying it. Sure, DDO's birthday is in a month but I would think it would be clear by now we don't like to be teased.

Out with it already Fernando!

[Recared]

"Happy new year 2012. 2011 was great, greater than previous years. 2012 will be greater. I can't give any details yet. Stay tunned."

:-P Happy new year!! :-)

PS: Really very excited about DDO evolution in 2012 :-) Thread about enhancements reengineering made me very happy!

[rdasca]

I will withhold judgment until we hear more, I have been disappointed with the u11 big time but outside of the notably major bugs, I have been mostly happy with the other updates of 2011.

I do expect better from my favorite game in 2012, and better communication from Turbine tops that list.

[Cyr]

That is the weakest letter from the producer that I have read and that says alot.

Saying there will be news in the future is not noteworthy.

[Postumus]

With that said, I can hardly be upset about the lack of news. I wasn't promised news, I was promised well wishes, which were offered.

Happy New Years, everyone at Turbine. And here's hoping the next letter will be the exciting news we were all looking for.

Yeah. Even someone as jaded and cynical as I am is a little taken aback at the negative responses to this letter.

He said "Happy New Year! Good things coming!" not "Go eff yourselves!"

[spyyder976]

While I did use the four-letter word "soon", I claim it really can't be considered the same as "soon (TM)" if is also time-bounded.

I would also like to claim that news of news is still news so long as the news to follow is awesome enough. You will have to let me know in a few weeks if this qualifies. :)

Cheers,
-Fernando.

Exactly, unlike the rest of you, I am super-excited that we have the news that we are about to get some solid news of the next updates. It's much better than hearing nothing at all.

[spyyder976]

Give us some kinda hint of what this new year Of the dragon will bring? New festival? New raid with a dragon? New dragon missions? Dragon cakes? Dragon race? Dragon invasion on market? Kobolds dressed as drag dragons?

Give us something! Anything! Just to tide us all over for the next few weeks! :D

Drag Dragons-Yay!

[ArkoHighStar]

While his first post on the forums is recorded as this one (http://forums.ddo.com/showpost.php?p=2131644&postcount=1) on 04-06-2009, in it he states that he's been with Turbine since 2004ish so it's probably the correct join date.

He only became the DDO Executive Producer when he took the job from his wife in 2009, who went on to become the LOTRO producer. Before that he was in the systems group, so he has been involved with DDO from the beginning but not as executive producer

[Deadlock]

I can't think of a good reason why he didn't just share the news now instead of delaying it. Sure, DDO's birthday is in a month but I would think it would be clear by now we don't like to be teased.

Sounds like it's being held back for a birthday-related press release. No point letting the cat out the bag now if that's the case. Lets hope that the quality of the news to come will be worth waiting for :)

Hopefully the news to come will address diminishing server population, ideally news of a server merge, and an acknowledgement that while newer long-anticipated MMO's are having an impact, the powers-that-be have a plan on how to tackle this for the good of the game and it's loyal fans.

Speaking as one of the last few to stand on the harbour walls outside of Zin's house, watching the setting sun as they switched the lights off on Keeper, I'm not reassured by empty statements that "hundreds of thousands of new players join our free to play service" when this doesn't cover player retention and basic things like server population. It's the sort of vacuous "technically correct if you look at the words used while trying to convey something else" marketing spun nonsense I used to write myself :)

Happy New Year to all at Turbine, and fingers crossed that the Chinese Year of the Dragon will coincide with the Celtic Year of Community Communication and Quality Content.

[spyyder976]

Sounds like it's being held back for a birthday-related press release. No point letting the cat out the bag now if that's the case. Lets hope that the quality of the news to come will be worth waiting for :)

Hopefully the news to come will address diminishing server population, ideally news of a server merge, and an acknowledgement that while newer long-anticipated MMO's are having an impact, the powers-that-be have a plan on how to tackle this for the good of the game and it's loyal fans.

Speaking as one of the last few to stand on the harbour walls outside of Zin's house, watching the setting sun as they switched the lights off on Keeper, I'm not reassured by empty statements that "hundreds of thousands of new players join our free to play service" when this doesn't cover player retention and basic things like server population. It's the sort of vacuous "technically correct if you look at the words used while trying to convey something else" marketing spun nonsense I used to write myself :)

Happy New Year to all at Turbine, and fingers crossed that the Chinese Year of the Dragon will coincide with the Celtic Year of Community Communication and Quality Content.



Um no, we don't want or need a server merge. We've already had merges before, and then they ended up adding new ones due to increases in pop. after f2p. Pop. always fluctuates in every game, and many people play multiple games, so people bounce around alot. Also many people who /ragequit return later, and new players are joining all the time. I don't see a population decrease really, and now that we have like 40 max toons per server, I don't think they're going to merge them and give us 80 per server, and I'm not about to buy back 40 slots if they do and lock half of them.

[mystafyi]

I don't see a population decrease really

If you happen to play at off peak times, then yes there is noticable losses. But, its very hard to justify merging servers when this would overload some servers during that prime time. Plus, merging servers in an mmo is normally seen as a dying act and I highly doubt turbine will do this unless they are forced.

perhaps turbine will implement a cross-server instance finder like they did with lotro to combat player losses in that game.

[TRonbrassring]

While I did use the four-letter word "soon", I claim it really can't be considered the same as "soon (TM)" if is also time-bounded.

I would also like to claim that news of news is still news so long as the news to follow is awesome enough. You will have to let me know in a few weeks if this qualifies. :)

Cheers,
-Fernando.

Are you making sure that players wont be able to exploit and make MILLIONS from the next update"'s" or when or if they do get caught its not a slap on the face to the players that dont CHEAT? I will never return and spend $ EVER until "YOU" start to punish them """perma BAN""".

Or make sure its FOOL prOOf. IE actually have playtesters that PLAY. To many exploits have gone unpunished up till NOW, your game is Tarnished.

[TRonbrassring]

Bump