What I a got from the live Discord Q&A for My.com

ArchivedUser

I listened to the discord Q&A on youtube (thankfully someone recorded it) and wanted to share the summary with you.

• Self publishing in eu was not possible - but why?
• They have spoken with many publishers but only My.com met the criteria.
• "We have a strong legal team"
• Creative control & customer service (& server) are writen in ink. Like server performance, base hardware specs to give 'stellar performance'
• My.com can not make it p2w
• My.com will handle financial transactions
• AoC will remain a subscription model
• updates are packaged by intrepid (to avoid virus & malware)
• The publisher has to make AoC their number 1 priority. This was probably one of the reasons whe other publishers didn't met the criteria. So we can expect better costumer support then what you might have exp before.
• Steven has trust(hopes) the updated the security (after all the breaches) but cannot assure us, but did menstion that this is also part of the contract.
• My.com shares the vision of Ashes
• Region blocking is still in discussion but probably won't happen. They can tag your traffic from eu based on IP geolacation
• ashes is my baby and i will make sure ..
• If My.com doesn't deliver - we will fix it -> change publisher..?

I hope their contract with My.com is rock solid and failure to adhere to the contract will face consequences

It feels that Steven has high standards set out for the publishers like: Be ready for a global launch. Ashes number 1 priority, no p2w, creative control for ashes and customer service standards. It feels like Ashes is setting the tone, and not other way around. Altough i would like to know more detail what is in the contract, that offcourse is not possbile

Listening to it did raise my hopes a little bit. Only time will tell..

You can listen yourself (it's a little laggy) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8AjI8LJK6c

Peace

ArchivedUser

leamese said:

• Self publishing in eu was not possible - but why?

It`s because of the law in the EU, you need to achieve some criteria to become a self publisher.
 

ArchivedUser

People have to understand. When you're dealing with other countries laws on different things, you can't just walk in and say. " I am ready to sell in your market!".  It's why my.com is being used. Now I will say I have no clue about how My.com operates as a company, I am only going by what I read. But at the end of the day AoC is still in the hands of Steven, and as long as he doesn't sell it, we all shouldn't worry over how it's going to be run. No matter who severs is being used. 

ArchivedUser

leamese said:

[…]

• The publisher has to make AoC their number 1 priority. This was probably one of the reasons whe other publishers didn't met the criteria. So we can expect better costumer support then what you might have exp before.
  

[…]

While I absolutely understand where this is coming from, to me this is a very odd criteria that only companies with no other successful major title in their portfolio can meet. Of course only my.com can claim that they will make AoC their number one priority because they crashed and burned all of their titles and don't give a fuck about their other games.

I am personally convinced that publishers like Gameforge or Trion would have been the way better choice even if they have other games to handle. You can say what you want about their pay to win strategies but both their support is stellar. I have never waited more than one day for a personalized and competent answer to my tickets and Rift was one of the best MMO launches I have ever witnessed. My experiences with my.com on the other hand were on the other end of the spectrum.

While I trust Steven and his lawyers to nail down server specifications and security measurements in a contract, their quality of service in terms of support and community management can only be seen when the game goes live - and it is way too late to do anything about it.

Sorry Steven, but this was a very bad move.

ArchivedUser

Thanks for putting the effort 

ArchivedUser

beyond89 said:

leamese said:

• Self publishing in eu was not possible - but why?

It`s because of the law in the EU, you need to achieve some criteria to become a self publisher.
 

Well for example Trion also location in USA and they publish game to EU. Why they can? But for some mysterious reason Intrepid Studios can't ? Another example Jagex they don't see any problem to publish game  to almost all world.

ArchivedUser

MinR said:

Well for example Trion also location in USA and they publish game to EU. Why they can? But for some mysterious reason Intrepid Studios can't ? Another example Jagex they don't see any problem to publish game  to almost all world.

Trion has been present in the EU for several years now, and has had no choice but to devote a significant amount of resources and expertise into navigating the legal framework present in the EU. Trion likely devotes a lot of effort into complying with the new GDPR regulations.

A bit of speculation here:  Intrepid Studios has not been around that long, and probably did not pay as much attention as they should have on the more stringent regulations and requirements of the EU market. By the time they realizes that the GDPR was a legal nightmare, they probably were incapable of getting all of the forms approves and requirements met by their expected/desired release date.

ArchivedUser

Nefelia said:

MinR said:

Well for example Trion also location in USA and they publish game to EU. Why they can? But for some mysterious reason Intrepid Studios can't ? Another example Jagex they don't see any problem to publish game  to almost all world.

Trion has been present in the EU for several years now, and has had no choice but to devote a significant amount of resources and expertise into navigating the legal framework present in the EU. Trion likely devotes a lot of effort into complying with the new GDPR regulations.

A bit of speculation here:  Intrepid Studios has not been around that long, and probably did not pay as much attention as they should have on the more stringent regulations and requirements of the EU market. By the time they realizes that the GDPR was a legal nightmare, they probably were incapable of getting all of the forms approves and requirements met by their expected/desired release date.

Many USA publisher publish games to EU and they don't have any issue.

ArchivedUser

My customer service experiences with Trion (going back to RIFT) were positive, they seem like a decent company from that end.

ArchivedUser

MinR said:

Many USA publisher publish games to EU and they don't have any issue.

And how many of those started as new entities after May 2018. I bet the number is extremely small. There have been multiple articles written on the chilling effect the GDPR would have on new businesses, the EU have only themselves to blame. They get to control their data and how it is used, but for new companies the attitude is why bother.

ArchivedUser

Of course my.com has to make AoC their priority, they probably don't have much else going on due to their reputation. 

ArchivedUser

Many of the suppositions put forth here seem logical, but another thought also occurs to me here and somewhat walks hand in hand with Unknowns comment: Intrepid has yet to produce *any* product. One of the hangups may literally be nothing less than the fact that they, as a studio, are unproven. Mayhap some of the EU legalese has even stronger constraints on companies with no prior history to help them weed out potential scam artists and the like. Obviously, Intrepid has a lot of talent on their team and the staffers have tons of credentials, but it does seem viable that the Union has blanket policies on entities with no prior history as a company.

ArchivedUser

ArchivedUser

Dragnon said:

Of course my.com has to make AoC their priority, they probably don't have much else going on due to their reputation. 

no doubt about the bad rep. They do have signed up a new game: Conqueror’s Blade. I do believe AoC will be their biggest project anyway.

That priority would be difficult for publishers like Trion because they have big projects running.

ArchivedUser

UnknownSystemError said:

Where did you receive that msg? Don't see it on Discord. This is still great about AoC and Steven. He listens to the community and acts on it! I'm looking forward to monday (probably) and se what Steven and My.com have to say. He seems positive .

ArchivedUser

Nefelia said:

A bit of speculation here:  Intrepid Studios has not been around that long, and probably did not pay as much attention as they should have on the more stringent regulations and requirements of the EU market. By the time they realizes that the GDPR was a legal nightmare, they probably were incapable of getting all of the forms approves and requirements met by their expected/desired release date.

I think you are right. They might have underestimated GDPR, and other regulations. Being an EU citizen the Bureaucracy and regulations are going out of control. If it is because of politics AoC is unable to publish itself in EU, it is a huge shame for EU.. but lets not get political

ArchivedUser

leamese said:

[…]

• The publisher has to make AoC their number 1 priority. This was probably one of the reasons whe other publishers didn't met the criteria. So we can expect better costumer support then what you might have exp before.
  

[…]

While I absolutely understand where this is coming from, to me this is a very odd criteria that only companies with no other successful major title in their portfolio can meet. Of course only my.com can claim that they will make AoC their number one priority because they crashed and burned all of their titles and don't give a fuck about their other games.

I am personally convinced that publishers like Gameforge or Trion would have been the way better choice even if they have other games to handle. You can say what you want about their pay to win strategies but both their support is stellar. I have never waited more than one day for a personalized and competent answer to my tickets and Rift was one of the best MMO launches I have ever witnessed. My experiences with my.com on the other hand were on the other end of the spectrum.

While I trust Steven and his lawyers to nail down server specifications and security measurements in a contract, their quality of service in terms of support and community management can only be seen when the game goes live - and it is way too late to do anything about it.

Sorry Steven, but this was a very bad move.

ArchivedUser

leamese said:

[…]

• The publisher has to make AoC their number 1 priority. This was probably one of the reasons whe other publishers didn't met the criteria. So we can expect better costumer support then what you might have exp before.
  

[…]

While I absolutely understand where this is coming from, to me this is a very odd criteria that only companies with no other successful major title in their portfolio can meet. Of course only my.com can claim that they will make AoC their number one priority because they crashed and burned all of their titles and don't give a fuck about their other games.

I am personally convinced that publishers like Gameforge or Trion would have been the way better choice even if they have other games to handle. You can say what you want about their pay to win strategies but both their support is stellar. I have never waited more than one day for a personalized and competent answer to my tickets and Rift was one of the best MMO launches I have ever witnessed. My experiences with my.com on the other hand were on the other end of the spectrum.

While I trust Steven and his lawyers to nail down server specifications and security measurements in a contract, their quality of service in terms of support and community management can only be seen when the game goes live - and it is way too late to do anything about it.

Sorry Steven, but this was a very bad move.