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I have to start Wilfan by saying I love this post. Though I might appear to be "disagreeing" with you, I"m not. We share a lot of common ground in our beliefs and I see this as brainstorming with you, with us approaching the same issues from different angles. Lets remember, though, that I am...

I"ve made clear I live in the UK, but there are a number of people who have been involved in this thread who Curt should consider giving interviews to; if Wilfan works in the areas he is talking about he is certainly one of them. Actually, I live in Liverpool - after a year of involvement with...

Cross posting from PotBS thread : The thing you can see with Blizzard is they are trying to develop methodologies, unlike the rest of the industry. Apart from anything else, you can tell that from their various staffing levels throughout their projects. My opinion is that the industry needs...

Thats really interesting stuff. I spent a few years working for Kleinwort Benson in Fenchurch St London - I had a few friends working at Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs just round the corner from us. I wonder if we have any mutual friends. I was with Jon Larson, Paul Brock and Mike Holmes etc...

QA don"t do the scheduling, as they don"t do the project plans. Their role is to ensure its all in place and being done properly. This triple underlines everything I"ve said. This is a great point. Why I stated it takes a complete culture change to make it happen and why the system and the...

Good luck to you and to them.

Doesn"t that make you stop and think for a second ? Most of us don"t expect the same level of QA in the MMORPG Industry as we do "in business". Even someone like you, who has shown a good degree of insight and knowledge. The MMORPG industry is going to grow massively in the coming decade...

QA done properly is involved in every area of the project. It makes sure that : i) project plans and time scales are in place, solid and followed from project inception; ii) it ensures documentation is everything it needs to be, so that for example new employees could come in cold for...

Fantastic stuff. Really; fantastic. I agree. If I lived in the States I would come and work for you for a crust of bread and a stale loaf a week and happily put in 100 hours a week. Seriously. The problem here is I am telling you that QA needs doing better than it has been done before in our...

Lets make it simple - the industry leaders can now rake in $200mill a year in subs alone. In the next decade that market is going to increase 10-20 fold. For the people who will be competing for a significant slice of that, getting QA right will make the difference between them having the...

I don"t think there are many good QA folk out there in the industry. They might have been at it for 3-5 years, but that doesn"t mean they are doing it properly or learning what they need to. Look at Sony again. A prime example of how not to do it. Since 2001 they"ve used the same QA staff on...

No need to apologize; its an interesting debate and one that most MMO game players would find boring as heck, so its one that tends not to happen I understand the points you are making. I understand the points I am making; I"m failing spectacularly to communicate my points. Mike isn"t...

I"d called it realistic, rather than unfair. Guess we just disagree on this point As a rough outline, the person we are talking about would be qualified to a minimum of degree level in Management/QA/ Project Management, have the experience and respect commanded by Brett Close and, if they...

Thats where I fundamentally disagree. I"ve said I don"t believe the skill set exists within the industry, although it does exist in the IT world. You will have to compromise on this, if you want to be the best you can. The obvious - your QA should be there from soon after the project...

Actually, I think 38 Studios teeter on the brink, with regards to QA. Its in so many other areas they excite me. Where I meant they are different to the competition is they only need to recruit a couple of folk to make things work - other companies would need to change their entire ethos. I...

A final analogy, to summarise my belief in how a very small number of people could totally revolutionise the MMO industry. I"m going to look at the Manufacturing industry. I have a University Degree in IT and Project Management and HNDs in Electronic Engineering and another in Management and...

At this point, I want to differentiate between 38 Studios and their competition. I have very strong beliefs about how to revolutionise the MMO industry, through the processes I"m talking about. At this point I want to underline it doesn"t apply to 38 Studios - they are most of the way there...

I appreciate and agree 100% with what you say, Scott. I"m not communicating brilliantly here. Let me try a different tack. I used to work for IBM; I was an IT Architect and Project Manager in the Public Service Business (runs all IBMs Government projects). I went to run a project at a...

No offense to either of you, but right here is why Blizzard will continue to rule the roost. If someone says QA, people assume testing and see it as entry level. I despair, honestly. QA needs a seat at the head table. The guy who owns responsibility for QA (and you need someone, you...

There are a number of reasons why considering PvP in WoW is a whole different ballgame compared to considering PvP to any other game presently developed. Its significant that WoW is over three years old and has only released one expansion. People find the game fun and they want to keep...

You may be right, but as dumb as it sounds I don"t think its the PvP that makes PvP popular in WoW. Its that it provides GOOD item rewards and thats its accessible, its easy and its within clearly defined boundaries. ie its like Team Fortress 2 within the game, with good rewards. I don"t...

I believe he did. Everybody has the right to choose whether they believe it or not. That doesn"t change the fact (IMO of course). Same as just because you think you twinking doesn"t affect other people playing a game, it doesn"t mean its true. The devs have to balance content with regard to...

Its another vote for the FFXi class system - same toon can level multiple classes. All that redundant gear can actually be useful to you again when you play another class. Anyone notice a theme yet ?

As another aside, try running 4 Mages and a Priest. Once you have instant cast, spam-able AE DPS and group heals its so much fun it defies description. Also much easier than first appears due to the killing speed of 4 AE Mages - heroics instances are a lot of fun, with the Priest mainting aggro...

Personally I was boxing before RoK. But I only know of one other person on Bristlebane who was. It certainly enabled me to be the first Myrmidon on the server and, probably, one of the few first server wide a few days days after RoK released. I used to love Kedge; I used to spend so much time...

There were very few people boxing before EQ1 hit Planes of Power. Funnily enough, while on forums like this boxers were anathema back then. the real growth in people boxing started with the high end guilds. Then the endless nights wiping trying to beat various of the Planes produced burnout in...

Exactly. This is why you need a person whose position is responsible for Quality. Also agree about the "mindset and people thinking they are right" part. It comes down to being "teachable" no matter how old or accomplished you are. Always wanting to improve, to learn and being open to the...

Score !! Good call; but why limit it to just the trash mobs ? What are other folks feelings on the AO mission system ? Dynamic objectives, dungeons and bosses. Infinite replayability, limited only by the quality of the designers and the writers. Only as one option in the game, though. If...

I agree absolutely with these assertions. I believe that the need for instances in large and succesful MMORPGs are beyond question. One of the few debates to be had by game designers is whether they implement solo instances. The answer to this question depends on many fundamental aspects of...

i) Things have changed since EQ. Due to smaller populations, the influence of the bigger guilds and the total lack of instancing we had mutual respect - you wouldn"t jump over other parties and camping was respected. Some servers even had spawn calendars planned months ahead, with guild rotation...

I"d respectfully suggest this is something you need to care about. Its something that will make or break your game. Decide which way you care about, decide to believe in that and embrace it, as early in a games design as possible, then commit to that approach 100%. Its helpful to look...

Is that aimed at me or Ryan, Draegan ?

A small number of professions do not have the level of competence within the industry, that exists outside of it. I"m talking about Quality Managers, Project Managers and Managers, rather than developers and game designers. I used to work for IBM. I went to work with them for Dresdner and...

Thats a really great answer to a very poorly prosed question A big part of the issue is that I say QA and most of the industry think "bug finding and testing" or lack of bugs. A far more important aspect of Quality Assurance is controlling the managers, the project managers and the...

That was true a couple of years ago, but not so much now. When the game launched four years ago I used to play in Japanese parties, because I"m in the UK. Generally, they are so much better at the technical aspects of games; they"re use of skill chains really set them apart. It took two or...

The next FF MMORPG has been in development for over two years and is managing to stay well below the radar. The job (class) and combat systems are without equal and will surely be kept. If they embrace the PC (they surely will ?) and drop their ideas of unified worldwide servers (I don"t think...

Theres a thread on EQ2 Flames, where 38 Studios has been discussed for a couple of pages. The guys there are saying they don"t know much about it and a couple of numpties are even comparing this to Sigil and Vanguard. My stand there has been about what I perceive as the strength of 38 Studios...

Theres loads more to be had out of fantasy settings. The problem is that each new iteration sticks to so many of the fundamentals of EQ1, without applying lateral thinking. i) six player party; ii) 50 levels (or thereabouts); ii) party needs a tank and a healer, the rest is, well who cares...

You mean like when they removed Leap Attack from Warriors, without any kind of explanation. A 30-40% decrease in DPS without any kind of communication. Eventually, they sent word via approved sites, that it had been removed due to a programming bug they couldn"t get right and they had higher...