447 replies to this topic

[Chronojam]

Oh well. Let's all play War Thunder instead.

[Mista Whizzard]

Garth Erlam, on 10 September 2013 - 10:09 PM, said:

[color=cyan]You worked really hard on this, and I'm sorry people have been giving you a hard time about it. Putting that much time and effort into something really takes a lot of heart. Make sure you take time for yourself and your family, as that's what's most important.[/color]

I wish you all the best, and good luck with your endeavours

Garth Erlam, on 10 September 2013 - 10:09 PM, said:

[color=cyan]You worked really hard on this, and I'm sorry people have been giving you a hard time about it. Putting that much time and effort into something really takes a lot of heart. Make sure you take time for yourself and your family, as that's what's most important.[/color]

I wish you all the best, and good luck with your endeavours

I didn't do it for me - I did it for you. From a purely business perspective, I believe that you have lost more than you have gained in the last few months. I wanted you to see that, and see that the numbers you have lost still care about the situation enough to participate in something like this. But there is still many I have not been able to reach. There are many old "faces" not represented.

I'm 28 years old, and I grew up playing Mechwarrior. I want you to succeed. But I just can't see it happening the way things have been going. I own my own business here in Australia, and although I will not claim to know everything - I know i don't ignore my customers desires in delivering my products and services. Especially my big spenders.

For what it is worth, I appreciate the acknowledgement.

[aniviron]

Garth Erlam, on 10 September 2013 - 10:09 PM, said:

[color=cyan]You worked really hard on this, and I'm sorry people have been giving you a hard time about it. Putting that much time and effort into something really takes a lot of heart. Make sure you take time for yourself and your family, as that's what's most important.[/color]

I wish you all the best, and good luck with your endeavours

Good Guy Garth in action^

[Kobura]

aniviron, on 10 September 2013 - 11:37 PM, said:

Good Guy Garth in action^

That WAS an unspoken promise fulfilled, that Garth has yet to be nasty to anyone that I know of.

Thank you, Mr Erlam, for generally 'being a good guy', even through the 'An explanation and an apology' boondoggle and what was essentially twitter censorship on the part of other staff. You just kept chatting and dropping. I was watching. Thank you, no matter how all this mess goes down.

[King Arthur IV]

drop anyway!!! if the servers go down then we know they did it.

drop drop drop!!!

[Almeras]

This isn't a troll but after reading some of this thread I feel the need to state how I as a player from the start I feel.

I don't support unite and drop.
I don't like the spin put on their numbers or rumour mongering
I'm happy with the game
The game is stable enough to warrant leaving beta.
I don't agree with the way they did some balancing but the result is the same (a more enjoyable game).
I understand that PGI are a business and how its never so easy to just 'fix' something
I really disappointed to see that UI2.0 is delayed again (but I'm sure PGI feel just as disappointed that it missed launch)

Edited by Almeras, 11 September 2013 - 12:41 AM.

[Mycrus]

OP, way to shoot yourself in the foot and cast the vocal minority in a bad light.

I was thinking of joining even if I didn't register on you site.

Instead of placing your trust in the community you chose to believe rumors instead..

My advice - next time you want to shoot yourself in the foot... Aim higher.

[Mista Whizzard]

Mycrus, on 11 September 2013 - 01:03 AM, said:

OP, way to shoot yourself in the foot and cast the vocal minority in a bad light.

I was thinking of joining even if I didn't register on you site.

Instead of placing your trust in the community you chose to believe rumors instead..

My advice - next time you want to shoot yourself in the foot... Aim higher.

Hey - F*ck you man. Half the reason I made the decision I did is because there are FAR too many of you sitting on the fence. You would prefer to throw Sh*t at someone who is prepared to stand up on your behalf. Cast bad light on the vocal minority? You dont know the half of it! The only reason that I have changed my status on this is because a few close friends in 'high' places across this community have encouraged me to let it happen regardless of my personal feelings.

I know that that there was a possibility that I was being played, but same information from 3 different sources at three different times? And potentially many more, as I am led to believe that there were many in the TS channel when this request was made. Any one else want to come forward and verify this publicly? I would think not, because you are all too scared to loose your precious squirrel statues...

Forgive me, but at the very least we have assurance that the servers will remain online - even If I did force their hand in this instance.

The event will proceed as planned, and I will be there, but I will no longer be monitoring this thread or the email account in which some individuals feel it is necessary to insult me.

To the supportive messages I may not have read and will not read due to my disgust with some people - Thankyou.

Goodluck.

Edited by Mista Whizzard, 11 September 2013 - 01:46 AM.

[Mycrus]

Whiz - who appointed you saviour of the inner sphere btw?

I hate piggy like every other pug - the way your acting now is plain and simple troll food.. Troll food by principle I cannot ignore..

And oh will you or shael explain this post??

"Just some clarification on my point of view and putting any "conspiracy theories aside", even if the suggestion by PGI to take the servers down for several minutes was a serious suggestion or just mentioned in passing as a joke, it did happen and there are some people in the community who are aware of it (heard the comment) but for obvious reasons cant or won’t talk about it.

For PGI to even consider shutting the servers down as a joke in passing, showed to me, Whizzard and others who are invovled behind the scenes of Untieadnddrop, that PGI don’t actually care about sections of the community that have supported them for a very, very long time.

Uniteanddrop was never a troll post and this I know as the amount of time, energy and money that MistaWhizzard, myself and others have put into it.

Unfortunately while there has been a large volume of support for the initiative, a lot of the support that we thought we had behind the event from aspects of the MWO community just hasn’t eventuated - read; hasn’t turned into registrations on the site.

So you put that together with comments like "lets shut the servers down", "Our founders log in at least once a month (which is supposedly a good thing)" and " we don’t listen to the canaries we listen to the numbers" as well as personal attacks, personal threats via PM's on the MWO site that I know MistaWhizzard has received from certain "trolls" in the community, can you really blame him for walking away from this?

Because I can’t and I’ve seen my friend over the past two weeks become more and more withdrawn, depressed and frustrated over Untieanddrop and the lack of actual support (via registrations) on the site and I dont blame him for walking away."

[Mista Whizzard]

Mycrus, on 11 September 2013 - 01:52 AM, said:

Whiz - who appointed you saviour of the inner sphere btw?

I hate piggy like every other pug - the way your acting now is plain and simple troll food.. Troll food by principle I cannot ignore..

And oh will you or shael explain this post??

"Just some clarification on my point of view and putting any "conspiracy theories aside", even if the suggestion by PGI to take the servers down for several minutes was a serious suggestion or just mentioned in passing as a joke, it did happen and there are some people in the community who are aware of it (heard the comment) but for obvious reasons cant or won’t talk about it.

For PGI to even consider shutting the servers down as a joke in passing, showed to me, Whizzard and others who are invovled behind the scenes of Untieadnddrop, that PGI don’t actually care about sections of the community that have supported them for a very, very long time.

Uniteanddrop was never a troll post and this I know as the amount of time, energy and money that MistaWhizzard, myself and others have put into it.

Unfortunately while there has been a large volume of support for the initiative, a lot of the support that we thought we had behind the event from aspects of the MWO community just hasn’t eventuated - read; hasn’t turned into registrations on the site.

So you put that together with comments like "lets shut the servers down", "Our founders log in at least once a month (which is supposedly a good thing)" and " we don’t listen to the canaries we listen to the numbers" as well as personal attacks, personal threats via PM's on the MWO site that I know MistaWhizzard has received from certain "trolls" in the community, can you really blame him for walking away from this?

Because I can’t and I’ve seen my friend over the past two weeks become more and more withdrawn, depressed and frustrated over Untieanddrop and the lack of actual support (via registrations) on the site and I dont blame him for walking away."

Thankyou... I've been seething over this all day, I missed the opportunity to read it firsthand. Reading it now, I see no big deal. What exactly would you like explained to you? Tell ya what, Your obviously online at the moment. Meet me on NGNG Teamspeak and we'll chat. I'll have a smoke and I'll meet you there.

[Mycrus]

I'm out having dinner.. I'll post my thoughts concisely later.
You might have mistaken me with a merc corp I used to know that loved to settle public things in private

[Mista Whizzard]

I'll settle this with you publicly if you wish. But for now I need to shower my daughter.

Right... I'm going to level with you:

Who appointed me? No-one. My original idea was my original idea. It was supported by some at town hall #3. A small team backed me up and assisted me in getting the website up and running, and spreading the word amongst various communities.

As for troll food... part of me agrees with you. For 2 weeks now I have been constantly trolled in many media by people who do not support the event. I previously mentioned all of this earlier in the thread. As Shael indicated in his post, the effects of this have had their toll.

The reason I ordered the timer to be frozen was purely based on a shift in my own beliefs. This was possibly not the best use of the information that I had been provided, and certainly not the best reaction I could have had to it. I did not think of anyone else other than myself. I was wrong and I apologise.

To explain my shift in beliefs, previously I had been operating under the assumption that some of PGI's decisions were being forced upon them by their publishers, who are by design, only interested in the money.

A lot of us founders have been playing for a long time now, and natural burnout has caused many to leave and play other games for a time. Many who I know left, returned. They were not happy with the way things had changed, so they left again. I wanted to show that if PGI was to cater to this community by communicating with us like they did in the days of closed beta, we would prove ourselves capable of financing the game long-term. Communication was one gripe that I thought we could all easily agree on.

This logic was reasonable. #saveMWO claimed to have 5000 signatures, but some of them were on behalf of complete units. I know from the division within my own unit that a unit leader cannot really claim that everyone feels exactly the same I needed to make this claim measurable. I thought about how this could be done, and the idea of a sync drop formed. What PGI would see on their end is represented (quick and dirty) on a pic on page 10 (i think) of this thread.

The idea of asking individuals to sign up and disclose their expenditure on the game was to demonstrate the financial value of these people protesting for change. If I could show even half of the signatures #saveMWO had, with an average spend of $100 US for instance, that a quarter mil. how long have we been in open beta, and able to invest money in the game? Less than 12 months? That would be a lot of money. And we would be talking in a language that the publishers, by design, would understand. The idea was we could turn the data in the database over to the devs at the end of the event, and they could cross-reference any expenditure claims as they saw fit, hence the request to keep all of this information accurate.

Now although the numbers on the website are not where I want or need them to be, across the member base we are looking at an average spend of just under $250US. Given the number of players registered, (which is a bit like online-on-server numbers for MWO - kept hidden because the are currently under-performing) this is an impressive average, above my expectations really. However the number of registrations, seen in this scenario as potential 'whales' (to use a term commonly used in theoretical free-to-play models) is down. One of my fears through all of this has been that we would proove ourselves a minority through non-attendance, hence my constant push for unit leaders to contact as many people as possible so that they can make up their own mind on the matter - even if they haven't played or invested money since open beta began.

To discover the possibility that the servers would get shut down was a huge blow. Apart from the fact it would be both embarrassing and stressful, (as many would panic and go down the "we just crashed the server - thats illegal" road) this would prevent PGI from collecting the data I want them to see.

Then came the perspective shift; when I realised they don't want to know. This was a devastating thing for me on a personal level. The level of contemptuousness that Garth apparently expressed toward the people who had registered for the event shocked me. The fact it was presented as an idea "for shi*ts and giggles" was mockery. For the record: Fox did refuse. Kudos to him for that.

Believe me, at first - I didn't believe the first 'informant' - I thought someone was pulling the puppet strings. Then shortly I checked the UniteAndDrop email address, sorted thru the spam and bullsh*t and found not one, but two emails confirming the original informants testimony. One of these was anonymous, the other was signed.

In hindsight, I would have gone public with the information anyway. I just wish I had have done it more wisely. Their response to this is textbook damage control. Caught with their hand in the cookie jar, they have now stated that they will not shut the servers down - which is a positive thing I guess, but they have introduced doubt in your minds about wether or not it would've really happened. They have not however, denied the conversation took place, and they even gave me a pleasant pat on the back for sh*ts and giggles to detract from this.

It does serve to prove that we have their attention.

Honestly, I am fearful that we will not amount to a group large enough for PGI to respond to, but it has been pointed out to me time and time again that this is out of my hands. It always has been, and always will be.

My supporters this evening are right about another thing; If the event does not succeed, I will be able to hold my head high knowing I did everything I could.

So with that, I am informed that the timer is again ticking down for those who are willing to participate. I remind everyone that even if you cannot make the drop, you can still register on the site and have your investments documented. But I stress to people that if you are actively participating, you need to register on the site as well. Much of the information explained this evening should have been read between the lines of the mission statement. One piece of data is strengthened by the other, and vice-versa.

I stand by my previous statement; I dont want to care. I thought it would be easier just to walk away, but the undeniable fact is I still do - care.

And so, Mycrus. I do, sincerely apologise to you personally, and everyone else - for my poor form and miss-representation of the UniteAndDrop supporters. I have been under enormous stress, but I do not wish to be excused as such.

I just hope that I have turned your opinion around enough to have you join the event on saturday.

I will be there, dispite my faults. It would be remiss of me not to say thankyou for the many messages of support that I received throughout the day today, and encouragement to restart the timer.

Whiz.

Edited by Mista Whizzard, 11 September 2013 - 05:06 AM.

[Kaijin]

Kobura, on 11 September 2013 - 12:33 AM, said:

That WAS an unspoken promise fulfilled, that Garth has yet to be nasty to anyone that I know of.

http://mwomercs.com/...54#entry1640854

[GalaxyBluestar]

I know I proberbly won't make the drop {i don't know what the time will be now, i was really relying on that countdown timer to sync, would've been 7:00am saturday in australia as i calculated it} but pulling the launch is simply not an option.

if the server shutdown is true, don't get spineless, launch and make people open the game to a can't loggin screen, force the hand and the truth. if this is an we're too embarresed about our numbers thing... launch and prove that you're true to your word as opposed to the scrap that pgi has/hasn't delivered the last year. who cares if the numbers aren't true and that pgi can gloat saying it's the minority after all. if pgi want to carry on as they are that's their fault and we all have to concede they're bringing the ip down with them.

just avoid mimicing them, the timer must start again, wether your words are big or hollow don't end up doing a lot of talk and then have nothing to show for it, do not become them.

all the best M whizz and i hope all goes well and admire that you started something huge, we're here to help you finish it too mate so don't give up on us.

[RurouniJones]

Kyle Polulak, on 10 September 2013 - 03:17 PM, said:

<ServerAdmin>Nope. Never, ever, would we shut the game down for a proposed user event. Regardless of method or process, users organizing a co-operative drop is the basis for our game.</ServerAdmin>

Hello Kyle, thank you for that. However I would like to ask the question which no one seems to have asked. Did Garth inquire to you, in any way shape or form, even in jest, about the possibility of shutting down the servers at the point that uniteanddrop is planning / planned to drop?

Of course, I am not exactly sure why I am asking this since if PGI wants to lie again then there is nothing we can do to prove it but what the hey, from what I have heard you are an honourable chap.

Edited by RurouniJones, 11 September 2013 - 03:49 AM.

[GalaxyBluestar]

well all i can say is some people were very quick to throw their "we're innocent" replies when MW post was made. 10hrs, it took and gee when an employer gaffs in an interview about only premium members can run in a merc corp did we get an OFFICIAL clarification in the 10hrs it took for the forums to burn up? no it took 2 weeks to be told it wouldn't happen. instead bryan ekman makes a podcast a few days ago that it's infact a propper lobby system that will be exclusive for premium members.

anywho it's interesting that any such rumours of this nature gets squashed in pretty much an imeddiate way {10hrs for pgi is immediate} so perhaps their might have been something in this rumour guys?

Kyle Polulak, on 10 September 2013 - 03:45 PM, said:

Also, Saturday at 7am? Are you MAD? That's soooooooo early to be up to type commands into a server. At that un-godly early hour "service mwo stop" would type out as "rm -rf /" in a terminal. You know; those keys are so close together.

and i see humour, almost of trollish nature is always employed at IGP/PGI, from reddit to twitter to here. the people who've set up UnD are actually serious people taking measures nobody {of selling a good product} should have to feel is necessary to take. they are concerned for your customers and your company's well being. please show some appropriate behaviour for the situation.

[N0MAD]

Chronojam, on 10 September 2013 - 10:29 PM, said:

Oh well. Let's all play War Thunder instead.

We have been, alot and i mean lots of team mates and others, ran into a WoL squad yesterday (in WT).
Have reached lvl 17 in German and average of lvl12-13 in other nations and spent roughly $150 since we stopped playing MWO.
The minute MWO provides game lobby my team mates, myself and im sure many others will be back to the game we would rather play.
Wiz, there are many different reasons people are not playing and thats a fundamental problem with MWO ..there are MANY reasons.
I and many wont support your effort simply for the reason, WE DONT play anymore, game is uninstalled or not updated.
PGI, another great disappointment that you have stated that launch is nothing, a non event..ohh well it was something many of us expected., your loss.
Like i said give me a game lobby and i will pay and play.
GL Wiz.

[GalaxyBluestar]

TIMER'S JUST COME BACK, THE DROP IS ON!

[PlzDie]

GalaxyBluestar, on 11 September 2013 - 04:00 AM, said:

TIMER'S JUST COME BACK, THE DROP IS ON!

Good news for once, thanks.

[Mista Whizzard]

Please see post 272 for my reply to mycrus - and all of you, for that matter.

Whiz.