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NCSoft Drops GameGuard From Western Launch of Aion
chalkyj writes "NCSoft has announced that they will be dropping GameGuard from the western launch of their upcoming MMORPG, Aion. The flawed Korean anti-cheat software has been heavily criticized for employing root-kit like techniques and conflicting with many hardware configurations. The final straw is thought to have been the stability issues experienced by players during open beta and the community outcry it caused. The decision makes Aion, which recently announced over 400,000 western pre-orders, a real contender in the western MMO market."
Blizzard has 2500+ people working POORLY in customer support related jobs. They make decisions based on hearsay and ban without even doing a thorough investigation into the matters at hand. It's beginning to cost them in playerbase (I know, they still have a lot of players) just as it did with SOE and EverQuest when WoW was initially released.
Now take that above and toss nerfs into the mix. Not just item nerfs or class nerfs, but CONTENT nerfs. Making "epic" raid encounters so trivial that almost any casual guild with all green gear and ventrilo can take out most of the upper-tier content. Then mix that all together with a healthy dose of balancing classes mostly around PvP, thereby hurting PvE and you have nothing but a foul tasting mix of crap left.
I played WoW from early betas until about 7 months ago (I quit to wait for Aion) and, honestly, the game was much more fun in the early days... until PvP balance became much of the designer's and developer's main focus. I mostly did PvP with my rogue and not to float my own boat, but I was good at it. Then some warlock made a video that showed his poor class playing ability and how rogues were somehow so uber they needed to be nerfed to Hell and back. It got to the point where every PvP nerf they gave me hurt me in PvE high-end raiding content. Even with tier 7+ gear it was hard to do what a rogue SHOULD do - damage things better than the tank at least.
Yes, I am bitter toward WoW and Blizzard. In fact, I hope WoW dies a horribly, slow burning death. I hope it falls from grace FASTER than EQ did when WoW took the throne. Hopefully the players who want a challenge in PvP and PvE (combined, mind you) will make the switch to Aion and find what I found during beta: fun in an environment that isn't so easy to conquer as WoW has become.
Sorry for the rant, but Blizzard took over 4 years of money from me, only to turn their game into a mess. I will go now. Oh... and sorry to the WoW fanboys who will be hurt by the truth above.
Most customers are idiots, and the influx of casual and dumbed down game that we are getting today is the result of studios 'listening to their customers'.