Tell us what you think of the Transition Update

[Ibn]

Let us know what you think of Jessica's Transition Update (http://ac.turbinegames.com/index.php?page_id=231).

[MadMonocle]

As one of thousands of players waiting anxiously for the ties to MS to be severed with AC1, I hope I can speak for a mulitude of players that we would love to help out with the new launcher.

Would your teams have the bandwidth to setup a ShadowClaim server again before the launcher is ready for primetime? This would allow us as players to help stress the new launcher. If the launcher (big IF) has volume issues, they can be resolved on Shadowclaim before releasing the new launcher.

We would probably even be willing to help with a huge scheduled login test with a few thousand at the same time to simulate what would happen to the login server once it is up after patch days or any other downtime and getting swamped with login requests.

Anyways we are here to help...

[Redux]

It's great to actually realise that you guys work very hard to maintain this game. I think a lot of players forget this. I'm encouraged by the work that you've done since the takeover, and I hope that, as a result, AC will be around for a long time yet.

[KPD157]

Its nice to see the Estimated time tables on what your trying to do as well as the Quality of Service your intending to provide :)

Really appreciate that our Accounts are important enough to not rush this and yet your working hard as you can too.

Thank you Turbine :)

[Diavo]

i know that hotmail stops incoming email into your acct if its inactive for a bit but even if it deletes it cant you just create the same email address again? (and have the info sent there?)

I know that you can also create Passports with email addys which are not from msn or hotmail. anyways just a thought.

[Osnap]

Thanks for the update. I hope you are able to purge the Passport/IE login from AC completely.

(Extreme techy warning)
The reason I'm saying this is that the only reason I'm booting into Windows nowadays is to play AC (1 & 2 ). While I got Internet Explorer under Wine to load and I was able to log into passport, the zone installation just don't want to cooperate. I know that it has a hard enough time installing on Windows, so I expected the worst for linux.

I am able to run 3dMark2000 very well (I only lose 20% performance between windows and linux) which I believe is built on the same version of Direct3D that AC uses. Even then, I could probably live in software mode to just login and putz around. hehe

Anyway, just something keep in mind. It could open up a new market. ;-)

[Harzah]

The sooner we are away from the Zone the better, but, with that being said, I'm very glad that you're being extremely careful with the "scary red box" bit - account security is not something I'd like to see screwed up.

Re: buying the games online - I assume you mean thru Turbine's own 'shop' site, if so that's awesome. It'd rock to be able to link peeps to Turbine's site instead of well, another, third-party site. I strongly believe that people should come to the official site for their first stop for any game.

Anyways, again I appreciate the effort you guys are going to to keep the playerbase informed, it means a lot and I find it very encouraging compared to other MMO's companies attitudes.

[Taine]

Sounds good. Proper communication will make this go a lot easier. I will try to bite my tongue when these outages keep me from playing, if not I guess you can't hear what I'm saying anyways.:) I'm sorry if I offend any of you.

[rageofmages]

I was one of those affected by the account deletions. There has to be something that could be done.

[Unsi]

Two questions....
1. The "Gator" you mentioned, does he run an IE sort of deal? My Spybot S & D is blocking Gain.Gator. I have had problems in the past with aggressive takovers of my Internet Explorer by that Gator.

2. What are the Req't s for the snazzier version of AC? I am on 2.3kbps dialup, and cannot do anything about it. If I got the beefed up computer that could handle the eye candy, would my phone lines handle the load? I am guessing probably not, since as it is, I cannot go to Alphus Lassal without risking damaging my system. I cannot use any of the Matron Hives either. I simply lock up and get to permit someone in a few minutes to clean up the lil peices left of me.

[Wha-Ching]

Now i am scared... my accounts all have emails that were created on free email accounts ie yahoo or hotmail that once i created them. I ever again loged into or on that email addy the only thing i have done is play ac with those accounts dose this mean that i am going to lose all my toons and my 3 plus years of playing when you take over billing.

[Jet-eye-nite]

How about some form of tagging that can be done to avert any problems with @Hotmail or @home or @Yahoo which are the 3 I have accounts on and of which @home is nomore and @hotmail I have never used that addy except to hook up to AC .These accounts are all tied thru .NET Passport .But you present an un-easy feeling in my gut :eek:

[Ibn]

Originally posted by Unsi
Two questions....
1. The "Gator" you mentioned, does he run an IE sort of deal? My Spybot S & D is blocking Gain.Gator. I have had problems in the past with aggressive takovers of my Internet Explorer by that Gator.

Heh, no, Gator is one of our server engineers, he's been here at Turbine for quite some time. No connection with the adware Gator whatsoever.

[Gregory_WE]

lol, when I read Gator, I knew that he was an actual person, but I knew someone would align it to the nasty spyware :)

2. What are the Req't s for the snazzier version of AC? I am on 2.3kbps dialup, and cannot do anything about it. If I got the beefed up computer that could handle the eye candy, would my phone lines handle the load? I am guessing probably not, since as it is, I cannot go to Alphus Lassal without risking damaging my system. I cannot use any of the Matron Hives either. I simply lock up and get to permit someone in a few minutes to clean up the lil peices left of me.

2.3kbps? I hope you mean BYTES not BITS! If you really do have a 2.3k connection, I'm amazed you can even connect at all, let alone post on these boards.

Anyways, what are your system specs? Most of the issues running the game are dependant on your hardware and software configuration, as opposed to your connection speed.

When you say "snazzier version", do you mean the graphical update in the expansion, or the new login procedure that is in development?

[joykil]

To the new launcher in development....

Please TEST, TEST and RE-TEST it with the players before you launch it and no reusing of AC2 launcher code.

I stop playing with AC2 is because the launcher cannot update itself or the game. During the initial launch of AC2 yes, connections/update issues for updating was resolved by using dialup to patch and logging in back through my broadband. But it was getting tiring to do that over and over again for like 6 months (no resolution was ever provided) so I quit AC2.

I'm a firm believer of "Don't fix what is not broken" but knowing that this move is important, I'll support it. I have been with AC1 for over 3 years now and should be continuing it (hey, I like your loot :D). I would hate to end playing this game if the same thing happens but I will. No use paying for something which I cannot enjoy.


All the best in the transition.

[Italuwa]

ok heres a problem, my passport id is an AOl one...i haven't used aol in a million years lol but sinceyou can't change you e-mail without buying a new cd key i'm kind screwed...so if you could tell me what i coud do so i don't loose my account..please and thank you

[Versace]

Computer $600.00

AC account $12.95

Being able to purchase an Asheron’s Call: Dark Majesty Physical Disc and CD-Key by Mail: Priceless

Thank you so much for implementing this. I'm on 26400 dialup, and my hard drive is really in need of a wipe. I've been holding off on it because it would take me three weeks to download all the patches!

[Shultz]

Whoa. You gotta donate your Model-T computers to the Sal Army and get yourselves some BMWs of a PC!

Cheaper way is to get parts from cheapest sources online and build it yourself. Saves quite a bit than buying the entire system wholly from the store.

[Gafoon]

Ibn,
I've mentioned this before.

Before Gator rolls out ANY authentication scheme, I'd seriously suggest you guys get some real cryptographers to look at it. Server engineers make lousy cryptographers (I know).

Given the problems that DAOC has had with their authentication scheme (they used to send the users credit card numbers over the internet in clear text on every login), you can't imagine how sensitive this is (see this (http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/347457/2003-12-10/2003-12-16/0) for more information about the DAOC issues).

I believe that Counterpane would be willing to contract to do a review of your authentication scheme, I'd even suspect that the crypto guys over at MS research might be willing to do it.

Whatever you do, I STRONGLY recommend that you have external peer review of your authentication mechanism.

This cannot be taken too seriously - if you look up Bruce Schneier's analysis of the Microsoft VPN implementation (http://www.schneier.com/paper-pptpv2.html) you can see what a competent cryptographer can do with what was thought to be a decent authentication protocol.

The one take-away message that you guys should get from my comments above is: Authentication is too hard to be left to server engineers. You need to hire someone competent who REALLY understands security to design your authentication mechanism if you don't want to be starring in a series of bugtraq articles.

[Dews_Pistol]

Computer $600.00

AC account $12.95

Being able to purchase an Asheron’s Call: Dark Majesty Physical Disc and CD-Key by Mail: Priceless

Thank you so much for implementing this. I'm on 26400 dialup, and my hard drive is really in need of a wipe. I've been holding off on it because it would take me three weeks to download all the patches! -Versace

- lol you MUST live near me, DSL Available in the year 2010 in these parts...

[Dews_Pistol]

As we get closer to the transition time, we’ll start talking about the process of moving subscriptions over from Microsoft to us, so you’ll be ready for the day. In the meantime, however, there is one extremely important step you can take to make it easier on both of us:
Right now, the only reliable way we know of to keep that from happening is to log into the account every four to six months, which means re-subscribing at least one month out of every four to six months to make sure the @msgamestudios.com Passport ID isn’t deleted. We’re trying to get confirmation from Microsoft Billing, Passport and Hotmail on the particulars of these issues and how they handle them; as soon as we get the info, we’ll pass it on to you. If we can work out another way to do it before the billing transition, we’ll post about it, but that is the way it stands right now. -- Jessica

First Question...what if we have hotmail for our log in but didnt use the email? The email is closed. We then go in and turn the email back on, same info as in the passport login required.

IE: Joesmith@hotmail.com - pswd: toodles
- it then says "CONGRADULATIONS! You have a blah blah"... and gives us the new account activation spew.
I think you will soon find that ALOT of the AC1 user DID not keep hotmail active and only use the thing to log in with.

Question number 2. My vassal was a retired gentleman and now orks again, to which he did not have tie to maintain his account. He has passed the account along to me to "babysit" while he works. The account is currently inactive. I can renew his account if it is needed. He also, however, has the hotmail passport info. I can log all the way to the play screen and then get the info that he needs to subscribe (which I can take care of).
Do I need to renew that passport email too?

[AvidGamer.org]

IBN, once you guys take over please make an easy way for us to change the email address that is associated with our login.

I stupidly used a hotmail account for AC 3+ years ago and that hotmail account got deleted because I didn't use the account enough.

So, for the past two years or so I have been loging into passport with a dead email account. Any emails that have been sent to me I never receive. I think it caused me to not get into AC2 beta.

Also, I really hope you do away with passport period.

[Baby Ogre]

I also have been playing for 4+ years with an old obsolete email account I have never used for email, just for AC/Passport login.....


Please make sure we have a way to change email addys somehow..... I don't care to lose 10 characters... plus 2 new ones in June .......

Thank you

[Frieze]

Yahoo won't delete your account unless it overflows with spam and you go over your free limit. Then, when they do routine account deletions it will go.

Hotmail on the other hand, will delete accounts that are not logged into every 2 months.

You can still use both of these free emails as passports even with expired email accounts! Just, as was said, if you don't log in every 4-6 months, the passport account deletes inactive email accounts.

I am wondering - how do I change my passport? I am using a verizon email and I haven't been a verizon customer for a very long time (I moved...) While I don't think they delete accounts, and MS may not delete non-hotmail/yahoo passports, it would still help if there were a step-by-step guide re:how to change your passport.

I remember there being a lot of hoops if you wanted to use a non-hotmail account.

[The Darkness]

All looks good, but myself, like others on this thread and many, many more do not have access to the email accounts we originally used to set up our passport accounts (non hotmail).

Please do not make it mandatory to be able to access your current passport email account in order to transfer across to the new billing system. If you do have to do this, please think about a way of allowing players to change the email associated with an account.

Sure - use the password/email combo to verfiy account details, but if you do rely on people being able to access their old, perhaps defunct/inaccessible email accounts you will lose a lot of old time players who may not have the energy or willpower to re-roll a newbie again :)

Some reassurance on this point would make a few people sleep a little easier too (or not as the case may be!).

Cheers

[Zorch]

When you make the new log in application, please make it *easy* to use. Currently I have to launch IE (which otherwise wouldn't be on my machines), load two web pages, manually enter a username and password, go back to the launch page, wait for zonefriends to start and connect so I can close it, wait for the server room box to open so I can hit play, etc etc etc...

What I want to have is a desktop icon that launches a small, fast-loading window where I enter my password (with the option to remember the username and password) and then go directly to the character selection screen. *I want one click, select character, and play.* No logging into a website or starting some chat window. No loading and starting to play a movie every single time I log in. Less unnecessary junk at program launch makes playing easier for us and less for you to code, stabilize, and update.

[Frieze]

Originally posted by Zorch
I want to have is a desktop icon that launches a small, fast-loading window where I enter my password (with the option to remember the username and password) and then go directly to the character selection screen. *I want one click, select character, and play.* Very much agreed, up to the 1-click-select-&-play. The character selection screen we have now, with the character selection and a log-in (play) button, is perfect. Cutting down on the clicks we need to do by ONE isn't necessary, and it would take a lot of getting used to. :p

[AtmaDarkwolf]

When you take over the game, will you offer more than just the present payment methods? I am curious if you will ofer a pay-by-cash option or not(they use paypal or other ways to pay, takes a little longer than creditcards, but it is safer in my eyes)

I do not know if it would be easy or hard to apply this option, but I think it would be a good move and would net you quite a lot of new players. Many ppl now have no credit card or access to one, and this would allow them to play also.

Thank you for reading this, hope you awnser.. :)

[Bob Coit]

I understand the issue about Hotmail etc.
I havent seen a response regarding invalid/inactive emails. Will we be able to keep our invalid email as a sign on name to the new billing system ( and thereby keep all chars associated with that email) or will there have to be a valid email?
I quit AOL a year ago and dont want to resubscribe just to get access to these chars. Is there a way to associate the old invalid email to a new valid email name for the new system?

Your answer probably affects alot more accounts than you realize!
I have 2 accounts, one at risk and won't be renewed if this can't be resolved.
:(

[Ged]

I am really worried about this e-mail thing. 2 of my 4 accounts have passports on e-mail addresses that don't exist anymore, on account that I changed ISP's and lost those addresses. We need a way to change migrate these accounts without having an active e-mail address behind the passport account. If it is just notifying us via e-mail then thats not a big deal. Preferably we should be able to perhaps go to a screen, type in our subscription number, *current* credit card (not the original) and passport id and gain access that way.

When you have accounts 4 years old it is unreasable to think that everyone will have their original e-mail addresses.

[Ibn]

Originally posted by AtmaDarkwolf
When you take over the game, will you offer more than just the present payment methods? I am curious if you will ofer a pay-by-cash option or not(they use paypal or other ways to pay, takes a little longer than creditcards, but it is safer in my eyes)

We are investigating other options, and we certainly would like to offer them if possible. But I can't make any promises.

[Jape]

>>>We are investigating other options, and we certainly would like to offer them if possible. But I can't make any promises.

How about adding "Pay by SMS", or other similar systems.

Not everyone can get credit card, but pretty much everyone has cell phone these days. (atleast in Finalnd where i live).

Dunno how viable this type of system would be with international business like online game, but theres lots of stuff we can pay with cell phone these days in Finland (for example, we can pay parking fees with SMS if we want to).

[Doc Feelgood]

OUCH!!!

Keeping hotmail accounts alive is not going to happen. I loathed having to become ensared in the .NET system in the first place, and I sure wasn't about to do anything to encourage it's purpetrators... and that was in 1999.

I've already lost access to my AC2 account because of that "keep it alive" requirement. (and, No, you don't get access if you open a new account with the old account name. I tried that.) The good news was: I cared so little for AC2 that I was bothered only slighty by that bureaucratic snafu.

That will not be the case for AC1. **I will feel very badly about Turbine if I'm cut out of my AC1 accounts.** Years of playing have gone into them.

I have three active accounts. Last year I kept them all open. But now with the xp chain nerfing and the price increase, I keep only one open at a time.... and I have never... ever.... done any mail on any of those hotmail accounts I use as names.

You must find a way around that requirement... [shudder] Now you've spooked me. Perhaps the best way to deal with this is to leave the old login method in tact?

Come up with a good solution. (Hint: If I'm paying money to someone, someone knows the username besides hotmail.)

Doc Feelgood

[Alltu_Tru]

is there no new news about this??? I moved 3 states away since I started playing AC, and I made my account with my local email at the time!!

am I gonna lose my account??? if so, tell me NOW!! I do NOT want to spend 28 dollars a month for the next 5 to 6 months then lose everything!!

Give us some NEWS!!

[oxbow_td]

What will be the effect on existing characters in the database if those accounts become inaccessible? I maintain rank mules for my monarchy, but because of this warning, I just went to check on the accounts, finding 10 of the 12 passport IDs have disappeared.

I can live with never being able to access the accounts again, but if the associated characters are also deleted, there are going to be a lot of mansions suddenly going up for sale.

I happen to have all of the original information for all of these accounts (including the CD keys), so if there is a way to reassociate the zone IDs with existing emails and new passports, I'm more than happy to do it.

On the other hand, if character deletions will occur because of this, you might want to suspend mansion rank requirements long enough for people to make alternative arrangements.

[Li of LC]

Ibn:

Seems like every time I've had the chance to play for the last three weeks, the Zone has had "issues." (Including right now, for instance, as well as all of last weekend).

If this keeps up I'll cancel my accounts until Turbine implements its own *working* authorization/billing system.

What's M$ charging you for theirs right now? whatever it is, it's too much.

[Cryhavoc]

I started AC1 in 2000 and at the time had only 16.7 K baud rate dial up. It was playable, but difficult during big quests.

Some fixes, if you cant go broad band:

1) Update your home wiring if it is possible to do so. Often, you can get to 44K/56K just by repairing your telephone line, for internet connectivity

2) Several ISPs are offering graphic compression or accelorators and they do work. Shop around.

3) Any upgrades that can help your comp process the info u do get, is always a good thing. Many are obvious, but upgrading hard drives is often overlooked.

Im looking for another PvP game to spend time when my current game is down or doesnt excite me anymore. The next expansion pack for AC1(next year ugh) looks good but I refuse to download MS zone files. Good luck.