8891 réponses à ce sujet

[ViSeiRa]

Hey guys, the refuge has launched

 

The Refuge: https://the-refuge.net

 

Launch thread: https://forum.biowar...e-has-launched/

 

Hope you find it worth your time and your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[AngryFrozenWater]

Somebody help me out here and recommend a mail provider that's accepted on Fextra. Seems like my mail accounts are considered "junk mail" over there.... I dismiss that claim, of course.

This is what Fexelea posted earlier about that:

Any disallowed emails are because of spambot abuse, gmail, yahoo etc are all allowed so you can make one to register. Sorry for the inconvenience

[Pasquale1234]

It took me awhile to catch up with this thread. Many thoughtful posts over the last several days.
 

I'm pretty much convinced by now that MEA will be the last game from BioWare as we know it today before the company is dissolved and redistributed amongst EA divisions, the remaining employees set to work on mobile/facebook style games, online, microtransaction filled games, etc...A forum is useless for a company that no longer exists and facebook and twitter are perfect to talk about mobile/etc...games since there's not much to them.

Hmmm... I dunno. ME3MP was certainly popular, and MEAMP may be as well (DAIMP not so much). Such games allow devs to straddle a larger market, since you have a huge game attracting SPers plus a popular MP experience rolled into a single package at full price. Add DLCs and MP microtransactions, and you have a formula that can provide an ongoing revenue stream for minimal cost (a server to host MP matchups and microtransactions).

Mobile/FB games may require a little less development work up-front, but possibly a *lot* more long-term planning and contingency establishment. People seem to expect a steady stream of new content as they complete the existing stuff on those platforms. You also seem to attract quite a few free riders, and need to make the environment highly competitive (and/or paid content highly desirable) in order to get enough people to pay to win.

So long as EA was satisfied with the ROI on the last couple of releases, and believes it can be maintained, I'd be quite surprised if BioWare discontinued either ME or DA.
 

By the way, I just finished Act 1 of DA2.

Holy Christ, the game is broken. Armor pieces not showing up correctly on companions,

DA2 was the first BioWare game to feature "iconic" appearances for followers.

IIRC, you're not supposed to be able to put armor on them. All armor pieces are intended only for Hawke. LIs will wear an alternate outfit if you romance them, however.

[AlanC9]

Maybe he's talking about the add-on pieces for companion armor not working?

[Filament]

You can find armor upgrades for companions but, by design, it doesn't change their appearance. The only thing that changes their appearance is the LI outfit.

[TobiTobsen]

hotmail works. I think gmail and yahoo mail will as well.

 

 

This is what Fexelea posted earlier about that:

 

"Any disallowed emails are because of spambot abuse, gmail, yahoo etc are all allowed so you can make one to register. Sorry for the inconvenience"

 

 

[Bob Walker]

You can find armor upgrades for companions but, by design, it doesn't change their appearance. The only thing that changes their appearance is the LI outfit.

 

Or mods... 

[Filament]

mods

 

 
RIP Bob Walker 2012-2016

[Khayness]

Hmmm... I dunno. ME3MP was certainly popular

 

I still don't know why people loved a barebones horde mode that much. Maybe its tie-in to the main game makes me dislike it. Or maybe promoting enough N7 guys for the best ending on 50% readiness just in case, before I jumped into the last mission, only to realise I probably won't replay it anyway did make me dislike it.

 

On second thought, wasting time grinding promotion war assests seems the more likely reason.

[Angry_Elcor]

My favourite aspect of Mass Effect is the elcor Hamlet, I propose we make a thread where we turn every Shakespeare play into the truest, elcor version.

 

This. But with rocket launchers.

 

 

*Destructively* Alas poor target, how can I destroy thee? Let me count the ways...

[Furisco]

You don't suppose the decision to close the forum has anything to do with how lucrative the Pachinko market is...?

Mass Effect Pachinko anyone? 

 

Oh no... It's Konami all over again. Next Bioware will launch Mass Effect: Survive. A game with no depth where we kill a lot of Krogan zombies.

[Furisco]

 

Hey guys, the refuge has launched

 

The Refuge: https://the-refuge.net

 

Launch thread: https://forum.biowar...e-has-launched/

 

Hope you find it worth your time and your feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

THIS FORUM LOOKS SO GOOD!

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

Somebody help me out here and recommend a mail provider that's accepted on Fextra. Seems like my mail accounts are considered "junk mail" over there.... I dismiss that claim, of course.

Fextralife cooperated with me when I tried signing up with a gmail.

[Fiery Phoenix]

Thought this was a good reflection on the situation:

 

[Spirit Vanguard]

I don't have anything against the romance or other character fan threads. I don't participate in it, but I let them be. Some people seem to like that stuff. To believe that it is sub par to other topics, or that the motivations to participate in these are inferior in some way, feel like an elitist view. Live and let live.

 

Personally, my fascination for games and most other media is the characters. I don't know why but they're always my focus and I like talking about them with others. Romances are just a part of that. I keep those talks in the specific threads, though. 

 

I don't care about Romance Demands type of threads. Probably because I don't have any demands for romances anyway (as long as they don't repeat femShep in 3 again, which I don't believe they'll do.)

 

Thought this was a good reflection on the situation:

...

 

Weird to see my BSN self in that video.   

 

My favourite aspect of Mass Effect is the elcor Hamlet, I propose we make a thread where we turn every Shakespeare play into the truest, elcor version.

 

 

[Vordish]

Hey guys,

 

There could very well be another likely reason for the forum shutdowns. Related, I should say, but not a seperate reason. Mass Effect remasters.

 

http://www.gameinfor...remastered.aspx

 

http://gamerant.com/...r-308/undefined

 

http://www.gamespot....s/1100-6442698/

 

http://www.ign.com/a...-likely-says-ea

 

This news in addition to previous context of how this company behaved regarding ME3 ending and the "toxicity" of criticism on the forums makes it very likely that this move was planned in advance.

 

I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt it.

[Kantr]

My favourite members on this forum (in no particular order) Banshee Ownage, Hrungr, Dragon Racer, Natashina, Shadowson (who gave me a key to the keep)aarcher86(who offered to give me a key) and a few other I've probably forgotten

[AngryFrozenWater]

Hey guys,

 

There could very well be another likely reason for the forum shutdowns. Related, I should say, but not a seperate reason. Mass Effect remasters.

 

http://www.gameinfor...remastered.aspx

 

http://gamerant.com/...r-308/undefined

 

http://www.gamespot....s/1100-6442698/

 

http://www.ign.com/a...-likely-says-ea

 

This news in addition to previous context of how this company behaved regarding ME3 ending and the "toxicity" of criticism on the forums makes it very likely that this move was planned in advance.

 

I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt it.

In my opinion, the reason for the close down is simply a corporate culture based on fear and insecurity. That culture wants to control. The "new media" and the traditional media are easy to control. That fits such a culture. What people write on forums is not easy to control. So, these have to go.

 

Social media allow them to filter unwanted responses or are ineffective for in-depth conversation and criticism. That way they can bow and wave to crowd. Praise is what they are after.

 

The traditional media (like on-line magazines) eat everything the marketing of a large company feeds them. It is in their best interest to do so, otherwise the chance of their next scoop is zilch, or they will be dropped from the list of pre-release review copies, or they will lose ads of the company. So when a games company tells them to jump, they'll ask how high. If EA tells them the forums are toxic, then that's enough click bait to keep the magazine happy and there is no need to investigate the claim. In fact, everyone is happy, even the audience, especially because every outlet produces the same crap. Why would the mass audience believe otherwise?

 

We see large game companies, such as Microsoft, even try to influence YouTube channels for the same reasons. It is no coincidence that the FTC has jumped into this, because channels, which were actually sponsored, didn't disclose that. Many (bigger) channels are also afraid to lose their scoops or being removed from the pre-release review copy list. DMCA copyright strikes (in which the channel has little power) are also an effective way to silence YouTube channels. Three strikes and you are out.

[BansheeOwnage]

All those people who sported the Shepard Deserves Better Fans banners and insulted everyone who didn't love the ending didn't consider themselves toxic, because BioWare fans can't be toxic, obviously. If BioWare said Twitter is a better place than BSN, then it must be. You just can't accept change, you entitled hater.

 

 

Also, we need a Toxic jar, whenever someone posts the word 'toxic', you put a dollar in it.

 

I'm already 4 bucks short.

Ugh, those people 

Spoiler

 

That was like, the epitome of self-righteousness on the boards at the time, I thought.

 

But here's some nostalgia for everyone:

I made one, too

It's so tempting to me to get my posts back (I probably have several novel's worth over the last 6 years) but for me I just want it all to be gone and I want to be done with BioWare (the only game of theirs I still play is SWtOR). Joining one of those forums will put me back into that vicious cycle of "well I didn't like their newest game or the one before that, or the one before that, but I'm sure there is hope for the NEXT game...right?" I'll be encouraged and hyped by the rest of the people talking about that upcoming game and end up buying it, being let down, and starting the cycle all over again.

That must be frustrating   Personally, I think you should archive your posts on Fextralife, because you've made lots of great ones and you may regret not being able to access them later. Maybe

 

In the meantime (we have to do something constructive during the closing events) the research continues. BansheeOwnage's creative drawing, posted earlier in this thread, could have been the final piece in a plothole free theory of the ME3 ending. This is serious stuff. We hope to have results before the closing of the forums and are working day and night on it. Flycam screenshots already show promising results.

 

 

I don't have anything against the romance or other character fan threads. I don't participate in it, but I let them be. Some people seem to like that stuff. To believe that it is sub par to other topics, or that the motivations to participate in these are inferior in some way, feel like an elitist view. Live and let live.

I feel more or less the same. While I actually enjoy romance in real life and in games, I've barely gone into any of the character threads for various reasons. I will occasionally post about romance, but since I haven't liked/done many of them, I don't have as much to say as others. They can post about it more, I don't mind. That's generally my approach to the forums anyway; Ignore something if it doesn't suit you, don't bother bashing.

 

Anyway, I know Bioware doesn't really come here anymore, but surely they either remember or can put together 2+2 and realize that having official forums does much more good than harm to them, overall. I've seen plenty of people come here asking if they should bother getting DLC, or which DLC, or the GOTY edition in addition to their base game, or even microtransactions for MP. Heck, even whether the should be the latest Bioware game itself, or old ones, too. And then there are all the lurkers who make their decisions from what they see here, as well. Good luck finding a good, thorough review on Twitter or Tumblr or Facebook.

 

Do they not realize that they make money just by having this site up? I thought you could at least count on a business to want business. Do they really think that having some negative feedback here will outweigh the positive? They're wrong. And even negative feedback, so long as it's constructive, is still a very useful tool to a company, but unfortunately not one Bioware seems keen on anymore. Is their collective ego really that large, or are they just that sensitive? Or is it both? Are they the same? I'm not sure they even understand the concept of "constructive criticism" anyway, since they want to get rid of the most effective means of providing it. So I'll end by rephrasing that last bit:

 

Bioware doesn't seem to understand that if they take criticism into account, they can not only make fans happier, they can make better games that will sell better. Win/win/win. By doing this, we all lose.

[AngryFrozenWater]

About sigpics... I made 128 FemShep sigpics. Some upon request. I didn't mind adding romance themes to them. Some examples:

 

 

 

 

If you tell the forums that BW listens and allow sigpics then that's a way to make your request known. So, now signature pictures are forbidden. What a surprise.

[themikefest]

About sigpics... I made 128 FemShep sigpics. Some upon request. I didn't mind adding romance themes to them. Some examples:

 

 

 

What about  one with Samantha?

[Nefla]

People talk about romance a little too much over here. There's a point where it gets ridiculous, and it wears on those who have to see it when searching for something else to talk about. Thats why so many people here got annoyed with it, why it had its own subforums(the character ones) and why people were worried when those subforums were closed.

 

Example of what I'm talking about away from Bioware- The ABC show Once Upon A Time? Its social media fans are annoying. There will be a tweet that has ZERO to do with anything love/romance related, it'll be a tweet like, "Today is Robert Carlyle's Birthday! Lets wish him a happy one!" and all the tweets in response to it will be the names of ships between characters that people put together like Swanqueen or whatever else. That don't even include the character he plays.

 

It feels like that here. Maybe not that mind numbing, but it reaaaaally gets grating. It gets to the point where you want people to talk about literally anything else.

 

Problem is, Bioware didn't give us anything to talk about(regarding Andromeda). So what can you do? I regularly talked with other BSNers here and in other places and we all acknowledged that the Andromeda section was an echo chamber of the same stuff over and over again because there was nothing to go on about.

 

I just wish there was a point where that forum would be self-aware and realize to dial it down a bit instead of having the whole place come crumbling down for it to actually stop.

Do people really talk about romance that much or do you just not like romance discussions and therefore they stand out to you more? Personally I don't notice a lot of romance threads floating around, certainly not nearly as many as some people make it out to be. "Cassandra is a man with manly man jaw and manly short hair and Josephine is brown and neither are wearing a bikini!" threads annoy me and therefore they stick out to me and I notice them more often than say "what kinds of things do you like to craft?" style threads but objectively there are not very many of the first kind of thread. Of course maybe they talk about romance all the time on the MEA subforum, I don't go there so I don't know but it's not like this stereotype about the BSN being obsessed with romance is new.

 

Your Fandom Is Not My Fandom.

 

YFINMF. It's an acronym worth remembering. The things that interest you about Mass Effect are not the things that interest me about Dragon Age. yet here we are, in the Last Days (did that sound apocalyptic or what?).

 

If you want to have only discussions about one particular aspect of a game series, this would be the perfect time to start a messageboard devoted to that and only that. You probably could get permission to have a sub forum on one of the existing refugee sites.

 

Suggested sample title: "He Man Combat Only Mass Effect Discussions. No Kissing Allowed"

Good thing I had set my drink down for a minute, otherwise I would have died from drowning in iced tea at that

 

Hmmm... I dunno. ME3MP was certainly popular, and MEAMP may be as well (DAIMP not so much). Such games allow devs to straddle a larger market, since you have a huge game attracting SPers plus a popular MP experience rolled into a single package at full price. Add DLCs and MP microtransactions, and you have a formula that can provide an ongoing revenue stream for minimal cost (a server to host MP matchups and microtransactions).

Mobile/FB games may require a little less development work up-front, but possibly a *lot* more long-term planning and contingency establishment. People seem to expect a steady stream of new content as they complete the existing stuff on those platforms. You also seem to attract quite a few free riders, and need to make the environment highly competitive (and/or paid content highly desirable) in order to get enough people to pay to win.

So long as EA was satisfied with the ROI on the last couple of releases, and believes it can be maintained, I'd be quite surprised if BioWare discontinued either ME or DA.
 

So many of the people who used to work at BioWare, who made the company into something I loved have already gone. I just don't see the huge casual audience that everyone wants to attract being interested in a long RPG type game and if EA is after the crowd who will disregard SP content to use only the MP mode then there's no point making a SP mode at all. EA already has divisions that make multiplayer online games. I can definitely see them dividing up BioWare and putting a good portion of the staff and resources in those divisions. If they're after the candy crush/angry birds/whatever people, honestly they can keep making levels for that stuff forever with little effort. It's not like making a DLC for a graphics/voice acting/story intensive game. If it weren't for EA running the show, I'd assume BioWare would continue on and just keep getting worse and worse but maybe keep making games anyway. Since EA does own BioWare and has a history of absorbing, dissolving, and redistributing existing developers, I'm thinking BioWare is on borrowed time.

[N7M]

I 'spoilered' part of your reply in order to take up less visual space. It seemed more polite since I, in essence, wanted to tell you that I appreciated the courteousness of your response.

 

In fact, there are many posters who are amusing, thoughtful, passionate, even argumentative whose posts I enjoy even when I disagree. I appreciate them, from pithy one-liners to dissertations, because they don't resort to name-calling, insults, trollish behaviour, etc. I 'hear' them. You know, I have posted more often in the past month than the past year (not counting fanfic). My not so hidden lurker-self doesn't even like to use the like button too often (something else I've done more of recently).

 

Hmmm, that first sentence sounds like an off topic subject - 'Snipping or spoiler tags, which is more polite?' Or maybe it doesn't, I never went there and now I regret not visiting at least once.

 

"Brevity is the soul of wit." Good thing I'm not a stand-up comedian, it would take me two hours to reach the first punchline. I'm going to post this now before I ramble even more.

 

No worries about the spoiler and snipping is allowed, if not being snippy. Or maybe snippy can be permitted in small moments if the self is abled to retract from the heart attachments poisonous fang and not be constrained in blind fury to continue seeking Golgotha's spectators with Polonius-like compulsions brought forth from a madness that unveiling words clamorously bouncing off cranial walls may instill. Something you have no issues with certainly.

 

It's unsurprising that you've been posting more as the forums have gotten healthier since the announcement of the closure which has caused those with behavioral issues to remove themselves.

 

You are correct that there are many posters worth reading here for various reasons and those posts need not be agreeable to some ideal.

 

Ramble on if it be your will.

[Errationatus]

The sad thing is...  closing these forums comes as not remotely a surprise.  After the devs basically blamed everything wrong with DA2, ME3 and DAI on the fans all the while laying out the 'we love our fans!" hypocrisy, this makes perfect sense.  It's hard to be passionate in a 140 characters.  Hallmark can't do it, so Twitter definitely can't.  Probably by design.

 

Alas... 

 

...for all of you waiting impatiently for ME:A, well, if you're jonesing to play a grindy RPG-like game built on a ton of hype which turns into a load of codswallop you can always go waste 70 bucks on No Man's Sky.

 

So... ME:A...  Ninety-nine bucks at launch and a sixty dollar 'Season Pass' that gets you three new armor sets and a pair of rocket pants that light up and say "Illusive Man Did Nothing Wrong".  Because conspiracy.  Calling it now.

 

Remasters that won't fix any of the horrible gameplay to distract us.  I guess the attempt has to be made, the façade maintained.  Tis the way of things.

 

Ahhh, nostalgia.

[AngryFrozenWater]

What about  one with Samantha?

I've never received a request for that. I would have done that. Here is the complete list.

 

Edit: Come to think of it... All these characters were from ME2. There are no ME3 characters in my sigpics. Probably because sigpics weren't a thing anymore.