Message from SOE's John Smedley

[Daggan]

Thought I should share this with you all. After reading this I am sure you will understand why we are all so excited to be part of Sony.

Hello fellow PoxNora players,

I’m very excited about having the Octopi team join us here at SOE as SOE Tucson. The team at Octopi has made what I consider to be one of the best strategy games ever created. They are going to continue to make PoxNora even better with our full support. Just to make it clear the way we run things is to leave the creative control to the people who made this game great in the first place. To keep it simple – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. All we’re going to be doing is giving them much broader distribution and telling the world about what an amazing game this is and giving them the resources to do even more amazing things. I personally play PoxNora and I think it’s an amazingly fun game. I come from a background of playing Magic: The Gathering. I still play a lot of Magic Online (my collection is over 18,000 cards at this point) and when I found PoxNora I felt like I had died and gone to strategy heaven. It felt like exactly the kind of game I was looking for. The fact that it runs on my MacBook Pro is all the better.

To be clear here –

1) We bought PoxNora and the Octopi team because we value PoxNora as a brand and we want to make it a lot bigger and still leave creative control in the hands of the Octopi team. We will add additional resources to the team just for PoxNora.

2) Over time we’ll add additional people to the SOE Tucson studio so we can make more great games with these guys. I’d also love to potentially see PoxNora on the PlayStation 3. I think that would be pretty cool.

3) We aren’t going to be adding a monthly fee. We like the business model.

So I hope you see the benefits that SOE can add as growing the playerbase of PoxNora a lot making sure a lot more people know about this great game.

See you in the game!

Smed

[Daggan]

You can check out Smed's blog here:

http://www.station.sony.com/en/blogs/

[Crazybear]

Wow, this makes me feel a lot better. I'm pumped now to see how it goes!

I'm looking forward to more great things from you guys in the future. Pox Nora Everquest would rock!

[CryFar]

Sounds good, except it should be on the Xbox 360.

[Uccisore]

An unspoken message here is that Mr. Smedley is continuing the Octopi tradition of keeping us players dangerously well-informed. I think I appreciate that more than anything. Very encouraging things said here all around.

[nafnaf47]

sounds promising :)

EDIT: so slow... thought I'd be first :(

[Nethros]

Wow, this makes me feel better! Thanks for the post!

[Cardd]

i feels better.

[phaeton426]

Cool, that is pretty nice to hear.

[Alrikor]

Sounds good, except it should be on the Xbox 360.

Haha. I doubt that that'll happen.


Anyway, what he said is great. Really, just the fact that he said anything at all is encouraging and shows us that he wants us to know what is on his mind. I didn't mind the fact of the SOE take-over in the first place, although no word from Sony itself was a little bit disheartening. So it's great to hear from the Sony higher-ups.

As far as the Playstation 3 game goes, it would be great if the runes on our Playstation 3 account linked directly to the console version of the game.

[fireball94]

I'm a satisfied customer now.

[Phyphoria]

This seriously brought a joyful tear to my eye...

[cantha]

I bet Mr. Smedley just wanted free access to all pox runes. I smell some nasty underhand ploys!

[fireball94]

i bet mr. Smedley just wanted free access to all pox runes. I smell some nasty underhand ploys!

lol .

[Phyphoria]

I bet Mr. Smedley just wanted free access to all pox runes. I smell some nasty underhand ploys!

He probably has them all anyway.

[sokolov]

Even if Sony did nothing, the fact that this of course made Pox Nora appear on Penny Arcade yet again is going to draw people in. I suspect this coming expansion will have some of the biggest numbers yet in terms of sales.

EDIT: Just realized Rev made a similar point in another thread.

[Dezhem]

Well, this is a nice surprise. Let's hope that's how it plays out, eh?

PS3 Pox would be cool. Eye of Judgement style, perhaps? I'd totally buy that.

[Scorpio88]

Sounds awesome. So all those (and there were many) threads about this game is dead...

HAHAHAHA in your face! loli ts gonna get good and i'm excited!

[myAlt1]

Now that is good news.

[Konger]

Good to hear Daggan, thanks for posting this, hopefully it will calm the doom and gloom mobs, and we can get back to enjoying the game.

Congrats by the way Daggan, I hope this makes for a lot of great development your side.

[LordStark]

Very cool indeed.

[Gridlok]

Wow, John Smedley.
This is reassuring =)

[grjsk]

great news indeed.

[OSUFan777]

Daggan,

Thank you for keeping the player base informed of what is going on behind the scenes. It is nice when there is actually transparency when it comes to the "big picture". Now if only more employers would do the same thing! LOL. From those of us in the vocal minority (read: less than 1000 posts), but long time players (read: for more than two years), we thank you!

[Duality]

Wow. I wasn't sure what to think with the SoE thing, but I like this.

If things go as stated, it's perfect; Octopi gets more resources, Pox gets better, everyone wins! My only real fear about the SoE thing was.... Micromanaging by a company that has no real interest in a game other than it's profit margins. And that's just painful and EVERYONE loses.

Well, here's to hoping for a good future :)

[DirtyLimey]

http://www.poxnora.com/users/viewprofile.do?u=smed

Perhaps?

No games for over a year - I hope not lol.

Probably: http://www.poxnora.com/users/viewprofile.do?u=blahblahno

[GEorGERMn]

so the Big cheese actually plays this game...I wonder who he has played against...

[hashinshin]

He just bought poxnora to nerf lich kings.

[GEorGERMn]

He just bought poxnora to nerf lich kings.

He would have done that already....I think he had something to do with the Clayform nerfs...and the nerfs to Rock Trap...

[Ragic]

so the Big cheese actually plays this game...I wonder who he has played against...

which is the big news. Who is this guy in game? What faction does he play? Did Octopi know of his presence? How could they not. And knowing that, how could it not affect their nerf/buff cycle.

I'm willing to bet he isnt an FW player.

[Sackett]

An unspoken message here is that Mr. Smedley is continuing the Octopi tradition of keeping us players dangerously well-informed. I think I appreciate that more than anything. Very encouraging things said here all around.

Yes, that unspoken message is very reassuring.

I'm feeling better about this. I had decided to put of buying another premium (which I had planned to do at the end of January) until I got some reassurance. Now I think I'm back on for getting that premium in a couple weeks.

[zandark]

i would feel 100% better if smeds avatar on that blog didn't look like your typical car salesman. makes me suspicious :)

other than that though looks pretty good.

[Truce]

Am I the only one that finds this bizarre? Everyone was hating on SOE itself, because they think SOE is untrustworthy and changes things despite things they say. But in light of a post by a SOE rep everyone completely changes their tune, yet the greens have been saying the exact same thing since it first happened. Not one negative reply yet? Seriously, get a grip. If the sky was falling before, it is falling just as much now regardless of this post.

[Shadyguy1]

Am I the only one that finds this bizarre? Everyone was hating on SOE itself, because they think SOE is untrustworthy and changes things despite things they say. But in light of a post by a SOE rep everyone completely changes their tune, yet the greens have been saying the exact same thing since it first happened. Not one negative reply yet? Seriously, get a grip. If the sky was falling before, it is falling just as much now regardless of this post.

People are afraid of what they don't understand. People had no idea what a "takeover" by SOE meant, so they freaked out. Now they know, so they can stop freaking out. (Notice how I exclude myself from the idiots)

[Paladin]

That put my concerns at rest.

@ Truce: There was a lot of speculation running around about how SoE could **** up the game, but this letter basically put those fears to rest; creative design will lie with the PoxNora team, SoE is only helping them expand; and there will be no new monthly fees.

[Konger]

Am I the only one that finds this bizarre? Everyone was hating on SOE itself, because they think SOE is untrustworthy and changes things despite things they say. But in light of a post by a SOE rep everyone completely changes their tune, yet the greens have been saying the exact same thing since it first happened.

Heh, I kind of thought the same thing, but whatever makes people calm the hell down, I'm fine with. Daggan and Hawk, and Slug have all been saying the merger was for the better, but apparently everyone thought they were being naive, and that SoE really did intend to kick the Greens out, and start charging a monthly fee, and extort every last player till they left. I guess hearing the words straight from the big-man's mouth is enough for people to start giving the merger the benefit of the doubt, and assume that everything will work out for the better.

[Remni]

And that's why I don't make assumptions with companies. Just cause they've pulled alot of crap, doesnt mean everything they do is crap. All I need to do is point to Hash as an example of just that.

[Truce]

Here's one for the rumor mill, Kaervas=Smedley? Discuss.

[LordStark]

That put my concerns at rest.

@ Truce: There was a lot of speculation running around about how SoE could **** up the game, but this letter basically put those fears to rest; creative design will lie with the PoxNora team, SoE is only helping them expand; and there will be no new monthly fees.

Yeah, the people that work FOR corporate can say whatever as they don't have the final say. However, a letter FROM corporate stating the same thing means a lot, A LOT more.

[HCaulfield]

Am I the only one that finds this bizarre? Everyone was hating on SOE itself, because they think SOE is untrustworthy and changes things despite things they say. But in light of a post by a SOE rep everyone completely changes their tune, yet the greens have been saying the exact same thing since it first happened. Not one negative reply yet? Seriously, get a grip. If the sky was falling before, it is falling just as much now regardless of this post.

Indeed. It's obvious this post is a thinly veiled attempt at preventing an (premature, but ultimately inevitable) exodus from PoxNora. Sure Smedley makes the acquisition sound like no real changes (except for positives in the future) will be occuring, but get real: Sony. Bought. Octopi. Of course they are going to release statements to appease us and keep us playing n' paying. They'll continue to do so, even as these dreaded changes come to pass. The double-speak then will amaze some, no doubt, giving players the sense that everything is ok, and that any changes occuring are for their own good (despite their better senses, or, barring that, the ranting on the forums by the enlightened few... or at the very least, old posts, which, in hindsight, will ring eerily true). But not me. I won't be around, as I intend to flee to the hills, to live out my life in the last bit of remote wilderness I can find (namely the Audubon Park Golf Course), living off the land (i.e., retiree's unattended purses, pocketbooks, and wallets) and shunning society. I advise you all to do the same. But, before you do. Can I have your runes?

[Ragic]

Here's one for the rumor mill, Kaervas=Smedley? Discuss.

I think if its true this guy is a player, its a safe assumption that hes been aware of poxnora since the get go. Surely a person in his position and stated gaming preferences would get in on the ground floor.

He's a long time player, surely not the most active. He would be a poster, guys like that love to talk. I dont think he would join the PDC and I dont think he would be a mod. I also dont think he would be a faction zealot or a rank farmer. He would also spend only minimal time in the campaigns. He wouldnt be a store owner.

He would have a harby. He would have an octopi helm. He would have more than one banner. He wouldnt bother to make alts.

[HCaulfield]

That put my concerns at rest.

@ Truce: There was a lot of speculation running around about how SoE could **** up the game, but this letter basically put those fears to rest; creative design will lie with the PoxNora team, SoE is only helping them expand; and there will be no new monthly fees.

It's like somehow Sony learned from the Pox players exactly how to not **** up a game. Following this deduction, I suggest that Sony replace it's entire upper management with Pox players.

[hashinshin]

I wanna be in charge of marketing

"POXNORA, The hottest new online collectible card where your creatures come alive and fight on a battlefield! Best of all is that ITS NOT FOR YOU. You will suck at this game, don't even try!"

[PoxSoul]

so if they take poxnora onto the ps3 and off the pc, what do the players who dont have a ps3 do? sounds like they havent thought that bit through...

[Revenancer]

I agree with Truce, when the greens say that everything will stay the same it's all lies and mistakes, and then when Smedley hops on and says the exact same thing it's the gospel truth. If you're going to be a nutty doomsayer at least have some integrity about it.

[myAlt1]

so if they take poxnora onto the ps3 and off the pc, what do the players who dont have a ps3 do? sounds like they havent thought that bit through...

Lol really? Is that an honest question?

You'd have ps3 players either join queue with the rest of us, or have their own server.

[MageSeth]

Thanks for this, Daggan.

[Ragic]

so if they take poxnora onto the ps3 and off the pc, what do the players who dont have a ps3 do? sounds like they havent thought that bit through...

they wouldnt take it off the pc. pc and ps3 would be able to interact. i would assume.

[PoxSoul]

they wouldnt take it off the pc. pc and ps3 would be able to interact. i would assume.

if thats the case then its ok, but i reserve judgement until soe either sticks by what they have said or they show what they are really planning, i admit im a little sceptical of all this but if it improves our beloved pox then im happy.

[Navith]

Actions speak louder then words. This message didn't sway me either way personally, 6 months from now we'll see how things really go.

[Duality]

I agree with Truce, when the greens say that everything will stay the same it's all lies and mistakes, and then when Smedley hops on and says the exact same thing it's the gospel truth. If you're going to be a nutty doomsayer at least have some integrity about it.

Except that some of us just kept quite about the whole mess until now :p Or at least I did.

Honestly, my post was more of a "I really hope this is the way things turn out" than anything else.

Yes, we all know that what companies say and what they do are two VERY different things, but I am feeling optimistic (for once in my life) tonight in the hopes that Pox doesn't go straight down because of their acquisition by SoE.

So yeah, I guess we'll all find out in the next year as to whether or not the doomsayers or the overly optimistic (read; naive)... people.. are correct. For once in my life, I hope it's those who are naive.

[Zuraith]

\m/ar Daggan!

[hughmann]

Penny Arcade guys seem to think the Pox on PS3 thing would work too.

[kyzrin]

Haha. I doubt that that'll happen.


Anyway, what he said is great. Really, just the fact that he said anything at all is encouraging and shows us that he wants us to know what is on his mind. I didn't mind the fact of the SOE take-over in the first place, although no word from Sony itself was a little bit disheartening. So it's great to hear from the Sony higher-ups.

As far as the Playstation 3 game goes, it would be great if the runes on our Playstation 3 account linked directly to the console version of the game.

That's the only way I'd ever even bother playing it on my PS3.

[kingwolf08]

Quote from his blog...

"Long term we want to do some other games out of what has become SOE Tucson, but fans of PoxNora can be rest assured that we’re as excited about PoxNora as they are and we think this game has a bright future, particularly under the creative direction that the Octopi team has demonstrated."

My question is does the attention to Poxnora begin to drop off once these other projects begin to kick in?

[cidbahamut]

I remain dubious.

I'm still nervous that Sony now owns Poxnora and the Octopi team. The prospect of them adding more Sony goons to the team instead of young squidlings also smells of taking over from the inside out.

Good sentiment but we all know what a good PR campaign can do.

[Revenancer]

Quote from his blog...

"Long term we want to do some other games out of what has become SOE Tucson, but fans of PoxNora can be rest assured that we’re as excited about PoxNora as they are and we think this game has a bright future, particularly under the creative direction that the Octopi team has demonstrated."

My question is does the attention to Poxnora begin to drop off once these other projects begin to kick in?

No, they plan to work exclusively on poxnora for the next 50 years, defying logic and all conventions of video game production.

[hashinshin]

No, they plan to work exclusively on poxnora for the next 50 years, defying logic and all conventions of video game production.

Worked for magic.

[Revenancer]

MtG isn't a video game.

Also wizards does tons of other stuff all the time.

[banduan]

Worked for magic.

Not being a video game and all.

CCGs have awesome lifespans. Even rubbish ones last a long time.

[Uccisore]

It soothed me (to the extent that I was a rabble rouser to begin with) because Smedley's never lied to me before, I don't have any personal bad experiences with SOE, and the "I play Pox myself" thing was a nice, unnecessary touch that sounds credible, especially when he goes so far as to say that he learned about the game from Penny Arcade. So why not take him at his word and let this be a turn for optimism? What's the alternative, assume that things are doomed no matter what anyone says forever? I say this statement is enough to restore confidence at least until something actually happens to confirm or disconfirm SOE's intention towards the game. This gets us past the 'not knowing' phase.

[AAvenger]

thought i should share this with you all. After reading this i am sure you will understand why we are all so excited to be part of sony.

Hello fellow poxnora players,

i’m very excited about having the octopi team join us here at soe as soe tucson. The team at octopi has made what i consider to be one of the best strategy games ever created. They are going to continue to make poxnora even better with our full support. Just to make it clear the way we run things is to leave the creative control to the people who made this game great in the first place. To keep it simple – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. All we’re going to be doing is giving them much broader distribution and telling the world about what an amazing game this is and giving them the resources to do even more amazing things. I personally play poxnora and i think it’s an amazingly fun game. I come from a background of playing magic: The gathering. I still play a lot of magic online (my collection is over 18,000 cards at this point) and when i found poxnora i felt like i had died and gone to strategy heaven. It felt like exactly the kind of game i was looking for. The fact that it runs on my macbook pro is all the better.

To be clear here –

1) we bought poxnora and the octopi team because we value poxnora as a brand and we want to make it a lot bigger and still leave creative control in the hands of the octopi team. We will add additional resources to the team just for poxnora.

2) over time we’ll add additional people to the soe tucson studio so we can make more great games with these guys. I’d also love to potentially see poxnora on the playstation 3. I think that would be pretty cool.

3) we aren’t going to be adding a monthly fee. We like the business model.

So i hope you see the benefits that soe can add as growing the playerbase of poxnora a lot making sure a lot more people know about this great game.

See you in the game!

Smed

oh.my.god. Yesss!!! Yesss!! Woooooooooooooooooooooooo

[kingwolf08]

Rev, Im glad you think yourself clever and witty, good for you. I hardly think my question deserved that level of sarcasm, its pretty straightforward. Octopi isnt the largest development team in the world, and I dont see them being able to juggle the creation of an entirely new game and devoting the attention we want to Pox simultaneously. One or the other will suffer, and it will be the established title. Im far from a naysayer, Im actually excited about the potential here, but dont let that get in the way of your enlightened oneliners.

[EvilDeed]

Pox for PS3 !! WOWOWOWO!

Thank god I bought the 60gb model day 1 ;)

If you guys wana add me, my PSN is TerryTate_56

Go Sony Go!

PS : Hey Daggan, you should add Solid Snake, Kratos, LBP, Drake ... to your runes !!

[Revenancer]

I won't, thanks.

[kingwolf08]

Well for some reason my brain skipped over bullet #2 in his letter and went straight to the monthly fee comment. Answers my question perfectly though, and is exactly what I wanted to hear. Back to feeling good about this, and hopefully we can get a huge wave of new players in to spice things up. Im ready for some beta action.

[prsasuke]

2) Over time we’ll add additional people to the SOE Tucson studio so we can make more great games with these guys. I’d also love to potentially see PoxNora on the PlayStation 3. I think that would be pretty cool.



Great now i have to buy a ps3...

[Remni]

Great now i have to buy a ps3...

Why? I doubt it'd be any different, just a PS3 client version of the game is all. I dont see anyone playing it unless you could cross-platform play, using the runes you already have on here. That'd take at least a year or so to set up anyways, but it would be a great game for PS3 downloadables. They just better not charge for the download.

[Slurred]

This is a relieving message, if at all honest.

What's dudes username? I bet he plays cheese.

http://www.poxnora.com/users/viewprofile.do?u=smed

?

[Burnova]

For those of you concerned with the fact that Octopi might be taking on other projects, please remember that they already do have other projects. The only difference between then and now is that they will have financial backing.

[Zherneboh]

Very very impressed. I'm pretty excited about this now.

I also noticed we earned a comment from Tycho at Penny Arcade today.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/2009/1/19/

[Triand]

As much as I hate SOE, that post does make me feel much better to know the Greens will still be in charge. Thank god for that... you guys made it and deserve everything about it

[archlorddt]

well that laid a lot of my fears to rest.

[Rickimaru]

thats great news indeed! lets hope they will keep their promise

[PoxSoul]

As much as I hate SOE, that post does make me feel much better to know the Greens will still be in charge. Thank god for that... you guys made it and deserve everything about it

My thoughts exactly

[jritsi]

SOE's statement did not say something new (almost..). OCTOPI was claiming almost the same.
I think they saw that people started to worry and publish this statement.

What I keep from SOE's statement was that there will be no monthly Fee's.
That was my big worry. And i am glad to here it from an Official SOE person.

THE BIG TRUTH in the world of business-Marketing... etc etc. :
Its up to us to keep this game active. If we continue like this as nothing happened
then everybody will be satisfied.
Otherwise if we start to panic (without any reason) and leave this game then its normal SOE will stop this project and keep it just running.

[Rodin]

Can I say "I told you so" now?

Amused by the whole event, really. Gratified at the lengthy and sincere post from Mr. Smedley, as it does put a lot of fears to rest.

The Playstation 3 version really needs to link into the main servers. Other than the fun that is negotiating two different types of system into one game, I can't really see why this wouldn't be possible. I'd imagine it'd be a lot easier to maintain, ultimately, if you can overcome the initial technical difficulties.

[ThePlumber]

http://www.poxnora.com/users/viewprofile.do?u=smedley

yah?

[Moles1909]

If they release Pox on the PS3 I'll be delighted, I'd definately buy it... I'm sure that if it was released on PS3 then the game would become HUGE!

But they would have to figure out a way of having a good set of campaigns / story for the game as well as the online Poxnora game on the PS3 (Which should be on the same server if possible, with the same set of runes.) I wouldn't like to have to buy more runes for the PS3 version, that'd put me right off.

POX FOR PS3!!

[NightBIade]

Haha. I doubt that that'll happen.


Anyway, what he said is great. Really, just the fact that he said anything at all is encouraging and shows us that he wants us to know what is on his mind. I didn't mind the fact of the SOE take-over in the first place, although no word from Sony itself was a little bit disheartening. So it's great to hear from the Sony higher-ups.

As far as the Playstation 3 game goes, it would be great if the runes on our Playstation 3 account linked directly to the console version of the game.

I agree cuz even though poxnora on PS3 would be sweet it would have to be able to be linked other wise so many ppl wasted money and this would be considered more of a longer then usual demo version(very expensive one to some ppl to i might add)

[Scurn]

For those that care, I figured I'd throw my 2 cents in...

We can't predict the future, however, I did want to pass along my personal experiences to help people feel better about this transition. I have had a positive experience in a similar circumstance.

I have been a game designer for approaching nine years at a major development house that is not related to this discussion. When I first began working there, the company was a private company, much like Octopus. Our games were doing well, and we were an attractive company to buy. For private developers, some of the biggest challenges are coming up with a solid game on a limited budget, and trying to get someone to publish your games. A lot of the dream of small developers is to get purchased by a big publisher, so that they can have some security and a larger budget, etc. Because we were a strong developer, that was making money and had solid titles (and were basically a self-sustaining source of profit), our publisher made a commitment to stay very "hands off".

It can happen. If SOE really feels like Pox is strong game inspired by a solid team of creative people, they likely won't get in there an monkey with things much. They will want to create positions on the Octopus staff that are specifically for interfacing with, and keeping SOE up to speed on development cycles. You will see Octupus coming out with expansions and such on a regular, quarterly schedule, and you will see some larger release or exapansion/event coming out in early November each year, to capitalize on the Christmas Holiday.

These sorts of things all come along with being tied to a publicly traded company. Stock holders need assurance that the money they're investing is getting used responsibly and that they will see their stock succeeding. They'll be wanting some guarantee of a return on their investment.

What I predict will happen is that SOE will look at Octopus and work with them, to identify areas where Octopus could use better funding to improve their game and their sales. Marketing budgets will increase, and you will see Pox being cross advertised on other SOE products. I do not think that anyone at Octopus will lose their jobs. Rather, they will now have the budget to hire more folks to help them out. The Leads at Octopus will remain Leads, and SOE WILL NOT hire people to send to Octopus. Octopus will do hiring themselves and will hire talented folks that fit in well with their company culture.

SOE is looking to get into other markets that they have not tapped into. They've identified Octopus as being a great chance to get into new markets. They will do whatever they feel they need to do, to turn Octopus into the dominant developer of this genre.

That is all my opinion, of course, but it has also been my experience, and if the Octopus employees end up like I have, then they'll be happy, busy, secure, and productive for another decade to come.

[Axeraiser]

Haha. I doubt that that'll happen.


Anyway, what he said is great. Really, just the fact that he said anything at all is encouraging and shows us that he wants us to know what is on his mind. I didn't mind the fact of the SOE take-over in the first place, although no word from Sony itself was a little bit disheartening. So it's great to hear from the Sony higher-ups.

As far as the Playstation 3 game goes, it would be great if the runes on our Playstation 3 account linked directly to the console version of the game.

Yes that would be awesome.

[Ocyris]

Sweet, Sweet reassurance :)

[Vostroyan1]

This made me remove my previous signature, I feel better now.

[SilentDad]

I am somewhat satisfied... I, for one, am going to keep my guard up... SOE has displayed broken promises before...

[Hogbopper]

I bet he got called Smelly Smedley in school



Edit: Also, check out his line of metrosexual clothing :)

http://www.johnsmedley.com/shop/

[HawkFain]

Here's one for the rumor mill, Kaervas=Smedley? Discuss.

Nope. Kaervas is not Smedley.

[edralin]

he has such a way with words <3

[Calaster]

Well said, and stated. Raises my hopes.

[Keishan]

please oh please buy MECHWARRIOR and plug it into this great game engine
its all i have really wanted for the last year or so....Mechwarrior is huge has a long deep fan base and Mechwarrior will perfectly work within this games engine....wizkidz is dead and WOTC isnt going to do anything with it so call them and buy it
I personally will do anything i possibly can to help in such an acquisition

[baengi]

Sounds good, except it should be on the Xbox 360.

loll very true

[sokolov]

Nope. Kaervas is not Smedley.

The fun is in the discussion and speculation, not the answer. Silly HawkFain!

[fireball94]

The PS3 version of pox would have to come probably with 1 or 2 exclusive runes and probably a $3.00 credit as well as a set of campaigns exclusive to it. Obviously it would link to the same server and the website.

[stayflyazn]

Yay, no more over reacting :)

[Ragic]

http://www.poxnora.com/users/viewprofile.do?u=smedley

yah?

if so then he isnt as big a fan of the game as his letter would indicate, hasnt played in almost a year? has never posted on this forum?

sigh, oh well

[justin]

if so then he isnt as big a fan of the game as his letter would indicate, hasnt played in almost a year? has never posted on this forum?

sigh, oh well

Keep trying.

[Ragic]

Keep trying.

make it a contest?

[Gainer900]

I only have one question from all this.

What is smedleys poxnora screenname and have I beat him in a match? 8)

[Sprawler]

Didn't read everything, but the idea of Poxnora on PS3 is cool.

Wonder if they could make RPG's with some of the runes with a real backround story :p, like more insight into the game.

[Slayer697]

The fact that it runs on my MacBook Pro is all the better.

&

3) We aren’t going to be adding a monthly fee. We like the business model.

He's awesome for these two reasons.

[Aztech]

Smedley = Sokolov!

[fireball94]

Smedley = Sokolov!

Lol. Too bad we have seen Sok's pic.

[Navith]

Deep down in your hearts you know it's blahblahno.

[RogueElf]

Sounds great , let's hope it keeps

[qweens]

I seem to have endless creative ideas. Here goes:

Sony could now make games like Mortal Kombat, SFII, Mario Brothers, Zelda, FF(final fantasy), Super Smash Bros. ect. using Pox champions, Heroes, stories and themes.

I'm curious what other peoples ideas are on how Sony could expand the Pox Universe with out messing it up.

Best of luck to Sony and I really hope they leave Pox to Octopi as much as possible because of the great job Octopi has done in creating it.


-Qweens

"No one cares for their baby like their parents."

[Charcar]

I guess this is good for Octopi's owners, but I have a history with SOE and John Smedley and wish nothing but ill will to a company that pulls the kind of crap that they do. Lets hope Octopi stays in control, but with SOE I doubt it.

PS-for those of you that thinks Smedley's "reassurance" means anything, you need to learn more about SOE. They have a history of grossly misleading their playerbase (and that is putting it kindly).

[Atreidi]

http://forums.poxnora.com/showthread.php?t=14547

Poxnora would work best with the Xbox Live model. Now that its been aquired by sony, I dont see it happening. :(
I guess Im going to have to buy a Playstation 3. :S

[Zuraith]

I guess this is good for Octopi's owners, but I have a history with SOE and John Smedley and wish nothing but ill will to a company that pulls the kind of crap that they do. Lets hope Octopi stays in control, but with SOE I doubt it.

PS-for those of you that thinks Smedley's "reassurance" means anything, you need to learn more about SOE. They have a history of grossly misleading their playerbase (and that is putting it kindly).

!!

Where did you come from!

[Sprawler]

If they release Pox on the PS3 I'll be delighted, I'd definately buy it... I'm sure that if it was released on PS3 then the game would become HUGE!

But they would have to figure out a way of having a good set of campaigns / story for the game as well as the online Poxnora game on the PS3 (Which should be on the same server if possible, with the same set of runes.) I wouldn't like to have to buy more runes for the PS3 version, that'd put me right off.

POX FOR PS3!!

They could throw in a couple of those game/gift cards too while there at it :)

[frogshine]

Thought I should share this with you all. After reading this I am sure you will understand why we are all so excited to be part of Sony.

Hello fellow PoxNora players,

I’m very excited about having the Octopi team join us here at SOE as SOE Tucson. The team at Octopi has made what I consider to be one of the best strategy games ever created. They are going to continue to make PoxNora even better with our full support. Just to make it clear the way we run things is to leave the creative control to the people who made this game great in the first place. To keep it simple – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. All we’re going to be doing is giving them much broader distribution and telling the world about what an amazing game this is and giving them the resources to do even more amazing things. I personally play PoxNora and I think it’s an amazingly fun game. I come from a background of playing Magic: The Gathering. I still play a lot of Magic Online (my collection is over 18,000 cards at this point) and when I found PoxNora I felt like I had died and gone to strategy heaven. It felt like exactly the kind of game I was looking for. The fact that it runs on my MacBook Pro is all the better.

To be clear here –

1) We bought PoxNora and the Octopi team because we value PoxNora as a brand and we want to make it a lot bigger and still leave creative control in the hands of the Octopi team. We will add additional resources to the team just for PoxNora.

2) Over time we’ll add additional people to the SOE Tucson studio so we can make more great games with these guys. I’d also love to potentially see PoxNora on the PlayStation 3. I think that would be pretty cool.

3) We aren’t going to be adding a monthly fee. We like the business model.

So I hope you see the benefits that SOE can add as growing the playerbase of PoxNora a lot making sure a lot more people know about this great game.

See you in the game!

Smed


As someone who had played both starwars galaxies and both everquest games for extended periods of time, I have to say that I'm not too keen on this. I remember the promise of both jedi and forglars being in the game andunlockable when they weren't. I also remember someone who shall remain unnamed spearheading a campaign to dumbdown galaxies to the point that no one ever played it again.... SOE's customer support is horrific, it's playerbase interaction is languid at best(nonexistant is more accurate) and they DO have a history of meddling with the core of what makes a game good.

Anyhoo, hope, at the very least it improves the poxnora team's revenue, they have a good product that they've always supported.

[mrobviousj]

Wow, this makes me feel a lot better. I'm pumped now to see how it goes!

I'm looking forward to more great things from you guys in the future. Pox Nora Everquest would rock!
Indeed. Thanks for sharing this!!!

[6BlackHawk]

I am happy to read this letter:)

I hope a lot of new player will come to play with poxnora:)

[HawkFain]

Thanks for all your points and comments. For those of you who feel that things will not remain or move to the positive end, I encourage you to stick around and see for yourself.

Again, thank you all for your undying support of PoxNora - we're very excited about the future of the game!

Cheers.

[CPKZ]

Again, thank you all for your undying support of PoxNora -

Why Hawk? Why did you raise me again? Why can't I just die and stay dead!

I will find the spell you used, and return this blasted curse upon you!

[HawkFain]

Why Hawk? Why did you raise me again? Why can't I just die and stay dead!

I will find the spell you used, and return this blasted curse upon you!

Hawk is immune to spells and damage...

[LordStark]

we're very excited about the future of the game!

I'm excited too. "I hope I havn't wasted a lot of money on this game" excited.

[Nith47]

1) We bought PoxNora and the Octopi team because we value PoxNora as a brand and we want to make it a lot bigger and still leave creative control in the hands of the Octopi team. We will add additional resources to the team just for PoxNora.

Smed

Does this mean the next expansion and/or following expansions will contain more runes?

Probably the biggest issue i've had with Poxnora is there's not enough of it. Here's hopin' for more play testing, more runes, more options, and of course more art!

[HawkFain]

Does this mean the next expansion and/or following expansions will contain more runes?

Probably the biggest issue i've had with Poxnora is there's not enough of it. Here's hopin' for more play testing, more runes, more options, and of course more art!

Usually our expansions are the same size as previous expansions. You can be sure that there will continue to be more expansions and more PoxNora.

[Alrikor]

Hawk is immune to spells and damage...

*Uses a Disturbed Spirit's Posession ability on you, then throws you off a cliff.*

Sorry, I had to... you left yourself open to abilities :).

[Triand]

*Uses a Disturbed Spirit's Posession ability on you, then throws you off a cliff.*

Sorry, I had to... you left yourself open to abilities :).

To bad u just used both a rune and an ability that are completely worthless so hawk was unphased

[Alrikor]

To bad u just used both a rune and an ability that are completely worthless so hawk was unphased

Haha, that's true. It wouldn't be in my deck in the first place.

[Dagnabbit]

Smedley: the bane of SWG.

Smed, I haven't forgotten what you did to that game.

[adino32]

please oh please buy mechwarrior and plug it into this great game engine
its all i have really wanted for the last year or so....mechwarrior is huge has a long deep fan base and mechwarrior will perfectly work within this games engine....wizkidz is dead and wotc isnt going to do anything with it so call them and buy it
i personally will do anything i possibly can to help in such an acquisition

listen to this!!! Please!!! I will pay subscription for this!!!

[adino32]

My 2 cents.

I wrote a rather mean post to daggan's post on this announcement. I still stand by it. It was a horrific post. Vague, political rhetoric making generic promises and nothing else. The other thing about that post that was bad was the format. It was perfect, flawless, like he reread it and made sure he didn't say anything wrong and made sure all syntax was right. Usually when you try to write something that says nothing wrong you end up writing nothing of worth as well.

Smedley wrote a jumbled, poor grammar, disjointed post that he had to summerize because it was so disjointed. That is was true excitement.

They can promise the freaken world. It means nothing. I mean what is he going to say? What is any of them going to say. But I am encouraged by his language. He seems genuinely excited.

Nothing is 100% good. There are always downside to any such transactions. For you guys to come off as saying there is no downside is condescending. However, I do feel there is greater hope than before.

Don't spend all your money in one spot greens.

Daggan learn from that letter. I know this means more to you, but all people want is genuine expression.

[HawkFain]

*Uses a Disturbed Spirit's Posession ability on you, then throws you off a cliff.*

Sorry, I had to... you left yourself open to abilities :).

Too bad I'm immortal, and can just redeploy myself over and over! :P

[HawkFain]

My 2 cents.

I wrote a rather mean post to daggan's post on this announcement. I still stand by it. It was a horrific post. Vague, political rhetoric making generic promises and nothing else. The other thing about that post that was bad was the format. It was perfect, flawless, like he reread it and made sure he didn't say anything wrong and made sure all syntax was right. Usually when you try to write something that says nothing wrong you end up writing nothing of worth as well.

Smedley wrote a jumbled, poor grammar, disjointed post that he had to summerize because it was so disjointed. That is was true excitement.

They can promise the freaken world. It means nothing. I mean what is he going to say? What is any of them going to say. But I am encouraged by his language. He seems genuinely excited.

Nothing is 100% good. There are always downside to any such transactions. For you guys to come off as saying there is no downside is condescending. However, I do feel there is greater hope than before.

Don't spend all your money in one spot greens.

Daggan learn from that letter. I know this means more to you, but all people want is genuine expression.

Adino, why not stick around and see for yourself where this game will go... I bet you won't be disappointed. I'm happy to see that a lot of the players are beginning to relax and realize the beauty of what this means for PoxNora.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Alrikor]

Too bad I'm immortal, and can just redeploy myself over and over! :P

Yeah, but then Daggan would have to pay you a second time to redeploy you, and after a couple of times I'm sure they'll run out of money to keep doing that. So I'll eventually win this one out! Unless you work without pay or something. ... I'd totally take a job at SoE Tucson without pay, just for the green name and text...

[demonmarch]

yeah i know i was happy about this post before (so much so hawk thought my post was too loving) but reading it again i have this to say:
the original post sounds like daggan is reading of a sheet of paper with a gun to the back of his head.
i for one am glad i havent spent money on this game because i can only see this going down hill.

[Rodin]

Too bad I'm immortal, and can just redeploy myself over and over! :P

Careful Hawk, each time you're redeployed the office building takes 5 damage. Sooner or later you'll hit a gas line and...

*BOOM*

[Remni]

Nah, all he has to do is drop a Tome of Hate and suck all the life out of the non-believers.. or the actual believers. Not sure how that one would work.

[Davington]

Sounds good, except it should be on the Xbox 360.

Bleh silly 360.

In other news slightly more reassuring than "Sony now owns your runes" which is all I was expecting, as long as he is true to his word I'm happy :)

[dommikhail]

This was certainly a heckuva discovery after my month's sojourn, coming back and reading this.

However, having seen this game's progress for almost 2 years now, and hearing that SOE is leaving creative control to Octopi, I have nothing but the utmost confidence in this game's future. I've had a blast playing this game and discovering not only the different joys within the game, but here in the community as well.

SOE, take care of her, this is one precious baby you're adopting.

[jimbobimbo]

if they ever tried that monthly fee business, they'd a) be in violation of the original contract, b) have to get us to sign the new one, and c) reimburse the players who refused the new one for all the money they've dumped into the game

not sure where that whole rumor even came from???

anyways, sony seems to be on top of things :)

and we'll see how things go :) :)

[XeyeX]

Thanks John, hearing all that from you really is great..brings hope and excitment all round Poxnora..

and thanx for letting us all know how you feel..

kind regards
xeyex