Where's Walrus
Hey everyone. It's been a long time since I've put "fingers to keyboard" to talk to The Matrix Online community-not that Raijinn hasn't been bugging me about that. I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that I've been neck-deep in The Agency since I started working on it in April-there's a lot to be done. And since the guys on MxO are pros at keeping the game going, I don't feel the need to constantly oversee what they're doing. However, I'm way overdue for sending out an update from my perspective.
Most of what "keeping the game going" means is moving the storyline along. This has always been the most important post-launch element for The Matrix Online and continues to be the case. While we've occasionally made some larger changes, such as the combat revision, most of development has been about the storyline. Every six weeks there are new missions for each Organization and daily events that carry on the plot. With few exceptions, we've been on that schedule for about a year-and-a-half now.
With that in mind, we actually have a bunch of updates coming in the next couple months.
Coming Updates
The update schedule for MxO is pretty busy through the beginning of 2008. Here's our current rundown of what we're looking at. Please keep in mind that dates and other things might change:
Tuesday, November 13: End of Halloween plus server updates
Yes, even our servers need operating system updates occasionally. Since we need to go offline for about 4 hours for that and because we got a late start on the holiday due to the SoCal fires, we're going to run the Halloween event an extra 5 days. Then we'll return you to your regularly scheduled visibility.
Thursday, November 15: Update 56 and Chapter 9.1
With the introduction of Chapter 9.1, all Chapter 8 missions will be going to the archive. Not only does that mean chapter rewards, but also our second 4-chapter story-arc reward!
Thursday, December 6: Combat Animation Hotfix
Rarebit has been working on customization for the Bullet Time that occurs on finishing and special moves. We wanted to release the changes with Update 56, but wanted thorough QA testing before they go out, so we'll be taking an extra few weeks to review before releasing them to the live game.
Thursday, December 13: Winter Holiday 2007 Begins
Hard to believe, but we're not far from our Third-Annual Winter Holiday event. Snowballs and hats for everyone! (Along with a few additional new clothing pieces.)
Thursday, January 10: End of Winter Holiday plus Update 57 and Chapter 9.2
And then we're into 2008. With the craziness surrounding the holidays, we'll be waiting until January 10 to release a new update to the game. Until then, the Winter Holiday festivities will continue.
The team has been focused on bug fixes when it comes to our numbered updates. As we head into our third year, we'd like to see as many of the remaining headaches gone as we can possibly take care of. Speaking of which...
Graphic Issues
We've done as much as we can internally to deal with the various compatibility issues the community has been discussing on the forums. At this point, we're going to see if we can get some direct assistance from our contacts at Microsoft and nVidia to analyze the issues. Hopefully we can find something we have the capability to fix that will alleviate the different problems. It would be even better if we found that Microsoft and/or nVidia had something in the works that take care of the problems, but we'll just have to see.
We know more and more players will likely run into similar issues as time goes on, so it's important for us to do everything we can to take care of them. You'll know more when we do. Thanks for everyone's help tracking them down
Fond Farewell and Warm Welcome
As you all know by now, Joel "Raijinn" Sasaki is moving on to other duties. He's been helping out with MxO almost since the first day we came to SOE, back in 2005. While he hasn't had the benefit of working in the same office with the team, he's done a great job taking over CRM duties since I moved over to production full time. Joel is moving on to work on projects down in the San Diego studio and everyone on the MxO team wishes him the best of luck.
Virrago has also occasionally helped out with MxO and works in the Austin studio. He's spent a lot of time with the Star Wars Galaxies community, so he's bringing a great deal of community experience with him. I hope you all make him feel welcome to our little corner of the SOE world.
That's all I have for you with this update. Given the pace of our development, a once-a-quarter letter to the community seems appropriate. In the meantime, have fun with the zombies, snowballs, and the odd stranger who has entered the picture recently.
See you on the other side.
Cheers,
Daniel "Walrus" Myers
