Moon
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Posts posted by Moon
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BFC, would it be at all possible to for you to make avalible for purchase a pack of normaly printed manual, cd cover and box sleave ? as in marines module. we can buy our own cd box. i would be willing to pay for this ! i don't know if anyone else would be interested ?
The cd box is by far the cheapest part of what you mentioned. The printed materials are where the cost is.
BFC i have read most of the threads related to this problem and i must say i am a bit dissapointed in your responce, as i get the impression that you have just dug your heals in and are just saying not our fault and not our problem. I find this counter productive as if it was only one person complaining, then it could just be that one person, but alot of people are very unhappy about this.Not "a lot", just a handful of people on this forum. Compared to the amount of units shipped out and received to date, that's not much, especially since complaining to get more for less is easy to do. Notice also that there are people who do not think that there is a problem at all.
Yet I am still addressing it actively, so I don't know why your impression is that we think it's not our problem. I am trying to explain why things are the way there are and why some people's expectations are way off base.
If we could get a one off print package for british for purchase and increase the price of future hardcopies, and make them to Marines module standard. It could be a solution.Sure it would be. Unless of course you're the only one who wants to buy a more expensive hardcopy. In that case we would need to charge you $4000 or $5000 for it because that's what it costs us minimum to produce them.
Martin
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It is my observation that BF is moving away from cases for their games.
That observation is wrong, as mentioned above.
I also made a comment about the shoddiness of my package. the jewel case was cracked and there were fingerprints all on the disc.A cracked disc is something else entirely than what is discussed here. It *is* inexcusable, and already had a word with the new production facility we had used for British Forces about the quality of the cases used (and in fact, why they didn't use slim cases as they were supposed to, but regular jewel cases). This problem occurred in the US only (European customers got a slim case as they should), and it has already been solved. Any product shipped out from now on (that isn't in a DVD box, like most are) will be in slim case which does not crack as easily.
Anyway, we will make it much more clear in the future what to expect from a hardgoods package. As mentioned before, for full-price product it is usualy a fully printed manual and DVD box. For a $25 expansion however it usually is not.
Martin
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This module should have been a download only as once you have burned it onto a cd you have the exact same thing that Battlefront charged you $30 extra for.
We don't charge anyone for anything unless they choose to order it, kowing full well what it will cost. And it's not $30 but $10 extra for the "download and mail" option. The shipping and handling is a variable cost from $10 to $20 depending on where you want it delivered to, and we're merely passing our cost for shipping and handling on to the customer.
Or even worse $45 if you only bought the hard goods without the download.That's $25 plus S&H.
As far as the $20 shipping charge goes, how about the next time you offer a cd only just buying first class stamps and posting it.How about you do shipping for our next release? I would like to see you buy first class stamps and posting a couple thousand units on release day, and hundreds of units per day afterwards, not to mention handling the storage, inventory counts and customer support regarding fulfillment year round.
BTW, first class stamps won't get you far because it's $20 in Europe only (EUR 14), and $10 in the US. And another BTW: our cost for european shipping hasn't increased at all in the past 5 years or so, the only thing that has changed is the USD-EUR exchange rate. European customers pay nearly the exact same amount as 5 years ago for shipping.
Our reasonsing for the hardgoods choice has been copied above in this thread, so I won't go into that any more. I already apologized for creating misleading information if that's what caused it. And while everyone has a right to complain and also to voice their disappointment if they expected something else, I find it interesting that there were no threads after our Marines release about how great the hardgoods were. At least I don't recall any.
In a market where companies are stopping to offer hardgoods at all you guys should be patting us on the back for keeping them, and for sticking to our policy for (most) newly released games of offering great printed boxed product. Next time you buy a game, choose one of them. Because at the moment what's happening is that more and more people are choosing download only, making it basically impossible to continue doing full-blown hardgoods for non-full price releases without raising prices across the board.
Martin
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PS. Heh, cross-posted with Brit... looks like we essentially said the same thing though
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Research is important by and large (as it is in the real world, look at the current global military situation), but by no means decisive 100% of the time. That would indicate a game that is way too one-dimensional and has little replay value. I don't think you'll find even one such game here at Battlefront
One good example of this is actually the AAR posted on the Developer Blogfront. I mention in the conclusion of the last part that research played a very limited role overall, since the game was over before any decisive developments had taken place. And unless the research levels are HUGELY different you'll find that they make relatively little difference, certainly less than many of the other deciding factors (resources, production, diplomacy, and even pure tactics) that you need to get right in order to "win".
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I am not sure if I fully understand what you're trying to say but if you are after a "reliable" rating system, then I'm afraid it's a noble goal which will never be reached. For my part I am happy that people are rating and posting comments at all. I seem to recall, at least in the early days when I still had time to do fun things like browse through CMMODS
that there was a huge lack of ratings overall.Even if we posted "rules" about how to rate, it would be arbitrary at best. For one, few people read rules, let alone follow them. Coming back to rate a scenario is difficult enough... having to read up rules how to do it is even worse. Even if we split the ratings into categories, the same problem would remain: people have and use completely different and totally subjective ways to rate.
There are no doubt individuals who are interested, willing and capable of giving in-depth reviews. And with the current system, they can do it: the comments section allows for "HUGE" reviews (I think 10000 words is the limit or something like that). Anybody who wants to get a better feel for what *some* people really thought should probably follow that rather than the ratings. But still... the ratings do give you an idea of, let's call it, the "mainstream" acceptance of a mod or scenario. While your personal mileage may vary (a lot) it's as good a guidline as any.
BTW, I have just updated the search function of the Repository. You can now search inside specific categories (e.g. if you want to search for just CMSF mods, and don't want TOW stuff to pop up etc.), something that was not possible before. Combined with the ability to search for title, the full description or an author name this should allow you to find pretty much anything with a couple of clicks.
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We've been over this several times before on this forum, but why not repeat it again: the $20 you're paying (roughly EUR 14) is for both shipping (the actual postage) as well as handling. Handling includes everything from storing the product to picking it once your order comes in to preparing it for shipment to actually packaging it and sending it out). EUR 14 is barely covering the actual cost we have. The actualy postage usually ranges from EUR 3 to EUR 6, and the rest is made up of all the other things the fulfillment house is doing. We'd love to be able to send you stuff for less, or for free, but the only way to do this would be to raise our prices accordingly, thereby effectively kind of masking the cost (but it's still there; just like so many other things, "free" to the customer does not mean it actually doesn't cost anything, it only means that someone else is paying for it). EUR 14 is by no means out of the ordinary for S&H in Europe. There are big mail-order companies who do it for less, or tiny one-man operations that send out one package a week and do not actually have any significant "handling", but there are also many others who charge a similar amount (and more) for S&H.
The way we have it set up, it's your choice as customer to purchase mail delivery or not. It makes sense to have a backup copy once your download runs out for example, or to get a printed manual. If you feel it doesn't make sense for you, don't order the mail delivery.
As for packaged goods... our approach has been pretty consistant, and also self-explanatory I think. Prime releases usually are getting "the full enchilada" with printed manual etc. Expansions, add-ons and modules usually are not. For one, there is less to print (the British Forces manual is fairly small compared to the main manual for the base game), but the main point is: add-ons usually cost less. Yet our cost to produce hard-goods is pretty much the same.
Marines was a major exception to the rule because of the circumstances. NATO will be, most likely, just like British Forces. Afghanistan, which is NOT a module, will be getting the enchilada again. Normandy of course as well. For Histwar we even have a limited deluxe edition in the works. And so forth.
Anyway, I am sorry if the image and the text were misleading to some. You will see this kind of "box-shot" for pretty much all our releases going forward, regardless of the actual package. But I will make sure to be more clear about what the hardgoods include in the future.
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I am surprised you are surprised because we're very consistant with our approach to hardgoods. Modules and add-ons usually do not get the DVD box and/or printed manual. Marines was an exception to the rule, not the rule.
What the hardgoods include has been described on the release announcement (among other places):
http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1435&Itemid=1
Hardgoods - consisting of a CD - will be mailed out within 2 weeks. -
We have been in talks with Graviteam before and for reasons I do not want to go into here have decided against picking up any of their games so far. You are right though, this isn't the place to ask this anyway, so I'm locking up this thread.
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That file is inside your game folder but it's only there after the first time you run the game.
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Uninstall the game and unlicense it, too.
The Knowledge Base at www.battlefront.com/helpdesk explains how to log in to respond. Do not use your forum login, but your customer account login from the main site.
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OK, please wait a couple of days, say until monday or tuesday next week, and if it's not there, submit a ticket. During bigger shipouts after a new release transit times sometimes go up I've noticed, perhaps because the local post office is overloaded
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And ticket responded to.
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The product comes from Germany, so it shouldn't take longer than a couple of days normally. If it doesn't arrive until tomorrow, please submit a ticket at www.battlefront.com/helpdesk.
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Moon, I'm not complaining too much here, but one big reason that there are less comments is that navigating to what you want isn't always easy to do. If there were some quicker way, like some type of quick list or something where you can see all of the files, then it might take less time to find a mod/scenario and therefor might have more feedback. Just a thought.
I am not sure how "a quick list ... where you can see all the files" will help you in finding anything. Without any kind of structure you'll be looking at hundreds and hundres of files from totally different games.
The Repository has categories (and sub-categories) for each game. By simply browsing them you can look up every single file there is. It's not one quick list (because there are sub categories), but it comes very close to it.
You can also use the search feature to "generate" your own quick list, looking for a specific catchword for example.
BTW, I don't agree that the reason there are less comments is any kind of problem with the ergonomics Repository. Every time you download something you're emailed a reminder to vote or post a comment (with a link), and the interface for doing BOTH is right there at your fingertips. People are deliberately choosing to comment or not when they decide if they want to vote or not, and it has nothing to do with finding files if you ask me.
Having said that... there is no doubt that things can improve with the Repository. And they will. I have a new version in testing currently which e.g. is adding tags, so that scenario authors can influence and improve the way that files are stored and make it easier to use the search function. The Repository is very much "work in progress" as it is, and will evolve in the way people are using it.
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Try manually copying the setup file from CD to your harddrive, set it to run as admin, and try again.
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Gamersgate is owned by Paradox, it's a subsidiary.
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Basically depends on Paradox. They do have all the files needed to create/compile the patch.
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Except isn't that somewhat flawed as much of the sales revenue/volume will come from BF.com?
Exactly right. We have the only reliable information on sales numbers there is. And while the actual numbers are not public, Steve has not really made a huge secret out of the overall trends in the past on this forum here. I still find it funny that some people are trying to tell us what the truth is when Steve or I (or Charles) only need to fire up our spreadsheets to look at it.
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Sorry to hear about this. We were not aware of it. We now have the technology to sell a digital version of the guide through our own store, so I'll look into this.
Martin
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Except for the use of a slim case vs. standard jewel case, there are no differences between the US and EU production runs. (and the US is switching to slim case just now in fact)
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Funn you're asking for that, as one was posted just the other day on the Repository:
http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_remository&Itemid=314&func=fileinfo&id=473
Main link: http://www.battlefront.com/repository
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Hi snake eye:
First and Second -
people are free to add comments already. So I may be not entirely clear I guess what you're asking about?
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this is the reason why no comments are enforced, i.e. you can rate anonymously. While it may be hard to "punish" people who often (not always) spent a lot of time on something, it is only with constructive criticism that people can improve what they're doing. By not rating you are not really doing the guy/girl a favor down the road...
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I assume you're talking about the Repository?
User ratings - or, for that matter, any ratings, including from "professional" reviewers - always have to be taken with a couple tons of salt
I don't think that forcing people to post comments and not just a rating would help much in this regard. All it probably would do is decrease the already low download-to-rating ratio even more.User ratings are a guideline what others thought about it, not an indication if you will like it or not.
Mail Ordered DISAPPOINTMENT (Brits)
in Combat Mission Shock Force 1
Posted
Nothing is mentioned about printed manuals or DVD boxes either.
I am honestly speechless how anyone reading these forums or even just this thread could think something like that, but since it seems that nothing that I write in response is read, I am locking up this thread. If you are unhappy with your hardgoods, such as if it is damaged, please submit a support ticket at www.battlefront.com/helpdesk and it will be taken care of.