According to Dracomet, XP should still be 2x and mission $Info should still be 3x. Hopefully what folks were seeing was just a glitch in the system.

Hi folks,

    I understand the confusion for those folks who have resubbed since the email notice went out. We are in discussions about how we're going to deal with the issue and will have an answer for you as soon as possible. Unfortunately, those discussions are taking a bit longer than usual due to key folks being in transit from E3.

    The answer may not come today, but we are looking into it. Raijiin and Virrago will have an answer as soon as I can get them one.

    -Walrus

Hi folks,

I understand the confusion for those folks who have resubbed since the email notice went out. We are in discussions about how we're going to deal with the issue and will have an answer for you as soon as possible. Unfortunately, those discussions are taking a bit longer than usual due to key folks being in transit from E3.

The answer may not come today, but we are looking into it. Raijiin and Virrago will have an answer as soon as I can get them one.

-Walrus

Thanks for posting that, Mercio.

FYI: Full accounts for Free Realms are also included in the 60 day trials for MxO subscribers.

Fen wrote:

The last thing I need is to sign up for this, only to have a couple of unshaven, overweight dorks in trenchcoats show up to my home while I'm in my boxers, claiming that they're there to show me how deep the rabbit hole goes.

o_0

Synapse777 wrote:

MxO_Neopill wrote:

"Only in the End, do they see what they have lost."

 

 

                                                            -yahweh

 

 

That simple. To you Mr. Walrus I won't bash you, you know yourself what you could have/should have done over the past 4 years to spice up the game- rehire a LET dev to look at the database comes to mind.... but I can tell you this, SOE is blacked out from my future online purchases... to remedy the situation just a bit - Why don't you let one of those three DELL's stay active cause right now the whole "SOE will never shut down a game as long as people plays it" sounds a bit hollow now, and yes... I'm disappointed and pissed off at the way we've been treated by SOE as a community and ultimately that lands on your table... I do find it interesting how you did remove yourself from MxO years ago though... so blaming it on Keith just isn't going to cut it. That is all.

Yes, as the producer, it does ultimately land on me when things go wrong for MxO. I won't argue that fact or point fingers in other directions. If I inject a bit of humor at this point, it's because I'm disappointed as well--both in the ending of MxO and in not finding ways to change the direction of the game.

Is there more I could have done? I'm sure there was. Hindsight can bring things into unfortunate and painful clarity at times. So I try to remember all the good things about this game and it's community and hope to learn from past mistakes so I can do better in the future. Too late for MxO, sadly. But not too late for any future projects I'm responsible for.

I wish we could keep at least one server open. The option was looked into, but it wasn't feasible. So we have to retire the game and that makes me immensely sad. I understand the anger completely.

Now we just need Keith01 to log on and say "I blame Walrus" to complete the circle.

It won't be quite as easy to coordinate as end of beta was when we were all in the same building (not to mention *state*), but when we tick over to midnight PDT is the current plan.

The community team should have some news on Monday regarding this.

PBlade wrote:

Huh. I guess I wasn't lying; I will be here until the end. Didn't want to believe it would happen, though, even though it was inevitable, I guess.

Maybe I'll have a watch of the Matrix Movies, and remember what MxO was, what could have been, and what it gave me.

Good times were had. Sad times now.

I'm glad people are remembering the good times. We had a lot. More than a lot of games ever have had.

I've been rewatching the movies, too. Have a feeling I'll be doing that a lot in the months to come.

It's all about the memories.

Speaking of...just because I'm obviously not afraid of embarrassing myself for the community's amusement, here's a shot from PAX '04...of my best side.

Scroll down to "A Call for Enforcers"

Raijinn wrote:

Walrus wrote:

QFE

Ut oh. Raijiin's gonna lock me.

No mercy here Walrus.../ban for you!

It's not my fault! I blame Keith!

Seriously, though, even not being able to spend time with the community or in the game much, it always made me glad that the MxO world still existed out there. It's hard to imagine being without it.

Villemar_MxO wrote:

ArchDuke wrote:

Walrus wrote:

The lack of communication is my fault. With nothing in the pipeline for MxO and another game in development, it was hard to find the time. I should have made the time. This community's treated me so well over the years, it's the least I could've done.

We still love you.  We're just heartbroken at the moment.

/manhug

What he said.

QFE

Ut oh. Raijiin's gonna lock me.

Omega0 wrote:

phi wrote:

Looks like I won't make it afterall... my sub expires June 11th.

After June 1st, it will be free to play MxO.

Omega0 is correct: If you're in right now, you're in until the finale.

The lack of communication is my fault. With nothing in the pipeline for MxO and another game in development, it was hard to find the time. I should have made the time. This community's treated me so well over the years, it's the least I could've done.

I'll mention that idea. We're not to beta yet, but at least it has a style MxO players might appreciate.

And guns. Lots of guns.

You could say I've been better. Sorry to be online for a sad reason.

In May 2004, I embarked upon a journey. I decided to take the red pill in a big way—I became the online community lead for The Matrix Online. Later that year, many of you joined me as you jacked in for the first time. It was a brand new world—a vision of online games that didn’t involve elves, spaceships, or dragons. We became part of the Matrix storyline; living our own adventures in the world painted by the movies.

It seems not so long ago I was jumping into Mara Central and going toe-to-toe with other devs at E3 2004. I had no idea this journey would take me to a whole different company, managing a major revision of the game, and my first producing gig. “Long, strange trip” doesn’t describe the half of it.

Now we’ve seen how far the rabbit hole goes and it’s time to wake up from that dream (or go back to sleep, depending how you look at it). On July 31, 2009, we will be jacking out for the last time. It’s a bittersweet moment for everyone involved with the game; as a player or as a developer.

It has been a good run. Where many games have fizzled out before or shortly after launch, by August we will have lived on in our home at SOE for more than 4 years. To this day, I have never worked with a community as dedicated as The Matrix Online community.

I’ll be at Fan Faire this year showing The Agency and hanging out with any redpills making the trip. The past couple years have been a blast, so I hope to see some of you there again..

The team will also be whipping up an end-of-the-world event. It won’t be quite the same as having over 100 developers in the game as Agents like when we ended beta, but we have 4 years of tricks up our sleeve. It’ll be a chance to revisit all the things that make MxO the memorable experience it is. And how could we pull the plug without crushing everyone’s RSI just one more time?

I have a lot of fond memories from my years working on MxO. We’ve had a good time in the Machines’ little playground and will be sad to see it end. I hope everyone enjoys the last few months of playing The Matrix Online.

See you on the other side.

Daniel “Walrus” Myers

SampleNow wrote:

12 new shirts?

Or are we wording it weirdly?

"Operatives who successfully fight the virus will be able to use their Smith fragments to to purchase an array of twelve subversive T-shirts. Clothing from previous years will be available along with Oracle's special cookies and candy."

Nope. It's the shirts from previous years. Sorry if the text is fuzzy.

Let's keep the flames down, folks. And, please, pick thread titles that are a little less inflammatory on first read.

There are some serious assumptions about the knowledge of members of the live team. Creating items with new models and textures isn't that difficult for a game artist--which was never Rarebit's expertise: He's a game designer. That is why he repurposed so much in the game to generate "new" content. Anything he did beyond that was because he wanted to do everything he could for the game.

And me? Know the Lithtech engine? Over the years I've certainly learned a bit about what it's capabilities are, but I'm not a game programmer. I went from managing community relations to managing the team--my skills are in dealing with people and listening to their opinions.

I understand the concerns you all have and am doing what I can to see that we address them. In the meantime, we are looking at ways to improve the game with what resources we have. With the upcoming anniversary, I owe Virrago an article, so you'll be hearing more from me soon.

And now that this has totally gone off topic, let's shut it down. Private disagreements should be kept that: Private.

And, as I mentioned in my post, "Omega" was an appropriate name because it was one of the last things Rarebit did in the game. If it has a Matrix reference as well, it wouldn't surprise me at all--he was keeper of the storyline, after all.

Sorry for the late reply. I've been out sick for a few days and haven't had a chance to catch up.

Rarebit did spend the time after he decided to move on tackling as many issues as he could that would let players continue their own pieces of the Matrix storyline. He also left detailed notes so other team members, like Virrago, could continue to appear in game and do some special things for the community. Giving a full toolset for events to players was never in the cards, as the internal structure of our toolset was never designed to work outside a secure network--not to mention being rather not-user-friendly. Recent issues with players being able to use admin-like powers without permission show what a pandora's box we would open putting those tools out, even with rigorous testing. Given that restriction, Rarebit did what he could to make creative storytelling possible for all players--like the RSI capture devices.

We were also able to kill two issues that have been nagging the community for some time--rendering issues under Vista and a plethora of "Ad Space for Rent" signs in the world. One required some creative texture manipulation and the other a lot of nagging. All-in-all, I'd say Rarebit got the better end of that deal. Both came together in time for Update 66.

As for "Omega"--the name reflects the end of Rarebit's stint with MxO. The game keeps running as always--just without the 6-week updates. Celebration of year 4 is about one month away and we'll be running events just as we did last year. We'll have more details in the coming weeks.

Cheers,

Walrus

As noted in the discussion thread, below Ms. Tucker in the list should be:

- Ms. Walls

- Captain Dernick

- Captain Raeder

Things just got cut off in copying/pasting from our tracking system.

Also, the Patch Error -15 issue should be resolved when Update 66 goes live.

As noted in the discussion thread, below Ms. Tucker in the list should be:

- Ms. Walls

- Captain Dernick

- Captain Raeder

Things just got cut off in copying/pasting from our tracking system.

Also, the Patch Error -15 issue should be resolved when Update 66 goes live.

Outlaw wrote:

Still waiting for the return of the real Morpheus...

What do you think this is? Milliways?

As for news: There really isn't any at the moment other than what we said yesterday. We'll let you know when there is.

VenomusV wrote:

So, is SOE going to be moving someone over to work on MxO... or are we really done with updates? Perhaps Virrago or Walrus can answer the most asked question in this thread.

Update 66 is due out a week from Thursday. Things after that are a bit hazy at the moment, although we do have an anniversary coming up (quickly) in March. Once there's a firmer plan in place, I'll be able to better answer that question.

Croesis wrote:

Ok, The Walrus, he hath spake now.

Well, I had to with an intro like that.

Rarebit's going to be sorely missed by us all here in Seattle and by the MxO community, in particular. Of course, I'll probably miss him most, as I always knew things were in good hands with Rarebit minding the store.

The Matrix Online continues to run--you're not all being returned to your pods. I'm still here to keep an eye on things; I'll just be spending more time on MxO for the foreseeable future. And Virrago is around to help ensure you all know what's going on with the game.

Update 66 is just around the corner and Rarebit's posted logs of the storyline he's been keeper of. Like he said: The story is in the players' hands now more than ever.

As for Agency beta keys: Don't make me bust out my Bucket o Steamers sig.

Thanks for the letter walrus!

btw you didnt look hard enough. Walrus Singing!


<3 Eval

Quick Note:

I know this doesn't cover all that Rarebit posted about how we're changing our updates--I began writing this quite some time ago and it had to go off for approvals before posting. And since this is the appoved version, I'm posting it as-is instead of updating it. We are reading your feedback to Rarebit's post even if we haven't responded so far.

Cheers,

Walrus

 -------------------------------

Greetings Redpills,

Well, it's been a while since Fan Faire, so Virrago's harassment for me to kick out a producer letter is increasing apace. I'm lucky that his office is 2,000 miles away or else he'd likely be ambushing me at the coffee machine by now - an action of which I'm sure many of you would approve.

Seriously, though, it's been quite some time since the last one and The Matrix Online community deserves some relatively undivided attention from me. If only so that those players who didn't make it to Fan Faire will believe the ones who did when they say they saw me there. Yes, really, I do still exist.

Speaking of Fan Faire

Every year when Fan Faire rolls around, there's a part of me that dreads the weekend. Long hours, late nights, little sleep ... it's an exhausting time for everyone, especially the folks doing the set up and tear down. But it never fails that, once I'm there, the energy from the players picks me up and keeps me rolling through the entire event. Come time to head home on Sunday, I realize exactly how wiped out I am but how worth it the trip is each year.

For only our second event, we had quite a turnout. and I'd like to thank everyone who came out this year. Although we don't have the sheer numbers of EQ and EQ2, we make up for it in dedication and enthusiasm. It also makes it easier to sneak into the closing banquet and claim tables for the entire game before anyone else gets in.

We also had an incredible non-U.S. representation at Fan Faire this year. And I'd like to send a special shout out to Kazuki, who arrived from Japan on the second day of the show. Your English is still much better than my Japanese, friend. I'm just glad we had Midori there to show you around.

As the saying goes, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas," so I'm not going into detail on the entire event. I've yet to see any video of me doing karaoke on YouTube, so I'm happy to see others feel the same way.

Thanks again to everyone who made it this year, however far you traveled. I look forward to seeing even more of you next year.

What's New in The Matrix Online

By the time this letter goes out, Update 63 will be long released into the wild. If you haven't been in lately, there have been lots of additions to the game. From the last few updates we've seen:

A batch of level 45 to 50 weapons has been added; filling in the big loot gaps at high levels.

• The new Datamine and Sati's Playground constructs have come online with new gameplay, loot and bosses.
• A new mission involving the stern-and-sexy Valkyrjar.
• Chapter 10 missions became available through the Archive system.
• New moods and emotes added to the game.
• Lots of bug fixes.

Players who pay close attention to the 11.2 critical missions will learn about a dramatic turning point in the storyline.

Looking Forward

The next update to the game will be our annual Halloween Event. By our current schedule, we'll update the game for the event on Thursday, October 23 and run it through Thursday, November 6. The usual jack-o-lantern shenanigans and ultra-dark sky will return with another new set of masks. As you may have noticed, Rarebit has already started dropping hints as to what you'll see this year via Image Retrieval. This year's costumes should be a big hit.

Update 64 will come in and Chapter 11.3 will begin on November 6 - right on the heels of the Halloween event. We will decide what goes into that update in the next few weeks. We're delaying release by a week both to make our logistics simpler - much easier to end the event and patch on the same day - and because we need to revisit how we're providing updates to the game.

That last comment requires some explanation. You see, as far as major updates go, we base our decisions on what is feasible and what time allows. That we've squeezed out two new constructs is above and beyond expectations. Rarebit drives the design and implements most of the functionality, and I'm always impressed with what he achieves.

Rarebit has some plans for better ways to provide content for more people - including possibilities for bringing some form of cinematic back to the game. He and I will both be addressing that with the community on the forums.

That's all for now. Get ready for Halloween fun and a new take on what goes into our regular updates. I'll see everyone on the other side.

Cheers,

Dan "Walrus" Myers

Hi everyone,

I apologize for not getting an announcement up about restarting the Syntax server. We needed to correct some issues we've had since this morning's hotfix and it required a quick server bounce. Syntax should be available again shortly.

Thank you for your patience. You may now return to your regularly scheduled gaming.

Cheers,

Walrus

Hey folks,

I just posted an announcement that we're not going to be able to get Sati's Playground out with Update 61. We've got a bug that has to be fixed first, so we're shipping Update 61 without access to the new construct. Right now we're hoping to push the hotfix update next Thursday and open the construct at that time.

Cheers,

Walrus

Hey folks,

Walrus here with a bit an update on Sati's Playground. We have a fairly important bug that has to be fixed before allowing everyone in. So, Update 61 will release tomorrow, Friday, June 27; however, you will not be able to teleport to the new construct.

We're hoping to have the fix ready for a hotfix update next week. Sorry for the disappointment, but we wanted to go ahead and get the rest of the update out instead of waiting for the bug fix.

Cheers,

Walrus

I certainly knew this wasn't going to be a popular letter, but I had to lay everything out on the table. Cinematics aren't ending because Paul is leaving, although he did do all the storyboards. We had the budget last year and did as much as we could with it. That saw us through all the storyline we had fully fleshed-out at the time.

Could we have players do the cinematics? We certainly have talent out there but, just like LESIG, it would have to be a totally volunteer effort. That means we *can't* demand things be done on a set schedule. The best we could do is put the deadline out there and *hope* the work got done on time--or at all. That's not a good way to carry on storyline.

It also requires dev time to oversee the process. That's time away from missions, events, and any additional content we could add to the game. So we turn to LESIG to help us with the Sentinel, which isn't as time-critical as cinematics would be. Is it an ideal situation? Absolutely not. But we do what we can.

And why announce it now right before the party? Well, you're right in that maybe we're making the event less a celebration than it would otherwise be. Would it have been better having the party then announcing later? That seemed deceptive to the team. Instead, we'll be online with you this afternoon, still celebrating three years since release with no end in sight.

And that is the case: We've no plans to shut MxO down.

None of these issues have been easy for the team to accept, so we understand where you all are coming from. For those of us still working on MxO, it's been four or more years of hard work, so it's sad for us to have to make these decisions. But we make the best choices we can and continue working to improve the game in other ways.

Hello again, redpills. Welcome to the first The Matrix Online producer letter of the year. Let's get the ball rolling with the first big topic.

New "Datamine" Construct is In!

If you haven't checked out Update 58 yet, then you're missing out on a great new construct added to The Matrix Online. The Datamine construct is a "free-for-all" style player-versus-player area in the game, allowing players to take on all comers, even those in the same Organization.

You'll also find the construct filled with active data nodes for you to mine, another first for the constructs. The Anniversary Event update will include new luggable Data Taps available only in Datamine. These will be must-have items for maximizing your $info extraction, but because only a few will be available, finding and keeping one away from all the other operatives will be a real challenge.

Jack in and head to your Organization's Archivist to check out the new construct.

A Fond Farewell to Paul Chadwick

As recently announced, Paul Chadwick has decided it's time for him to move on with other projects. It's been great working with him over the past four years and the team wishes him all the best in the future.

Paul wrote the first six chapters of The Matrix Online story during development of the game. He also created the material for The Sentinel in-game newspaper and storyboarded our cinematics. His work has been an integral part of MxO for years and we will miss his contributions to the ongoing storyline.

Fortunately Paul and Rarebit worked closely on the story over the past three years, so moving forward won't be a problem. Rarebit has already mapped out the storyline for the next year and more, so things will be proceeding much as they have in the past.

Cinematics and The Sentinel

Last year we committed to completing cinematics for each chapter up through and including the recently released Chapter 9.3. We've had a lot of fun making our story cinematics, and you've had fun unabashedly critiquing them, but after a three-year run, the time has come to continue the story through other means.

So we're reviving the long-neglected in-game newspaper, The Sentinel. Rarebit, with some help from the Live Events Special Interest Group, will continue building The Matrix Online story through new editions of the newspaper that flesh out what's going on in the missions and daily events. Look for updates coming to newspaper stands by your favorite hardlines in the near future!

The Matrix Online Third Anniversary

Believe it or not, The Matrix Online is about to turn three! (That's 11 for all you binary folk out there.) On March 19, 2005, redpills who preordered the game jacked in to the world for the first time. Three days later, the floodgates opened and we began learning about living in the Matrix after the truce.

We'll be celebrating our anniversary between March 20 and April 3 this year to allow two full weekends of play. The Smith virus will return for its annual infection of the system, along with twelve new T-shirt designs, and new consumable items to help fight off...the inevitable.

Jack in and join the fun!

It's not every massively-multiplayer online game that gets to celebrate its third anniversary. Many never even make it out the gate much less survive their first year. Thanks to all our players out there for continuing to jack in and fighting the good fight--whatever fight you consider "the good one", that is.

See you on the other side.

Cheers,

Walrus

Hi everyone,

I'm here today to announce that Paul Chadwick is ending his run on The Matrix Online. Below is his personal message to all you redpills out there. I'll talk about this and other things more in a producer letter going up later today. But this announcement is Paul's spotlight. So, without further ado, Paul Chadwick: 

The Matrix Online is poised for another intriguing year of unfolding story and gameplay, and I can now announce that I'm leaving the game to get back to doing comics exclusively.

Players are aware my involvement has been cut back for some time, and mainly limited to cinematics and some input in the broad strokes of storyline.  The crackerjack team mostly responsible for the last year's gameplay is still in place, and nothing will change about the game - except the story will continue to evolve, as it always has. 

Some of my contributions remain in the pipeline and I hope everybody will stick around to see what comes next - some great things are in store.

Thanks to all the players who have shown great kindess to me, and especially everybody who's contributed to this strange, intricate virtual culture and its ongoing story.  MXO has been one of the highlights of my life.

Sincerely,

Paul Chadwick

Discuss this announcement at Broadcast Depth.

What're y'all complaining about? Isn't it about time we started taking over other games?

As for the dancing, I was young and needed the money.

And because I know someone is going to ask: Here's what I got as a description from Rarebit:

"The combat animation changes include tweaks and additions to bullet time for special moves and finishing moves, as well as a number of interlock animation fixes."

Hey folks,

As with all things dev, not everything comes in on schedule. In this case, the combat animation changes and tweaks planned for December 6 will be going in with the Winter Holiday Update on December 13. We decided to give QA an extra week to go through all the combat animations--yes, I said *all* the combat animations. There are an awful lot of them, but we wanted to try and ensure the tweaks didn't break anything.

So, there will be an extra little present in next week's update--a cleanup of combat animations for all!

Cheers,

Walrus

Hey folks,

As with all things dev, not everything comes in on schedule. In this case, the combat animation changes and tweaks planned for December 6 will be going in with the Winter Holiday Update on December 13. We decided to give QA an extra week to go through all the combat animations--yes, I said *all* the combat animations. There are an awful lot of them, but we wanted to try and ensure the tweaks didn't break anything.

So, there will be an extra little present in next week's update--a cleanup of combat animations for all!

Cheers,

Walrus

SicFaith wrote:

XRontix wrote:

WALRUS! Its great to see you posting this letter for us! thx so much " />

 
+1 !
There's something about Walrus posting that affects this community in all the best of ways!

to tell you the truth it brings tears to me eyes, guess we won't be seeing another letter till March