The last Grab Bag is interesting. To begin with it dispels the doubts about the “Catacombs” expansion (enabled on the new ruleset servers) being dependent on ToA (which is going to be ditched):

Q: Do I need to own TOA in order to activate Catacombs on the new server?

A: On the new server, you do not need to own the TOA expansion.

I guess the time will finally obliterate the work put on ToA, which is somewhat a sad thing. Or, as Dave Rickey said:

The current Live team has their work cut out for them, and I wish them well.

And here is the important point. As I wrote elsewhere this new ruleset is questioning the work of the devs. This is why Dave “wishes well” to them. Because this whole project of the new server is basically a failure declaration. It cannot be read in any other way if not a complete failure.

Or maybe not. In fact, if you delve some more, you could be able to see a glimpse of what is the real stance of Mythic’s devs. They are still NEGATING the whole thing. They are negating that ToA was a failure, they are negating that the idea to give DAoC a new insane grind was a failure, they are negating the HOLES in the design and gameplay. This is the real reason why ToA wasn’t fixed after all this time. Because noone has ever acknowledged the problems. Noone has learnt A DAMN THING. They stand behind two similar positions: fear of being kicked out because of their failure and a constant denial of the problems in order to defend their work (and chair).

They DO NOT want to accept (or maybe cannot, because it means a crisis of their role) that they made some mistakes and that those mistakes must be considered, acknowledged and then addressed in order to let the game grow instead of sink inesorably.

In fact this is their actual stance on this whole thing:

Walt Yarbrough:
This is aimed at many of our former customers, not our current ones. Our satisfaction is high in the polls that we take of our current customers.

He thinks that their current customers love their game, love ToA, love the buffbots. He believes that the players are completely satisfied by Mythic’s offer. He does not believe that the new ruleset could appeal even to them. He does not believe that the new ruleset addresses serious problems that the game objectively has… He just thinks that all these issues are SUBJECTIVE points of view. NONE of Mythic’s work in these years has been a failure. NONE of their work is being questioned by all this. Nothing at all is being questioned, is being examined, is being acknowledged. NOTHING AT ALL IS BEING LEARNT. It’s a *denial*, complete denial of everything happening to the game.

And that stance has been now backed up directly by Sanya in the Grab Bag:

This new server type is meant for people who would otherwise not play DAOC at this time. I don’t expect that most people currently playing are going to do much more than roll on the new server out of pure curiosity. I DO expect that the people with active accounts who try the new toy will eventually go back to their “home” servers. And I hope that people who are reactivating just for this ruleset decide to stay.

This server is just an attempt to meet the needs of a niche group of players.

Listen carefully. ALL of you out there thinking that DAoC has “a few” consistent problems in the design. ALL OF YOU… You are just a fucking niche. You are a tiny, little, irrelevant annoyance. A minority of ranters who know nothing about their huge subscription base that, after being sagely polled, has been declared totally satisfied.

And remember:

Future expansions and patches will be primarily designed for the more typical servers.

Because they are so fucking stubborn that they won’t understand what is going on till the last paying player will vanish to never come back. And even then I have my doubts that they would be able to “get” it.

Thick as a brick.