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Thread: Arena's days are numbered

  1. #1

    Default Arena's days are numbered

    Apparently, Arena won't make it to Three Kingdom's launch. Following the rather disappointing data of the open beta, which presumably indicated that Arena lacked a dedicated audience and, therefore, had zero chances of turning into a profitable game, Creative Assembly promptly decided to pull the plug. From my understanding, the project, despite being initially received in a remarkably positive manner, was constantly undermined by seemingly weird business policies, such as the controversial introduction of pay-to-win mechanics. As a result, early customers became frustrated, while the project never succeeded in attracting many customers, in contrast to SEGA's optimist expectations. Still, I was a bit surprised by the abrupt death sentence, a feeling which makes me suspect that Arena's fandom, in spite of the rosy vocabulary of the announcement and a couple of DLCs being offered as compensation, will not take the news very lightheartedly.


  2. #2
    isa0005's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Not surprised by this move what so ever. I only played Arena briefly but from the offset I knew it was little more then a cash grab by SEGA and CA. An intriguing novelty when it came out, in the end I did not enjoy the game at all. The reason for me, was that it simply gutted the essence of what really makes the Total War titles great, combine that with the whole 'pay to win' and micro-transactions that historically have cause the demise of many games. In the end it was a poor attempt to access the huge revenue potential in the online competitive gaming scene that is by in large dominated by MOBAs, shooters and your typical RTS. I hope CA will change their tune, I was pleasantly surprised by Warhammer I & II, hopefully Three Kingdoms will turn out to be the historical equivalent that many I know hope for!

  3. #3
    Benjin's Avatar Artifex
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Well, well. I'm not surprised that ARENA eventually being dropped, but I didn't think that it'd be this soon. Even though I wasn't massively into it, I am going to miss not seeing anymore of those new, awesome Roman / Greek / Barbarian / Carthaginian themed 3D assets (which could potentially be used in future Rome II / Attila mods).
    Last edited by Benjin; November 22, 2018 at 11:20 AM.
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  4. #4
    The Wandering Storyteller's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    The pay for these units was useless.

    What they should have done is followed the TW model. No 3 units nonsense, have the full army as in MP, have a online currency system and then have a paying online currency system.

    They should have added units from different eras, Japanese Samurai etc.

    Just suggestions.





















































  5. #5
    Skotos of Sinope's Avatar Macstre Gaposal
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Whoah. I suppose it's a good thing now that micro-transactions are starting to be a liability to attracting players rather than an easy means of monetizing them. Still, following so closely on the failure of Thrones, I'm worried that CA's pulling the plug is a sign they've decided that straight historical titles aren't where their focus should be and that instead they'll go all-in on the far-more-profitable fantasy genre in the future. (With Three Kingdoms already having been 'Warhammerized')

    I hope I'm wrong.
    Last edited by Skotos of Sinope; November 22, 2018 at 01:42 PM.

  6. #6
    The Wandering Storyteller's Avatar Protector Domesticus
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Quote Originally Posted by Skotos of Sinope View Post
    Whoah. I suppose it's a good thing now that micro-transactions are starting to be a liability to attracting players rather than an easy means of monetizing them. Still, following so closely on the failure of Thrones, I'm worried that CA's pulling the plug is a sign they've decided that straight historical titles aren't where their focus should be and that instead they'll go all-in on the far-more-profitable fantasy genre in the future. (With Three Kingdoms already having been 'Warhammerized')

    I hope I'm wrong.
    Historical games are what sells CA's games.

    CA isn't going to abandon their historical games, they will make more of them for sure, but they will become more fantasy like in the future pretty much like Three Kingdoms has a lot of Warhammer influences.

    It's like Assassin Creed, which was all about fantasy secret socieites fighting each other, but ironically the Assassins Creed Games have become way more historical and less focus on the AC element.

    Fans complain total war is going less historical, more fantasy.
    Fans complain Assassin Creed is going less fantasy, more historical.

    Ironic isn't it?





















































  7. #7
    Skotos of Sinope's Avatar Macstre Gaposal
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Quote Originally Posted by San Felipe View Post
    Historical games are what sells CA's games.

    CA isn't going to abandon their historical games, they will make more of them for sure, but they will become more fantasy like in the future pretty much like Three Kingdoms has a lot of Warhammer influences.
    Yeah, that's where it seemed the wind was blowing so I think you're spot-on there. Historical titles in name only will be the future. (Or maybe I'm being too harsh.) I suppose it's inevitable, but I'm sad. Seems like the end of an era now that CA has said they don't go beyond "II" with a title (Warhammer being a special case with a planned out trilogy), and with the historical team moving off of Rome II and on to 3K. Arena, despite its "cash grab" nature was the last new CA project that was a straight historical title. This was all I had to look forward to since we're never going to get a Rome or Medieval III. Sorry, I don't mean to threadjack.

  8. #8
    Daruwind's Avatar Citizen
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Quote Originally Posted by Skotos of Sinope View Post
    Whoah. I suppose it's a good thing now that micro-transactions are starting to be a liability to attracting players rather than an easy means of monetizing them. Still, following so closely on the failure of Thrones, I'm worried that CA's pulling the plug is a sign they've decided that straight historical titles aren't where their focus should be and that instead they'll go all-in on the far-more-profitable fantasy genre in the future. (With Three Kingdoms already having been 'Warhammerized')

    I hope I'm wrong.
    ToB was also marketing fail but the game is actually good now and there are rumors one more patch/update is in production. Sole problem is the game is sold as standalone but cannot compete with Rome2/Attila in terms of content. Still as bigger campaign DLC would ge awesome!

    Check the latest Diplomacy video for 3K and PartyElite´s video too with lot small details. To me it looks like 3K is in some areas actually return to older ideas even if package is influenced by Wh(s).
    http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post15698121
    http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...1#post15698421

    Region trading, population, army supplies, ambushes as well....

    Let´s hope CA will stick with classical TW scheme with DLCs/FLCs. :-)
    DMR: (R2) (Attila) (ToB) (Wh1/2) (3K) (Troy)

  9. #9
    Commissar Caligula_'s Avatar The Ecstasy of Potatoes
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Quote Originally Posted by Benjin View Post
    Well, well. I'm not surprised that ARENA eventually being dropped, but I didn't think that it'd be this soon. Even though I wasn't massively into it, I am going to miss not seeing anymore of those new, awesome Roman / Greek / Barbarian / Carthaginian themed 3D assets (which could potentially be used in future Rome II / Attila mods).
    Time to grab all the variantmodels and save em somewhere. I've barely checked out the new ones, but I still reckon the 2015 version had higher quality commander models.



  10. #10
    Menumorut's Avatar Ducenarius
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Quote Originally Posted by Commissar Caligula_ View Post
    Time to grab all the variantmodels and save em somewhere. I've barely checked out the new ones, but I still reckon the 2015 version had higher quality commander models.
    Unfortunately we can't because they encrypted the pack's since CA team up with Wargaming. All we can do is to hope they gonna decrypt them just for our sake(yeah, right) and let us to use them for our mods since the game will eventually die..

    »MY GRAPHIC WORKSHOP« UNDER THE PARONAGE OF G☼D HIMSELF »MY ROMEII FAN ART«

  11. #11
    Commissar Caligula_'s Avatar The Ecstasy of Potatoes
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Quote Originally Posted by Menumorut View Post
    Unfortunately we can't because they encrypted the pack's since CA team up with Wargaming. All we can do is to hope they gonna decrypt them just for our sake(yeah, right) and let us to use them for our mods since the game will eventually die..
    You can access them with some tool. I think Rusted PFM (the new version of PFM made for the Warhammer games) I can't remember.



  12. #12

    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    I played this game a lot when it was avaliable on Steam. But then I lost interest in the game for two reasons:
    a) one of the updates deleted all the achievements that I made. Starting all over again was frustrating.
    b) the game left Steam. IMO this was a fatal mistake. I didn't want to download another platform just to play Arena. Besides, the download speed of new updates were a nightmare to me. Unlike Steam, the Wargaming servers take ages to update the game. Sometimes I simply gave up updating the game.

  13. #13
    Menumorut's Avatar Ducenarius
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Quote Originally Posted by Commissar Caligula_ View Post
    You can access them with some tool. I think Rusted PFM (the new version of PFM made for the Warhammer games) I can't remember.
    I tried that tool, still doesn't work. Also on their page says that for the Arena is currently broken...TW: Arena (Read-Only and not complete table support) (Currently broken)

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  14. #14
    Benjin's Avatar Artifex
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Arena's files I think were re-encrypted after we got access to them a few months ago. It's no biggie though, I don't think they added any new unit assets after that - all the stuff I managed to unpack from it I'm working to fit with Rome II's skins more nicely (e.g. better skin weights, separating bits and pieces to make them more customizable etc) for anyone to use once they're all done.
    Last edited by Benjin; November 27, 2018 at 03:24 PM.
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    Menumorut's Avatar Ducenarius
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Quote Originally Posted by Benjin View Post
    Arena's files I think were re-encrypted after we got access to them a few months ago. It's no biggie though, I don't think they added any new unit assets after that - all the stuff I managed to unpack from it I'm working to fit with Rome II's skins more nicely (e.g. better skin weights, separating bits and pieces to make them more customizable etc) for anyone to use once they're all done.
    Will you want to share with us those Arena unencrypted packs or what you have unpacked ?

    »MY GRAPHIC WORKSHOP« UNDER THE PARONAGE OF G☼D HIMSELF »MY ROMEII FAN ART«

  16. #16
    Benjin's Avatar Artifex
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Quote Originally Posted by Menumorut View Post
    Will you want to share with us those Arena unencrypted packs or what you have unpacked ?
    No to sharing the original unencrypted pack files, yes to sharing the assets themselves as part of a resource pack or something - I said already that I'll "[share them] for anyone to use once they're all done" after saying that I'm working to make them fit more nicely with the Rome II bodies. The reason I have to fix a lot of them is because they don't fit well with the vanilla R2 bodies / heads since they were intended for different ones, or have a few other weird issues (e.g. some helmets being rotated 20 degrees a little bit, therefore not aligning correctly with the head causing clipping with the side / back of the head). Also, a lot of good assets could potentially be separated out to be their own assets to give more potential variation to modder's unit appearances. I've done the same thing to a lot of other existing vanilla R2 assets already which I've used in my own mods (e.g. Tetricus' Cloak, Archytas' Greaves, Seleucid Elite Torso Armour + Seleucid Elite Tunic, General Sash etc), so I could include those too when I release this planned resource pack.

    Separated / Fixed Arena Asset Models
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Separation: Alexander Torso Armour
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Separation + Fix: Greek Premium Spearman Torso Armour
    NOTE: The original skin weights were abysmal, had to re-weight the whole thing.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Separation: Miltiades Torso Armour

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Separation + Fix: Greek Hermes Armour
    NOTE: The model's shape itself is unchanged, but I've altered its scale so that it can fit with the Rome II arms / legs / head - it was too small before, causing a lot of clipping issues. I also noticed that it had some abysmal skin weights when I exported to DAE for editing in 3DS Max, so I had to re-weight it too.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Separation: Alexander Cloak
    NOTE: Don't worry about the gap in the middle of the inner part of the cloak; no one will see it when the armour / body is added (example pic below of cloak + armour together)
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 




    Separation + Fix: Alexander Helmet + Crest
    NOTE: All the helmets I separate / fix in 3DS Max I give new attachment points to, meaning modders can add whatever crests they want to the helmets where there is one.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 






    Fix: Carthaginian Master Elite Helmet
    NOTE: This helmet was strangely rotated 25 degrees to the left, which caused some clipping issues with the R2 / Attila heads. I rotated it 25 degrees back to the right, centering it. Again, I also separated its crests into their own assets and - again - added attachment points to where they were so modders can add whatever crests they want.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 




    Separation: Miltiades Helmets + Crest
    NOTE:
    All of the extra textures for the hero commanders (e.g. Miltiades, Alexander, Scipio etc) have their own variants too.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 








    Separation: Miltiades Greaves

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Separation: Archytas Greaves
    NOTE:
    Not an Arena asset, but the same thing can be done to other vanilla assets. I can put these in the resource pack for modders to use as well.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Separation + Fix: Leonidas Greaves
    NOTE
    : I fixed the greave models to fit the R2 leg models. Leonidas' legs were massive in comparison, so the greaves originally looked like they were floating when trying to wrap around the R2 legs.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Separation: Scipio Greaves

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    Last edited by Benjin; December 01, 2018 at 07:09 AM.
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  17. #17
    Frodo45127's Avatar Artifex
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Just saw this thread by chance while updating RPFM. In case any of you is still interested, Arena support in RPFM just got fixed yesterday. Don't know how much time will last, so grab it while you can!

  18. #18
    Menumorut's Avatar Ducenarius
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Quote Originally Posted by Frodo45127 View Post
    Just saw this thread by chance while updating RPFM. In case any of you is still interested, Arena support in RPFM just got fixed yesterday. Don't know how much time will last, so grab it while you can!
    Well thank you so much Sir. But it does not work that great
    Last edited by Menumorut; December 01, 2018 at 04:31 AM.

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  19. #19
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Yeah, seems like a bug slipped in the last release that caused it to read Arena PackFiles badly. Just fixed it in 1.3.2. Tested with wad.pack and rigidmodel.pack and it seems to work properly again.

  20. #20
    Menumorut's Avatar Ducenarius
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    Default Re: Arena's days are numbered

    Quote Originally Posted by Frodo45127 View Post
    Yeah, seems like a bug slipped in the last release that caused it to read Arena PackFiles badly. Just fixed it in 1.3.2. Tested with wad.pack and rigidmodel.pack and it seems to work properly again.
    Works GREAT now. Thank you so much!

    »MY GRAPHIC WORKSHOP« UNDER THE PARONAGE OF G☼D HIMSELF »MY ROMEII FAN ART«

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