The crazy part is, on the official forum thread about the layoffs, many of the players seem to think that the layoffs are a good sign for the game. I guess that speaks to the mentality of the people who are still left playing.
Never underestimate the willingness of fanbois to spin even the most spectacular clear negatives as positives. I think they invented alternative facts.
Alternative facts are great when reality makes you want to curl up under the bed crying.
Things must be even worse than most have thought. Looks like Port is abandoning its years-long policy of silencing criticism on the official forums. They must be willing to try anything at this point. Sadly, way too little, way too late.
Yeah i read it too. Threads like that one should have been discussed seriously years ago but moderators like Berek didnt allow it and developers only had ears for the whales that pledged the most.
How developers and moderators treated their community should be a warning for any future game developer as an example how you dont treat your community and the negative effect it will have on your game.
Only allowing elitist whales with deep pockets set the agenda is so bizarre that it is hard to believe it actually happened.
I discussed the game alot on the SotA forums from the beginning as Ara but when my forum account suddenly stopped working i tried to contact moderators and developers and got a cryptic answer they said the proble was at my end, LOL.
I was never banned and never got a warning but i was a harsh critic of the turns the game took. I guess that was the reason why my forum account suddenly stopped working.
Moderators censored anyone that had different opinions then the whales had. Berek had a high impact to why this game is such a failure.
I remember when i as a players with +20 years of hardcore, player demanding PvP in my CV told the community and developers that i would make a way better PvP game that would be very popular for the old UO PvP players that was the vast majority of the PvP interested community at the beginning. Rich whales with no interest in PvP started to derail any suggestions that would please the majority of the PvP interested players and they were backed by moderators and developers.
People need to know that SotA developers bragged they were listening to their community. Turned out they only listened to a very small part of their community - the whales with deep wallets.
These changes would make the game more interesting for the ones that a long time ago was the majority of the SotA PvP community.
1. Add skillcap - less grind and make Avatars unique
2. Remove the card game combat system (main reason it was created was PvP uninterested whales whining they couldnt compete in player skill demanding combat systems as old UO)
3. Copy the combat system old Ultima Online had (read pre Age of Shadows and after trammel) - most player skill demanding and balanced PvP combat system ever created (Garriott had nothing to do with it, it was created by lead designer of Ultima Online Raph Koster)
4. Copy the death system old Ultima Online had ((read pre Age of Shadows and after trammel) - full loot
5. A good working alignment system as it was in old Ultima Online Felucca (read pre Age of Shadows and after trammel) - statloss for PK:s, reds can not enter towns
All above was what the majority of the old SotA PvP interested communty demanded. They were more or less bullied out of the game by whales, moderators and developers.
No matter how much you wish to believe in this, the game you describe would appeal to a very small niche of players in todays market.
Had they gone your route they likely would have the same number of player as they do now, except they would all be murdering psychopaths who would quickly exterminate all interest in the game.
Wolves cant survive without sheep to prey on, and the sheep are much too smart (and have far more options) than was true in 1998.
Of course, with your stated preferences you are currently playing LiF, EVE or some hardcore survival title like Worlds Adrift right?
If not, consider supporting the games that exist, and let go of dreams that died years ago.
Are you talking about non-consensual PvP? I am talking about consensual PvP.
I disagree. Game would be in a way better consition then it is today. Heck this game is almost dead.
Since Ultima Online was consensual PvP there were no reason for sheeps to be alarmed. Just as it was after the trammel/felucca split (the era of Ultima Online described above).
Wolfes survived very well fighting other wolves just as it was in the best time of UO felucca.
Was no need for defensless sheeps as you claim. UO Renaissance was the most populated time in felucca after the trammel split.
This game had 65000 interested at the beginning and now tops 1000 still play the game.
All old UO players or at least all old UO PvP players that pledged left the game have left it. It is easy to understand they were the majority of the community since today the game is almost dead. Only whales play.
Wether my and other players suggestions during early SotA forums would have created a more successful game can only be discussed today.
Polls during that time over at SotA forums back me though.
I am sure there is a huge market for a game like old Ultima Online if it constructed similar to that old game.
Sadly there havent been another MMO similar to it after the game was destroyed when EA introduced Age of Shadows 2003.
The fact there havent been a similar MMO as old UO Renaissance is also a solid evidence you have no clue what your talking about.
I believe I could find quite a few of those 65K were "pre-trammel" backers who would be equally upset over the game period you proposed.
BTW, if this is accurate about Feluca then it's pretty clear you have no clue about what the term consensual PVP really means.
To the specifics of where are we now and where are we going, give us at least a few days... we are still ironing out details, but broadly, of course we have taken a hit, but we have taken many through the years, and as before, we will work through this one as well!
Exactly what shifts in schedules and priorities will change is being worked out, but we think it will seem mostly like business as usual from the outside, or at least that is what we will try to accomplish, as best we can!
If we can fix our marketing strategy, which we can explain better after we have done much more analysis, we hope to rebuild past previous standards!
Time will tell!
Lord British
Yes, yes, it's not that your game turned out to be a piece of shit that 99% of your original backers, as well as potential new customers, aren't interested in. You just need to adjust "marketing strategy." Oh well, it's not like we can expect honesty from them.
Not listening to the majority of your community have this effect. Developers made a wrong turn when they decided to only listen to the hi money pledgers.
Now they pay the price.
I am glad that future developers now can see for themself that this kind of funding model and segregation of players is very bad if you want to make a successful game.
Ok y'all, since I started this I will also give you this info trying not to say too much:
I had a very long talk with a CM yesterday after all this. I made
some suggestions, some maybe radical ones (like unbanning and starting
over). I explained a lot what happened in the past... All while knowing
that making the moderation and community better is only part of the
solution. The Dev team has to be willing to listen to the old/new
community too, but it would be a first good step (right?!). There was
not much common ground.
Long story short: Not much will change. Moderation will get better,
but it will take time. Berek got orders from above him and was not the
core reason of what happened on the forum.
I want to say so much more but I also don't want to betray the trust.
Overall, I will stop trying to fix this because of the outcome of that discussion.
Do with this info what you will, draw your own conclusions. I don't think I have to do that for you.
Sorry folks, I really tried (and it's not the first time, but it's the last - I got other things to do).
Portalarium wanted from the start to make a nasty f2p game. They not gonna change now because it would mean admitting they was wrong. Fuck man everyone here told em in different ways over years they didnt like what was being built. Rumours are they just trying to cling on in the hopes Travian or some other suckas buy em out before they run out of cash. Not gonna happen as the game as an atrocious rep. And as a f2p game I couldnt afford it even if they somehow got new blood in. They totally didnt care about the low income gamer. Now theyre a low income game company and its what they deserve.
Things must be even worse than most have thought. Looks like Port is abandoning its years-long policy of silencing criticism on the official forums. They must be willing to try anything at this point. Sadly, way too little, way too late.
Yeah i read it too. Threads like that one should have been discussed seriously years ago but moderators like Berek didnt allow it and developers only had ears for the whales that pledged the most.
How developers and moderators treated their community should be a warning for any future game developer as an example how you dont treat your community and the negative effect it will have on your game.
Only allowing elitist whales with deep pockets set the agenda is so bizarre that it is hard to believe it actually happened.
I discussed the game alot on the SotA forums from the beginning as Ara but when my forum account suddenly stopped working i tried to contact moderators and developers and got a cryptic answer they said the proble was at my end, LOL.
I was never banned and never got a warning but i was a harsh critic of the turns the game took. I guess that was the reason why my forum account suddenly stopped working.
Moderators censored anyone that had different opinions then the whales had. Berek had a high impact to why this game is such a failure.
I remember when i as a players with +20 years of hardcore, player demanding PvP in my CV told the community and developers that i would make a way better PvP game that would be very popular for the old UO PvP players that was the vast majority of the PvP interested community at the beginning. Rich whales with no interest in PvP started to derail any suggestions that would please the majority of the PvP interested players and they were backed by moderators and developers.
People need to know that SotA developers bragged they were listening to their community. Turned out they only listened to a very small part of their community - the whales with deep wallets.
These changes would make the game more interesting for the ones that a long time ago was the majority of the SotA PvP community.
1. Add skillcap - less grind and make Avatars unique
2. Remove the card game combat system (main reason it was created was PvP uninterested whales whining they couldnt compete in player skill demanding combat systems as old UO)
3. Copy the combat system old Ultima Online had (read pre Age of Shadows and after trammel) - most player skill demanding and balanced PvP combat system ever created (Garriott had nothing to do with it, it was created by lead designer of Ultima Online Raph Koster)
4. Copy the death system old Ultima Online had ((read pre Age of Shadows and after trammel) - full loot
5. A good working alignment system as it was in old Ultima Online Felucca (read pre Age of Shadows and after trammel) - statloss for PK:s, reds can not enter towns
All above was what the majority of the old SotA PvP interested communty demanded. They were more or less bullied out of the game by whales, moderators and developers.
No matter how much you wish to believe in this, the game you describe would appeal to a very small niche of players in todays market.
Had they gone your route they likely would have the same number of player as they do now, except they would all be murdering psychopaths who would quickly exterminate all interest in the game.
Wolves cant survive without sheep to prey on, and the sheep are much too smart (and have far more options) than was true in 1998.
Of course, with your stated preferences you are currently playing LiF, EVE or some hardcore survival title like Worlds Adrift right?
If not, consider supporting the games that exist, and let go of dreams that died years ago.
Are you talking about non-consensual PvP? I am talking about consensual PvP.
I disagree. Game would be in a way better consition then it is today. Heck this game is almost dead.
Since Ultima Online was consensual PvP there were no reason for sheeps to be alarmed. Just as it was after the trammel/felucca split (the era of Ultima Online described above).
Wolfes survived very well fighting other wolves just as it was in the best time of UO felucca.
Was no need for defensless sheeps as you claim. UO Renaissance was the most populated time in felucca after the trammel split.
This game had 65000 interested at the beginning and now tops 1000 still play the game.
All old UO players or at least all old UO PvP players that pledged left the game have left it. It is easy to understand they were the majority of the community since today the game is almost dead. Only whales play.
Wether my and other players suggestions during early SotA forums would have created a more successful game can only be discussed today.
Polls during that time over at SotA forums back me though.
I am sure there is a huge market for a game like old Ultima Online if it constructed similar to that old game.
Sadly there havent been another MMO similar to it after the game was destroyed when EA introduced Age of Shadows 2003.
The fact there havent been a similar MMO as old UO Renaissance is also a solid evidence you have no clue what your talking about.
I believe I could find quite a few of those 65K were "pre-trammel" backers who would be equally upset over the game period you proposed.
BTW, if this is accurate about Feluca then it's pretty clear you have no clue about what the term consensual PVP really means.
Yes felucca was consensual since after trammel you had a choice where to play.
Yes UO felucca was as hardcore as it could get.
One of the best parts was the harsh penalties towards murderers - a good working alignment system is needed in games like that.
Games like Darkfall or Mortal Online had no alignment system.
I will concede, though I'm sure there were ways to exploit the Murderer system by living right along the edge it does appear to be one of the better attempts to inflict real penalties for those chosing to live the life.
One unfotunate change IMO was the removal of the permanent skill point loss after 5 short term murders, which is one reason I'm guessing you mentioned wanting a game with a pre Age of Shadows ruleset.
You are correct, I would have given a game with such an alignment system a try and its rather suprising SotAs devs didn't want to go with something like it again. Pity.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
If you are surprised at some people tossing around large amounts of money just go to Twitch tv and see people giving donations for no reason at all,sometimes in the thousands. if i was to break it down into a psychological reason,i would say that it centers around a lot of people that feel the need to be a part of something in life where they are usually hermits or a part of very little else in life. This even stems into the lower income bracket,there are people with little money but again will give what little they have to feel a part of something.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I find it absolutely fascinating that they are able to raise this kind of money on an ongoing basis by basically begging. How much money are their whales willing to spend? Do they have no limits?
Every person that contributes to this is a backer/share holder. I can tell you that the game will keep rolling out large content patches and polish and that they will get to the Chapter 5.
Its not just the Whales but the little guys as well that are helping making this game the way the players want. Are there limits I don't think so. The "Telethons" as they use to be called or Stretch goals are backed based on what the players want. If the players are not interested in what is being offered little money is raised. On things that people are interested in you see unbelievable amounts raised.
This whole game is funded by player base with the direction set by the players. some may think the devs don't listen but they do and almost every feature added is based on the player base QA and feed back as well the wish list forums.
On average every month brings in around 30-140k in backing for just the one day of the month. This does not included the PORT fluff store of stuff which I know has a lot of people still buying as we see all the wonderful stuff crop up on patch days week(s) before the sale events which tells me that things are good.
Smaller Dev team was expected after ep1. release. This was stated a while back that this would happen and that contract devs would be released until EP2 is ready to come together and they will right size up again during the development parts.
If you look at the seed investors there were a lot of them as well.
I have not seen any slow down from our guild and we have been expanding weekly in size.
I find it absolutely fascinating that they are able to raise this kind of money on an ongoing basis by basically begging. How much money are their whales willing to spend? Do they have no limits?
Every person that contributes to this is a backer/share holder. I can tell you that the game will keep rolling out large content patches and polish and that they will get to the Chapter 5.
Its not just the Whales but the little guys as well that are helping making this game the way the players want. Are there limits I don't think so. The "Telethons" as they use to be called or Stretch goals are backed based on what the players want. If the players are not interested in what is being offered little money is raised. On things that people are interested in you see unbelievable amounts raised.
This whole game is funded by player base with the direction set by the players. some may think the devs don't listen but they do and almost every feature added is based on the player base QA and feed back as well the wish list forums.
On average every month brings in around 30-140k in backing for just the one day of the month. This does not included the PORT fluff store of stuff which I know has a lot of people still buying as we see all the wonderful stuff crop up on patch days week(s) before the sale events which tells me that things are good.
Smaller Dev team was expected after ep1. release. This was stated a while back that this would happen and that contract devs would be released until EP2 is ready to come together and they will right size up again during the development parts.
If you look at the seed investors there were a lot of them as well.
I have not seen any slow down from our guild and we have been expanding weekly in size.
Telethon donators are given ownership shares in Portalarium?
I find it absolutely fascinating that they are able to raise this kind of money on an ongoing basis by basically begging. How much money are their whales willing to spend? Do they have no limits?
Every person that contributes to this is a backer/share holder. I can tell you that the game will keep rolling out large content patches and polish and that they will get to the Chapter 5.
Its not just the Whales but the little guys as well that are helping making this game the way the players want. Are there limits I don't think so. The "Telethons" as they use to be called or Stretch goals are backed based on what the players want. If the players are not interested in what is being offered little money is raised. On things that people are interested in you see unbelievable amounts raised.
This whole game is funded by player base with the direction set by the players. some may think the devs don't listen but they do and almost every feature added is based on the player base QA and feed back as well the wish list forums.
On average every month brings in around 30-140k in backing for just the one day of the month. This does not included the PORT fluff store of stuff which I know has a lot of people still buying as we see all the wonderful stuff crop up on patch days week(s) before the sale events which tells me that things are good.
Smaller Dev team was expected after ep1. release. This was stated a while back that this would happen and that contract devs would be released until EP2 is ready to come together and they will right size up again during the development parts.
If you look at the seed investors there were a lot of them as well.
I have not seen any slow down from our guild and we have been expanding weekly in size.
Telethon donators are given ownership shares in Portalarium?
Nope, only the seed investors, Telethon people are here to support I call them share holders or investors simply because that is what we are doing. donating to continue to have them develop. If we didn't there would not be much money coming in as there has been
I find it absolutely fascinating that they are able to raise this kind of money on an ongoing basis by basically begging. How much money are their whales willing to spend? Do they have no limits?
Every person that contributes to this is a backer/share holder. I can tell you that the game will keep rolling out large content patches and polish and that they will get to the Chapter 5.
Its not just the Whales but the little guys as well that are helping making this game the way the players want. Are there limits I don't think so. The "Telethons" as they use to be called or Stretch goals are backed based on what the players want. If the players are not interested in what is being offered little money is raised. On things that people are interested in you see unbelievable amounts raised.
This whole game is funded by player base with the direction set by the players. some may think the devs don't listen but they do and almost every feature added is based on the player base QA and feed back as well the wish list forums.
On average every month brings in around 30-140k in backing for just the one day of the month. This does not included the PORT fluff store of stuff which I know has a lot of people still buying as we see all the wonderful stuff crop up on patch days week(s) before the sale events which tells me that things are good.
Smaller Dev team was expected after ep1. release. This was stated a while back that this would happen and that contract devs would be released until EP2 is ready to come together and they will right size up again during the development parts.
If you look at the seed investors there were a lot of them as well.
I have not seen any slow down from our guild and we have been expanding weekly in size.
But I wanted the game they pushed on Kickstarter not some crap they made because a few morons thought it would be better...
All those donating to the telethons now, should remember how easy it was to push out the Kickstarters after they had their money. You should be asking yourself who's next on the chopping block.
I find it absolutely fascinating that they are able to raise this kind of money on an ongoing basis by basically begging. How much money are their whales willing to spend? Do they have no limits?
Every person that contributes to this is a backer/share holder. I can tell you that the game will keep rolling out large content patches and polish and that they will get to the Chapter 5.
Its not just the Whales but the little guys as well that are helping making this game the way the players want. Are there limits I don't think so. The "Telethons" as they use to be called or Stretch goals are backed based on what the players want. If the players are not interested in what is being offered little money is raised. On things that people are interested in you see unbelievable amounts raised.
This whole game is funded by player base with the direction set by the players. some may think the devs don't listen but they do and almost every feature added is based on the player base QA and feed back as well the wish list forums.
On average every month brings in around 30-140k in backing for just the one day of the month. This does not included the PORT fluff store of stuff which I know has a lot of people still buying as we see all the wonderful stuff crop up on patch days week(s) before the sale events which tells me that things are good.
Smaller Dev team was expected after ep1. release. This was stated a while back that this would happen and that contract devs would be released until EP2 is ready to come together and they will right size up again during the development parts.
If you look at the seed investors there were a lot of them as well.
I have not seen any slow down from our guild and we have been expanding weekly in size.
But I wanted the game they pushed on Kickstarter not some crap they made because a few morons thought it would be better...
What is missing that they stated during kickstart? I bought in during kickstart and don't see anything missing that they pushed short of a few items that they changed.
I find it absolutely fascinating that they are able to raise this kind of money on an ongoing basis by basically begging. How much money are their whales willing to spend? Do they have no limits?
Every person that contributes to this is a backer/share holder. I can tell you that the game will keep rolling out large content patches and polish and that they will get to the Chapter 5.
Its not just the Whales but the little guys as well that are helping making this game the way the players want. Are there limits I don't think so. The "Telethons" as they use to be called or Stretch goals are backed based on what the players want. If the players are not interested in what is being offered little money is raised. On things that people are interested in you see unbelievable amounts raised.
This whole game is funded by player base with the direction set by the players. some may think the devs don't listen but they do and almost every feature added is based on the player base QA and feed back as well the wish list forums.
On average every month brings in around 30-140k in backing for just the one day of the month. This does not included the PORT fluff store of stuff which I know has a lot of people still buying as we see all the wonderful stuff crop up on patch days week(s) before the sale events which tells me that things are good.
Smaller Dev team was expected after ep1. release. This was stated a while back that this would happen and that contract devs would be released until EP2 is ready to come together and they will right size up again during the development parts.
If you look at the seed investors there were a lot of them as well.
I have not seen any slow down from our guild and we have been expanding weekly in size.
But I wanted the game they pushed on Kickstarter not some crap they made because a few morons thought it would be better...
What is missing that they stated during kickstart? I bought in during kickstart and don't see anything missing that they pushed short of a few items that they changed.
To be able to set your game experience to as hardcore as you liked. Full loot and risk vs reward all the way if that was what you prefered. Developers talked about a slider that would control just that.
That was changed and we got instead a PvP "compromise" as they called it and all the ones that pledged for SotA to be the next UO PvP game left the game. The cardgame PvP also had a huge impact in people leaving.
A few loudscreaming people that had no interest in PvP had developers ear's and that way had a ridicolous impact on the game and the way it took during development.
I find it absolutely fascinating that they are able to raise this kind of money on an ongoing basis by basically begging. How much money are their whales willing to spend? Do they have no limits?
Every person that contributes to this is a backer/share holder. I can tell you that the game will keep rolling out large content patches and polish and that they will get to the Chapter 5.
Its not just the Whales but the little guys as well that are helping making this game the way the players want. Are there limits I don't think so. The "Telethons" as they use to be called or Stretch goals are backed based on what the players want. If the players are not interested in what is being offered little money is raised. On things that people are interested in you see unbelievable amounts raised.
This whole game is funded by player base with the direction set by the players. some may think the devs don't listen but they do and almost every feature added is based on the player base QA and feed back as well the wish list forums.
On average every month brings in around 30-140k in backing for just the one day of the month. This does not included the PORT fluff store of stuff which I know has a lot of people still buying as we see all the wonderful stuff crop up on patch days week(s) before the sale events which tells me that things are good.
Smaller Dev team was expected after ep1. release. This was stated a while back that this would happen and that contract devs would be released until EP2 is ready to come together and they will right size up again during the development parts.
If you look at the seed investors there were a lot of them as well.
I have not seen any slow down from our guild and we have been expanding weekly in size.
But I wanted the game they pushed on Kickstarter not some crap they made because a few morons thought it would be better...
What is missing that they stated during kickstart? I bought in during kickstart and don't see anything missing that they pushed short of a few items that they changed.
Offline, single player game? FFA PVP on demand? "Millions" of players all clamoring to play the next Richard Garriott Ultima game?
Fun? Seems to be lacking according to some...I never really understand that concept, so just repeating what they say.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I find it absolutely fascinating that they are able to raise this kind of money on an ongoing basis by basically begging. How much money are their whales willing to spend? Do they have no limits?
They have no choice as they keep loosing players and their begathon is not as popular as before. In the last begathons, they were able to get 35-40K and not 100K as they used to get. So yes, double the begging or close the shop. The ship is sinking , everyone knows that. Still the devs are milking the game as much as they can. But rejoice, the end is near.
I find it absolutely fascinating that they are able to raise this kind of money on an ongoing basis by basically begging. How much money are their whales willing to spend? Do they have no limits?
They have no choice as they keep loosing players and their begathon is not as popular as before. In the last begathons, they were able to get 35-40K and not 100K as they used to get. So yes, double the begging or close the shop. The ship is sinking , everyone knows that. Still the devs are milking the game as much as they can. But rejoice, the end is near.
its all base don what they are offering, I have seen it up and down depending on what items. LB's items which were this last stretch are the same every birthday and don't do as well. Darkstar's Birthday on the other hand his items sell like hotcakes. just watch each one, you will see a trend if the items are cool they sell, if they are meh then the numbers will be low.
On another not the ep2 player town vouchers went up. already in 2 days out of the limited 50 map towns for players for new map areas only 20 remain. as well the transfers are almost sold out which was another 50. nested town conversions as well. the game is expanding ep2 is around the corner. Sales are picking up not going the other way.
With the new player made quests / dungeon system they are putting in which mirrors that of NWN2 its looking pretty awesome.
I think games did a better job when they surveyed a cross section of people who liked those kinds of games rather then listen to only the hard core crowd who logged in everyday with tons of feedback usually along the lines of make it harder. The general masses usually don't log in everyday but every once in awhile just to see how a game is going and usually don't contribute much during development unless a survey targets them.
But as some say this game is doing just fine and growing better everyday. So no worries for them.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I think games did a better job when they surveyed a cross section of people who liked those kinds of games rather then listen to only the hard core crowd who logged in everyday with tons of feedback usually along the lines of make it harder. The general masses usually don't log in everyday but every once in awhile just to see how a game is going and usually don't contribute much during development unless a survey targets them.
But as some say this game is doing just fine and growing better everyday. So no worries for them.
Getting better is only half the battle, they need to find a way to greatly increase their revenue streams so telathons can become a thing of past.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I think games did a better job when they surveyed a cross section of people who liked those kinds of games rather then listen to only the hard core crowd who logged in everyday with tons of feedback usually along the lines of make it harder. The general masses usually don't log in everyday but every once in awhile just to see how a game is going and usually don't contribute much during development unless a survey targets them.
But as some say this game is doing just fine and growing better everyday. So no worries for them.
You're not doing fine if you have to beg to keep the lights on, and that's exactly what they're doing.
I think games did a better job when they surveyed a cross section of people who liked those kinds of games rather then listen to only the hard core crowd who logged in everyday with tons of feedback usually along the lines of make it harder. The general masses usually don't log in everyday but every once in awhile just to see how a game is going and usually don't contribute much during development unless a survey targets them.
But as some say this game is doing just fine and growing better everyday. So no worries for them.
You're not doing fine if you have to beg to keep the lights on, and that's exactly what they're doing.
Lol no they are not in any shape like that. They have been doing Telethons all the way back to R13 maybe earlier. They have always done things the same. I actually like the new Twitch better as they are now more focused on content and QA as well what they are doing vs all the silly things they use to do pre-release. They are not in any sort of financial crisis at all.
I think games did a better job when they surveyed a cross section of people who liked those kinds of games rather then listen to only the hard core crowd who logged in everyday with tons of feedback usually along the lines of make it harder. The general masses usually don't log in everyday but every once in awhile just to see how a game is going and usually don't contribute much during development unless a survey targets them.
But as some say this game is doing just fine and growing better everyday. So no worries for them.
You're not doing fine if you have to beg to keep the lights on, and that's exactly what they're doing.
Lol no they are not in any shape like that. They have been doing Telethons all the way back to R13 maybe earlier. They have always done things the same. I actually like the new Twitch better as they are now more focused on content and QA as well what they are doing vs all the silly things they use to do pre-release. They are not in any sort of financial crisis at all.
If you paid any sort of attention to their published April 2018 financials you most certainly understand they are definitely in dire straits.
The debt and deferred tax bills can't be put off indefinitely (especially as they "launched" and are a going concern now) and they don't have nearly the customers necessary to pay all of that down and build out the game.
They are moving soon, will be interesting to compare the old and new quarters to see if it is a downsizing to save costs.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I think games did a better job when they surveyed a cross section of people who liked those kinds of games rather then listen to only the hard core crowd who logged in everyday with tons of feedback usually along the lines of make it harder. The general masses usually don't log in everyday but every once in awhile just to see how a game is going and usually don't contribute much during development unless a survey targets them.
But as some say this game is doing just fine and growing better everyday. So no worries for them.
You're not doing fine if you have to beg to keep the lights on, and that's exactly what they're doing.
Lol no they are not in any shape like that. They have been doing Telethons all the way back to R13 maybe earlier. They have always done things the same. I actually like the new Twitch better as they are now more focused on content and QA as well what they are doing vs all the silly things they use to do pre-release. They are not in any sort of financial crisis at all.
If you paid any sort of attention to their published April 2018 financials you most certainly understand they are definitely in dire straits.
The debt and deferred tax bills can't be put off indefinitely (especially as they "launched" and are a going concern now) and they don't have nearly the customers necessary to pay all of that down and build out the game.
They are moving soon, will be interesting to compare the old and new quarters to see if it is a downsizing to save costs.
Link please to the financials, I am aware they are looking at moving as they stated that.
Comments
-- Nelson (The Simpsons)
Yes UO felucca was as hardcore as it could get.
One of the best parts was the harsh penalties towards murderers - a good working alignment system is needed in games like that.
Games like Darkfall or Mortal Online had no alignment system.
To the specifics of where are we now and where are we going, give us at least a few days... we are still ironing out details, but broadly, of course we have taken a hit, but we have taken many through the years, and as before, we will work through this one as well!
Exactly what shifts in schedules and priorities will change is being worked out, but we think it will seem mostly like business as usual from the outside, or at least that is what we will try to accomplish, as best we can!
If we can fix our marketing strategy, which we can explain better after we have done much more analysis, we hope to rebuild past previous standards!
Time will tell!
Lord British
Yes, yes, it's not that your game turned out to be a piece of shit that 99% of your original backers, as well as potential new customers, aren't interested in. You just need to adjust "marketing strategy." Oh well, it's not like we can expect honesty from them.
Ok y'all, since I started this I will also give you this info trying not to say too much:
I had a very long talk with a CM yesterday after all this. I made some suggestions, some maybe radical ones (like unbanning and starting over). I explained a lot what happened in the past... All while knowing that making the moderation and community better is only part of the solution. The Dev team has to be willing to listen to the old/new community too, but it would be a first good step (right?!). There was not much common ground.
Long story short: Not much will change. Moderation will get better, but it will take time. Berek got orders from above him and was not the core reason of what happened on the forum.
I want to say so much more but I also don't want to betray the trust.
Overall, I will stop trying to fix this because of the outcome of that discussion.
Do with this info what you will, draw your own conclusions. I don't think I have to do that for you.
Sorry folks, I really tried (and it's not the first time, but it's the last - I got other things to do).
One unfotunate change IMO was the removal of the permanent skill point loss after 5 short term murders, which is one reason I'm guessing you mentioned wanting a game with a pre Age of Shadows ruleset.
You are correct, I would have given a game with such an alignment system a try and its rather suprising SotAs devs didn't want to go with something like it again. Pity.
http://www.uoguide.com/Murderer
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
if i was to break it down into a psychological reason,i would say that it centers around a lot of people that feel the need to be a part of something in life where they are usually hermits or a part of very little else in life.
This even stems into the lower income bracket,there are people with little money but again will give what little they have to feel a part of something.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
Every person that contributes to this is a backer/share holder. I can tell you that the game will keep rolling out large content patches and polish and that they will get to the Chapter 5.
Its not just the Whales but the little guys as well that are helping making this game the way the players want. Are there limits I don't think so. The "Telethons" as they use to be called or Stretch goals are backed based on what the players want. If the players are not interested in what is being offered little money is raised. On things that people are interested in you see unbelievable amounts raised.
This whole game is funded by player base with the direction set by the players. some may think the devs don't listen but they do and almost every feature added is based on the player base QA and feed back as well the wish list forums.
On average every month brings in around 30-140k in backing for just the one day of the month. This does not included the PORT fluff store of stuff which I know has a lot of people still buying as we see all the wonderful stuff crop up on patch days week(s) before the sale events which tells me that things are good.
Smaller Dev team was expected after ep1. release. This was stated a while back that this would happen and that contract devs would be released until EP2 is ready to come together and they will right size up again during the development parts.
If you look at the seed investors there were a lot of them as well.
I have not seen any slow down from our guild and we have been expanding weekly in size.
But I wanted the game they pushed on Kickstarter not some crap they made because a few morons thought it would be better...
That was changed and we got instead a PvP "compromise" as they called it and all the ones that pledged for SotA to be the next UO PvP game left the game. The cardgame PvP also had a huge impact in people leaving.
A few loudscreaming people that had no interest in PvP had developers ear's and that way had a ridicolous impact on the game and the way it took during development.
Fun? Seems to be lacking according to some...I never really understand that concept, so just repeating what they say.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
The ship is sinking , everyone knows that. Still the devs are milking the game as much as they can.
But rejoice, the end is near.
On another not the ep2 player town vouchers went up. already in 2 days out of the limited 50 map towns for players for new map areas only 20 remain. as well the transfers are almost sold out which was another 50. nested town conversions as well. the game is expanding ep2 is around the corner. Sales are picking up not going the other way.
With the new player made quests / dungeon system they are putting in which mirrors that of NWN2 its looking pretty awesome.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
~~ postlarval ~~
The debt and deferred tax bills can't be put off indefinitely (especially as they "launched" and are a going concern now) and they don't have nearly the customers necessary to pay all of that down and build out the game.
They are moving soon, will be interesting to compare the old and new quarters to see if it is a downsizing to save costs.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon