New Marketing person, how r the results?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Brass Knuckles, Jul 13, 2018.

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  1. CarlNZ

    CarlNZ Avatar

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    What in the? How does that even relate to SOTA? Please tell me we're not going the way of budget mobile games.
     
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  2. Cordelayne

    Cordelayne Bug Hunter

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    Well as someone who doesn't have a Facebook account or any social media really, I saw my first ad the other day on a New York Giants blog that I read. :D
     
  3. Sol Stormlin

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    Pretty sure a fan made that. Not the SotA marketing team. Unless Travian made it...
     
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  4. Preachyr

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    It was put out by Black Sun from what I understand
     
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  5. Corv

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    it was not a reddit post, it was a web ad on reddit. So unless a fan got super excited and paid for an ad of his fan art it's legit. And since it's in Russian I assume it's from Blacksun.
     
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  6. Sol Stormlin

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    They are going to be pretty dissapointed lol. Also, I don't know who or what Blacksun is.
     
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  7. oplek

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    They've determined that it's not an effective usage of funds. The ROI isn't there, as most people block or ignore ads. They've had more conversion between Streaming and Trials. That's what Chris seemed to indicate in a telethon, anyway.
     
  8. mystarr

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    In my experience new players are quickly frustrated by the confusing quest system and game mechanics. We have had some new players from OTG join SotA recently and they would have all quit in frustration without help from guildmates explaining the confusing/broken quests and game mechanics.

    Common frustrations include things like:
    • Not being able to get into the same version of the tower of the shuttered eye so they could help each other with the love quest line (Waiting for scene loads while they tried multiple times to get into the same copy of the quest instance didn't help with the frustration)
    • Quest journal entries that tell them they still need to talk to someone they have already talked too. We had to tell them to ignore the blue sparkle quest hint system and the journal entries and to move on to the next stage of the quests. (The misinformation from journal entries that dont update and blue sparkles that dont clear is a SERIOUS deal breaker for new players trying to complete the quest line.)
    • Quest lines that cant be completed without friends to power level you in the upper tears...
    New players start the game by playing the quests lines

    Unfortunately the quest system is currently one of the most broken and frustrating parts of SotA

    You really need to overhaul the quest system before you spend money advertising

    You only get to make a first impression on people once. You dont want that first impression to be the current experience of trying to play the main quest.
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2018
  9. Cordelayne

    Cordelayne Bug Hunter

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    That, is actually probably a good thing Sol. ;)

    They are the Russia based publisher of the game. @Cerus and the good folks at Travian publish the game in Europe and Port runs the show stateside.

    At least I think this is how it all breaks down! :D
     
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  10. mystarr

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    @DarkStarr @Chris
    Another thought on trial accounts/new user experience:
    • Guildmates that have used the free trial quickly run out of teleport/recall scrolls.
    • We cant give them more scrolls because of free trial account restrictions.
    • You might consider increasing the starting number of recall/teleport scrolls
    • You might also consider adding some quests/instructions that explain to new players how to make recall/teleport scrolls
      • How to get the wood pulp needed to make the scrolls is NOT obvious to new players
    • Everyone should start with the recipes for recall/teleport scrolls!
    Also you really need to set the option to see the non runic version of town names on the overland Novia Map to be the default. Understanding the runic alphabet should NOT be a requirement for new players to see where they need to go on the overland!!!!
     
    Last edited: Jul 16, 2018
  11. Sol Stormlin

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    I agree, the funds should be going towards making some positive changes so that the game is seen in a better light when it is put out there. Positive reviews should be the goal.
     
  12. Barugon

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    Maybe you have to think like a Russian?
     
  13. Gregg247

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    I see several people state that the game isn't ready for an advertising push yet, and while that may be true, technically, the game has already been officially released. Ready or not, here it is. It was Portalarium's call to release the game in its current state, so holding back on advertising until "its ready" isn't really an option anymore. Its out in the world and its time that the game stand on its own two feet when it meets the public.

    Likewise, when we all post bugs on the Forums, its still "Okay, we've logged it in; thanks", as if we're still a pre-release game that has early backers "pitching in to help out" with bug testing and reporting. No, we're now official paying customers; customers who shouldn't be facing all of these bugs and unfinished systems.

    Pre-release is sitting around your dorm room with your friends, strumming your guitar and saying, Yeah, that sounds pretty good". Official Release is standing in front of a paying crowd, and "pretty good" ain't gonna cut it anymore.
     
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  14. Elwyn

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    That reminds me of the degree of "imagination" that went into the artwork for Atari 2600 games...

    [​IMG]
     
  15. Cordelayne

    Cordelayne Bug Hunter

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    @Elwyn did you ever play Adventure? This is what first got me hooked on RPG's! :D

    [​IMG]
     
  16. Deana Beretta

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    To be fair, Adventure actual contains a maze, a dragon, a castle, a key, and (I think) a crown.
    Warlords had nothing to do with a knight, or a catapult. I suppose you could say that your entire structure was a castle (or maybe the thing inside your walls that you tried to hit with the bouncing ball was the castle?).
    Not that there is anything wrong with either game, but the connection between box art and actual game is much easier to see with Adventure than it is to see with warlords.
    Here's my favorit.
    [​IMG]
     
  17. Gregg247

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    I can't tell you how many times I bought an Atari game based completely on the box artwork, only to be completely disappointed once I got home!

    "Adventure" had a 4 room dungeon, if I remember correctly, which I never managed to completely finish. The "rumor" at my school was that there were much tougher secret levels in the game if you could complete level 1 and find the trap door, but I never heard anyone say they'd actually uncovered this mythical "secret". LOL
     
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  18. Brass Knuckles

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    Im enjoying the game more and more each release, its at the point were id call it good.

    Im not a quester I hate quests so im sure my opionion would be diffrent if quests were important to me. I still have grand tour quests that are no longer active as well as spirtspeaker quests from way before I got my cloak.

    I remember when I asked lum to make it easier to find the quest guys before they added them to the compass and he told me "no! We arnt going to be doing that". Well im glad they changed thier minds and at least did that. Id prefer the ! And ?
     
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  19. Elwyn

    Elwyn Avatar

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    Nah, Space Invaders was my game on that, I played the 2600 version a lot. Interestingly, Space Invaders was the first video game I heard of after Pong, back in 1979 when a neighbor had a Japanese exchange student (in rural Louisiana, no less), who tried (with little success) to describe it to me. I didn't have the chops to code it for my shiny new TRS-80 then anyhow.

    That's why I didn't post it. Dodge 'Em was my other choice.
     
  20. LoneStranger

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    The problem is that targeted ads often play off of websites you've visited or searches you've performed. So it's not really a big deal if we see SotA ads. I'm curious if people who play other games are seeing SotA ads, and if they are, what's the plan to pull them away from a game that is likely a million times better funded?
     
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