Portalarium's Health

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Mugly Wumple, Sep 9, 2018.

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  1. Mugly Wumple

    Mugly Wumple Avatar

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    Everyone bemoans the layoffs at Portalarium as if it means financial woe. I see it completely differently. In planning, Portalarium saw a huge expense in the future, namely physical goods and their shipping. They took a sober and logical approach given the dependence on a stream rather than a box of money. First spend the money on content and systems, then reduce down to a core of programmers to exploit the tools, systems and content, while affording a huge, one-time expense.

    Look at the funding release after release. It has remained fairly constant. Every day I see posts from new players who are digging the game. I think the health of Portalarium is fine.
     
  2. Keldorn of the Vale

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    It's great to see some communication from the team on this, thank you for keeping us informed. *Raises tankard*
     
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  3. Mugly Wumple

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    I have no inside information nor has the team addressed this issue, as far as I know.. This is simply my take on it.
     
  4. DavidDC

    DavidDC Programmer Moderator SOTA Developer

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    Not counting they sold all ep2 pot etc etc... its going fine ;)
     
  5. Proteus Tempest

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    RG and the devs are pros and know what they are doing business wise. This is not their first rodeo.

    The layoffs were a knowable future considering that the core systems and content was accomplished.

    Now the team is down to a manageable amount of work. If anything else very large comes up they can always hire temp help to get the job done.
     
  6. Razimus

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    Like single player games MMOs hire a team for a specific purpose, and then when the finished game is delivered the team changes, it's business 101. But MMOs of course have to continue to expand and patch, but the original team usually changes regularly, look at any MMO, UO's team changed many times, especially after launch. Only behemoth companies like Blizzard would be able to afford to keep the entire staff on full time for many years, and even then, the team will always change.
     
  7. Black Tortoise

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    Looks like they just nabbed some health buffs to me!

    [​IMG]
     
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  8. craftymethod

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    I told the naysayers on reddit to put their money with their mouths were via a bet the servers would be still online after a year, and through a torrent of objections and offended haters the servers are still live, the only question is... what am I going to spend that $$$ on?

    The project just keeps moving forward, and the desperate haters become more so.
     
  9. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    LoL. That's artful trolling. I salute you.
     
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  10. StrangerDiamond

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    calling the kettle black hmm ?

    I have to agree tho, its nice to see the amount of work that has been done recently, even if I don't really like the priorities chosen it is professionally sound, perseverance is a virtue.
     
  11. Anpu

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    Is it that time of the month when the game is dying?
     
  12. Crowell

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    I fixed that for you. Please don't act like this game is in a playable state when even the lead team admited that it's not, especially on the quest (whole solo experience side of every MMO) and design part. Just imagine any other MMO released the same way Shroud of the Avatar has been released just to understand the point of view of every customer out there who dodged this game.
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2018
  13. Gorthyn

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    Sorry but I don't think laying off half the staff so soon after launch was ever part of Portalariums master plan. That's just wishful thinking at best.

    They themselves have said the player numbers are not what they expected or need them to be at present and have had to cut their cloth accordingly. They are currently making many substantial changes to the game in the hope of turning things around.

    I genuinely hope they do, that player numbers, income and therefore the Dev team increase once more. All is not doom and gloom (yet) but to suggest that what has happened since the most underwhelming of launches is somehow fine and dandy and going to plan is well wide of the mark.
     
  14. majoria70

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    I have been here since 2013 and for me the game is very playable. It does depend on what you do and what system you are playing on. If you are trying to quest only then yes quests have been quite a mess but it is our mess and they will revamp the quest system in Ep2. Many games have been released in different states. FFXIV got released and players hated it so much they took it down and made it better.

    Sony fired the programmers from Vanguard Saga of Heroes and released a very buggy high budget game with many bugs not able to fix due to the loss of program codes and coders but many of us loved that game for all its bugginess. Falling through the floors could be kind of interesting ;) j/k. It was taken down a couple of years ago. *sniffles* RIP Vanguard Saga of Heroes. They had an awesome fishing system and crafting system and we could fly too and had no loading screens ;).

    From what I hear Ultima Online got lots of updates before getting to a good place and that game was laggy as hell and many of us still loved it.

    No matter this game has had years of abuse and criticism and in the end, it will be what it will be. The Devs will do the very best they can do with the funds they get and then it will be what it will be. But will the game ever get a break and be allowed to be whatever it is? Probably not. It will probably be bad mouthed by many until the end of the days. ;) Well that will be up to those who want to do that of course. Hopefully as the game matures we will see it flourish.

    I play it not for just one thing. I use our music system sync songs with groups, I use our grouping system and do combat, I do a quest here and there but it is not my main focus and we do have some cute ones imo. I loved the Witch Quest and the Horse and Ogre quest and the dragon we can talk to. Some of the side quests were interesting to me but I am not going all the way through the system and critiquing it and I am not saying quests weren't buggy and that we didn't have problems with some of them. Surely we did but they have been advised of this over and over.

    I'm just talking about in the long run. In my opinion this game will keep getting whatever is popular added to it and as much as budget allows. IMO Forget about what the game was thought to become from past ideas and go from there. It is not that game. It evolved and Changes are going to happen from now on from complaints and feedback given from players playing the game. There will be a time we don't go back and we just move forward.

    So in the end whatever someone expected or wanted may not happen in the development of this game and that will be for each person to come to grips with and either move on or embrace the changes and state of the game and the new stuff we get. It will either be enough for each one of them or it won't be for some. Since we are a young game there will always be tweaking and more coming that funds allow for as we go forward. Here's to our future.

    I am about done fighting for big changes. I fought the good fight for fishing and now it will be whatever they allow it to be. Not to say I won't provide feedback but I am slowing down from expectations a bit and trying to let it be what it will be. I just have to let the control go and let the team do what they will do. With out devs being interested in the fishing system then it may not go to the details I want but who knows. Maybe when they dig in they may get more excited and give us some cute animations too. ;) I will hope they get into it and find some cool things to give us for it. So more is still coming and I will be here.

    Also For older computers who struggle that is another issue. Linux machines and some AMD machines can struggle with the Unity Engine. Luckily I don't have that problem. I am also able to keep my system updated. Gaming is my entertainment.


    I have no lag in this game usually. It runs very smooth for me. I get a glitch here and there but mostly I don't. Not trying to argue but just sayin ;) Also this game has been played the whole time it was being developed. The whole time. I hope they never do that again. It was much better when we played 2 days a month while they developed all month but of course we are way past those days and we have been released and the game is still in active development but imo I think the devs should just go to town now and listen to feedback but mostly take it and run. Not everyone will be satisfied and it will make them crazy trying to pacify every single person. There will be some things not done that are requested.

    They cannot apologize forever for not making a game exactly as each individual wanted it. They were pulled in a zillion directions from the very beginning. I don't envy them all the abuse they've gotten. I am going to try to go easier on them and let them give us all the quality of life stuff over time that make this game more user friendly. I am going to try really hard to be nicer. I said I am going to try. ;)

    Here is an article I found that I thought was interesting and remember I am not making excuses for our issues I am just saying we may have issues but one persons issues may not be another persons.
    https://gamerant.com/broken-games-launch-batman-halo-diablo-155/


    Sorry didn't mean to go on and on but I am myself just coming to grips with some things and this is my game.

    Sorry I quoted you and this is not just for you but some opinions I have. ;)

    edited for clarity.
     
    Last edited: Sep 11, 2018
  15. 3devious

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    N/M you fixed it.
     
    Last edited: Sep 10, 2018
  16. jschoice

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    Defining health of a company is often tinted by ones perspective. Port are the only ones who really knows what their cash in verses cash out is exactly.

    For me I knew exactly what I was getting into when investing in this project. From the start, I knew I would be watching a game develop from the ground up. To my knowledge this is the only kickstarter that has been so open and inclusive in its development. I have invested and am invested in several other projects like Crowfall, Camelot unchained, and Star Citizen. Although all those companies do have live streams to update progress they all had very limited tests during development. Star Citizen has their stand alone modules that still are buggy and crash constantly and they have over 150 million dollar budget and growing. They are still cranking out new ship designed that are selling when some purchased ships are not even playable.

    As I said before no one is getting rich of a SotA this really is a labor of love for many of the devs. Would they like the game to be full of players and money comingin of course, but I do trust the devs that they are using resources wisely. The fact that the team is smaller and loaded with tech people is smart because once bugs and systems are working properly they can reshuffle priority to focus back to uncloning scenes, questing, new game assists.

    I think it is easy for us to arm chair quarterback, descisions but I am fairly certain the devs would of made some changes in priorities if they could do it over again. I would of focused on making sure the core systems were fully in place on a small land mass. Novia was huge when you talk about NPC towns, adventure scenes and three major quest lines. I would of used the Vale as the new player experience instead of putting development time into 3 separate areas. A lot of games have noobie islands that teach the basics of the game. Getting to adventure level 40 is pretty quick and it would of been a good transition to Novia. But that is me back seat quarterbacking.

    I think many of the new quality of life changes are helpful. I do wonder with all the fast travel features in game and with multiple bind points coming in why we would want to introduce mounts. I can travel anywhere by foot in 5 min tops. But I can live with these changes when most of the player base supports the change.
     
  17. StrangerDiamond

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    Can't compare with UO... they built their own engine and were the first to attempt something so massive, alot of trial and error :)
     
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  18. Dulayne

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    At the end of the day this was an early access game and most of us knew what to expect. It was never going to be perfect, early access games never truly are. However even though there is always a lot of good and bad, progression and setbacks the game has still been going strong.

    Look at Elite Dangerous back in 2015, it had an average size team and a smallish budget. People would be heard doubting the future, seeing a lack of this and a drought of that. However three years strong after release it is still out there.

    This game has had the same going on for it over the years and it is seeing the exact level of scrutiny. Last friday when I was streaming I got super upset because I did feel a flood of worry that we could lose people from seeing the player made vendors upsetting investors and early backers. However with some time to reflect and a great discussion with friends and viewers alike, we let them feelings subside and the game is still as glorious as ever.

    Them feelings of uncertainty are always going to be there, but I love the game too much to back down now. I have given everything I have to support the game as well as having faith in the game moving forward. We may feel let down (and I know a few people who do after seeing things devalued) but if people did not enjoy the game or believe enough in the game, we would not be seeing a surge in sales. People will not spend money if they do not feel they will leverage value from it.

    I am sure we are already doing better with the stretch goals compared to this time last month, so that is a sign things are going well. Port are looking for a smaller office to bring the costs down further, Darkstarr has talked about how the server system is not overly expensive. Plus add in the massive changes to the game over R56 and R57 alone, with a smaller team really does prove that things are going to get better.

    I was unsure and curious to see how things would go when the layoffs happened, I think we all were. However I held my faith with them as it was all about not having too many hands, but keeping enough to keep moving forward. They have kept my faith restored and will continue to do so for as long as the game is running.

    So yeah. Could the game not last more than 12 months? Possible. Do I think that it will happen, well I could speculate until the cows come home, but honestly I am more convinced it is going to keep getting stronger. If they were desperate and panicking, do you think Chris or any other guys would have been taking vacations?

    The long and short of it for me is, I do not regret playing the game for over 1,200 hours. I do not regret being a subscriber to their rewards program. I definitely do not regret streaming the game and building my own family around shroud. I also do not regret making my $90 pledge back in 2016 which was a LOT to me, nor my recent investment in the dungeons. I would love to spend more money, I really would but that is not something I can afford to do.

    Let's just keep the faith guys, if people need to take breaks because the uncertainty is stressful then that is fine. There are plenty of other games to keep us preoccupied, and sometimes a break helps.

    These are just my two cents and @Chris thank you again for all the faith and @DarkStarr thank you for keeping a positive outlook and attitude. You guys must get a lot of agro and put under a lot of strain, but just keep on as you are guys. You have me and mine and the backs of plenty of others too!
     
  19. Scanphor

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    I miss Vanguard :( So many good things in that game - not least the community...

    Compared to Vanguard at launch this game is way more polished
     
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  20. Brewton

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    I think if there were any issues with finances and such we wouldn't see a SotaCon this year. I'm sure that costs a pretty penny.
     
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