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Q4 2018 Schedule Update

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by DarkStarr, Sep 26, 2018.

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  1. Doctorface

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  2. Steevodeevo

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    I'm guessing, always assuming the future is bright, company stable etc, that there will be one or two huge features each chapter over the 5 scheduled story expansions (the next Avatar chapters).

    A stock expansion is likely to have new continents and/or Islands, some no doubt to accommodate the expanding narrative and lore. Some, as we know for chapter 2, will be functional, such a the quest system, and some will be large new game features, such as pvp Castle defence and maybe Guild wars. The mind boggles what else, alongside polish and refinement of systems, we may get over 5 or so expansions.

    Certainly a game to stick with as long as this highly experience and creative team can keep it going. If they're sticking at it, I'm sticking with it and looking forward with a fair bit of excitement to this journey.
     
  3. Arcanoxer

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    Most of the stuff is polish and optimisation which is long overdue.
    I hope for some real new content in Q1 2019.
     
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  4. Leinad Laurelwreath

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    Sorry for the lawyer bro, @DarkStarr but for me it was quite clear:

    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/company-status.130650/ (Jun 19)

    Right now we will shift our focus from creating new content to polishing our existing systems. This means making a stronger new user experience, fixing bugs, reworking the quest system, performance improvements, user interface polish, and more.

    Right now means you start to work on this right now for me , not any undefined time in 2019. It doesn't mean we should expect it now but at least know what is it about and what the reworking means, new features, etc.

    Also, about the miscommunication, questions were asked in Q3 schedule update and in livestreams about the silence on this quest system, reach, the cost and any information; those questions were not answered and it has been pointed out by many members of the community that we feel this is the main thing keeping new players (and income) far far away from the game.
    It's not miscommunication about a combat skill, or fishing or any other features. It is about a CORE feature that is hurting the game almost to death (doom'n'gloom TM)

    Anyway, it's good to know we shouldn't expect this soon, so thanks again for the confirmation
     
  5. Gorthyn

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    They are indeed creative and hardworking but they do seem to have a strange order of priorities at times. I don't think that getting round to what should be core systems "sometime" (if ever) in Episodes 3,4 or 5 is a very good gaming or business decision tbh.
     
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  6. Chatele

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    For me, 1 of the main reasons I backed this game was for the quest, because they are more fun then GRINDING …. I love to adventure and discover new and fun things, and questing is part of that. But I hate doing them here, too broken, quests still stay in journal even though I finished it... Journal is so messed up...Wish we could at least delete quests from the Journal that we don't want... while we wait for the quests overhaul fix …
     
  7. Caernarvon

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    Looking great, really excited for what might come in the months ahead.

    I'm especially excited for the journal / quest system revamp... even though it's potentially many months away from fruition just yet. For a game that has a famously rich heritage, and is rich in itself of lore and story content, with a fairly massive world to place that content in, it's a shame the current journal / quest system let the game down somewhat, and undoubtedly restricts what is possible for Portalarium to do with it, with ease at least, in its current form - and I'd wager it's probably been a little bit of a turn-off for many new players, so it's definitely something to improve upon moving forward.

    Also I seriously hope we reach the mount stretch goal for episode 2, it seems we're quite a way off from that presently and moving at snails pace towards it so I fear the worst presently. I'm hoping some more tantalising items can be placed into that area on the store for purchase to try and get us there, and hoping that you also just keep the goal running until we're there, rather than shelving it or postponing. I personally think the horse masks are a bit limited in appeal, but who am I to say, maybe they've sold by the boatload. There's lots of decoration items with a horse theme that could be created to go into this stretchgoal area on the store... Hay bales, hay piles, haystacks, decorative brass horseshoe tacks to place on walls / timber beams (though probably not possible to place on beams I guess), horse themed paintings, horse feeding troughs / nets, wagons, carts, gypsy caravans, new shovel / pitchfork designs, manure piles (yes I went there), decorative hanging bridles, decorative saddles, heraldry emblazoned horse blankets / covers / armoury (though maybe the heraldry ones may have to come after the stretch goal has been released), more decorative pet horses / ponies / donkey's, Shetland ponies even. These are all just off the top of my head, I'm sure there's plenty of other stuff others can think of.

    Personally I think mounts could help take the game to the next level (even if they're probably going to be mostly only useful really for vanity / cosmetic / RP purposes for the most part) they could open up many new avenues for additional revenue with a whole host of purchaseable horse mounts to strut around on (whether limited to horses or not is another matter in and of itself I guess, and I've no doubt there are some strong opinions about that) - but if just restricted to purely horse mounts there's still plenty of variety, colours, patterns, breeds (Shire's / Clydesdales for example), decorative gear options, fantasy styles (e.g. an Aether horse) and plenty of money to be made to further support the game and make it more appealing to those who don't currently play.
     
    Last edited: Sep 27, 2018
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  8. jiirc

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    You can’t hold their feet to the fire for assumptions you made about what the priorities would be. I don’t see one single date in the quote you are using to back your claim. I do see a lot of different systems that were talked about that they would focus on, but not anything about which one was more important to them that needed to be worked on first. Not to mention that they’ve been pretty vocal since then that the quest overhaul would be part of episode 2, which to me implies that it’s not on the immediate horizon. If you look at anything they’ve put out with a timeline attached has never included the quest system. It’s been your own assumptions that created an expectation not their actions, so if there’s blame here it’s yours. And that’s something that Port isn’t going to say to you directly.
     
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  9. Anpu

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    Server up! Go forth and get your Wyvern! :D
     
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  10. Feeyo

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    I am awake... Someone said Hooters!???

    Cant wait! Every release is awesome. Hope to be here as long as possible.
     
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  11. Paladin Michael

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    2019 is the year of the years for all of us who llike the story part ;)

    I hope early access starts really early with january/february release to see how the "new world", the new journal and new quest system looks like ...
    It could be a year of big - of course positive - surprise.
    I think it will be ...
     
  12. Leinad Laurelwreath

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    D E J A .... V U !!!

    I envy your optimism and really hope you're right. However, I will lawyer you in one year, Michael! :D
     
  13. Bink

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    The malfunctioning quest system is a major reason why some of my friends do not want to continue playing the game. My own Quest Journal is full of old, long-established assignments and I have completely lost track of things.
     
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  14. Astirian

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    Well hopefully they revamp the quests and journal on the road to Episode II and not something like Dec' 2019, that's a fairly long stretch.
     
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  15. Gorthyn

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    I have a horrible feeling from what has been posted that it's planned for Ep2 and not the build up to it....
     
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  16. Astirian

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    I hope it's not false positive analytics again, they kinda did that with the classic style bags. They switched the inventory default to non-bag (list) mode and then, a while down road, the decision to axe the bag mode was made partly based on the fact that only a very small percentage of players were using it. But! It turned out the vast majority of players didn't even know classic bag mode even existed, hence the small number showing up in the stats.

    Now, I do think they made the right choice in the end re: the bag mode (although I do hope they manage to bring it back some day), resources were definitely better spent elsewhere.

    What I am afraid of here, is that they may have looked at the percentage of population that do quests, determined it's small, and decided to focus on MMO features instead. IF that number is small, I'm really worried they may not be accounting for the number of people, like me, waiting for the experience to be polished before diving in.

    Questing. (And our interface to it)
    It's been mentioned in reviews, it's one of the big complaints over in the reddit wastelands, and they've admitted they kinda dropped the ball.

    Could be a Catch-22 type deal here. In order for Episode V to see the light of day, the game's population increasing is only good news. And I think focusing on the tutorials and NUE is a good priority but I also firmly believe delivering a more solid questing experience will also help growth. There's a selfish element of course too, I really want to play the game properly! But I sincerely believe it would be better for the game's health to bump it up the priority list. Like, a fair bump.

    I would just hate it if priorities were made on bad intel on this one.

    This is all conjecture of course and I do realize it'll take time to get all the quest data into a usable state for refactoring and so-on, new scaffolding, new framework, quest design tools etc... will take time, but yeah, I'd really be treating this aspect of the game with a bit more urgency... Unless we get Episode II in, like, March.
     
  17. Brewton

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    The quest system and journal was never in their top 10 priorities, so there was never an expectation that it was going to get fixed anytime soon. With the prioritis on dungeons and other small additions, Q4 2019 or later for Ep2 looks more like a reality.
     
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  18. Arcadeguy

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    I see new fish types being added and just think they're selling bank slots... New expert craftsman effects and grinding mining for hours... LOL... Wyvern cuddling in a new PMD (Player Made Dungeon) may be needed.
     
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  19. Gorthyn

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    This is what I mean when I talk about Ports strange priorities. Why addressing the ropey old quest and journal mess is not one of the top three let alone top ten priorities is mind boggling.

    Still we have fishing and wyverns to keep a dozen or so people happy so it's not all bad....:rolleyes:
     
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  20. Brewton

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    Agreed
     
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