Reconsider the Vault Scheme - Changing the title is not creating a new item.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Lord Andernut, Apr 23, 2019.

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  1. Fiero Steele

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    This is also the way I think, live to deco :)
     
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  2. Hornpipe

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    Portalarium competing with the players market they created and reselling "exclusives" is not a new thing. You're all beating a dead horse here.

    This began with the founder crafting stations and the commission free vendors. And, if my memory serves me well, at this time a lot of us here were applauding (some louder than others) "because it was a good thing for attracting new players".

    But in the end, it actually attracted no one. It actually pushed many people away in my opinion because Portalarium lost any accountability.

    And because, despite all the remaining devs efforts, this game will never be attractive enough to get a solid player base. Which is a shame given the fact that it could have suceeded.
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2019
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  3. Animosh

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    The kickstater and the pledges have already paid for them game. In fact a lot of the pledges paid for multiple episodes. Or did they lie about that too in the desriptions?
     
  4. Animosh

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    they can not as they were buying a lot of assets from the Unity store. No cash coming in = cant buy new content from Unity store
     
  5. Animosh

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    They did this too unfortunately through seedinvest, which no one was supposed to talk about
     
  6. Synergy Blaize

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    @Animosh I went all the way back in your posts to 2015 (When you seemed have started> at least posting...) = I like to try to understand what Posters objectives are in posting here....
    You started 4 years ago.... Not 1 single Post/reply of Yours was positive, so it seems you never liked the game much at all.....
    So you left....
    As I would, if I was so extremely unhappy & did not desire to log in again...
    I would count my losses & move onward & learn from my error of judgement, if that were the case, without turning back.

    The last Post/Reply you made here was over 1 Year ago... So why are you here again, from the very distant past expressing further negativity?
    Has this post made it to another Forum, so you felt the need to come back & pursue this thread & re-iterate your grievances? Why? What good could it possibly achieve for YOU?

    Shroud today, may not be all "Unicorns & Rainbows" & I myself, have posted stuff that reflected my own Personal negativity/displeasure (but all of my posts/replies have not been negative towards the game)
    Let it go & move on... It was what it was & It is what it is...
    Carrying this hatchet around with you for Years, seriously will not do you any good.
    Que Sera, Sera.... It is what it is.... Just let it go....
     
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  7. Elwyn

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    Some of those assets need a lot of Scottie time because not only aren't they optimized for a deco-heavy environment like SotA, you might even say some are pessimized.
     
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  8. Astirian

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    I'm not saying this is what's happening here, however...

    I would hate to see jilted players' vendettas actually bring down a game I care greatly about. We've seen Metacritic influencing game developer bonuses or Rotten Tomatoes affecting million dollar properties. Too much power in the hands of a loud few.

    The internet as far as I'm concerned is still too immature for true democratic sentiment at scale. Things are too easily manipulated PR-wise for small projects such as this.

    Star Citizen is resilient to this because of its sheer scale and financing.

    However! SotA going F2P and being on Steam was an incredibly risky move in its current state. They opened themselves up to a butchering in exchange for something that would have worked well maybe 5 years ago. (A weird financial choice, given the risk.) I mean if I was going to try and ruin a company I'd start a hate group forum, post there every day, wait for a reviews system with no barrier to entry to become available and go to town on it, thereby setting a strong negative precedent (deserved or not). It would have a direct impact on sales. It is well known in mobile dev that an initial one star review is devastating.

    Port originally prioritized macro-transactions, Unity assets and Open Alpha because 2014. They got ambitious with POTs (and are doing it again with Player Dungeons, it's like they keep getting distracted??? I mean... Cool ideas and all once the core is good!). Now they're doubling down again and again on mobile "game" monetization strategies as a consequence of that choice to go F2P.

    When they should have focused or be focusing on; the core issues. Case in point: animations, combat feel, sound effects, the single player experience, UI, the questing and dialogue systems, the general presentation of things. The HEART of the game. Then polish, polish, polish. Then add new features. (I have nothing against performance tuning, that absolutely needed/needs to happen)

    So, I can see why some people are frustrated.

    The perception is; they have this incredible IP to work with and yet they sometimes, somehow, seem to just want to make an unpolished niche MMO powered by MTX. Probably because cash is an issue? This isn't World of Tanks though! You can't just keep adding new skins or cannibalizing old stuff improperly and causing a fuss like this!

    Anyway, various ships have sailed, we'll see what Ep. 2 brings. If it's focusing on more MMO fluff to bring them in line with ESO or Guild Wars in their perception of what's profitable, or any sort of whiffy mobile "game" type financing shenanigans for that matter, then we are done for. Those games are way more polished in their core systems and have many more resources at hand.

    Again, polishing a monetization statue and causing drama while they do so is not the way to go, they need to focus on core stuff. Accepting this leap of faith will bring them the players they so desperately need

    It's like... Quality over quantity, build a strong foundation. Stop focusing on creative ways to make an extra $172 per month.

    Of course, I don't have access to the financials, so maybe they ARE absolutely nailing it with the Crown Shop and need to hawk more pixel crack? In which case I'll get back in my box now, carry on team (but get that rares policy in stone).

    One thing is for certain, do the devs want long term growth or short term gains?

    ---

    TLDR; We're in this soup because of F2P, which presumably was a decision made to keep the studio and game afloat. Focusing on core issues will bring in way more revenue in the medium to long term than messing around with pixel crack and alienating some of your player-base.
     
  9. Elrond

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    I hope they reconsider those vault prices ...they dont seem priced to sell ... 2000 coto for a rabbit tail ?... 1800 coto for a mask ? @Chris i hope you can talk some sense into whoever is pricing this stuff ... darkstarr banner for 1500 coto (170k igg) when ingame i seen it sell for 75k ?

    Anyway i hope you guys are checking sales on vault items and act accordingly ... If i wont see a serious price drop on next round of items it will probably mean you are satisfied with the current sales.
     
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  10. Hillt

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    Very well said @Astirian I think you got it right. The core stuff should have been addressed long ago when most of this community spoke up about it. Hopefully with Ep2 they use new core mechanic things, such as UI, quest systems, journal, etc to build a better foundation to achieve the success they are looking for. All we can do is wait, hope, and pray they do it right this time. My fingers are crossed!!
     
  11. Arkah EMPstrike

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    This is actually reversed of their intent. Thier priorty was to find ways to give the players tools to create meaningful content for each other, and monetized it to provide an income. PoT's were so expensive because of the development time required. They only expected a handful of towns in total to be baught but thier expectation was FAR exceeded.
     
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  12. Astirian

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    Ah, fair enough. I suppose they should have started small and expanded it out but that's easy for me to say in retrospect.
     
  13. Elwyn

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    Nobody is required to buy it, and what the bundle-miners have missed since they've already stormed off in a huff is that not only does it mean more money for Port if people are willing to pay that much for vault items, it also keeps them from seriously undercutting the bundle-miners.

    Now if a bundle-miner was to charge $30 for that rabbit tail as a rare, and Port makes it available for two weeks at $15, someone who wouldn't have paid more than $8 still won't buy it either way. And someone who would pay that $30 wouldn't be waiting for its two weeks to roll around. I don't think we know anything about the schedule for vault items, or if it is random (with rejecting items that are too similar) like the daily sale items.

    With regard to pledge and monthly reward items (but not bundle items), I think they should absolutely be protected. It should be okay to reuse the models of simple items re-skinned if it makes sense, but not the exact same items. Replenishing box items should stay gone, but it's okay for what they drop to return. Replenishing aether dye box gone, aether dye on store okay. But royal purple dye stays gone, because that was a specific pledge reward that isn't an object that can be re-skinned (the model for the plant would be okay, not the functionality).
     
  14. Elwyn

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    The thing is, having so many POTs ended up saving the housing system, almost entirely by accident. (a stopped clock is right twice a day, etc.)
     
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  15. Spoon

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    Nah, it was kinda easy to see back then as well.
    The wording was ambiguous so players went ballistic in their expectations vs what was feasible. Also the pricing was waaaaay to low for what was initially offered. Etc.

    Think I have a bunch of posts and some pms making recommendations and advice. Then to see those preventable risks not dealt with and then the issues come true one after the other.

    So it was kinda easy to see and predict back then as well. Just like this thing.
     
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  16. Spoon

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    Not really. The only thing that happened was that PRTs got replaced with POTs.
    So if POTs would have never happened then PRTs would have taken the same niche, like the PRT-only deeds that were discussed which much later became the POT only deeds we see now etc.
     
  17. Elrond

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    If they price them cheaper ill probably buy some .. at current prices .. i wont ..rest of your post about protecting bundle miners and all that ... o_O
     
  18. Spoon

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    • Reserved List: Original Kickstarter / Pledge Items will not be appearing in The Vault. Pledge items are considered reserved. All other items have a chance to appear in The Vault.
    https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?p=106293
    That is the sum total of what they consider a reserved list. (With no listing of items).
    No mention of any rewards, so any telethon/livestream/testing/charity/community/etc are up for grabs. For example, HoB cabinets, PaxLair cloak, grand tour headgear, ant farm, stream camera, the darkstarr rewards, etc. None of it is on that 'reserved list'.

    Also should be noted that we have seen exceptions to items from pledges as well in that things that players thought were pledge only has come back. So even those things aren't really reserved since there are no explicit mentions of any of them.
    For instance the same terms/descriptions/language used for things like the artisan/prosperity tools (unique) was also used for things like Artisan Box of Plenty and other low tier stuff, so that is up for grabs as well.

    The only things we can deduce that are on the 'list' are the stuff with "Founder" "Benefactor" in their titles and with the wording "only available to backers" like the Immortality Fruit. Hopefully also the pledge housing. Maybe the titles?

    But really it is only guesstimates because no one can be sure given the wording there. As an example, since we already have items from pledges in the crown store then it gives that while "the Vault" will not have pledge items, that same restriction isn't for the crown store itself given the wording above.

    Which is kinda ironic since that type of uncertainty is exactly why I asked for a policy+list, and why having that right away back in 2014 would have saved them so much trouble and so many lost players over the years.

    This since such uncertainty hinders sales and undermines brand loyalty.

    For instance the same "unique" term is used for the Lord of the Isle items and none of it is in the 'reserved list'. Which undermines the feeling of luxury of paying premium for exclusive things.

    It is all a pandora's box of slippery slope good intentions.
     
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  19. Womby

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    What a depressing thread. If shared misery binds people together, then I guess we are now all best friends. :)
     
  20. Arkah EMPstrike

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    Im under the impression it is expired addon store items.
     
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