Population feels like it’s flat lined again.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Brass Knuckles, Sep 11, 2019.

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  1. Sulaene Moon

    Sulaene Moon Avatar

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    Well me and my friend found this game on Steam and use steam to connect. Wouldn't most people coming into the game these days be from Steam? I mean how else other then Steam would you find this game and it's website to download it, a specific google search?
     
  2. CarlNZ

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    I would be very surprised if almost all the new players weren't through steam. As you say, how else would anyone even know about shroud?
    Which sadly doesn't paint a pretty picture for growth.
     
  3. Violet Ronso

    Violet Ronso Avatar

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    Watching random streams on twitch. I streamed for a few days a year ago (kids became a priority) and a few people joined in, asked what the heck was the game, and how to try it. That was before the F2P switch, and I had an average of 2 viewers, I was far from having anything to attract people (no viewers, no overlay, nothing) so no, steam is not the only source of recruitment.
     
  4. Belladonna Rose

    Belladonna Rose Bug Hunter

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    Not to be negative but i think the decline has many reasons. Many players have gone on to other games for a change of pace. Not enough new content for them to log in for. Many are not into the questing stuff so much as they are crafting. And they put their crafting on hold until all the fixes and additions were done to MC and enchanting. Alot of new players who started got bored upfront due to not be able to figure out how to navigate around. Patience should be the new virtue in Sota for sure. Then of course like others have stated....Summer time tends to take a nip at population as outdoor activities and such are prime. With school starting back it still has a nip in the bud as parents have to juggle after school activiites along with their game time. Some folks also burned out on the whole thing. The mad rush to scale up skills of all types they just got bored with repeat work to do it. I myself have not be very active as i needed to take some time away from the game for my own sanity. LOL. I love this game...dont get me wrong but i needed to back up and take some time off. I was spending at one time 12 hours a day 7 days a week on the game. Then RL things came forward and took me away from the game. So now i struggle to get any quality time to play. And i will be totally honest here......my days of staying up late and pulling all nighters is long gone. LOL. Granny needs her sleep. But i do try my best to log on as often as i can.
     
  5. Brass Knuckles

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    Right! I’m here till the servers close am I wrong for wanting that to be 20 years from now?
     
  6. Sulaene Moon

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    While that's a neat plan I don't think it's going to drive that many people to make a significant impact especially long term, but who knows.
     
  7. Geaux

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    BAF Campaign

    Assuming we all have friends, and we convince one friend a month to join, we are done...crisis averted. I will be having a friend join on Saturday, perhaps someone could put together a BAF campaign with volunteer staffing the newby zone(s) during certain times on Saturday, to do some question answering and interaction. Maybe a streamer could have a SOTA 101 stream?
     
  8. Bedawyn

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    I know of at least 4 new players through Twitch just in the past couple of weeks. One we lost because of the bad NUE, one is hooked, don't know about the others yet. And that's only the ones I've stumbled over without looking. No commercially produced ad is ever going to be as good as actually seeing the game in action while a streamer you like is squeeing over how great it is. Right now, our livestreamers ARE the marketing campaign.
     
  9. Greyfox

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    Portalarium Developer meeting.

    Problem: The population is dwindling, when it should be increasing in our nifty new game. Solution: Lets NERF the most popular build in our game, that will bring in hordes of new players. Developers shake their heads in agreement. Implement it! Pop open a bottle of Tito's!!!!

    [​IMG]
     
  10. Mishikal

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    https://steamcharts.com/app/326160
     
  11. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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    Steam patches my client while I am at work. Nice to never have to wait to patch.
     
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  12. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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    I am right with you on that. I started during kickstarter waited for release 1 and been here for every release since. :)
     
  13. Ostvel

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    again I say steam numbers are only a portion of the numbers as I can open my friendlist and usually see much more than 102 on in a given hour, usually closer to 200 lately, but that is throughout the day and you have folks who play at different times from all over the world. these numbers are also a "on right now number" for friendlist, not a peak 24 hour.
     
  14. Brass Knuckles

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    This post was never about steam numbers specifically however when used to see a trend it works well. There is a downward tick in trend I’d love to see anything including advertising that gives the game a positive tick.

    Imop the streamers prob saved this game that part has paid off well but it’s a drop in the bucket imop to what we could be doing.
     
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  15. Ostvel

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    this I agree with, if I had just come to the forums only, with all the negativity I read starting last year (and if I hadn't already decided to try it for the Ultima feel again) I probably wouldn't have downloaded it. Luckily watching videos and chatting with folks on Discord was much differen't than the forums, as well as once I was actually in game discovering how nice the community really is as opposed to the opinion one would get from the forums
     
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  16. Ostvel

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    Also I do apologize, it's almost an immediate reaction for me, but I get naturally defensive when I hear people saying no one is on and I hit F and see 200 on lol. (I feel the need to edit this last statement of mine, as it was not directed at the OP. As the post was actually about outside advertising/ word of mouth, not about in game numbers per se.)
     
  17. Brass Knuckles

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    That comes back to personal expectations to me 200, 300 people playing in a mmo is signs to run for the hills when I think mmo I think thousands of players playing. Shroud could be a popular game it’s got some cool **** in it. Where the great failing occurs in my opinion its not the game but lack of telling the world about it.
     
  18. Ostvel

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    That is only MY friendlist, there are a LOT of people in my (yellow list) did not friend me back list. Also that is no indicator of how many more are actually on as well. I do wish we had a better way of seeing server pop like in other games out there that would show the definite number at any given moment (and not descriminate between steam and non steam but showing Server Total) to avoid conversations like this! Also not detracting from the fact that I agree, we need better and more positive advertisement!
     
  19. Brass Knuckles

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    Look man I don’t feel like arguing over what you think is a fully funded game and what I think is a fully funded game. It’s cool with me if you think there are thousands and millions of people playing the game at any given time, though I wonder when I goto towns that are forced open I find 1 or 2 people in them.

    Like I’ve said a few times this is not a numbers thread it’s a advertising to pull more people in thread.

    This game deserves more than the tiny population it has.
     
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  20. Gorthyn

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    Well I am sick be of those who drifted away from the game a while ago. I keep checking the forums (and occasionally still post) as I keep hoping the Devs will make changes that would entice me back.

    Sadly that has yet to happen. I think player retention remains the games biggest issue for s myriad of reasons. Am not sure advertising is going to change much beyond perhaps an initial blip before the poor retention issues erode any gain away again
     
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