Dance parties and fishing tourneys with light sabers...

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Artomus Sumotra, Jun 24, 2020.

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  1. Bowen Bloodgood

    Bowen Bloodgood Avatar

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    What you're doing is nothing more than being dismissive by applying a label as you yourself have made no case to support your statements.
     
  2. Bowen Bloodgood

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    I honestly don't remember what they're supposed to do. Maybe teleport people to you? I just remember thinking they weren't adequate enough to actually run any kind of story event I'd like to do. If players don't use them a lot then I don't think the devs would be motivated to expand on them. Unfortunately, if they aren't expanded upon I probably wouldn't be interested in using them. I would agree however that the potential for abuse is great so probably best to not give too much power too quickly.

    From there I'd just want to comment that I'd like to see a more focused approach to development. I'm sure they think they have to do so many different things each release. But I'd like them to put a pause on that and take every 3rd or 4th release to just work on one thing until it's "done" . "Done" being subjective of course.. Even if it takes more than one release. Do stuff normally.. 4th release start a major project/overhaul for however many releases as needed.. go back to normal for 3 releases.. rinse and repeat.
     
  3. Bowen Bloodgood

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    I would like to add it's not just quests. Maybe I'm spoiled but I've never been able to get into the quests because.... I simply find the NPCs uninteresting. I have no desire to interact with them to explore their story. They need to at least sandbox a little. Lean up against a wall or something that makes them seem a little more alive instead of standing in one spot for hours at a time. That's what killed quests for me. Otherwise I just might be running around talking to everyone thinking "hmm I wonder what's up with THIS person?" That and the whole MMO experience of nothing you do in a quest really matters. They put an offline story into an online setting.. and it just can't work that way.
     
  4. Beaumaris

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    Ultimas were about Avatars in one world stepping through a moongate to another.

    So given the lore, that a Jedi from a world far far away, light sabre in hand, stepped into a rift and ended up in a version of an Ultima fishing universe set to disco music seems perfectly reasonable to me.
     
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  5. Bowen Bloodgood

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    We did have Kilrathi at one point. :) However, I am of the mind that nonsensical "lore" is to be blatantly ignored. (IE the PC is the spiritual (not physical) manifestation of the player and therefore multiple characters are one and same person..)
     
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  6. Rook Strife

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    Look at the whole game, prioritize and fix each system one by one

    Good luck lol Everyone has been saying that for years :)
     
  7. Anpu

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    In all the years of playing and reading the forums, when someone immediately starts complaining about fishing and dance parties, what they really mean to say is they are basically disappointed with the current development and direction of the game. And usually a specific system or systems that seems to be neglected (like for me personally it’s the dang MAPS).

    This is ok however. Ask 10 different people on what system or systems they should be working on and you will get 10 different answers. It is difficult to manage a complex game with many systems.

    At this point, you can hope that whatever (insert your neglected system here) might be getting some improvements or other various changes. Or you can just take a break from the game (I actually recommend you do that. I actually did that for several months). And then come back and see how you feel things are progressing.
     
  8. Artomus Sumotra

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    @Bowen Bloodgood Pardon my "SYNTAX ERROR", My post heading was an attempt at "sarcastically" addressing obvious issues by pointing out some painfully hypocritical symptoms. I actually think we agree on more than not on many issues, yet you seem stuck on my attempt to broach the issue with as much levity as I can muster so as not to be obstinate or overly negative.

    Ironically I actually can almost see where locking a thread might be a viable option to allow issues to be further discussed in a new thread not focused on my satirical attempt to respectfully BOW OUT... I believe there is enough feedback to get a relatively accurate consensus that can be useful. Useful for all... Dev's can temper their objectives from it and players can continue to feedback on the forum. Hopefully this can have a positive long term impact.

    The flame is not out on the torch... But it is smoldering and it looks like rain is coming... I am heading for the hills. I will check in periodically to consider my options But I am done with this post.

    Well Met,
    Artomus Sumotra
     
    Last edited: Jun 25, 2020
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  9. Cordelayne

    Cordelayne Bug Hunter

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    No argument here Bowen! I wholeheartedly agree that the lore and story are extremely weak. This is only exacerbated by "lifeless" NPC's who offer limited compelling dialogue, ushering the player forward during their journey in New Britannia. The confluence of these factors (along with horrible xp and loot rewards) makes questing really...well...uninspiring. So personally, I can fully appreciate why you said, "That's what killed quests for me." Quite simply, their meh!

    Yet their are some good ones (shout out to @Puuk), where regardless of being offline or "on", they work and are impactful. They work because the narrative is detailed, the exploration is in depth and the reward is worthwhile for time invested. Granted that is a subjective opinion predicated on my own experience, but I am still saddened that I will never find out more about the League of Skulls and their Skull Clipper members that pop up in some scenes!
     
  10. Razarix86

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    Fishing and dance party's are the easy ones to talk about. and i do agree that this is a huge part of the game. Two of the main playable content's in the game. I for one could live without it. Let's talk about all the Promises made by Lord British (Portalarium) First he said he was never going to sell the game. well he did.... the game used to have some ok PVP in it you used to be able to pickpocket and get good ransoms, sure it needed a lot of work but soda went the other way and made it unrewarding to PVP. what about the rideable mounts? or the physical items some people where supposed to get? instead they got digital forms of it. the Questing is it that hard to make it so you can track what your on? (exp) delete ones you have completed out of your journal or make a journal for completed ones and also removing sparkling madness on the overhead compass. and i'm walking on water i know nothing about... This would be very hard for me to do. I'm also not a company designing a game. and i think i would have the resources to do so if i did. and how long ago was Episode 2 supposed to come out? long enough ago to be talking about Episode 3. what about PVE some cool things to kill and I've seen it grow over the years into better content. but after doing the new content a few times why ever bother with it? just make a fire mage and go solo your xp and gold. we have no sets of gear for PVP or PVE we just craft our own and that cool but I'd like to get some drops form dungeon's/raids/battlegounds/point system. and then you have Portalarium that is no longer responsible of all his promises (I missed a lot feel free to share what you have payed for and never received) and is now on Cat Nips back. from what I've seen the change form Port to Cat Nip has been good and I do think he is trying. even though the game has come a long ways I cant stick around for it to become a MMO. There are others playable game ready to play. some that are almost 20 years old. I hope the best for soda and maybe one day I will come back if its ever playable. im in a rush running out the door so sorry i had no time to clean up this message I know its all over the board but its way more then just fishing and dance partys

    thanks Razalon
     
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  11. macnlos

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    That is one the most humorous things I've seen written on these threads. When was EPS1 officially released? A while back. When was EPS1 actually delivered and feature complete? Nope, still waiting. Crap quest system. Crap loot tables. Anemic economy. Dated UI. Dated graphics. Incomplete brewing system. Incomplete Thieving system. So yeah, if you want to call it "complete" then go ahead but we all know, even you, that it isn't. If you don't believe me then lets ask the mass of players... I mean, lets ask those who are playing.
     
  12. Magnus Zarwaddim

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    I don't think you know what stawmanning is.
     
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  13. Bowen Bloodgood

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    At what point did I call anything complete? I was merely pointing out where the story part of the game is delivered. Also, and rather unfortunately, it is not the players who define what is and isn't complete.. it's done when the devs say it's done whether we like it or not. (And I note they have yet to make any such statement as far as I'm aware) Not that it has anything to do with what I was saying.. ​
     
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  14. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    Everything in good time... with a small dev team it will take just that time.

    That said I do agree 100% that magic mover prices should be decreased or even free, especially if your town has to move.

    As to Dance parties, and fishing... those are player events that the devs support. they are not going away and will always be around as there is a lot of players that do those type of events.
    Now if they get player made npc / dungeon / story tools finished you will see a lot more types of events and including invasions.

    there is a lot of things on the lists that are coming but its a waiting game until then. if you want it done faster need to spend more coin in the crown store so they can expand the team further. that or get more people playing which equates to the same. If not than wait it out with the rest :)

    cheers.
     
  15. Beaumaris

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    Test the underlying assumption of your premise here though. Who is this so called 'majority' of whom we speak? Us hundred disco fishmongers that remain, or the thousands of adventurers who left? We understand how the remaining hundred would respond. But how would those other thousands answer your question? Are we saying here that only the remaining few are the target audience and the rest dont matter? Or do we want to do something to recruit back those other thousands? If DS's time, for example, is finite and he spends any of his volunteer time engaging the -potential- community for the good of the game, what is the -best- way he could spend his time to help promote the game? Running the latest disco event (again)? Or something else? You are right that the SOTA devs never signed up to run a live adventure service, but, beyond weekly fishing and dance events, aren't there other elements of the game that the dev spotlight could be turned on to showcase parts of the game that might attract more players? Couldn't the devs choose to highlight something else about the game in the time they do have available for public participation? What if they did? What might that mean for the game? Those of us who run businesses know that we must choose how to focus our precious marketing resources, including our time, to maximize business where we most intend to gain it. Is that happening here? What if that was done differently? I think that is the OP's point.
     
    Last edited: Jun 29, 2020
  16. Bowen Bloodgood

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    Perhaps 'majority' isn't the best word but.. the apparent number of players who have made dance parties popular enough over the last few years to be a weekly occurrence. It caught on and it stuck for a reason. Because people have enjoyed them apparently.

    Not to pick on any one person but for many years people have been fond of quoting the "thousands who have.. " to justify their statements of how things should be or how bad they are, but the devs are the only ones with access to those numbers. Like if anyone leaves for any reason it's because of X or Y and not because of natural, expected losses one might observe such as a tendency for many people to move on after about a year regardless. There's no way we can know but folks seems to really like connecting dots because they know one or two people who've said why.

    Again, never said nor implied.

    If he's doing it during his free time (and I'm pretty sure he is), everything after this statement is moot. He's not obligated to do promote anything during off hours and his time spent DJing has no bearing on anything.

    Point. Like say.. a regular player run dungeon crawl or PvP tourney? Or other player events.... I don't think they should be highlighting the quest system every week do you? What would you choose to spotlight every week?

    Additional commentary: Every online RPG I've been in.. as much as I might want to engross myself in the world, adventure and lore.. there is always.. and I mean ALWAYS... A-L-W-A-Y-S as massive number (respectively speaking) who just don't care about it the way I do.. you stick them in a medieval world and they want lightsabers with skimpy swimsuit armor or whatever the heck else that makes absolutely no flipping sense cause they think it's fun... I suppose I'm used to representing the minority for 20 some odd years that those people always seem to be the majority everywhere I go. I never expected SotA to be any different. Probably why it doesn't bother me as much as it seems to bother others.
     
  17. Greyfox

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    Why do people feel a need for a negative good bye post? Have developers ever in the history of gaming said to themselves, "damn that goodbye post changed my views, I will now fix whatever the person leaving told me to fix."

    Come, go, but do so with class.
     
  18. marthos

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    Successful businesses crave this kind of feedback, if it's done in a constructive manner which I think that the OP has done. The cost to acquire a new customer is high compared to the cost to keep a customer.

    When a game has lost well over 95% of its player base, the world and cities are empty, and staff cut down to the bare minimum, those of us remaining should be BEGGING the developers to start listening to why people are not playing this game.
     
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  19. craftymethod

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    I consider the last phase of development the "last but most noticable phase with all the icing and cool stuff" is yet to be completed, being extended over the 5 or so episodes. I just wish the downsizing could have been done a few months later than what they did but these are the cards we have been dealt.

    Honestly I think Unity issues are/were probably the biggest roadblock to any form of a 'last phase programming spring'.

    also,

    There is no eternal struggle between the forces of good or evil currently re social/factional organisation.

    Only the appearance of a stranger can save Britannia from impending destruction. From whence they come, noone knows, but their strength and courage will be without peer.

    In these strangers lay Britannia's only hope. Only travellers from the stars can release this world from its perilous existence.

    I believe we need to start a server wide war to produce our own lore and lore events into the game, waiting or hoping would be fruitless.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2020
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  20. Bowen Bloodgood

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    Unfortunately, that requires player initiative. The player bases are typically lazy and only interested in doing their own thing placing the majority of that burden on the company and unwilling to do otherwise. Not that it should fall to them, most don't need the extra workload.

    I'd like to see the source of that statistic.

    Though I would speculate that the game's design for instancing and match making will make the world seem more empty than it is. There could be 100 people playing the same scene but you'll never see it because it's instanced and they're split 50 different ways.
     
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