The Flow of Information is getting Really Bad

@DarkStarr @Chris So there is a new troll room blueprint (or there will be?) and there is a kobold room blueprint: maybe the rotunda from the Hilt? (but if you already farmed it you now have to spend 500 crowns or go re-farm a recipe!?!?) and there is some other blueprint that will allow spawning mobs? (but no info at all about it.)

• No daily stand-ups
• Very little info about what actually went into this update

The release note are pretty thread bare on info. The format changed to a brief summary with a link to a list of changes. Now we get a summary with no link to anything. Of course there are live streams, but I frankly don't have time to watch hours and hours of live streaming hoping for some crumb of information. I love this game but finding out what is happening (or what has been added) shouldn't be this hard!

By the way... the liches in the lich throne dungeon don't have any loot. Is that by design or a bug...? My understanding was that they would have loot but not the same as non player dungeons. However, now some people say they wont have any loot... No way I'm going to watch hours of live streams in hopes that @Chris made some mention of this off the top of his head at some point in time! Even if I did catch a sound bite there is always the chance that he said something different at a later time in some other sound bite.

THIS IS NOT THE WAY I SHOULD HAVE TO GET INFO!!!

 

sorry but I have to laugh when I see posts like this.

They are a small team and are trying to wear to many hats, the Lead Dev has no business sitting on a live feed for hours three is way to much work to to. Sure his Daily Blogs was prob a PITA, and these Streams are easier, but the best way would be one way with somone who just presents information to the community in one place.

Lets see Blogs, Tweets, FB, Streams, Updates (on the official Page), Forums, Discord????

 

This could be simplified that as stream is being done, Chris does makes notes for changes etc. perhaps after each stream he could post the notes of changes / fixes etc that were discussed.

either way if you want to stay current you watch the twitch streams, or perhaps some nice guy will post the updates. myself I take note and relay the ones I feel like to the guild I am with as I know not all can watch. I think there is a thread already started by someone that is following making notes.

 

Player-Made Dungeon Encounters: Player-Made Dungeon encounters were originally scheduled for this release and we did an early iteration in Release 63. Release 64 includes a larger variety of encounters and totems. This release brings 2 new creature types: Trolls and Kobolds. Additionally 3 new encounter rooms that previously existed will be convertible to spawned versions. One completely new encounter room will also begin dropping.

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/release-64-instructions.153439/

• Trolls and Kobold Essences: Trolls and Kobolds (Tier 5 and above) will now sometimes drop essences that can be used to craft totems that enable dungeon encounter rooms to spawn higher difficulty creatures.
• Encounter vs Non-Encounter Rooms: There were a large number of encounter rooms already in use and decorated and therefore we did not want to eliminate the deco versions of these rooms. Instead, there will be two versions of each room. One will be the deco version and the other will be the encounter version. Recipes will be available to convert from one version to the other.

 

I know, right? Which means what? It means that he needs to post mandatory info in an Announcement post, like it's always been done before.

 

Yes and which of the encounter rooms that I already farmed might these be? Check them and see you say? Apparently they arent really in the game yet.. no mention of that here... Glad I spent my play time checking them all...

Great news... Where are they available at? Oh wait they arent in the game yet... no mention of that here. What? You say I will have to refarm them because they conversion recipes will be drops!?!?! If thats true, it sucks, but it would be nice to mention it here. Oh wait, I can also buy them for 500 cotos...? Really ? No mention here? Is that in the game now? or going to be in the game sometime in the future?

Also, aren't the conversion recipes supposed to allow players that already farmed/bought these things to switch between the deco and spawning modes? (Because apparently the plan has changed and you cant have ANY deco in the rooms if they have spawn...) But if I have to farm for the conversion recipe how is that any better than just farming for a new room blueprint...?

Of course maybe the conversion recipes will be available on npc vendors...? or maybe they already are? or maybe the devs think they are but they just put them on a vendor in map that isnt in the live game? Who knows at this point in time!!!!

I hate to be so negative but the fog of information has become pretty frustrating. I just thought the team should know.

 

As I mentioned i other post, thry really don't post anything here. Go check their post history. Only official patch notes or something event related.
Most of the team has not posted anything at all, except bugs forums. Also, Garriot does not have anykind of presence here.
1y milestone went by without ANYTHING.

What really grinds my gears, is that they push EP2 and they have not said anything about restrictions characters may have, when going to new lands.

Chris stream has been fun to watch thou, I think that is good thing.

 

I actually think @Chris is kicking butt and taking names with the livestreams. It seems like a potentially good way to advertise and for @Chris to see problems and fix them in real time.
However, the live streams are NOT a substitute for the other forms of information the team has provided in the past.

 

Looks like the distributed working model is not working as intended.

Live streams are no alternative for the minimum of information flow.

 

I have seen even smaller teams post more regularly and completely about changes coming into games. Project Gorgon comes to mind.. they also have guides that answer questions in-game on specific changes and how-tos. I agree with Mystarr that Chris does a great job with the livestreams, but there needs to be a consolidated place to post information and it should be on the official forums. It is fine to spread briefer previews on social media channels, but the details should be here. I used to look forward to the stand-ups and see what cool stuff was coming or contemplate what certain comments meant, but now crickets..

 

Thats how its been since day one as far as I can tell. I remember @Chris spend like 30 mins in a live stream explaining how Crit % is calculated and it never ended up anywhere written down. If you want to know that information to this day you gotta go hunting thru 100s of hours of live streams. NO? Yes?

 

And btw, he's not doing a great job on the live streams...the one I watched when I was home sick he litterally pulled a shirt over his head and built a cardboard box. WHY WHY WHY is he shipping stuff....any knuckle dragger can do that...he's our led dev(and I think a really talented one at that)!!! doesn't he have a pet to nurf or a OP bow to put in the game instead?

 

So what I caught from the April Fools live stream... (didn't catch all of it though, please feel free to add and correct)

1. There will be, in about a week or so, a new POT showing up on the Overland map. This will be Port's contest/event town going forward.
2. First event will be a contest for a Holdfast overland POT. Entry fee is 100k gold or 1k COTOS, this is a decoration contest of a lot. Details are not etched in stone yet.
3. Chris discussed some more on the Totems, but I didn't catch it all.. just that higher tiers would require 2x instead of the crazy amount they are now. Maybe you totem people can share what that means.
4. Deco spawners for PoTs and dungeons - these will spawn animals that eventually we can put loot on.. (fair warning not clear on exactly when or the details on these and player control going forward. Comment was made regarding the spawns Chris was doing in the livestream)
   
5. Chris will try and get a better scheduled time for Livestreams in the 2 to 4 pm CST window, but he isn't quite sure yet and tomorrow is Kindergarten orientation for Maxine and parents.
6. Chris is working on shipping out the last of the launch event T-shirts, but has some missing sizes. There were T-shirts also given away during a livestream he did and he is working on shipping those out as well.
7. Talk to Chris about extra office chairs if you are in the Austin area and can get them yourself.
8. VIP titles will be given to watchers that contribute the most bits per month? (not sure on the time frame) (For those that don't know.. like I was; Bits are a purchasable Twitch currency you can "cheer" at streamers to support them financially)
9. Chris is attempting to get the "partner" status with Twitch - he isn't sure what that is, but he wants it.
10. There were a few questions asked and I didn't get them all (regarding locking toolbars, wood nerf in sieges, ground pound attack debuff issue)
11. The stream consisted of Chris spawning mobs to be killed by death bunny swarms - trolls, dragons and players were involved.

 

I agree with the opening poster. Livestreams are in the 'would be nice' category for info sharing. The website/forum is the 'must have' information source.

To be fair, its not just Portalarium struggling with this. Many online communities seem to be having a crisis of not being able to sustain themselves across too many media outlet choices. I participate in communities that run a web site, but its never updated because updates occur on the forums. But the forums are dead because it was decided that news would instead be posted on Twitter and Facebook. But Twitter and Facebook are dead because the team decided to hang out in TeamSpeak and forgot to update the other media. But TeamSpeak channel is now dead too because everyone is on Discord. But those on Discord point to Twitch videos for information.

Its getting a bit ridiculous, really. Can't we just put it all on Netflix already and get it over with?