Ways (means) of communication or Lacking are starting to become a detriment to player base, Streams

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Weins201, Apr 17, 2019.

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  1. Weins201

    Weins201 Avatar

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    are a bad method of communication.

    the number of players is dwindling and new players are not here for very long.

    there are ALOT of player who are still playing that are going to get very tiered of reading , "in todays live stream, at about (minute ##:##) he said . . ."

    This is getting relied upon more and more and yet it is the WORST way for a development team to communicate with it player base.

    I would guess that at least 75% of us do not have the time, or are willing to spend the time just listening to hours of whatever is going on, to try and learn what is going on with the game we play, supported, and enjoyed.

    There is way to much information being put out in the one place that requires players to dedicate more time and even more effort to TRY and figure out what is going on. Also it is limiting in what is being asked as only players who sit there ands try and ask something are getting feedback and / or providing input.

    Sorry but this needs to stop, can you stream , sure, do some like it sure, does it work sure, HOWEVER it needs to NOT be the main and only basic means of communication. It should actually be the last line.

    1st the Web page and it announcements, updates section.
    2nd Here on these official forums
    3rd Discord ("official chat")
    4th FB, Twitch, ….
    **** at least all of those are readable and serchable ****
    A live stream is the W O R S T form as it relies on second hand information and REQUIRES one to SEARCH for a time when something is talked about.

    This does not need to go n or be brought up again it is going to be one of the last things players are going to hope is changed before they fold.

    To many have already for other reasons, do not give yourself more rope you have enough.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2019
  2. Kaffien

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    A lot of us work and miss the streams on a regular basis.
    I'm not going to go back and watch old streams. That might just be me.
    Please bring back stand-up corner etc.
     
  3. oplek

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    I'm working my way through yesterday's. On top of everything else, he expressed that he was going to give priority to the questions asked during the streams. So if you asked a question that wasn't answered previously... off to the black hole with it!

    Supposedly it's about interacting with players and trying to draw in new people... but even he seemed to recognize that standing in a field, staring at a mailbox, while yapping about Unity upgrades, wasn't going to accomplish it very well. Game-play streams draw people into playing the game... so it's not even very effective at what it's supposedly for in the first place... let alone disbursement of information.
     
  4. King Robert

    King Robert Avatar

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    Played since way before persistence. RF LoM2.

    Never seen a livestream. Not once. Love the post and agree please use the forum to keep us informed. Busy job, wife, kid, etc make watching the livestream neither convenient nor desirable. For me.
     
  5. Brass Knuckles

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    I don’t understand why the stuff isn’t posted on the fourms most everything is revealed on streams and never makes it to the fourms. My wife’s getting pissed I have 3-4 hours of streams I have to watch every night and it’s messing with her GoT watching.

    Yea numbers are way down!
     
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  6. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

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    I don't feel like it is dwindling. I've seen quite a few come back. Even players I thought might not and they are enjoying that some of the barriers have been taken down. Zone scroll is one thing mentioned and the passes and sieges they don't have to go through is another. And some are loving the global chat which is called Universe chat. Lots of good things a game like this with a broken up world needed.

    What they are still not enjoying is the grind like even in fishing. No treasure chests or treasure maps or anything special to loot other than trophies and these are so rare to catch anything exciting. We need to shake that up along with interesting loot options.

    Also Get those Rusty spoons and stuff out of the loot table and on to the ground to be picked up in dungeons and stuff and make it salvageable.

    Give us some fun things to find even if they only have a few charges like UO did. Then they can break. perhaps tokens we can find to purchase interesting things. Also we do need achievements in game and daily quests that are progressive for each day you do them such as catch of the day. That is a continuous thing I hear.

    So we are not doom and gloom but the Devs do need to keep the momentum up on taking on complaints. Chris is streaming and fixing things as he can too even during his stream. I am hoping for a ramp up for hiring soonish to first address complaints and broken things. It is a lot to do for a small team. And as mentioned they said they are going for it, well lets go j/k since I know they are working really, really hard. But here's hoping it will be soon.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2019
  7. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    I watch the twitch streams when I can. Some I miss out. I do think that perhaps it would be best to have a fine point version for all to read, but either way I am happy to have the streams with information and love the platform for talking to Dev or asking my questions. i do see some people post threads on information that is critical. You can always tune into the Friday main stream for pretty much the main information. Chris's is just a bonus to asking. He does make lists for things he thinks would be doable, but also states in many cases on things he doesnt deal with that he would pass it on or is unsure on Xyz because its in someone elses hands.
    I think this is better then nothing either way. Usually there is 100-300 people on the stream so a large number of of player base and new peeps are there.

    As to numbers in the game I don't know if I see them down, I see new faces still every day. and my friends list online always seem to have many pages of people on.
     
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  8. Brass Knuckles

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    I should clarify my friends list is about half what it was. It’s possible ur friends are more reliable than mine. Also just looked at steam levels and it’s the lowest point since persistence 2016

    I also love the streams and a bullet point version should make the fourms.
     
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  9. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    Just looked now and at 8:39am cst I have 3 pages of friends on. Evenings I have on average 5-7 pages and weekend a lot. I friend pretty much everyone I see and many from events. As to new people my town is always getting new people. I have filled up 100% now so its become a who is not active weekly to boot out. Our guild still has new members joining as we chase the new scenes every so often to bring in new numbers. You have been around as long as me and I do agree a few that I know moved on, but there are people taking their place.
     
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  10. Brass Knuckles

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    I don’t have many of dance people crowd and pretty much most my list is of the older crowd (backers as in the OP) so maybe. However steam number show the trend I’m seeing.
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2019
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  11. oplek

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    It's possible that there's a shift of people using their launcher instead of Steam. It's possible that Xee's curated list doesn't well reflect total numbers (a random sampling like I have has fewer people on, but has less bias... a list that's crafted to be just who is currently active would show more because it's biased towards active players). Ultimately, we can only really guess.

    If they were doing great with the numbers, they'd be sharing. If it's mostly new players we're seeing, and older players leaving, that means he game has a high turn-over rate. But that could also lead to Steam, and it's bad recent reviews, being less represented than if people directly visited Shroud's website.

    Chris said they're about to send out an email to a couple hundred thousand people who have signed up overall, trying to "recapture" them, now that the game is in a more stable state. I'm not sure if that's part of the $5k a month marketing fund they now supposedly have... or whether it's part of of $760k+ SeedInvest self-publishing fund they scrounged up from us, that didn't seem to materialize into anything... or whether it's part of that at all. We'll see if that does anything.

    I wish they'd be transparent about these things. But they also know the information would be weaponized.
     
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  12. Kaffien

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    Don't get me wrong I love the streaming. It makes Chris seem more human. However, I really would like someone to still continue updating the notes / standup corner etc.
     
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  13. addrox

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    AGREED ... received email from Last stream ... "SAD NEWS..." went online to get some information ... WTF was the SAD news he had to report?
     
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  14. redfish

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    Okay, well I can only speak for my own experience and I know a lot of players who have moved on, and a large factor was the change in direction in development. Some left a while ago but then more and more over time. I'm not going to really get into the debate about that since I don't think that's what the thread was intended to be about; I just thought I'd chime in because some people here are already discussing it. Personally, I think instead of splitting the base, the devs could have built upon the base since there were a list of things they could have done to make everyone happy, while alienating no one.

    I have gotten new friends, but mainly because the overland map is MP now. When I was in MP mode before I'd always find someone new I hadn't met before. Happens more often now because I'm in MP more often.
     
  15. Weins201

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    I feel you sentiment, sadly my point is this change is not going to help and will actually hurt progress.

    As for other reasons there are many and they just keep adding more and more :-(
     
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  16. macnlos

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    Fragmentation vs Augmentation is what you are describing here. There should be a single, reliable, searchable and easy to use place for all communication. Looking at what Port has in place these forums are it. Everything else should used to supplement/compliment. It's okay to say things in game, on stream or on Discord as long as it also on the forums. Not everything though.

    People will ask questions, answer them and move on. If people keep asking the same question then answer it on the forums and next time steer people there. But if you are going to announce something major then put it on the forums first and then have at it on stream or anywhere else.
     
  17. Weins201

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    TY
     
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  18. Duke Gréagóir

    Duke Gréagóir Legend of the Hearth

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    Stand up notes are back!
     
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  19. amnipar

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    One of the original Kickstarter backers here. Played since release 1, not every release but quite many. Have had many months of inactivity at times, but have always returned. I hope more players come back, since I think the game is now much more enjoyable than ever. Would hope to see much more players in Looking for Group.

    I have never watched any live stream from start to finish. Parts of maybe two or three. I'm not very active on forums either. I struggle keeping up even with the weekly updates. I would hope that there would be one page that is always up to date and shows the most important things that are new and that are on the roadmap, and what is the status of those. I would also hope that there would be a player manual that is more complete and more up to date. There are still updates to the player instructions in many releases, and the page looks like a work in progress. It would be high time to have a real persistent manual describing everything about the game, and what changes are still coming.

    I have invested maybe 2000 hours of my time playing the game, and likely around 1000 dollars for supporting the project. I have no regrets for either of these, it has been worth it. But I simply cannot invest time for following the status of the game and digging up vital pieces of information from live streams or forum posts.

    Don't get me wrong, release notes and quarterly plans are great and I enjoy reading them. But they are still like articles or blog posts that I have to dig up from the weekly updates. They should be front and center on the main page of the website, and persistent. Meaning one link I can bookmark and immediately find out what is currently going on in the game.
     
  20. Alexandra Cornfellow

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    Me too Majoria. I've been around for quite a few years now, and it feels like I'm running into more folks, not less. Are the actual numbers posted somewhere? My motto is don't trust, verify!

    And for what it's worth, I really enjoy the live stuff Chris is doing. I just listen while I play and it adds to the enjoyment.

    I'll be here until they pull the plug on the server, be it this evening or 10 years from now (assuming I'm still physically able, hehe). Cheers
     
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