Why don't the devs...

My pet peeve with the UI is this... and this.

 

The immersion and enormity of the world are great, the user interface is mediocre to frustrating. The f2p pain points and nags don't help. Installation was also an uphill battle through corrupted files from the downloader that thoroughly confused the game when you started up. I was only able to figure out which file was bad because it hadn't closed it yet, and Windows won't let you delete an open file. Then do it all over again for the next file. This is something that should have been fixed literally a decade ago.
And they have no apparent interest in fixing minor glitches (like world objects floating in the air in seasonal event content) that SotA devs would eagerly squash.

It has some areas where the sound design is really good. Angmar is quite properly creepy with the way the sound works. Such incredible content (especially for a game over 10 years old), yet it's sufficiently buggy that they have to take it down for three hours every week to reboot everything.

I think it means some problems that have their days numbered.

 

While catching bugs is a good reason for devs to play, (or ..have a paid QA team), I don't think that's the main reason why they should.

I'm still waiting for a dev to stream 17 hours of straight mining (including the 'standing around waiting for ores to spawn' part), 8 hours of smelting (good luck trying to keep that stream interesting!) and then go and be unable to create a reasonable piece of gear out of it due to RNG. You can bet the system would be addressed years ago.

Balance changes, economic manipulations made by looking at high lvl spreadsheets would look a lot different with actual context from the player's perspective.

 

Agreed! And why not kill two bugs with one step? It would be wonderful to see all developers streaming their gaming, expanding the audience and attracting new players. There's no better representatives for the game than the developers themselves.

 

It'd be interesting if they made an event out of it. Get most/all the team to start new characters, party up, level up and defeat the clockwork dragon. And stream it all. Or course, that level of organization and time commitment becomes exponentially more difficult to pull off.

Edit: And they have to craft their own gear.

 

Just wish when Atos is streaming he didnt get sidetracked by giveaways and questions. Let the man alone for one hour of the stream to Play the game and do what he wants. Then an hour of questions /giveaways only. He needs to learn to balance his stream time a bit better....and i for one would enjoy watching him actually play through something even if it is a side quest or what not. Then he can do all the other gobbly gook to enterain the masses. Same with the Release live streams and such. That is the only issue i have with them working remotely. They cant communicate well when they arent there face to face to talk. The last one i watched they sat there and one did all the talking and the other did this and that. They should also be ingame running about making a ingame appearance to let folks see them. LB does that from time to time. Rarely does anyone see Star, Sannio or others in game unless they are bug fixing appearances. Someone needs to have an event that is not giveaway/dance parties and such so they can get involved. Just my opinion. Communication is the key i guess and more visibility of the devs ingame

 

I think Chris needs an alt to running around in game. That way when he is streaming people won't come up to him and dance, fight, emote around him so he can work on things that are broke. More things would get fixed that way. Too me it is looking that the main reason to stream these days is to get "bits" donated to generate money.

 

Every dev needs to play without cheating.

 

I totally agree, the devs need private real toons to play with in the game. They also can't cheat period. Take your toon from 1 to 120 and level up crafting skills. You should stream that, but black out your name and run about solo for a while. Another week, gather a couple other devs and group up and try some of your group content with the same blacking out of names and party instance use to keep other distractions down. During these streams thank bit donations with a lovely list, that you have programed, come up at the end of the stream. Then do crafting, setting up your own house with items you have to make, or purchase on the store with crowns you purchased also on the website. Have the full experience. While I like Chris's information he gives during some of his streams, the constant Unity bashing (every dev hates their tools after a while), and just standing there in some POT spawning bunnies and giants, gets really old and boring. It doesn't help give him a feeling of what we experience either. Heck devs, try and make a quest with your own in-game player tools; lets see what you can do in a stream in non G0d mode. I double dog dare you

 

Sounds like a Chris Challenge for a live stream.

Livestream it for a week. Ignore questions and everything else. Just play for 7 days (not in God mode). And see how it all works.

I like it!

 

I would say don't even live stream it, perhaps make a YouTube video of it. That way you won't have people who can figure out where you are and join you. Video it and show going through the quests, tamin, craftin, and economy can be fixed. Then put it up for people to watch.

Streams seem to be about spawning rabbits and stuff for people. I thought the original plan was to show actual development of the game on the streams. Perhaps if there was less streaming then the totems would have made it in this release.

 

I think Chris is still getting his streaming sea legs, but getting a direction might be beneficial.

Is the stream to try and get new players interested?

If so, spawning trolls and bunnies, wandering around deco town, and a random basement excursion are not going to keep any new curious players. All that stuff is only going to interest existing players.

Is it just to keep existing players interested and get some extra bits and happy with some prize giveaways?

If so, Keep doing what you are doing. But know the current format is not likely to expand the audience.

Might I suggest a semi regular schedule with more specific focus on certain days?

eg, Monday is playing through quests and adventure scenes

Tues is for answering questions and Shipping

Wed is for deco tours

Thurs is for development walkthroughs

Friday is for more shipping

A theme of successful streamers is a schedule and focus, so people can reliably show up on days the topic interests them. If you truly want new people and for them stay, the random things being done now and a whole lot of sitting around in game should be adjusted. And put the schedule on the twitch page.

 

I agree with both of the above Posters...

I know @Chris Twitch Streams in his OWN PERSONAL time, but for attracting New Interest to the Game it has to be Quality over Quantity....
Poor Chris is spreading his focus all over the place!
It must be taxing on Him....
A more structured approach is essential for New Viewers.

 

So.... why are you asking them to play if you're saying they do?

Is there a specific Dev you're actually appealing to? Perhaps @DarkStarr ?

I agree that Devs should play their game on the regular. As an anonymous. regular player, in a guild, with no god mode, however. It should be in their schedule. Maybe the first few hours of their day with morning coffee. Not really optional, imho as well.

Any you know.... maybe he does already. But I agree.

I do NOT think that @Chris playing on a livestream in God Mode is what we are referring to, either.

As a livestreamer it's not easy, if not impossible for a someone new to doing it, to play the game like a normal player. It's also not really possible to get the perspective of a regular player in god mode or if everyone knows you're a dev.

In Star Wars Galaxies, we had a dev in our guild. Drizzet and I were the only ones that knew as guild leaders. He learned a lot about how to improve the game from the players perspective. And it's perspective that we need.

 

I am not entirely sure of the premise for your post?
"I DO agree, that it would be impossible for ANY Dev to play the game like a normal player. It's also not really possible to get the perspective of a regular player in god mode or if everyone knows you're a dev."
The only way a Dev can play "like a Normal Player" is to be anonymous to the entire Player Base...

The OP stated that both List & Chris are visible in their presence online.

Are You suggesting that @DarkStarr needs to be visible too? Because the OP didn't suggest that.

Perhaps you are suggesting that Starr is already playing anonymously in your Guild, as per your previous experience in Star Wars Galaxies?
Or maybe you are inviting Starr to do so?
If not, I am totally perplexed as to what your post was intending to say apart from Any Dev cannot experience a true Gameplay experience, without being completely anonymous...

 

A great community manager could achieve this as well......

 

Seems like a large complaint has always been the game is a grind. Crafting and adventuring. Unless someone actually plays long term and not in God mode they would never understand this.

 

I completely agree that the devs should play the game. Not certain parts...not recreating bugs..The game in it's entirety. If they did play it they'd understand some of the major issues players have. Crafting %'s not being real, dead content, dead skills, buggy zones, buggy quests, ect... all experiencing it within real time. Most bugs that are reported sit for at least a couple days before the devs finally test and fix them. If they experienced these bugs within their playtime.. it would streamline bug fixes. As the game sits, there isn't enough players to support Port financing a much larger staff (incentivising playing on the QA)

 

Are there any MMORPGs out there that aren't a grind?

 

Yes, other games have something else also for the end game. PVM raids/group content with good system to support randoms to run dungeons and such. Not just More UT or other high end places with 0% chance to actually get anything, unless you are planning to spend 100 hours killing same boss.

To me, there's two kinds of grinding, there's the normal type ( wow, UO, Neocron, Conan etc), then there is this "Korean grind fests".
Recent problem I had, was Dolus hood. As far as I'm concerned, its impossible to get. Requires so much grind, that I just rather not play at all.