Are less people playing of late?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Stabbath, Dec 16, 2019.

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  1. Stabbath

    Stabbath Avatar

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    I haven't been playing sota in around 3 months I guess. I'll occasionally check twitch and it seems the amount of people streaming the game is WAY down. Was wondering if some sort of update ran people off, or is this not really reflective of the current player base? I read a recent thread where it was mentioned COTO streamer support was cut off, maybe this is why so few are streaming the game now? I'm busy with another game currently, but might be back with SOTA when Season 2 is released. I'm guessing early next yr?
     
  2. thradia

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    Always slows down at this time of year though. It's the holidays - people don't play. They are busy with family, travel, etc.
    I don't think the streamers reflect the players playing. We have lost a lot of streamers - including myself - for various reasons. But they are working on getting a new streamer program in.
     
  3. Vladamir Begemot

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    I'm more in than I had been, getting things spun up back at the ranch/Factorium again.
     
  4. Steevodeevo

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    I'm not playing much now. On reflection I am not sure whether I am having a break or losing interest. Time will tell. My interest level in a game relates to what I can achieve in the game. I am primarily a social solo player (I like playing in an MMO, chatting occasionally grouping but mainly doing my own thing).

    For me SOTA currently has a great imbalance between what content can be played solo and what essentially has to be played in a Group. Much of the current prestigious content can only be accessed as a group and much of the recent development work has amplified this. As a solo player there isn't a great deal more I can look forward to doing, so I tend to 'rinse and repeat' stuff I can currently do and have been doing for years. Now if Crafting and Fishing had quests and the game had collections I could immerse myself in those careers. I wonder if treasure hunting is intended to add more solo content or will again require a group?

    I do accept some of the high level players can solo much of the stuff I can't, but to be blunt, I'm a fairly casual but committed player; I don't have the obsessive nature or insane levels of commitment required to play the hours to min-min max my way to level 120-130 in a huge bunch of skills to solo a dungeon or kill a top level dragon. I accept that is my choice to an extent, but it is also a game design decision to make this content only soloable if you invest to that extent.

    Essentially 'forced' multi player content isn't a good strategy in my view. If you look at games like Path of Exile, you can enjoy huge swathes of fun content solo and if you want to group up, then that's great; there are some tweaks to make that tougher and more rewarding, but nothing is blocked from being achievable and fun for a solo player. I'm a little jaded with the message each time folks playing SOTA say they are struggling to find content they can play on their own when the standard response is 'get sociable Billy no mates'.
     
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  5. Numa

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    My impression is that activity by regulars is substantially down compared to a year ago. Usually, a new release unleashes a blizzard of feedback and bug posts - activity is markedly less by that metric.

    Been absent from the game myself since the 3rd quarter last year and have just returned recently so the difference is pretty noticeable.

    Hopefully Episode 2 will change all that and bring a lot of old faces back.
     
  6. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    From my sales numbers everything looks pretty normal so far.
    From the ppl I meet ingame it looks normal as well.
    The forum is a bit empty. On the other hand I havent been in the forum for 4-6 weeks either *shrugs*.
     
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  7. oplek

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    We could cite multiple different sources, and even means of measurements, showing a drop in population, but it doesn't matter. Personal experience trumps all. It's just whatever a person "feels".
     
  8. Sulaene Moon

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    "
    "I see new people every day"
     
  9. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    Actually, not a single person used the word "feel" *shrugs*
    Feel free to share your insights non the less.
     
  10. Beaumaris

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    I've played less because I'm debating whether this is the game to continue with for the long haul. That doesnt stem from displeasure with the game. It relates to the team lacking an expression of game vision. In my opinion, Catnip dropped the ball on that at a critical time. Good leaders know that major transitions are the times to plant the next flag in the ground, recognize change, and point in the hopeful next direction. When Portalarium transferred assets, and Richard and Starr took different roles, it was the perfect time for Catnip to address what would make the game theirs and reaffirm direction (Episode 2, Episode 3, anyone?). Instead, leadership messaging felt more like 'there's nothing to see here', 'the change doesnt mean anything', 'its all status quo' and 'let's talk about Lua' (which few care about). So it feels like SOTA is in a crisis. Not over game quality and content. That's solid. But over game vision and identity. Is this an LB virtues game or not? If it is, what does that mean next? Give us more vision than Lua.
     
    Last edited: Dec 19, 2019
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  11. Aldornia

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    I agree so much with your total post. I'm basically a solo player. I tried the offline version, but I felt lonely and I really like to play in a "real" world. I don't want to make comparisons, but I played Ultima for over 10 years. I realize this is a totally different game, but I can't see myself playing this game anywhere near that long.
     
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  12. City Slicker

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    There was Also A small Group of Players that Had left after chris Implemented LUA. They felt they should not have to learn and code to make there gaming experience Better. thats what giving the company $$ was for. They took it as a slap in the face. so they left. :)
     
    Last edited: Dec 17, 2019
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  13. oplek

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    The weird part is that, they state a vision over and over - about a more compelling storyline than Ultima XYZ with consequential decisions, etc. They state it. But they put it on the backburner so long they forget about it.
     
  14. Vladamir Begemot

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    That's a bizarre reason to leave. I don't want to learn how to engineer and manufacture a car, but that doesn't mean I don't drive.

    I don't mod games (which is what Lua is), but download hundreds of other peoples mods.

    No one needs to learn to code to benefit from other peoples mods.
     
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  15. Steevodeevo

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    I get their point. I had an initial 'bad feeling' about it as well, same as with the new scripting tool. Basically in a nutshell I thought; hmm.. quests and interface now have to be created by players. Devs will create components and saleable knickknacks.
    OK, that's fine, but is it where I want to go with my gaming free time?

    'This' is where i am at.
     
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  16. Sean Silverfoot

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    Friends and I play just about every day. Not seeing it.
     
  17. Sulaene Moon

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    The game metrics people use shows there is a decline, but not sure how you can trust that 100%. You know the Steam & SotA.net metric site.
     
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  18. Lazlo

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    I could be wrong, but I think this is actually one of the busier times of year for gaming. People buy a lot of computer/console/game stuff just after Thanksgiving and cold weather = more gaming. Summer is the slow time for all things indoors.
     
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  19. Vladamir Begemot

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    Perhaps a nice Title and or Cloak would be appropriate when that happens.
     
  20. Lazlo

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    I think forum traffic is actually a fairly useful metric for SotA since people have to spend some token amount to post in some areas and have enough interest to bother.

    When I first started playing, threads in the feedback forum would be on page 3 or 4 the day after they went up if they didn't get a lot of replies. Now that's more than a month's worth of feedback and the same handful of threads will stay on top of the general forum for weeks at a time sometimes. Some of that is probably due to an increase in dev streaming, but posting was still way down before that.
     
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