Who's with me and prepared to show support?

I find that rather insulting, Time Lord. I feel that issues like as these are such that should be discussed. You may wish to close ranks around SotA for the sake of a few dollars worth of pledge money, but loyalty to Richard Garriott isn't going to do anything when video game reviewers bring these same issues up publicly and create negative exposure.

 

No offense to you, but this sounds an awful lot like those crackpot conspiracy theories which float around.

There is no organized campaign to bash SotA from other games or companies. The very notion of that is laughable.

The people here who are offering feedback both positive and negative are all here because they care for some reason, and most if not all of us want the development team to succeed and create something great or we wouldn't be here in the first place.

 

I think you just said the same thing I did
But why you personally would take offence to that obvious industrial tactic, I have no idea.
I merely point out what is historically and obviously common fact of all industries...
~Time Lord~

 

I don't disagree with you on that point, Time Lord.

I also have respect for you and your opinions (and also other opinions which differ from mine).

However, I do have to disagree that there is any sort of organized campaign to bash SotA happening here. I just haven't seen that kind of activity and I don't think there's any real motivation for it to happen.

Rather, what we have is a mixture of different opinions about the game and where it's headed all clashing in discussion from people who mostly want to see the best game possible come out of the whole process.

 

Thanks everyone for the energetic responses! Not all the same (fairly normal) but my judgement is that there is overwhelming support for the dev team; that's how it should be. Everyone has their own opinion. and that's cool.
I guess Time Lord encapsulated my thoughts well - this isn't another one of <insert my favourite game name here>. It's not going to be like what you are used to. So don't expect it to be. And don't demand that it be just like "x", or "y". And change can be scary - and challenging.
This game can sort of be thought of as the "child" of Richard Garriott and the dev team, headed by Starr Long. Your children are not "you" - often people can "see" you in them, but they are their own people, with their own personalities. Similarly with SotA - we can probably "see" much from Ultima or UO in it, but it is going to be its own game, with its own unique identity. I want to give this child a chance to grow and develop - looking at the "parents" I'm sure it will be awesome!
Also majoria70 had a wise word - if something is bothering you, take a pause, count to 4, and see how you like it. You may even get used to all the "quirks" or ways that this game operates.
I'm all for vigorous and healthy debate - I just get a little distressed when we get to the "armchair admiral" stage - it's easy for an onlooker to look at a project under construction and say "that's a crap job you're doing guys.." Not so easy when you have to do it yourself. I'm the first to admit that I have no skills in this area - I'm happy to let the dev team do what they do well; so far I'm very happy with the result.

 

Well, if I'm not mistaken, the title of this thread is "Who's with me and prepared to show support?"....not "come air all your grievances here." There are already many threads with all the same complaints by the same people in them. Believe me, the complaints are being heard, how could they not? For those of us who are happy and want to show support in a positive way, this thread was like a breath of fresh air since all the other threads have to turn into arguments. I say "was." Past tense. **sigh**

And just want to add, constructive criticism is one thing, with you know, how about 'I don't like this or that, I'd rather see it such and such way." Instead, there are a few who have had absolutely nothing to say except criticism & turn every thread into attack & defend threads. All the while claiming it's because they want the game to succeed and yet offer no suggestions or solutions. And vague complaints of "I don't like the direction the game is going," but no indication of in what way.

Time Lord is absolutely, 100% right, about what effect that can have. I know what effect it's having on me, just one forum poster. It's making me resort to putting someone on ignore now, which I hate doing, but I'm frankly getting sick to death of the negativity with nothing constructive to go with it.

 

I have to agree with Noctiflora, it is another thread that I expect to get off track and head downhill. And yes I know that I just contributed to that.

To make this post relevant, I support what the dev team is doing and their direction. While I do wish the best game to delivered in the end, I want it to be the best game that they envision, not the best game that I envision.

 

Yeah, I agree. This thread wasn't made for the vitriol that is being spread.

It's easy for some "game" developers to come in and give critics without actually mentioning which games or what exactly there back ground is.

For the record what w actually get to see of the game isn't all that is finished or that is in construction...anyone who has been involved with software design would know that.

 

It's always the same short list of names that come up who have a problem when people criticize the game.

The title of this thread was a question and people gave their answers and then proceeded to discuss amongst themselves. Most of us here have already supported the game monetarily and that means we're all supporters in some shape or form.

In order for this game to be the best it can be, there needs to be honesty in the viewpoints expressed by the prospective player base. That includes positive and negative.

Obviously, I'm here to restore balance.

Har har!

 

Nice troll attempt. You're on a roll.

 

I'm going to ask you one more time (this seems to be an ongoing thing) stop the name calling.

Thanks, if you have an issue with my post feel free to report me. I'm beginning to think you do this to try and control conversations, it is very annoying.

 

I've not called anyone names.

Nearly every thread I've seen you come into, you've been adding nothing but snide remarks and derogatory attacks, just like you did a moment ago.

Nope, I just call out trolling where I see it.

 

"Confessions of a Trolling Convert"
I don't want anyone to feel alone when it comes to harsh criticism, yet when it's non-productive, then it takes away from what it will become and adds nothing to it by way of any motivational inspiration. I myself before R4 was very critical at times before I realized that I was adding nothing to what I wanted the game to accomplish.

I even posted this video once after one of our creator's posts thinking I was motivational (while enjoying a bottle of Bushmill Irish Whiskey from the oldest distillery in the world established 1608 and a very fine drink that turns Time lord back into one of the three top combat arms training sergeants who trained the trainers that trained the rest of the US Army how to attack and win 2 wars simultaneously... which I still wonder if that was the right thing to do or not ) But I took it and other comments like it down when I sobered back up and realized I was helping nothing by it and it wasn't the moderators that took them down, it was me


My many friends here can tell you that I was a slight bit of a terror here before I saw the light and began avidly supporting our game by way of hopefully helpful comment.
All of this because it was not they, but t'was me that was "the man who did nothing", before I saw the true effect of my ways
It's the truth and my friends remember this
~Time Lord~

 

Like I said feel free to report me, I don't really care if you like me or not. You may want to look at how you respond to people.

 

Time Lord, feel free to say what you feel, positive or negative, and that goes for everyone else except for those who like to do nothing but antagonize others who they don't agree with.

Just don't try to spare the developers from criticism because you're afraid of hurting their feelings. They can take it and it will motivate them to do better.

 

Just wanted to add my 2 gold coins to this thread. I must admit when I first pledged I had a few preconceived ideas about what I was expecting (hoping) SotA to become. As a kid I played U6, and U7, but by far the biggest factor that shaped my ideals were rooted in the hours and hours I played UO during beta, initial release, and then after for 5+ years. My specific preconceived ideas aren't worth mentioning, but suffices to say UO had a lot of quirky systems that made it a blast to experience and exploit. It left me with an almost insatiable nostalgia by which I compare it to every game in the genre I get my hands on. Since SotA claim is to be the next spiritual successor to the Ultimas, the comparison was near unbridled.

In any case, I spent weeks scouring the web, and the forums, absorbing everything I could regarding SotA. It wasn't until after this that I made the leap and upgraded my pledge to one of the upper tiers. Of course the pledge perks are great, and I'm looking forward to some of my nostalgia being satisfied, but ultimately the reason I made the expensive leap was because I enjoyed what I learned about SotA, and trust the team to build a fun game. Period. Unfortunately I get the impression some of us haven't done our due diligence in understanding what SotA is about.

I've worked as a software developer for over 15 years, and I'm really impressed with how open the dev team has been throughout the process. The regularly scheduled releases, and frequent feedback from them on the forums is great. I'm impressed that they've responded and made adjustments to the goals based on our critiques. I'm impressed by how they've handled the poorly and offensively written complaints. I'm happy with the progress to-date and it's clear to me there is more going on behind the scenes that we don't always see in the incremental releases. I'm confident SotA will satisfy some of my nostalgia, but more importantly will be able to stand on its own as a fun game.

Thanks!

 

I want the game RG envisioned. I don't want to play the game being designed on these forms by committee with complaints to try to steer the dev team towards new goals that delay the game for months.

I support Richard Garriott's Ultimate Role Playing Game idea.

 

I admit I am fairly new to this whole crowdfunding thing, but isnt that bit about funding covered by now? I mean... isn't crowdfunding suposed to get rid of the publisher as the money man?

Doing a gorgeous demo to bait cash from a big publisher makes sense, you are short on money and you need to make a huge splash because there will be no second chance. But I don't think the same principles apply here, for a start, the builds are not public, so only people who backed already can see the builds, so the demos are effectively internal and serve no purpose to atract external money. They may lure money in indirectly via word of mouth, vid caps or screenshots, but it's never the same thing.

Yes, sure, more money always helps, but why rush the visual department when basic things like combat are not in place yet?

Just to make it clear, I have found the builds promissing, but promissing does not equal release quality, many aspects such as UI, conversations, AI behaviour, detail maps are still in need of work.

 

Please please please let us all see the humor in how well that turned out. We could all use a chuckle this morning.

But seriously for a sec, with respect the sentiments of the OP, I do understand how at a glance the forum currently seems rife with "negatives", but I'd be remiss to see things swing in the opposite direction to where people are berated for sharing their thoughts on something they dont currently like (which has on occasion happened).

For my part, no my posts haven't been all smiles and cheers, but I hope those that weren't have at least conformed to the helpful and informative "here is what I'm not liking" as oppose to the less productive "this sucks" type of posts which are indeed out there, but that's part of the landscape and, as has been said many times, this forum has (for the most part) been way more civil than the internet norm.

 

Please refrain from belittling each other or resorting to name calling. Calling someone a troll is likely only going to agitate someone; likewise, if you feel like you're being goaded, please report the post or ask them to stop, clarify their position, or put them on ignore.