Is there no General chat?

@Greyfox: thank you for the kind words. My wife and I have both made substantial pledges and are eager to see how the game develops. We are both busy professionals IRL so we have time for only one MMO so we have to choose. We are currently playing one of the triple AAA MMOs out there biding our time while I watch over the development of 3 or 4 different "Early Access" alphas. I've introduced her to each one and, frankly, she is not too fond of SotA at this point, but she doesn't my history with LB and I just keep telling her "it will improve over time, give it time". I'll keep my eye on it and hopefully continue some dialoging here to help understand (and maybe even influence) the direction of the game.

Meanwhile, I'm not optimistic about the global chat issue, but I continue to feel strongly that the game feels dead when I enter it and my wife has explicitly commented on this too. And while there have been a number of good suggestions from other forum members, I think about the new players coming in at release who will not bother to read the forums. How are they going to know about all these things they need to do in order to experience the aliveness of the game? They won't without an active presence of players as exhibited by ongoing conversation. Unless there are other solutions immediately obvious to the new player, I fear a worst case scenario where the game is branded with the reputation of being niche, elitist, and a ghost town where no one talks to one another and there is no sense of community. You only get one chance to make a first impression upon launch. After that, it's tough to recover. So I hope the dev team comes up with some good solutions.

Finally, I like the idea of using RL analogies to make a point, even if they are potentially divisive, political statements. Fight the Power.

 

Hi Wanderlust.

I think I was one of 'those' people that you spoke to and didn't respond. Well, after I figured out you spoke to me I tried to answer and of course the first thing I did was incorrectly open a chat window and instead jumped sky high. And of course that discombobulated me. Then I finally got the chat window open, typed what I wanted to say, back spaced to fix the typos and finally hit enter. By that time you were off, probably trying to find a less spastic person.

Just remember this is all pre-beta. We're here to help and give productive feed-back.

And kill stuff....

Next time if you see someone jumping after you've asked a question remember that they've probably done what we all do. Wrong key! So jumping is a good sign eh?

 

Hi Amber Witch!

You may be right, but I think I remember meeting you also at a player event where I won a suit of armor! The character I was playing at that time was named Critical Essence and I remember it was a trivia contest and there was an auction. I won the bidding on my suit of armoronly because a player gave me 40k and told me to "bid on something good". It was a very fun event and definitely had me jazzed about the player community. I remember stumbling upon it and typing /zone or something like that.

I think I was on Wanderlust when I encountered you in Owl's Head. I will keep in mind your accidental jump and be a little more patient next time. Devs take note: global chat or not, the chat interface needs improvement!

 

Another thing I just thought of. The new player hints that are currently in the game are just the beginnings of how the game will take care to show new players how to play the game. So many systems are not completed by any means. It is really easy to forget that we aren't seeing what we will see at release. We can only of course voice our thoughts on what is there or not. Darkstarr said until it says complete, it is by no means complete. I am not saying don't voice opinions, I'm saying for those who get all upset thinking anything is feature complete and go away because of it, doesn't make a lot of sense at this point. I am hoping that our development team, who knows so much more than we do about what is what, will take what we say as constructive feedback for whatever they are developing for the game that helps them. And no they don't have time to comment to every little thing, they can catch up later, plus surprises can be greatI love to have feedback that they are hearing our ideas and if they like them or not, but it has to happen in small doses, perhaps they will say it in a hangout, because I know they listen. We just ask during hangouts, which we do of course.

For those angry at not seeing what they want in a game, perhaps try to chill out and hang in there if you want, voice your comments, or come back later. It is definitely a roller coaster ride. I can hardly wait at times for release, but in the meantime I will rally for what I want in the game. To keep commenting and getting angry on things that are by no means done, can only serves to frustrate the development team, and frustrate others who are trying to help and be constructive, while also helping to test the game and find bugs. So this is not directed at anyone personally, but just a thought . I know we are trying to help the game, but while we are trying to help the development team lets not kill them off with stress while they are trying to build a game. Especially on undone features, which of course is about everything in the game at this point.

**edited**

 

Story title: It aint cake.....LOL ok one more thought before I leave you. I am stepping away from the computer for a bit. But first a cake analogy lol.

For example someone asks you to make a cake and while you are adding the eggs to the the sugar and oil, they suddenly say, "hey that is not a cake. You don't even know how to make a cake" and storm out of the room. Now that was strange you think. So before you can explain that, hey you still have to add all the ingredients, stir them all up, perhaps taste it, add a bit more flavor if it needs it, put it in the oven and bake it for starters. When it is done baking, there is still much more to do that is so very important, and that is the frosting to top it off. Ok then you say hmmm perhaps sprinkles would look great, oh yeah words written in frosting would be great, or coconut,or chopped pecans, or little chocolate chips, and hmmmm perhaps cute little flowerette or roses along the edges. So after all the decorating , the great smell of the cake finds it way into the other room. You look up, and wait ,the person comes back and sees your creation, and they say, "hey you really do know how to make a cake", and it's gorgeous. But of course lol Now that is the fun we are having here lol
well sort of

 

I love a good analogy! To add to the analogy, you have to include the following facts:

1) The chef has asked a number of people to contribute to the cost of baking the cake, so there are a lot of backers in the kitchen who are very eager to eat cake;
2) The chef has solicited feedback from the backers, asking them if they like sprinkles, how many layers they want, what kind of frosting they want, and many other choices;
3) The chef has provided a public forum for the backers to express their preferences;
4) Most of the backers have never baked a cake and have no clue what is involved. All they know is what other cakes they have tried and what they taste like and what they like in a cake;
5) The backers have many choices of chefs out there baking lots of cakes and they have their choice of which to support for baking, or which to just buy and eat.

I don't know that anyone is "angry" about how the cake is shaping up. We just all want to eat it and want it to taste just so. Mmm, cake.

 

LOL @wanderlust. I love it touche'. I hear you and agree very much, not disagreeing with anyone rallying for the game to be the best it can be, just that perhaps the visions we are basing some of our feedback on is because the cake is still being made. Perhaps we don't want cake at all, but mmmm brownies or pie.


***edited***

 

Let it be known, I want cake. I would also really enjoy shouting to those around me how wonderful the cake tastes. I would really enjoy being able to shout to people near the bakery to come over and enjoy our cake together.

I would be quite sad to wonder around quietly, only able to tell people about the cake who have already eaten a piece. Much more fun to shout out globally "We have CAKE for sale only 200gold!", "Chuck Norris once ate a whole cake before his friends mentioned their was a stripper in the cake.", "Cake Guild recruiting! We help out newbies. Message Grayfox for details!", "Your momma so fat, she ate the whole Cake, the band."

PS: Pie and/or brownies are only for those who have no cake.

 

LOL @Greyfox and well only if they like raw cake dough. or Unless they're gonna bake their own cakes.

 

All the more reason not to have Global chat imo. As long as I am not forced to use it I'm good though.