Lord British/Darkstarr Comments at SotA Con East

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Bayard, Dec 21, 2016.

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  1. Bayard

    Bayard Avatar

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    Lord British (LB) and Darkstarr (DS) made several comments during SotA Con East that I haven’t seen posted or discussed in the forums. I believe these are relevant to the community or, at the very least, interesting on their own. I personally heard every comment I discuss below so these are not hearsay. These were all made during open discussion which @Lesni may have also captured via his video recordings.

    1. LB is using his alt character (my comment - if you know the name, please DON’T reveal it, let him test in peace) to personally test each major quest line from start to (eventually) finish. When he runs into a blocker, he creates a JIRA entry and tests another quest line until the devs fix the blocker. Then he comes back and proceeds until the next blocker. Rinse and repeat. He has deleted, and recreated his alt numerous times to ensure the quest makes sense from the very beginning.

    2. LB stated there is much more to the Oracle than meets the eye and it’s very relevant to the overall quest. However, he would not provide any spoilers (and rightfully so).

    3. When not in a panel, LB often had his laptop fired up noting potential JIRA entries. On at least one occasion he asked for attendee notes to ensure he hadn't missed any.

    4. Darkstarr said there were approximately 57,000 game accounts and about 10,000 of those were active. He said there are many who are waiting for the game to be complete before coming back in. Same comment for some of the POT owners.

    5. LB and DS stated numerous times that SotA is NOT ready for release and they are not encouraging new players at this time. LB went further and said this was probably the worst time for a new player to start because it looks like things (like quest lines) are finished but they aren't. At a minimum, quest lines have to be fixed and polished first. There was a desire to release in the first half of 2017 but that goal would be adjusted as necessary.

    6. In general, both were optimistic yet very candid about the problems. In some cases they apologized and in others they said tough decisions had to be made, and they made them. They knew our discussions were being recorded and never asked (that I’m aware of) to be ‘off the record’.

    I hope you find this information useful and/or heartening.

    Cheers,
    JkB
     
  2. Earl Atogrim von Draken

    Earl Atogrim von Draken Avatar

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    Interessting read.
    Thanks.
     
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  3. Gideon Thrax

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    Was there any mention of factions or details given regarding the mechanics driving virtue and anti-virtue player segregation?
     
  4. Bayard

    Bayard Avatar

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    I don't recall hearing any specifics but it may have been discussed and I missed it.
     
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  5. Soylent Green

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    One thing I find endearing toward Lord British is that he is always loading Jira logs.

    Instead of asking someone else to load it he is always 'i'll load it' 'i'll load it' 'wanna hear a song about jiras?'
     
  6. Lained

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    Points 1 & 5 have been discussed in a number of hangouts though doubt recall seeing them on the forum, the number of active accounts is interesting I hadn't realised we'd got that high.
     
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  7. Burzmali

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    For some definition of active ;)
     
  8. UnseenDragon

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    I was only able to visit for a handful of the panels, but they were extremely transparent and direct about everything.
     
  9. sake888

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    Thanks for that info.
     
  10. Korim Rackham

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    Right, i think anyone that actively plays SOTA can call that number BS unless active doesnt mean active. 10,000 that are active LOL that makes me laugh :p
     
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  11. reuge

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    My impression is RG is just a face for this game. Not active in the design nor mechanic. My thought is Chris and DS is running the whole show, rope RG in to fund raise with his brand name. More akin to Nike getting Jordan to endorse sneakers. The reason why I feel this way is those rare time that he appears, I feel he does not know the game enough to say he is hands on in this.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2016
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  12. Sir_Hemlock

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    I believe this is the case, too.
     
  13. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    RG is the one with the high flying ideas and DS is the ExeP who has to deal with them ;-)
    And yes sometiems i feel pity for DS lol.
     
  14. Roycestein Kaelstrom

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    With this scope of project, ones should not expect Richard to know every single tiny details of everything. Many tasks are given to the team members by Richard to execute based on their own discretion. For example, Brittany central was made by Estaban who magically transformed a piece of paper sketched by Richard into a city that we are seeing right now.

    Another example would be the quest contents, it is Lum who is in charge of making quests and dialogue for them. I wouldn't expect Richard to know every single said by all NPCs either unless they are those from the quests that he's playing everyday.

    Also to point out that Richard tries to get hands on by focusing most of his energy into the regular game play. Chat with players via forum, Discord, in-game, and in-person, then put all ideas he gathered from the players into Jira for the team to review further. So while he may not know how many apples are placed on the tray by the farmer merchant in Brittany docks, he does put his time and energy into this game everyday.
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2016
  15. Magnus Zarwaddim

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    Point of order: this is the very definition of hearsay. :)
     
  16. maverick77

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    Noob here. What is "JIRA"?
     
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  17. Bayard

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    JIRA is a web-based issue tracking application/database. It's used by the software development community to keep track of 'bugs'. However, it's good for tracking any issue so used by many other communities as well. We use it extensively where I work to document, track, measure and archive tens of thousands of issues.

    In my opinion, Portalarium's use of JIRA and Richard's passion for it are very good for SotA. However, having a large enough team to actually resolve the issues is a whole other discussion.

    Also,
    LOL, from anyone's perspective other than mine, I guess it is! Well, let's just say that's what I heard and leave it at that. :D
     
    Last edited: Dec 22, 2016
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  18. DarkStarr

    DarkStarr Executive Producer SOTA Developer

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    Thank you for sharing this Bayard.
     
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  19. DarkStarr

    DarkStarr Executive Producer SOTA Developer

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    Richard actually plays the game more than anyone else on the team but his current focus is more on the story. This means he has not spent as much time on crafting, economy, nor PVP. Your assertion could not be further from the truth. There are more tasks and bugs in our database created by Richard than any other single member of the team, only seconded by me and I am in charge of the schedule!
     
  20. Senjut

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    @DarkStarr I don't think you have to defend that. The idea that Richard's not really involved is patently ridiculous to anyone paying attention. Your point though that he's very focused on story was a good one, and words to my ears.
     
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