User Expanded Support to Travian

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Kpopgurl, Mar 26, 2018.

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  1. Bodhbh Dearg

    Bodhbh Dearg Avatar

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    But if European players have to pay 20% or more (1-1 conversion and VAT?) over what Americans pay, they won't buy, which is even worse for the game!
    EU citizens are very much used to doing their investigations before buying to find the best place to buy... We're not stupid, we can do the maths!

    This will p*** people off! P***ed off people do not post happy reviews! This can only hurt the game!
    Even I (who's always been positive and supportive, and backed serious cash and was a backer in the early days when there was nothing to play yet!) feel betrayed and angry!
     
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  2. Hornpipe

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    We still have access to those forums. Only the website will change. I have many concerns about this as well (prices going up dramatically for european people, how to manage the heraldry, how fast will be the updates on the Travian's site, how people will be able to get the telethon discounts, how governors will be able to manage their POT and so on...), but we should wait a little bit just to see how it turns out. At the present moment, there are still a lot of pending questions. I'm sure that both Portalarium and Travian tried their best and worked hard to make something in the right way. I really hope that they will adress all of our concerns, quickly.
     
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  3. Spoon

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    So first a congratulations on the look and feel of the website to Travian. For a WiP it looks really good right now, I think it might surpass the main Portalarium site quite soon in looks & feel.


    With the whole of South America, the Middle-east and North Africa region, plus the whole of europe (except for the sadly divided baltic region which goes to BS). That is a significant portion of the player population. I'm guesstimating 15% or so. I'd also guesstimate that the % of really high backers is slightly higher within that demographic as well.


    Also a very good choice in linking to the Portalarium forums plus adding the language sections here, and keeping the map integration etc. Much better to keep the community as much together as possible even if the stores by necessity needs to be separate. Top that off with the simplicity of bug reporting not being changed makes a lot of things much easier.


    Now to @Cerus and @Berek the same advice and questions that I posed in the other migration topic goes here as well.

    First when humans worry then communication is key. This since you want those thoughts to remain in the frontal lobe and not keep going to the more limbic system. Right now you put up that small FAQ - great, one step in the right direction.
    But there are many things not covered by the FAQ. So another great thing would be to be even more preventative in handling people's fears.

    You will recognize these since both @Cerus and @Berek have alrady read through my post last time around.

    Questions not answered by the FAQ that would be best answered by Travian:
    • If one pledged as a Founder / Royal Founder to sufficient tier. How do one access ones Special Rewards page to claim ones Name Entry reward? like Name on Tombstone, Domesday etc.
    • If one pledged as a Founder / Royal Founder to sufficient tier. How do one access ones Blade of the Avatar digital novel?
    • Same as above when heraldry/CoA goes live. (Pledge reward)
    • Same as above for custom head. (Pledge reward)
    • If one has purchased a POT and ones Form is unlocked (through ticket or upgrade) then how do one access the POT Form page?
    • If ones account has been migrated and one sell ones account to someone living in the USA who is using a US internet provider etc. Will the new owner be locked to the migrated store?
    • Will we even be allowed to sell accounts across zones/regions?

    Questions not answered by the FAQ that would be best answered by Portalarium:
    • If one pledged to high enough tier to get physical rewards and already have the International Shipping thing, how does one change/submit ones address? Also who will deliver those physical goods?
    • Will the postmortems be open to other regions? Will they still have the item rewards for participation even if supported from another region?
    • Are these migration of accounts a one time deal? Or are nationals from one zone/region at risk of transfer/migration if they visit the site and/or game when temporarily in a different zone/region than usually? For instance a US citizen on holiday in Europe visiting the site and playing the game while in that country using a local ISP? Or vice versa a european visiting the US.
    • If one is in a non-US zone/region are we still allowed access to QA testing, and would we if so qualify for the QA lottery?
    • When the Raffle starts again, it used to be that we could check the Special Rewards page to see prizes, how will that work now?
    • What happens with Store Credit on accounts when migrated?
    • I have items still with the Gift>Pending status > what happens to those when migrated? Can we still send items as Gifts across regions/zones?

    Please note that if you chose to not answer us players, then we will have to take some precautions to protect our assets and in lieu of information we would have to assume the worst - which is never a good thing. For instance I'm going to guess that fence sitters will have to sell quickly before a migration if we are not allowed to sell accounts across regions.
    So the more answers, the less we need to do stupid and silly stuff prematurely.

    Thank you.
     
  4. Hornpipe

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    Thank you @Spoon for bringing more frontal lobes in this discussion ;)
     
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  5. Spoon

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    You have to look no further than STEAM.

    They dominate the games business in a big way - and they do that with local markets as well.

    You will see that they also set local prizes, and have local sales etc. So just because there is a discount at Black Friday in the US doesn't mean that you'd get a similar discount in for instance Taiwan.

    Also outside of distributors this is quite a common thing for game companies as well.
    However most of those had separate servers so that one could have separate economies as well.
     
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  6. Royou

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    Thank you @Hornpipe for your sound advice, I let my worry outweigh my judgment.

    Just worried that us Europeans will become the silent voice as we did with EA, EA were happy to take our money but never treated us with respect, I just hope that this is not the first footstep in that direction! or that like Blizzard we are in time put on a seperate server as in wow!
     
    Last edited: Mar 27, 2018
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  7. Kara Brae

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    Great questions, @Spoon

    I'd also like to know:

    • If you have linked your account to Meretz, will you continue to get Meretz awards?
    • When/how does Portalarium/Travian determine the location of a player? Is it when you try to access the Portalarium website from an EU IP address for the first time after release? Or has Portalarium already assigned accounts to Travian based on their recent logon history?
    • What is relevant for determining player location: IP location when playing the game or IP location when trying to access the Portalarium website or both? What if they don't match?
     
  8. Aurelius Silverson

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    Well I am extremely unimpressed with this, both in the way it has been handled (dropping it on us with such short notice a day or so before release!), the lack of clarity about what exactly is going on, the almost certain sudden hikes in prices thanks to the move. The situation that seems to be developing with the Black Sun migration was disturbing, even for those of us not in the affected regions - seems that it was always the plan to drop a similar bombshell on the rest of Europe too.

    I had really enjoyed being part of the development of the game, and the interactions along the way - to get treated like this at the 'launch' of the game feels very like an insult, I bought in to this with Portalarium, was with them all the way - and now find I'm shoved off to deal with a totally different company, without any real notification and with no real idea what is happening or how this is going to work out.

    @Spoon raises several very good questions - but I fear from the way the Black Sun affair has developed, I doubt we are going to get any clear or comprehensive answers - since it seems I now have to pay more, and deal with an intermediate company as well, the feeling of being a 'second class' customer is pretty strong right now. So is the feeling of having been significantly misled. Right through from when Portalarium took my money on Kickstarter until this 'announcement' there seemed to be no mention that this particular 'business model' was going to be dropped on us in such a cavalier and (as far as the 'transparency' of what is going on) what I consider an underhanded way.

    But what the hell... you have my money anyway, and past experience says that the options offered here are suck it up or quit. Right now, I am really not sure I want to stay ....
     
  9. Aurelius Silverson

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    So vague as to be utterly meaningless... WHAT 'virtual good tax' applies to all of Europe? Please try remember, not all of Europe is in the European Union where there is a generalised agreement on most tax issues (although with significant differences even between member countries). This looks horribly like the woefully flawed assumptions you people made about 'eastern Europe' when you cut your deal with Black Sun....
     
    Last edited: Mar 26, 2018
  10. Aurelius Silverson

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    The more I look into this, the more slipshod it looks ...

    https://shroudoftheavatar.game/en/terms-and-conditions/

    is the Travian site for SotA, terms and conditions include this 'premium features' section ...rather than make this post a wall of text I'm putting it in a 'spoiler' tag, but it seems to bear absolutely no relation at all to how SotA functions...

    Premium features

    Credits enable the user to unlock premium features during the game. TRAVIAN GAMES reserves the right to require that game money (§ 10) be used to unlock premium features.
    TRAVIAN GAMES offers premium features for the game to its users at its discretion. In particular, premium features may include the following:
    Item: Virtual item which is available to the user during the game round (e.g. furniture);
    Artifact: Virtual item which is available to the user during the game round or for a shorter period and provides one or more advantages for the user during the game (e.g. armor with special features);
    Buff: Additional function which provides one or more one-off advantages for the user during the game (e.g. calling NPC (“non-player character”) traders);
    Boost: Additional function which provides one or more advantages for the user during the game for a certain period (e.g. improved extraction of raw materials);
    Premium membership: Additional function which enables the user to have an extended range of game functions (e.g. access to statistics);
    Trading Cards: Virtual collecting cards which represent a random compilation of premium features of the same or different type; each Trading Card represents a premium feature;
    Wheel of fortune: Purchase of a randomly selected premium feature using credits or game money.
    The website of the relevant game world shows the premium features available, the tariff, their functionalities and what is required for them. TRAVIAN GAMES reserves the right to introduce new premium features.
    Insofar as TRAVIAN GAMES offers trading cards, TRAVIAN GAMES shall ensure that the value of the trading cards acquired is equivalent to the credits allocated. TRAVIAN GAMES reserves the right to make a system available for the game or individual game worlds within which the user can exchange individual or several of the Trading Cards he has acquired for one or several new Trading Cards and/or credits.
    Insofar as TRAVIAN GAMES offers a wheel of fortune, TRAVIAN GAMES shall ensure that the value of the premium features acquired is at least equivalent to the credits used.
    TRAVIAN GAMES reserves the right at any time to offer new premium features, to modify individual premium features or to cease offering them. In this event, TRAVIAN GAMES will offer other features as a replacement and/or credit the credits allocated to the user at the user’s request had premium features been activated for which the period of use had not yet commenced at the time of the modification or at the time these are no longer offered in the future. Previously activated premium features for which the period of use had commenced at the time of the modification or the future failure to offer will not be reimbursed.
    TRAVIAN GAMES reserves the right to set up a program to exchange premium features, accounts, virtual items or credits for real money, or to allow such exchange between users. Details can be found in the game rules of the respective game. If TRAVIAN GAMES has neither set up such a program nor allowed such exchanges, any trade or exchange of premium features, accounts or credits for real money is not permitted (for clarification: if the game rules do not address this topic, the trading or exchange of premium features, accounts, virtual items or credits for real money is prohibited).
    If the game user contract existing between TRAVIAN GAMES and the user ends (such as by termination or the discontinuation of the game or a game world), previously activated premium features for which the period of use had commenced at the time of cancellation will not be reimbursed, even if their period of use had not yet expired. The user may request to be credited the credits for previously activated premium features for which the period of use had not yet commenced at the time of such termination.
    10. Game money

    TRAVIAN GAMES may provide a service to the user in the game which simulates a means of payment within the game (“game money”). Game money is unlocked when the user carries out certain actions in the game. The user acknowledges that game money is solely a game function, and not real money. TRAVIAN GAMES reserves the right to set up a program to exchange game money for real money or to allow such exchange between users. Details can be found in the game rules of the respective game. If TRAVIAN GAMES has neither set up such a program nor allowed such exchanges, any trade or exchange of game money for real money is prohibited (for clarification: if the game rules do not address this topic, the trading or exchange of game money for real money is prohibited).

    11. Obligations of the user

    A user may not have several accounts for one game world simultaneously. However, the user is permitted to have one game account in several game worlds simultaneously. TRAVIAN GAMES reserves the right to allow several game accounts per user for a game or individual game worlds. In this event, TRAVIAN GAMES shall indicate this in an appropriate manner to the user. Accounts may not be sold, traded, gifted, or otherwise transferred at any time under any circumstances unless explicitly authorized by TRAVIAN GAMES. A user may not share their account. A user may not disclose their password to anyone else.
    The user undertakes to comply with the laws and regulations applicable to him when using all the games and websites operated by TRAVIAN GAMES. He undertakes to comply with the game rules applicable. Furthermore, he undertakes to refrain from the following actions:
    Dissemination of statements with abusive, harassing or violent content or with content glorifying violence or with inflammatory, sexist, obscene, pornographic, racist, morally reprehensible content or with other offensive or prohibited content (which includes all names within the game e.g. username, name of the avatar, name of the village, town, alliance, guild, tribe, clan, vehicle, island, association, etc.).
    The insulting, harassment, threatening, frightening behavior against, or defamation and embarrassment of other users.
    Dissemination of statements with advertising, religious or political content (which includes all names within the game e.g. username, name of the avatar, name of the village, town, alliance, guild, tribe, clan, vehicle, island, association, etc.).
    The spying, disclosure or dissemination of personal or confidential information of other users, employees of TRAVIAN GAMES or any other disregard of the private sphere of other users or employees of TRAVIAN GAMES.
    Dissemination of untruthful allegations about the race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, origin, social status of other users or employees of TRAVIAN GAMES (which includes all names within the game e.g. username, name of the avatar, name of the village, town, alliance, guild, tribe, clan, vehicle, island, association, etc.).
    The spying out, disclosure or dissemination of confidential information of TRAVIAN GAMES.
    Dissemination of untruthful allegations about TRAVIAN GAMES (which includes all names within the game e.g. username, name of the avatar, name of the village, town, alliance, guild, tribe, clan, vehicle, island, association, etc.).
    Pretending to be an employee of TRAVIAN GAMES or an affiliated company or partner of TRAVIAN GAMES.
    Use of legally protected pictures, photos, graphics, videos, music tracks, sounds, text, brand names, titles, names, software or other content without the consent of the holder(s) of the rights or having permission to do so by law or legal provision.
    Use of prohibited or illegal content.
    Use of errors in the programming (bugs).
    Actions leading to an overload of the servers and/or can considerably adversely affect the game play for other users.
    Hacking or cracking and the encouragement or incitement to carry out hacking or cracking.
    Dissemination of pirated software and the encouragement or incitement to disseminate pirated software.
    Uploading of files containing viruses, Trojan horses, worms or destroyed data.
    Use or dissemination of “auto” software programs, “macro” software programs or other “cheat utility” software programs.
    Modification of the game, the websites of the game or parts thereof.
    Use of software that enables what is referred to as “data mining” or in any other manner intercepting or gathering information related to the game.
    Disruption of transmissions from and to the game servers and the website servers of the game.

    Looks remarkably like a 'cut and paste' for a totally different game - hardly generating confidence about how this is being handled.
     
  11. Curt

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    So basically I will need to pay 25% more with this change
     
  12. Aelender

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    Welcome Pilgrims to Artifice!

    All your questions will eventually be answered. In the meantime, enjoy your time here and stop worrying.

    Worrying is unhelpful and unnecessary.

    Please visit the room of shiny items and find comfort while your very important questions are considered.

    #truthisavirtue?
     
  13. Cock of the North

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    I am flabbergasted. And confused.

    Mostly flabbergasted.
     
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  14. Mykll

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    Like all the Black Sun questions that were answered?
     
  15. Helvig Ingvildsdottir

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    It is 8 o' clock in the morning. Let the Travians grab a cup of coffee and deal with our worries and pains. I took a day off. Not because I'm excited about the launch (which happens after my work day at 6pm anyways) but because I did not sleep well last night. I think this thing really got to me. So now I can watch the answers to our questions coming in in real time. I'm going to grab a hot drink as well while I wait...
     
  16. Lord_Darkmoon

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    How will Telethons be handled? Don't we need to pay taxes for those "items", too?
     
  17. Myrcello

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    Your wish is my command.

    - Logs in to SotA
    - Runs to a R "XY" Dance Party
    - Starts a Dance Emote
    - Enters: Wohoooo into the chat.
    - Goes AFK and leaves for work.

    Done. :)


    #truthisavirtueaccomblished
     
  18. Myrcello

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    Its a Game. But currently i feel like being in a Forum of a German Tax Advisor Agency. LOL. :)
     
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  19. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    Can we participate at all?
     
  20. Mapper

    Mapper Bug Hunter

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    This is ridiculous.

    The community here is tiny, and your splitting it up? I won't even get into how annoyed I am about the price increases for European players.

    Guess I need to find a new game to play because this is not how I expected launch day to go. No ingame events and now Im being shafted.

    Thanks guys.
     
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