The net effect of card combat on me and how YOU THE PLAYER can start a REVOLUTION

It is the best we have so far and certainly only a very small sample and not entirely representative. IMHO this is a lower bound estimate for the people who do not like random cards. People who are happy with how it works now are more likely to remain active and post on forums, people frustrated might already have reduced their engagement with SotA. Hardcore fans tend to start with a more positive bias towards new things introduced by their "game Gods" while less emotionally invested people tend to start from a more sceptical view point.

 

Sorry, I appreciate the intent, but I simply can't get on board with this. There are literally thousands of people who play these releases, and what you have is essentially less than 30 people saying they don't like it. That's like less than 1% of the current userbase.

Combine that with the fact that A) loads of people haven't even gotten to try it yet and B) there will be multitudes of thousands MORE players as we get close to launch, and your figures simply don't hold up.

If portalarium really wants a clear, concise record of how many people love this system and how many don't, I would encourage them to post an OFFICIAL poll, and advertise it in a weekly update. That would give us all a much better perspective.

 

Most players don't finish long tutorials. Many might not even try the game at all once they hear the words "deck combat". This is just how it has been in Second Life. Of course there are all sorts of tutorials for Second Life. We saw people log in, skip the tutorials at the earliest possible point, jump into the game and then get lost and frustrated. I agree with you that tutorials are important and helpful. They can only reduce a problem though and not eliminate it. And why create a problem in the first place? Even the elite sub-sample of MMORPG veterans here who (almost) all tried out the card combat during several days of alpha and understand now how it works can not universally agree on this being a good thing. In Second Life most people would eventually love Second Life after the learning curve. Here we stand after the randomized card combat learning curve and almost 40% of us voted that they still do not like it.

 

They could post a poll on MMORPG.com. Personally, I would expect that to result in a vast majority there to vote down a randomized skill bar and slugs. Of couse we would only know for sure after such a poll.

 

but then only people who are registered on that site can vote. And, almost certainly, people would vote who don't even have accounts. I know I certainly don't have a mmorpg.com account, and don't plan on making one. They could just do it here in the forums, and make it official.

 

They might try it indeed if people talk highly of it. The fact is the system is so good, I think word will get out that it is good. for every naysayer there's going to be many more people saying it's good. If a minority of people complain players will filter that out as if it were noise. There's so much trolling these days, people expect to hear a few people complain. If they see most reviews are good, they will know it is well received.

 

Well then I'm going to make an mmorpg.com account right now, and save the password in my browser (eventhough it will be an easy password to remember). I encourage everybody reading this to do the same, because when they release an article we can just log in and reply right off the bat. No need to create an account after the fact.

Some sites are more important than others. Maybe somebody can post a relevant list of sites to make accounts on so we can be ready.

 

The most effective way to poll the alpha testers is to direct people from the login screen of the game to a web based poll.

It has been suggested, however, that the current alpha tester community might not be entirely representative when it e.g. comes to the willingness to learn something that at least starts out as annoying and frustrating until mastered.

Folks at MMORPG are the other side: they are not hardcore fans already sold on the game, but people still standing outside, some of them casually observing how SotA develops. I predict that many will be put off by the mere mention of "random card combat" and ditch the game right away without ever trying it out.

But I agree that being early in Alpha, the outside perception, while important, is not the most central aspect. Of course the bigger question is whether this system is really so much more fun than fixed skills, after getting used to it. And there, I agree, one needs to poll people who played it long enough.

 

Isaiah, while we both disagree on the question whether or not most people will prefer random card combat, I think this heated controversy could also offer an opportunity here. Maybe we should indeed try to draw in more people from MMORPG.COM to help us decide on this controversial issue. Two camps, two opinions, people joining this alpha can matter now! What could be more appealing to a true gamer?

In the end, card problems or not, the game is already entertaining and if people start with a clear "quest" (the quest to proof random card combat is good/bad) they get hooked even faster

 

I would rather hear from people who TESTED the system, and not from people who never tested it.

I was very critical of this system before I tried it. I didn't like the concept of a card system. I hated the thought of random cards coming up. However after I tried it, I loved it.

So the people we should listen to are those who actually played it. That's who the consumer is going to likely listen to as well.

They could see a bunch of nerds talking about how bad it is, but when somebody sees a comment from a person (like me) who said they were a real critic of the system, but after I tried it I loved it. The positive experience from real players who used it will be more valuable than some critics who know nothing about the system. I think consumers are at least smart enough to at least figure that out.

 

People who come up with ideas all the time, are bound to come up with some bad ideas. OH wait... have you... have you ever come up with a good idea? OH never mind. I take back all of this. just forget I said anything.

 

I can see your point. I also think it can go both ways. Catering to known fans does not necessarily make a successful game overall. It might limit sales severely.

Whenever a company starts out, they need a business plan and that includes marketing. Without knowing your market, you won't know what kind of projected sales there could potentially bring in.

The marketing team could do both: poll non-users and people who have tried the system. I see no harm in doing both.

One description of "random card combat" will probably not draw the interest of a majority. I'd think that would be useful information to the marketing team. Or maybe they're content with a niche market. Either way, more information can only lead to better decisions.

 

what i dislike a lot , if they make official votings on other sites is that they wont disable voting functions here, and that they didnt made big threads in the bord that all votings take place somewhere elese

 

Well the topic was more along the lines of assuming people would be turned off by the glyph combat system. If that is the case they should listen to a person who was a "skeptic" like me, who actually tested it, and found out it was really good.

I was a serious skeptic of this system. I am not a fanboy. I give the devs straight forward feedback, and I do not sugar coat it. They stepped up to the challenge and seriously proved me wrong. I like that they did that. Makes my pledge more valuable too.

 

So, correct me if I am wrong....you want to poll people to see if they like the deck system even if they have never tried it because they would be a more representation for the system?

If that is the case you won't get any useable results. They have no idea what they are voting for.

 

I feel passionate enough about the card system that I don't want internet nerds, and trolls to cause people to not want to play the game.

wow this community have strange views on things

you think creative feedback during an alpha is a negative thing ???
its the most important thing to improve the game too se what people want
even the worst feedback is a positive thing and can give ideas what should be changed especially when the game is in alpha


and yes i made some threads about disliking random card system but its ok if they add melee combos

isnt it boring right now to play a fighter in havy plate ??? no charge or jump towards the enemy , no warcry to remove stuns on you and your friends on close range from what i have seen so far
melee attacks are just 1 buttom why not make them use randomly combinations of qe123 and spells on 45678 and melle moves on f 1- f10 ??

would make it much more fun to play a melee !!! even if a more simple combat system looks fun for now , expect what happen after xxx hours of gameplay maybe 1000h will it be still interesting and challanging ??? the more advanced it is the more fun it bring over time, and let people playing it for years

second thing is platemail not reduce fire dmg and you wont get more dmg from lightning is smth i dont like

same that light armor not get a dot from firemagic and take less dmg from lightning attacks
fighters are mostly in havy disadvantage about fire ele fighters from what i have seen

btw if there are big decissions and votings on forums not everybody need to play the game for the most important votings

for excemple like it is a very bad idea for a fps shooter to release it without deticated servers
so its a bad idea to release a mmo with target system instead of aiming and hitboxes these days with fast internet where most people have alrteady 100 mbit

 

u think on the mmorpg site are more players who vote for the game who are playtesting it then on the official site omg

 

Um....no. I'm not sure how you came to that conclusion.

It is very hard to understand what you are trying to say.

 

You are assuming the skills we have now are the only ones that will be in the final....which we know is not the case. Seems premature to think that.

 

People vote all the time about things they read about but have not tried out and they do so with their wallets. Whenever they read about "this game has this and this feature" they make a decision whether or not to check out the game or even buy it, based solely about what they read. A vote about "random card combat" by people who have not tried out SotA would probably provide useful feedback to the marketing team. It would of course not tell us anything about how good the actual implementation of random card combat is in SotA. Therefore the usefulness of this kind of voting would be quite limited.

More useful IMHO could be to use this controversy and unresolved design issue to draw in more people from outside to actually download and test SotA and then vote. Something along the lines of "Lord British needs your help/feedback". People like to be part of things and like to have an impact on things. This could be a special free one time test for one specific qualified community (e.g. MMORPG.com members or Syndicate members) with the one specific objective: "feedback about combat".