115 replies to this topic

[Belaric]

Right now, let us find issues that effect us all. Like combat logs. Like buffs that do not work as advertised. Let us be united on ideas like multies are choking the life out of the roots of the game. Nothing radical. Just say it clearly, and in a calm, rational voice.

+1

The game should fix such issues, i agree. However, one of the main fixes in this game that's been desperately needed is PvP.

Broken things need to be fixed, PERIOD. Retaining customers and players should be the goal of any business. Lets not get into a debate about pvp vs leveling on another thread eh? we know it just gets messy.

LOL! Thank you! We get derailed, we lose our point.

+1 to the spirit of both posts - which is co-operation and finding issues to fix. The big issue is finding a way to make this game bloom again.

[evilbry]

Once apon a time I would have cared. Now, I'm just here for the ride.

How many of these threads do we need? Many have come before and fallen by the wayside.

The cows are their own worst enemies, and have left themselves in a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation.

[Belaric]

Once apon a time I would have cared. Now, I'm just here for the ride.

How many of these threads do we need? Many have come before and fallen by the wayside.

The cows are their own worst enemies, and have left themselves in a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation.

I agree. But I wanted one more "Hiyaaa!" before just being carried along.

Those that fell by the wayside before took players with them I'm guessing.

We need more threads like this to have an outside chance of playing this game in 2014.

I'd miss it.

[evilbry]

Once apon a time I would have cared. Now, I'm just here for the ride.

How many of these threads do we need? Many have come before and fallen by the wayside.

The cows are their own worst enemies, and have left themselves in a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation.

I agree. But I wanted one more "Hiyaaa!" before just being carried along.

Those that fell by the wayside before took players with them I'm guessing.

We need more threads like this to have an outside chance of playing this game in 2014.

I'd miss it.

The Cows don't take these threads seriously, and if they do they sure don't give that impression.

I hate to say this, but I don't think there will be regular content updates past Q3 or Q4 of 2013. They may do special offers of more potions and what not.
We as the community can see Fallensword is fast approaching end of life, which is obvious by the amount of noise around getting things changed/fixed.

[fortville]

It would go long way to improving moral and faith in the Cows if they would just be more involved with us. At times it seems like they have just put the game and the forum on cruise control.
In the forum if they could just do something as little as leave a hoofprint on the threads and comments that they have read it would help. At least we could see that they have been present.
In the game...After more than three years I can't say that I have ever come across a cow in the process of playing. Come on cows. Post something in the FSBox once in a while. PM a random player or several. Log in and throw around some random buffs to low level players. Post something in the AH. Buy something in the AH. Get active.

[Belaric]

Once apon a time I would have cared. Now, I'm just here for the ride.

How many of these threads do we need? Many have come before and fallen by the wayside.

The cows are their own worst enemies, and have left themselves in a damned if they do, damned if they don't situation.

I agree. But I wanted one more "Hiyaaa!" before just being carried along.

Those that fell by the wayside before took players with them I'm guessing.

We need more threads like this to have an outside chance of playing this game in 2014.

I'd miss it.

The Cows don't take these threads seriously, and if they do they sure don't give that impression.

I hate to say this, but I don't think there will be regular content updates past Q3 or Q4 of 2013. They may do special offers of more potions and what not.
We as the community can see Fallensword is fast approaching end of life, which is obvious by the amount of noise around getting things changed/fixed.

Again I agree that the scenario you paint is not unlikely.

The noise is active evidence that those of us who still play care. It does mean that fewer of us play.

I say this though - if we as a community put forward one issue at a time, in large numbers and preferably with ridiculous research as evidenced in mythbusters - we can get fixes made to the game so it a) survives longer after left moribund (Just wanted to use that word) actually survives and thrives, like my back lawn every spring despite how much abuse I heap upon it.

Submit tickets. As a community come together and identify issues and evidence, and get fixes suggested in tickets, and raised again, and again, and again on the threads. PvP and the arena are things that have been discussed over and over - but as it has always been an argument and not a solid front it has gone nowhere. People fighting are easy to ignore. Have an agreement. Start with what we can agree upon and work up - combat longs - first strike (for example) activations. Buff combos that we need clarification on. Let us work up from the things we agree upon that need fixed to the things that we agree need fixed but cannot find a way to agree upon. If we fix the small stuff first we may well find a way to get the bigger things resolved. We certainly will not know if we do not try and just ride the rails to the crappy end.

If the Cows ignore this thread... fine. They cut their noses off again. How much money have they invested in the Sacred Cow that is Eldevin? How many players do they assume they will inherit from this game? Not many if this game continues dwindle. This game vital equals customers for new product. No coincidence they thanked us for the Tank battle game. We are still customer base #1. And this is the game invented in the student housing Hoof once lived in. It is the baby. He will work on this if we give him clear issues. Stop promising the world, just make X work.

[evilbry]

Submit tickets. As a community come together and identify issues and evidence, and get fixes suggested in tickets, and raised again, and again, and again on the threads. PvP and the arena are things that have been discussed over and over - but as it has always been an argument and not a solid front it has gone nowhere. People fighting are easy to ignore. Have an agreement. Start with what we can agree upon and work up - combat longs - first strike (for example) activations. Buff combos that we need clarification on. Let us work up from the things we agree upon that need fixed to the things that we agree need fixed but cannot find a way to agree upon. If we fix the small stuff first we may well find a way to get the bigger things resolved. We certainly will not know if we do not try and just ride the rails to the crappy end.

Herein lies the rub. There's a significant problem with the way support tickets are handled. I have raised this in an ongoing ticket with hoof (which I am oddly waiting weeks for a reply to, as usual).

Anyone who raises tickets regarding bugs on a regular basis is more than familiar with the resistance experienced in trying to get issues looked at, let alone acknowledged. I am not alone in no longer reporting bugs. I am not alone in sitting back watch the game fall apart. This comes down to the way Support deal with (or selectively ignore)issues. It comes down to a case of "why bother if they(HCS) don't care?

[DragonLord]

I would LOVE to see the cows more active.
I would LOVE to see the cows fix things before adding more (broken) things
I would LOVE to see the cows interact more with their customers
I would LOVE to see the game I started playing - because this one is a pale shadow of what it was

Unfortunately, I (along with others) thinkg that FallenSword now is just a source of income for developing/trying to get Eldevin out of the door. The problem being (if that IS the case) that too many HCS customers now will not make the move, simply because of the above issues....

[Belaric]

It would go long way to improving morale and faith in the Cows if they would just be more involved with us. At times it seems like they have just put the game and the forum on cruise control.
In the forum if they could just do something as little as leave a hoofprint on the threads and comments that they have read it would help. At least we could see that they have been present.
In the game...After more than three years I can't say that I have ever come across a cow in the process of playing. Come on cows. Post something in the FSBox once in a while. PM a random player or several. Log in and throw around some random buffs to low level players. Post something in the AH. Buy something in the AH. Get active.

Hoofprints on forum threads - yes. Active in the game? I dunno - I do not interact with designers at all on the 3D online games I play. One game was dying and rebuilt itself with new features - which is why I have optimism for FS. Fix problems, and introduce the new promised ideas on a predictable schedule and this game could easily be hitting high C again.

[Belaric]

I would LOVE to see the cows more active.
I would LOVE to see the cows fix things before adding more (broken) things
I would LOVE to see the cows interact more with their customers
I would LOVE to see the game I started playing - because this one is a pale shadow of what it was

Unfortunately, I (along with others) think that FallenSword now is just a source of income for developing/trying to get Eldevin out of the door. The problem being (if that IS the case) that too many HCS customers now will not make the move, simply because of the above issues....

And this is why we can help them by making them help this game. They keep customers for their mythical release. It has been promised for a looong time. All that time some other game has been footing the bills, the expansion, etc. It was not Gothador or SS2.

Pay attention to your best customers??

[Belaric]

And again - the Cows are not the enemy here. They are our friends - more creepily our enablers.

The goal is to work together to make the game better for everyone - including HCS's bottom line.

[DragonLord]

I would LOVE to see the cows more active.
I would LOVE to see the cows fix things before adding more (broken) things
I would LOVE to see the cows interact more with their customers
I would LOVE to see the game I started playing - because this one is a pale shadow of what it was

Unfortunately, I (along with others) think that FallenSword now is just a source of income for developing/trying to get Eldevin out of the door. The problem being (if that IS the case) that too many HCS customers now will not make the move, simply because of the above issues....

And this is why we can help them by making them help this game. They keep customers for their mythical release. It has been promised for a looong time. All that time some other game has been footing the bills, the expansion, etc. It was not Gothador or SS2.

Pay attention to your best customers??

If only that were true - I wish I could share your enthusiasm, but too many good threads are ignored by the cows because :-

a) they dont read them
they read them but fail to make any comment in them
c) good ideas get "drowned" in amongst all the flaming/trolling
d) they take an idea from a thread, distort it so far from the original idea and then, when we comment about it, say "well, you asked for this ..."

The cows MUST pay attention to their customers, but, despite their protestations that they do, it's either not true, or not visable enough to reassure the player base.

Honestly, I would LOVE to see this game reignite & flare back into life, but all I see are dying embers

[Belaric]

I would LOVE to see the cows more active.
I would LOVE to see the cows fix things before adding more (broken) things
I would LOVE to see the cows interact more with their customers
I would LOVE to see the game I started playing - because this one is a pale shadow of what it was

Unfortunately, I (along with others) think that FallenSword now is just a source of income for developing/trying to get Eldevin out of the door. The problem being (if that IS the case) that too many HCS customers now will not make the move, simply because of the above issues....

And this is why we can help them by making them help this game. They keep customers for their mythical release. It has been promised for a looong time. All that time some other game has been footing the bills, the expansion, etc. It was not Gothador or SS2.

Pay attention to your best customers??

If only that were true - I wish I could share your enthusiasm, but too many good threads are ignored by the cows because :-

a) they dont read them
they read them but fail to make any comment in them
c) good ideas get "drowned" in amongst all the flaming/trolling
d) they take an idea from a thread, distort it so far from the original idea and then, when we comment about it, say "well, you asked for this ..."

The cows MUST pay attention to their customers, but, despite their protestations that they do, it's either not true, or not visable enough to reassure the player base.

Honestly, I would LOVE to see this game reignite & flare back into life, but all I see are dying embers

Hey!! No flaming here! 30+ entries and no sidetracking!!

The fact that so many of the 5 of us on this thread seem to accept that the game is fading should be a message in and of itself.

That and the fact that we have not fallen into flame wars. We all know that the game needs help.

[DragonLord]

And this is why we can help them by making them help this game. They keep customers for their mythical release. It has been promised for a looong time. All that time some other game has been footing the bills, the expansion, etc. It was not Gothador or SS2.

Pay attention to your best customers??

If only that were true - I wish I could share your enthusiasm, but too many good threads are ignored by the cows because :-

a) they dont read them
they read them but fail to make any comment in them
c) good ideas get "drowned" in amongst all the flaming/trolling
d) they take an idea from a thread, distort it so far from the original idea and then, when we comment about it, say "well, you asked for this ..."

The cows MUST pay attention to their customers, but, despite their protestations that they do, it's either not true, or not visable enough to reassure the player base.

Honestly, I would LOVE to see this game reignite & flare back into life, but all I see are dying embers

Hey!! No flaming here! 30+ entries and no sidetracking!!

The fact that so many of the 5 of us on this thread seem to accept that the game is fading should be a message in and of itself.

That and the fact that we have not fallen into flame wars. We all know that the game needs help.

5 players do not a customer base make - but yes, it's a start. Getting more people to voice their opinion rationally would definately be a bonus.

[rhann123]

Personally I just think that the game out grew itself. Back when I started the highest level guys were just hitting level 300. At the time I thought to myself if I work hard one day I could be that level. These days the young blood just joining the game play a bit and then see these level 1,000+ guys and start to think that is unattainable. Because lets face it the game these days has taken on the attitude what can I do for me.

So honestly I don't think there is a clear cut way to fix the game. There is just so many different problems it is almost impossible to fix.

[Cheezzhead]

Beforehand, let me say that I'm not trying to turn this into a flaming topic, or a topic where the original subject is forgotten and the discussion turns into something completely different.

Yes, HCS has made mistakes. Yes, they sometimes forget to think things through before updating the game. Their ticket responses is often nonexistent, their activity is lacking and there have been more then a few bad choices in the past.

But in the three months that I'm back playing this game, I have seen nothing but criticism, raging and downright insults from the community. I sometimes have to look through several pages before finally finding a reply containing constructive criticism. Everything HCS does to update this game, whether it's abysmal, average or good, is always met with heavy resistance from the public, and yes, often unfairly. I don't know for how long that's been going on, but if I were a developer I would've given up long ago.

Apart from agreeing and discussing upon the future of FS, I think a big step would be to stop seeing the developers as the enemy, and start treating them as people who also want to see this game being brought back to life.

Secondly, although this game has been faltering in overall community population, there are still lots of players active in FS. Point being, you can't please everyone. There will always be someone, or a group of similar-minded players, that are unhappy about updates or changes to the game. Especially in a game like this, where players have a broad variety of the type of 'carreer' they want to have (be it PvP, GvG, Buffer, Merchant, Leveller or Titan Hunter), every update the devs make will be measured against these branches, sides will be picked, and conclusions will be drawn from future updates (the oh-so-popular phrase 'HCS favours levellers' comes to mind), leading to more unhappiness and grudges among both sides.

I'm not pointing fingers here, I'm just trying to say that maybe, just maybe, HCS is not completely at fault. Maybe both sides are in the wrong.

[Belaric]

Yes, HCS has made mistakes. Yes, they sometimes forget to think things through before updating the game. Their ticket responses is often nonexistent, their activity is lacking and there have been more then a few bad choices in the past.

But in the three months that I'm back playing this game, I have seen nothing but criticism, raging and downright insults from the community. I sometimes have to look through several pages before finally finding a reply containing constructive criticism. Everything HCS does to update this game, whether it's abysmal, average or good, is always met with heavy resistance from the public, and yes, often unfairly. I don't know for how long that's been going on, but if I were a developer I would've given up long ago.

Apart from agreeing and discussing upon the future of FS, I think a big step would be to stop seeing the developers as the enemy, and start treating them as people who also want to see this game being brought back to life.

Secondly, although this game has been faltering in overall community population, there are still lots of players active in FS. Point being, you can't please everyone. There will always be someone, or a group of similar-minded players, that are unhappy about updates or changes to the game. Especially in a game like this, where players have a broad variety of the type of 'carreer' they want to have (be it PvP, GvG, Buffer, Merchant, Leveller or Titan Hunter), every update the devs make will be measured against these branches, sides will be picked, and conclusions will be drawn from future updates (the oh-so-popular phrase 'HCS favours levellers' comes to mind), leading to more unhappiness and grudges among both sides.

I'm not pointing fingers here, I'm just trying to say that maybe, just maybe, HCS is not completely at fault. Maybe both sides are in the wrong.

I agree - it is easy to say that "they did stupid X&Y" I do not regard the developers as the enemy.

[Belaric]

Personally I just think that the game out grew itself. Back when I started the highest level guys were just hitting level 300. At the time I thought to myself if I work hard one day I could be that level. These days the young blood just joining the game play a bit and then see these level 1,000+ guys and start to think that is unattainable. Because lets face it the game these days has taken on the attitude what can I do for me.

So honestly I don't think there is a clear cut way to fix the game. There is just so many different problems it is almost impossible to fix.

Not true. It is not impossible to fix. One problem at a time, my friend. Let us fix one problem at a time. Together.

[vamunre]

Cant remember to who said it, but maybe give new players infinite stamina to get to level 400 or so, by that time they are somewhat hooked. to often I think that stamina gained per hour is 2 little, and what has drove so many people away. when the same new players can play 50+ free MMORPG all day if he or she wants to level/pvp what ever. sure we can play arena if you have the gold, but not everybody does. and that could be a large problem, Why stay when i can level/pvp for 10 mins when I can do it in other games all I want. As far as multi's go, I dont really care, as a company if he or she watches say 2 videos or donates either way they are getting paid. and last I checked, business is about getting money. another thought so many other micro transaction based games you can buy certain items directly from the company to get a head start on the game if you wish, most times some of those item are bound 2 that player, and there is unbound versions of that same item as well. more costly than the bound stuff.

as far as submitting tickets go, they seem to get answered mostly by one person. at least in my experience. and most of those answers have been sorry I cant or wont help, only 2 people that answer them seem to actually care.

[Belaric]

Cant remember to who said it, but maybe give new players infinite stamina to get to level 400 or so, by that time they are somewhat hooked. to often I think that stamina gained per hour is 2 little, and what has drove so many people away. when the same new players can play 50+ free MMORPG all day if he or she wants to level/pvp what ever. sure we can play arena if you have the gold, but not everybody does. and that could be a large problem, Why stay when i can level/pvp for 10 mins when I can do it in other games all I want. As far as multi's go, I dont really care, as a company if he or she watches say 2 videos or donates either way they are getting paid. and last I checked, business is about getting money. another thought so many other micro transaction based games you can buy certain items directly from the company to get a head start on the game if you wish, most times some of those item are bound 2 that player, and there is unbound versions of that same item as well. more costly than the bound stuff.

as far as submitting tickets go, they seem to get answered mostly by one person. at least in my experience. and most of those answers have been sorry I cant or wont help, only 2 people that answer them seem to actually care.

LOL! That was me!! Across a few threads! Infinite stam to 50 I would go for now, so there is no kraken abuse!!!