48 replies to this topic

[Removed431723]

Since Eldevin is pretty much dead (150 something players on out of about 300,000) is there anyway to make more people start playing or old players come back?

[PeasantJoe]

RIP

[NatsuMichi]

Revive...well...I could try CPR

 

The thing one can appreciate about Eldevin is that unlike most MMORPGs when you are the last adventurer in the realm, you are never exactly alone, because the city keeps bustling with AI villagers and NPCs. And I can deal with that

[Removed431723]

Why do i even bother asking these questions no1 gives a proper answer

[redsmokeboy]

More player's reataining slow prosse, Lose more then gain.

 

Key point have been stated main issue what happendusly around 25 - 35 when many see grind then after get thought grind end up get to lovely area's of lv the void - lvl 33 - lvl 35 cave - Trankura lvl 41 - lvl 44 Void so for most area need group help but limited finding help at time's.

 

Over all gernal term's promoting game still very little done on other social media plat fourm's get word out there, MMO industry at stand still so many out there.

 

So come's down to how to marketit producted so other will come, sadly for Beta had 50 prople online most time 20 people during time i started closed beta phase 2 Even fromt hen till no there ahs not been alot of hyp for the game.

 

Going from 50 to 150 Stable or so from lunch till yr and hafe latter this inclouding steam lunch that added some revival then shortly died.

 

Question is how to revive the game, not easy subject or simple anwser time and money how much money Indie game has to spend, Indpenet game meaning don't have large back of cash to get speed of update game need's as well lvl of coder's amug other thing decated full time staff.

 

Low income as is support game sever with incoming cash from there game keep them afloat but on slim markein on what can an can't do.

 

Human all need eat and hopefull get paid living wage even if it's salve wage,Take large sum of cash to pay some to propted game, When game dose not have that income to do so has there player base do free work limited mean's.

 

As saying is get what pay for, Free to play game.

Edited by redsmokeboy, 06 June 2015 - 17:55.

[Bigfoot]

Yah, getting a serious answers on forums is futile. lol

[AngelofDestruction]

i been playing for almost 3 years now and i have to say Eldevin is not dead, its just that everyone expects for this game to have a huge population but the truth is that is never going to hapen and there are many reasons for this. remember when steam population arrived, we had days were there could be 800 players online at the same time and the lag was just crazy, the steamers got turned off quick by this game because eldevin dont even have a guild system to support such a high influx of newbies, not to mention the game servers clearly cannot handle such big population, also all HCS did was puting cosmetic stuff for them to spend money on instead of thinking of ways to make them stay in this game, i remember them asking all day were they could join a guild or clan and us older players had to reply "err this game dont have official guilds" more sad even, still don have.

the players that been around since this game was still new like me can tell u, eldevin is well alive just dont expect a huge population from a game that cannot support it.

current active population goes about 150 maybe 200 players more or less and thats pretty much what eldevin is most of the time, as i said before the reasons for this are many and i am just another member of this community but in my point of view HCS got this game in the wrong direction a long time ago, u just gotta love it for what it is but dont expect it to be something else, its just not gonna happen

Edited by AngelofDestruction, 06 June 2015 - 19:15.

[NatsuMichi]

Proper answer...oh boy. You don´t simply offer a question related to gaming marketing and expect a proper answer. I´ve studied that sheet for years (and have gone mentally insane accordingly), there´s no proper answer to "why are there not as many people as there were before and how to bring them back or new ones in". *sigh* Okay, you want proper, enjoy da wall of text.

 

The first part (about why people started leaving) wasn´t asked here but it is what the question should have started with. No matter if ur a game dev or a pub owner, if you don´t have asses in the seats the first thing you ask is "what am I doing wrong here, why don´t they come".

I think the reasons why people started leaving are more than obvious and even discussed widely throughout the forum and the IGChat itself. Whether you think it´s the Steam generation, whether you think it´s due to how time consuming the game is, how grindy the game is, how repetitive and unbalanced the game is, how it lacks the infamous end game, how the only PVP options are broken and so on and so forth...a hundred people here will tell you what particular thing they dislike and what may disencourage them from playing eventually (or already) and the hundred people will all have a point. One that should be taken into consideration by someone who can do something about it. (Hello, player feedback!)

 

Asking customers about how their lunch went is not about massaging the chef´s ego but about reaching out for constructive feedback, harder still if the answer is negative. Was it the food? Was it the service? Or the decór? The toilet even? That sheet´s important to know, catalogue, analyse and have someone do something about it. It goes just as well the other way around. You need to know what the customer liked/enjoyed so you can make it your strong point and play into it whenever you need/can.

 

To HCS credit, they are not a huge company and this is not your usual mainstream MMO. Thank goodness. The list of things that suck when it comes to mainstream MMOs is running much wilder than Eldevin´s and even they have similiar if not the same points (this is where the demand for indie MMOs comes in). Also, player feedback in some...let´s-not-name-them companies is sometimes taken more as an attack against the game/company instead (devs need to realize kids these days don´t know what constructive part of the constructive criticism means and behave accordingly) and ignored...or worse - punished.

 

If you can´t make a simple SWOT analysis, then you don´t have enough feedback. Reading through the forum sometimes there is no way HCS is missing feedback. I could give you a SWOT in five and I sucked at SWOTs (Strenghts, Weaknesess, Opportunities and Threats...in case you were wondering why am I misspelling S.W.A.T.). It´s a good tool to start with.

 

Which finally leads you to your question of how to bring people (back) in. Once you know what could be changed (through Weaknesses and Opportunities), what you need to keep a close eye on (Threats) and what to highlight (Strength) you can do it. In this case HCS can do it. Will they do something, is the better question. Do they have a reason to? Sounds weird but there are times when less is more. From a practical point of view, the way businesses work for instance, expansion comes at a cost and if that cost cannot be met then the expansion shouldn´t happen. To handle more players, you need more server power to handle the traffic, good and stable net connection for the data load and some good old content. It all comes at a cost and if you cannot meet it with results it would be a waste of resources. Harsh, but it´s the truth.

 

As for what you, the player, can do about it, aside from all the feedback and patience and...waiting, is perhaps trying some social marketing options....which are limited unless you are not one of those big guns on youtube, twitch, twitter, facebook or all that social drama.

 

There you go Lego Also, what´s wrong with a little private Eldevin, if I wanted to play with thousands of morons I´d go for WoW (shots fired). I´m fine with 150-200 quirky, funny weirdos. If I were HCS I´d be questioning how to keep at least the number of players it takes for it to be managable, profitable if you will.

Edited by NatsuMichi, 06 June 2015 - 19:29.

[Irradiated]

Revive the game?  Simple.  HCS just needs to finish the game, and then do an ad blitz.  In fact, the ads may not even be necessary if they can retain all the players returning to see the new content.

 

On content, just finish to 50 already  (including instances).  Then start on the other content improvements that will help retain players (and hopefully shorten the time between releases).

 

Technical, we need the guilds and market, and to start seeing some of the other suggestions.

 

The potential is still all there.  And I know HCS is working very hard.  I'm sure if they could have done it faster, they would have.  But it's hard to sell a game with this much unfinished after 1.5 years.

[Spirit]

Hmm I hope they do something simliar for level 50 content like they did with Tales of Sands and Shards. That is over a year old, and the odd time, I see people mention it or use to get a code. They do need to advertise the game, but yeah over a year ago, people were saying to wait for guilds and such... but it's nice to know from their word that they are working on it right now.

But yeah, I admit the game population has gone down a bit, but I wouldn't call it dead. It would be, if the number of players dropped down to where it was before Steam then that's not so good.

[davidutz]

i been playing for almost 3 years now and i have to say Eldevin is not dead, its just that everyone expects for this game to have a huge population but the truth is that is never going to hapen and there are many reasons for this. remember when steam population arrived, we had days were there could be 800 players online at the same time and the lag was just crazy, the steamers got turned off quick by this game because eldevin dont even have a guild system to support such a high influx of newbies, not to mention the game servers clearly cannot handle such big population, also all HCS did was puting cosmetic stuff for them to spend money on instead of thinking of ways to make them stay in this game, i remember them asking all day were they could join a guild or clan and us older players had to reply "err this game dont have official guilds" more sad even, still don have.

the players that been around since this game was still new like me can tell u, eldevin is well alive just dont expect a huge population from a game that cannot support it.

current active population goes about 150 maybe 200 players more or less and thats pretty much what eldevin is most of the time, as i said before the reasons for this are many and i am just another member of this community but in my point of view HCS got this game in the wrong direction a long time ago, u just gotta love it for what it is but dont expect it to be something else, its just not gonna happen

 

 

best  way to put it  possible ..

 

 

 maby in like 2 - 3 years    if they decide  its worth it  maby then u will see like 1k stable population 

 

 missing  from game IMO and many others   

 

Guilds 

Action house 

Decent crafting system

+++++++++++++++++

Some thing to do after  EOC  except dungeons   over and over and over and over again   

Edited by davidutz, 06 June 2015 - 21:01.

[kidref]

More player's reataining slow prosse, Lose more then gain.

 

Key point have been stated main issue what happendusly around 25 - 35 when many see grind then after get thought grind end up get to lovely area's of lv the void - lvl 33 - lvl 35 cave - Trankura lvl 41 - lvl 44 Void so for most area need group help but limited finding help at time's.

 

 

I have solo the lv 33 volid on my lv 33 mage (it are now 34) and its was a challange that was nice and i didnet use the lv 30 flake set it are more to know how to grind good. my armor was lv 25 light wepon lv 30 crafted staff and lv 25 crafted essene gems on armor are only jagged (1 fair on mana reg) and on the group quest it need a group to do thats why it are orange. 

[minddrag]

If you can´t make a simple SWOT analysis, then you don´t have enough feedback. Reading through the forum sometimes there is no way HCS is missing feedback. I could give you a SWOT in five and I sucked at SWOTs (Strenghts, Weaknesess, Opportunities and Threats...in case you were wondering why am I misspelling S.W.A.T.). It´s a good tool to start with.

 

Which finally leads you to your question of how to bring people (back) in. Once you know what could be changed (through Weaknesses and Opportunities), what you need to keep a close eye on (Threats) and what to highlight (Strength) you can do it. In this case HCS can do it. Will they do something, is the better question. Do they have a reason to? Sounds weird but there are times when less is more. From a practical point of view, the way businesses work for instance, expansion comes at a cost and if that cost cannot be met then the expansion shouldn´t happen. To handle more players, you need more server power to handle the traffic, good and stable net connection for the data load and some good old content. It all comes at a cost and if you cannot meet it with results it would be a waste of resources. Harsh, but it´s the truth.

 

ECONOMIC THEROY 101!  I love this answer.  I am glad that somebody else shares my veiwpoint of the games location and what is happening.

[ComradeLewis]

Advertising is not the issue at this point. 358,936 registered accounts attest to this. The sole question that needs to be asked is why 99.958% of those are not playing this game (believe it or not, that's the real percentage).

 

I can speak from experience a bit. The first time I tried the game was in closed beta. I got a character to 14, and the vast majority of the time spent was on crafting (mainly farming). After a week or two of standing on the Othalo farm plot, totally alone I just turned the game off. What's the point of an MMO that you are playing alone all the time? I waited about a month and gave it another chance, and liked the game enough to keep going, but I am pretty sure most players would have not looked back.

 

To an even greater extent, this is true of low level dungeons. They are pretty much always a solo endeavor, and the game totally feels like an empty graveyard in every way possible until you get to level 45 (then it's more of a WW2 veteran convention). Since new players don't know that, and don't have the patience to play solo to that point, I am not surprised that 99.958% don't bother to log back on.

 

What's fundamentally wrong with the game's popularity is almost entirely on the beginning half of the game's design.

 

For continuity's sake, I need to also point out that that percentage also includes a significant enough number of end game players too. I have redone my friends list over 5 times, and all of those people were over level 40. There is clearly something also very wrong with end-game content as well. Hell, if I didn't give the game up for a year, it would probably be more like 8 times by now. When several of these guys came back they usually say, "woah, the game hasn't changed at all!. Later!" I had the same exact response once during my year away too, "Dude, I took a year off and the only thing that's different is a client? Later!" Apparently, I didn't care about all time put into all the holiday events either (what a surprise).

Edited by ComradeLewis, 07 June 2015 - 00:38.

[AwiesGoesRawr]

Game has nice story at start, but you kill your first dragon at lvl 5 and you get to meet the head of the greatest empire in Eldeving, prince something... After that you just go for missions what regular adventurer does. Yeah it is still nice, but after that you except that you will be invited back to palace at some point..

 

 

Second thing is that you can buy gold at shop.. Yeah yeah blah blah 'people wont do that, better to sell another players and get more gold' .... But for newbies it is big deal to see such thing in Eldevin shop, and they wont stay to see and ask wtf this shit is all about. If no1 buys the gold, shouldnt they be taken out from the shop anyways? At least look good, if u can't be good

 

third thing is end-game features. I quit myself because only thing that was good, was WB runs, and I wont pay for support just because I log in once a week. *insert 'but dailies!' -guys*, NO! I WILL NOT GRIND SAME STUFF ALL OVER AGAIN EVERY. SINGLE. DAY... If I want grind, I go and play RuneScape.

 

4th. Skills. They make no real money, and again they are mostly just grind, and in the end you really dont need them for anything. Cooking and alchemy are all you need, which I both did 20-45 in a day.

AND THEY ARE ALL SIMILIAR. At TA you just sit and click one object and you get your stuff....

 

 

5th and last (spent too much time on this topic, which prolly wont be even checked by anyone who can affect this game any ways)

PVP. I like to call it 'Harass and insult circle' - No actual rewards, no actual loss, why would you bother go and kill anyone?

Rewards are trash and if u get killed, just head back in and just wait till pker gets bored....

 

 

anyways, Ill be back when there is actual content going on.

[ChelseaBrick]

Focus a lot less on PvP, make the game a lot less "Pay for Convenience", better reward system, more incentives for grinding that make it more enjoyable for someone to work up to something, take focus off of dungeons and make more mini games for people to play, raiding...

 

and hi to all my old friends, hope to see you on the game soon.

[HuMoR]

I've posted quite a bit of ways to make it grow in the past XD

[gandalfxx]

Reason why I left was the grind and that finding a group for dungeons was harder then finding the Holy Grail. 

 

 

I think they need to do something about the grind and they have to make some  group finder that works.

 

It doesn't help either that you need players based on roles.(dps,tank heal)

 

 

 

 

[Bigfoot]

Yah, getting harder and harder to for dungeons. All my friends that were tank-healer are gone. I've recently met couple of new people, so that will help some.

[Auron FFX]

All I can say is these P2W events sure aren't helping the game. Make stuff less P2W (not needing EP to open chests from events, send mail etc.) is defiantly a step in the right direction. And while we're on the subject of events, lower the number of items needed to redeem keys (2500 eggs for a key?!).

 

Another thing that would defiantly help would be advertising. HC Should invest some money in advertising this game. Post some adds in PC Mag or another popular PC magazine, put an add on Nickelodeon, YTV  or Cartoon Network or other channel popular with children, make the game known.

 

 

Also, after reading some of these posts, honestly, going solo is not a big deal for me. I'm used to playing games solo. doesn't feel like a "graveyard" anymore than any of the 3DS, WiiU, PS2 etc. games out there.

Edited by Auron FFX, 07 June 2015 - 20:54.