Roadmap 2017 - Second Semester

[Leily]

Originally Posted by Anpu

Will there be public and /or closed testing before release? So we can try it out and give feedback or hunt down critical bugs before it hits production servers. I would love to give it a try, as the only update I ever wanted is clan related.

We will test it for sure, and if we need to test it more or with more people we will announce it here so the ones who want to test, check or help can join us ^^

About the sceenshots, I will try!

[Roseythorns]

Originally Posted by Leily

Hey!

Working in progress - Clans

Right now we are working on interface and adding functionalities to clans, such as progress and objetives

I'm sure there are other things besides progress we'd like to see added. Larger clan chests, succession of clan founder (in case of death/leaving game/etc), tracking of clan items (loaned from the chest) -- these come to mind.

Roseythorns

[Hollow-Ichigo]

Originally Posted by Leily

About the sceenshots, I will try!

Are some screenshots still not available just for us to see how far along it is?

[Vadhir]

Just wondering... when you activated WMC outside fort/wall range, I don't know why but I remember you told something about raising the experience given by mobs. I don't want to start any rumor... God, I don't even know if I'm really remembering or if my memory is playing with me, that's why I ask... Did you say it or I am imagining things?


PS: Yes, some pictures please!

[Leily]

Originally Posted by Vadhir

Just wondering... when you activated WMC outside fort/wall range, I don't know why but I remember you told something about raising the experience given by mobs. I don't want to start any rumor... God, I don't even know if I'm really remembering or if my memory is playing with me, that's why I ask... Did you say it or I am imagining things?


PS: Yes, some pictures please!

Here you have it!

Originally Posted by Adrian

People, after analysing all that has happened and said during this week (not only in these forums, of course) we're thinking of:

- Mildly reduce the quantity of coins given outside fortifications and the wall. Enough for Invasions to give more profit but still leaving the ping-pongs, open field battles and hunting attractive. We think that a 25% reduction would be ideal.

- Give back levelling with creatures a bit of competitiveness, raising the experiences these give in the War Zone. We still have to think about the numbers, but the difference would still be significant between killing a creature or an enemy but we think that now it's too much. In the past we believed that, because of all the things that were said by the community, killing enemies was way more fun and rewarding than killing creatures. It seems it was a wrong reading of what was happening. We'll see how to solve this.

Regards,

[_Scias_]

So....

Could we please get a bit of information about what's going on with the next game update other than "soon" ?

I understand that you may be reluctant to share any progress or information about it since many people have very high expectations as clans improvements in this game are a very long overdue, but the current total lack of transparence (with the addition of deleted legitimate posts) is becoming very frustrating to say the least.

I don't know, it could just be one post explaining what's done/left to do, one screenshot, open beta on Amun or anything showing that there's still someone working on this game. Come on it cannot be that hard.

How can you expect the community to trust and forgive you if you keep acting that way ?...

[Adrian]

Originally Posted by _Scias_

So....

Could we please get a bit of information about what's going on with the next game update other than "soon" ?

I understand that you may be reluctant to share any progress or information about it since many people have very high expectations as clans improvements in this game are a very long overdue, but the current total lack of transparence (with the addition of deleted legitimate posts) is becoming very frustrating to say the least.

I don't know, it could just be one post explaining what's done/left to do, one screenshot, open beta on Amun or anything showing that there's still someone working on this game. Come on it cannot be that hard.

How can you expect the community to trust and forgive you if you keep acting that way ?...

We understand, and we would like to do that but whenever you're working on existent features, just re-doing them, there is not much to see, specially in the backend. We're currently with the frontend but it's not finished.

We need to get better in how we can show things that encourage the players to be hyped, but right now we're not doing "amazing" stuff, just what has been owed for ages.

There is an idea of posting a bit more, from time to time, something in Facebook as a dev-blog, but developers almost have no time for this and we need to see how we can do it when we get to more interesting stuff. Next Invasions iteration will surely be more interesting.

Don't get me wrong, Clan objectives are nice and will be important, but is this exciting enough to make announcements? Many of which later have the usual reactions: "oh, that shit you've been working all this time", "Regnum iz ded", "you ruined everything". We're human beings and sometimes reading this forum or social media destroys our motivation. Of course, developers shouldn't even read them but it just happens. We don't need people to tell us how we failed.

So we decided that we will ask for feedback while developing when we really need it. Usually, the "Suggestions" section is a good source of information about how the community wants the features to be enhanced.

Maybe instead of Facebook we could make a Twitter account just to put short and quick things about development from time to time, not needing to give a lot of detail. That could work.

Oh, also there's something really funny that everyone should know: the numbers of activity of the game sometimes get worse when we publish what we're doing or plans we have for X or Y feature. This is to let you know that communication is an extremely sensitive matter in Regnum and sometimes we just want to avoid problems in order to go on with what we have to do.

[Lebeau]

Originally Posted by Adrian

...We're human beings and sometimes reading this forum or social media destroys our motivation. Of course, developers shouldn't even read them but it just happens. We don't need people to tell us how we failed...

Advice (solicited or unsolicited) is a lot like opinions I suppose, & opinions it has long been said are like assholes, in that they all stink, except your own of course ... & yet actually, any & all honest folk admit otherwise (I know mine has from time to time....).

All joking aside, NGD are doing the very best the few of them can, even if the community on occasional feels, or says, differently. Speakin' for meself, I'd much rather those few working-stiffs they still have on-board were doing the REAL-work day in & day out, rather than read & reply constantly back & forth, on & on round-robin, on (anti-)social-media....

Patience! When it's ready (whatsoever that current 'it' is), NGD will then hopefully test it all out extensively on Amun (avoiding later issues), inform us of these tests, so that we can all help them to do so, in order to get it right the first time out. Quid pro quo....

Stop & consider, how many mmorpg's EVER last this long? How many Indie titles EVER get & still have this many devoted players? All of us still playing, & still posting here & elsewhere, is living proof Regnum is something truly worthwhile, a cared-for something worth doing right, a special something that is going to take however long it takes....no if's, and's or 'butt's!

Build it, & they will come....but build it right, & they will stay....



@ NGD: Chins up folks, do your best, do the work, do it right, keep it real, & my best regards....

[Roseythorns]

Originally Posted by Adrian

Maybe instead of Facebook we could make a Twitter account just to put short and quick things about development from time to time, not needing to give a lot of detail. That could work.

That could work. That's something Sony Online did while it was still SOE. Mostly, tho, the community manager did that for them.

Oh, also there's something really funny that everyone should know: the numbers of activity of the game sometimes get worse when we publish what we're doing or plans we have for X or Y feature. This is to let you know that communication is an extremely sensitive matter in Regnum and sometimes we just want to avoid problems in order to go on with what we have to do.

That is strange, but in a way I understand it.

Often, that little thing that didn't work quite right was what someone else enjoyed about the game. So when it's "fixed," they complain and bellyache. Some quit.

Whatever you choose to do about the various problems in the game, if you make an honest effort, many of us will appreciate it. We might not agree with your solutions. The most recent changes in the invasion system are a good example. They changed the invasion dynamic significantly. Not everyone liked those changes, but that's okay. Many did like them.

[_Scias_]

I think we can all understand how tricky communication to a game community can be in the shoes of the developers and how negative and unforgiving the community can sometimes be but alas that's completely unavoidable and this no matter how and what means you use to communicate (And this can be said for any game).
The real question would rather be : can the current situation be improved ?

I realise how the constant criticism and skepticism around can ruin your motivation but it also shows how concerned we are about the game too, or else we wouldn't be still around after so many years and with all the competition around.
We're just as sad as you to see the game in such state outside of the South American niche and we only wish for it to get the worldwide success it deserves. I bet even the ones who've been the harshest on you here and who got censored still play on a daily basis after many years and probably purchased much more Ximerin than the average. Not to say they should have any right or expectation about your decisions but that appeareances are deceiving and that in this case being critical doesn't mean wishing for the developers or game's failure...

You also seem to overestimate what most of the community expects from you at least at this point.
We don't need big new expansions packed with tons of new features (that often end unpolished) when sometimes really small 'Quality of Life' changes or certain bugfixes that are blatantly missing from the game would be much more welcome instead. I bet if you just fixed Clan ranks to not bug and reset periodically or just added the ability to transfer Clan ownership to another member a lot of players would be more thankful (well, at least Anpu for sure) than getting Clan halls/flags/pets or whatever new features are planned...
Maybe those fixes are part of the big Clan objectives update already ? Why not just tell it or answer questions about it ? As long as you deliver in the end what's the issue then ?
Don't think that because they are long overdue that it's not worth doing or mentioning. Heh, it's always better late than never...

However if you really want things to stay like this with the very minimal bland formal "Public Relations" style communication then so be it. But then you cannot expect us not to feel frustrated if after posting ambitious roadmaps with timelines you leave us in the complete dark for months after, and for in the end, perhaps reach only a couple of the initial goals. You cannot expect the initial hype you build like this not to rot and eventually backfire especially if it's not the first time it happens, and for the community not to grow impatient and rightfully angry at you, especially after all these years of stalling and false promises...

The need for yet another social media is also quite questionable when you already have the means to communicate on this forum, on facebook, and ingame via either the launcher and the news window. The most logical place for "short and quick things about development from time to time" should be right here on this topic which I remind you is about the 2017' Second Semester Roadmap. On the other hand, Facebook and Twitter are more suited for promos and released updates.

This is sad because the frustration on both sides could be avoided with smaller but more frequent updates and the proper communication around it. Smaller updates would also mean potentially less broken stuff/imbalance/bugs introduced at once and to fix in case of a screw up...

Like most people here I hope things will change for the better eventually. For sure communication is something really risky for you and it's better to judge from your actions instead but it's also one of the steps to mutual trust and for us to better understand your decision making about this game.
So please, don't forget or be scared about it. If you are honest there's no reason that the ambiance around here becomes worse than it is now anyways don't you think ?