Very interesting

Kim|MindArk started a very informative post keeping up-to-date people on what he's doing for Calypso. Some great details there into.

Wouldn't it be so nice to see a thread like this for Arkadia?

David?

 

Oh, btw, new areas and new mobs soon on Calypso... Arkadia has to keep up the pace now

 

I would put money on "Keeping up with Arkadia" being the reason for the new stuff on Calypso. I'm new to EU, but I've seen a number of people migrating from Caly to Ark. Not enough for MA to be worried about, but you have to keep pace with other planets to make sure your "grass" is just as green as theirs.

 

Fact is, Calypso is moving and Arkadia is struggling ATM.

 

Moving this over to the Dev Feedback area. We do have an active Community Manager, as well as David of course who is also active here, so we get quite a bit of info from them already, whether or not they or any of the team have time to do a regular 'Developer's Blog' along with everything else is the question I guess

 

Nothing brings out the best in people like a little competition. I don't think Calypso felt much competition from the other planets after a few weeks, but they might be feeling the heat a bit more this time. the storyline made for good reading and got people fired up about the planet before it even opened so they were paying close attention to what would happen right after that. Now, after a few weeks, people are still coming over, slowly and traveling back and forth, so maybe they feel its time to get some advertisement for themselves now and make a few changes.

 

Well this is the sad fact and alwys has been. It does not matter who is the mouth piece for Mindark there will never be truth comin from it. The represntative they choose has always toe'd the company line and spewed what ever has been scripted. It should be evident by now that Mindark has never and will never be interested in developing the "Game" only was to skim every 1/1000th of a pec they can from every available source. To add to that when that is not enough to cover what they deem a bottom line they will and do make new things soley for the availability to take more in their direction.

The thought that Arkadia is in an actual competition with Calypso (specially since it is back in MA's control) is an incredible illusion. At the end of the day MA controls the purse strings and that garantees that Arkadia can never do better then Calypso simply because of that fact.
The new planets are struggling because of what MA does not because lack of people. The lack of people is in direct relation to what MA has done or not done in regards to what the planet devs have come up with.

Space is a perfect example in how MA can and will hinder PP's for besting them at any time. From day one it was obvious that Arkadias Devs put forth a superior product and it was THE major threat to Calypso and would take a massive chunk of revenue away from Mindark and its susidiaries regardless of what name they used and what week in the year it was. Calypso could not compete with it so MA released space to pull the reigns back on Arkadias incredible momentum.

If you read back thru out all of MA's mouthpieces regarding space it was going to have several sections with one being a specific way for people to safely travel between planets. Well has anyone found the safe shipping lane for transportation between planets? Again just another one of the things MA does in their buisness model to ensure they will be the only ones moving forward at the end of the day.

I can go on and on listing things for weeks here that MA reps have stated was to happen that have never come to light in the way it was hyped up to be. I will not bother as time has shown it would be a wasted effort because people simply do not want to believe the truth about how things work.

Asking Dave or to have Dave make someone come here to tell the future for Arkadia's plans would be asking him to commit digital suicide because no matter what his intentions or what his perception of what he wants Arkadia to be it all still has to go thru MA whom will NEVER allow it to go in a way where everyone would benefit.

 

You're so negative about the game! Can't remember the last time I read a positive post from you.

In my view it's in the interest of each PP and MA for all the planets to do well. Because people travel. Cos they each gonna bring in a different cross-section of new players. And players will travel between planets for events and for a change in scene. I've been quite vocal at times in my concerns about the implementation of space but I dont for one second believe it is designed to nobble the non calypso planets.

If Dave and his business partners didnt believe they could have a positive profitable relationship with MA, then there is no way in hell they would have invested the huge amounts of cash and time required to start up and sustain a new planet in this universe. Contrast that with SEE who had the supposed prime property and either were unable or unwilling to make a go of it. I think that right there we see the difference between an organisation that has a realistic understanding of the opportunites and limitations of the platform and one that appear ed to want the platform as something to tack their properties onto, getting out once they realised the fit was just bad.

I wont deny that MA make IMO poor design decisions at times. But I just don't see the conspiracy to screw things up for the PPs. I mean seriously, why bother going to the effort to bring new PPs in if you are going to tie their hands? If PPs make money MA makes money.

Regards,
KikkiJikki

 

Actualy the dev team gives a lot of info about whats coming and ofcorse keep some sicrets to look forward to. Just check Dave's live interview and you will already have a lot more info in 2 hours then Kim has reliesed in years.

 

I understand partially but Arkadia is not Mindark in fact it's not even a subsidiary.

Who that might be I'm miffed ???

Yes that is an interpretation of the current social /loot/topography, one wonders why we all still exist and the exercise of playing has not folded given this doomsday analysis. I don’t toe any line but my own

Are not all Planets in competition? . and if so effectively if their policy of promotion competes to an end of best support and development ….I don’t see much happening elsewhere apart from an annual mob spawn event.

This has no meaning as to what we are discussing , you appear to be saying MA doesn’t like the attention generated by the Ark therefore space was released to curtail a threat. Yes strategically the Eomon spawn may seem that way however given the premise that few can kill /benefit these spawn < 5% I would say what are you implying ??

Can’t help but saying in critique a vague and general reference to shipping lanes that I believe are covered by “ Space Stations” as referred to in MA OP.

I value your critique  none the less I’ll have a go at argument and debate

The last paragraph I won’t comment upon that’s up to Dave

 

Sadly that is true... but I think Calypso only bought and advantage over a short time. ^^ So might be all different later on.

 

calypso has been up and going for years Arkadia only a few months.

Sofar Arkadia appears to be moving faster for me then Calypso even with setback like having to redo all the BPs. New Player area has been revamped / 2 new mobs / redesign of all BPs / fixing of some minor graphic bugs and the entire ground texture of the planet has been redone. What has MA done to Calypso in the past 6 months its been back with them other then include yearly migration mobs again ?

Going and saying Arkadia is not moving on or is strugling is pure ingnorance as it is a new planet and already has a fully up and running economy and active comunity witch is more then I can say about NI and RT.

Give it a year and you will be amazed where this planet is and where its heading and at what speed things happen. I have full convidance that this planet will surpass Calypso in 2 years max.
Sorry to say but I wont hold my breath for anything amazing and new coming to caly anytime soon.

 

Ignorance? I'm here since day 1, probably one of the most active miner here around... so man it's not the case.

Saying that ark is NOT struggling at the moment is being a little bit fanboy, and although my respect for A-Team is proven by my previous posts and by being on Ark since the very beginning, I cannot avoid noticing what I dont like.

I'm not interested in what Ark WILL be in the next 2 years. For what we've seen in last 2 years, A-Team could have faded away in that time (just provoking, it's obvious. But look at the what fanfares SDS used to enter this world, and how fast it has gone with any word).

We've been proven that a "simple" event like eomon migration has been able to chop activity on Arkadia by a good 50% if not more. That's a fact. Ignoring this is not useful to anybody.

 

Yet your treating a totally new planet asif its been there from the start and comparing it to a planet that has been there from the start. It has nothing todo with you being on this planet from the start.

Yet again comparing it to the planet that has been there from the start. Compare it to NI and RT and you will see whats strugling

You should be intrested in where it will be at in 2 years because its only a few months old and do I realy have to say this again. Your comparing Arkadia with the first planet and thinking it has to be just as well off from the start as the older planet even though its still an infant but even though its an infant it is kicking NI and RT ass already.
You realy do not know why SDS folded and nether does anyone els (non disclosure agreement). I know they did not pay MA what they had to and I also know that MA did not deliver what SDS wanted. Combining those two I guess that SDS chose not to pay MA for not delivering and MA ended up having to buy back the planet for whatever SDS had already paid them (yes buyback, otherwise MA would have been in a load of cort battles if it was the case). It can also be that SDS gambled on Medusa to give them the funds for the next few deposits and lost (30K ped for everything @ Medusa. 4 LA / 1 hangar / think 29 shops and a load of appartments)

This go's both ways. Events on Arkadia will also attract Calypso residents that will likely go back to Calypso just as Arkadia residents will come back to Arkadia after the event. Its a simple fact that players will tend to bunch up around seasoned events like this due to the limited timeframe of the event and after the event return to their usual activities.

 

We cant treat Arkadia as it was a new Calypso, simply because Arkadia is benefitting of what MindArk/Calypso has been building for YEARS: technology, internal market comprehension, player base, knowledge. So Arkadia must have a fairly higher "entry point" in the system than Calypso. And it had, for example about terraforming and planet construction.

RT and NI (seems to have) failed just because they have been unable to attract CURRENT player base from CALYPSO, and the current player base is the safe starting point go get things going (read deposits).

So. In Kim posts you can read some very interesting things, for example what they are studying about boss mobs, or higher tools and weapons dedicated to ubers, things they are preparing. And that's all. Calypso is moving. On Arkadia we dont have shops yet; I dont blame A-Team for this, but my thought is that Ark cannot lag behind Calypso, never.

Where we have 2 planets with the same activity on them, same gameplaying, the key is to find a way to attact players and keep them. Not only new partecipants, we know the retain percentage, more or less, but the actual player base. Give people a way to spend just like they spend on other planets.

 

*Just going to resist the URGE*

 

Have read an awful lot of crap from Ma officials over the years, will believe it when I see it

 

Bass, you speak as if Arkadia has to offer an identical experience to Calypso, and therefore it needs to do EVERYTHING better than Calypso to succeed. I don't think this is true. There are many things about Calypso I like better than Arkadia, and there are many things about Arkadia I like better than Calypso. And that's OK. Each planet is enjoyable because they offer different things. Some players I talk to are attracted to Arkadia because Calypso feels "old" to them. They want to move out to the frontier, where things are new and they have the opportunity to play a part in the development of a new planet. Some are tired of the bickering and insults they see on Calypso, and enjoy the friendlier atmosphere of the Arkadian community.

As to the migrations wreaking havoc on the economy of Arkadia... that is certainly a problem, but the grass isn't exactly greener on the other side. At times, the auctions, TPs, and other systems have been completely unavailable because of server overload... making gameplay nearly impossible. I really don't mind being on Arkadia during the migrations.

 

Let's be honest on this, the gameplay is the same, what the planets can offer is the same just because the PLATFORM is the same, at this seems a choice by MindArk. The landscape and the way it's organized is different (and way better here on Arkadia), but the things you can do are exactly the same: you hunt the same way, mine the same way, craft the same way. Even treasure hunting will be available on all planets (and I really think this is a shame), so what really differentiates the two planets?

Better graphics, better support, tools we lack (I just think about the lack of mid-way finders from TK320 and above), and... events. Or, for example, a sane way to organize shops (malls in Calypso are a pain, if you want to find something)... maybe divided into "areas"... mining, weapons, and the like, and not spread in tens of cities. But the game is absolutely the same.

I'm sure that even the advisers and the fanboys here felt pretty alone some days ago, with no buyers, forced to TT things loosing MU and decay, and I'm pretty sure that A-Team is aware of that.

My original intent was not to criticize Arkadia, it was to say: please A-Team, hurry up with the missing things and introducing new events. Keep the pace, we should be able at least to get back to the launch date population, that was really great, and then settle.

Btw, topic closed for me.

 

Would you like the thread closed?

The original question was about Dave doing a sort of 'sneek peak' thread blog style here, like the one Kim has on EF, I can say from discussions in private forums (where a similiar question was asked) that since we have a community manager (Cyrus) who does sneek peaks and such on the front page, and he and David both post in threads fairly regularly on the forum as well, giving whatever info they can, there is no need seen for a specific blog type thread at this time. So that is the answer to the original question really. Please let me know if you want this thread closed, it has gone a bit off topic