IMHO at the end of the day that is what it´s all about. Personaly I believed that the impact of the A-teams work would change the Entropia Universe for the better. There have been some signs of it with the unique tt items which are now available in other parts of the Universe too. However in general I was hoping for a waay bigger impact than just that. I think space and the lack of Arkadia estates even though they where ready like 2 weeks after launch show that the impact is much lower than expected. From what I've heard publishers often hinder the work of the development studios using the money they distribute as a powerfull tool to request changes in development. At first the whole MA and PP relationship reminded me of that. However if I understand the deal correctly the PP studios are financialy independent. So it almost seems like MA is controling what the PPs are allowed to develop without even distributing money since we are the ones who give the money. It´s quite confusing and must be really dissapointing for the PPs to have content ready to go live and MA going on hollidays... ;( Maybe try to think about it from that point of view too and not just from ours who are waiting for new content to play with in OUR hollidays. ^^
Ark PP have consistantly been saying that the next major release is August and that's due to MA scheduling. That's the reality that we have to deal with. So there's no point looking for changes before then. If that means taking a break or playing on Caly for a while so be it. I have to head back to caly for gear and such anyway so I will probably stay there a week and then come on back up to play with the Huons. So August release. As to whats in it, well thats another issue altogether. MA are in the drivers seat but they are notoriously bad at delivering to a a schedule. I hope for instancing to allow treasure hunting but who knows if it will be there. I hope for a fix to textures to allow introduction of ark texture bps. Meanwhile I ask Ark PP to consider getting moving with sale of apartments and shops. We have furniture crafting working well but no way to use the finished products. Where are we supposed to put those benchs and such? So reduced demand for finished items reduces demands for the things used to craft them. I'm grinding oiled miluca for skills but there is no market for the finished product. And given the cost of muscle oil it makes me a little sad if I have to TT what I craft.
I had to do some checking as it didn't seem like too long since my last post, turns out 5 days which is a long time for me. I have been posting on some private areas for advisers and mods so haven't been inactive, but rather just not in the public areas. So firstly, I'm going to ask for a little patience while we work things through. We work fast, but still have limitations on how quickly we can get changes into the game. We have a patch scheduled for tomorrow which will see some new content, however it does not include the economic changes that I know are required sooner rather than later. It should not be underestimated just how much work is required to get the economic changes right. We want the changes to be a one time only change. Currently we are on track to have the first phase of the economic re balancing completed this week. Phase two will take a few more weeks. However I cannot say for certain when the first phase will be implemented as I am dependent on Mindark squeezing an extra patch out which I know will be hard due to their holidays.
David, I dont mean to be rude, but this is an elaborate version of "No ETA". Things should change, not only in the way to report "No ETA" in the forums: this has been done in fancy ways by many people in MA, FPC and SDS. My hope was, indeed, that A-Team could bend MA behaviour to a saner position, for example non forcing PP to hold changes because they are in holiday for 1 month. Here we are basically left in the wild until august, in the best option. I can but hope that TT returns will hold until then.
I don't take your post as being rude, I fully understand the frustration you guys are experiencing. I'm not sure why you read it as August is the best option. I can say August is the worst case scenario, best case is we get a patch through next week. I'm sure you have picked up from my posts that I am not in the business of complaining about Mindark, we work with Mindark to deliver updates as quickly as possible. Mindark have done much since the launch of Arkadia to get additional unscheduled patches through and I am confident they will continue to do so. Mindark are starting to get used to the fact that the A-Team sends updates to them that don't contain any errors which is allowing them to have the confidence to run the patches faster. It takes a lot of work to run a patch into EU so cannot be done every other day - despite what I would like to happen. I don't like writing posts that are full of hot air, telling you I 'hope' to have things done by a certain date is not helpful. I recognise the impact my posts can have on the economy, as such I prefer to stick to absolutes. There is a big difference between saying "No ETA" and not being able to say if a change might come sooner than expected. August will be the latest for the update, that's very different to No ETA. Think back to the launch of Arkadia, I said it will be out before June 30th, you had the game delivered on May 25th - in my mind that is much better than giving dates we can't stick to. Dave
Thanks David, you got my point exactly. And note that my complaints are actually directed to the actual economical situation, I would have had no reason to complain before: we all agree on the good job you have done so far, no one (and not me for sure) is pressing about - for example - missions or treasures. You know that we want to stay here, and that's why we (or me ) are a bit concerned. And, more, we know that you are tampered by the MindArk slowness, and this bugs me a bit. BTW, I understand the situation so will wait for changes thanks for the reply.
Posts like these from Dave is what makes Arkadia 547% better then whatever other companies are involved with this universe. Thank you for posting in my thread and understanding the concerns we are having.
yeah Arkadia even made me leave the oil rig , and damn thats hard to do! Lets get through this together , the reward in the end will feel better. cheers ermik
Well Arkadia has won me over long ago (devs rock, comunity rock, planet looks rock, future plans rock and not to mention that the devs actualy listen to the players). I'm mostly a trader so currently I spend most of my time in the auction and when not in there im in space shiping non stackables between the planets and sometimes some other players. I even give discount to fly to Arkadia from any planet for the few I have found that wants to travel and does not have their own ships. Sure the planet is a bit abandoned now but not nearly as bad as RT and NI and I have full convidence that the player base will pick up and someday overtake Calypso. But till then stick around trade localy as much as possible and help the newbies, they are our future afterall
Well if I may put in my two pecs. (if indeed possible) But we need more events and more missions to keep ppl busy. Like where are the story missions/events atm and keep them updated on a fast pace. (not like the 6 month update missions on calypso). Make easy missions and tough mission so ppl can contuine the story and on the outcome of those mission develop the cities. Little example make a mission with two choices. 1 choice gives a new city and the other choice something different (war for example). This gives a more player drawn in moment. Second do more simple events liek treasure hunts (and not the system ) and fun little competions like loot a free poster or something =) Anyways i hope there will be a update with some more grinding missions this week because i am too spoiled with missions on claypso and i need one
And with keeping people busy this can also help towards the economy. We need to get people active and cycling peds. A few grinding missions should be good for that, and some exploration missions aswell for those who like. Agree with you Faye.
Tomorrow our servers will be temporarily made unavailable while we implement Entropia Universe Release 12.0.1 and Planet Partner Content. Estimated patch size is 183 MB. The servers will be taken down at 2011-07-06 at 07:00 UTC, and we estimate a downtime of around 120 minutes. its here .)
Also.. I Scimmed thru this Thread so Bear with me on this..(And Thx Dave For Replying on the Thread) I think we gota Start looking at key things, The Actual Fact Stuff.. Alienware Laptops Are being givin away to the Top Crafter on the 17th of July.. That Right there is a Date.. FACT We ofc just got notice of an update Coming tomorrow.. Thats a Fact, Yes A New Fact, But its Fact.. as Far As MA or whatever Company Taking Vacations.. theres so much on Balance, and that Needs Balance that im sure if we were working for these companies and the NOOBs were our Customers, we have to Take breaks also... But Dave HAs Been Reading his Forums I Like Rocktropia, Alot of People Dont.. But u Dont see RT Giving Away Guitars For the Highest Anything.. At Least Ark-Team Knows the Eco needs to pick up and adds a Contest to Win or Loot Major Prizes.. This is a New Planet, That Right Now Seems to have one Competitor and that Competitor has an Astabished Economy Calypso Even if im Wrong about that, THis a new planet with THREE Competitors that have some type of structure(Well Not sure what to say about Next ISland) The ones that didnt Complain and Actually Stayed are the ones that will see the Gold at the End of the Line.. Now, it would be great for us here on the ARK to Start Getting more loot For Crafting and All, But when i read things about people being mad because we dont get feed Back, then it starts to make me feel the Same, then it gets on my nerves Because i like and play the Game Eitherway ANd try my BEst to Stay HEavily involved.. hey i cant lie i miss my Gold Swirlz from atrox, But to actually have a hand in a planet that is doing things like Giving away TOP Of THe LINE Computer Products in loot or in a Contest, it leaves Space in my Mind to Think, What Could Come in the Future.. Give Things a Chance.. Thats What We are doing Anyways.. What i think would be more HElpful to keep our Minds off of these type of things is Start Posting Things you Want to See People doing.. Get Involved.. Its Kinda Like the update (that PISSED alot of People off) that made the MOBS Stronger.. i Like Hunting in teams you meet people, u in some cases save more ammo and Decay, and u can hunt Bigger.. Maybe that Update Was Ment to Bring People toGether, than to Run them Off.. I mean who MAkes an Update like that to Intentionaly Piss People Off.. Give The Ark A Chance... Especially Knowing that the Ark Team is being Ran by an X-Player that has an idea of how the Game Works..
Actually i think it's better that most of a development team take their vacation at the same month, because the team members probably depends a lot on cooperation between the team memebers. If you spread out the vacation on two month you have a situation where half the team is away for two month and the rest of the team can't work on full effect because they are missing the other team members, so we get an even worse situation.
Wait, i am! Missions give me something to do while waiting for the economy to pick up. And i really like the storyline, and to me it is what could seperate Arkadia from the boring grind that EU has become. Oh well we'll see what tomorrow's patch will bring, good to see it has some arkadian content. I guess I can handle one more night of shooting Oro
Growth of the economy depends largely on feeding the crafters, and giving them something to make that is desirable. I'm hoping noone had delusions that a Calypso sized BP list would be available at launch. Unique BP's will come, along with interesting content; and so will new players. If the A-Team's devotion to community remains on par with its current level, good times for the Arkadian population will continue. Keep up the good work Dave et al. Looking forward to the new content!
