titrated updates translates to lost interest
aleph
Join Date: 2007-10-12 Member: 62620Members
Join Date: 2007-10-12 Member: 62620Members
It seems like there are fewer posts in the discussion section each time a new patch is declared. How about players in servers? At the first big announcements there were lots of players, but within 4 or 5 days after the announcements the servers would be too empty to play games. I have not played in some time, bit the general feeling is that people aren't paying attention and there's little talk about the upcoming changes. Will it eventually get to the point that you need a major announcement on the website, PR machine, and email subscriber list in order to pull in big numbers, and do you think maybe you are losing peoples' trust and interest each time those announcements are made only to find a game with a still unoptimized engine and buggy "netcode"? Someone could quantify this, but it just feels like there is much less interest and man-hours being poured into this game due to lack of interest or fatigue at minor updates not offering worthwhile changes warranting peoples' time. How does one reverse this trend, or can one at all? I think it's a dangerous path.
Comments
Also this is a topic like many others have past, and i can tell you that the forum is anything but dead.
Some people replied, that if you just join a server, others will follow. I did it like that, and it was true. Just try that maybe? ;)
Some people replied, that if you just join a server, others will follow. I did it like that, and it was true. Just try that maybe? ;)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Like I said I haven't played for a while, maybe others can report on how active it is right now or how active it has been?
EDIT: I should know better than to make that post since 90% of posters will now reply only to that question rather than any points brought up in the OP. But I'm still curious, and more importantly I'm worried of the implications that this decreasing interest means.
NO, most persons here have realised that it will take at least another year before most of the planned features (DI, onos, exo-armor, balancing issues, netcode etc.) are implemented into the game. So no need to get aroused over every small update on the way to that day.
We watch and we press our thumbs....
And if only literally a few dozen or less people are going to respond to minor bug-updating patches, what's the point of even releasing them?
Why not fix an extremely large amount of bugs over a period of months rather than offering minor patches every other week? This is the kind of philosophy that is demonstrably causing people to lose interest and stop coming back. I just don't see how they don't see it.
Current patches are more routine, people know what usually goes into them, they know what the game is like, what is there to be excited about?
Considering the alternative is to not release patches, which will be even less interesting, and make development kinda hard given that UWE probably doesn't have the money to spend on wide scale closed tests, the current method is fine.
Would you like to take a bet.. ? ;-)
<!--quoteo(post=1822957:date=Jan 9 2011, 10:02 PM:name=aleph)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (aleph @ Jan 9 2011, 10:02 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1822957"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->And if only literally a few dozen or less people are going to respond to minor bug-updating patches, what's the point of even releasing them?<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Most of the serious feedback is given on getsatisfaction.com. Its unglamorous and tedious work ;-)
The small patches keep the interest alive. You can play and see the direction into which the development is heading. I kinda like it... a weekly (well, almost) ritual...
At this point it feels like we all did by pre-ordering, and it's a bet we're not going to win
Even though the amount of playing decreases after initial patch drop...
It does not decrease to zero like it did in alpha.
You might have to spin it up a couple times to find a game, but I have been finding more games.
Or like someone said join an empty server with a good ping and people might show up.
Sure optimization needs work, sure all the features are not there.
But it is already fun.
The fact that as a skulk...I have already begun to fall into the skulking around, springing into a surprise attack, and then quickly retreating...giggling at the damage I have done...to structures and players. Did you know 'F' is bound to chuckle.
Hit that when you are stuck to the ceiling and a marine walks under you....Pure Glee.
The fact that as a marine... I play a more formal structured game, where I try to move as group, I take advantage of the ranged shots...and finally I yell at those green gilled marines who chase skulks "Don't chase them they are leading you to a pack". I love that the MAC and the marines can build. The tension of building a turret to secure an area while others guard you is great. At the same time the commander is no longer dependent on me to get everything built.
like i said fun.
As the engine becomes more optimized I think you will the servers stay playing longer.
The game is awesome, and rounds can be a lot of fun, ... if you dont run around with max 15 fps + lags. Tbh, i am only checking the site from time to time to see if a new patches appeared, that could have fixed the performance issue so i can finally play a bit more. Yet i always was made sad :'(
However half of the forum posts do seem to get irritating, this is yet but another in a long line of recent "When will it be released" or "It's never going to be ready" sort of threads.
I'm sort of bored of these.
I'm pretty sure you just described what literally thousands of pre-orderers feel
As they always say. They are involving us in the development process. It's an experiment, I don't know any other company doing that.
If people want to have patches only every few months, they can run NS2 only every few months. It's your choice :/
They never said "the next patch will be the revolution". They let us look over their shoulder while working and sometimes they answer our questions - if we are interested. Be interested or not....I don't know what the problem is here.
It is no difference for people who are not interested.
My opinion.
B161 it seems will bring huge performance improvements again, and will be the first version where alot of ppl stick around i think
then there's no enormous holiday season until B162, which will hopefully come within a month (or 2 weeks), and then the ball is rolling!
What the OP is saying is not true. Actually there seem to be more people playing now than ever before, servers get full quickly (especially NSarmoury 1 & 2) and there are more of them. Even multiplay.co.uk has one up, and that is a great sign that such a huge server and lan operator, and associated with professional tourneys in the UK.
I am sure a lot have bought into the game, and not everyone is playing it right now. But they will be back once it is more playable, I can't see why not.
The whole thing with patches keeps people interested, and is what made games like CS (and NS) so popular.
My argument, which is quantifiable if anyone has the data to look at (someone probably does), is this: a throng of new players arrive for each new patch release to see how the game is progressing. Due to the frequency of patch releases and the relatively small number of visible/detectable-to-laymen changes and improvements in each patch people learn not to take new patch releases seriously and consequentially drop NS2 off their radar. This is a choice made by the developers which causes an atmosphere of "forget about this, I'll hibernate on this for a few months, maybe then something worthwhile will be released." One metric for this which I notice is the decrease in forum discussion on each new patch, though as another user noted the real work is being done at "getsatisfaction.com" however I'd bet the activity level there is correspondingly decreasing. A more all-encompassing approach to patch releases could retain more players by making patches bigger events, but the devs not taking this rout, and I believe (and the facts may support) that this leads to steadily decreasing player retention/interest.
Most posts have ignored this argument and answered a completely different question that each user seems to have invented himself (My rambling articulation is partly to blame). At least there's some discussion but few have addressed my argument, or the implications of it - that much credibility will be lost between now and the time the game is released; fewer people will care, thinking "been there done that" and just ignore updates.
Yes, you can't complain about people misunderstanding your "argument" if you type like a 12 year old that just discovered the magical intelligence-boosting properties of a thesaurus.
As far as what you're trying to say, it doesn't make any sense. People aren't going to stop caring about a game that they already bought and paid for, just because it is being updated gradually rather than all at once. And they certainly aren't going to ignore updates that make the game they already bought more fun to play. In summary you seem to be reaching for something to criticize (trolling?) rather than making any sort of coherent point about the state of the game.