To the Players and EI
The bashing has got to stop. The negativity has got to stop. Its one thing to be concerned about the future of the game, concerned over billing issues, concerned over your little piece of the pie but, it’s altogether different to just go off the deep end and bash for the sake of bashing alone.
The result of the bashing is new set of rules and moderation that is far stricter than what we are used to. And people are surprised or upset? Look at it this way….Is Exxon Oil going to sit idly by and let people post something on their website that says “Exxon sucks! Exxon is price gouging at the pump! Nobody at Exxon can spell!� I think not. Should EI be any different? And the fact that they are game company makes not one iota of difference. They are a company, providing a service to their customers, and they certainly aren’t going to sit idly by and let people say whatever comes to mind in whatever fashion they choose at a website owned by the company!
The cold, hard facts are these…EI now owns Horizons. It is their property to do with as they see fit. Their motivation is profit. If they can accommodate our wants and desires and be profitable they will. If not, then we have want we have and we either get used to it or move on. And if we do move on, so what? Pride and ego drives some players to think that their absence will be the undoing of the game. If that wasn’t so pathetic it would be laughable. Other people will take their place.
Now I’ve been pretty much just sitting back and watching as events unfold. I’ve noticed some things, trends if you will, leading up to the sale and a couple of things after the sale. Mind you, my deductive reasoning may not jibe with others but, well here it is:
E3, shortly after E3 I started to notice a different tone in the posts and replies of some of the old Tulga Devs. Some terseness, maybe even a little testiness. And after E3 came all the changes most of us detest. The decimated golem spawns, the scarcity of t6 resources etc. Was the sale of Hz being contemplated even then? If so, were we being set up? Was any prospective buyer being set up? Who, if anyone, can answer this? Who is to blame?
Then the sale actually happened. It seems to me that EI was unprepared to take over Hz. Why is that? How much time did they have to prepare? How much help was offered by the seller? How much work is involved in taking over the operation of a game of this complexity? Me personally, I think Tulga told EI to buy it now or forget it. I can’t offer any proof but, the confusion and mistakes made since the sale bear all the hallmarks of something that happened very quickly and with little time for preparation.
The communication between player base and EI has been quite the bone of contention. AE/TG communicated regularly. EI does not. We got spoiled by the previous owners. Does this make EI wrong? Absolutely not, it makes them different. That seems to be how they prefer to do business. If so, that’s fine by me. I can’t find anything, anywhere that states that EI is under any obligation to communicate with the player base in any fashion. That they do is, IMO, a courtesy. And the general response to any EI communication has been far from courteous. Small wonder they don’t communicate much. If I got my head ripped off every time I said something I think I would just shut up and go away.
The bottom line is this: Horizons has new owners. The game BELONGS to EI. We pay a monthly fee for the Privilege of PLAYING the game. We don’t own it; we have no say in anything that happens to it. It IS NOT our property. Some of us feel our input should carry as much weight as that of the owners. Ego is rampant. Those same ego driven players are the biggest bashers, their status as big imaginary fish in a small imaginary pond has vanished and they are lashing out like a spoiled child that suddenly realized a toy he never played with or cared about is gone. Regardless of how long any of us have been customers; our value is $12.95 per month. That’s it, not very pleasant to consider but, you strip away everything else and that’s all that’s left. Will the game survive? I don’t know, I hope so. Will EI make it what it can be? I don’t know, I hope so. Will all the bashing help? Most certainly not. I can’t help but be left with the impression that some players would bash ********** ************ Reincarnate if he bought the game.
I will continue to log and play as long as I find enjoyment in doing so. Where the game goes from here is out of my, or any player’s, control. We can voice our desires but, in the end, they are just that…desires.
If I could have an influence on EI, I would say this: The game is yours; I realize you will do with it as you see fit in order to see a profit. I would ask that do what you can to roll back the most previous patch, less the price Nadia increase. I would ask that you continue to seek out and fix bugs. And I would ask that you look into developing a new client and a new engine for the game. I understand new client/engine is time consuming and expensive. However, I think the rewards in improved performance would increase the playability of the game thereby drawing in more customers. Further development might then be fiscally possible. I would suggest that EI study very carefully history of the game in the hands of its previous owners. AE/TG had this game for many years and could not make it work. Don’t make the same mistakes they did. It would be a sad epitaph for Horizons: Empire of Istaria if it read “How do you make a small fortune with an MMO? You start with a large fortune and then you buy Horizons�
