Originally Posted by
Valerith
So it's been about 10 years since I last played Hor... I mean, Istaria. I probably popped in here and there, but not actually played.
Coming back after 10 years, and especially after being a widely traveled MMO gamer, I have to say I'm not seeing much of a reason to stay, and I hope that these views might give some insight as to why.
- Nothing has changed. Now a quick review of update notes tells me that there have been changes, but I'm talking about major changes. Things that would warrant this game charging what it does, when so many other games offer more for free.
- Graphics are a big thing - and they haven't changed. The engine seems to have that moth-ball smell all over it. I remember coming from EverQuest to then-named Horizons, and it was amazing. Now going back, it's just disappointing. Some higher resolution textures would be a great start, and increasing the render distance for some stunning far-off views. Adding more optional particle effects would also go well, especially if you allowed us to crank up the density of those particles. None of those changes require new models, and only the textures would be new art assets. You could even make them an optional download. (Which reminds me, wasn't there an optional high-res download at one point?)
- Client: The client is still as buggy as I remember. It's crashed about 4 times on me. Granted, I'm running Windows 10, so there may be some compatibility issues, but there really shouldn't be as Windows 10 has been brilliant with playing nice elsewhere. The client is also lacking when it comes to features. Where is copy and paste functionality? It's not in the right-click menu, which is standard GUI practice. I also had my chat window completely close, and NOT remember settings. It took time and help from another player to sort that out. Time I could have spent playing the game. Elements like a mini map, quest tracker - these are standard features and expected in most MMOs. The map itself doesn't interact in an intuitive fashion as well. Scrolling in and out, for example, takes a few to get right.
- More on intuitive use: There's a lot of things that are "different", and I know that older players are used to that. The problem is that MMOs have grown quite a bit in the last 10 years and a rather standard "look and feel" has emerged. The way the mouse interacts and moves you is contrary to that, and the way "quests" are displayed takes me back to the days of EverQuest when we had to /say keywords to interact with NPCs. Hyperlinks are newer, but quest dialogues that display the information quickly and orderly are even better. What do I get for a quest? Is this a progression of sorts? What is the point of it? The lore mixes with the quest info as well, and makes it hard to sort out what you're supposed to be doing and what is optional reading.
- Server/Backbone: I see we still haven't fixed the issue where NPCs load incredibly slowly and not until you're right on top of them. I have a faster connection now after 10 years, and a much faster computer. I remember Tulga telling me that it was my system and my connection. That can't be said now, especially as I've come to learn quite a bit about networking and programming over the last 10 years. Other games, such as Wurm Online, also dynamically load and render content as you progress through the world. How can they manage to do it so well, where Istaria fails so hard?
To make this not so overly critical, I do like a few things that haven't changed much - such as the crafting. I missed the crafting here, and multi-classing (on bipeds anyway). If you guys could release a new client with upgraded (and optional) graphics, and bring your backend up to par with what's standard for today's games, I really think Istaria could have a lot of life brought back into it. It's still a unique game in many areas (Dragons!), but why would a player coming back like me pay money for just *that* feature? Perhaps when Istaria was the only real sandbox game out there, when it was the only game that really had "flying" as a feature, perhaps then it was worth it.
Right now, it needs to catch up.
So if I may make a bold suggestion? Kickstarter/GoFundMe/IndieGoGo - raise funds. Be specific and be ambitious. Drive a crowd-funded version 2.0 that will bring us old players back (you still have our e-mails!) and entice new players to get involved. You could even make a basic $20 donation give game time to an existing account. So we can donate *and* play what we remember.
Anyway, this isn't even my soap box. I think I stole it from a gnome. So I'll step down off it now, and hope this post doesn't inspire trolling or "fanboi-ism". Or get locked/deleted and I banned. I'm not really sure how things are run these days.