To The Citizens of The Empire of Istaria

[EIHorizons]

To The Citizens of The Empire of Istaria:

It is a privlege to be a Member of this community. We view the stewardship
of Istaria as a great responsibility.

The world you all call home will not undergo any great change or experience
an attack against its essence.

It is The Mission of the Empires stewards:

To preserve game play as the culture of the citizens of each seperate shard
have enjoyed it;

To bring new live events as advocated by the players; and,

To provide steadfast support on all levels.


Well Met,

DANU, A dragon of chaos

[Tantalyr]

Thanks! I'm all dwarven ears!

[Spartikus]

Thanks Danu. I am looking forward to seeing what you have instore for my rather demanding gaming persona LOL.

On a side note I wish you and your business partners all the best with this.

Safe travels.

[HratLi]

Woo hoo! Official announcement! I'm glad life is continuing as it has for a while longer at least.

-HratLi

[Fridlekh]

The world you all call home will not undergo any great change or experience an attack against its essence.

I post as a player, using my own voice and concerns from a player's perspective. While I have some additional knowledge of what's been happening, the following is what I feel from a standpoint outside of that knowledge.

It it my opinion, as it is with many others I have talked with over the years, that the development team behind Horizons is the essence of what makes the game great. It has been only through the dedication of many people, willing to work for far less than their worth, that Horizons has started to shed the trappings of bad or rushed implementations made pre-launch. Many people have had to be laid off over the years due to negative cash flow and impatient investors. While unfortunate, this means that everyone that was left was there because they could be shown as being ultimately necessary. The game could not have continued forward without them.

The game has gotten to a state where nearly all of the initial promises had finally been delivered upon. Whole sections of the game have been redesigned to make them more complete and fun. But important elements of the game were still under development when this takeover occurred. Things that had been worked on for a very long time, like confectioner, or the new T1-T2 Dungeon were close to being finished. We saw evidence of the near-completion of some interesting new entities: Crabs, Scorpions, Chests and Mimics... None of this could be completed in a timely manner (or possibly even at all) without the particular skill sets of those who have been working on this game for so long.

So I implore you (EI Interactive) to please understand that the removal of any existing members of that team would be seen by me, and probably many others, as a direct attack on the very essence of Horizons. Horizons IS the people that care for it and continue it's growth. If you have the money to burn to buy Horizons, and you truly wish for it to succeed, ALSO hire everyone that was involved with making the game so great; without them, there is no Horizons.

Fridlekh Worldwalker of Dawn -> Order


Disclaimer: I have been an intern working at Tulga Games for about a year, unpaid. I did this (against the advice of many people) because I had the means to, and wished to do whatever I could to understand the game better and do what I could to make the experience more enjoyable. What I mostly ended up doing was making maps and managing content using custom tools I wrote out of laziness. My only condition for the employment was that I be paid enough to pay for my rent/utilities/food/gas when the game was cash flow positive so I could stop relying on my investments for living money. I feel the game was very close to the point of reaching stability, and it saddens me more than anyone can know to think about having to find a job doing anything but working on projects with the team at Tulga.

[D0ZeR]

Well met DANU and God speed to a better future with HZ. New blood is never a bad thing and here is hoping the future holds many a good thing for all.

[BKBanzai]

Fridlekh has done wonders if for nothing else, redesigning the map. The ingame map used to be horribly laggy, taking a log time to load, the level of detail was very poor. After the patch notes where I read the map had been replaced, I was very concerned...basically to me, most new things add lag or loading time. I was incredibly pleased and surprised that this was implemented with 0 issues.

I'm sorry to say I don't know much of what Frid has worked on, I do know that he is incredibly curious and investigates issues to try and figure out what might cause them on his own, this was before he joined the team.

I do not support the comment that removing team members is an attack on Horizons. This is, after all a business, and the owners know how much they want to spend by adding (taking on previous employees) versus what can be handled by their own personnel.

Business is business, it's not personal, it's not an attack, it's reality. Don't hold against the new owners what they have to do to make Horizons profitable.

We can either have a game, or not have a game. Personally, I'd like to see Horizons continue and grow. It's our world, but it is also a large investment on EI's part and they will do what they have to do to be profitable.

However, if EI just wants to shut the doors down and convert the members to Savage Eden, then that's a different story altogether

[Theolaerynn]

The game has gotten to a state where nearly all of the initial promises had finally been delivered upon.

You are high. Where are Castles? Where is the dynamic war? Where are tabards, racial housing, ridable Dragons? The list goes on for quite a bit. You have not been involved in the game long enough to make such sweeping statements as you just did, but that has never stopped you in the past either.

Do you think I or many of those who have left would be so frustrated if your statement was anywhere close to true? Remember, I was one of the very biggest fans of the game even after the original company filed for reorganization. It takes a hell of a lot of broken promises and flat out misinformation to move a hard core fan to be such a critic.

Do I think the game can succeed without the core set of good AE staff? I think it would be a considerable challenge at best.

But I do not believe that all that were working on Horizons just prior to the current aquisition were healthy for it either. Some of the recent and proposed changes were already driving away some of the few remaining players, and were preventing quite a few old players from even considering a return.

AE created an incredible vision, a game concept that could really be the premier game. That is saying a lot against the likes of WoW and EQ2. But if the promises made just prior to the end of Beta were kept I would drop EQ2 like a hot rock to come back and play. As I have said before, I stopped playing a long time ago, but kept up my monthly subscriptions with the fantasy that maybe Horizons would be fixed some day.

But I also stated that the team last working on it were not capable of making that happen. Not that they don't have the skill or the passion, they simply did not have the direction, nor do they seem to have a feel for any players but the very small core niche that currently play. That will never be a profitable approach, there aren't enough of you, unless they roll everyone up into a single server.

It wouldn't take a lot to make the game appeal to a much wider audience, and it wouldn't sacrifice much if anything that the current player base enjoys. Hell, for the most part I think just fixing the client would go a long ways towards bringing folks back. But the boredom factor needs to be addressed too, not everyone enjoys camping the one radient wisp for days on end to build a T-6 shrub. Bring on the dynamic war, and I bet a bunch more would come flocking back.

For me, my biggest gripe are the spastic directionless nerfs and unnecessary changes. Get a direction and follow it, don't just throw darts at a board to see what to change. I don't know how many people have ever heard of or watched The Red Green Show, but he once built a device out of bicylces that would generate random projects out of random junk pieces. That is how Horizons development has seemed to be over the last longest while. Totally random and nonsensical.

On the plus side, Horizons has been the source of many jokes and much mirth for a couple of years now, and has provided quite a bit of entertainment around the office. It is still just a bit too bitter for me to be laughing yet, though.

I love my Dragon, my wife loves her Dryad, and I know at least a dozen people who would also come back if the original promises were kept. I also know that not one of us is holding our breath for it. I don't know the new company, I cannot find a track record of any tangible, meaningful kind, and I quite promptly cancelled our accounts in the hopes of avoiding any billing snafu's that might happen due to the transfer.

Show me that I am wrong, EI. Give me a reason to be a fan again, give me a reason to play. I will be more than happy to appologize for any misgivings and any oppinions I have stated that would be unjust.

[AA0]

I am going to finally put this troll on ignore.

Thanks for all your work Frid.

[Alpion]

Sadly, one of your missions is not to bring new content or continue to advance the game.

[Rammi]

please understand that the removal of any existing members of that team would be seen by me, and probably many others, as a direct attack on the very essence of Horizons.

couldn't disagree more. Believe it or not, there are many of us who feel a change was needed.

[Fridlekh]

Note that I said "probably many others" and not "certainly everyone else"
Your "many" and my "many" probably add up to "nearly all" with others filling in the rest.

and to Theolaerynn ... Perhaps I should have said "Promises made by Tulga" and not "Promises made by Atari"

I don't think anything that was on a "pony list" or announced prefixed with "possibly" or postfixed with "if we can find time in the future" counts as "Promised content"

[Rammi]

don't get me wrong... I'm not saying it wouldn't make good business sense to keep certain Tulga employees on at EI. Smeglor probably being the one who is most necessary. I just disagree with the notion that "all" of the former Tulga employees should necessarily be rehired at EI.

[TheHaunt]

I am going to finally put this troll on ignore.

Thanks for all your work Frid.

Ditto, except I put him on ignore yesterday

[Theolaerynn]

I refuse to swallow the BS being fed to us, and I have given examples underlining exactly why it is BS. How does that make me a troll? I know AAO can't answer that because he has stuck his head firmly back into the ground and is doing his best Osteritch impression, but I am still curious about the answer to that.

I very much want Horizons to succeed, and I feel strongly that continued misinformation will negetively impact that.

[Death-knell]

I'm really interested in seeing what EI plans. The world as it is has become pretty boring. I don't go out hunting cause its the same ole sheet every time. The only thing that kept me going was the new lairs and I'm still working on my grand hall.

[Theolaerynn]

and to Theolaerynn ... Perhaps I should have said "Promises made by Tulga" and not "Promises made by Atari"

I don't think anything that was on a "pony list" or announced prefixed with "possibly" or postfixed with "if we can find time in the future" counts as "Promised content"

This would be much more accurate, then, but only if you substitute AE for Atari. Most of the things I mentioned were highly promoted by David, with the entire Castle concept being high among them. Most of the thngs I mentioned were not originally on a pony list, and were talked about in difinitive terms. Only much, much later were they put on the pony list, if they were not just quietly abandoned altogether.

Changing a companies name hardly excuses the past, though, as current subscription numbers illustrate very clearly when compared to the numbers right after going live. As does the mass exodus when it became clear these promises were not going to be kept.

If the vision of a game is going to be changed when it transfers from one ownership to another, perhaps it would be a good idea to write up and publish this new design so players know what to expect.

[TheHaunt]

Here's what they have planned:

To The Citizens of The Empire of Istaria:

It is a privlege to be a Member of this community. We view the stewardship
of Istaria as a great responsibility.

The world you all call home will not undergo any great change or experience
an attack against its essence.
It is The Mission of the Empires stewards:

To preserve game play as the culture of the citizens of each seperate shard
have enjoyed it;
To bring new live events as advocated by the players; and,

To provide steadfast support on all levels.

I am sorry, but I don't see anything there about introducing anything new, nor about making (needed) changes... do you?

[Theolaerynn]

don't get me wrong... I'm not saying it wouldn't make good business sense to keep certain Tulga employees on at EI. Smeglor probably being the one who is most necessary. I just disagree with the notion that "all" of the former Tulga employees should necessarily be rehired at EI.

Exactly. There are key folks that it would be very difficult to succeed without.

With good strong outside leadership and direction by someone who understands players and online games a lot better, I think most if not all of the AE folks would be a good bet.

But at a minimum, there are core developers who would seem almost necessary.

[DANU]

I appreciate the posts. The notion of respecting and supporting the players and the game play implies a lot of responsibilities.

First, It demands a commitment to excellence in the games operations and development, I will see that a state of the code is generated soon and regularly. Players deserve staright talk. There is a lot of work to be done here, including repairing bugs and fixing/completing broken content.

Second, Creating fun within the context of every shards culture is a prerequisite, as we believe we are in the interactive entertainment business.

Third, As we are in the interactive entertainment business we plan to bring new content which is ometimes part of live story line events. I hear you that stability in the world of Horizons has been missing. A projects business success creates an environement supportive of consistency of effort and allows a focus on objectives. We will create this focus to achieve long term goals.

Finally, We will need to find the best people with the best attitudes toward the future of the Horizons world. They will need do this work as a team and efficiently. I appreciate everyones input, it helps us build the best team, fyi I believe I can fill SunDevil stadium with employees if we hire all of those suggested so far.

Thanks for your support, as a gamer I know what it feels like to worry about my fun world, my source of entertainment being at risk, I have lost houses in Asheron's Call and gotten dumped at exactly the wrong second!