EI and the Future of Horizons

[Nagafen]

Hello All,

My name is Nicholas Dobbins. I’m the Director of Marketing for EI Communications Corp. and I am now a member of the Horizions Community management team, along with Zack Horne and Raymond Rask. I am starting this thread on behalf of EI in an effort to cultivate a constructive dialogue about the future of Horizons.

The first few weeks of Horizons operations have been both exciting and troublesome. We have definitely had some problems along the way, and recognize that we have made some missteps in the past couple of weeks that have added some frustrations for all of us. But at the end of the day, my biggest concern is the many attacks that have been lodged against EI Communications, its management, and some staff members; many of these attacks were unnecessary and uncalled for. Countless rumors (some of them quite malicious) have circulated about EI, and our intentions for Horizons. My personal favorite is the one about EI buying Horizons for the sole purpose closing the game down, which I still can’t make sense of. Given the nature of the business, some of this activity is to be expected, but much has been over the top.

The Horizons community has a solid reputation of being welcoming and supportive. We apologize for the temporary moderation of the forums. Things were getting out of hand and we felt that drastic steps needed to be taken in order to prevent the forums from descending to a point at which they completely ceased to be constructive. The long-term preservation of the Horizons community is one of our top priorities.

My goal is for you to get to know us better and vice versa. I also hope to finally shoot down some of the truly wild speculation flying around this site, about our plans for the game. We are listening. My role here is one of liaison and I will do my best to communicate your feedback to the pertinent members of our team. There will inevitably be some questions that I won’t be able to answer, for one reason or another. If I’m unsure of an answer or if I’m unable to get the information requested, I’ll be saying just that. Empty promises aren’t an effective means of earning trust. I’m excited to meet all of you and I hope we can work together to make Horizons the best game it can be.

[Gimbold]

thanks for the chance to ask questions im sure they'll will be many.

and welcome

[Drac-Terrak]

Thanks Nicholas,

A few questions I have...

Is the overall intention to continue development of Horizons or to simply maintain the game as it stands today? I know you folks might be looking into hiring some developers but currently I believe there are no developers on the books with your organization.

In regards to the account status and or current billing system, what would be the next step, or what ideas have you considered for the next phase.

I'll say that I didn't flinch in the purchase of the game as this game has had a rather sorted history since launch, though how everything since then has unraveled has unnerved me slightly. I'm definately considering the value in continuing on...though the continued dialog between EI and the community will directly affect my desicion. Thanks again for putting this out there.

[Poppi]

Welcome

[Chioxin]

Woo! Ello there Nagafen! Welcome to the boards. I'm sorry to hear about all the junk being flung about =( I do hope you hang in there as you do have a great community here! There are loud people on both ends of the extreme for sure.

I don't really have any questions right now other than the one Drac-Terrak just asked which is "Do you plan to develop and add new things to the game, or do you intend on just keeping it as is with no further patches or bug fixes?"

That's about it =) If I think of any more I'll poke ya for sure!

[Jayne]

Welcome! I hope you can fill the gap of communication. this I sure most would agree is essential. Most of the havock on the boards the last two weeks could have been avoided if there was better communication. Thanks for this.

Jayne

[Sylen]

My question is more to put my mind at ease. With all the billing issues still not ironed out, can we at least hear a confirmation that plot reclaims will no go through until things get back to where they should be? I hate to lose any of my plots because of the errors going on now.

[Goriax]

Thank you for coming forward and soliciting our views.

By far my biggest concern is where you plan to take Horizons. Do you plan to continue development? By development I'm not concerned only with new quests and events, but also new features. Tulga had several initiatives underway (confectioner changes, new client, the Settlements expansion) and as far as I can tell they've all been shelved.

I understand that EI is a small operation, but I'd feel a lot more comfortable investing time in this game if I knew it was moving forward. It doesn't have to move forward fast, but some sort of noticable progress would be very welcome.

I understand that people are just coming up to speed and that's fine. If things are set back six months by this acquisition I can deal with it. But I'd feel better if I saw some full time professional quality programmers and artists on the staff.

MMORPGs are like many other cutting edge technologies. There is no standing still. If you're not moving forward you're moving backward.

[Anima]

<Waves!>

Hiya Nagafen, pleased'ta meet'ya.

I've been a little depressed about current events, so I havent been logging into the game as often as usual. Do you have any little tidbits of information you can share concerning development of Horizons? I use driving goals to keep myself motivated in-game, but since everything is up in the air...I'm a little lost as to what I can do.

Anything is apprieciated (twists your arm) dont feel preasured to say too much (prepairs a cocktail of inhibition reducing drugs) Thank you, Take care.

<waves!>

[Nagafen]

Is the overall intention to continue development of Horizons or to simply maintain the game as it stands today? I know you folks might be looking into hiring some developers but currently I believe there are no developers on the books with your organization.

In regards to the account status and or current billing system, what would be the next step, or what ideas have you considered for the next phase.

We've had people working with the billing provider and the old web developer over the last 2 weeks in order to update the system. Due to some extentuating circumstances, some technical errors and a couple instances of old-fashioned bad luck, the system is still in the process of repairs. I've just spoken with our billing department and they assure me that it will be up very soon.

Development is vital to a MMO's survival and our goal is for Horizons to not only survive, but to thrive. We are still assembling our Development team and deciding what our next steps are going to be. We haven't made any major decisions, concerning game development, as our current priority has been the maintenence of the game as it is.

[Drac-Terrak]

We've had people working with the billing provider and the old web developer over the last 2 weeks in order to update the system. Due to some extentuating circumstances, some technical errors and a couple instances of old-fashioned bad luck, the system is still in the process of repairs. I've just spoken with our billing department and they assure me that it will be up very soon.

Development is vital to a MMO's survival and our goal is for Horizons to not only survive, but to thrive. We are still assembling our Development team and deciding what our next steps are going to be. We haven't made any major decisions, concerning game development, as our current priority has been the maintenence of the game as it is.

Glad to hear the billing issues should be ironed out shortly. In regards to your response on development. Have you decided how large of a team you plan to staff? In addition, of the remaining developers who have not moved on from the Tulga staff have you set in motion any steps for retaining their services with EI? Thanks for the response.

[TheHaunt]

First, welcome.

Second, in defense of at least some of (us) naysayers, without any point of reference or communication about much of anything, and with issues that have been very apparent with little commentary, it's rather easy to feel abandoned and to assume the worst.

That being said, I am glad to see you here and hope to hear a great deal from you in the (near) future. I know that it is NOT your job to make us feel better, necessarily, but I do hope it is your job to at least make us feel that someone at EI is aware of our issues and commentary, whether good or bad.

Again, welcome, good luck and I hope all goes much better in the near future.

[Dravatar]

Welcome Nagafen It is wonderful to see this most welcome and positive step toward the community.

I don't expect you to have every answer, but the simple acknowledgement of the concerns of the community will be most appreciated. The "I don't know" answer is perfectly honest, and we appreciate that.

[Nagafen]

Have you decided how large of a team you plan to staff? In addition, of the remaining developers who have not moved on from the Tulga staff have you set in motion any steps for retaining their services with EI? Thanks for the response.

I don't know any of the details concerning our plans for the team.

With all the billing issues still not ironed out, can we at least hear a confirmation that plot reclaims will no go through until things get back to where they should be? I hate to lose any of my plots because of the errors going on now.

As far as I know, you won't be losing your plots. I'll post something as soon as I get better confirmation of this.

Second, in defense of at least some of (us) naysayers, without any point of reference or communication about much of anything, and with issues that have been very apparent with little commentary, it's rather easy to feel abandoned and to assume the worst.

Some of the comments being tossed around about EI were, by any standards, out of line. However, we recognize that our silence was only contributing to the general anxiety and many of the calls for communication were valid.
Hence, this thread.

[TheHaunt]

However, we recognize that our silence was only contributing to the general anxiety and many of the calls for communication were valid.
Hence, this thread.

Thank you.

[Steelclaw]

Greetings! Thanks for stepping up and taking this position, which should have been filled from day one.

I hope that your activity today will be representative of your activity in the future. You seem to be up-front so far and it would be sad to see you show up less and less.

We'll see. Meanwhile, there are a couple threads worth of questions directed at EI. Perhaps you can digest them and generate a FAQ.

Maybe there is hope.

[Justa Mirage]

I hope that replies to this thread by your team here and a better communications, will make my job easier where the posters there are on the unhappy list. Rumors are just that, and hopefully some of these rumors can be put to rest.

I always say "Time will tell..." when I have to respond to these in kind. Whether or not the rumor is true, if it's something that can be disproven, then it's one less rumor I have to moderate.

So far the atmosphere on the IGN:VN boards have been:

"What are they going to do about billing, about billing the free military accounts, about cancelling billing."

"Communications: We have not heard from them in 3 weeks, no posts, no patches, no news... just threats that if the community doesn't behave themselves, we will shut down the boards and IRC"

"How will EI stop the bleeding of people leaving, can they stop the vetran players from uprooting and leaving?"

------ game issues

Will there be patches, or will the game be run on "maintenance mode" forever with some live events to "add content"

Will there be releases of the things like "confectioners revamp" and the possibility of a crystal shaping school for dragons?

Bug fixes, will they ever get done?

Community support and Support tickets about game issues... are they being handled or is the queue just backing up as there isn't a team that can handle customer issues yet?

----------------------

Just a few curious questions

I hope to hear more from your staff

Justa Mirage (aka Pokuto, lead Horizons moderator IGN:VN)

[Drakarr]

Thanks alot for starting this thread, it already has answers to a few of the questions that keep popping up ingame.

[Gimbold]

As someone who plays on the European server unity my questions are mainly related to there

A) I understand you cannot comment on contracts etc but can you confirm that negations are taking place between EI and GN.
B) Are there any plans to promote the game e.g. advertisement in magazines.
C) As far as I know the database on unity is different to the NA servers and the last patches failed will this be a problem for EI?

Thanks for any answers.

[Varangaard]

I'm pleased to see that EII have made a 180-degree reversal on their opinion on the necessity of a community manager. My hope is that this leads to a more open dialogue with the playerbase.

For there curious parties, here [mmorpg.com] is EII's official announcement on their hiring of mr Dobbins to manage Savage Eden.