Player Reaction to the sale Feedback Poll

[Mimir]

How did you react to the news of the sale?

Now that we are looking at the actions of the moderators and EII employees in these stressful times, it might be interesting to do a little self assessment.

[Chioxin]

I voted! Though i was confused... Wait and See approach as well as the trying to put out forum fires... but I suck at that.

[Justa Mirage]

/em still has the fire hose in his hands.

What is this... I need 50 words for a response

Oh give me a break!

[Ijs]

50 words for a response?

Ah, I see. You need 50 characters for a response. Yep, that's lame. Very lame.

[Theolaerynn]

After viewing the new owners web pages and information, I was aboslutely sure there would be billing and account catasrophies, and promptly cancelled in the hopes to avoid them. So that is how I voted.

However, that was self-defense. I am actually in the 'wait and see' group, and if things start looking positive (and accounts and billing are reliable and secure) then I will re-sub without hesitation. I am not feeling it yet, though, by any stretch of the imagination.

[Fratricide]

I only voted so I could see everyone elses response to the poll...

Honestly... in my own mind it was hard to choose between some of the pole choices.

On an aside... I think the 50 character thing is to make it so you at least try to make a meaningful post... not simply yes or no answers will suffice.

[TheHaunt]

Only slightly different than Theolaerynn, my account expired the same weekend of the purchase. I re-subscribed for a month, to "wait and see"(and that's how I voted), then the billing issues and communications issues caused me to WANT to cancel... I'm still trying to get that cancellation completed...

I continue to watch things. I would like to be convinced that returning is worth it. So far, I am not convinced. I will see what happens.

[Drevar]

I was pretty much in the same boat as you Haunt. I was willing to give them as much as 2-3 months to see in what direction they were heading. After the whole billing/IRC/boards thing together with other info and plain old-fashioned gut-feeling, I just couldn't will myself to hold out that long.

I sent in my cancellation request on the 17th when the "support" links were made available, hoping it would be taken care of before my next billing date on the 28th. I have yet to hear back from EI.

Drev

[pevil2000]

Being on Unity, I'm just waiting. We haven't been affected by the billing problems (or anything at all), since we're still kinda... well I don't know what we are. We're just a server out there in the big empty space Fingers crossed GN actually bother to make some kinda deal with EI... But if I see the NA shards going the way of Unity or worse, I'll be gone.

[Sigi]

But if I see the NA shards going the way of Unity or worse, I'll be gone.

Why? what's the logic in that? First you say it doesn't affect us and then you connect your "being gone" with the NA situation. Don't get it.

[pevil2000]

Because if GN end up actually working with EII then I'll know Unity is probably gonna go the same way. Or if Unity finally goes down and the NA shards get worse, i'll go. I'm not gonna join NA shards when/if Unity dies if its gonna be the same story all over again. But if they stay good or get better then I either
a) wait for GN to work something out with them and get Unity to same standard or
b) wait for Unity to be abandoned and join NA

[Goriax]

Wait and see. They got off on the wrong foot but could get their act together and improve.

Although I STILL don't see any indication they're going to continue to develop HZ, which is what I'm really waiting to see. They STILL don't have either a coder or an artist. If I become convinced HZ is going to stagnate it'll remove most of my interest and I'll probably end up cancelling. Especially if one of the new MMORPGs grabs my interestj. My first decision point will be this coming December when one of my accounts expires. The next decision point is the following January when the other expires.

I'm always willing to give devs the benefit of the doubt, but there has to be devs.

[Bulgrim StoneCleaver]

What Goriax said. I'm looking for news on further development, and I'll only wait so long before I really move on. I plan on trying Ryzhom and I'm trying to get into some current betas atm.

This is the first time in my Horizons' gaming history that I have begun to actively look for something else. It is a painful experience atm, but the forum changes of late and not hearing concrete news on my "hot button" issue with the game is forcing me to go through it.

[Dremora]

I took the "wait and see approach", though now my patience is pretty much gone.

I'd absolutely hate to see this game go down, as 1) it was my first MMORPG ever, and I love it, 2)the friends I've made, and 3) the community in general.

My trust in EI is Nil, and will be until I see an update. What makes their reputation even worse, in my eyes, is how they overreacted to a question I had about lag and maintenence.

[Kulamata]

They've said they'll develop, and I think they will. But this is not "start with a clean sheet of paper" development, but assuming a large project, not all of which is well documented, and part of which is written in a unique language. Possibly there will be little to no training available from the previous developers. You can't easily hire developers who can handle that well; this is not a normal situtation. Finding the right people is more than dropping a couple of lines on Gamasutra.

And given the rough estimates of 6-12 months to resume development, "I'm out of patience" comes across as just posturing.

[DANU]

The mapping and documentation of this game provides a great definition for the word, patience.......

Yes it will take a bit of time to rebuild the foundation for this great game......Since July 21st we have endeavored to understand Istaria’s Cultures and to build a foundation of documentation and procedures for the software, which keeps our worlds running. We are building that foundation for the game today. We will now slowly accelerate the growth of content, with high quality code which is truly release ready, not premature, and content that is built on a healthy respect for the players desires and supports the culture of each shard.

For the first time in recent history there are two qualified server technicians available to deal with server issues. Today we continue, as we have for one month, doing first things first, creating documentation for the many holes in
our games foundation and just plain thinking about Istaria. We will be patient in building this game correctly I hope our players will understand the patience required to manage the state of the code we face.

I have sufferred through difficult play time in several mmo's as a player and hate the feeling ...I believe game play needs to be improved .....but Horizons is really very playable and great in many ways or I wouldn't be here.

Danu

[snickel]

The mapping and documentation of this game provides a great definition for the word, patience.......

Yes it will take a bit of time to rebuild the foundation for this great game......Since July 21st we have endeavored to understand Istaria’s Cultures and to build a foundation of documentation and procedures for the software, which keeps our worlds running. We are building that foundation for the game today. We will now slowly accelerate the growth of content, with high quality code which is truly release ready, not premature, and content that is built on a healthy respect for the players desires and supports the culture of each shard.

For the first time in recent history there are two qualified server technicians available to deal with server issues. Today we continue, as we have for one month, doing first things first, creating documentation for the many holes in
our games foundation and just plain thinking about Istaria. We will be patient in building this game correctly I hope our players will understand the patience required to manage the state of the code we face.

I have sufferred through difficult play time in several mmo's as a player and hate the feeling ...I believe game play needs to be improved .....but Horizons is really very playable and great in many ways or I wouldn't be here.

Danu

Thank you, Danu.

If there is any way that the community can assist you with lore or quest stuff, I am sure you'll find willing help.