*Paces paces and sighs*

[LOVWYRM]

Callak, though I did not want to go in this again, I do:

May I teach you something about Western economy today? :

Bigger companies swallow the little ones. All what is good will be annexed,
fresh ideas or what was unique at the smaller company will be sold
and advertised as new product of the bigger company.
Staff gets fired, cause they may have concepts which do not fit to the new owners
(or to prevail redundances or lots of other reasons).
The Original Product will become destroyed and vanishes from the markets
(one rival in business less, on the way up to market leader) .
This is a very poor explanation, but my English is not good enough for more.

But is that what you want to see??
Or do you have found new ways to get out of situations like that?
Lots of those small companies that are threatened by such fate
would be thankful for that and pay you well.
Do not take that personally- but easy to be aware of- I`m gettin`angry.

And Frith- I agree with you , thy!

[LOVWYRM]

AND:

Istaria`s glass is half full-
not half empty!!

[CallakDW]

Let me see, firing an old crew is not a good idea if you don't have planns to replace them. Reguardless of old ideas or new ones. I have all sorts of cool ideas, but it doesn't mean a thing if the ship sinks because i can't keep it afloat by myself. The issue here is that there has been no rotation, if you loose key teeth from a cog, you need to replace them or the machine is no longer going to work correctly. This is what is happening here. There is about 5 teeth left on this cog, and its so big it needs 20 or more to keep the engine turning.

[Hoberton]

Quite frankly what bothers me the most is from what I can tell, Vitrium does not have enough specialized people to manage the game properly. They are doing better than past companies, but they aren't doing good enough. For instance, when I asked today in another thread why HZ seems to be so short on art assets, I was told by Amon that they are short artists. WHAT??? I have to wonder what kind of company that even makes or maintanes somthing like an MMORPG that does not have an abundance of good artists on hand, because a game starts to loose its sparkle if you leave the old graphics and models in for too long without making some new eyecandy. It's this stuff that makes me frusterated.

VI's problem in my mind is they don't have enough people to do the job, and to my knowledge they don't have the funding to get the people to do the job. You know how frusterating it is to allways see graphics slops that are considered ok because they are only visual issues, very little new models and graphic content, and problems like the Vista issues all the time and pretty much be sure it will never be any better. I'll tell you one thing, if the Vista problem isn't solved soon, I think that HZ will die, as for various reasons people are forced to switch to Vista when old computers die and/or newer software fails to work on the old OS.

I'm frusterated because I feel that yes, VI is doing a better job, but no they aren't doing a good enough job. HZ has allways had so much possibility, but it's never been fully utilized.

Now, that is not to say that the people that are working on the game aren't doing the best they can, but you can't sail a gallion with just one or two men.

The ONLY thing that really concerns me about this entire thread is Vista. I agree with you completely that old computers are dying. New computers will only have Vista on them. Nothing else matters in my opinion. Work completely to get Vista to work properly and new clients will be available to join in on this game.

With more clients means more money and that would mean possibly an artist to take up what you feel is neccesary. Personally, small artwork fixes is SO low on my list of things I think need to be fixed. Really, who cares if a neck flap does not look perfect.

[CallakDW]

Really, who cares if a neck flap does not look perfect.

Good question. Let's ask it this way. Does ANYONE besides myself care if there is sloppy art work in the games they play? I am an artist myself, so I personally care quite a bit how things appear. How about anyone else?


You see they need to have enough people to work on ALL these things, not just the vista problem, not just the graphics issues, not just the story content, but all at once. Each specialized member doing their own thing.

[LaughingOtter]

Callak, everyone on the Virtrium team is there because we are passionate about wanting the game to grow and improve, just as you are. However, hatchlings have to walk before they can fly. Expecting otherwise is both unrealistic and unfair to the hatchling.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't have expectations of us, or that you shouldn't ask for improvements you feel are important; far from it. I'm just asking you to accept that, as much as we might want to do something, or as much as that thing might improve the game, sometimes the resources to make it happen just aren't available right now. All we can do is do our best with what we have and keep moving forward.

[CallakDW]

Callak, everyone on the Virtrium team is there because we are passionate about wanting the game to grow and improve, just as you are. However, hatchlings have to walk before they can fly. Expecting otherwise is both unrealistic and unfair to the hatchling.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't have expectations of us, or that you shouldn't ask for improvements you feel are important; far from it. I'm just asking you to accept that, as much as we might want to do something, or as much as that thing might improve the game, sometimes the resources to make it happen just aren't available right now. All we can do is do our best with what we have and keep moving forward.

Are there plans for expantion? To replace the nessisary resources that were lost? Or is this all we have to look forward to?

[LaughingOtter]

Let me see, firing an old crew is not a good idea if you don't have planns to replace them.

Um, Callak, a couple of things. Virtrium didn't fire the Tulga team. That was part of the game being sold to EI. Secondly, Virtrium has more than five people, and has added both staff and interns over the past year.

If you're angry about something done by one of the previous owners, you should direct that anger where it belongs. Not at Virtrium.

[CallakDW]

That was in response to Lovewyrms comments and should be taken in that context. I was not sure if there were fireings or if more people just needed to be added. However, so far I have heard that VI has no Quality Assurance team or peronell, and VI is short artists. Neither is good for game development and both are shortcomings of VI in my opinion, weither the causes are financial or some other reason. I've heard also that VI isn't hiring, through an email I sent inquiring. Now, if VI is short the people to develop the game correctly, and they aren't hiring, then why shouldn't I be angry as a paying player that, reguardless of its many flaws, still loves the game and wants to see those flaws banished?

[Velea]

I'm not sure where you heard that there is no QA team, but that is completely not true. I would appreciate it if you would please fact check before starting rumors and assumptions. Angry or not, that is no way to show respect for those of us who ARE busting our backsides working to 10 to 15 plus hour days on Istaria.

[Takora Drakan]

I'm not sure where you heard that there is no QA team, but that is completely not true. I would appreciate it if you would please fact check before starting rumors and assumptions. Angry or not, that is no way to show respect for those of us who ARE busting our backsides working to 10 to 15 plus hour days on Istaria.

AMEN!

People don't bother these days to know the facts and then start to bicker around about things they have not a single clue!

[Silverblaze]

I'm afraid posting on this matter might only fuel the fire, but I'd like to add my opinion.

CallakDW, and I suppose any of those avidly worrying or upset at the state Istaria is in now: this one is for you.

We're all worried a little bit. For various reasons, I'm pretty certain even the most optimistic and cheerful people playing WoW worry what might happen to that game if something horrid were to happen there.

The difference is some tend to use constructive criticism, others throw obscenities, and some are just plain vocal about being displeased.

The best analogy I can give here, is someone in physical therapy.

This game went through the meat gridner of owners. We'll call that a car crash for sake of analogy.

Then this game and company, currently with damaged legs starts up and starts getting better. ( I liken that to the car crash survivor)

During the healing process, do you yell at the person trying to get well, kick their legs out from under them and say "do better next time"? Some might. Thats tough love I guess, some might also call it sadism.

I do not endorse censorship in any fashion, I want that kept in mind. However, I think people need to be aware of what their actions and words carry and have impacts upon.

I have been on Virtrium's side defending them before, I've also been teh one throwing rotten tomatoes and rocks asking why somethign isn't getting done. I understand the frustration.

The staff, from my understanding cares a lot about this game. It sounds like they need capital and support. They also need suggestions and criticisms, which I fully support and take part in. I'm just not sure they need to hear. *ahem*

'You're failing! You're screwing up! All your effort is for naught, becuse i am still displeased!"

Pretty sure, many have made that clear. Reminders can't hurt right? Wrong, sometimes constant reminders can make even the most passionate, throw in the towel in search of greener pastures as well. I'd just like people to realize the ramifications of repeatedly casting blame or displeasure about something.

It does usually bring change, but is it change you want?

So I say, praise them or bash them, make your voice heard, but try not to beat your opinion into people's head, it ussually only causes resentment.

Even I usually back off when I'm chasing an idea or have a great purpose in mind(....eventually anyway) and I'm a stubborn (insert expletive here).

[CallakDW]

I'm not sure where you heard that there is no QA team, but that is completely not true. I would appreciate it if you would please fact check before starting rumors and assumptions. Angry or not, that is no way to show respect for those of us who ARE busting our backsides working to 10 to 15 plus hour days on Istaria.

I knew I heard this somewhere....

Most games have paid QA teams. Tulga had Illyist until EI arrived. We don't have a full-time QA person now. Wish we did. But thats the way things are. You deal with it as best you can.

And i respect the work you do, I dont' respect the fact that you have to do soooo much work because you don't have enough hired hands.

[LaughingOtter]

why shouldn't I be angry

Because anger makes it hard to have a rational conversation, for one. Not to mention that hostile responses tend to make people less inclined to interact with you. Anger also makes it more likely that you'll interpret any given fact in the most negative manner possible.

I don't think your concerns are unreasonable, but your responses are.

[CallakDW]

Whatever... I'm sorry I tried to light a fire again. Lock this thread, whatever. I'm going to go play Spore for a while.

[Takora Drakan]

I
And i respect the work you do, I dont' respect the fact that you have to do soooo much work because you don't have enough hired hands.

*sigh* If they had enough money they shure would hire more people! Please understand that!

[AmonGwareth]

I think it is best for everyone to take a step back and breath. It is what it is, getting upset and arguing isn't going to solve anything.

The thing to remember is that everyone is passionate about the game. We just have different expectations and ways of expressing it.

[LOVWYRM]

Well spoken, Silver!

Velea- most of us know that *gives Velea an urn filled with dragontea: lots of herbs, minerals and vitamins in that*

[Teto Frum]

Callak, firstly how have you been my friend, lol other than frustrated. I understand your frustration. Perhaps asking yourself if this Istaria is good enough for you. Vi has been very honest about the budget the game must run on, Im sure there isnt a financial consultant on the planet that would have recommended buying Horizons/Istaria when they did.

I feel with certainty there wouldnt be an Istaria still if not for them. They inherited a total mess, a game in collapse without even proper billing from half the customer base. Im sure Vi shares all our frustrations about the time its taken to just get this far. This has to be a labour of love for most of the team, i cant imagine its a financially sound game currently even with such a small team.

[CallakDW]

Some of my responses are unreasonable. They are so because I honestly don't know where VI can get funding wihout risking themselves and the game. I think they could get the money to boost things, but it would be a big risk, all borrowed money has to be payed back eventually and there is not really a guarantee that things will be improoved enough to repay such a debt and keep up the same standards. I think it is nessisary, it is a consern, and I'm just stating that this is what is needed. I should not have made the statements about anger towards VI that I did, but sometiems it's hard to tell anger from frustration. VI is doing all it can, at least that I am aware of, but I worry as usual that it is not enough.