Istaria's future: proactive or reactive?

[Rayth]

sorry if we (meaning the elder players) sound like we are giving you a hard time. we have been thru a lot together and we tend to speak shortly because we (again meaning the elder players) have heard everything each other has to say over the years.......i apologise if i seemed argumentative, that is not my intention and i am sure it is not the intention of most of the elder players.

what lov meant is that this team, unlike some in the past, feels it is better to wait until they are ready to release content before going into detail about it, rather than make promises that they are unable to deliever on later.......

I never asked them to make promises on the release of content, BL or otherwise. This is common practice in most MMO's, so I wouldn't expect it to be different here.

As far as the rest of it, I'm not the least bit offended with any of the responses. People are defending the developers and their game. Honorable.

All I ask is that if I do list the negatives that people look at them at face value and don't immediatly think I am attacking the game or simply complaining. On the contrary, I want this game to be more applealing to my friends so I am more likely to log in. And that is what the goal is right, keep the core of the game intact while trying to get additional subscribers?

I am not looking for a WoW clone, I would be playing WoW if I wanted that. I don't want to change most of the core values of the game, simply increase the content and update the adventuring mechanics and interface to the point that it's interesting to those that like a challenge.

[Rayth]

Beta is something for a game that is not released, and Istaria is as far as I know. If you want to "betatest content" hop on blight and have fun.

Beta's do exist beyond the original release of a game.

Enjoy yourself.

[Takora Drakan]

That's what I basically said in my second pararaph of the post, which you seem to have been not reading.

[Rayth]

That's what I basically said in my second pararaph of the post, which you seem to have been not reading.

No I read it. As I didn't ask where a Beta would reside, it didn't matter. Having said that, if one were to occur it may or may not be on Blight.

All you did really was continually respond with a flippant answers, as you don't seem to see the value of players testing BL before it hits Blight for what I considered RC testing.

As I said, enjoy yourself ingame.

[AmonGwareth]

Alright folks, lets keep things civil. You know the forum rules and you're skirting REAL close to them right now. If you can't discuss this matter, then we'll close it.

[awdz]

I'm not sure what a beta test would be, if Blight is not it...
Maybe that's what that extra server was for?
Or maybe the devs are taking some well-earned opportunity to beta test it themselves.

I'm trying not to go nuts with curiousity until they roll it into the public eye! :-)

[LaughingOtter]

Blight is the test server, and that's where things will be tested. Testing on Blight vs beta testing is a distinction without a difference.

[GalemThawn]

"a distinction without a difference"

I like that line.

[Creme]

you need to play horizons for what it is now, not what it can or will or should be. if what is happening now is enough, then whatever the gods have in plan for the future will either be something great or something that makes the game no longer fun for you.
it would be better for you to save your money in hopes of something kewl happening in the future than come to resent the game for not being what you want it to be.

If the intention is to eventually advertise the game and grow the playerbase, then this is not going to be sufficient to new players to the extent that players will stay; we will see what we've seen in the past, players coming in, exhausting the content, demanding more new content and leaving. There will be, of course, some that stay; however for long term growth, there probably should be some ongoing plans to continue providing content.

Now, I'm a long time player, so I'm not going to be one demanding new content every couple of months, but I do recognize that this is the reason (among many others) that players have left in the past, and the expectation of current generation MMO players.

[LOVWYRM]

Creme, I do agree- said it myself some posts ago.
But a serious question:
How long does an average "player of the current generation" needs to exhaust the content? I have no idea.
How long does the company (in our case VI) expects a player to pay for subs regulary?
Isen`t game hopping a common behavior among that new player generation?

Maybe complete new conceptions are necessary, e.g.:" Let them hopp but bring them back again"?
Or bind them with something else than never ending new content, which again is exhausted tomorrow?
(VI leads here: communication with devs, blight server, plots that are taken if not paid, but novians stay, and a long term, respected playerbase, that makes the community stable).

We could see new games start with an incredible amount of servers- if they survived- with only a few servers left- though there were new content/expansions (exception WoW I assume- but this is really something different)

Back to Istaria and my question: Am I completely wrong when I state, that it takes (at least) a year to exhaust our game?
Well a year- that is much in the fast moving lifes of mmorpg`s.

[Dragonboy]

I think that new players wanting to do everything the game has to offer in a sence of adventure... epic loot, prepare for labyrinth it will probably take longer then a year.
Not even talking about crafting a plot or lair.

[Sigi]

Adding to LOVWYRMs post.
The joy of Istaria for me is that its a game that can be played leisurely. No fast pace, looking over your shoulder, compatitive, hurry hurry hurry game.
I don't know how long it takes to exhaust, to get a dragon all the way 100/100/100 all quests done and a full build layer. I don't know how long it takes for a biped to get all schools to a 100, a full build plot and all quests done. I know I'm playing for a long time now, I started 3, 4 months after the European release and I still haven't finished everything.
And, beside all the things you can "finish" in game playing Istaria is also about the community and your on-line friends, that's an ongoing thing and just like real life isn't only about "finishing" things.

I think there is a whole potential of subscribers out there who aren't looking for more, faster, flashier but for a game they can play for relaxation, who would probably like a game like Istaria but never look at mmo's because they think it's all WoW and clones.
How to hook those?

[Dragonboy]

1. Internet advertisement.
2. Start selling the game in the stores again with 1 month free play like when I bought the game.
3. Maybe some interviews for MMORPG.com and other simular sites telling the readers what makes Istaria different from normal mainstream mmorpgs.

This all after the labyrinth and vista fix is live of course.

[AmonGwareth]

2. Start selling the game in the stores again with 1 month free play like when I bought the game.

Ain't gonna happen. The costs involved in getting games into stores is quite high. And no publisher will do it unless they are going to make money.

[Deth]

Maybe offer it on Steam or Impulse as a digital download.

[Vahrokh]

Instead of boxes no one cares for any more, use google ads.

Every time type "dragons" "game dragons" and similar keywords, on the upper right you'd see Istaria camping with it's description. Also, on top of the search result.

It's probably well in reach for a small company to put those ads and they are super-visible even to casual surfing.

[Velea]

We had google ads running for a while, Vahrokh. Stopped them for now to make the most of the marketing budget at the right time.

[abtarus18]

i think if you are gonna market this game and are gonna make it big you are gonna have to make a couple changes and make the game somewhat like other games, cause obviously, thats what sells.

- this game needs more pvp, i've only been to lvl 15 and on the blight server so i dont really know how the pvp on here works, but a lot of BIG games have really nice pvp systems, you dont have to make one as complex as most games are but something along those lines really helps
- like in GuildWars, the story lines in all the games in the quests are really thought out and make the game really fun, and you get end game prizes and stuff like that, that make the game really cool.

idk, something along those lines. after playing just for 4 days those are just some things i think could make the game just a little more attractive sort of say.

[Sigi]

Luckily. according to me, we don't have PvP. The thing coming closest is the arena, a place you can go to to fight your friends. But the rest of Istaria is safe .

Exept for the common enemy of course

[abtarus18]

well ya thats what i mean, like arenas and stuff, i wasn't talking about PK'ing or whatever it is, although that would be fun sometimes too, but this game really doesn't have a good side and a bad side, its just kinda all around whoever, but i think there should be like team arenas and stuff for the people who like to pwn other players for fun haha