VI i know your working hard but...

[Great Phoenix]

I have been lurking on these boards for awhile now hoping that better things would turn up but only to be disappointed. In the past I read on how many owners that this game have had and how they claimed that they can polish and fix the game. Many have tried, but all have failed. And I am 100% sure that VI will eventually fail.
The problem is from what im seeing and what I read is that the game is too huge of a program and the coding were messy for a small handful of developers to make any REAL progress on improvements. And sooner or later VI will have to bite the bullet and raise some serious money and and ditch those ANCIENT servers and get better servers (your not going to keep new subscribers for long if the server constantly lags or gets bugged or crashes over a small handfull of players.. sorry.) and get more developers to help make Istaria into what is meant to be.

But dont get me wrong, I love Istaria, the community and the developers who are working hard to make the game better (and love to play dragons and love the crafting system). But no matter how hard you resist the fact you need to find ways to raise more money. The game is not going to get anywhere fast enough for to hold any confidence I once had when i started playing Istaria. And if I had the cash I would pass out a $100 bill to every person betting that VI will too fail eventually.

Agree or disagree with what i just posted but its a solid fact that VI will need to raise money to make improvements.

So go ahead an critizise me, but I had to get this off of my chest on how i feel about the direction Istaria is heading.

[Knossos]

I am reminded of the very old saying:

"Darned fool did not know it was impossible - so he went ahead and did it anyway"

Knossos

[LOVWYRM]

"there is life in the old dog yet"
or how we say in Germany:
"Who is declared dead- lives longer"

[Akrion]

And sooner or later VI will have to bite the bullet and raise some serious money and and ditch those ANCIENT servers and get better servers (your not going to keep new subscribers for long if the server constantly lags or gets bugged or crashes over a small handfull of players.. sorry.)

Putting a bunch of money into new servers will not help nearly as much as you think it would. The servers arn't the problem and if VI were to have access to a bunch of money, it would be money wasted. If anything it would just mask the issue rather then solve it. A stable game with a strong foundation can make bad servers work well. Great servers can't make an unstable game with a crumbling foundation work well.

If VI had the money, the best thing they could do for Istaria would be to put it towards a better engine. It would give them a stronger foundation to work with and likely easier tools to use. Basically, the engine is the core of the game. And is likely the core of alot of the issues. Using the money, if they had it, to get to the root of the issue would far better then dumping a bunch of money into better servers that the already unstable game wouldn't be able to financially support for very long.

Unfortunately, moving the game to a better engine is probably one of the most expensive things you could do with it.

[Silverblaze]

I have been lurking on these boards for awhile now hoping that better things would turn up but only to be disappointed. In the past I read on how many owners that this game have had and how they claimed that they can polish and fix the game. Many have tried, but all have failed. And I am 100% sure that VI will eventually fail.
The problem is from what im seeing and what I read is that the game is too huge of a program and the coding were messy for a small handful of developers to make any REAL progress on improvements. And sooner or later VI will have to bite the bullet and raise some serious money and and ditch those ANCIENT servers and get better servers (your not going to keep new subscribers for long if the server constantly lags or gets bugged or crashes over a small handfull of players.. sorry.) and get more developers to help make Istaria into what is meant to be.

But dont get me wrong, I love Istaria, the community and the developers who are working hard to make the game better (and love to play dragons and love the crafting system). But no matter how hard you resist the fact you need to find ways to raise more money. The game is not going to get anywhere fast enough for to hold any confidence I once had when i started playing Istaria. And if I had the cash I would pass out a $100 bill to every person betting that VI will too fail eventually.

Agree or disagree with what i just posted but its a solid fact that VI will need to raise money to make improvements.

So go ahead an critizise me, but I had to get this off of my chest on how i feel about the direction Istaria is heading.

You had to come onto the forums and doomsay?

Not criticisng persay, just not understanding why the need to demoralize customers and devs alike.

[alastar devil]

What are you hoping to accomplish by posting this? Why the hell have I spent so much time playing this game??? Serious questions...geoducks may hold the answer, they have a special squirt attack, don't matter much how high your evasion is, they's just that good.

[Vaz]

A bit melodramatic, "Great Phoenix".

However, I do have a complaint to add: Virtrium ought to accept more of the free help they've been offered instead of ignoring it or politely telling it to frak off.

[alastar devil]

*Rating 114, Lvl 114 bivalve Geoduck uses Squirt attack VI, causing 10,000 Puget Sound RiffRaff Dmg, you have been killed*

[Theramin]

A bit melodramatic, "Great Phoenix".

However, I do have a complaint to add: Virtrium ought to accept more of the free help they've been offered instead of ignoring it or politely telling it to frak off.

There are a lot of reasons that "free" could be very expensive. The legal costs of dealing with just one incident could easily be more expensive than the cost of developing it all themselves.

Possible issues:

• some submits code or images from someone else's works (their company may own rights to the works or it was from open source that has licensing requirements)
• submitting malicious code (backdoors into the code)
• someone offering to help so they can search the code for vulnerabilities to exploit
• dealing with people when their changes are not accepted or are changed

They would probably love the help, but the risks to their business and the game have to be considered.

[Great Phoenix]

There are a lot of reasons that "free" could be very expensive. The legal costs of dealing with just one incident could easily be more expensive than the cost of developing it all themselves.

Possible issues:

• some submits code or images from someone else's works (their company may own rights to the works or it was from open source that has licensing requirements)
• submitting malicious code (backdoors into the code)
• someone offering to help so they can search the code for vulnerabilities to exploit
• dealing with people when their changes are not accepted or are changed

They would probably love the help, but the risks to their business and the game have to be considered.

yes, I must agree there

What are you hoping to accomplish by posting this? Why the hell have I spent so much time playing this game??? Serious questions...geoducks may hold the answer, they have a special squirt attack, don't matter much how high your evasion is, they's just that good.

*Rating 114, Lvl 114 bivalve Geoduck uses Squirt attack VI, causing 10,000 Puget Sound RiffRaff Dmg, you have been killed*

your not exactly accomplishing anything yourself making those posts alastar.

[velveeta]

a little laughter can accomplish a lot, gp!!!! have you ever seen a geoduck?

[Akuluxtraxas]

This game had a very rough start and truly never has recovered to become the game it was visioned to be. The lone reasons Istaria has survived are the community and the unique option of the mighty and wonderful Dragon.

In its current state it is hard pressed to ever grow much and while many developers have put insane effort and care into the game the funding, development team and original crew that knew the code and wrote it are nonexistant and likely never will be again.

But we have to look too at overall..so many games come and go and rise and fall. tons we once loved are shut down this day. Others hang by a thread. It is the reality of all things and Istaria (horizons as ill always still call it for its golden days of years ago are what i most remember) still hangs on today if only by that thread..how long will it? none know but most of us cant control its future simply enjoy it today or enjoy other games/activities today.

I have not felt Horizons would ever recover from EII and it probably wont but for many there are reasons to still play every day. While i myself play sporadically now and may feel the game has fallen much from its early days..I can say this..i have some of the best memories and had so much fun here it is impossible to list it all.

There are things about Horizons that make it special beneath all of its flaws (which are many) and while many of us wish it would somehow be reborn and finished even if it never is..it will always be a game we loved and enjoyed for a long time.

For its past and the trials Horizons has survived things that none could have believed..for a game that many bash and have never heard of..there has to be a silver lining or it wouldnt be here today. Enjoy what you can of it and make the best of the time it has for it could be shut down next week or last many more years..it has defied the odds so many times and while it may never be much more than it is now..there are many reasons to love the game and have been..as why it still lives on

[awdz]

I just don't understand why folks who profess to love the game put out posts with a fatalist attitude about it incorporated. Istaria is an awesome game and has grown every time it's been given TLC by the devs, which it is getting now. They've weathered worse than this economic downturn. See you in game!

[Raeshlavik]

I just don't understand why folks who profess to love the game put out posts with a fatalist attitude about it incorporated.

People in general are quite fatalistic these days... Just about anything can cause them to put the back of a hand to thier forehead and grow faint.

In some circles, finding the dark cloud in every silver lining is actually seen as a good character trait these days... I don't profess to understand it, I just see it a lot more than I used to.

And, hey, Istaria has been running for many years now and we only have the occasional doom and gloom post... Nowadays a game isn't even in the box before entire forums of naysayers are foaming at the mouth about it.

Istaria is an awesome game and has grown every time it's been given TLC by the devs, which it is getting now. They've weathered worse than this economic downturn. See you in game!

I agree. I've played, on and off, since release and I can tell you with 100 percent certainty that the world of Istaria is getting better with each patch.

Lets look at this objectively; since Virtrium came on the scene:

Blight is up and running, and gets routing test patches.
Lots of new first tier content has been added.
Lots of new end-game content has been added.
Works with Vista.
The egregious memory leak has been staunched a bit.
Developer folks actually talk to us on occasion.

And a lot of other stuff I'm missing because I have to run off to work...

Sure, there's been a few issues - mostly stemming from lack of people for proper QA, but Virtrium can only do so much.

So, yeah, people will shout "doom!" and run about pulling hair and screaming, but in the end Istaria will still be here and improving - and the rest of us will be having a great time.

[velveeta]

This game had a very rough start and truly never has recovered to become the game it was visioned to be. The lone reasons Istaria has survived are the community and the unique option of the mighty and wonderful Dragon.

In its current state it is hard pressed to ever grow much and while many developers have put insane effort and care into the game the funding, development team and original crew that knew the code and wrote it are nonexistant and likely never will be again.

But we have to look too at overall..so many games come and go and rise and fall. tons we once loved are shut down this day. Others hang by a thread. It is the reality of all things and Istaria (horizons as ill always still call it for its golden days of years ago are what i most remember) still hangs on today if only by that thread..how long will it? none know but most of us cant control its future simply enjoy it today or enjoy other games/activities today.

I have not felt Horizons would ever recover from EII and it probably wont but for many there are reasons to still play every day. While i myself play sporadically now and may feel the game has fallen much from its early days..I can say this..i have some of the best memories and had so much fun here it is impossible to list it all.

There are things about Horizons that make it special beneath all of its flaws (which are many) and while many of us wish it would somehow be reborn and finished even if it never is..it will always be a game we loved and enjoyed for a long time.

For its past and the trials Horizons has survived things that none could have believed..for a game that many bash and have never heard of..there has to be a silver lining or it wouldnt be here today. Enjoy what you can of it and make the best of the time it has for it could be shut down next week or last many more years..it has defied the odds so many times and while it may never be much more than it is now..there are many reasons to love the game and have been..as why it still lives on

thanx for the eloquence i just can't seem to find. everything you say here is what i believe and why i still play, after all the pain and hassle.

like awdz, i don't understand why someone who professes to love this game so much can be so eager to see it fall.
we should be happy with what we have while we have it, for peeps who have been around since before vi can tell you horizons is not guarenteed to still be around tomorrow.

but i suppose it makes some peeps feel better to understand how they see things, even if the rest of us feel it is negative. you keep stating your feelings, gp!!! most of us want to hear them.
i hope stating them like this allows you to get these feelings off your chest and make you eager to get into the game as it is until you get what you want.....

[Teto Frum]

I understand where your coming from GP, was there myself at one point, and left over it. BUT the grass isn't always greener on the other side, we all play games for our own reasons, and what brought me back was the fact that somewhere along the line I became an Istarian more than a gamer. Games I consider far superior from a game play standpoint couldn't hold my interest anymore.

Achievements in lands where no one cared seemed so much less important than in a world where small as it may be the community rejoices with you at any milestone you chose to pass along.

Do I still have some issues with game direction? YES. Do I think the game is understaffed and could use a cash infusion? YES, but I'm sure most at VI feel the same.

Has VI done a lot of improvements? TONS Will it be enough? WHO KNOWS all I know for sure that regardless of its many flaws Horizons is home and always will be for me now I'm back, I can't control much but i can at least guarantee VI will have my measley 15 bucks a month for as long as they keep the lights on.

[LOVWYRM]

so true Teto,
I totally agree

[Nisse]

And I am 100% sure that VI will eventually fail.

100%? Really? That kind of certainty must be nice.

[awdz]

It's kind of like, everything that lives, dies. Yep, eventually... I'm hoping it lasts till next century at least, though! :-)

[C`gan]

I do have to speak up and say that I disagree on one item in particular posted earlier.

In its current state it is hard pressed to ever grow much and while many developers have put insane effort and care into the game the funding, development team and original crew that knew the code and wrote it are nonexistant and likely never will be again.

How do you figure? Rick and a large number of the staff of VI are the same members of staff that were TG, were the same members of staff that were AE. Amon hasn't changed that I know of. LaughingOtter is still the same LaughingOtter we knew back in the tazoon.com days. I've gotten responses back on tickets from some of the same names back in the early days. Granted, some people are gone and muchly missed. Zideon, Smeglor, David, Baela, Rawdge, and the rest each have had an integral part in the success of this game. However, there is no reason to believe that just because some are gone (and hopefully will be asked to return) all are gone.