Developer's Desk Special Edition

[Amarie Ancalimon]

Please use this thread to discuss the fall's Developer's Desk.

[Chasing]

*Disclaimer*
Your arent going to like this

I've ignored the first 3 paragraphs as it was just 'waffle' to me.

Yes, Istaria is very much where we expected it to be, very in line with the vision for the game, but that doesn’t mean that we won’t continue to making changes, won’t continue to build on the foundation of what is is now, and won’t continue to add new content.

That worries me greatly, the sheer amount of feedback given over the latest changes suggests that a large percentage of the player base does not agree with 'the vision' of the game. Perhaps you should publish this vision so we can make our own minds up.

As long as we have people who are interested in playing, we’ll do our best to keep providing them with something fun to play.

But thats the problem, people are talking about stopping playing and leaving the game. The only thing that is keeping myself personally in game is the community. Now I'm not implying that every change is bad (the loot revamp doesnt bother me personally) but people are losing interest and you have said it yourself in developers desk that people are saying they are bored and there is nothing to do.

It just means that the game has cycled to a point where about a tenth of the population of players have reached the end of the game. They’ve done everything there is to do. They’ve seen everything there is to see. Those people have come to a point where they will leave for a while.

10% of the playerbase has reached the endgame? I think you need to rework your figures. I have just done a player search of Chaos at a non peak time and it showed me a % which is a lot higher than what you have quoted. Additionally I think you will find a lot of other players will also give this feedback.

As you people leaving the game, the idea is to retain players, not to tell them to go and play something else. If you work in a shop, do you tell a customer not to bother and go and buy something from the nearest competitor.

Now I am just expressing my opinions, which is exactly what you have asked for at the end of the developers desk. Perhaps I have misread what you have written in the middle paragraphs but it sounds to me like I should consider cancelling my 7 subs and just go find another game to play.

[Guaran]

I'm glad Vitrium has listened to players concerns as of late, and is working to address them.

[lightning claw]

Well at least the ages will no longer be dormant !

But in the mean time would it be possible for once a month to shake things up a bit It dose not need to be an all day occurrence we would be more than happy with a dev loging in saying hi talking with the community (Much like amon did this passed week ) and before he leaves spawns XX number of mobs in 3 towns and tells us to go find them !

That would be so much fun it would cause me to sub up for another 6 months

[Shian]

Shian looks forward to war. (and the blight anchors that keeps up busy until that war is here)

I'll wait here then.

[Kesqui]

But in the mean time would it be possible for once a month to shake things up a bit It dose not need to be an all day occurrence we would be more than happy with a dev loging in saying hi talking with the community (Much like amon did this passed week ) and before he leaves spawns XX number of mobs in 3 towns and tells us to go find them !

This.... but weekly.

Thirty minutes per server once a week, maybe?

[Vahrokh]

May I ask some questions?

The game’s current producer, Velea

What does it mean? Velea is a content developer? C++ programmer? Production supervisor? Sponsor? My English is darn poor, despite playing Istaria (and RetroMUD) are the two things that teached me this tongue.

No game lasts forever for any one person, or even small group of people. The fact that Istaria has had some people who have played the game continuously since release is, to me anyway, an amazing testament to all those who have worked on the game over the years.

Istaria could last forever for me (despite I am forced to take random and long pauses) if it had enough playerbase for me to socialize, trade etc. It's THE game where someone may socialize with most players.

Yes, Istaria is very much where we expected it to be, very in line with the vision for the game

I don't seem to be able to understand well.
Could you pretty please state what is Virtrium's vision for the game? The goals?

I have seen a lot, really a LOT of hard work has been done.
But I don't fully understand for what.
Since several years ago I took population snapshots at prime time and have witnessed a slow but sure and continued bleed. This is natural, people DO get bored of MMOs, expecially since some features (ie crafting) last just 20 levels then they change name and get repeated for the next tier.
Now, what's desired in every MMO is a constant inflow of new faces. A MMO DIES without a constant influx of old faces.

And this is where I noticed a long standing story of NOT even trying to get new faces. Sure, I really appreciated the new quests. LOVE the new items, techs etc. LOVE the labirynth and much more. They make Istaria so rich, so full of features, so lovely.

But something is missing. The players. Istaria with its inherent birth flaws would never score high but it DESERVES some thousands of players.
So, if they don't come, it's because there's a missing link between potential players and the first subscription being signed and paid.

You Virtrium should not sleep at the night by the brainstorming made to understand why this missing link exists. It's many little bits, beginning with the absolute lack of ANY advertisment where it counts, continuing with the 1998 look main web site that all but entices people to to try. I could go on but there's a very long story of me being banned or posts deleted instead of listened to when I try to bring in suggestions so I won't go further ahead.

As long as we have people who are interested in playing, we’ll do our best to keep providing them with something fun to play

... and this is basically it. The Root Of All Evil. The plan to keep doing an outstanding work till there's someone left, when the attitude should be about FIGHTING the natural tendency of old players to quit over time by bringing in new ones, a lot of them. You'll have a job forever if you bring in new guys, it's years and years I whine about this, I counted players going from 5k (total) to 2k to 1k to 500 and now to 100-150 on Chaos.

Why do we hear about Blight Deltas and not also about active marketing campaings?
Don't you know that every time we players log in, we lose a bit of hope at seeing friends bleeding away? The motivation to grind the next 100000000 mobs for 1 reagent is lower, the motivation to grind the next billion of T5 bricks for plots is lower when we know by 1-2 years there could be no more place to call home any more. Order players are slowly rolling and coming to play here because Order is deserting. Blight has *1* player some times.

Vi seems parachuting a slow decline instead of resurrecting a game that deserves MORE than many current MMOs - and those B class MMOs have at least 10-100 times the players.

Sure as you say, players get bored and quit, then come back. But we know that even with 9 out of 10 players getting back later, the result is depletion. Retention is never 100%, it's why MMOs usually get a turnover of new players to (ideally more than) offset those who leave for good.

[atevor]

as a new player i must say , the only reason i knew of this game is a friend played it back at launch , he left not to long after that, as of now i have not ran out of things to do just yet which is good, but on the down side i do not have other new players to go out and adv with so i can see where the vet's are upset too is that they dont have any thing left to do not even helping new players with hard quests.

with out a vet player base all new players will think the game is on its way out and not to bother paying a sub after the trial is up since the older players wont even stay, you said you will do things to the game as long as someone wants to play but what happens when everything you do drives the last of the players away.

honestly you guys should be out posting on every mmo site how its only 10$ a month to play this game, with the economy the way it is ppl will jump on that ,also after playing a biped and a dragon , it is way to easy level as a dragon more so as a lunus , while i and many others enjoy playing as a dragon those who want to just be a biped need to be somewhat on par, a dragon of course is supposed to be mean and tough and really hard to beat,
but what fun is it that you have to be one specific race to uber .

[Riaken]

I too, have cycles with this game, but I continue to pay my monthly subscription so my plot isn't reclaimed, and pop on once in awhile. You still get my money, just not my playtime. Many others are like that too. When I don't want to play, and pay it is because of changes to the game that diminish the game experience. Nerfs and badly thought out fixes to game come to mind.

Which brings me to the first of those concerns that players have raised that I alluded to earlier. Many of the more recent posts giving us feedback on the current changes in some way or another talk about how long time players of Istaria are becoming “bored� with the game, are finding it “not fun� any more.

I have read one post from a rating 278, wondering what there is to do now. I know a couple people on my server(Chaos) that have an ancient dragon and 278 rating bi-ped, and they still playing more then me. They help with the quality of other players in game. They also try to do things that many players want. Player made events. It's not all about getting rare loot, crafting or leveling classes. They want to put their hardwork to use.

They’ll be gone for 6 months, maybe longer, or perhaps shorter. But during that time, we at Virtrium will continue to add new content. We’ll continue to improve upon existing content.

Doom and the T2 revamp were brilliant, many people have yet to experience these adds. Case in point, many people don't know about the frozen/rune flame tech.

Your broken items content sounds interesting, and I'll stay playing to see that happen. Blight anchors is a plus for me.

[Knossos]

Thank you Amarie for inviting players to discuss this Special Developer's Desk edition.


I expect that I am considered a Veteran of Istaria having now been continuously subscribed for nearly 6 and ½ years and this main toon has been in game for over 21,000 hours.


Until the recent Blight Delta 190 I have given little thought as to why I should not leave Istaria (and to not include Istaria on any list of candidate alternative games I might consider). I sincerely hope in this light that my comments may be taken seriously as my having been dedicated to the game, the community and the developers for a very long time should be clearly evident.


I am convinced that the Veterans are the “glue� holding together what is left of the player base.


I would suggest that the forthcoming “Commander Spawns� are a most encouraging forward plan but will do nothing, until released to live, to keep veteran players, to bring old players back, or to attract new players to Istaria.


To bring back blight anchors with urgency will do much to relieve boredom of that segment of the veteran playerbase who like to hunt but are not necessarily up to the challenges of the Satyr Islands, and should potentially improve the hunting, and perhaps grouping, experience of the lower level players..


To begin the incremental desecration of the Satyr Island Spawns as outlined in the Blight Delta 190 discussion thread will certainly lead to the departure of a significant veteran portion of our player base. Bringing back additional Blight Anchors will not replace the current Satyr Island hunting challenge. To introduce the tech comp revamp to not include the Satyr Islands mobs will remove the reward of the challenge of the Satyr Island spawns (challenging mostly because of not only the spawn density but also the characteristic of experienced hunters having modest control over the spawning and respawing as some mobs must be killed to spawn another type, and some mobs must not be killed or types they spawn will not be available again for a while). Market price of the high tier planned “broken items� based weapons, jewelry and scales are not likely to come at all close to the market value of the current Satyr Island Tech Comps.


My plea to the development team is that this major overhaul of the game not be brought live on an incremental basis and take a few to many months to bring about a rebalance on the live shards.


Please, please finish development of the alternative to the current Satyr Island/Tech Comp arrangement before bringing this revamp to live. To release this change over more than a single update to live will, in my view, place the future of Istaria in serious jeopardy. The “glue� will certainly melt.


Of course, should I be under a false impression as to what is being planned please shed some light that will offer me encouragement.


Knossos

[Uther Blade]

We do this by weighing in new perspectives, as well as old perspectives.

This is good.. new is always good.. but dismissing the old perspectives is hurtful to the customer base and the game. New people should not eclipse the established base, you don't have enough new loyal customers coming in to replace the old base.

but the many and varied teams that have developed the game have created a richer, more deeply defined and unique game in the process."

I'd agree and disagree with this equally. No need to say why I agree.

I disagree because.. the original vision of the game is war to save the world we live in and build on a frontier that has been destroyed or just needs built up. This is the the vision that brought the elder players in, loyalty and love of the game has kept us here thru it all.

As I look at Istaria, any MMO really, I see the game as having cycles.

This IS the MOST unique game in the MMO world. The only thing that has truly cycled in this game is ownership. And now the vision, but that is not a cycle, it is (IMO) a bad decision by the current team to reformulate the game. Forcing a square peg into a round hole.

No game lasts forever for any one person, or even small group of people. The fact that Istaria has had some people who have played the game continuously since release is, to me anyway, an amazing testament to all those who have worked on the game over the years.

Nice to be appriciated as a paying customer. Developers keep games going because of the sub base. Customers leave games due to the actions or inactions of developers. The life of an MMO is in direct proportion to the customer base liking the dev's leadership and vision, if those are lacking.. so does sub base.. and eventually the game will die.

I know from my own personal experience that I tend to have a 6 month cycle where I change games, pretty much tied to when my character(s) reach the end game. Most development teams simply can not create content quickly enough to keep their end game players involved and active in the game.

　
I appriciate your experience and love of MMOs. But, experience is different for everyone. Your statement here discounts those that have stayed thru it all.
My wife, Thaalia 342 days played/Holth 600+ days played (/info) has been in game almost everyday since she started playing in April 04, I myself went thru the dreaded Vista blank until it was fixed. But, I only played one other MMO in that period. So, I currently play two MMOs and love them both.
Istaria is not about "end game", it is about 2 things:
1. The challenge to figure out how to do something, and even then complete it without 10 trips to the tavern.
2. The community of people that don't know each other, but laugh with (and sometimes at) each other.

Its nice to know you play lots of other MMOs, but what about this one.. with out Uber-God mode. Unknown and observant and learning about the bugs first hand, not relying on the forums and player rants. Play with us face to face in game.

I read these posts and think to myself that this is understandable. It isn’t meant as a flippant remark to say that if you’re bored with Istaria, that means it is time to stop playing for a while and play something else. It just means that the game has cycled to a point where about a tenth of the population of players have reached the end of the game.

That is not an accurate statement at all. If your going by total subs that is especially not acurate, I have 4 subs and 2 of the subs are at "end game". There is a lot of disparity to the elder player base in both assumption and accounting. The elder players of Istaria are not your typical players. They are loyal, but only to a point, and many have posted they are at that point.
You count subs but you need to check e-mails connected to those subs and realize if elder players leave.. you'll lose a lot more than a tenth of your base.

Those people have come to a point where they will leave for a while. They’ll be gone for 6 months, maybe longer, or perhaps shorter. But during that time, we at Virtrium will continue to add new content.

The guild leader of 'Axe and Anvil' left Istaria and started his guild in another game, and those players in that other game say they won't come back. I know because I take guff for still playing Istaria.
And, don't kid yourself about any mass exodus that is pending.. 85% would not come back. MMO players need elder players in game to answer questions and help with new gear. Loyal customers stay.. your goal is to

It’s our job here at Virtrium to continually update and expand the world so there are new experiences for those who want to keep playing, and can have something they’re excited to share with their friends.

Where is your possition on getting old players back and new customers in? Is that the player bases responsibility? Where is the reward? Other MMO companies reward the player base with a free month for refered customers.

Thaalia posted pics on Massively.com and got Beau Hindman to come play Istaria for a week, and he gave a good review of the game. How many other sites are out there that would do the samething if the Dev team took time to ask them to come check it out? Any time you add new or update content why aren't you contacting sites that would provide free advertisments for Istaria?

What other company in the world relys on its paying customers to bring in new business? There isn't. Don't ask us to do all your advertising for you.
　

The bottem line is that you discount elder players in hopes that you will get new players to stay.. players you say yourself don't stay in a game but for 6 months. To survive you need a loyal base to feed the new player info and equipment. Shifting your vision too far can shift the vision of your customers too.

For me this isn't about content, value or end game.. its about loyalty.

[Riaken]

Well put Uther Blade. After the merge from the many shards to Chaos/Order, I came back with nothing but a suit of 2 teched steel platemail. Selling a few rare items I mustered some coin, not much, and asked to buy some crafting gear. Klaus from Mithril Council gave me a nice set of cargo gear and some tools for free to a returning player.

If the community wasn't so great I would have said forget this game and moved on. This type of community is what keeps people here, makes the game less confusing and makes it the most enjoyable Mmo I have ever played. This type of giving and enjoyable community is contagious, and without the veterans what will happen?

[Vahrokh]

Where is your possition on getting old players back and new customers in? Is that the player bases responsibility? Where is the reward? Other MMO companies reward the player base with a free month for refered customers

More low cost expansion ideas:

1) Refurbish the main web site a little. There's tons of super-low cost people that could do it, just fiddle with "rentacoder.com" and similar for some minutes.

2) Every single MMO company are releasing their expansions or starting advertising campaings for the Christmas vacations, that is when lots of people have time to play MMOs. Even already successful MMOs try pushing their numbers with "power of two", "bring in a friend" etc. They also tell prominent MMO web sites about their initiative (usually with the excuse of submitting them some other news) so they get nice and free coverage.

3) Every tiny bit the other MMOs do, it is shouted everywhere, podcasts are made, youtube videos and an articles sent to review sites to see and they are always hungry about something new to publish.
Istaria released something close to an expansion (Doom + revamps) and yet not a single of my friends who are in MMOs EVER heard of that.

4) Basically, dear Virtrium, congratulations at working very hard for the joy of Istaria players, your timely intervention saved this lovely MMO from sure death.

But it's not all done now. It's time to stand up and with our continued support to fight our (I don't say "your" because I feel many went beyond what a game company may expect from anonymous subs payers) way back to success. No need to become the next Blizzard, realistic expectations are the best to have, but at least to stand in par with the sort of success of other "low but loyal pop base" MMOs.

For this to happen, we don't need a pure genius of game designer like Rob Pardo, nor the effectiveness of a Jeff Kaplan (linked an article worth reading) nor a producer like Bill Roper. We just need a vision of a future with some thousand players that manage to keep the numbers stable across the years.

May we dream of this being made possible?

This is not a question for us players to answer, we can only stand loyal and buy you some more time, the rest has to come from You Devs of Virtrium.

[Teto Frum]

I've read and reread and reread that article again, rinsed and repeated that several times trying to figure out what it is trying to say. I'm still not sure I've got it to be honest.

Did the development team just issue a letter encouraging the leaving of Istaria, stop being a paying customer, it's only natural move on don't hang on. That is a different increase membership subs strategy than I'd have thought of.

Ten percent at the end game?, about 75% would be my guess when you factor in the number of vets with multiple subs.

I for one can tell you I'm not bored yet, fearing a change that you think will create boredom is not being bored currently. A game change that leads to any sort of noticable exodus is not a cycle it is a bad idea.

I'm not sure what will make it live but I fear the games very existance hinges on what does come live, obviously VI doesn't share that perspective by the letter. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm over reacting, but I enjoy Istaria and spend lots of time in it and don't wanna see it become someplace I don't wanna be or some place that might not be here for others to enjoy.

This isn't a cycle its a complete revamp of the games very foundation of teched gear, one of its shining beacons of greatness and the respawning of the most unique challenging hunting in the MMO world. Maybe the new change will be better, I dont see how and the risk seems huge to be just dismissed as a game cycle of veterens tiring out.

I hope all works out and the Devs get what they need and the players what they want. LONG LIVE ISTARIA

[Frith-Rae]

I..really didn't see that as an encouragement to "cycle through to other games and come back later." I saw that more as an acknowedgement of the nature of the genre/players and that honestly they can't do everything to keep everyone here - it is natural for playres to come on go and cycle through games and return.

I'm not saying "hey nothing to worry about here move along" - I just don't know why pepole are freaking out because they merely acknowledged a fact of the Genre's existance that is no secret to any of us (or shouldnd't be).

I do agree that, if you take out all the end-game-players-who-have-alt-subs, its probably closer to 70-80% of the population of this game has reached end game. For some of those who have multiple accounts, or subs its because end game isn't "where its at" and they have more fun leveling through or having a different class/race experience. Some do it because they do it regardless of game - they like alts.

But 1/10th? no, no where close... Course that doesn't even count the people who didn't/haven't made it to end game because they didn't feel any NEED or PUSH to do so (like myself). They've already realized that its "nothing enough new" to rush out to. *shrugs*

But the fact is, if enough players leave - wether through the "natural cycle" or in response to a game's changing direction they disagree with - you won't continue to develop new content because there won't be enough cashola to do. Players returning? I think in the past two years I've seen MAYBE 1/4 of the players "returning" at all, and even less portion of that continue to play for longer than another 1-2 months before giving up again.

Maybe others friends' lists are lighting up, but I think I know 4 who have returned, and maybe 2 who actually still stayed awhile...

Not that I think anyone's "fooling" themselves on numbers (including the devs) but I do think there are steps that others have mentiond here it would greatly behoove the game owners to make - that they just haven't. For whatever reason. There are at least a few ideas that would take very little money (or none) to do, but they just aren't being bothered with - not at a rate to really "spread the word" so to speak.

And I agree, the new "gamer" attitude IS different for many - who won't be devoting 1-2 years to a game or character development. Which makes those of us willing to do so all the more valuable and rare. The gamers who come for 1-3 months and quit aren't going to be the ones floating the boat for the future 7 years of this development.

I'm certanily not saying nothing needs to be revamped or changed - many things about this game drive me nuts, A dragon race and the community keep me subbed, not the game content or mechanics, at all, honestly - even if like others I go periods of no activity logging in. But that really does'nt matter if my sub is active...ultimately. The money keeps the door open, even if the lack of my presence in game causes others to give up...(or the combined lack of friends in game causes others to leave as they take siestas never to return..)

[LOVWYRM]

I did not feel offended by that Special Edition.
I take it with a pinch of salt:
Forum posts are not ment to win the noblel-prize of literature, nor are they
degree dissaertations in psychology .
I got the point- I knew before^^P

More important is, that we can see that the team is listening to us, that they are willing to change plans, because we are not satisfied with their work.
To be honest- I do not envy the team atm- imagine you were in their shoes.

Lots of our wishes will be fulfilled with next patch. I hope the most important ones, to make as many player happy as possible.

I`m looking forward!

Until then- we- who love the game so much that we play it for so many years- should give the all the support we can offer.
If we want to co-decide, we have to take our part of responsibility too.

[Amarie Ancalimon]

A small point of clarification here... Please read again. I never said that only a tenth of the population have reached the "end game". I said a tenth of the population have reached the end OF the game, have met their goals, done all their is to do, etc. Obviously with as many players who have played for years as we have, the number who are at the "end game" content level is considerably higher.. but that does not mean those players have reached the end OF the game.

[Holth]

Thank you for your post Amarie, it's always welcome to have communication with the folks at Virtrium.

Istaria's creation was genius, especially for it's time. The various dev teams that have poured their blood, sweat and tears into it's diversity and uniqueness are to be commended. It's owners and players have gone through more ups and downs than any game has had a right to and survive. And the reason it has survived is because of the love and dedication of owners and players.

Istaria is not an easy game to learn or play. The learning curve for new players is huge. The grind to make it past level 30 in any class is way more than most gamers have the patience to stick out. And in most ways that's a good thing. Not because it's hard, but because the players that do stick with it and take the time to learn the game are intelligent folks who want a challenge. They are the folks that make the community what it is.

Most folks that play Istaria also play or have played other on-line games. I know I have tried/played many and have never found anything that has made me feel at home like I do in Istaria. And the reason for that, for me, is simple. Like you said Amarie, every other game has a level cap that you hit and then there is nothing else to do till new content comes in. Istaria doesn't really have a level cap. You hit 100 and move on to the next class and hit 100 and you still have 27 more classes to hit 100. You have 19 crafting classes to work on. After a year or so of play you haven't even come close to 1/4 of those classes started, let alone done. By that time most folks have more than one subscription and now have several plots/lairs to build. And then there is a dragon to play if you haven't already tried one. More classes to finish. More things to build. More years go by. Meanwhile more content is added, you make more friends that need help. More years go by.

And that is why there are players who have lived in Istaria for almost 7 years. There is no end. There is no real level cap.

That is the brilliance of this game and the vision that needs to never go away.

I do have a "however" here, and it's a big one. I feel that the dev team has lost sight of something that is huge. Continuity. Yes, we all love new content and soak it up faster than you can deliver it. But we also crave patterns in our lives. Things that are the same every year. That's why everyone, the world over, celebrates the changing of the seasons. I think I am not alone in saying that I would much rather wait a week or two or three for new content to give the dev team time to patch in the festivals. They don't have to even be new festivals. But putting them in for a month or two and then taking them out gives us that reassurance of the patterns of our lives and the changing seasons.

It's been almost 2 years (maybe more) since you announced the loyalty program. We are still patiently waiting for that to happen. When Dralnok's Doom came in and with the tier 2 revamp you added many world machines for us to build. They are all built, but they are still not turned on. Why not take a week and throw the whole dev team at these things and get them working? It's those little things that make us feel like you are losing sight of the big picture. All these loose threads slowly unweave the tapestry of continuity.

The other reassurance we need is to see the logical progression of what you are doing. We need to see that there is a long term plan. First we saw the tier 1 revamp. Then Dralnok's Doom patched in, then the tier 2 revamp. At that time you changed all the quartermasters for tiers 1-3. Now we are seeing a tier 5 loot revamp and all the quartermasters are being changed again. After that you will have to go back and do the tier 1 and tier 2 loot revamps. And now you are working on revamping the satyr islands. What happened to the tier 3 revamp? To me at least, this seems like a very illogical progession. It makes it look like you are making things up as you go along. Hopscotching from one idea to another. Trying to rush new content and not thinking it through clearly. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'm looking at it from a player's perspective and this is what I see.

Istarian players are gifted (no pun intended) with an incredible amount of patience. If it takes longer than planned to push new content we will wait. As long as we know it's well thought out and makes sense and it's not just thrown at us in pieces because you think new content is all that we crave, we will wait.

So stop and fix things. Put in the festivals and take some time away from the new content so you can go back and look at it through fresh eyes. Come in and play with us and get the "player perspective" back. Give us a reason to keep waiting patiently.

Thaalia of Order

[Rhezara]

Firstly, I myself have only been playing roughly a year + a few months.

But its true, I have already in that short time has reached the 'end' of the game. And I am beginning to find myself taking longer, and longer breaks- returning to some of the other games I used to play(who by now have had many things added to them- they are much larger games though.).

I agree with Holth, who took the words out of my mouth and turned them into a very elaborate post. :3

When i was newer player and the Fall season had started up, i could just imagine the players faces, grinning with hope, and joy of the coming festival that had come at this time of years for many years, but dreading the thought that it may not return this year. For the older players who want to find joy those events held again, and for new players to experiance them- create those memorys- is very important.

While new content is always a nice idea, it keeps our attention, makes us grip the game closer. You also need to put it in so its not 'out-of-order-' or just placed out on the table without any thought to whats going into it. I think most of us would rather wait longer for a nice, thought out content then just 'anything'. Or like Holth said machines to make but dont actually DO anything/ work. I have a bad memory, and doing things in order not only make it easy for players but it also keeps things more organized, i would say.

The last thing i would like to bring up is that i do not find Istaria to be as challanging as it once was. The best EX. is RoP, It used to test the strength and will of a hatchling, but now it seems that with the all the shortcuts, the Shadow Dragon knock-down, and others, that it is no longer the great quest we once knew. Its no longer a challange but rather just one more minor quest. I was VERY dissapointed in the changes, as were some of the other players. I refused to accept the changes for a long time, earning your wings was never ment to be sucha easy process in my opinion, the joy of earning them was what made me fill in pride when i first took wing to the great skies. It hardley fills me so much anymore. Do not get me wrong though, as i am not one of the great minds in the game, i do get why it was changed. On that note- i would like to see a bit more challange to the game, something what will have us cursing and laughing at the same time, having to use the wits the great Istarian players have to out-smart the problem/ beast.
-

On a lighter note, I think that the plans for this fall will be a GREAT push to the game, and the dragon 're-birth/ new options' will make a lot of players happy, including me!

As long as Istaria is running, no matter how long the breaks i may take, i will always return. This game is like a giant family, people welcome others with open arms/ wings. I have never met nicer and more thoughtful people. I believe- that is what makes Istaria so special compared to other games, and makes the players who truly got into the game come back over and over.

- Scarlenett / Rhezara of chaos

[Andaras]

This whole thing may sound like bashing to many, I am sure. Just understand, I am not aiming
any personal slams, nor attacks. I am stating my own opinions and feelings about this game and
the current direction of development. I add my commentary as addition to what Lady Thaalia
and Uther have already posted, which I second.

The current Dev Team has done some wonderful things since they regained ownership. I would be
one of many that applaud them for the intense effort, and the dedication they show to keeping this
world alive. Many new things have been added, with more goodies to come in the near future.

So you understand exactly where I am coming from. I started playing shortly after release (Jan 04),
and I have never once quit paying to play this game. I love this world, the Crafting system, the
building of plots, and the potential I see in this world. I love Istaria so much I have 4 accounts,
4 plots, and Alts-galore that I dream someday will each grow to become Elders in their own right.

With that said. *climbs on soapbox*
-----------------------
Developers Desk
-----------------------
Which brings me to the first of those concerns that players have raised that I alluded to earlier.
Many of the more recent posts giving us feedback on the current changes in some way or
another talk about how long time players of Istaria are becoming “bored” with the game,
are finding it “not fun” any more. I read these posts and think to myself that this is
understandable. It isn’t meant as a flippant remark to say that if you’re bored with Istaria,
that means it is time to stop playing for a while and play something else. It just means that
the game has cycled to a point where about a tenth of the population of players have reached
the end of the game. They’ve done everything there is to do. They’ve seen everything there
is to see. Those people have come to a point where they will leave for a while. They’ll be
gone for 6 months, maybe longer, or perhaps shorter.
-----------------------

I would be the exception to your rule that players quit and come back every 6 months. I have seen
many many friends leave Istaria due to a long laundry list of reasons, many of which still exist today.

I fear you miss the point of why MANY players left during the years. They left due to unfriendly
changes in the Game (nerfs), an Inordinate amount of bugs, Lack of a real War, Lack of High End content.
They left because the ruling "body" decided it was better to "Nerf and slow down progression" rather
than create actual depth in the war. (And a previous person was on record as saying such.)
Challenge was equated with making Super-Epic-Mobs, instead of finding a challenge that all players
could get involved in. World Events ceased to happen. Group Hunting got decimated by restrictive
rules that took away the joy of hunting with friends.

Boredom? That only came from not having an active war with the Aegis, and from not having any
mobs in the world higher than 70 at the time. (can imagine the stunned shock on the newer players
faces)

Also if I read this right, the focus of this statement is not about trying to retain players at all, just an attitude that
their leaving is inevitable and not due to fixable problems. This could not be more wrong.

Many of my friends from old left due to easily fixable problems.

---------------------------
Dev's Desk
---------------------------
But during that time, we at Virtrium will continue to add new content. We’ll continue to improve upon existing content.
---------------------------

So long as the content being developed and released makes the paying players happy, Virtrium
shouldn't have problems staying in business.

The trend to ignore customer happiness, however, is disconcerting to say the least. The Loot revamp
was clearly not a popular idea when you asked about it in "talk to the team", yet you went forward
with it. Running any successful business means offering a product that makes your customers happy.
-- Just saying "we are working hard and rescued it from the void" doesn't cut it after a while.
Giving your customers the feeling that their loyalty is not appreciated is bad. Tacitly giving your
customers the message that their feelings will be trampled and ignored, "Our plan for the future is
the only one" - also bad.

The offerred future of Istaria has to be pleasing and acceptable to all, most importantly the paying
customers.

------------------------
Dev's Desk
-----------------------
What’s happening to Istaria right now is far from unique for any MMO, it is part of the natural
cycle of online games.
----------------------

This sounds too much like resignation that many players will leave and eventually Istaria will
become only a memory.

----------------------
Dev's Desk
----------------------
I’ve watched it happen with the games I play, and in fact I’ve watched it happen ! before
with Istaria. And while we all understand and empathize with the feeling that “all my friends
have already left, and more leave every day”, we can also look beyond that and see that
many who have been gone from the game for months, even years in some cases, return
every day. I’ve personally had it happen to me too where those I played with regularly
seemed to all decide at once that it was time to stop playing Game X and go check out Game
Y for a time. Sometimes I’ve made the choice to follow them, and after a time in Game Y we
decide to take a look back at Game X because we all really had fun there. Sometimes I’ve
decided to stay in Game X, made new friends, watched and waited through changes in the
game, and after a while invited those friends who had left to come check out Game X again
because I was still really having fun. Friendships go through the same changes whether they
were made through a “real world! ” connection or a “virtual world” connection.
-------------------

That sounds to me like a bangup job to convince players to go off and find other games to play.
Shouldn't we be focusing on finding reasons to keep players here in this world and paying to keep
it alive? I must need to take another business class, since this doesn't fit any working model I ever
heard of for a profitable company. Can this game, small as it is, truly afford to offer the door to
players and lose the income? If this was a game like WOW, sure.

I'll repeat something said through the years - Istaria is NOT like the other games.

I would believe we should try to find ways to tempt the players that left to come back and
re-experience the new Istaria. This is a small game, promoting or harboring the sub-conscious
belief that it can continue to bleed paying players without consequences is a path to
bankruptcy.

--------------------
Dev's Desk
--------------------
It’s our job here at Virtrium to continually update and expand the world so there are new
experiences for those who want to keep playing, and can have something they’re excited
to share with their friends.
-------------------

Once again, I think the focus should shift. I would truly hope you intend to include:

"We here at Virtrium intend to keep the satisfaction of Players while in Istaria our primary goal."

Recent missteps in decision making cannot be afforded when the population is already small.

-------------------
Dev's Desk
-------------------
I know this has been a longer Developer’s Desk than normal, and if you’re still with me at this
point, thank you for reading. The thoughts and opinions of everyone playing Istaria are
important to us, and we do appreciate the feedback you provide. Over the past three years it
has helped us decide where to focus our time and attention to the game’s development, and I
hope that you’ll continue to provide us with such feedback for many years to come
--------------------

Asking for our feedback is always appreciated, and I know that it is sometimes given in
over-whelming doses. I value the exchange and hope that VI continues to ask us about
something for which we share a passion.

Sincerely,
Andaras - Originally Spirit, now Order