Rant...100% about Istaria

[Shar]

This is purely, 100% about Istaria...

I hate the lack of content. I hate the lack of population available to form groups for the big hunts (not the quality of the current population ). I hate the lack of rare things to collect due to their removal from the game or a dev's OCD for making things attuned. I hate waiting 6 months for an update. I hate the lack of live events that used to make this game fun.

I'm sure I will think of more within 5 minutes of finishing this post, but that's a good start...

[LungTien Temeraire]

Sadly, this game isn't as well known, as big as World of Warcraft, it hasn't 10,000,000 players, and the developpers are not as many and have less means than Blizzard's...

[Ettanin]

Sadly, this game isn't as well known, as big as World of Warcraft, it hasn't 10,000,000 players, and the developpers are not as many and have less means than Blizzard's...

However, in contrast to WoW, this game is not meant to make money, it's meant to make fun for the players. This is what most games now today lack in and this is also where Istaria shines.

[Veruliyam]

Excuse me?

This game is not meant to make money?

Well, they better just apologize to us for leading us along and close the whole enterprise down.

Any business that isn't in it to make money should fail, and this game seems very much alive to me, and for years to boot!

Yes, there have been ups & downs.

Yes, some people will be angered by the developer's actions, some to the point of leaving.

That's the nature of any business venture.

You just cannot satisfy 100% of the people 100% of the time.

****. I sound like a fanboi... Fine. Guilty

But, even I have experienced something about this game that infuriated me. I didn't rage quit.

Why?

Be the dragon! Much content can be SOLOED!!! Explore the other available races! Wow, a whole new game experience there!

Contemplate these things. While a gut reaction can be a good thing, an anger-based one isn't always the reaction that should be followed up on.

[Frith-Rae]

yea..they are here to make money.

Sure they aren't here to make umpteen billions like Blizzard maybe but they ARE here to not be in debt for continuing to keep the game open.

If they were in debt all these years i would not blame them for shutting it down - I mean you cant ask all these dedicated hours to be done for charity. Peeps gotta support their families and have time for themselves.

And the game IS in theh Black and has been in the Black for a number of years now.

And I agree with Shar's rant, actually, I wish so much more for this game *sigh*..but somehow the dragon keeps me from giving up entirely.

[LungTien Temeraire]

I miss you in game Frith-Rae... I enjoyed the nice RPs we had before.

[LOVWYRM]

I thought long if I should answer to your post, Shar
( I already heard you on the "Old Rep."-thread ).

But with a sad heart I do agree. To all you`ve said.

But this is not a prob only devs could solve:

- That Order has not enough passionate hunters,
- that we do not use the new and old content "hunt the bosses" which would be lots of enrichment for me, even after all those years in Istaria.
- that vets have all their plots and lairs build up.
- that we have collected all that is/was ingame.
- that drops from bosses will stay unavailable (no hunts- no items).

Well yes- new content.. there is SO MUCH content for those who do not live in Istaria as long as some of us vets do..enough for years of playing- as we can tell. So new content only for vet players seems not wise for me atm.

And live events : YES! There should be live events. The majority of players wants that. We are not asking for much. Not for new things. Not for raids.
Just the Istarian way. Like we had it before.

And yes Amon- I always listen to what you say! I know! Impossible atm.
But maybe..

[Phillip]

Art assets, always been allergic to Istaria for some reason..

[Frith-Rae]

I miss you in game Frith-Rae... I enjoyed the nice RPs we had before.

I sowwy I miss you guys too actually - It just seems I never have time to get into game due to everything else going on - and even when I think about logging in I cant think of anything Id really want to do (gee..can I build somemore on my plot or...grind some mobs..again..again..again? *sigh*).

Im an officer in my WoW guild and I coordinate PVE nights mon-thursday right now with various events happening every night. Then weekends I either stay busy IRL or I get on EQII to play with housing in there (housing so much awesome) or quest simply because its not as grindy and is still new (as in two years Im all of level 53 out of a possible 90 right now LOL) - and they still have holiday events.

When I loginto Istaria if Im lucky there is RP going (but often times not), and I may spend 2 hours crafting more bricks...

I do miss the community and you guys..I just get tired of a basically draconic chatroom. Im still subbed though..so I keep trying to get some motivation to get in.

[anonimas]

...and I do not hate Istaria.
I like when I can find enemy I can fight with one to one, gain xp, loot trophies (more xp) and still have fun. I like when I meet named mob moving to me, ask for help and someone comes killing monster with 3 hits.
I like when I can help others, be it 7 or 37 levels searching for monster or needing someone to guard their harvesting from that pesky golems. Or just kill some monsters for that player so that his quest goes more easy. I like when I can restore almost all lower-levelled player's health with one spell. I like when I can craft some items (right now - weapons and some tools) for others for free. I like when I can give resources or trophies to others who may use them better.
I like group fighting, when groups stands in abandoned, deadly Eastern Deadlands and everyone does what he can do the best, be it attacking or healing.
New content? Yes, it could be very fine, but so far there is all Istarian world before me to explore: be it snowy Acul or deadly Eastern Deadlands. Grinding a problem? I am not an expert in MMORPGs, but seems like grinding is everywhere: get 10 iron, make 5 sheets, get 50 xp; get 20 iron, make 10 sheets, get 100 xp...and so on.
Istaria is great for me. I can see some flaws there, yet I can clearly see how good this game is.

[Nambroth]

Art assets, always been allergic to Istaria for some reason..

Not for the lack of trying...

[AmonGwareth]

I hate the lack of content. I hate the lack of population available to form groups for the big hunts (not the quality of the current population ). I hate the lack of rare things to collect due to their removal from the game or a dev's OCD for making things attuned. I hate waiting 6 months for an update. I hate the lack of live events that used to make this game fun.

I understand your frustration, though I am curious about some of the issues you have brought up.

What sort of content are you looking for that we don't have? Have you collected all of the Valkor/Reklar weapons/armor? Have you gotten all of your titles from Dralnok's Doom?

Updates every 6 months? You exaggerate. We probably update as often as the bigger MMOs, our updates just contain less in them because we aren't as big a game. For example, in 2011 alone we've released updates in:

• January (Loot Revamp and Broken Items and Ashlander's Tomb)
• February and March with lots of smaller additions and changes (including some plot changes and numerous tweaks to loot/spawns)
• May (expansion of Dragon quests, new plot structures and decorations, portal revamp, winter vale)
• August (revamp of ARoP, Summer event, Confectioner changes, Tomb of Helian, more plot structures, and more).

And we're working on another to push out before the end of the year. Thats a lot of updates with a lot of content and stuff for players to do!

Finally, I do understand your frustration at the lack of live events. I'm not sure we can accomodate the desire that players have for events similar to the Dryad, Satyr or Nazderon events of many years ago. Plus, in order to do Live events we would have to stop doing other improvements to the game. Also, live events are not repeatable by newer players or players who aren't sufficient level yet which is a major drawback.

[Veruliyam]

Nazderon event?!?!

What is it?!!?

[awdz]

That was when the desert storms blew in and undead (mummies) roamed about south of Tazoon. I still have a Magadi blade from then. I think you can still learn about the lore from some of the characters in the area, too.

[Shar]

I understand your frustration, though I am curious about some of the issues you have brought up.

What sort of content are you looking for that we don't have? Have you collected all of the Valkor/Reklar weapons/armor? Have you gotten all of your titles from Dralnok's Doom?

Excellent point on the Valkor/Reklar items. Have you tried finding a group to kill those guys anytime in the past two years? I think Reklar fell a few weeks ago for the first time in many months. I shouldn't have to make a forum post two weeks ahead of when I'd like to hunt them in order to find a group capable of completing the task...I think I've been sitting on one of the larger collections of Reklar parts for 3 or 4 years now and still have yet to complete one item, lol.
As for the titles, no I have yet to complete them, but then, they are each just a matter of time and busy work. They are a definitively completable task and as such, there is no challenge outside of taking the time to kill the creatures. There is no chance involved in getting the title.

Updates every 6 months? You exaggerate. We probably update as often as the bigger MMOs, our updates just contain less in them because we aren't as big a game. For example, in 2011 alone we've released updates in:

• January (Loot Revamp and Broken Items and Ashlander's Tomb)
• February and March with lots of smaller additions and changes (including some plot changes and numerous tweaks to loot/spawns)
• May (expansion of Dragon quests, new plot structures and decorations, portal revamp, winter vale)
• August (revamp of ARoP, Summer event, Confectioner changes, Tomb of Helian, more plot structures, and more).

You are right, I exaggerated a bit here in a literal sense, lol. You have released a lot of content, just not any content that has kept me busy for more than a few weeks after my return from a two year break, lol. I am an end game player and have been so for years now, so most of the content added was meaningless to me. Truly, at this stage of the game for me, if it isn't a quest that adds a new ability or has the chance at dropping something rare, its not going to interest me. Since the only "rare" thing that's randomly dropping are the broken weapon items (which for the record aren't all that rare) there is once again very little to do again in the world. There needs to be truly rare, and potentially useful, items dropping in the world again.
I know many of the folks that still play the game are all about "the journey", and that's well and good. To each their own and its their money. I am truly concerned with the journey being worth something to take in the first place.

And we're working on another to push out before the end of the year. Thats a lot of updates with a lot of content and stuff for players to do!

Finally, I do understand your frustration at the lack of live events. I'm not sure we can accomodate the desire that players have for events similar to the Dryad, Satyr or Nazderon events of many years ago. Plus, in order to do Live events we would have to stop doing other improvements to the game. Also, live events are not repeatable by newer players or players who aren't sufficient level yet which is a major drawback.

That said, I appreciate that you posted on my thread Amon and I understand that constructive suggestions would be welcomed. I love this game and have always seen so much potential in it. Just excuse me if I needed to vent, lol.