Letter to Spacetime Games

[Zylx]

Sam,

http://www.spacetimestudios.com/show...42#post1839542

It would be nice if STS responded to suggestion threads more often. Players here have a lot of good ideas, and regardless of what your stats may be telling you, I can tell you what I see in my guild. Activity level is at an all-time low. Interest in elite maps is also at an all time low and is limited to Jagged Trail, Caves and the occasional Wilds run (assuming players even want to bother running due to poor loot rate, stagnant market, etc.) . Loot rate is as bad as I've ever remembered, all the way around, elite, supergems, crates, arena, you name it.

Arena, while beautiful is not profitable, and to be honest, the non-stop K.O.'s get a bit tedious, which causes all but the most hardcore to give up on it (therefore, not many are farming there).

The market overall has come to a standstill, everyone is just hoarding their gold at the moment, because no one knows what is going on, when the Halloween event will come, etc. The loot coming from the arena and elite Tindirin is generally inferior to the Druid/Spirit gear, so for the most part, farming is a fruitless endeavor, since Druid/Spirit is plentiful and relatively cheap.

Just take a look at the Elite (Pure) LB. There are a surprising number of solo/duo recordholders. This is an obvious indication of end-game apathy.

Honestly, there is nothing to farm for. Vials are basically non-existent. Magma is worthless (except for one version of the Claymore and Totem). Locked Crates are so undervalued, that the worst case of 2k x 3 actually is worth more than the crate itself, so crate farmers are hurting. All the way around, veterans of this game are hurting and losing interest. Tindirin has been around for over six months now, which is a really, really long time. Granted, there were two events since the introduction of the Dragon Enclave, but still, these maps have been overfarmed and something new needs to be introduced. An OHKO Arena isn't really the solution we were all looking for.

Sam, what we need to see is something exciting, something that reinvigorates the market, something that gets folks running once again, something new to talk about. It just seems that there has been a lot of errors in the game lately, a lot of rebalancing, a lot of second guessing and all that does is cause hesitation in your veteran gamer pool. In down times like these, I would have hoped that there would have been more consideration for your veteran population, more transparency, more responsiveness to good suggestions, and less "there are 10's of thousands of new people....". I'd be willing to bet that a considerable portion of those 10's of thousands are people like me, that set up a new account to play a different class, try out some different builds, then eventually discard the toon. Transient players don't really add anything to the community, so using those statistics is akin to saying that your veterans, those that started at the lv16 cap, that grew along with the game, rallied to the defense of the community, contributed a lot to what we have here, are of equal value to those that will likely be here for a just few days.

I am loving this post because every bit of it holds true. I believe a majority of the "10's of thousands" of new players everyday come from MMO-lovers who are excited to see a mobile MMO. So they try it out, love it at first, then leave when they get a taste of how inactive a lot of the other players are. Most of these new players probably never make it to cap.

In addition to creating new content for end-game, i'd suggest adding things to give a morale boost to those who aren't quite there yet. Adding new places to level, adding a scaling arena to those under level 30, creating more than one path to get to cap. There needs to be something to encourage players to get to cap, while still making the journey fun! Level 41 is a long way down the road, let players take breaks from the repititive "enter map, kill enemies, boss, repeat".

Undervaluing your veterans is a big mistake. If the game gets dull for us, it'll surely get dull for the new players eventually as well. Pleasing us will extend the longevity of your players, and will provide your company with a stronger sense of community. The truth is, your veterans can provide the best feedback and suggestions to where your company is headed, as they can compare it to your past decisions and will work with you to ensure that you are going down the right path.

If your veterans all die off, you will lose the foundation that built your company up off of the ground. We've all been by your side through thick and thin, and now is the time to thank us.

I only hope you guys take everything said in this thread seriously. There are things in the game that only your players can see, and when they see problems with inactivity, you'd best get to the bottom of it and hear us out! If needed, i can scour the suggestions section on popular, positive desires that have yet to be announced and create a list. I'd be happy to see this company bounce up from this business recession.