The Levelcap Problem

[Composure]

Dear Spacetime Studio Team,

I decided to post this thread because I think that it is an important issue in this game.

When I first saw "Update in 5 min, Mount Fang" it felt like a punch in the stomach.
All this time and money I spend for getting to lvl61 for nothing?!
90.000exp just disappeared and were transformed to 1000exp.

You have to understand that this makes people really upset and angry. It is kind of stealing and a lot of people might quit playing because of that. Plus it makes your company looking kind of dirty.

Of course I understand that You can't care about every single player.
But You could arrange a special treatment for such incidents.

I suggest a window that appears on the screen after a lvlcap update which asks the player if he/she wants to go on with the experience collection for getting the vanity, or if the player wants his/her exp to be adapted to the actual exp curve. Of course for characters with the max. lvl only. Plus this offer should just be available until the next lvlcap. This would prevent a lot of anger.

I hope that You accept this as a constructive complaint and I would be pleased to get a respond from You or some other Ideas to resolve this issue.

Kind regards,
A Customer

[Skeletonlord]

I know this Affects most people, and I can understand that. I like the idea about the window.

[Walkhardd]

I hate to be"that guy" but its not that hard to get if you don't procrastinate...there's a reason its called "elite" not everyone will get there..I do feel for you bud, and wish you luck! Now go get 66! :)

[Elyseon]

To be fair they did announce update to be the 24 and they released early, due to those circumstances ido understand the problem

[Walkhardd]

From wat I remember.they said it would be released by the 24th..is there a link that says on the 24th?..either way, losing that much xp sux! I would be upset as well...

[Phoenixking]

It is messed up and one friend needed 1k xp which must have been really unfortunate as he treid alot to get it hoping the sheild would still be up till the 24th of november sadly it wasnt :(

[Samhayne]

Hi Composure,

Thank you for taking the time to write us with your feedback and suggestion. We well understand how you feel. I'm personally sorry that we didn't do a better job of communicating when Mount Fang would go live. We did attempt to keep the community informed, with posts such as http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?41714-Less-Than-3-Weeks-to-Mount-Fang-and-New-Level-Cap-Are-You-Ready

Regarding the complaint that you "lose" experience when the elite level cap is shifted, I would like to offer you a different way of looking at it. If you think about your progress through 61 as a gas tank, where you start at empty and gradually fill it up.

You start at

Empty: E | - - 1/2 - - F

As you start leveling up your tank starts to fill

Part way in E - | - 1/2 - - F

Half way E - - | 1/2 - - F

Getting there E - - 1/2 - | - F

But then Mount Fang comes and 61 is now a normal level and not an elite level. While the numbers behind it change, your progress to the next level remains unchanged

How far to 61: E - - 1/2 - | - F

You are still most of the way to 61. So that exp wasn't "lost". You are still that far toward getting 61. It's just that 61 isn't the elite level anymore, but rather 66 is.

I hope that helps you. I also want to thank you for patroning our games and playing Pocket Legends. I know it must be less than heartening to miss the goal of reaching the previous elite level cap, but there is a new level cap and vanity available, and there will be more to obtain in the future. Hopefully those will be goals you can get.

Best regards,
Samhayne

[Composure]

The "elite" argument sounds reasonable to me, but it's not fair that STS puts out their updates at random. That causes a hughe waste of platinum for a lot of players who purchase 4x elixirs for earning nothing but loads of worthless experience. That's like throwing your money into a trash can.

[Samhayne]

Hi Compsure,

Again, I can understand how you feel when Mount Fang went out was somewhat arbitrary, or random, as you say. I can only apologize for this. We did put out some warning, both in the Spacetime Nexus and log-in message in game and here on the forums http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?41714-Less-Than-3-Weeks-to-Mount-Fang-and-New-Level-Cap-Are-You-Ready I can only say that we are aware of the problem and working to make our communication better.

You can see this in action with our other game, Star Legends. There will be the next level increase and new content for Star Legends in December, which you can read about in this post: http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?42527-The-Next-Chronicle-to-Star-Legends-is-Coming-in-December. We fully intend to spread the word wide and more frequently up to when the update actually launches. We intend to do the same with the next update to Pocket Legends coming in 2012.

We recognize the consternation caused by not being more transparent. We value our customers and are working to address the issue.

Best regards,
Samhayne

[The Flash]

Samething happened to me. STS said that lv cap was coming right before thanksgiving and instead came out mid november. Normally that would not be bad but i had 2 toons at 70k xp which I was planing on getting to 61 this week. Now i have neither at 61. I worked 10k xp on one then the other so i can get both to 61 at same time big mistake. Wasted 140k xp 1000plat wasted and no vanity to show for it. Its my falt for assuming they would keep there time frame.

I was gone because of US olympic trials so only got to play 1st 5 days of nuri(got to 61 5th and thats it) but whatever no point in shotting a dead fish. Its not hard to get elite cap(they made it way easier with less xp and lvs are made for grinding). Plus i have loads of time on my hand as im a professinal runner so I train for 4 hrs and have the whole day to myself.

Please in the future make SPECIFIC DATES OF REALEASE. Dont know why you dont? Keep up the great work because besides this everything else you do is great. I mean I missed out on founders helm (droid user) but i cool with that since i wasnt a founder and as much as i want that helm i dont deserve it but i feel i do deserve the 2 shield of hollow.

[Composure]

Thank You for your respond,

I appreciate your understanding

I understand the way it works, the progress remains the same but the number behind it changes and that's the point. That is what makes people angry and upset. Because it takes a lot more time to collect 100.000exp than just 2000exp

And I understand and accept the fact that it's ment to be the elite level.

Communication is the key. It would be very helpfull if You release an exact date for the next lvl cap update. At least a week before it launches. That would prevent a lot of complaints.

Thank You again for your understanding.
Kind regards,
Composure

[Gluttony]

Please in the future make SPECIFIC DATES OF REALEASE. Dont know why you dont? Keep up the great work because besides this everything else you do is great.

I'll go out on a limb and guess that they don't release specific dates due to the fact that time tables make life difficult for their production team. Meeting a deadline causes all types of issues including introducing a product that isn't ready just to make a scheduled date (insert your bug filled console reference here).

I will commend STS for learning from the whole "platinum being transferrable" and not promising something and failing to deliver in the end. I would however like to see projected release dates not etched in stone. It would be nice to have a target to shoot for, just so we can be sure that STS wouldn't launch new campaign/level cap increase before said date. If it's a bit delayed that is fine, but everyone who wants to reach their destination can make time and plan out their journey. Otherwise, it seems like adding a bit of a mystery in order to milk extra plat by stirring the pot to make players think they have far less time than they actually do.

[wvhills]

Hi Composure,

Thank you for taking the time to write us with your feedback and suggestion. We well understand how you feel. I'm personally sorry that we didn't do a better job of communicating when Mount Fang would go live. We did attempt to keep the community informed, with posts such as http://www.spacetimestudios.com/showthread.php?41714-Less-Than-3-Weeks-to-Mount-Fang-and-New-Level-Cap-Are-You-Ready

Regarding the complaint that you "lose" experience when the elite level cap is shifted, I would like to offer you a different way of looking at it. If you think about your progress through 61 as a gas tank, where you start at empty and gradually fill it up.

You start at

Empty: E | - - 1/2 - - F

As you start leveling up your tank starts to fill

Part way in E - | - 1/2 - - F

Half way E - - | 1/2 - - F

Getting there E - - 1/2 - | - F

But then Mount Fang comes and 61 is now a normal level and not an elite level. While the numbers behind it change, your progress to the next level remains unchanged

How far to 61: E - - 1/2 - | - F

You are still most of the way to 61. So that exp wasn't "lost". You are still that far toward getting 61. It's just that 61 isn't the elite level anymore, but rather 66 is.

I hope that helps you. I also want to thank you for patroning our games and playing Pocket Legends. I know it must be less than heartening to miss the goal of reaching the previous elite level cap, but there is a new level cap and vanity available, and there will be more to obtain in the future. Hopefully those will be goals you can get.

Best regards,
Samhayne

Sam, I think he understands how the xp adjustments work. His problem is that in the thread you provided, which was created on 11/4/11, said there is less than 3 weeks til mt fangs release. Whether it was right or wrong, this lead people to believe they had 3 weeks to reach max level and they planned their game time accordingly. Mt fang was released on 11/14/11 which wasn't 3 weeks, it was 10 days. Technically you said it was going to be WITHIN 3 weeks and not IN 3 weeks but it still lead people to believe they had more time than they did. Someone on the forums posted a screenie of Flip in game announcing mt fang would be released within the hour. It would have been better if you had made an announcement that it would be released in 24 or 48 hours so that would have giving people more of a warning (esp since they believed they had 10 or 11 more days). It didn't affect me because I was so far away from 61 but I can understand why people would feel cheated and upset.

[The Flash]

Please in the future make SPECIFIC DATES OF REALEASE. Dont know why you dont? Keep up the great work because besides this everything else you do is great.

I'll go out on a limb and guess that they don't release specific dates due to the fact that time tables make life difficult for their production team. Meeting a deadline causes all types of issues including introducing a product that isn't ready just to make a scheduled date (insert your bug filled console reference here).

Im almost sure thats not it and I'm 90% sure why they dont but would like to here it from the devs themselfs. Im a marketing major and know ways around this. I mean why do you thinks mechanics, cable installer,ect.. give you such large window of service. Like your car is going to be ready in 1-4 hrs, its because there not sure and even if they are they give themself 1-2 hrs just incase the worst comes to worst. Same can be done with this thing and it was done in my opinion but they where to eager to push new product out.

I am in no way mad or angry as lifes to short to be so and its just a game. Im just giving my opinion and was slightly dissapointed as STS is not one of the best companies i have been a customer of but the best company i have been a customer and cant find proper reasoning behind what they did outside of a undisclosed reasons. I mean I wasted 1000plat on getting 140k xp(70k on each toon) 20 hrs but no shields to show for it, I mean if thats not elite i dont no what is. Even with all that happened i still plan on supporting them and wont let this bad experiance do other wise.

[Ellyidol]

I'll go out on a limb and guess that they don't release specific dates due to the fact that time tables make life difficult for their production team. Meeting a deadline causes all types of issues including introducing a product that isn't ready just to make a scheduled date (insert your bug filled console reference here).

I will commend STS for learning from the whole "platinum being transferrable" and not promising something and failing to deliver in the end. I would however like to see projected release dates not etched in stone. It would be nice to have a target to shoot for, just so we can be sure that STS wouldn't launch new campaign/level cap increase before said date. If it's a bit delayed that is fine, but everyone who wants to reach their destination can make time and plan out their journey. Otherwise, it seems like adding a bit of a mystery in order to milk extra plat by stirring the pot to make players think they have far less time than they actually do.

Agree here. They have definitely learned from past unfortunate stuff. Remember when level caps used to come with client updates? How unpredictable it was due to the approval of the app store. At least now, client updates seem to be done separately.

I also agree that setting a completely fixed date towards a content will bring up some issues. In fact, I know other games have a transition period between content upgrades - sometimes the game isn't even available.

[Fusionstrike]

I'll go out on a limb and guess that they don't release specific dates due to the fact that time tables make life difficult for their production team. Meeting a deadline causes all types of issues including introducing a product that isn't ready just to make a scheduled date (insert your bug filled console reference here).


Personally, I think they should announce a "no earlier than" release date for expansions. Something like, "Mt Fang will be out Nov 16 or later". Then players could make a judgment about whether to rush to level cap or realize they don't have enough time. If the development goes well, then they can hit the announced date. If not, it can slip a day or two and those trying to beat the release get an unexpected extra amount of time to finish up. I realize figuring out when to release software is a tricky thing, but if they at least made a commitment not to be earlier than a certain date, it would give those who decide to go for it a guaranteed amount of time to make the push. Then at least if players don't make it, yes they'll be disappointed, but at least the failure won't have been "sprung" upon them just because the devs shorted the deadline with no warning. It can be "their fault" for not going fast enough, i.e. they have no one to blame but themselves.

[Fyrce]

I suppose maybe they can try to clarify their timeline, just because when they said "by" the 24th, many people read that to mean really close to the 24th, like maybe that Monday.

So maybe next time, they can say, "By the 24th, which means it could be tomorrow, or next week, or the 23rd." Just so people do not draw any conclusions. Now I would not recommend they say "tomorrow" just because they'd have a ton of howling, but maybe give everyone a month's lead time, then a week or more's lead time. So like, "by the 24th, which means it could be next week, or the 23rd. Happy grinding!"

Anyways, just another brain burp.

[The Flash]

Got 2 to 66 not letting this happen again

[Walkhardd]

Got 2 to 66 not letting this happen again

Ur a beast bro! And a very good grinder :)

[Riccits]

sts should just announce the exact day of the cap rise some weeks before and all would be fine...

[Gluttony]

Im almost sure thats not it and I'm 90% sure why they dont but would like to here it from the devs themselfs. Im a marketing major and know ways around this. I mean why do you thinks mechanics, cable installer,ect.. give you such large window of service. Like your car is going to be ready in 1-4 hrs, its because there not sure and even if they are they give themself 1-2 hrs just incase the worst comes to worst. Same can be done with this thing and it was done in my opinion but they where to eager to push new product out.

I am in no way mad or angry as lifes to short to be so and its just a game. Im just giving my opinion and was slightly dissapointed as STS is not one of the best companies i have been a customer of but the best company i have been a customer and cant find proper reasoning behind what they did outside of a undisclosed reasons. I mean I wasted 1000plat on getting 140k xp(70k on each toon) 20 hrs but no shields to show for it, I mean if thats not elite i dont no what is. Even with all that happened i still plan on supporting them and wont let this bad experiance do other wise.

I get the marketing angle that you see, but you are comparing development of a videogame to repairing a car or installing cable... seriously?! There have been plenty of console games that have pushed a date back (some multiple times even) due to the addition of a system or the fact that something isn't quite functioning as it should be. If STS stuck to a time table no matter what and released a buggy update then had to go down for hours to fix said update or even revert back to before the patch would that make you happier?

I get that you say you're not mad, but you seem a bit upset at the fact that what you tried to do didn't work out in the end and you wasted your time and money trying. There is no perfect solution but being 90% sure about something you have no actual knowledge about and then calling out the developers themselves is a bit over the top. Instead of placing all of the blame on them for becoming "big business" why not admit your fault in the matter as well. Looking at it from my perspective, why would it have mattered if two of your toons leveled up at the same time? Try accomplishing one task instead of biting off more than you can chew and then being mad at the excess you choke on. Again, just words of advice but surely you have some unrealistic statistic of how you're right and everyone else is wrong.

The devs have already responded twice in this thread, as well as apologized for their actions and I don't think they did anything wrong. As I recall, the Mt. Fang update was pushed back substantially due to a public outcry of it being too soon. So realistically the patch was ready and STS was just giving others time to achieve their goals. It was a nice gesture and if it was indeed "all about the money" as you allude to, then STS wouldn't have listened to the users/players and did what would net the most profit. It's best to look at the situation for all angles before making an assumption behind the choices made.