Reinvesting in Pocket Legends

It feels more and more like PL ranks at the very bottom of the priority list for SpaceTime. Those of us who have been around a while can remember when there was an update with somthing new and entertaining on almost a weekly basis. Now its a maricle just to see a long known bug fixed. It now seems to be that only after 2~3 Features have been added to the other titles, and the creation and release of another do they come back and toss a bone to the PL community.. Usually in the form of a simple texture, or 3d model. Which have to be aquired using real cash.
One of the best examples of this is the *new* client, which crashes on launch on a large number of devices. This not only makes it impossible for some existing users with those devices to continue to play, it drives away countless potential players reading the reviews. Reviews that I cannot imagine the Devs read, considering they have not even commented on the issue in the play store to try and salvage the game rating, which has fallen drastically.

If SpaceTime continues to only do the bare minimum to keep Pocket Legends up and running, and using the money it generates to enhance there other titles, and create new (and in my opinion lesser) titles, I am afraid they are going to loose those players willing to spend their, (and there parents) hard earned money in there game.

I could name countless 'features' that could be added into PL that would not only increase the money brought in, and raise intrest for players.. But would also take very little time and effort to implement. Here are a couple examples..

1. "Addons" for guilds - Make it so once a player has a Tier3 guild, allow them to customize it further with things like:
A room with the Consignment NPC to allow them to access the "CS" board right from there. A practice room with open and penalty free PvP, where players can practice their PvP skills and not have the deaths register in their profiles. Or even just add to, or allow the guild ranks to be customized. Giving players an incentive to help others and improve.. if not create an actual feeling of community.

All of that said, I do understand that SpaceTime Studios is not an overly large company, and it does not have limitless resources. And in the beginning Pocket Legends truely gave the player the feeling they were playing a game that was created by people who cared about the game, and its players. But more and more the feeling turns to dissapointment and discontent as the focus turns from making a couple REALLY good games, to the standard model of putting out as many titles as possible as fast as possible no matter the quality. And I know it is not just me who doesnt want to see that happen.

There was a reason Pocket Legends was #1 a couple years back, and if it had followed on the path it was on, it could have easily held that spot, and all the ADs would say #1 Three years running.

I do not believe it would take all that much effort to put Pocket Legends back on top.

- Weeg

+1 from me

Quote:

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Originally Posted by weeg

It feels more and more like PL ranks at the very bottom of the priority list for SpaceTime. Those of us who have been around a while can remember when there was an update with somthing new and entertaining on almost a weekly basis. Now its a maricle just to see a long known bug fixed. It now seems to be that only after 2~3 Features have been added to the other titles, and the creation and release of another do they come back and toss a bone to the PL community.. Usually in the form of a simple texture, or 3d model. Which have to be aquired using real cash.
One of the best examples of this is the *new* client, which crashes on launch on a large number of devices. This not only makes it impossible for some existing users with those devices to continue to play, it drives away countless potential players reading the reviews. Reviews that I cannot imagine the Devs read, considering they have not even commented on the issue in the play store to try and salvage the game rating, which has fallen drastically.

If SpaceTime continues to only do the bare minimum to keep Pocket Legends up and running, and using the money it generates to enhance there other titles, and create new (and in my opinion lesser) titles, I am afraid they are going to loose those players willing to spend their, (and there parents) hard earned money in there game.

I could name countless 'features' that could be added into PL that would not only increase the money brought in, and raise intrest for players.. But would also take very little time and effort to implement. Here are a couple examples..

1. "Addons" for guilds - Make it so once a player has a Tier3 guild, allow them to customize it further with things like:
A room with the Consignment NPC to allow them to access the "CS" board right from there. A practice room with open and penalty free PvP, where players can practice their PvP skills and not have the deaths register in their profiles. Or even just add to, or allow the guild ranks to be customized. Giving players an incentive to help others and improve.. if not create an actual feeling of community.

All of that said, I do understand that SpaceTime Studios is not an overly large company, and it does not have limitless resources. And in the beginning Pocket Legends truely gave the player the feeling they were playing a game that was created by people who cared about the game, and its players. But more and more the feeling turns to dissapointment and discontent as the focus turns from making a couple REALLY good games, to the standard model of putting out as many titles as possible as fast as possible no matter the quality. And I know it is not just me who doesnt want to see that happen.

There was a reason Pocket Legends was #1 a couple years back, and if it had followed on the path it was on, it could have easily held that spot, and all the ADs would say #1 Three years running.

I do not believe it would take all that much effort to put Pocket Legends back on top.

- Weeg

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A well written, eloquent suggestion.

While the idea of further expanding Pocket Legend's environment and community does seem desirable, I believe that content or customization-wise, this game is approaching its zenith.
Keep in mind that this is simply a mini-game that is processed on a mobile device; the game client already drains my battery fast enough and unfortunately, iPads are not geared with the capable RAM or graphics card as high-end computers or laptops.
The best STS can do is simply make a MMORPG that offers a more rewarding experience than those RTS pay-to-win apps, and this is essentially what they can reasonably do.

Agreed.

In reading your reply, I realized that I did not include one of the key points I was.thinkin as I wrote it.
When it comes to the limitations of the game medium (ie: Cell phone, Tablet) pocket legends has not begun to even scrape the surface. You need only look to the Android market, there are more than a few which utilize the power of OpenGL to render complete realistic envirnments that can be viewed from a first person or 3rd person point of view. And they run just fine on relitivly weak or outdated hardware.
And I do not believe that the fans/players of Pocket Legends are looking for that type of emmersive 3d 'WoW' envirnment, or they would already be playing a game that has it. The core of PL does not need any drastic changes. What I believe the players want, myself included, are the simple improvements and content additions that used to be a regular occurence. Which are now months apart, if we are lucky.
Now I understand that STS is looking to expand its offerings and attract new users, but what is the point if you are loosing your current player base? In the time it took STS to write/test/release their new "Battle Dragons", or whatever it is called, they most likely could have raised the level cap, introduced 5 new "settings" or envirnments (like a humanian city, or an underwater set of caves) held a bunch of "real" events where the GM's actually get on and interact (people seem to love that) and fixed* or applied updates that included some of the HUNDREDS of good ideas found right here. And probably had time to spare.
Many of the suggestions I have seen for improvements are as simple as copying and pasting some code from one section to another, if even that much effort. Take adding the ability to sort your stash, chances are, that if you look at the source for the CS board you will see a call to a function with a name that has somthing to do with sorting a list. CS board = item list Stash = item list, now why you wouldnt be able to apply the same functions to both is beyond me. Sort(CSBoard,level,type) now becomes Sort(player.stash,level,type) then add in a button to the UI.
Arcane Legends won honors for 2012, even though it is nothing more than Pocket Legends with different sprites and maps. The reason it won? Because just like when PL came out, it has had constant updates and new content. It just goes to show you that the Pocket legends model is golden, and the game could be a moneymaker for a long time to come.

Cant justify paying a graffic artest to design new items fot PL? Then take advantage of the community. Holding a contest to design new armor or a new weapon set not only draws people in, but also provides new content with little to no cost. Your player base is not comprised completely of 11 year olds who can only push buttons.

So much potential.. It would be a real shame to watch it fade away.

- weeg