Originally Posted by
Pandamoni
First, I'd like to preface my post by saying I've typed two responses and deleted them both after sitting on them for hours. I found myself rambling and couldn't understand why and then I realized it's because I'm all over the place with how I feel about the direction of the game. I can't really address how I feel about the WF this year without touching on how I feel about the game.
When I first started playing PL I was impressed by the diversity between levels. I loved the creativity I saw and I had no idea what I'd see next. It was exciting and new and fun. It was enough to pull me in and hook me.
I have not spent money on video games, aside from exercise games for my Wii, in my adult life but when I hit level 13 I bought the main spine without hesitation. I was glad I bought it and I continued to buy the other maps in order to access the really cool content. I felt that my money was well spent and I couldn't believe that this great little game was so much fun.
I started perusing the forums in order to learn my skills. Because I'd never played a video game like this I had no idea what I was doing and wanted to learn how to allocate skill points, etc. I would browse the forums for hours reading guides, learning more about my character and learning how to be a better player. In the process I found a community that was thriving with active players who were full of advice and knowledge and a palpable love of the game.
I was also shocked to see the game developers actively participating in threads. What I felt was almost like a big family. I come from a very close family so seeing this mutual respect between the developers and players (and the players seemed like more than players--they were contributors to the game whose ideas were respected by the devs) made me feel all warm and fuzzy. I'd see Asommers in town talking to people, having fun, showing off his yeti costume or alien costume and it was just really cool.
Eventually, though, the devs became more distant and much less visible. Rather than seeing the team on the boards the collective voice of the devs was spoken through Samhayne. Concerns were quickly shut down with, "please leave feedback here_____ and we will look at all concerns", with very little follow up. I can't speak for everyone but it began to feel that we were being dismissed.
I can understand some of the business decisions because, obviously, you do have a business you are growing. I get that. What I don't understand is where the creative content went. In the past you may have been charging too little for what you gave us (the creative content all the way up to AO3) but you did a complete 180 and started charging WAY too much for content that was inferior. I've seen people argue on the boards that creating more diverse dungeons would be cost prohibitive but I know beyond a doubt STS is making much more money than in the past, when the content was amazingly creative.
I think what you are seeing recently is negativity due to the feeling that we are being expected to pay money for what many feel is not great content. To take it a step further, many of us feel you are charging PL players obscene amounts of platinum in order to fund your other projects. This wouldn't be horrible if you were actually providing new content that was mind boggling but that hasn't been the case. Many of us who play PL are not interested in playing SL or DL so having to pay to fund the creation of games that don't interest us while watching our own beloved game become a cash cow/money drain is quite depressing.
Rather than getting defensive and feeling attacked I wish the devs could feel the amount of emotion people feel for this game. Honestly, how many games have players who would plead with the developers to listen to their complaints to help bring the game back to what it was rather than just bail? I know a lot of people have just left with their hands in the air but many of us are sticking it out and asking that you at least stop and hear where this frustration is coming from rather than going to the fall back, "we have to make money!" We get that. We don't refute that. But when making money usurps the quality of the game, the quality of game play and the decisions being made are obviously all based on how much more plat you can get people to spend I think the developers need to take a step back and ask themselves why they developed the game in the first place.
I worry that STS will either lose a ton of players and flounder. Or that they'll continue on the plat chase and not listen to the players and be happy being a game that consists of a revolving door of players who spend plat on ridiculousness and then leave. Great. You'll be making money. But you'll have lost the heart that so many of us felt when we first started playing. I can't believe you began PL with the sole intent of making dough or you wouldn't have been so involved initially. I'm still trying to figure out what happened--did you sell part of the company to a new firm who is demanding that these new changes take place or was I just imagining what I felt when I first started playing?
I won't be playing the WF this year, which is depressing because I really enjoyed last year's event. It was awesome and I met Drewcapu, a great buddy, playing those dungeons. I've chosen to not play the campaign because I feel that supporting your decision to charge 2 plat per run is just supporting the decline down a slippery slope of disaster. I'm starting to get less positive so I'll just leave you with one last point.
When you have a sea of old players who have consistently supported STS leaving I think that STS needs to stop for a moment and reflect on what that means.