[SC] Darkorbit Twitch stream.

Hi again,

As I mentioned earlier, the goal is to get these going regularly enough that we not only improve the format (ex. having some specific forum / community / common questions lined up with answers), but also provide variety that moves it beyond just a teleprompted Q&A session.

We'd like to not only answer questions and update on the status of specific features, issues, etc - but also provide walk-throughs, discuss recently launched features & decisions in detail, and discuss certain topics with the community in real-time.

So, please be patient while we get to that point (and keep providing feedback).

I totally agree - the answers provided online, in text, are current waaaay more articulate than what I provided during this first Twitch stream. It's one of the benefits of writing something out, looking at it, editing it, and then hitting post - as opposed to rambling in real time. And yeah, @Okapi32 provides great info. I'm hoping we can involve more people like him, the mods, etc in this broadcast in the future.

I'll see what I / we can do to remove some of the "Techno babble" and "Producer speak" in the future. Maybe we'll have to just skip certain topics until we can provide very clear substantive answers - or - you'll have to be understanding that we're trying to tell you:

"Yes, we know it's a problem. Yes, we're working on it. No, we don't feel comfortable promising that steps 1, 2, & 3 are going to materialize by xDate."

I'm sure we'll improve in this area.


Thanks!

 

RickDekard Maybe this is little OT, but i didnt have time to be on that live stream, so i want to ask you only one thing here.

Why your dev. team did not repair seprom bug in skylab? Lot of reports was send to Mantis about it and no result.

Players have millions seprom in lasers and bug is still fully working.....

 

Do it every week rick

 

I get what you're saying. However, they kept talking about this compiled list of issues that users had in vague generalities. They could have taken the top issue and said what they are doing with that issue. But all we seem to get is "we're working on it." But nothing happens of substance, meanwhile we now can put a design on or pet! Really!!! "We're working on it" came down to a pet design? Most players aren't UFE and the power difference is huge! What in the name of everything Holy is so hard about putting
LF4's in the shop? It was the first twitch cast. I hope they get better, but as of right now it seems more like a dog and pony show!

We have and all we keep getting is "we're working on it." and useless updates like pet designs. I think what we have here is a case of the paralysis of analysis!

But Solid, that is what DO doesn't seem to get. They don't share anything till they have everything already set up. All they do or have done it seems is shove content down our wifi. That is the very thing that has caused most of this mess to start with. New this or new that then they deal with the fallout from the players they don't consult till after something is live.

 

I know, its what happens when you do something without a game plan. They knew they were not prepared and stated it in the beginning when they pointed out that it was being broadcast live to the rest of the team.

They can't give us answers for what they are doing with an issue. They can either solve the problem or keep trying. When you tell someone (in person, video, or type) you are doing something, you are held liable for it working to solve the problem. They state that they are working on it. Although its viewed as brushing us off by the community, some things are harder than can be imagined. When your trash is not picked up in the morning and you call about it, you are told they will get someone out there. You are not told what time the trash will be picked up, even though you have a party starting in 30 minutes and that "sight" will probably be sitting there for 3 hours during the party and another hour after everyone has left. Telling us they are working on solving the problem it the most solid thing they can tell us without us being able to say outright that they are lying.

Pet designs or designs period is like filler. You go to a restaurant for dinner and get bread-sticks and rolls while you wait for your food. You can't get what you want as soon as you ask for it so they give you a, umm, distraction until the main course is ready. Wow, I really need to quit the analogies.

LF4's are the most coveted items in the game and there should never be a shortcut to getting them. Pally/Box for spins or spend uri for spins and build the gates for them. Costly, yeah, can be gotten in the short term, probably not, but also gives you something to do. Most UFE have been playing for years. Best to just work on what you can do and team up to take them down.

Anyways, looking forward to what the next show brings.

 

This mind set is the problem. LF4's seem to be easier for some to get then others. If you spend a lot of money you can get them if you don't you have to wait. You don't seem to have a "middle class" in this game. You have the UFE and then everyone else. None of the UFE want LF4's in the shop so they can continue to run over everyone else. This is why people are leaving the game and ignoring it or say "we can't put LF4's in the shop because they are coveted" leave the power gap where it is. New players have no reason to stay when they continue to get popped by players who have "been playing for years". It's just not fun and there are plenty of other games out there that allow you to have fun as a new player and not have to worry about other player in that manner.

As an example of how hard things are to get. I have been playing on my current account since 2012. In that time I have gotten 8 Zeus drones blueprints. I have saved keys for a Zeus blueprint day. Last night when it hit I used all 69 keys. Of the 69 keys I got 0 Zeus blueprints! The most I got outside of ammo is 1 LF3 laser.

 

I appreciate this was a trial run and trying to get the people comfortable being on TV. But could you have told them this was airing and got the same result? I understand the issues with JPA and the dominance of the few that signed up for each one of these, however, IF JPA is not going to be addressed (in near future) why are we still collecting JP Euros from Bonus Boxes? This reward should be replaced with something we can use until a final decision is made as to what we are going to get to collect these amounts we currently have.

The problem is it was not COMPILED, but a list of questions posted to a comment section of whatever source they were using the comments from and JORG was scrolling through the list selecting which ones he wanted to read. "Working on it" is the standard cop out response when the problem is unresolved and they do not know how to correct the issue without creating more issues. Putting LF-4's in the shop is just going to generate the need for D O to create the LF-5 which was indicated (jokingly) on the broadcast. The development of the LF-4 is what generated the imbalance to the game and they added the Upgrades at the same time to really increase the imbalance, money will always be the driver for anything developed and they lost so many players a year after the launch of the LF-4 they are scared to create anything else to further affect the balance of the game thus we get Cosmetic Designs to purchase. They further have no idea how to regain a semblance of balance without the (joking again) removal of the LF-4 from the game. The Wallet has always had the advantage in this game, but now the wallet is closing because they have everything they could want, except players to kill, they don't need to buy Uridium (except for ammo and Galaxy Gates), don't need to buy Booty Keys (they have everything they need), not upgrading equipment (already fully upgraded), not buying PET or Hangars (already have these), so D O creates another method of generating a cash flow (bogus do nothing designs).

We have a game that has lost its direction and is trying to appease the players until they can get the boat "righted" and back on course, but this is going to take some major time to do and time is what D O does not have because the cash cow has stopped delivering its milk.

Prime example (read the announcement) was the Kuiper Gate release. They knew there were problems with it, they released it (before a weekend), then had staff monitoring the forums and chat to find the problems being exploited so they could attempt to implement changes they knew needed to be done. All of this in the name of "Game Progression" forget about the comments made from the Beta Test Server runs dealing with exactly what they sent live. This community, supposedly has a voice, but the only voice they actually hear is the cash box.

Well the points you bring up about the NEW players have always been here. Every NEW player has had VETERANS popping them and causing friction. The issue is the imbalance to the game created by the UFE player. These are elite players and do not need to be VETERANS anymore, a UFE player is a giant WALLET player and as such has lost the ethics that came from being a VETERAN player. A VETERAN player enjoys the HUNT and used to enjoy sitting in a map and having the targets come to him having people call out his location and having 3 v 1 fights with them being the ONE and walking away from the fight scratched but still alive, and yes they even were killed occasionally. The difference between then and now is everyone saw the potential to be equal without having to spend money on the game, now it is given you WILL SPEND CASH to become a top player. The time to use booty keys is when everyone is using them as the insertion of any of the great prizes is every so many chests dropped in the maps will have the best (advertised goody) and if you are trying to do them yourself may have to use 1000 keys or more to find what you want. When people say they got a LF-4 every 20-30 keys it was because there were several people in their company opening Chests getting nothing while they were lucky to get the ones with the good stuff in them. This is a problem that has been requested to be addressed throughout the game (Galaxy Gate Materializer, Booty Chests, Special Bonus Boxes, Galaxy Gate Chances, etc) where a person gets a chance prize almost every time they do the activity and others never seem to get it no matter how many they open/do, just another indication of the imbalance of the game.

My personal take on the TWITCH was it should have been better "orchestrated" by having a set of items they were going to discuss and address instead of being a chat session between 3 departments. YES it was a "trial run" for a LIVE broadcast, but then even live broadcasts have some direction going into the program, not just making it up as you go. Address issues with what is being done not "working on it". YES we know it is the TENTH Anniversary of the game this year and we know you will be working ALL YEAR on this one event but that leaves us 8 months of garbage to wait thru before we get this one GOOD Event. We know to help you with the Events you will be recycling Events from last year, that were not flops, my assumptions are Parasite Tide, Halloween, and Mad PET's. But these had their limits as to how successful they were and also had issues the first time around.

 

I agree to a point. I was playing DO in 2006/2007 on another account that I lost due to inactivity. I stopped playing right after the LF4 came into play. There was a time when you could put $100.00 down on a Mega happy hour and be FE. Those days are gone and will never return. Making the LF4 more available doesn't mean they have to make an LF5. It would however put people on more of an even playing field and the game could return to the person with the better fighting skills won the fight not the guy who hits 200,000K in one shot.

 

They've talked about putting LF-4s in the shop before if I remember right, part of the problem comes down to this: You have hundreds/thousands of players who have obtained all of these things with the grind. They went through the same process, the disappointment and the win when they did or didn't get the items they were looking for. Simply discarding all of what those players went through and putting it in the shop completely changes the score and can leave those people feeling like they were left in the cold.

I'm not saying it'll never happen or that I'm against it happening personally, but at the same time, they can't just chuck caution & the game economy out the window.

Give it a chance (no 'chance' pun intended given where this is going). I know there's a lot of talk about vague answers in the Twitch stream, but there's a lot they're trying to convey when given the opportunity to listen. These rare items like LF-4, things like crafting/assembly can help with that. & We've seen over the last year or so things like LF-4 day become "Helix LF-4" with more chance. Yes there's still the "it's lf-3 day" comments & all, but I like to think it says a lot about the direction of what they are trying to do when looking at all of it. When they say they're trying to make the game fairer, cheaper, be more mindful of power updates and all of that so they can level the playing field, they aren't just saying it to make us stop bugging them

There's a lot of "we are working on it" because as Rick said, they are trying to communicate that they're on it. They can't always put out a full game plan of how they're going to get there because sometimes that just isn't in stone yet because game development can be pretty fluid. Things change, they sound good on paper but when it's put into practice they might find it just doesn't work for any number of reasons, bugs come up or content to keep things moving forward might have hiccups... there is just so many things that can make it impossible to realistically say "This week we have mapped out X, next week we will start the production process, this will take 3 months, closed beta, open beta, release a week later, victory dance party in the rad zone". There's delays in gaming all the time and plans end up needing changed so it's hard to be 100% concrete, especially in earlier stages (relative to the task at hand). That's why they can tell us a bit more about say the PET/ship vanity, or how crafting and things pile onto the foundation that the EiC update is building up to, but dates, specifics, who what where when (they have been trying to answer why) might be sparse until they're ready.

Not everyone is quite so understanding when delays happen, or plans change, and sometimes they could be even less bothered as to why.
The team wants to share information but they also aren't always in a position to do so. So when they can and when they're ready, they are trying to do so.
& if all the details are spelled out before the release (not everyone is religiously following the unofficial thread for tidbits) there isn't necessarily much left to surprise the community with except "today's the day!"

As for the hate on the vanity update(s) as being "useless", again I'll say DO is not the first, nor will they be the last to introduce these. Maybe not every player wants them, but players have been asking for vanity for years (popular one I remember seeing years ago was pink goliath designs). No one's require to buy them, they aren't making anyone do more damage or fly backwards or whatever more could be added to the cost to have a stronger ship... really they aren't hurting anyone. People who want them can get them, and maybe someday there will be a design that strikes your fancy, too.

tl;dr there is always room for improvement, and I truly believe they are trying to not only acknowledge that, but to continue to move the game itself in a direction that embraces that. Some of us have been here awhile and it can make us a bit jaded about *a few things*, but just blanket hating on everything isn't going to make enjoying improvements or even the things we ask for any better or easier

Regards,

 

When I was talking about "Buying their FE ship" I was referring to the ability that is still there on the Uridium page, buying a Goliath ship, BO-2's and LF-3's to get it FE immediately, with NO knowledge how to do anything in the maps and with MHH buy your Iris's and log disks for the BIO and poof you have a level 5 FE Goliath who has no idea what to do with it, except kill anything they see in the maps (including the friendlies in the maps).

Our calling this "USELESS" is the tying it to a 2 week event that is all about spending CASH instead of making a person better in the game (e.g. look at the effort for the missions and the small reward for such, IF you could get the missions done at all). The F2P people of the game speak exactly what they see and the last 2 weeks of event was exactly that "USELESS", unless willing to open your wallet.

 

It just seems as if the things that come out of DO after all the "we're working on it" falls short of the mark. Take pet designs. For myself it seems like time could be better spent working on the bigger problems such as the power imbalance, or server population. Not to say that DO isn't working on those things, information is handed out with an eye dropper at best. The twitch cast is a step in the right direction and with planning on topics to be discussed they could be really informative. I started watching the Twitch cast thinking, "great we're going to find out some solid information about whats to come and where things are headed." Then I walked away with more questions and no answers.

 

I think part of that comes from that while we've been told certain things are in the works (solutions to server population, JPA, etc) a lot of people keep pressing these issues when there isn't yet anything particularly new to add? Some I don't think realize that these things are in the works, but some may just feel nothing is being done because there isn't a resolution now (or yesterday). I didn't watch the chat the whole time on the twitch personally, even when I rewatched it, but the bits I did catch was a lot of the same thing repeated over and over even after it was discussed.

I'm not saying it was perfect or anything like that, there's room to grow into the stream or how information comes about. Just that sometimes there's no answers until there are, and it's not that they just don't want to share or they just want to avoid it. There is just a lot of factors that play into it and the time they take to make sure they're giving us the correct information (or even the information they can) might even be better for it in the end.

 

Not sure where you are driving. Man this thread is on the go... I guess I am part of the everyone else, and yet I still don't want them in the shop. I have 4 LF4 and 1 Havoc total on my main and started about the same time as you. One thing I can say is I totally hate the boxes and won't spend a dime on them. I agree there is a power gap but just setting a uri or cash price for them will not fix it. It will only make it easier for those with handy cards.

 

Valid point. However something needs to be done. I'm not sure merging servers would help the problem or make it worse. I understand that they are talking about merging servers for perhaps different reasons such as lack of population. Something has to change if DO is going to stay in business. The UFE and wallets will run out of people to kill because people will leave for other games. I'm not saying putting LF4's in the shop is a magic pill. However, it would give people a fighting chance. Complete quest kill NPC's and save Uri and buy an LF4. I don't claim to have all the answers, I just know it can't stay the way it is.

 

The issue of populations of servers have had several Update and Idea threads trying to suggest ways of keeping the NEW players playing longer than they are right now. Merging servers is not an answer as, even with low populations in maps may actually have a lot more active players than are seen. There was a suggestion in this thread to add ONLINE/In-Map counters so the community could be informed about the numbers on a particular server at the same time they are, also updating the "Registered Users" to reflect the ACTIVE Registered Users (deleting the banned and closed/inactive terminated accounts) so we have an accurate count on the active accounts.

But to keep NEW players in the imbalanced game that has been created, there needs to be changes made to game to encourage these players to stay in the game. Same Company killings, UFE multi player attacks against newbs, and being popped multiple times trying to accomplish quests and gaining strength to remain in the game, is not going to keep these players around. Yes the LF-4's created the imbalance but making them more readily available is not going to correct the imbalance. The proper method of helping balance the game is to change the "Chance" reward to a percentage so you could AVERAGE the "coveted" items like the Gate Parts (doing Gates with a chance reward and getting nothing after several of the same gate and seeing others getting over 90% reward is not right) using hundreds of Booty Keys to get nothing of the Special Items (on Special Days using Special Keys) is not fair and is where the adjustment to the game needs to be made. Even the regular keys should provide a better return for use than they are giving at this time.

Returning some balance to the game by making separations in where UFE and FE- are allowed to have open battles are really the easiest way to make this game balanced again, YES the game is PvP but PvP does not mean allowing players to be slaughtered because they are too weak or unfamiliar with defensive measures and being attacked 3v1 (UFE against noob) just can not be allowed to continue.

 

How is changing the colour of a pet to green or red higher in the list of priorities than fixing JPA?

 

Notorious Yes, it's very important sentence. The same about my question about seprom bug, no reaction, silence....

Sorry, but it still look like dev. team doesn't want to solve serious bug in game( seprom bug is still on first place).
Questions which was mentioned in twitch stream was nice, but pls.. Everybody see that they are more important problems in game and i didn't see feedback from team about this. It just looks like they try to avoid answering to some important questions.

 

They discussed JPA for a fair bit of the stream. How are vanity options on a higher priority than JPA? Because that's what the community wanted:

On the other hand,

Have you reported this bug? Just saying there's a seprom bug doesn't tell anyone any information as to what the issue is, or how to reproduce it. There have been multiple seprom related bugs, and they are continually fixed. However, again, as was explained in the stream, bugs like the reoccurring seprom ones could largely be fixed when that element of the backpage is eventually moved into the game client. So while they continue to deal with the short-term intermittent seprom bugs that come up, they're looking at how they wrap it up for the log-term as well.

So if you have information about a currently working seprom bug and could contact support to explain how it's working, that could go a long way in making sure if that particular one is even known so that it can be fixed.

Regards,

 

I have seen the reports in the Forum about the bug. I have not tried it to see if it is true, but my understanding is you send a full load of Seprom (9000 units to a Citadel) using Insta-Send and it does not remove the Seprom from the SkyLab and as long as you pay for the Insta-Send (not sure it is charging as never mentioned) you get the full load and still have the stuff waiting for another shipment immediately. Basically, the only way to prove it would be to video the transaction and then take the risk of being banned by exploiting a BUG. So now that it has been described why not have the team do some research on it instead of telling players to PROVE the problem that is being described so clearly.

Again, I am not one using the BUG as I send my Seprom daily and only have, maximum available to ship, 4660 in my SkyLab at a time and my Citadel can receive 9320 in a transfer. I also think it is a waste of Uridium to PAY to transfer to my ship anything, but then I also am not spending money on the game since I have seen the impractical "CHANCE" of getting the Items I am trying to get when I BOUGHT the stuff for the Special Rewards advertised (10 LF-4, 84 Apis and 3 Zeus prints collecting on Zeus and LF-4 Days only, from over 3000 BK-100's in all colors). If I want LF-4's I do Epsilon Gates for them now.

 

Well, there's a reason we tell people to report it rather than test somethings themselves As for the rest of that, I asked for information, same as goes with any bug. If you an issue with asking for information so we can look into a bug and test it, then I'll ask you take it up with support. I'd appreciate if you stopped flaming the team in the meantime.

Regards,