expectations

[Symbiote]

what keeps you playing this game?

i am to believe for everyone here is an old school player, what keeps us is 3 parts for 1/3 nostalgia 1/3 frenship and 1/3 of addiction. i was happy to find this game still running after a decade absent but despite that it felt like something was missing... like... 10x more players around? i really don't remember how full the house was even in regional servers.

anyways, since only a big revamp could save this game from its slow march towards being shut down, what is your expectation on its longevity? at the rate people stop playing and people come back playing after 7 years away, is that enough to maintain a minimum userbase for a niche multiplayer game to be good? it kinda depresses me bad that this game has such a deep connection to it from the userbase who love playing despite how bad things are and in response the abuse from part of inno to dismiss that and giving little to no attention to the game, let alone hear the complains and ideas. they like when an idea is too good that the code can't handle so they can reply "the code can't handle". and if it can, well who cares anyways? please buy more fool's gold so we can develop our other games <---> does the game even make enough to sustain itself? i see the cuts on the improvement ideas department, but what will happen when the budget can't secure the regions maintenance?

in the case you foresee a great future with awesome renewing and increased userbase, i'd like a sip of what you are drinking too and tell me what are you seeing.
in the case you forecast doom, how much doom are we talking about? this game will last 5 more years? 4? 2? how will the last days look like and will the decay be slow or at once?

i really was away for a decade and the first thing i noticed was all that empty space, this many leveled ghost towns in Colorado seemeded sus to me until i got to know the world is a decade old. i ask the veterans how has the decay process been, if it accelerates or at times they hold.

don't know about you guys but i'm sinking with this ship until its last sail. no iceberg will struck us, the lack of ship maintenance is self-destructing it and the coast guard (inno) is watching over the other ships they own, at best they have one lifeguard on a jet ski nearby so he can go to the hub and report that we sank.

 

[Poker Alice]

in the case you foresee a great future with awesome renewing and increased userbase, i'd like a sip of what you are drinking too and tell me what are you seeing.
in the case you forecast doom, how much doom are we talking about? this game will last 5 more years? 4? 2? how will the last days look like and will the decay be slow or at once?

If all we see for the west game is doom and gloom then we can express those feelings. This is what the forum is for. We can express our opinion, say what we want as long as it isn't breaking forum rules. I'm sorry it depresses you Symbiote. Sincerely, These days I try not to dwell with those kind of feelings for too long. In the real world economic inflation was bothering me a lot but I'm trying now to move on.

Never say never. You never know how things can go. We could make a prediction but it's only a prediction. It really depends on INNO what they do with the game. So how can we really know. Perhaps the people that make decisions could even keep the ole game going for nostalgia purposes, who knows? As for a brighter future, what might help is a little cheer in the cup. It can't hurt right?

i really was away for a decade and the first thing i noticed was all that empty space, this many leveled ghost towns in Colorado seemeded sus to me until i got to know the world is a decade old. i ask the veterans how has the decay process been, if it accelerates or at times they hold.

Me too. My gaming history has been to play a game for a while then disappear and possibly return for another length of time. Pong, not so much! Yep a map full of ghosts does have an effect! Emptying the empty ghost towns would only help the look of the map. Wish there was an easy way to do that. I think lower populations are okay as long as there is reasonable activity. Actually decade old game styles have been showing to have a comeback but not sure how that trend will continue. I tend not to want to kill the game (talking about for my own self here) and think of any situation like that of a Titanic Ship Wreck though if I did might then consider The Heart of the Ocean

what keeps you playing this game?

That's a good question. Simple answer. Everyday I play, I like what I do.

 

[Harsha..]

what keeps you playing this game?

Most people stick around due to a sense of inertia and sunk-cost fallacy. People have been doing the same thing for so long, and people hate change, so they keep on doing the same thing even if there are better (and more fun) alternatives out there. Then, you have the sunk cost mindset - "I put in thousands of hours in my character over a decade, I don't want to throw all of that away".

.... does the game even make enough to sustain itself? i see the cuts on the improvement ideas department, but what will happen when the budget can't secure the regions maintenance?

in the case you foresee a great future with awesome renewing and increased userbase, i'd like a sip of what you are drinking too and tell me what are you seeing.
in the case you forecast doom, how much doom are we talking about? this game will last 5 more years? 4? 2? how will the last days look like and will the decay be slow or at once?

The game can easily last 10+ more years. It doesn't cost that much to keep a server running, especially with low cost cloud now widely available. Take the examples of W1 and Houston - those worlds were dead, but they didn't rush to close them and 100% they didn't keep those open out of charity or fondness of heart. It really doesn't take all that much computing power to run this kind of game.

The way it would go down is the language servers would be gradually shut down until we are left with around 2-3. They'll reduce the staff, use their developer time only for critical maintenance and so on. I'm certain quality PvP would die out long before the final end. Most people assume PvP make this game all it's money, but this is untrue, looking at a world like Briscoe with almost no duels or FFs. Evidently that world has enough people spending that it's never been up for closure.

i really was away for a decade and the first thing i noticed was all that empty space, this many leveled ghost towns in Colorado seemeded sus to me until i got to know the world is a decade old. i ask the veterans how has the decay process been, if it accelerates or at times they hold.

That's a good question. In my view the first really steep decline happened around the release of V2.00 and the first P2W tombolas. The game moved away from only spending nuggets on premium to outright buying items with nuggets. I actually quit around that point too, I was a broke student and couldn't compete anymore. Ever since, the decline has been slow and gradual.

Some people might say the level 250 update is just as bad. But I think it actually extended the game's lifespan by a good number of years. The most dedicated players (and loyal customers) are those who have been playing for a decade+. Increasing level cap (and adding tough achievements) gave them something to do rather than having them slowly fade out and quit.

 

[Huscarle.]

Farming