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Latest Test Realm is great but where is the story?

2
AuthorMessage
Captain
Jun 26, 2010
734
I do hope the story does comes soon too mates.

- Deadeye Jack Morgan

Gunner's Mate
Jan 06, 2011
228
Ratbeard on Nov 23, 2014 wrote:
Oh. You guys want more story? Why didn't you say so sooner? We had no idea.

Of course we know that many of you are waiting for more story. We have many different teams and skill sets working on Pirate-- designers, programmers, and many different kinds of artists-- concept artists, character artists, environment artists, FX artists, UI artists... While we continue to work on the next story update, we have bandwidth in other disciplines to continue to deliver other kinds of updates to you guys. It is not a case of giving you one kind of content in exchange for another. Story advancements are very art intensive, and that frees up other resources (like design and programming) to build additional side content with lighter art requirements.

It is also important to remember that our player base forms a kind of pyramid. At the top of the pyramid are all of the players who have reached the end cap and are waiting on more story. But below that point, there are more and more and more players who have not reached the end of the story yet. The farther down the pyramid you go, the more players there are. Part of the reason for that is because not all players advance to the end content at the same rate. And part of the reason for that is because new players join the Spiral every day. There will always be more players at the bottom of the pyramid than there are at the top. We build all our games for the long term, with the knowledge that, in fact, there are more players out there who have never played the game before than have ever played the game so far.

So we will continue to build up the game with side content, not only to support that broad base of the pyramid, but to make that base even wider. Pets, PvP, the Black Market, Crafting-- you can expect to see all of these things, a few more things that you can guess at, and a lot of cool things you can't even guess are coming.

And of course we will continue to advance the story as well.
Thank you for commenting Ratbeard. We really do appreciate the hard work you put into this game.

However, these "side content" updates do need the talents of the artists so it does seem like they may slow down the story work (someone had to make the art for the ship cabins and the gear at the black market).
Also, I would argue that the black market and obtaining scrip for it is a "top of the pyramid" side activity. Higher level ships have a higher drop rate, and from what I have heard the gauntlet doesn't scale too well with level and you need to be max level to have any chance in it.

The main reason we are so impatient about the story is that the first expansion to it came out relatively quickly. But it has been 18 months since then. Surely it would have been better for everyone if you released smaller story updates more regularly. As it is, we will be expecting something major (at least cool ranch sized) and if it isn't, prepare for more complaints.

Petty Officer
Jun 12, 2011
70
I have been reading all of the concerns and complaint post on many forums. As well as listening to discussions around the spiral. I have seen post from One Eyed Jack as well as Ratbeard so far. Are we as paying customers satisfied with these answers? Speaking for myself in a short answer NO.

I do comprehend the task of preparing the new content as well as the frustration to try to make the game challenging for every level of player. With the latest "pyramid" remarks my hopes for the game in the near future fell apart for the many many max level paying customers sitting idle. Apparently we are the smallest part of the community, sitting at the top waving our white flags.

To keep watching players leave the game is disappointing. But apparently not enough enough to cause any concern for KI.

I know the "cheerleaders" will be out in droves, but for the ones who are truly loyal to the game and wanting to see progress this is something that needs to stay in the forefront of the Devs minds. Concerns and opinions of the players need to be heard.

Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Wicked Savannah on Nov 26, 2014 wrote:
I have been reading all of the concerns and complaint post on many forums. As well as listening to discussions around the spiral. I have seen post from One Eyed Jack as well as Ratbeard so far. Are we as paying customers satisfied with these answers? Speaking for myself in a short answer NO.

I do comprehend the task of preparing the new content as well as the frustration to try to make the game challenging for every level of player. With the latest "pyramid" remarks my hopes for the game in the near future fell apart for the many many max level paying customers sitting idle. Apparently we are the smallest part of the community, sitting at the top waving our white flags.

To keep watching players leave the game is disappointing. But apparently not enough enough to cause any concern for KI.

I know the "cheerleaders" will be out in droves, but for the ones who are truly loyal to the game and wanting to see progress this is something that needs to stay in the forefront of the Devs minds. Concerns and opinions of the players need to be heard.
Wanting to see progress, for the sake of a few players remaining and so you have something new to do, is more being truly loyal to yourself and the other maxed players, not necessarily being truly loyal to the game and it's future growth and future players. I know I have posted many "cheerleading"-- "Ra-Ra-Sisk-Boom-Ba"-- type of posts and I apologize for being so wordy and disagreeable with all of the complaining lately. But I feel that I can speak from and with a bit of an understanding when it comes to the whole new story and/or new updates discussion and/or arguments.

I work in construction and build homes for a living. Now this may not seem that it would have to do much with producing a game, but actually the construction industry draws so many parallels to the developing of a game.....different technologies and means, but same general principles.

I liken, say the constructing of an amusement park, to the production of a MMO game. There is one focused project that is the overall 'completion' goal-- construct the theme park so that it can be enjoyed as soon as possible and also long term for future visitors; construct the game so that it can be enjoyed now and in the future, by as many players as possible. In both cases, you want to get it up and running, but you also know that you will be adding to the overall enjoyment of the 'project' by providing future expansions to the game and to the park, respectively. Also in both cases the entire project is composed of a team of many different entities working together towards the overall completion/improvement of the project. For the construction side you have many contractors/subcontractors, engineers, zoning/planning strategists, architects....that each play a vital role in the building process. Same for the game-- developers, programmers, artists, a sound team, design team, writers, voice actors.......

For both instances, the goal is to get the initial polished project up and 'usable' as to help fund current and future expansion, development and content. So, you start with the building and making the park/game serviceable and open the gates to recover costs and provide a way to begin the next 'installment'. So, you begin new construction on a wing/expanded area in the park...aka, new Book/Content in the case of the game. While this is going on you have to find a way to keep things fresh for current visitors/players and to also possibly make it more enticing to future customers. So, you go and spruce up some of those older areas of the park, add some new rides, tweak the old ones a bit and give 'the old' a nice new shiny overhaul or a new flavor-- just as the developers would do in a game, via smaller updates and content.

(continued.....)

Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Wicked Savannah on Nov 26, 2014 wrote:
I have been reading all of the concerns and complaint post on many forums. As well as listening to discussions around the spiral. I have seen post from One Eyed Jack as well as Ratbeard so far. Are we as paying customers satisfied with these answers? Speaking for myself in a short answer NO.

I do comprehend the task of preparing the new content as well as the frustration to try to make the game challenging for every level of player. With the latest "pyramid" remarks my hopes for the game in the near future fell apart for the many many max level paying customers sitting idle. Apparently we are the smallest part of the community, sitting at the top waving our white flags.

To keep watching players leave the game is disappointing. But apparently not enough enough to cause any concern for KI.

I know the "cheerleaders" will be out in droves, but for the ones who are truly loyal to the game and wanting to see progress this is something that needs to stay in the forefront of the Devs minds. Concerns and opinions of the players need to be heard.
(from continued)

But in the meantime, construction is still going on in the new, exciting expansion area....aka, new Book/worlds. In the beginning you set a deadline and timeline goal to complete this new area/book and you focus all available manpower on each phase of completing it. However, there are times when one subcontractor (or group of them) has done his part on 'the new' and is freed up to work on the 'revamping of the old'. Meanwhile, construction is still going on with the new area/book, you have just merely kept the ball rolling and kept things as productive as possible-- enhancing and updating 'the old' all while producing and maintaining on-track with 'the new'. The workers/developers that are now updating 'the old' are earning their keep and continually contributing to the overall completion/betterment of the project. It would do no good to keep them on 'the new' because their part in completing it is currently on hold....so they focus on updating and enticing future customers.

You are still on task for the timeline goal and working towards the same original deadline, the entire team is just maximizing the effort and productivity into the overall project and not just the 'new content'. The same deadline would still be there and it would still take around the same time to complete it regardless of everyone only focusing on the new, because of the fact that certain developers/workers would be idle during the process, while it has been passed on to the workers/developers that progress the next phase of the 'smaller, newer project'.

In the end the same deadline is kept in tact, just more work has been completed and every part of the team is kept highly productive throughout the entire duration of the process. "The New" has not taken a back seat to the "The Updated" at any point, they have just been completed in unison all while upholding the most productive means towards completion of "the entire product".

Ensign
May 16, 2011
37
Valkoor I understand your post in its entirety as you well know that my family is in the building industry and graphic design.

However, your analogy has one obvious (well obvious to me at least) difference regarding an amusement park v online game construction.

We cannot see the construction progress, or lack thereof, of an online game. Therefore it leaves the customer base anxious! We are also not informed of a proposed completion date either.

So you see there is no agreement, so to speak, between management and client/customer.

It has been a long time between the last story line update to now, and we are only left to wonder. So I can understand people leaving the game or asking/complaining on the forum.

I have no doubt that our Pirate101 staff are doing all they can to get things right, but this aspect of game construction is sorely neglected somewhat. Yes we get teasers but its just that ... a teaser.

Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Ozzie Mozzie on Nov 26, 2014 wrote:
Valkoor I understand your post in its entirety as you well know that my family is in the building industry and graphic design.

However, your analogy has one obvious (well obvious to me at least) difference regarding an amusement park v online game construction.

We cannot see the construction progress, or lack thereof, of an online game. Therefore it leaves the customer base anxious! We are also not informed of a proposed completion date either.

So you see there is no agreement, so to speak, between management and client/customer.

It has been a long time between the last story line update to now, and we are only left to wonder. So I can understand people leaving the game or asking/complaining on the forum.

I have no doubt that our Pirate101 staff are doing all they can to get things right, but this aspect of game construction is sorely neglected somewhat. Yes we get teasers but its just that ... a teaser.
Very wonderful points there Sharon and you are so right about not being able to see the construction progress in an online game. Although I have actually had the pleasure of working and being part of constructing a new expanded area of an amusement park years ago when I did commercial construction--, hence the reason and precedence for the analogy. Even though some info and views of what new and exciting additions are being worked on may leak out here and there, for the most part the new areas are concealed from public viewing during the construction process and kept under wraps, so to speak. I have even been part of the building of the barriers, partitions and enclosures just to ensure it remains more of a mystery and surprise and not seen during the construction phase. But this may not be the case all of the time, so I sure do understand what you are saying.

Also with major projects like that they usually give the public/users an all-encompassing expected completion date time frame of say sometime in 2016 or x date. Occasionally they offer a more narrowed down proposed completion timeframe such as Spring of 2016 or 1st half of the Year 2016, but that is usually not made public until it is closer to being more certain that it will be ready by then. Really there is no agreement between the customers (amusement park patrons) and construction management in such a scenario, but more so between the management/owners of the park the vendors, the employees and tradespeople that will be in attendance and working once the park opens. The patrons agreement is more along the lines of this is when we hope to open the new part, so stay tuned. So I expect that once the much more scaled down game update reaches the teams targeted completion date (and it appears to be on track), that KI will give us more teasers and announce the new Books targeted arrival to the Spiral.

I do absolutely understand all the players out there that are wanting to see more proof, know where there money is going, have reassurance that what is stated is in fact being done, and/or at least have some type of comfort in the form of KI actually stating the updates will be here at or around x date. And I do agree that it sure would do wonders for the many concerned players out there in the Spiral.

Ensign
May 16, 2011
37
Bonnie Anne on Nov 24, 2014 wrote:
If we told you about teasers ahead of time, they wouldn't be a surprise (or very teaser-y).

Patience, dear Pirates.
Quotes like this really don't help our situation.
We don't consider a story line update, in Wizard101 or Pirate101, a surprise but a necessary part of game progress.
I would however, consider side content a nice smaller surprise.

Ensign
Jul 21, 2010
45
Trimond297 on Nov 23, 2014 wrote:
Not like it, exactly. It's their terminology for this game that it is considered a part of the major story arc containing numerous quests, both main & side quests, & they're divided into Chapters, & they must be played in a linear order in order to move on to the next until we reach that Book's conclusion. Any other optional quests added to a Book they choose in later updates are considered a part of that Book, but won't be available to Pirates until certain levels are reached.

If we revisit a world we visited in a later Book, we may explore a new Skyway &/or lands, because the way we visit worlds in the game functions quite differently from Wizard101's world visiting structure.

To place it simply. Books in the game are split into Chapters that contains many quests. Once a Book is clear, we go on to the next until we reach the cliffhanger point, of which is where we have to wait for the next Book to be released, & so on.

Hope this clears it up for you.
Thanks! Can you tell I'm still a level 10....

Ensign
Jul 21, 2010
45
anecorbie on Nov 25, 2014 wrote:
Crafting is a way to make your own gear, furnishings, houses- it uses special equipment and 'reagents' basically ingredients found around areas. You gather reagents, take them to the crafting station in your home and voila! Instant gear, etc. That's how its done in Wizard101.
Crafting is coming to P101! ( Does happy dance ).
Crafting... Yeah? That makes me think of hours spent collecting ore instead of doing homework... I was kind of hoping to get away from crafting. Then again I wasn't a die hard crafter...

Admiral
Jul 27, 2012
1196
I would venture to say that providing improvements and extensions to the game (as in the other excellent updates we have already had this year) would be something that would need to be in place before another chapter update. So much has to be patched in order to get all the new pieces to integrate with the old pieces, that it would be a much better use of resources to do that so that the new chapter would not have to be patched.

I think too, that it is probably difficult to have a proposed completion date, especially as a lot of aspects are experimental. We can't see what is happening in game construction because so much of it is based on mathematics. And you would think that x + y + c = desired result, but the addition of (c) might completely change what is happening with x + y! Science, oy! You would think that it would work like, oh, say clockwork, but no...

Captain
Mar 24, 2013
732
I really like the additions to skull island and some tweaks in other worlds, and the tower of Moo Manchu dungeon. So far we had seen pet sparing matches, expansion of the early chapter in skull island,the long and very challenging Moo Manchu tower and coming soon in the live realm able to go in our ships and other great stuff. I had a great time enjoying these additions.

But a new storyline is long over due, like what will happen next after Aquila and so fourth. This is over one year of the making, i bet these new worlds are super big like cool ranch or even larger. Judging the length of development, it's between 5 and 12 new books. Now that's a lot of hard work and dedication if this rumor is confirmed as a fact, a dozen new books .

Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
Rainbow0839 on Nov 27, 2014 wrote:
Crafting... Yeah? That makes me think of hours spent collecting ore instead of doing homework... I was kind of hoping to get away from crafting. Then again I wasn't a die hard crafter...
Yes, I agree that farming for reagents was a drag and I was never much for gardening, either. But as with pets, maybe P101 crafting will be 100% improved.

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