I liked the way they released it this time around, it gave people something to do, rather than running out of quests, missions etc within a month of release of the expansion. Unless you're one of the people who just enjoy grinding everything out and then being bored till the next expansion comes out.
In which case can we go back to expansions every 6 months please? I can't stand knowing new stuff is coming sometime in the next few months without an idea of even which month. I Missed RoF2 release, due to volunteering to go away with work, if I'd have known I wouldn't have gone in April and would have gone in May, like most I hate missing first raid kills.
If they aren't a big deal for the dev team then why all the secrecy? If there was a fixed schedule all along, then why can't we know it? I like the idea of staggered content releases but IMO we should know what we are getting and when. Uncertainty is not good. Regardless of what the official releases say, when we get 2 of the 4 tiers for $40 and then 2 more tiers for 'free' (but they require the first 2 tiers) - the overall impression will be that $40 were paid for a 4-tier expansion. How would you like it if you bought new furniture, half of it was delivered immediately, and you were told that the other half will be delivered in 2 shipments later, but they won't tell you when? This trick can work 1 time when you don't expect it, but would you buy from that store again?
If it was from Rooms to Go or Ikea, maybe there could be some annoyance. If it was being produced by a small group of artisans by hand from rare tropical hardwoods in a far away country, than it gets done when it gets done. If you see by the tone of the replies from SoE folks, you won't be able to corner them on a date since they already know they are not going to please everyone regardless of what they do.
Seriously though they do the best they can with the tools they have. It's not up to them when the content is released if we want to complain twitter @j_smedley ask him when will EQ Tier 4 content be released I doubt he knows, but maybe he will find out (i give it 1 in a million he gives you an answer). Maybe if you were asking about something with planetside 2 you would get a response.
Cool, T4 will be released when its ready. That'll be nice. EDIT: beat Piestro to the punch. (Warriors DO have a sense of humor - we have to.)
Just to be clear, T4 will not be released when it is ready. It will be released when SOE is ready to do so. I am sure there will be some missing NPC's, raid mobs giving 1 AA per kill, named PH not spawning on Live, and various bugs and issues with raids
Hard to say. These "updates" are not revenue generators other than keeping people logging in, engaged, subbed and so forth. It would definitely be a plus if it was released later and polished as opposed to later and broken. If you are a player where you fire bombed everything in a few weeks, then yah, the "I want what I already paid for" card gets played. Thing is, if you are that kind of player you are never going to be satisfied. They can't put content out fast enough even if they had 100 devs other than to make the content stupid hard and drive a large portion of the player base away. Honestly, the devs are probably just straight up exasperated with the community and are pursuing a "take it or leave it" approach. And why shouldn't they? 75% of the posts on these boards are garbage. Demands for this or that. Endless complaints and baseless accusations. Frivolous whining. So on and so forth. The other 25% might be taken under advisement and the rest just tuned out. Good thing the posters on the forums are a small percentage of the players and the rest are just happy the game is still going and supported after 14 years. Getting new content is almost jump for joy amazing in that context.
What content release has been done other then the SoF expansion update? That can't be considered "additional content" as that was the other half of what people paid for. Not quite sure what else has been put in that doesn't include the 14th anna stuff (doesn't count either!). Also, how will billing work going forward if this is how we proceed? Do we pay once and get 4 tiers of raids with the zones/quests to go along with it, or is it to be something more static?
Special content releases such as the Living Legacy and the Anniversary stuff have always recieved some sort of notice. Even "free" zones such as Stormbrunt Mountains and Jaggedpine Forest got, as you put it, "lead notice". It was not until this expansion being split into two (and then three) parts that the "lead notice" was dropped to a week or two. More, and more effective, communication, not less. That should be your goal. I get the whole "its not done yet" concept (which, whether true or not, is the apparent reason why this expansion was split into chunks : not all of it was done) but that's not the issue here; the issue here is people wanting to know some sort of general timeframe upon which they can expect that it will be done and released. I have not seen anyone asking for a specific date - just general periods.
I do have to wonder at this point if or when they next expansion will be if they cannot get the current content released until this date. It seems like they just keep pushing everything back further and further.
Just to clarify a bit here: We've changed the way we release content. For the last couple years we released an expansion with a big chunk of content. Then we waited another year and did it again. This created a system of content glut followed by content drought. It wasn't a bad system, but it didn't accomplish all our goals. We've moved to Expansion + Game Updates. This was intentional, and is meant to address the issues that arose in the system above. Rain of Fear is the first time we've done this, but it's our plan from this point on*. This way we can continue to provide people with new things to do at different times of the year. This is going to take a little work, before things run as smoothly as they did with the old model. We were used to the old model, you were used to the old model. Change can be a little difficult sometimes. Definitely give us your feedback on what you'd like to see. *Normal caveat that this can change in the future, and 10 years from now you can't hold this post up as evidence that we've promised to do this forever and ever. If we find better solutions, we may change the way we release content again, and again, and again.
From a raiding perspective I dread this change. From a groupers perspective (what I hardly do anymore tbh) I guess this will be perceived positively.
Devs in games often get burnt when they put out a date (even a ballpark one) and for whatever reason they miss that date. They will probably announce one when things get way more firm. Piestro just said that this new system of releasing content is new to them so I'm guessing that they're being extra cautious about this. I'm cool with it. I'm just glad to be getting new stuff in the near future. =)
Wasn't this how it was supposed to be when we went to yearly expansions? One expansion release a year and bonus content like living legacy and holiday events through the year. Personally I prefered the 6 monthly expansions
This current system has content drought too. Guilds are beating your add ons the same night they are released. With the current system, guilds arent getting their usual transition period from farm to progression. Its just constant farm. Also, with the current system, you arent giving many raiders much time to enjoy the gear that they get on raids. New content comes out by the time someone finishes their gear plan. Raiders, raid leaders and guild leaders enjoy the old cool down periods where they can sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor. With the current system, that isnt really happening either. Unless your discussing from a grouping perspective more so than a raiding perspective there.
How many raids did you get during the VoA yearly cycle? How many have you gotten so far in the RoF/SoF cycle? I think we're better off so far. I'd think the hurry up and finish raiding crowd would appreciate this style, as It gives them a big burst of raiding content, then several semi-annual things to look forward to in addition to the big expansion.
