Hi all, has there been an announcement since the roadmap indicating the date that level 100 heroics would become available? I looked around and didn't find anything about it. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Thank you!
Thus far the Roadmap is the only indication it is even going to happen, there hasn't been any further public updates on 100 Heroics AFAIK So until something else is mentioned it's still plannned for September.
That Roadmap is basically like the Producer's Letter...a gigantic tease dump of info and potential offerings that usually don't get followed up on for months, or even years.
Examples please, rereading the last 3 producer letters I see nothing that hasn't happened or that isn't in the time frame referenced.
Advertising to those already playing doesn't really help. If they're gonna try and be more transparent with things like this Roadmap (which is definitely the right way to go), then they need to follow up on it. Some sort of update on those things, every month or two months, is needed. They don't have to be "in the weeds" updates...just general stuff...just a post to let players know what's going on, how things are progressing, things that may have been scrapped or changed, etc. Something along the lines of a quarterly Producer's Letter...as opposed to once a year. If they're not willing to actually put in the effort to BE more transparent like they say they want to be, then it's just a jumble of words that don't mean anything.
Let's stick with the example of the heroic characters. They say they're gonna be updated to 100...maybe in September. OK, cool...and? No details. There have been threads speculating about what's going to happen, but no input from the devs. What about accounts that already have heroic upgrades available? Two of my acocunts have 2 HC upgrades available...are they going to be level 100 if I use them after they do whatever this upgrade does? Can I use one now, and then if I delete that toon to make a new one after the update, will the new one be 85 or 100? If someone buys an HC now and doesn't use it until after the upgrade, is it going to be 85 or 100? What kind of gear are they going to have? What I'm saying is keep being transparent with what's going on...give us updates and we'll give feedback. Just throwing something out there and we wait in the dark until it happens, like we've always done, isn't really communicating. I'm hoping that the reason they threw that out there about the HC update is because they want feedback, which would be good. Let's do that...let's have a few more details so we CAN give that feedback.
"This is why we can't have nice things [communication]." Darkpaw has been fairly good in communication over the last couple of years. Certainly, JChan seems to stand by her word. Their communication stands in stark contrast to vaporware that gives you a blow-by-blow account of development but turns it into a blatant propaganda tool to solicit crowd funds.
I didn't say it was very good advertising. In any case, I wonder just how much of the roadmap will happen on a timely basis.
What part of any of it seem like it wants feedback? They say the stuff, then do the stuff. Where do you ever feel this feedback part comes in? I'm seriously curious about this, I've never seen any previous roadmap parts with this included.
The first thing we should hear more about should be the new TLP server (due in May). Heroics are still 5/6 months away, I would expect to hear more in the summer about those. So far they have done everything they have said in the road map. January they launched the Community Council, but as yet nothing has been finalised (unless they aren't announcing it has been formed after the delay due to choosing from over 150 apps!). But the launch of the apps was on time. Either way the road map is 3/3 at the moment.
I didn't say they don't do whatever it is they throw out there. They throw out an idea/update/change and then some indefinite amount of time later, it happens. What isn't happening is updates or details. There's not a chance for players to say "That might be a bad idea and here's why...". And since things like heroic characters actually involve real money for the most part, I think it would be in their best interest to keep playes in the loop about what's going on.
Except like this 12 page post in this forum about this exact subject? https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/level-100-heroic-characters.280504/
I haven't check the thread in a while, but I don't ever recall seeing a dev pop in and participate. Can't have a conversation when one side never says anything.
I think the communication from them here (letting us know months in advance that this is planned) is fine. Maybe as we get close to the planned date, a little more info (separate offering? Current heroics upgraded?) would be nice. 6 months out, eh. Their staff only has so much time for external communications (this isn't just typing a post, it's getting all the people in the room to make decisions and share info). Focus on more pressing things (new TLP, priority bug fixes) before a more distant planned change. As other posters have said, I haven't seen other recent examples where Darkpaw said they were releasing a thing and then just didn't do it. 64 bit client happened, etc.
There is lots of feedback on the roadmap thread as well as several threads dedicated to heroic characters. If they are looking for feedback they will post a thread about it and as far as the heroic characters go I am guessing they just plan on an update to level 100 along with needed gear/spell updates along with any quests/achievements that they think a level 100 should have.