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Active Neverwinter players on Steam
romotheone
Member, NW M9 Playtest Posts: 729 Arc User
Incase anyone is interested, here is the chart:
http://steamcharts.com/app/109600
It does show a steady decrease over the last few months. What do you guys think about this? What could be the reason?
http://steamcharts.com/app/109600
It does show a steady decrease over the last few months. What do you guys think about this? What could be the reason?
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So, it shows a decrease for sure, and Steam doesn't represent the majority but it's probably representative nevertheless. That said, the declines are actually not that steep. One would expect a fairly steep falloff around the m6 launch data, and that's just not shown. Yes, the decline gets a little more steep which is to be expected given the reaction, but it's not precipitous. My guild's population trends are much steeper at the m6 drop timeframe, so I'm a little surprised to see just how NOT sharp Steam's data shows the decline to be.
(edited for proper context - thanks for the moderation Lews, but I had to make a couple more adjustments for that first part to actually make sense)
Sekhmet@kvetchus_
Guilds: Greycloaks, Blackcloaks, Whitecloaks, Goldcloaks, Browncloaks, Spiritcloaks, Bluecloaks, Silvercloaks, Black Dawn
Tredecim: The Cloak Alliance
@kvet I believe that the mod 6 advertisement on steam has drawn quite a lot of players to the game, especially since it's free to play. Since new players weren't familiar with the difficulty mod 5 provided, I think it didn't demoralize them as much as it did with older players who felt that their hard-earned gear during earlier mods didn't have such an impact after the update. I am keeping an eye on the steam charts of Neverwinter for a few months time and I was surprised that when mod 6 launched, the number of players stayed about the same.
There's no reason to think that the Steam trend can't be transfered to overall population and the Neverwinter Vip access package is a sign they are forced to try new ways of marketing the game.
In that 3 month period, the player base declined by just under 2.5% (6069 to 5921).
Next, from that point in February to the latest reading in June. This lumps all the pre-mod 6 hype, immediately post release, and months to follow together. The playerbase went from 5921 to 3776, a decline of 36% over a 4 month period.
So, pre-mod 6, 2.5% loss over 3 months.
post-Mod 6, 36% loss over 4 months.
I think it's safe to assume roughly a third of the playerbase so far has quit due to mod 6 and the various changed after?
Fewer dungeons, slower exp, nothing really to farm for AD, more grind, more boring.
At the current rate, there will be no one left for Mod 8. They need to do some serious soul searching and realize that they don't know they are doing and get someone who does.
I guess.
Mod 6 was a challenge for the playerbase across all tiers and areas. Bugs and balancing exasperated the endgame community and casuals were suddenly not able to run common content because it got too difficult. Plus the grind is getting worse and worse every module. Help to smoothen progression has been added a solid two months later. That simply comes too late for many.
Which is also why I would challenge the content before bugfixing approach any day. Because releasing broken content does not help to keep or gain players anyway.
"...I grab my wiener and charge!" - ironzerg79
I can tell a difference in game though.. there certainly less players around.
They are totally unplugged with feedback and do exact opposite (hey, grinding to 70 is boring as heck, can you fix it... answer.. sure, we will make it even more boring, so the current boring isnt as boring as the new boring's going to be...)
good grief.
I dunno what the issue is, but i suspect they have enough "cash" coming in from players and the zen shop, that they don't feel the need to truly do what needs doing, mainly making one massive freaking list of all bugs, some of which have been in the game for a YEAR, fix ALL THOSE FINALLY... as for the 60-70 grind i dunno what to think or say about it, i know they don't want you to hit it instantly, but the way they made over leveling at 70, even LONGER is honestly insane to me, it punished ALL new players, yet helps (in pvp and str) all the old players.. i suspect it will honestly discourage new players, and also discourage old players from making new characters..
at 700k xp i overleved about once a week.. at what it is now.... and with the invoke changes to the XP bonus..... *rofl* yeah.. i might get one in 2+ weeks?
You don't need to be playing through ARC to redeem promo codes and buy ZEN. You just have to have the client installed. If you're using Steam as your primary gateway there's no need to stop, you just need to login into ARC every now and then.
That's what I'm doing as well. I start the game directly and only ever log into ARC when there's a code to redeem.
The VIP access has been a thing since before the game even launched. It was first sold as part of the Founder's pack (now the Hero of the North pack). I don't know if it's part of the Hero pack now, but the point is - it's nothing new, in fact it was one of the first things they ever did in marketing sales for Neverwinter.
Sekhmet@kvetchus_
Guilds: Greycloaks, Blackcloaks, Whitecloaks, Goldcloaks, Browncloaks, Spiritcloaks, Bluecloaks, Silvercloaks, Black Dawn
Tredecim: The Cloak Alliance
On the positive side is barely anything
And that's it and the upper positive things are nothing really remarkable and i would expect them in small patches between major modules to keep the game smooth.
What would keep the game running?
I would say PvP, next module looks like a nice addition of it for PvP orientated Guilds and Players. But to say it openly, we need more PvP content in form of different mods. Neverwinter PvP actually is an enhanced duell system and because of balancing between classes, exploits and Item Level you can clearly see that Neverwinter needs a different type of it to benefit from such a system.
In addition we need new and shiny PvE content. The Foundry could be a place to get such content for free. I know not all is perfect but i think if it is more in the spotlight of the game (read progress) more and more player want to give their best in it to create nice stuff. In addition a second progress curve would be good. I mentioned it in another thread: Dungeonmaster vs. Hero Group.
Something a smaller and easier accessible version of the Foundry, where you can earn new assets, buy different skins for monsters/dungeons, a boss generator and other stuff. For the Dungeonmaster more like a RTS Game with Action Combat (like Dungeon Keeper where you had the option to control a monster). Would be more a D&D-esque expierence and constantly new content for players with a different experience each time. Such asymetric gameplay works!
At some point it would be also boring but it would take a lot longer while Cryptic had the time for a new module and add some nice new assets for Dungeonmasters.
Another thing that keeped me playing was the collection system. I don't know why but if i knew i could earn some stuff pretty easy for some points it keeped me playing and go in a Dungeon for a rare and random armor piece from a chest i never got at this point. It is sad that this kind of progression is not used to keep the player playing the game.
I mean, most player know which armor they need and these player are pretty focused to get it and are really fast done with it. To have another progression possibility via the collection seems only reasonable. Something like milestones to get small constant rewards every month or so or a bit bigger rewards like a key for a chest, Dye and other stuff from the Zen-Market. Maybe something special every 1.000 Points or so, that can only be equired by the collection. I know, not pretty D&D-esque but at some point the game needs more rewarding game mechanics to keep a player running.
Another problem is the high demand of money for your personal progress. Cryptic seems to have a really good art department, why not use this. I mean, players love it to design their character unique ways. New fashion, new colors, a new dye system. Why did you remove the possibility to dye the weapon?
Or simply selling new armor and new weapon skins via the Zenstore for cheap money. They are consumables and can be reselled.
To get this game back on track should be a piece of cake, nothing impossible.
put it this way, my guild had 15-20 on at all times before mod6 - last time anyone besides me logged in, May 19th, it's dead jim
Even so, Steam is not an exclusive delivery method so even then their figures are just some unknown percentage of the population. Without knowing those, Steam's figures seem a tad useless. Then we have people coming and going from Steam, like gamers do, so their own population changes manipulates such figures as well. Lastly, we have the changing of the Seasons across the world and in the US, we've entered Summer, when more people are outside.
While yes, there's been many changes for good and those bad things too..
So, with that in mind, I see little use of Steam's charts for activity in most games.
[ Support Center • Rules & Policies and Guidelines • ARC ToS • Guild Recruitment Guidelines | FR DM Since 1993 ]
You are right, good point! I haven't thought about that. People who load the game via steam just once and then proceed to play without steam are definitely contributing to the numbers without having the intention to do so.
So please stop pretending it is all fine, it is not! The worst is not the state of the game, it is more about the trust most the player lost as elemental evil hitted the servers.
[ Support Center • Rules & Policies and Guidelines • ARC ToS • Guild Recruitment Guidelines | FR DM Since 1993 ]
And the chart is right. Not everyone is going in via steam and many will use the launcher itself afterwards why there should be in the longterm a downward spiral of the use of Neverwinter in steam which we clearly have in the chart. But there is more you can read in it: August 2014 the release of Module 4: Tyranny of the Dragons +22% and November 2014 the release of Module 5: Rise of Tiamat +22%. Each module had an impact in the chart, more player in the month as a module was release followed with less players and a reduced rate of players incoming to the game. Overall the old modules increased the player ratio with maybe a minor loss of module 5 with +22% in November and -26% in December, but which is fine because it could be a statical fluctuation in the statistic and a loss of 4% is inside the parameter of the overall degree of playerbase each month in the steam chart (or maybe a massive amount of player changing to the launcher because of payment issues via steam).
Now we have Elemental Evil on April 2015 +11% increased followed with -21% in May and -11% in June. We lost the double amount of players one month after the Module hitted the Servers and at the same time we get sorry blogg posts all over us from the new lead designer. The forum was full of posts full with hatred and disappointment because of the new module.
PWE knows how the numbers are and they doesn't look good and this chart is proof of it. Module 6 was a big cash in for PWE to let the player pay by setting back their gearscore progression and include another paywall till you reach rank 10 enchantments with legendary to mythic artifacts, which you simply need for T2 Dungeons to play them properly (and by properly means to have fun in it).
But i can't blame them. It was a hard year for PWE with Neverwinter, they lost a lot of money and kicked some of their staff out (there was a thread with the half year report and stuff in the forum and the internet) so they needed more money to keep the game going. But they messed it up, to generate proper content to keep the people playing their game and spending money they scared them and now we have less players then before. Maybe they will come back of the promising module 7 or they will be gone forever, hard to tell. This is not the end of Neverwinter, but it was by far not good either and left a lot of player/customers disapointed and a giant loss of trust.
Bottom line is that it's merely ONE metric used to measure player count. There are metrics that PWE looks at, both internal and external, that give them the broader picture that they need.
Great Weapon Fighter: Because when is today not a good day to die?
PC and PS4 player. Proud Guildmaster for PS4 Team Fencebane. Rank 5 Officer for PC Team Fencebane. Visit us at http://fencebane.shivtr.com
I think ARC is more bloatware.
Ether way you can ignore both and run the game from its folder once its downloaded without the need off ARC or steam.
All the more reason that using Steam figures to declare "the game is dying" is quite overblown.
Great Weapon Fighter: Because when is today not a good day to die?
PC and PS4 player. Proud Guildmaster for PS4 Team Fencebane. Rank 5 Officer for PC Team Fencebane. Visit us at http://fencebane.shivtr.com
Fox Stevenson - Sandblast
Oh Wonder - Without You
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
- Dylan Thomas
Active player peak and active average player are only two of it and can only be used properly if you meassure it in the longterm, but they are pretty effective.
Another one would how many the average player payed for the game till now. Or the average inactive time. Ofcourse you have players that log in every day which means your core community, but important is also how often a player logs in a week or how often a player logs in if a event is coming up.
How often are the player active via gateway and how good it works as an anchor to the playerbase (the more often the player has contact with the game the more he would keep playing but it can also mean if the player has too many and too often contact with the game he gets exhausted of it).
Another interesting stat is how big is the average playtime per character and account. But these are stats/traits we doesn't know and an overall activity chart like steam provides it is a good indicator. The reason is that the steam chart only displays maybe 10% of the overall activity and even if most player change to the Arc-Launcher or normal Cryptic-Launcher without Arc such Module-Peaks are pretty revealing because the average player or more likely the average player focuse gets rised so a peak overall is nothing really unexpected event but important is how the statistic behave afterwards. Loos it the same amount and a bit more of players which means the simple "Attentionplayers" only produced this peak and then everything is back to normal OR like Module 6 the downward spiral is stronger then before. Another good indicator is Module 3 which was released in may 2014. The average players increased only by +6% but the loos was only -2% in June but then -15% in July. Maybe the -15% is only a fluctuation and not important but i think it is most likely that after 2 month many players was done with module 3 and simply waited for the next one.
The downward spiral at the beginning is the reason it started with Module 2: Shadowmantle in December 2013. So you have one module start + steam start and that is the reason why the game started in the steam charts with so many players. After module 2 the game lost about -10% in Janurary, -21% in February and -18% in March. That is normal, we lost a bunch of attention players that follow the mainstream on steam and in addition after 2-3 month most players are done with the content of each module and as Module 3 was announced the April 2014 had only -5%.
And that is why the April 2015 and the following month are so important to notice.