Devs, Where are the Foundry updates?

zogvarnoka · May 2013

Ya know I had a well thought out post, but the forums ate it and I'm to frustrated to type it again.

Foundry updates going to happen or are you just blowing smoke?

And if there does end up being some in this patch today, put it in the patch notes next time.

wuhsin · May 2013

zogvarnoka wrote: »

Ya know I had a well thought out post, but the forums ate it and I'm to frustrated to type it again.

Foundry updates going to happen or are you just blowing smoke?

And if there does end up being some in this patch today, put it in the patch notes next time.

There won't be any updates to the Foundry today. When they update the Foundry it is always in the patch notes. I'm mad too, bro.

chili1179 · May 2013

I too would like to know where the foundry love is every patch.

wuhsin · May 2013

chili1179 wrote: »

I too would like to know where the foundry love is every patch.

I'm beginning to think the devs don't give a troglodyte's excrement about the Foundry.

zovya · May 2013

zogvarnoka wrote: »

Ya know I had a well thought out post, but the forums ate it and I'm to frustrated to type it again.

Wtf Cryptic? Foundry updates going to happen or are you just blowing smoke up our asses?

And if there does end up being some in this patch today, put it in the patch notes next time.

I really hate to point out the STO foundry at this point. I hope NW is different.

zahinder · May 2013

Or Champions Online. Sure, it's not Foundry, but Cryptic has a LONG history of not getting stuff done.

Admittedly, STO's core stuff has really gotten legs lately, so there's that.

drakesigar · May 2013

If a developer is reading this, or someone who knows a developer, or someone who knows someone who knows a developer... I would hope they understand that the Foundry is Neverwinter's Ace in the hole, the one thing it has over the dozens of other identical fantasy MMOs out there, with the potential to provide fresh content indefinitely if given the right support.

kamaliicious · May 2013

zahinder wrote: »

Or Champions Online. Sure, it's not Foundry, but Cryptic has a LONG history of not getting stuff done.

Admittedly, STO's core stuff has really gotten legs lately, so there's that.

Well, STO was supposed to be getting improvements backported from NWO.

nokturnel · May 2013

rofl today's patch. Nerfed GWF, didn't fix anything else.

Cause we all know GWF's really needed a nerf....

i think they're just trolling at this point

vaelic · May 2013

very

. is it that hard to at least COMMUNICATE their plan? yeesh

wuhsin · May 2013

drakesigar wrote: »

If a developer is reading this, or someone who knows a developer, or someone who knows someone who knows a developer... I would hope they understand that the Foundry is Neverwinter's Ace in the hole, the one thing it has over the dozens of other identical fantasy MMOs out there, with the potential to provide fresh content indefinitely if given the right support.

This. If it wasn't for the Foundry I'd already be gone. I love the Foundry. It's my new home.

zahinder · May 2013

Agreed. Foundry is why I'm playing. It's an ok game, but I've already mostly burned through the regular content and wouldn't have stuck around.

And I don't expect lots of work RIGHT THIS MINUTE. I'd just, you know, like to have some idea of what they were working on and roughly how it's likely to roll out.

vaelic · May 2013

theoretically... once players cap out at 60 with quests wouldn't they turn more to foundry quests at that point?

kamaliicious · May 2013

vaelic wrote: »

theoretically... once players cap out at 60 with quests wouldn't they turn more to foundry quests at that point?

Not really as there is still better loot in the Tier/Epic dungeons. Maybe once they reach ultimate gear score, but at that point they're probably overpowered for standard level 60 mobs and any solo content would be easy for them.

zogvarnoka · May 2013

kamaliicious wrote: »

Not really as there is still better loot in the Tier/Epic dungeons. Maybe once they reach ultimate gear score, but at that point they're probably overpowered for standard level 60 mobs and any solo content would be easy for them.

Who realistically plays foundry quest for gear anyway? And if you're max level and geared out you aren't playing foundry quest for loot period. It comes down to two things then; dailies and content/story. Foundry quest take care of both of those with the additional content being the bigger impact. Now, we as authors may not be able to customize boss mobs, but we sure as hell can ramp up the difficulty to make a challenging quest for tier level solo players. Just have to put in huge letters in the name/description the quest is scaled for those players.

Back on topic though. After talking to a few authors, some are getting quite upset about us seemingly being ignored. Hopefully we can hear something from the devs soon about this issue with some hard dates. You can tell us you're working on stuff and it will be out soon (tm). But sorry, we've all been playing games for years and have heard that before without anything happening. And given Cryptics reputation from previous titles it isn't looking good.

sominator · May 2013

Hey friends! Thanks for your comments and feedback. Rest assured that while some of the recent patches have worked to address exploits and stability issues, the Foundry still has its own team working on it and making it better, taking into account your feedback. Please keep posting your thoughts, we appreciate it!

levitateme · May 2013

zogvarnoka wrote: »

Now, we as authors may not be able to customize boss mobs, but we sure as hell can ramp up the difficulty to make a challenging quest for tier level solo players. Just have to put in huge letters in the name/description the quest is scaled for those players.

I think it's possible to do both in one. I went for a more claustrophobic dungeon with the thinking that higher tiered players are more likely to try big AoEs to get through it faster. As a result, they end up aggro'ing mobs they didn't intend to hit...

zahinder · May 2013

sominator wrote: »

Hey friends! Thanks for your comments and feedback. Rest assured that while some of the recent patches have worked to address exploits and stability issues, the Foundry still has its own team working on it and making it better, taking into account your feedback. Please keep posting your thoughts, we appreciate it!

Please encourage them to communicate to us what they are doing, even if a birds-eye view.

angrysprite · May 2013

Sheesh.

There is a difference between HOT FIX and a full PATCH. All we've had have been hot fixes. Foundry updates are almost always never in a hot fix, always in a patch - and most often only with content updates. Unlike the usual hot fix and light patch that updated the game incrementally, when the Foundry updates come it is a complete night-to-day experience.

All you inexperienced types will have to pick your collective jaws up off the floor when you see a real Foundry update (which this next one will be).

Fasten your seat belts: it IS coming. We've already been notified it's on its way. We just need to be patient for when it finally gets here.

zahinder · May 2013

Notified where?

vixisyn · May 2013

Hey Devs -

I think we'd just like to have a little love thrown our way. Maybe every time you patch, you can throw a few new Foundry assets in there too. Just some small details would go a long way.

Thanks

vaelic · May 2013

sominator wrote: »

Hey friends! Thanks for your comments and feedback. Rest assured that while some of the recent patches have worked to address exploits and stability issues, the Foundry still has its own team working on it and making it better, taking into account your feedback. Please keep posting your thoughts, we appreciate it!

it would be great if some of the team members can chime in on some of the topics. thanks for posting!

coanunn · May 2013

sominator wrote: »

Hey friends! Thanks for your comments and feedback. Rest assured that while some of the recent patches have worked to address exploits and stability issues, the Foundry still has its own team working on it and making it better, taking into account your feedback. Please keep posting your thoughts, we appreciate it!

This is all well and good, but how about some kind of ACTUAL communication instead of what amounts to a verbal head nod. Right now I've hit a point where I feel like an unpaid developer, expected to just keep putting out content without even being told what changes are coming in the future. You know, things that might mean hours of work are either unneeded or would have to be redone?

Let's be brutally honest, the Foundry represents a never ending outlet for new content that Cryptic doesn't have to pay for, thus every author who puts any time at all into the Foundry is an unpaid dev. I don't expect to be part of the staff meeting or know what everyone is working on but it would be nice to know "next patch is tenatively scheduled for..." or "We have heard your feedback and right now the priorities for the team are...". Every player over the age of 20 has heard years of being told "taking into account your feedback. Please keep posting your thoughts, we appreciate it!", you simply have to do better than that if you want us to stay invested. Otherwise you can kiss the foundry community goodbye as they slowly burn out.

keylord02 · May 2013

coanunn wrote: »

This is all well and good, but how about some kind of ACTUAL communication instead of what amounts to a verbal head nod. Right now I've hit a point where I feel like an unpaid developer, expected to just keep putting out content without even being told what changes are coming in the future. You know, things that might mean hours of work are either unneeded or would have to be redone?

Let's be brutally honest, the Foundry represents a never ending outlet for new content that Cryptic doesn't have to pay for, thus every author who puts any time at all into the Foundry is an unpaid dev. I don't expect to be part of the staff meeting or know what everyone is working on but it would be nice to know "next patch is tenatively scheduled for..." or "We have heard your feedback and right now the priorities for the team are...". Every player over the age of 20 has heard years of being told "taking into account your feedback. Please keep posting your thoughts, we appreciate it!", you simply have to do better than that if you want us to stay invested. Otherwise you can kiss the foundry community goodbye as they slowly burn out.

Or quickly burn out, in some of our cases, haha.

As much as I'd love more content, I'd honestly settle for the Foundry's spelling errors and weird known bugs fixed at this time. The foundry Author character is insanely buggy, music and sound effects are still not working, etc etc etc.

coanunn · May 2013

Currently installing my Firefall Beta client. Maybe a little time in another game will let me feel creative enough to come back.. It's sad that a game with the single most important feature on the market (UGC=unlimited content) and it's held back by old business tropes that you don't tell the community what is happening behind closed doors. With the advent of twitter, facebook, even cell phones and texting came a level of connectivity that companies would have killed to have even a decade ago.

Your fans are starving to hear what you are working on!

wuhsin · May 2013

Mainly I just want sounds fixed. I don't have to have dragons right this instant. It would be nice to have them one day. But at least get the basics working. I think a big part of why people can't play anything over 15 minutes is not just the daily, but the fact that most quests are eerily silent, which makes it get boring a whole lot faster.

delthanin · May 2013

wuhsin wrote: »

Mainly I just want sounds fixed.

This so much. The inability for Foundry quests to have placed sound and music is very problematic for setting atmosphere. I try to imagine how much more exciting people's "You have to run!" quest objectives would be if the music suddenly switched over to something that better conveyed urgency.

tilt42 · May 2013

I'm fine with updates taking time. I'm fine with Foundry patches being held back because of critical fixes to the main game.

I'm not fine with the way Cryptic handles communication when it comes to this kind of thing. Us players haven't got the faintest idea what's coming and when. I get the impression that the developer/publisher is so afraid of biting over too much that they don't dare tell us anything at all, which can backfire pretty hard.

Most of us have some kind of dream feature or dream fix we're hoping will get implemented sooner rather than later. The way things are set up however, we'll only hear about these new features or fixes the same day they are released to the public. What's the purpose of this? Is Cryptic so afraid of being held accountable for ETAs that they'd rather shut all their doors and hope we'll forgive them once the content is out? If so, that's horrible timing considering how communication and fan involvement has been the hot topic in gaming since Kickstarters started gaining traction last year. Keeping us customers at arm's length creates adversity between developer and customer, and in this case that can get ugly since some of us customers double as content and value creators through the Foundry.

Those of you who know me through this forum know that I'm pretty laid back when it comes to the Foundry (though I can get annoyed at other players at times) and what the developers can and do give us to play with. I can deal with long development times, promises that fall through and estimates that turn out horribly wrong. What I don't want to have to deal with is a wall of silence from the developers. The dev post in this very thread is a good example of what this leads to. Sominator's post gives the impression that he's very carefully stepping into a minefield of rules and regulations, having to artfully balance the restrictions placed upon him by the publisher against the wishes of the players. This is not good for the health of the community. If the devs want the Foundry to thrive and for the authors to remain loyal, we need to be kept in some kind of loop. Right now we can't even see the loop through the brick wall they've erected in front of it.

Sominator, I don't care if I have to wait months for the sound fix and content updates as long as we have some idea what's going on. Your post in this thread, while appreciated, comes off as trying to fight a fiery inferno with a glass of water. Please reconsider the adversarial attitude you guys have had towards the Foundry authors since open beta started (you were actually better at this in closed beta, though not good enough IMO).

Give us some love, and we'll love you back.

Devs, Where are the Foundry updates?

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