I'll preface this by saying sorry for the lengthy rant. Hopefully I don't come across in a negative manner, it is not my intent, but rather something I feel needs to be said.
I understand we (the XBox version of Neverwinter) are less than a month old and the "kinks" are still getting ironed out on the back end in terms of server stability, frame rate, lag, etc & so on.
I also see what appears to be a passionate player base.
I understand that the PC version of Neverwinter is a priority and will (in all likelyhood) remain that way. PC will (again, in all likelyhood) always be ahead of the XBox incarnation of Neverwinter in terms of content releases. Personally, I'm fine with both those things, PC version launched in June of 2013, basically a 22 month headstart on the new Xbox version.
I understand there has been a roster shake up on Cryptic's/Perfect World's end with some layoffs not that long ago, Akro moving on, Andy/Strumslinger (filling the void left by Akro) was on vacation (and as I can attest, probably needed another after a weekend in Vegas), the lead designer of NW XBox Scott Shicoff has moved over to the PC side, and it appears the Elemental Evil expansion has caused quite the uproar with the established PC player base.
In other words, I get that your hands are full.
That said, as a member of the previously mentioned passionate player base, I have to ask, when can we expect better communication? Where does this (the Xbox) version stand? What's being worked on? What can we expect going forward?
It appears as if things had to go nuclear on the PC side before the community was addressed.
One would hope history doesn't repeat itself & you (the Dev team & their conduit to the player base) learn from past mistakes.
Yesterday, on the PC side of things, the community got the following:
http://www.arcgames.com/en/games/neverwinter/news/detail/9213383-neverwinter%3A-looking-into-elemental-evil
Paired with a stickied thread that can be found here:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?904061-A-Message-Regarding-Neverwinter-Elemental-Evil
Patch notes for today's PC update can be found here:
http://nw-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?904091-Patch-Notes-NW-45-20150416c-4
When (or what has to happen) will we be addressed in the same type of manner with the same seemingly sincere respect and concern?
To reiterate, I understand (and am fine with) playing second fiddle to the PC version of the game.
However, in my honest & humble opinion, communication to the Xbox player base needs to improve dramatically.
Second fiddle = fine.
Being ignored = not acceptable.
Something as simple as game news...
Prior & up to launch game news was receiving a new article/blog every couple days.
Since launch, there have been 4 (3 of which were posted in the 1st week, and consisted of a quest/encounter primer, a mount primer, and a week 1 blog), the 4th being a copy and pasted regurgitation of the Challenge of the Gods event.
11 days passed between the 3rd and 4th game news posts. As I type this, 6 days have passed since the last game news post.
Looking at the PC side since the XBox version launched on 3/31 - there have been 15 game news posts.
Again, I understand you have your hands full.
I am, and will continue to give you the benefit of the doubt.
However, patience can only last so long. I can only speak for myself, but I highly doubt that I am the only person that shares this (or a similar) opinion.
I don't expect you or anybody else to give us concrete dates, or intimate details on what you have in store for the Xbox One version of the game, it would be nice, but I'm not going to set myself up for disappointment.
However, I do not believe it is too much to expect to be kept informed as to what is going on with your game and product.
So far, the level at which that occurs has been sorely lacking & I truly hope it improves.
There are issues that have been brought to your attention on these very forums that seem to fall on deaf ears.
It would be nice, and should be expected that, if nothing else, somebody from your end would chime in every now and again to acknowledge that you are at least cognizant of these issues...
In a perfect world it would be nice if you weren't so cryptic about where the game is headed (see what I did there)... the stock twitter answer of "we'll have details in the/at a future/near future/later date" is, for lack of a better term, laughable.
For the most part, ignoring the seemingly red-headed step child that is the XBox One version of Neverwinter and it's player base is nothing short of unacceptable, and is something that can be easily rectified.
Thanks for reading.
Comments
I agree with what you've written here. Also, I don't even think you're ranting. Your post was a measured, sincere, and frankly, necessary request for more engagement with the XB1 NW community.
*slow clap*
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Zenimax had lots of problems with player communication too, as well as backing out of their promises and contradicting their admitted vision for the progress of the game's development. Hopefully they've learned their lesson, but my year of playing ESO on the PC was filled with disappointment. Every time they said they'd never do something they turned around and did it, and every time they said they planned to do something it took them months to actually get around to it. Not to mention farming exploits and the bank duping bug that my guild found in early alpha (~1 year before release) that still somehow didn't get fixed for 4 months after release.
Bottom line, I think both companies have a lot to work on as far as communication and interacting with the playerbase is concerned. We're consumers, and we don't like to be ignored by the people whose products we use.
Gamertag: ReallyRecon
The only feeling i'm getting from the devs right now is "Everything seems to work fine. Just doing some light maintenance over here and adding some new stuff for you to spend real money on. Have fun! See ya next week, bozos!"
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Guild: Ruthless
I guess, I can continue to PVP and stack up on Glory to buy the T1 Starter PVP Epics, so I'll have a high enough GS come Level 60 and can be competitive, but is that gear even worth wearing outside of PVP?
This game is a lot of fun, but these issues are just running rampant and the economy requires a bit too much dedication and time sinking that makes the game feel more like work than fun.
New game news today, thanks.
Threw us an event, thanks.
Questions -
1. What is the reasoning behind a double XP weekend for a game less than a month old? It seems odd to me to add something that encourages power leveling ALTS. Seems strange that while many issues regarding game performance, lag, server stability, time outs, FPS still are very much still a problem, yet this event specifically caters to being in game for hours on end grinding - regardless of the performance issues.
2. What happened to the Orc Assault CtA? That is the type of event that is actually fun and introduces new things to the game - enchantments, mounts, companions, etc. When initially released the CtA broke the que system and had to be shut down prematurely. Any update to a fix on this (and future Call to Arms events, which are extremely fun)?
3. PC version has a launch page calendar of upcoming events. A XBox version of the same would be wonderful, but it is understandable that there are bigger fish to fry. As a compromise/stop gap, communication by the dev team here on the forums with a calendar of planned events isn't too much to ask for.
Part of the reason might be because they're going to be doing it on PC due to outcry as a result of the Elemental Evil stuff that came out. If i read correctly they raised the level cap and nerfed the xp making the grind a ton bigger and it upset a lot of players lol. At either rate, this works to their advantage, a lot of players will cap their main and/or alt characters and once they experience the lvl 60 problems a lot of other players are having, it might spur them to buy another character slot and go back to leveling lol.
I get the PC side of things, reading up on it, seems like a total nightmare over there (I have not played my PC account since XBox release).
Difference is XBox is less than a month old.
Grinding another toon to 60 is easy as is, now you can do it in 1/2 the time - hooray, now drop some coin on another character slot for a game with performance issues that really haven't been addressed...
Speaking of PC... there are 9 call to arms (some of which have been released multiple times), and a minimum 12 other events that have run (again, some multiple times) all of which make more sense and than releasing a x2 XP event this early in the games life cycle.
My 2 cents.
A little advice. #1 Do not identify greens. If you do not need the item to upgrade immediately, sell as unidentified. As you have discovered, scrolls can be expensive and the value increase between an identified and unidentified green is not worth it. Unless you are overloaded with found scrolls.
#2. I assume you are talking about Rhix's dailies. Both problems you list are valid for dungeons, not skirmishes and I don't PVP so i cannot speak to that. You can make up for some of the problems, depending on you playing time if you try to sync the dungeons and skirmishes to the featured hour. There are more people doing them = less wait. To reduce to disconnect problems, que from just aout anywhere outside of PE. You will still have some, but much less. And the final advantage, is the 1000 ad in the chest for every shirmish you run during the hour. Most low level skirmishes can be done 6 or more time per hours.
#3 As I said, I don't PVP, but it is my understanding that PVE gear is not good for PVP, but PVP gear is OK for PVE in most instances (not high level dungeons). Someone who does PVP made jump in and correct me if I have misunderstood.
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We are recruiting 15+GS PVE and PVP players
Oh I agree there are a lot of things that make more sense but since when have they been about sense? Having played PC then you know how many exploits there were in various epic dungeons that went unfixed for MONTHS. The only thing I remember them actually jumping on from the start to fix were the AH exploit (which was the same exact problem that they had in STO) and some other thing with a cat or something? I forget. At either rate, the things that would affect the economy/zen/their profit directly were fixed right away. Other things like glaring exploits and broken features often took forever.
In my opinion all the things I saw in PC and now in this past month on xbox point to one of 2 conclusions. A> that the companies as a whole are horribly inept and/or B> that at the end of the day they really ONLY care about getting as much money as possible as quickly as possible.
All in all, i just keep that in mind when I play. Viewing it as such, I'm not very tempted to invest money into a game that I know will leave me disappointed with my investment. So long as I don't spend money, then I can enjoy the game (until level 60 that is), and slowly but surely build my AD making professions while grinding out some gear and hopefully later farming some AD via epics. To put it more simply - I don't expect much if anything from them and they never fail to deliver exactly that. I don't mean to sound bitter, it just seems to me that they've had 2 years of NWO to learn from and yet they keep treating their player base the same time and time again. So I'll milk some enjoyment out of this game for a little while until the next great thing comes along
Thanks for the info.
I was, as you probably deducted, identifying every uncommon to increase the sell value, however. I have noticed that it isn't by much. With that said, I'll probably look into doing this more often, unless it's something for my class.
In regards to PVP, I've never enjoyed PVP in any MMO game I've played and I feel PVP breaks the D&D universe as you're venturing with a group of allies to take down a Chaotic Evil. In any case, I've done it once at Level 22. From what I thought was me being really bad not doing much, I ended up at the top on the winning side 15-0. Rewarded with 88 Glory, a BoE Rare, which sold for a decent price on the AH and other goodies. Assuming Glory gain nets that much more at 60, I can see purchasing T1 Epic PVP gear being a really decent gateway into end-game dungeons until you're able to collect the gear from there.
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Join us in the shadows where we stand mostly vigilant... although slightly distracted by our inventories.
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JOIN US.
Even if we don't submit and official notice, like we did for Neverwinter on PC, know that we're constantly looking and listening to feedback. Both our team and the developers are very aware of the questions that are being asked and working towards fine tuning the game to be more inline with our vision and the players requests.
I know that the original note said stay tuned for more information and I need to actually reiterate that message as we aren't ready to reveal all our secrets at this time. Know though that we're actively working on the game for both new content and fixes that are requested like the race re-roll token.
In general, keep up the feedback. We'll look to have more open communication with the forums moving forward.
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I really love this game, so it's great to hear that you're working hard behind the scenes.
The acknowledgement really helps reassure me that the game is worth continued investment of both my time and money.
Join us brothers and sisters and distant relations and confused onlookers.
Join us in the shadows where we stand mostly vigilant... although slightly distracted by our inventories.
"In war, unqualified. In peace, disorganised. In death, mild irritation."
JOIN US.
I'm happy Alex and Andy took notice of this because all we want is to have an idea of whats going on and more importantly, what to look forward to. Neverwinter is different from other new games in the sense that we can glimpse over at whats on PC and find things we would really love to have. A general idea of things to come would be great!
We may not always like or agree with what is said or done, but knowing (and being reminded every now and then) that you are listening and open to dialog goes a long way.
I look forward to what this game has in store for us and hope to see you both around here more often.
Now about an in game calendar or our version of in game calendar on these forums...
Have a good weekend.
And I must say, everybody needs a vacation every once in awhile, we all may be forum handles on here, but we are all human.
Anything from this point on will always be awesome because of your time and effort on this title.
So the poster gives a lucid, intelligent, well thought out discription of your neverwinter devs failings. Does it nice like with added courtesy to your feelings and endeveours. You come on here and say yes were listining. And yet neverenter has been down now on xbox one for fourteen hours and counting and you have told us diddly apart from well maybe its DDoS but were not sure. How about giving some of that courtesy back and tell us whats going on even a rough eta has to when its back up even if its days just so were not all sat here wondering well shall i play that. should i go fishing. Personaly i would not be so nice to you devs. I think your rude and inconciderate of your player base. Nuff said
I wouldn't say they are rude but they definitely are incompetent.
When was neverwinter down for 14 hours? Laggy yes but working fine since the great orc assault that never was.