126 (edited by BeastmodeGuNs 2014-02-26 18:21:09)

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Maurella wrote:
DEV Zoom wrote:
DEV Zoom wrote:

The wipe is currently slated about 3 weeks from now, around the end of the month, but this also depends on how testing of the new mechanics will go.

I tried to be vague enough here, sorry if it came through as a "hard deadline".

I see what you did there smile  BTW I read that and see 21 days 2 hr 34min 23 secs. So yeah , you were WAY to hard on that timeline..


The truth of the matter is this , they couldn't break into the STC primary gamma and need an excuse to cover over that simple fact.. From all the chest pounding they do you would think 3 weeks would be plenty time to take an island. But these are also the same players that claim how awesome they are for taking betas then 3 weeks later say they wont play until the gamma wipe because without gamma there is nothing to do.. They talk out of both sides of their mouths and sometimes (more often than not) their ***..

Couldn't? lol, you never even saw what we could do to Imi if we still gave a damn... big_smile

Reading this signature fills you with determination.

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

I bet your dreams look similar to what we are doing to Kraslovsk right now.

128

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Your kraslov assault has largely been laughable. If we gave any *** we've had plenty of time to log in and crush you. Clearly we don't. Compare that to langrum which was over twelve minutes after the first warning and you see who's daddy and who's a joke. I think we need to switch corp tags Burial.

Proverbs 23:20-21 warns us, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags."

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Ok, go ahead. cool

130 (edited by Cassius 2014-02-27 00:24:47)

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Corp bullshit aside, whats the latest?

Test New Player Experience first, test new Gamma mechanics on test server, Gamma wipe live server, off and running

or

Test NPE first, Gamma wipe live server, test Gamma mechanics on both test and live server, then have mechanics set

Personally I can only see a minimum of a week or 2 to test the NPE, and at least another 3-4 weeks to really test whatever new Gamma mechanics to make sure they actually work, and we don't need a 3rd major Gamma wipe down the road ....  thats a 6 week window, ish.  Given that half the server has unsubbed while waiting for the wipe/Steam release it should continue to be pretty quiet ...

Whats the word, Zoom?

Also, I'm curious who you intend to do the testing with ... Devs only or player input allowed ...
because, you know, the players (from all sides) only put years of time and 100's of billions of Nic into building the existing Gamma and exposing/exploiting existing mechanics only to have it imminently wiped because Gammas were not being used as intended. I can't speak for enyone else but my feeling is the players are (somewhat) grudgingly accepting this Gamma wipe in the hopes it will be set in the future and we can know and rely on the rules of the sandbox in the future.

No pressure.

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

I'll do a blog about this soon but we have discussed this at length internally and we agreed that it's better if we do the gamma wipe (with reimbursements), get on Steam (which will be "early access" - I'll explain the reasons in the blog), and work/test gamma mechanics after that. This basically means that gamma would be closed for some time. But this would also present an opportunity to bring in some new stuff in a clean way, and re-open gammas with a new tier of colixum-based modules for example.

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Your reply posted while I edited mine ..  excellent, its how I envisioned this going forward, with hopefuly the least amount of disruption.

133 (edited by Shadowmine 2014-02-27 00:40:20)

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Jita wrote:

Your kraslov assault has largely been laughable. If we gave any *** we've had plenty of time to log in and crush you. Clearly we don't. Compare that to langrum which was over twelve minutes after the first warning and you see who's daddy and who's a joke. I think we need to switch corp tags Burial.

I wonder why Daddy couldn't do the same to Imidero or Bergers...

Just fyi, Kraslov will be the third island defended with 12 terminals and gate defences that STC has taken over. How many have you guys done?

I am starting to think you don't know who YOUR daddy is...

Just sayin.. cool

Edit: And tbh, we have only slightly more interest in wiping kraslov as you guys do defending it... smile

Those of you lucky enough to have your lives, take them with you. However, leave the mods you've lost. They belong to me now.

Scarab Kill Count:2

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

DEV Zoom wrote:

I'll do a blog about this soon but we have discussed this at length internally and we agreed that it's better if we do the gamma wipe (with reimbursements), get on Steam (which will be "early access" - I'll explain the reasons in the blog), and work/test gamma mechanics after that. This basically means that gamma would be closed for some time. But this would also present an opportunity to bring in some new stuff in a clean way, and re-open gammas with a new tier of colixum-based modules for example.

Thats what I love about Zoom. He makes a little comment that to him doesn't have anything wide ranging as a consequence to the current game and in one sweep sets the scene for beta importance and resets the game to 2011 mode.

Start stockpiling your noralgis now folks because its gonna have to be on beta from now on and you know how much fun that is.

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

DEV Zoom wrote:

I'll do a blog about this soon but we have discussed this at length internally and we agreed that it's better if we do the gamma wipe (with reimbursements), get on Steam (which will be "early access" - I'll explain the reasons in the blog), and work/test gamma mechanics after that. This basically means that gamma would be closed for some time. But this would also present an opportunity to bring in some new stuff in a clean way, and re-open gammas with a new tier of colixum-based modules for example.

Good! That's exactly how I hoped you will do it.

136 (edited by BeastmodeGuNs 2014-02-27 01:07:56)

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Perceptor wrote:
DEV Zoom wrote:

I'll do a blog about this soon but we have discussed this at length internally and we agreed that it's better if we do the gamma wipe (with reimbursements), get on Steam (which will be "early access" - I'll explain the reasons in the blog), and work/test gamma mechanics after that. This basically means that gamma would be closed for some time. But this would also present an opportunity to bring in some new stuff in a clean way, and re-open gammas with a new tier of colixum-based modules for example.

Thats what I love about Zoom. He makes a little comment that to him doesn't have anything wide ranging as a consequence to the current game and in one sweep sets the scene for beta importance and resets the game to 2011 mode.

Start stockpiling your noralgis now folks because its gonna have to be on beta from now on and you know how much fun that is.

Mwahaha, its about time! I've been waiting for something like this to happen since i joined the game!

Finally, no more turtle bases, beta roaming possible again, even if its temporary until the Devs rework gamma for the better, Its amazing to hear that we going back to just having beta and alpha for a bit, but while thats nice and all, with how small the world will be after, maybe alpha 3 and beta 3 islands should be considered?

But yup, +5 To jita's last comment btw.

Reading this signature fills you with determination.

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Since the game's been released for 3-4 years or whatever, isn't going early access kinda... fraudulent?

<GargajCNS> we maim to please

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Makes one wonder if something more is going on. smile

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

"Yeah you're buying early access that's why theres 500 other guys with 1.5M EP accounts and unlimited supplies, go fight them"

big_smile big_smile big_smile

<GargajCNS> we maim to please

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Norrdec wrote:

Since the game's been released for 3-4 years or whatever, isn't going early access kinda... fraudulent?

Yeah im trying to grasp this "Early access" concept too

Reading this signature fills you with determination.

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Eh I knew I shouldn't have said it without an explanation roll

The main reason for it is because we have no idea what to expect regarding player numbers and how the servers will take it. We need to warn people that there can be server issues, lag, etc. in the beginning and stuff can break badly. And right now on Steam, being early access is the best way to bring this to people's attention. Obviously we'll tell them this in the developer's notes box and that we've been out for years already.

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Good news!

143

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

I think people have this idea that steam means hundreds of new players when in reality your gone get five extra a day with the same abismal retention rates.

I don't really expect steam to increase the population at all, we've had thousands of players they just don't stay.

Proverbs 23:20-21 warns us, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags."

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Early Access? Does that mean back to an official beta state?

Does that change the Sub pricing in any way?

There are so many Early access games on Steam, some are good others are much poorer quality than Perpetuum , so watch out if you put off potential players with this.

RIP PERPETUUM

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Celebro wrote:

Early Access? Does that mean back to an official beta state?

No, but in a way it's an excuse when things go wrong. If we take numbers from our greenlight page then even 10% of that is much more than we ever had, and we don't want to make the wrong impression that we're ready for it, because we just don't know what will happen. And if nothing serious then it's simply going to be a short early access period.

Celebro wrote:

Does that change the Sub pricing in any way?

I know there are early access games that are more expensive than normally but we won't go that way.

Celebro wrote:

There are so many Early access games on Steam, some are good others are much poorer quality than Perpetuum , so watch out if you put off potential players with this.

It's actually sort of the point, throttling the number of new players.

146

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

LOL!

I get shipped to a new project and come back, "Hi guys!  Oh btw we are taking content away and will recycle the content later!". Later meaning 8 months to a year.  Oh and early access hell, work in progress more like it.  I can see the Steam reports now. "  I paid $10 for early access and all I got was a starter robot while I got killed by a guy in a mu h bigger robot outside a station!  This games a rip off there's no early access!  I want my money back!"

Does this mean we get our names put in the Beta testers list??  Lol!  You Hungarians never cease to amaze.

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Dev Zoom: I think its time to confess, Ville is my alt
Dev Zoom: Ville can be sometimes so sane it's scary.

147 (edited by Ville 2014-02-27 17:06:49)

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Btw, to add some constructiveness to this thread. 

Keep the Gamma Islands.  Add one or two syndicate terminals.  With 6 alphas and 6 betas, players will be stepping all over themselves.

No terraforming, no mpc, no walls.  Just terminals.  Syndicate gamma terminals.

Steam achievement Unlocked:  Being a Badass
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Dev Zoom: I think its time to confess, Ville is my alt
Dev Zoom: Ville can be sometimes so sane it's scary.

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

DEV Zoom wrote:

No, but in a way it's an excuse when things go wrong. we don't want to make the wrong impression that we're ready for it, because we just don't know what will happen.

Maybe you could plan a stress test the first day of Early Access ?

You could also send a Newsletter to all your old players and give them a week or even a month free so that you can load up your server a little just before the steam launch and so they'd be able to play after the steam launch.


I'm sure  we all remember when Eve's player showed up and what happened to the server. I honestly fear that it's going to happen again.

149

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Ville wrote:

LOL!

I get shipped to a new project and come back, "Hi guys!  Oh btw we are taking content away and will recycle the content later!". Later meaning 8 months to a year.  Oh and early access hell, work in progress more like it.  I can see the Steam reports now. "  I paid $10 for early access and all I got was a starter robot while I got killed by a guy in a mu h bigger robot outside a station!  This games a rip off there's no early access!  I want my money back!"

Does this mean we get our names put in the Beta testers list??  Lol!  You Hungarians never cease to amaze.

Newfagg we had three thousand people on three islands at one point. Six will be fine

Proverbs 23:20-21 warns us, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags."

150 (edited by BeastmodeGuNs 2014-02-27 18:20:42)

Re: Incoming gamma changes and gamma-only wipe

Marmon wrote:
DEV Zoom wrote:

No, but in a way it's an excuse when things go wrong. we don't want to make the wrong impression that we're ready for it, because we just don't know what will happen.

You could also send a Newsletter to all your old players and give them a week or even a month free so that you can load up your server a little just before the steam launch and so they'd be able to play after the steam launch.

+1 maybe do something like this:
1 weeks free for all unsubbed trial accounts(maybe give the extra week as a bonus if they buy full sub in first 2 weeks?)
2 weeks free for all unsubbed accounts that have been subbed at some point

But this would probably want to be done from the steam release date if it were to be done.
besides, giving free subs to unsubbed people and sending them newsletters of it at the time of steam launch could help to boost the pop, who wouldn't check in, play a bit, consider resubbing, and stay for a while if they got a week or 2 worth of free sub time when the game just got a pop boost in the 100s?

Reading this signature fills you with determination.