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My post in the smite forums.
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Gierling Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2011 1:56 am Posts: 1384	Re: My post in the smite forums. Pittyswains wrote: Not sure if you noticed, but TA is the b**** hybrid of trying to force a niche game to appeal to these month players. They made it their priority to cater to them. Unfortunately, the quality of the game at the higher end suffered in a major way. But who cares about that, it takes a person months to get there. I also find it laughable that people feel the need to protect the CEO from us raging forum goers. The blunt truth is, they came up short on a huge amount of things that were promised. And the 'but we listened to you vets' is straight s. The only things HR listened to were minor details, not the core game changers that were needed. If only they kept TU and TA separate. You do realize that attracting players other then the "True Tribers" is necessary for it to make sense to make a Tribes title right? Because the True Tribers do not represent a market that is large enough to justify making a game for, there is a reason we haven't seen a tribes title in the better part of a decade. If you insist that any Tribes title be geared solely towards making the "True blue Tribes loyalists", then you are going to have to accept that there will never be another Tribes game ever again. They NEED to expand the games appeal to make it worthwhile for them to make the d** game in the first place, catering only to the most extreme elements of the community won't make enough money to keep the lights on nonetheless develop a high quality title.
Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:55 am

Irontheater Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:24 pm Posts: 90	Re: My post in the smite forums. Wow, wow, some PR quality stuff from the community. Page long comments. I hope they eventually get read by someone. As for games: In general, the casual gamer is getting a better experience, overall. RPGs are not what they used to be. FPS are not what they used to be. Sports games are not what they used to be. Racing games are not what they used to be. RTSs games are not what they used to be. Everything has been dosed down, to become easy enough, so it becomes appealing to the casual gamer. In this time, the hardcore (elementary, old) gamer is s*** himself, wanting to get a good challenge. It's only logical that developers go for the huge audience, for profits. Around 2003 and before that (fictional time-line), the "huge audience" was the same audience as the hardcore gamers audience. Not everyone had PCs that were powerful enough to run games, not everyone played games, and even less people played online games (In fact, I could easily pinpoint a lot of the people from Starsiege and T2 in other games). Games were not so "popular". (maybe that's the wrong term, but you get the big pic) There were still some games for the casuals, but they were so low budget games. So a player who played T2, grew and T2 with most of the other players, and watched them develop their play-style, while he develops his. THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE TODAY. Most people are now casual gamers, and that's what companies are targeting. No one will want to make a hard game, because the people will not stick with it, seeing it's too hard. So, it's only logical for them to make easy basic games, with few twists, that give off the illusion of something completely new (think Halo). If Tribes 2 were to be released today, with upgraded graphics, I'm sure, the player base will not get over 5000 players. Casual players won't even try it. WHICH MEANS it won't get famous. But these 5000 players would stick with this game for the next decade. That's the difference between core gamers, and casuals. The 14 year old Starsiege still has some players. The 11 year old T2, still has its player base, and still has NEW content being added to the game, which is ridiculous. That's the prime difference between casuals and core gamers. Just to prove how hard T2 really is. I let my friend try out T2. (not too long ago, he's level 43). It was in an attempt to make him go to there as in to revive the community. Well, everything can be resumed in: "He couldn't even ski or jet." He was so frustrated with it, that he stopped playing it 10 minutes in. I understand, making the game a bit easier, going for the casual audience. But some people still need a challenge. Heck, it's not HR's fault, it's really not, it's the whole gaming community's fault. It's EA's fault for pushing low budget high reward games. It's MS, Sony and Nintendo's fault for splitting the gaming community. It's OUR fault for not stopping them, and educating people (well, not exactly educating, but... idk) It's people's fault because they keep buying the same overpriced stuff. Heck, a game should be boycotted by people as soon as it stops innovating (which is basically 99% of games after 2005) I just want a universal gaming forum, which everyone visits, and I want to say: COMPANIES, DON'T FORGET YOUR CORE GAMERS! But alas, no one hears. We are just drowning in the sea of pretty face easy games, which have more story video clips than actual gameplay (cough nfs THE RUN cough) HR actually went out of their way, and gave us something good. Even though it was bound to inevitably fail because of casual gamers.
Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:17 pm

moogee Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:21 pm Posts: 73	Re: My post in the smite forums. athelian wrote: HirezShadowControl wrote: Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums You guys have to understand that developers are human also, when a passionate team makes a game (which gets exceptional reviews for carrying on the Tribes name whether you personally agree or not) but gets beat on every time they post something in the forums they will tend to communicate less. I understand what you're saying but how does ignoring a problem help to fix it? Honestly, you should count yourselves lucky that there are people on here so enthralled by this game and passionate about not only the Tribes franchise, but the monumental creation that is Tribes: Ascend. If you post a poor balance change in Smite or GA or (future) Killstreak forums and no even gives a d*, that should tell you how uncommitted the players are. To be perfectly honest, you all need to man up. Do you have any idea how many times I've been called an F-ing C-word over xbox live by a 9 year old? How many foul mouthed 9 year old are there in this game? Not many. The average age (genuine maturity) of the people playing PC and this game particularly is far above that of most games. Imagine the kinds of comments you would be receiving if the COD community playing this game. It is YOUR JOB to oversee the well being of your investment. When I'm at work and a customer shouts and swears at me I don't cry and go and lock myself in the toilet; I empathise and realise that as a professional, I have a responsibility to do the best job I can regardless, because their anger is not personal and because I love my work. I find it hard to believe that the team is 'passionate' about Tribes when they would give up on it so easily. As for your comments about people finding the game too difficult. I tried StarCraft II about a month ago and lost 20 matches in a god d* row. But do you know what kept me going? The fact that I was constantly given tips in tutorials, the fact that the campaign built me up and up, that there were arcade type challenge missions to help me get to grips with the mechanics. What do you get in T:A? A tutorial on how to ski and a message telling you how to reload. The thing that really bothers me is that this game is bloody fantastic. I mean it. This game is absolutely incredible. I've never played something so enjoyable and different. The thing is that I knew, I knew - that this was something special when I began. The artwork and design are astounding, the idea of how it's played... the skiing is just amazing. The flow and calming delicacy of skiing around as a capper is something more people need to experience. But how will they if they have no idea that it's possible; it wasn't until you featured Sh4z's stream that I realised that Cappers would actually self-harm in order to go faster, and that wasn't until I was a gold player. When did you tell me that Hi-Rez? You didn't. I also thought that Sentinel's were completely useless until then, I had wanted to be a sniper but thought they were pointless. But now what? I've played 700 hours with roughly 450 hours of just sentinel, sniping for teams in the top 10 in both EU and NA competitive scenes. But how the hell are people supposed to know what classes are useful for each role? It's no wonder that all the juggernauts sit in their own gen room all game. All of the comp scene revolves around CTF, but for 20 levels or so I thought that TDM and arena were the competitive game modes!! How in the hell was I supposed to know that only CTF mattered? Why isn't there 7v7 matchmaking with comp rules in the UI? There should be a tab that says COMPETITIVE in the Play Now section, where you are directed to streams of comp games and given a run-down of the rules. Where the thing that keeps people playing is a skill based matching system - alongside your exp level you are also given a skill level, your 7v7 CTF gives you an actual number relative to who you have defeated. For example if the average skill level on my team was 20 with the other team being 30, but we still manage to win, my players gain a few points the their players lose a few points respectively. Imagine how much of a competitive sense you would drive into new players if they were challenged to defeat players of similar skill levels alongside 4 of their buddies and a couple of randoms. It would actually give some structure and urge to win (not gen camp) to a their everyday games. Something that this would require, but should have already been implemented, is in-game voice support so that people can talk to one another. However, this 'comp tab' idea should be taken even further. It's ridiculous that the GameShrine and TWL sites are the only way to view which teams are the best. Alongside the skill based matchmaking there should be tournament matchmaking, where you assemble a proper team of 7+ permanent players. With this mode there is no skill number but only a leaderboard rank, which changes depending on who you play. Imagine how new players would feel if they managed to get the words 'Best Global Rank - #9' featured on their profile alongside a unique medal and given a unique armour camo/decal that only players who have been in top 10 unlock. The leaderboard should be interactive, showing the state of affairs in a manner similar to GameShrine; however with this being in the UI it should also include means to view each team's roster within the game, so that new players can check a team's skill levels, what their individual roles are, what the best Global Rank for each player is etc. Of course this would all be helped if there was also a way to view a specific player's profile when in game, which is something that should have been implemented in the first place. In essence the thing that will keep people playing is if you bring competition into the fundamentals of the game. I knew, that if I stuck at it this would be the most fun game I've played in a long time, and I was right. What I worry, is that the T:A development team but particularly people like you, the CEOs, don't recognise just how huge this game could be. Do you know why I decided to play this game? Because it was one of the highest rated games in a very long time. Do you know how much money similarly rated games are making? I bet it's a lot more than you. You have unequivocally failed to give this game to the people, despite designing one of the best games for them. But then how could anyone take the game seriously? The bugs, the poor balance choices (the plasma gun? Really? Sentinels are still too strong, do you really think I give a d* about waiting an extra 0.2 seconds to make my next shot at a capper that's 30 seconds out from a 420 grab, ruining his regen?), the macro-transactions, the missing comp tab in Play Now, the lack of tutorials, the absent mod support, the broken spectator mode, the 'impossible' demo support - I get that the game wasn't originally designed to be an esport and that demo support is now very difficult to add, but do you realise how much of a profit you would make if you sunk in the resources and actually got the d* thing fixed??? Same with the spectator mode, this game could be spectacular fun to watch, but no one can!! It's naive to think that the game won't make it as an esport when it's missing the one thing required for it to be one. It's like making a film but then deciding it's rubbish before anyone has even seen it!! You've designed a F2P game without enough customisation to warrant the gold system. I get more cosmetic customisations when I play COD for Christ's sake. Why isn't there stupid stuff like custom gun/armour decals, weapon camo, armour camo? Different helmets, different jet colours, where all I have to do is click on the $0.69 to buy a new sword or claw colour? It is not a d*** surprise that the game is doing poorly. But you could turn it all around and make the next big thing with some strategy. You have absolutely no idea how lucky you are to have gained the Tribes community, you will never, ever, find anything like us again, and I am fairly certain that none of your games will ever be as highly rated as this one and I mean that. This is your one and only chance to make something big, and I mean StarCraft big. There is a gap in the market for an FPS esport - you have the capacity to fill that gap with TA, but you will never have that again. Not putting the resources into T:A will be the worst decision Hi-Rez ever makes, and will stop them from being the company that they could become. ~Athelian Well said. Hirez read this. This game is the only game I play. Implement the ladder/tournament/competitive play into the Tribes UI.
Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:23 pm

HiRezErez Hi-Rez Team Member Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:59 pm Posts: 3331	Re: My post in the smite forums. athelian wrote: HirezShadowControl wrote: Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums You guys have to understand that developers are human also, when a passionate team makes a game (which gets exceptional reviews for carrying on the Tribes name whether you personally agree or not) but gets beat on every time they post something in the forums they will tend to communicate less. I understand what you're saying but how does ignoring a problem help to fix it? Honestly, you should count yourselves lucky that there are people on here so enthralled by this game and passionate about not only the Tribes franchise, but the monumental creation that is Tribes: Ascend. If you post a poor balance change in Smite or GA or (future) Killstreak forums and no even gives a d*, that should tell you how uncommitted the players are. To be perfectly honest, you all need to man up. Do you have any idea how many times I've been called an F-ing C-word over xbox live by a 9 year old? How many foul mouthed 9 year old are there in this game? Not many. The average age (genuine maturity) of the people playing PC and this game particularly is far above that of most games. Imagine the kinds of comments you would be receiving if the COD community playing this game. It is YOUR JOB to oversee the well being of your investment. When I'm at work and a customer shouts and swears at me I don't cry and go and lock myself in the toilet; I empathise and realise that as a professional, I have a responsibility to do the best job I can regardless, because their anger is not personal and because I love my work. I find it hard to believe that the team is 'passionate' about Tribes when they would give up on it so easily. As for your comments about people finding the game too difficult. I tried StarCraft II about a month ago and lost 20 matches in a god d* row. But do you know what kept me going? The fact that I was constantly given tips in tutorials, the fact that the campaign built me up and up, that there were arcade type challenge missions to help me get to grips with the mechanics. What do you get in T:A? A tutorial on how to ski and a message telling you how to reload. The thing that really bothers me is that this game is bloody fantastic. I mean it. This game is absolutely incredible. I've never played something so enjoyable and different. The thing is that I knew, I knew - that this was something special when I began. The artwork and design are astounding, the idea of how it's played... the skiing is just amazing. The flow and calming delicacy of skiing around as a capper is something more people need to experience. But how will they if they have no idea that it's possible; it wasn't until you featured Sh4z's stream that I realised that Cappers would actually self-harm in order to go faster, and that wasn't until I was a gold player. When did you tell me that Hi-Rez? You didn't. I also thought that Sentinel's were completely useless until then, I had wanted to be a sniper but thought they were pointless. But now what? I've played 700 hours with roughly 450 hours of just sentinel, sniping for teams in the top 10 in both EU and NA competitive scenes. But how the hell are people supposed to know what classes are useful for each role? It's no wonder that all the juggernauts sit in their own gen room all game. All of the comp scene revolves around CTF, but for 20 levels or so I thought that TDM and arena were the competitive game modes!! How in the hell was I supposed to know that only CTF mattered? Why isn't there 7v7 matchmaking with comp rules in the UI? There should be a tab that says COMPETITIVE in the Play Now section, where you are directed to streams of comp games and given a run-down of the rules. Where the thing that keeps people playing is a skill based matching system - alongside your exp level you are also given a skill level, your 7v7 CTF gives you an actual number relative to who you have defeated. For example if the average skill level on my team was 20 with the other team being 30, but we still manage to win, my players gain a few points the their players lose a few points respectively. Imagine how much of a competitive sense you would drive into new players if they were challenged to defeat players of similar skill levels alongside 4 of their buddies and a couple of randoms. It would actually give some structure and urge to win (not gen camp) to a their everyday games. Something that this would require, but should have already been implemented, is in-game voice support so that people can talk to one another. However, this 'comp tab' idea should be taken even further. It's ridiculous that the GameShrine and TWL sites are the only way to view which teams are the best. Alongside the skill based matchmaking there should be tournament matchmaking, where you assemble a proper team of 7+ permanent players. With this mode there is no skill number but only a leaderboard rank, which changes depending on who you play. Imagine how new players would feel if they managed to get the words 'Best Global Rank - #9' featured on their profile alongside a unique medal and given a unique armour camo/decal that only players who have been in top 10 unlock. The leaderboard should be interactive, showing the state of affairs in a manner similar to GameShrine; however with this being in the UI it should also include means to view each team's roster within the game, so that new players can check a team's skill levels, what their individual roles are, what the best Global Rank for each player is etc. Of course this would all be helped if there was also a way to view a specific player's profile when in game, which is something that should have been implemented in the first place. In essence the thing that will keep people playing is if you bring competition into the fundamentals of the game. I knew, that if I stuck at it this would be the most fun game I've played in a long time, and I was right. What I worry, is that the T:A development team but particularly people like you, the CEOs, don't recognise just how huge this game could be. Do you know why I decided to play this game? Because it was one of the highest rated games in a very long time. Do you know how much money similarly rated games are making? I bet it's a lot more than you. You have unequivocally failed to give this game to the people, despite designing one of the best games for them. But then how could anyone take the game seriously? The bugs, the poor balance choices (the plasma gun? Really? Sentinels are still too strong, do you really think I give a d* about waiting an extra 0.2 seconds to make my next shot at a capper that's 30 seconds out from a 420 grab, ruining his regen?), the macro-transactions, the missing comp tab in Play Now, the lack of tutorials, the absent mod support, the broken spectator mode, the 'impossible' demo support - I get that the game wasn't originally designed to be an esport and that demo support is now very difficult to add, but do you realise how much of a profit you would make if you sunk in the resources and actually got the d* thing fixed??? Same with the spectator mode, this game could be spectacular fun to watch, but no one can!! It's naive to think that the game won't make it as an esport when it's missing the one thing required for it to be one. It's like making a film but then deciding it's rubbish before anyone has even seen it!! You've designed a F2P game without enough customisation to warrant the gold system. I get more cosmetic customisations when I play COD for Christ's sake. Why isn't there stupid stuff like custom gun/armour decals, weapon camo, armour camo? Different helmets, different jet colours, where all I have to do is click on the $0.69 to buy a new sword or claw colour? It is not a d*** surprise that the game is doing poorly. But you could turn it all around and make the next big thing with some strategy. You have absolutely no idea how lucky you are to have gained the Tribes community, you will never, ever, find anything like us again, and I am fairly certain that none of your games will ever be as highly rated as this one and I mean that. This is your one and only chance to make something big, and I mean StarCraft big. There is a gap in the market for an FPS esport - you have the capacity to fill that gap with TA, but you will never have that again. Not putting the resources into T:A will be the worst decision Hi-Rez ever makes, and will stop them from being the company that they could become. ~Athelian I actually agree with a lot of your post and we are looking at all those areas and see what we can do about them.
Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:48 pm

LL-Blu-J Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:14 am Posts: 361	Re: My post in the smite forums. HiRezErez wrote: athelian wrote: HirezShadowControl wrote: Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums You guys have to understand that developers are human also, when a passionate team makes a game (which gets exceptional reviews for carrying on the Tribes name whether you personally agree or not) but gets beat on every time they post something in the forums they will tend to communicate less. I understand what you're saying but how does ignoring a problem help to fix it? Honestly, you should count yourselves lucky that there are people on here so enthralled by this game and passionate about not only the Tribes franchise, but the monumental creation that is Tribes: Ascend. If you post a poor balance change in Smite or GA or (future) Killstreak forums and no even gives a d*, that should tell you how uncommitted the players are. To be perfectly honest, you all need to man up. Do you have any idea how many times I've been called an F-ing C-word over xbox live by a 9 year old? How many foul mouthed 9 year old are there in this game? Not many. The average age (genuine maturity) of the people playing PC and this game particularly is far above that of most games. Imagine the kinds of comments you would be receiving if the COD community playing this game. It is YOUR JOB to oversee the well being of your investment. When I'm at work and a customer shouts and swears at me I don't cry and go and lock myself in the toilet; I empathise and realise that as a professional, I have a responsibility to do the best job I can regardless, because their anger is not personal and because I love my work. I find it hard to believe that the team is 'passionate' about Tribes when they would give up on it so easily. As for your comments about people finding the game too difficult. I tried StarCraft II about a month ago and lost 20 matches in a god d* row. But do you know what kept me going? The fact that I was constantly given tips in tutorials, the fact that the campaign built me up and up, that there were arcade type challenge missions to help me get to grips with the mechanics. What do you get in T:A? A tutorial on how to ski and a message telling you how to reload. The thing that really bothers me is that this game is bloody fantastic. I mean it. This game is absolutely incredible. I've never played something so enjoyable and different. The thing is that I knew, I knew - that this was something special when I began. The artwork and design are astounding, the idea of how it's played... the skiing is just amazing. The flow and calming delicacy of skiing around as a capper is something more people need to experience. But how will they if they have no idea that it's possible; it wasn't until you featured Sh4z's stream that I realised that Cappers would actually self-harm in order to go faster, and that wasn't until I was a gold player. When did you tell me that Hi-Rez? You didn't. I also thought that Sentinel's were completely useless until then, I had wanted to be a sniper but thought they were pointless. But now what? I've played 700 hours with roughly 450 hours of just sentinel, sniping for teams in the top 10 in both EU and NA competitive scenes. But how the hell are people supposed to know what classes are useful for each role? It's no wonder that all the juggernauts sit in their own gen room all game. All of the comp scene revolves around CTF, but for 20 levels or so I thought that TDM and arena were the competitive game modes!! How in the hell was I supposed to know that only CTF mattered? Why isn't there 7v7 matchmaking with comp rules in the UI? There should be a tab that says COMPETITIVE in the Play Now section, where you are directed to streams of comp games and given a run-down of the rules. Where the thing that keeps people playing is a skill based matching system - alongside your exp level you are also given a skill level, your 7v7 CTF gives you an actual number relative to who you have defeated. For example if the average skill level on my team was 20 with the other team being 30, but we still manage to win, my players gain a few points the their players lose a few points respectively. Imagine how much of a competitive sense you would drive into new players if they were challenged to defeat players of similar skill levels alongside 4 of their buddies and a couple of randoms. It would actually give some structure and urge to win (not gen camp) to a their everyday games. Something that this would require, but should have already been implemented, is in-game voice support so that people can talk to one another. However, this 'comp tab' idea should be taken even further. It's ridiculous that the GameShrine and TWL sites are the only way to view which teams are the best. Alongside the skill based matchmaking there should be tournament matchmaking, where you assemble a proper team of 7+ permanent players. With this mode there is no skill number but only a leaderboard rank, which changes depending on who you play. Imagine how new players would feel if they managed to get the words 'Best Global Rank - #9' featured on their profile alongside a unique medal and given a unique armour camo/decal that only players who have been in top 10 unlock. The leaderboard should be interactive, showing the state of affairs in a manner similar to GameShrine; however with this being in the UI it should also include means to view each team's roster within the game, so that new players can check a team's skill levels, what their individual roles are, what the best Global Rank for each player is etc. Of course this would all be helped if there was also a way to view a specific player's profile when in game, which is something that should have been implemented in the first place. In essence the thing that will keep people playing is if you bring competition into the fundamentals of the game. I knew, that if I stuck at it this would be the most fun game I've played in a long time, and I was right. What I worry, is that the T:A development team but particularly people like you, the CEOs, don't recognise just how huge this game could be. Do you know why I decided to play this game? Because it was one of the highest rated games in a very long time. Do you know how much money similarly rated games are making? I bet it's a lot more than you. You have unequivocally failed to give this game to the people, despite designing one of the best games for them. But then how could anyone take the game seriously? The bugs, the poor balance choices (the plasma gun? Really? Sentinels are still too strong, do you really think I give a d* about waiting an extra 0.2 seconds to make my next shot at a capper that's 30 seconds out from a 420 grab, ruining his regen?), the macro-transactions, the missing comp tab in Play Now, the lack of tutorials, the absent mod support, the broken spectator mode, the 'impossible' demo support - I get that the game wasn't originally designed to be an esport and that demo support is now very difficult to add, but do you realise how much of a profit you would make if you sunk in the resources and actually got the d* thing fixed??? Same with the spectator mode, this game could be spectacular fun to watch, but no one can!! It's naive to think that the game won't make it as an esport when it's missing the one thing required for it to be one. It's like making a film but then deciding it's rubbish before anyone has even seen it!! You've designed a F2P game without enough customisation to warrant the gold system. I get more cosmetic customisations when I play COD for Christ's sake. Why isn't there stupid stuff like custom gun/armour decals, weapon camo, armour camo? Different helmets, different jet colours, where all I have to do is click on the $0.69 to buy a new sword or claw colour? It is not a d*** surprise that the game is doing poorly. But you could turn it all around and make the next big thing with some strategy. You have absolutely no idea how lucky you are to have gained the Tribes community, you will never, ever, find anything like us again, and I am fairly certain that none of your games will ever be as highly rated as this one and I mean that. This is your one and only chance to make something big, and I mean StarCraft big. There is a gap in the market for an FPS esport - you have the capacity to fill that gap with TA, but you will never have that again. Not putting the resources into T:A will be the worst decision Hi-Rez ever makes, and will stop them from being the company that they could become. ~Athelian I actually agree with a lot of your post and we are looking at all those areas and see what we can do about them. That was an amazing post by Athelian, I think he said what all of us have been trying to get across to you guys for the longest. I really hope you guys listen to this and truly work your hardest to get these changes done. T:A is a good game, but you guys can make it great. _________________ T:A in-game name: LLxBLUxJ
Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:13 pm

petyanator Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:15 pm Posts: 2	Re: My post in the smite forums. athelian wrote: HirezShadowControl wrote: Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums You guys have to understand that developers are human also, when a passionate team makes a game (which gets exceptional reviews for carrying on the Tribes name whether you personally agree or not) but gets beat on every time they post something in the forums they will tend to communicate less. I understand what you're saying but how does ignoring a problem help to fix it? Honestly, you should count yourselves lucky that there are people on here so enthralled by this game and passionate about not only the Tribes franchise, but the monumental creation that is Tribes: Ascend. If you post a poor balance change in Smite or GA or (future) Killstreak forums and no even gives a d*, that should tell you how uncommitted the players are. To be perfectly honest, you all need to man up. Do you have any idea how many times I've been called an F-ing C-word over xbox live by a 9 year old? How many foul mouthed 9 year old are there in this game? Not many. The average age (genuine maturity) of the people playing PC and this game particularly is far above that of most games. Imagine the kinds of comments you would be receiving if the COD community playing this game. It is YOUR JOB to oversee the well being of your investment. When I'm at work and a customer shouts and swears at me I don't cry and go and lock myself in the toilet; I empathise and realise that as a professional, I have a responsibility to do the best job I can regardless, because their anger is not personal and because I love my work. I find it hard to believe that the team is 'passionate' about Tribes when they would give up on it so easily. As for your comments about people finding the game too difficult. I tried StarCraft II about a month ago and lost 20 matches in a god d* row. But do you know what kept me going? The fact that I was constantly given tips in tutorials, the fact that the campaign built me up and up, that there were arcade type challenge missions to help me get to grips with the mechanics. What do you get in T:A? A tutorial on how to ski and a message telling you how to reload. The thing that really bothers me is that this game is bloody fantastic. I mean it. This game is absolutely incredible. I've never played something so enjoyable and different. The thing is that I knew, I knew - that this was something special when I began. The artwork and design are astounding, the idea of how it's played... the skiing is just amazing. The flow and calming delicacy of skiing around as a capper is something more people need to experience. But how will they if they have no idea that it's possible; it wasn't until you featured Sh4z's stream that I realised that Cappers would actually self-harm in order to go faster, and that wasn't until I was a gold player. When did you tell me that Hi-Rez? You didn't. I also thought that Sentinel's were completely useless until then, I had wanted to be a sniper but thought they were pointless. But now what? I've played 700 hours with roughly 450 hours of just sentinel, sniping for teams in the top 10 in both EU and NA competitive scenes. But how the hell are people supposed to know what classes are useful for each role? It's no wonder that all the juggernauts sit in their own gen room all game. All of the comp scene revolves around CTF, but for 20 levels or so I thought that TDM and arena were the competitive game modes!! How in the hell was I supposed to know that only CTF mattered? Why isn't there 7v7 matchmaking with comp rules in the UI? There should be a tab that says COMPETITIVE in the Play Now section, where you are directed to streams of comp games and given a run-down of the rules. Where the thing that keeps people playing is a skill based matching system - alongside your exp level you are also given a skill level, your 7v7 CTF gives you an actual number relative to who you have defeated. For example if the average skill level on my team was 20 with the other team being 30, but we still manage to win, my players gain a few points the their players lose a few points respectively. Imagine how much of a competitive sense you would drive into new players if they were challenged to defeat players of similar skill levels alongside 4 of their buddies and a couple of randoms. It would actually give some structure and urge to win (not gen camp) to a their everyday games. Something that this would require, but should have already been implemented, is in-game voice support so that people can talk to one another. However, this 'comp tab' idea should be taken even further. It's ridiculous that the GameShrine and TWL sites are the only way to view which teams are the best. Alongside the skill based matchmaking there should be tournament matchmaking, where you assemble a proper team of 7+ permanent players. With this mode there is no skill number but only a leaderboard rank, which changes depending on who you play. Imagine how new players would feel if they managed to get the words 'Best Global Rank - #9' featured on their profile alongside a unique medal and given a unique armour camo/decal that only players who have been in top 10 unlock. The leaderboard should be interactive, showing the state of affairs in a manner similar to GameShrine; however with this being in the UI it should also include means to view each team's roster within the game, so that new players can check a team's skill levels, what their individual roles are, what the best Global Rank for each player is etc. Of course this would all be helped if there was also a way to view a specific player's profile when in game, which is something that should have been implemented in the first place. In essence the thing that will keep people playing is if you bring competition into the fundamentals of the game. I knew, that if I stuck at it this would be the most fun game I've played in a long time, and I was right. What I worry, is that the T:A development team but particularly people like you, the CEOs, don't recognise just how huge this game could be. Do you know why I decided to play this game? Because it was one of the highest rated games in a very long time. Do you know how much money similarly rated games are making? I bet it's a lot more than you. You have unequivocally failed to give this game to the people, despite designing one of the best games for them. But then how could anyone take the game seriously? The bugs, the poor balance choices (the plasma gun? Really? Sentinels are still too strong, do you really think I give a d* about waiting an extra 0.2 seconds to make my next shot at a capper that's 30 seconds out from a 420 grab, ruining his regen?), the macro-transactions, the missing comp tab in Play Now, the lack of tutorials, the absent mod support, the broken spectator mode, the 'impossible' demo support - I get that the game wasn't originally designed to be an esport and that demo support is now very difficult to add, but do you realise how much of a profit you would make if you sunk in the resources and actually got the d* thing fixed??? Same with the spectator mode, this game could be spectacular fun to watch, but no one can!! It's naive to think that the game won't make it as an esport when it's missing the one thing required for it to be one. It's like making a film but then deciding it's rubbish before anyone has even seen it!! You've designed a F2P game without enough customisation to warrant the gold system. I get more cosmetic customisations when I play COD for Christ's sake. Why isn't there stupid stuff like custom gun/armour decals, weapon camo, armour camo? Different helmets, different jet colours, where all I have to do is click on the $0.69 to buy a new sword or claw colour? It is not a d*** surprise that the game is doing poorly. But you could turn it all around and make the next big thing with some strategy. You have absolutely no idea how lucky you are to have gained the Tribes community, you will never, ever, find anything like us again, and I am fairly certain that none of your games will ever be as highly rated as this one and I mean that. This is your one and only chance to make something big, and I mean StarCraft big. There is a gap in the market for an FPS esport - you have the capacity to fill that gap with TA, but you will never have that again. Not putting the resources into T:A will be the worst decision Hi-Rez ever makes, and will stop them from being the company that they could become. ~Athelian Hi-Rez, print this comment a thousand times and decorate every wall and door with it.
Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:18 pm

oracletriplex Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:01 am Posts: 23	Re: My post in the smite forums. HirezShadowControl wrote: Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums You guys have to understand that developers are human also, when a passionate team makes a game (which gets exceptional reviews for carrying on the Tribes name whether you personally agree or not) but gets beat on every time they post something in the forums they will tend to communicate less. We aren't the gaming press. If you want your butt kissed then write a check to IGN. If you want an honest opinion on what's broken, ask the people who play it.
Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:26 pm

Aranha Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:50 am Posts: 1434 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Re: My post in the smite forums. HiRezErez wrote: athelian wrote: HirezShadowControl wrote: Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums You guys have to understand that developers are human also, when a passionate team makes a game (which gets exceptional reviews for carrying on the Tribes name whether you personally agree or not) but gets beat on every time they post something in the forums they will tend to communicate less. I understand what you're saying but how does ignoring a problem help to fix it? Honestly, you should count yourselves lucky that there are people on here so enthralled by this game and passionate about not only the Tribes franchise, but the monumental creation that is Tribes: Ascend. If you post a poor balance change in Smite or GA or (future) Killstreak forums and no even gives a d*, that should tell you how uncommitted the players are. To be perfectly honest, you all need to man up. Do you have any idea how many times I've been called an F-ing C-word over xbox live by a 9 year old? How many foul mouthed 9 year old are there in this game? Not many. The average age (genuine maturity) of the people playing PC and this game particularly is far above that of most games. Imagine the kinds of comments you would be receiving if the COD community playing this game. It is YOUR JOB to oversee the well being of your investment. When I'm at work and a customer shouts and swears at me I don't cry and go and lock myself in the toilet; I empathise and realise that as a professional, I have a responsibility to do the best job I can regardless, because their anger is not personal and because I love my work. I find it hard to believe that the team is 'passionate' about Tribes when they would give up on it so easily. As for your comments about people finding the game too difficult. I tried StarCraft II about a month ago and lost 20 matches in a god d* row. But do you know what kept me going? The fact that I was constantly given tips in tutorials, the fact that the campaign built me up and up, that there were arcade type challenge missions to help me get to grips with the mechanics. What do you get in T:A? A tutorial on how to ski and a message telling you how to reload. The thing that really bothers me is that this game is bloody fantastic. I mean it. This game is absolutely incredible. I've never played something so enjoyable and different. The thing is that I knew, I knew - that this was something special when I began. The artwork and design are astounding, the idea of how it's played... the skiing is just amazing. The flow and calming delicacy of skiing around as a capper is something more people need to experience. But how will they if they have no idea that it's possible; it wasn't until you featured Sh4z's stream that I realised that Cappers would actually self-harm in order to go faster, and that wasn't until I was a gold player. When did you tell me that Hi-Rez? You didn't. I also thought that Sentinel's were completely useless until then, I had wanted to be a sniper but thought they were pointless. But now what? I've played 700 hours with roughly 450 hours of just sentinel, sniping for teams in the top 10 in both EU and NA competitive scenes. But how the hell are people supposed to know what classes are useful for each role? It's no wonder that all the juggernauts sit in their own gen room all game. All of the comp scene revolves around CTF, but for 20 levels or so I thought that TDM and arena were the competitive game modes!! How in the hell was I supposed to know that only CTF mattered? Why isn't there 7v7 matchmaking with comp rules in the UI? There should be a tab that says COMPETITIVE in the Play Now section, where you are directed to streams of comp games and given a run-down of the rules. Where the thing that keeps people playing is a skill based matching system - alongside your exp level you are also given a skill level, your 7v7 CTF gives you an actual number relative to who you have defeated. For example if the average skill level on my team was 20 with the other team being 30, but we still manage to win, my players gain a few points the their players lose a few points respectively. Imagine how much of a competitive sense you would drive into new players if they were challenged to defeat players of similar skill levels alongside 4 of their buddies and a couple of randoms. It would actually give some structure and urge to win (not gen camp) to a their everyday games. Something that this would require, but should have already been implemented, is in-game voice support so that people can talk to one another. However, this 'comp tab' idea should be taken even further. It's ridiculous that the GameShrine and TWL sites are the only way to view which teams are the best. Alongside the skill based matchmaking there should be tournament matchmaking, where you assemble a proper team of 7+ permanent players. With this mode there is no skill number but only a leaderboard rank, which changes depending on who you play. Imagine how new players would feel if they managed to get the words 'Best Global Rank - #9' featured on their profile alongside a unique medal and given a unique armour camo/decal that only players who have been in top 10 unlock. The leaderboard should be interactive, showing the state of affairs in a manner similar to GameShrine; however with this being in the UI it should also include means to view each team's roster within the game, so that new players can check a team's skill levels, what their individual roles are, what the best Global Rank for each player is etc. Of course this would all be helped if there was also a way to view a specific player's profile when in game, which is something that should have been implemented in the first place. In essence the thing that will keep people playing is if you bring competition into the fundamentals of the game. I knew, that if I stuck at it this would be the most fun game I've played in a long time, and I was right. What I worry, is that the T:A development team but particularly people like you, the CEOs, don't recognise just how huge this game could be. Do you know why I decided to play this game? Because it was one of the highest rated games in a very long time. Do you know how much money similarly rated games are making? I bet it's a lot more than you. You have unequivocally failed to give this game to the people, despite designing one of the best games for them. But then how could anyone take the game seriously? The bugs, the poor balance choices (the plasma gun? Really? Sentinels are still too strong, do you really think I give a d* about waiting an extra 0.2 seconds to make my next shot at a capper that's 30 seconds out from a 420 grab, ruining his regen?), the macro-transactions, the missing comp tab in Play Now, the lack of tutorials, the absent mod support, the broken spectator mode, the 'impossible' demo support - I get that the game wasn't originally designed to be an esport and that demo support is now very difficult to add, but do you realise how much of a profit you would make if you sunk in the resources and actually got the d* thing fixed??? Same with the spectator mode, this game could be spectacular fun to watch, but no one can!! It's naive to think that the game won't make it as an esport when it's missing the one thing required for it to be one. It's like making a film but then deciding it's rubbish before anyone has even seen it!! You've designed a F2P game without enough customisation to warrant the gold system. I get more cosmetic customisations when I play COD for Christ's sake. Why isn't there stupid stuff like custom gun/armour decals, weapon camo, armour camo? Different helmets, different jet colours, where all I have to do is click on the $0.69 to buy a new sword or claw colour? It is not a d*** surprise that the game is doing poorly. But you could turn it all around and make the next big thing with some strategy. You have absolutely no idea how lucky you are to have gained the Tribes community, you will never, ever, find anything like us again, and I am fairly certain that none of your games will ever be as highly rated as this one and I mean that. This is your one and only chance to make something big, and I mean StarCraft big. There is a gap in the market for an FPS esport - you have the capacity to fill that gap with TA, but you will never have that again. Not putting the resources into T:A will be the worst decision Hi-Rez ever makes, and will stop them from being the company that they could become. ~Athelian I actually agree with a lot of your post and we are looking at all those areas and see what we can do about them. Honestly Erez we could make a checkpoint list of every single bug and change the community has cried so long for within the timeframe of a day with exact values to each change. If only you guys would say "Wow that sounds great! Please do so we can take a look at it and see what we can do!". That would encourage EVERYONE to actually be apart of helping this game not die. Were here becose we love it and just want it to be what it should have been! Your so darn close yet so far away but only due to not letting us, The community be apart of this game we love yet hate due to things that never changed! _________________ EU London - [iSMG] Karmasutra Karma's Data Thread! Weapon Data & Test Lab Melanious wrote: I guess the T:A jets could get me that high, being my hamster self. It feeds off my scurrying hamster leg power.
Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:38 pm

dodgepong Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 3:56 am Posts: 176	Re: My post in the smite forums. HiRezErez wrote: I actually agree with a lot of your post and we are looking at all those areas and see what we can do about them. I really appreciate this response, and I hope you follow through. Athelian put what we've been trying to say very well, and I agree with his points and his hopes that HiRez will not give up on Tribes, but instead add the things we know the game needs to remain viable in the long term. Community mapping, spectator mode changes (bug fixes, overhead view, etc), ranked matchmaking, and tutorials/training will go a long way to do this.
Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:48 pm

-AEnubis- Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:40 am Posts: 4858 Location: NA East	Re: My post in the smite forums. Gierling wrote: A few months is a reasonable lifetime for a a user in a f2p title. The people that stay "A few months" are the absolute meat and potatoes of the market, they play the game for a while, buy some weapons, fill out the servers etc. This is ridiculous. Not that it may not be true, but to think this is why games should be made to cater to it is bass-ackwards. This isn't the cause, this is the effect. People only stick around for a few months, because they are getting beta quality content that is constantly changing, and poorly designed. Mind you, this is my first F2P title, and I've only started playing a few more since, but it seems to me that a constantly changing game, that is of incomplete quality, whether labeled beta or not, can easily lose the interest of players. Players who may have spent thousands of dollars on a machine to run them. That doesn't make any sense. These games are just poorly designed. The studios know the majority of their labor resources need to focus on people who can produce quality content, whether it be coding, maps, models, and skins, which takes teams of people these days, because they are crafting high detail worlds, anymore. I live in Orlando, and work in Winter Park right next to Full Sail. If you haven't heard of it, it's an alt-University, that specializes in entertainment industry jobs. The two most common programs are Audio Engineering (budding musicians) and Game Development. I've talked to guys, and known guys who've gotten placed at large gaming studios (like EA for example) and their curriculum is said to have "a couple classes on design, but mostly focused on content creation." Then you have games like DOTA, which I haven't played, but appears from what I've read that is a game churned out by a big studio, with good base code, and pretty content, where a player redesigned the game play. So basically, you take the content producers, hired one actual Design guy, and you've got a popular game, with stay power, and million dollar prize tourney's. You don't get million dollar prize tourney's off of games that "only grab people's interest for a few months." _________________ Physics \| CTF Scoring \| Team Selection
Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:00 pm

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My post in the smite forums.

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Gierling

Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2011 1:56 am
Posts: 1384

Re: My post in the smite forums.

Pittyswains wrote:

Not sure if you noticed, but TA is the b****** hybrid of trying to force a niche game to appeal to these month players. They made it their priority to cater to them. Unfortunately, the quality of the game at the higher end suffered in a major way. But who cares about that, it takes a person months to get there.

I also find it laughable that people feel the need to protect the CEO from us raging forum goers. The blunt truth is, they came up short on a huge amount of things that were promised. And the 'but we listened to you vets' is straight s***. The only things HR listened to were minor details, not the core game changers that were needed.

If only they kept TU and TA separate.

You do realize that attracting players other then the "True Tribers" is necessary for it to make sense to make a Tribes title right?

Because the True Tribers do not represent a market that is large enough to justify making a game for, there is a reason we haven't seen a tribes title in the better part of a decade.

If you insist that any Tribes title be geared solely towards making the "True blue Tribes loyalists", then you are going to have to accept that there will never be another Tribes game ever again.

They NEED to expand the games appeal to make it worthwhile for them to make the d*** game in the first place, catering only to the most extreme elements of the community won't make enough money to keep the lights on nonetheless develop a high quality title.

Fri Oct 05, 2012 11:55 am

Irontheater

Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2012 1:24 pm
Posts: 90

Re: My post in the smite forums.

Wow, wow, some PR quality stuff from the community. Page long comments.
I hope they eventually get read by someone.

As for games:

In general, the casual gamer is getting a better experience, overall.
RPGs are not what they used to be.
FPS are not what they used to be.
Sports games are not what they used to be.
Racing games are not what they used to be.
RTSs games are not what they used to be.

Everything has been dosed down, to become easy enough, so it becomes appealing to the casual gamer.
In this time, the hardcore (elementary, old) gamer is s*** himself, wanting to get a good challenge.

It's only logical that developers go for the huge audience, for profits.

Around 2003 and before that (fictional time-line), the "huge audience" was the same audience as the hardcore gamers audience.

Not everyone had PCs that were powerful enough to run games, not everyone played games, and even less people played online games (In fact, I could easily pinpoint a lot of the people from Starsiege and T2 in other games). Games were not so "popular". (maybe that's the wrong term, but you get the big pic)

There were still some games for the casuals, but they were so low budget games.

So a player who played T2, grew and T2 with most of the other players, and watched them develop their play-style, while he develops his.

THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE TODAY.

Most people are now casual gamers, and that's what companies are targeting. No one will want to make a hard game, because the people will not stick with it, seeing it's too hard.

So, it's only logical for them to make easy basic games, with few twists, that give off the illusion of something completely new (think Halo).

If Tribes 2 were to be released today, with upgraded graphics, I'm sure, the player base will not get over 5000 players.

Casual players won't even try it. WHICH MEANS it won't get famous.

But these 5000 players would stick with this game for the next decade.
That's the difference between core gamers, and casuals.

The 14 year old Starsiege still has some players.
The 11 year old T2, still has its player base, and still has NEW content being added to the game, which is ridiculous.

That's the prime difference between casuals and core gamers.

Just to prove how hard T2 really is.

I let my friend try out T2. (not too long ago, he's level 43).
It was in an attempt to make him go to there as in to revive the community.
Well, everything can be resumed in: "He couldn't even ski or jet."
He was so frustrated with it, that he stopped playing it 10 minutes in.

I understand, making the game a bit easier, going for the casual audience.

But some people still need a challenge.

Heck, it's not HR's fault, it's really not, it's the whole gaming community's fault.

It's EA's fault for pushing low budget high reward games.
It's MS, Sony and Nintendo's fault for splitting the gaming community.
It's OUR fault for not stopping them, and educating people (well, not exactly educating, but... idk)
It's people's fault because they keep buying the same overpriced stuff.

Heck, a game should be boycotted by people as soon as it stops innovating (which is basically 99% of games after 2005)

I just want a universal gaming forum, which everyone visits, and I want to say:

COMPANIES, DON'T FORGET YOUR CORE GAMERS!

But alas, no one hears. We are just drowning in the sea of pretty face easy games, which have more story video clips than actual gameplay (*cough nfs THE RUN cough*)

HR actually went out of their way, and gave us something good. Even though it was bound to inevitably fail because of casual gamers.

Fri Oct 05, 2012 12:17 pm

moogee

Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 11:21 pm
Posts: 73

Re: My post in the smite forums.

athelian wrote:

HirezShadowControl wrote:

Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums

You guys have to understand that developers are human also, when a passionate team makes a game (which gets exceptional reviews for carrying on the Tribes name whether you personally agree or not) but gets beat on every time they post something in the forums they will tend to communicate less.

I understand what you're saying but how does ignoring a problem help to fix it? Honestly, you should count yourselves lucky that there are people on here so enthralled by this game and passionate about not only the Tribes franchise, but the monumental creation that is Tribes: Ascend. If you post a poor balance change in Smite or GA or (future) Killstreak forums and no even gives a d***, that should tell you how uncommitted the players are.

To be perfectly honest, you all need to man up. Do you have any idea how many times I've been called an F-ing C-word over xbox live by a 9 year old? How many foul mouthed 9 year old are there in this game? Not many. The average age (genuine maturity) of the people playing PC and this game particularly is far above that of most games. Imagine the kinds of comments you would be receiving if the COD community playing this game. It is YOUR JOB to oversee the well being of your investment. When I'm at work and a customer shouts and swears at me I don't cry and go and lock myself in the toilet; I empathise and realise that as a professional, I have a responsibility to do the best job I can regardless, because their anger is not personal and because I love my work. I find it hard to believe that the team is 'passionate' about Tribes when they would give up on it so easily.

As for your comments about people finding the game too difficult. I tried StarCraft II about a month ago and lost 20 matches in a god d*** row. But do you know what kept me going? The fact that I was constantly given tips in tutorials, the fact that the campaign built me up and up, that there were arcade type challenge missions to help me get to grips with the mechanics. What do you get in T:A? A tutorial on how to ski and a message telling you how to reload.

The thing that really bothers me is that this game is bloody fantastic. I mean it. This game is absolutely incredible. I've never played something so enjoyable and different. The thing is that I knew, I knew - that this was something special when I began. The artwork and design are astounding, the idea of how it's played... the skiing is just amazing. The flow and calming delicacy of skiing around as a capper is something more people need to experience. But how will they if they have no idea that it's possible; it wasn't until you featured Sh4z's stream that I realised that Cappers would actually self-harm in order to go faster, and that wasn't until I was a gold player. When did you tell me that Hi-Rez? You didn't. I also thought that Sentinel's were completely useless until then, I had wanted to be a sniper but thought they were pointless. But now what? I've played 700 hours with roughly 450 hours of just sentinel, sniping for teams in the top 10 in both EU and NA competitive scenes. But how the hell are people supposed to know what classes are useful for each role? It's no wonder that all the juggernauts sit in their own gen room all game. All of the comp scene revolves around CTF, but for 20 levels or so I thought that TDM and arena were the competitive game modes!! How in the hell was I supposed to know that only CTF mattered?

Why isn't there 7v7 matchmaking with comp rules in the UI? There should be a tab that says COMPETITIVE in the Play Now section, where you are directed to streams of comp games and given a run-down of the rules. Where the thing that keeps people playing is a skill based matching system - alongside your exp level you are also given a skill level, your 7v7 CTF gives you an actual number relative to who you have defeated. For example if the average skill level on my team was 20 with the other team being 30, but we still manage to win, my players gain a few points the their players lose a few points respectively. Imagine how much of a competitive sense you would drive into new players if they were challenged to defeat players of similar skill levels alongside 4 of their buddies and a couple of randoms. It would actually give some structure and urge to win (not gen camp) to a their everyday games. Something that this would require, but should have already been implemented, is in-game voice support so that people can talk to one another. However, this 'comp tab' idea should be taken even further. It's ridiculous that the GameShrine and TWL sites are the only way to view which teams are the best. Alongside the skill based matchmaking there should be tournament matchmaking, where you assemble a proper team of 7+ permanent players. With this mode there is no skill number but only a leaderboard rank, which changes depending on who you play. Imagine how new players would feel if they managed to get the words 'Best Global Rank - #9' featured on their profile alongside a unique medal and given a unique armour camo/decal that only players who have been in top 10 unlock. The leaderboard should be interactive, showing the state of affairs in a manner similar to GameShrine; however with this being in the UI it should also include means to view each team's roster within the game, so that new players can check a team's skill levels, what their individual roles are, what the best Global Rank for each player is etc. Of course this would all be helped if there was also a way to view a specific player's profile when in game, which is something that should have been implemented in the first place. In essence the thing that will keep people playing is if you bring competition into the fundamentals of the game.

I knew, that if I stuck at it this would be the most fun game I've played in a long time, and I was right. What I worry, is that the T:A development team but particularly people like you, the CEOs, don't recognise just how huge this game could be. Do you know why I decided to play this game? Because it was one of the highest rated games in a very long time. Do you know how much money similarly rated games are making? I bet it's a lot more than you. You have unequivocally failed to give this game to the people, despite designing one of the best games for them. But then how could anyone take the game seriously? The bugs, the poor balance choices (the plasma gun? Really? Sentinels are still too strong, do you really think I give a d*** about waiting an extra 0.2 seconds to make my next shot at a capper that's 30 seconds out from a 420 grab, ruining his regen?), the macro-transactions, the missing comp tab in Play Now, the lack of tutorials, the absent mod support, the broken spectator mode, the 'impossible' demo support - I get that the game wasn't originally designed to be an esport and that demo support is now very difficult to add, but do you realise how much of a profit you would make if you sunk in the resources and actually got the d*** thing fixed??? Same with the spectator mode, this game could be spectacular fun to watch, but no one can!! It's naive to think that the game won't make it as an esport when it's missing the one thing required for it to be one. It's like making a film but then deciding it's rubbish before anyone has even seen it!! You've designed a F2P game without enough customisation to warrant the gold system. I get more cosmetic customisations when I play COD for Christ's sake. Why isn't there stupid stuff like custom gun/armour decals, weapon camo, armour camo? Different helmets, different jet colours, where all I have to do is click on the $0.69 to buy a new sword or claw colour?

It is not a d*** surprise that the game is doing poorly. But you could turn it all around and make the next big thing with some strategy. You have absolutely no idea how lucky you are to have gained the Tribes community, you will never, ever, find anything like us again, and I am fairly certain that none of your games will ever be as highly rated as this one and I mean that. This is your one and only chance to make something big, and I mean StarCraft big. There is a gap in the market for an FPS esport - you have the capacity to fill that gap with TA, but you will never have that again.

Not putting the resources into T:A will be the worst decision Hi-Rez ever makes, and will stop them from being the company that they could become.

~Athelian

Well said. Hirez read this.

This game is the only game I play. Implement the ladder/tournament/competitive play into the Tribes UI.

Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:23 pm

HiRezErez

Hi-Rez Team Member

Joined: Thu Jul 12, 2007 3:59 pm
Posts: 3331

Re: My post in the smite forums.

athelian wrote:

HirezShadowControl wrote:

Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums

I actually agree with a lot of your post and we are looking at all those areas and see what we can do about them.

Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:48 pm

LL-Blu-J

Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:14 am
Posts: 361

Re: My post in the smite forums.

HiRezErez wrote:

athelian wrote:

HirezShadowControl wrote:

Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums

I actually agree with a lot of your post and we are looking at all those areas and see what we can do about them.

That was an amazing post by Athelian, I think he said what all of us have been trying to get across to you guys for the longest. I really hope you guys listen to this and truly work your hardest to get these changes done. T:A is a good game, but you guys can make it great.

_________________
T:A in-game name: LLxBLUxJ

Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:13 pm

petyanator

Joined: Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:15 pm
Posts: 2

Re: My post in the smite forums.

athelian wrote:

HirezShadowControl wrote:

Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums

Hi-Rez, print this comment a thousand times and decorate every wall and door with it.

Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:18 pm

oracletriplex

Joined: Thu Dec 08, 2011 2:01 am
Posts: 23

Re: My post in the smite forums.

HirezShadowControl wrote:

Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums

We aren't the gaming press. If you want your butt kissed then write a check to IGN. If you want an honest opinion on what's broken, ask the people who play it.

Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:26 pm

Aranha

Joined: Fri Nov 14, 2008 8:50 am
Posts: 1434
Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Re: My post in the smite forums.

HiRezErez wrote:

athelian wrote:

HirezShadowControl wrote:

Well, I can't say that I was not warned about posting in the Tribes forums

I actually agree with a lot of your post and we are looking at all those areas and see what we can do about them.

Honestly Erez we could make a checkpoint list of every single bug and change the community has cried so long for within the timeframe of a day with exact values to each change. If only you guys would say "Wow that sounds great! Please do so we can take a look at it and see what we can do!".

That would encourage EVERYONE to actually be apart of helping this game not die. Were here becose we love it and just want it to be what it should have been!

Your so darn close yet so far away but only due to not letting us, The community be apart of this game we love yet hate due to things that never changed!

_________________
EU London - [iSMG] Karmasutra
Karma's Data Thread! Weapon Data & Test Lab

Melanious wrote:

I guess the T:A jets could get me that high, being my hamster self. It feeds off my scurrying hamster leg power.

Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:38 pm

dodgepong

Joined: Sun Jun 19, 2011 3:56 am
Posts: 176

Re: My post in the smite forums.

HiRezErez wrote:

I actually agree with a lot of your post and we are looking at all those areas and see what we can do about them.

I really appreciate this response, and I hope you follow through. Athelian put what we've been trying to say very well, and I agree with his points and his hopes that HiRez will not give up on Tribes, but instead add the things we know the game needs to remain viable in the long term. Community mapping, spectator mode changes (bug fixes, overhead view, etc), ranked matchmaking, and tutorials/training will go a long way to do this.

Fri Oct 05, 2012 2:48 pm

-AEnubis-

Joined: Fri Aug 05, 2011 2:40 am
Posts: 4858
Location: NA East

Re: My post in the smite forums.

Gierling wrote:

A few months is a reasonable lifetime for a a user in a f2p title. The people that stay "A few months" are the absolute meat and potatoes of the market, they play the game for a while, buy some weapons, fill out the servers etc.

This is ridiculous. Not that it may not be true, but to think this is why games should be made to cater to it is bass-ackwards. This isn't the cause, this is the effect.

People only stick around for a few months, because they are getting beta quality content that is constantly changing, and poorly designed. Mind you, this is my first F2P title, and I've only started playing a few more since, but it seems to me that a constantly changing game, that is of incomplete quality, whether labeled beta or not, can easily lose the interest of players. Players who may have spent thousands of dollars on a machine to run them. That doesn't make any sense.

These games are just poorly designed. The studios know the majority of their labor resources need to focus on people who can produce quality content, whether it be coding, maps, models, and skins, which takes teams of people these days, because they are crafting high detail worlds, anymore. I live in Orlando, and work in Winter Park right next to Full Sail. If you haven't heard of it, it's an alt-University, that specializes in entertainment industry jobs. The two most common programs are Audio Engineering (budding musicians) and Game Development. I've talked to guys, and known guys who've gotten placed at large gaming studios (like EA for example) and their curriculum is said to have "a couple classes on design, but mostly focused on content creation."

Then you have games like DOTA, which I haven't played, but appears from what I've read that is a game churned out by a big studio, with good base code, and pretty content, where a player redesigned the game play. So basically, you take the content producers, hired one actual Design guy, and you've got a popular game, with stay power, and million dollar prize tourney's. You don't get million dollar prize tourney's off of games that "only grab people's interest for a few months."

_________________

Physics | CTF Scoring | Team Selection

Fri Oct 05, 2012 3:00 pm

Forum rules

My post in the smite forums.