What if players were grateful for the Devs?

I knew as soon as I opened this thread it would be instantly derailed.

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But was it ever on track to begin with? Perhaps we need more training.

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Someone needs to get you writing content for this game.

Love the content. (Guild wars can be annoying though…)

I enjoy delves, though I think they nerfed ingot drops pretty hard unless the last two days of delves were just very, very unlucky.

I thoroughly enjoy Salty’s, Cyrup’s, and Ozzy’s Streams!

I am very happy with the time and effort the devs put into content for Gems of war… though, if you are happy, there’s always some unhappy person that thinks all your happiness is just a disguise for but kissing the devs…

So I am a bit apprehensive now in saying I love Gems of War, because it seems to be frowned upon if you happen to love and enjoy it.

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I was at one point… about a year ago…I’m still here… still a good game. Just always needs adjusted… that’s all.:crossed_fingers::crossed_fingers: they take our feedback and improve with it.

Good luck devs and thank you for the wonderful game. One day… perfection doesn’t happen overnight.

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It’s more about people not balancing the extremes very well.

If you love the game and show it, some people might “rain on your parade” because they are clearly unhappy about some issues.

If you complain about issues, that should have been carefully considered and addressed after happening more than once, then there are also people who will show up and twist the discussion in an attempt to censor you.

GoW really have positive and negative aspects, sometimes the same thing presents both aspects like:

  • It’s a game with some very fast dynamics and weekly events, on one hand it keeps the game fresh in a sense that there is always some new troop released every week, but on the other hand it also presents a challenge for the developers to keep everything under control and free of bugs.

Every player EXPECTS a game to work without flaws, this applies to any game, but GoW players in varying degrees UNDERSTANDS that bugs happens and generally speaking our community shows a lot of goodwill enduring these. But the time it takes to fix some bugs is hardly outpacing the time new bugs comes out, so even goodwill runs out eventually…

And the recent server issues we are having every weekend are hardly helping at all… To quote a very witty comment from a fine gentleman:

Errr… very relevant, but i meant this other quote:

Anyway Zeddicus, you should feel free to express yourself in the forums to your heart’s content as long as you follow the rules. :slightly_smiling_face:

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Devs can’t take gratitude to the bank. :money_mouth_face:

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This forum used to be overly positive, before 2017.
If it is not anymore it is not because of human nature or because the people have changed. There are still quite a few of us were already there. It is because there are more and more problems in the game.
We all know that they are a small team and that they are probably sometimes overwhelmed with the growth of the game and that some patience is required. But when bugs never get fixed are keep on piling up, patience is not infinite.

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I think some of this positivity early on was because the game was fresh and new then, and there were no grouchy, disillusioned vets to rain on anyone’s parade. Whatever bugs or balancing issues existed felt like they would be fixed “any day now.” Time made it clear where priorities lay.

On the other hand, the devs felt more connected to the community back then — you could carry on a conversation with Sirrian! — which clearly wasn’t sustainable, and when he and Nimhain retreated from the community, a lot of the feeling of having the developer’s ear went along with them. It’s easy to imagine they now get a summary of player grievances secondhand, which feels insulated. “We” became “us” and “them.”

In short, I think part of the downturn in forum atmosphere was inevitable, and part was the direct result of how the developers chose to handle the success of their game.

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As games grow so do the demands on the time of its developers. As I’ve spoken of several times before, this game has the most developer interaction I have seen in a game of this size.

Everyone has opinions on how the game should grow, which is why we so often listen to feedback. This is especially true when it comes to quality of life improvements, which are a big focus in some of our upcoming updates.

In regards to my streams, they’re not for everyone and that’s okay! You are under no obligation to watch them. However, I do love hanging out with everyone, and I love getting to do our Dev Q and As! Our stream is focused on previewing upcoming content more than anything else, but as we expand it in the future there will be more streams with differing content. (Though these new streams may be for things other than Gems of War… Ooooooooooh spoiler alert!)

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I like the new bounty troop, guild wars, pvp, arena, pets, bounty :grin:
I like faction events when they are 3 days long . Don’t have enough time otherwise and I loose my delve sigels :disappointed_relieved:

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“What if players were grateful for the Devs?”

I was, at one point, man. I swear to you. But, that was a long time ago… And a different Gems of War. But, back then, I was grateful by playing the game. I didn’t even hit these forums when I was enjoying myself. Why would I? I didn’t have anything to complain about, so I felt it best to just support the game with time and good, old (American) money. Like @awryan said, I paid my gratitude in gratuity.

Funny how things work, huh? I like/love something, I buy/spend money on it. When I don’t like something, I don’t do those things (or at least not nearly as much). Who would have thought?

But, I swear, man, if Gems ever went back to the way it was, or close to it, my wallet would be right there with it, cheering it on. It’s just how I am. If I like something, I support it. Monetarily or otherwise. And, when I don’t like it, I try to voice my concerns about it and try to make it better, at the very least.

But, the long and the short of it, is: This Gems of War isn’t what I asked for. This GoW isn’t what I supported with my time and money or what I wanted. So, since Gems had to change, so did my view on it. I didn’t want it to. I really didn’t. I want to love this GoW, I really do, but I can’t. I want this game to make me feel like it did last year and the year before. But it doesn’t. I wish it did. But, I can’t change how I feel about it. It is what it is.

I do promise something though: If this game ever goes back to its roots, to when I fell in love with it, you’ll have as much support from me as I can give. You’ll have my praise and my money. But, until that day comes, if it ever does, I can’t promise anything else. I can’t promise to spend money. I can’t even promise to play.

To be honest, if this game keeps on this course, I don’t know how long I can take it. Back, in the old days, I could tell you for certain that I would be on (playing) that day, the next day after that, the weeks after that, the month, the year. But, now? Now it’s all day to day, my man. And, I wish that wasn’t so. I wish things were different somehow. But, as ive said before, this is our reality. And we gotta do the best we can with it.

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There are developers with twice the games that this is (COD) that post weekly updates and reply to threads throughout the week.

There are games “of this size” and smaller, and larger on Steam Early Access, where the developers respond to almost every thread posted by users in an attempt to interact. I recently played Elsword per suggestion of a friend, and I posted a thread on the Steam forums and a developer replied to me. Keep in mind these devs know about as much as the player base because all of the content first has to release overseas, then get ported over.

Also, adding cash shops isn’t “growing” the game. Its making every new player read the forum and go “why is everybody talking about BUYING tiers, BUYING this, BUYING that… I thought it was free to play?”

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Our daily active users are growing rapidly, which is what I mean when I refer to growth. And there are quite a few developers on this forum replying to people, including me, Cyrup, Kafka, Ozball, Goldpheonix and Alpheon. (Sometimes even Cliffy, Nim or Sirrian appears!)

I also interact with our player base on all our social accounts, as well as steam and reddit. And that is a huge part of my full time job! It’s time consuming, but also rewarding. I answer questions, pass on feedback and generally talk to our player base. It’s not possible for all of our developers to be as active across all of our channels, or even these forums, as much as I am. They have demanding jobs that require their time and attention, and often work overtime to get them done.

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@Saltypatra is there any chance this kind of data will ever be shared in some more detail, like the infographic made a couple of years ago? I’d find it very interesting to see how the game is doing, and I’m sure I’m not the only one :slight_smile:

https://community.gemsofwar.com/t/gems-of-war-in-2016/17530

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Ooh… like Puzzle Quest 3? :open_mouth:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Not another Puzzle Quest game.

PLEASE, PLEASE! Warlords 5 or Warlords Battlecry 4 PLEASE.
I’m tired of playing War4 and BC2.

Another point, many players that were with this game from Gems of War 1.0 and grew bored with it (like me) have returned and really like the new content.

For those that were not here 4 years ago, all Gow 1.0 had were about a dozen kingdoms, about 30 to 40 troops total, no ascension, no traits, no guilds, only 2 keys (iron and magic), and for me got so boaring after a few months.

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@Saltypatra Please share your user RETENTION numbers. In any guild I’ve ever been a part of at least 1 person quit the game that same week. So if I’ve been playing for almost 2 years… 52 weeks in a year+52=104. And that’s if only ONE person quit that week.

However, that doesn’t matter, because if while they were here they bought stuff its all good. Which is fine, because back then things were worth buying and supporting you guys for. But with the cash shops now, are new player still buying? With the forum lingo being “I BOUGHT this” or “I BOUGHT” that, is it sending free to play signals, or pay to win signals to the potentials that might want to give the game a shot?

QOL improvements such as a quick scroll arrow in a game with 100+ cards don’t impress me. That should have been there to BEGIN WITH. Balance changes to slow down the game and invalidate its own code (half of 1=0=no mana for one exploded gem) don’t impress me either. Legendary task nerfs to lower income for players so they spend more to help the “economy”… what economy? This game HAS NO TRADING.

And the biggest offender, this underworld delve stuff. Do you honestly not see how it invalidates the currency and items of the overworld? Do you not see that the whole purpose of this “great new mode” existing is to push cash shops that have otherwise under performed because the game was actually worth playing at one point, and many left since it now isn’t?

You guys need a profit, make a Kickstarter, or take Puzzle Quest 3 money. This game isn’t going to survive its pay to win, glitch ridden existence. Your income numbers are probably amazing now, give it a year from now. No way, and its a shame.

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I’m sad that the rampantly negative community couldn’t leave just one thread alone.

I like all the content. I think the game is more diverse and more fun than ever before.

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Regarding an infographic, I’d love to do another one this year! I’ll see what I can do to make it happen. :slight_smile:

Please be aware that releasing hard data is unlikely to happen, as it is sensitive information. However, an infographic like the one from 2016 may be possible, so I’ll do what I can!

Our player retention is also very high across all of our platforms, and has been for the lifespan of Gems of War.

With that, I am out for the weekend. I’ll be in the office tomorrow, but this Salty human needs a few hours to herself to recharge.

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