What if players were grateful for the Devs?

Community Content
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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:

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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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sometimes i wonder if the hamsters that power the servers have formed a union and thats why so many gem sinks needed to be added lately xD

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Just like everyone else, the definition of better is certainly different to each one and people should discuss things hoping to find a common denominator… but unfortunely people will face discussions as “Me vs Them” instead of “We vs Perceived Problem”.

With this kind of mentality, where some people create rivalries we all struggle.

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My contribution here will be small, but I love the Dev’s.

Credit where credit’s due, they’re doing an amazing job at improving the game and I will never pretend I’m not grateful for the effort and time they put in to make the game more fun for us.

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This is not true. All the resources on the Overworld are still in use for every weekly release. The Underworld also provides souls, gold and glory in Delve battles to support the Overworld economy. Both things are very well intertwined, all the great troops and biggest bonuses we unlock in the Overworld will provide us power to face the Delves and acquire the new resources present there, we just can’t Insta-Mythic the troops using the Overworld currencies.

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I agree, and I have not gotten any sense that old resources are “invalidated.” So long as the weekly troop releases continue as is, there will be need for glory and the various keys you can get from the Overworld. Now, if these releases stop in favor of only Faction troop releases, we can have this discussion in earnest. (Although even then, Delves are not a money grab outside of their respective events, and rather a time gate.)

As usual, though, it’s easier for those disenfranchised to hyperbolize and mischaracterize the devs when making broad claims, so here we are.

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You sound like a very reasonable person.

Props for saying the truth despite the fact that some people probably won’t appreciate it.

You’re doing good work.

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I, honestly, try to be the latter people of that group. I try to be the one to see what I like, where things are now and find some way to come to a middle ground. Never have I said I want a Gems of War 2016 or 2017 or whatever, clone. No. But, I do want to see them embrace what used to make this game so great, instead of trying to bury it.

You can’t deny that with each update we get further and further from what this game used to be. From where this game started. And, I’m not saying that it should stand still, frozen in time. Its a dynamic and ever changing game, I get that. I’m all for growing and evolving. But, I feel there is an importance to respect where you came from and to respect those who have made you what you are.

Like, @KYLENATOR001 said:

That’s all I’m trying to say here. I just don’t want Gems of War to lose what made it so great and lose the people/players that made it so great. Grow, change, evolve, try to strengthen your game and player base, but also respect them and respect where you came from and what made you so great, in the first place.

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In 2016 and 2017 Krystara’s mountains weren’t horrible 3D clumps… So yeah, we totally lost A LOT of good things… :stuck_out_tongue:

Well, sometimes changes are needed, like in Wild Plains, this kingdom REALLY needs a lot of change…

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