Director’s Letter

Slapshot1188

Just released
https://ashesofcreation.com/blog/2019-03-07-creative-directors-letter

Slapshot1188

To the surprise of nobody... Alpha 1 is delayed.  they cannot give a new date, but say it will be months and not years.

Will be interesting to see @jahlon response to this.  When I read through it, it looks like nothing but fluff. The biggest "update" on the MMORPG was just talking about the Battle Royale test in Feb...

Not sure what I expected, but this was really very unfulfilling for a letter that took over a month to write.  Very little tangible dates to measure, very little about MMORPG progress, no date for the forums to be back, no date for the referrals to be back...  This could have been a 10 second forum message (if they had forums) that said "Alpha 1 delayed indefinitely".

Slapshot1188

Arterius said:

So glad I got a refund for this game.

I like to how in the newsletter he blames us for the Battle Royale not working because we didn't understand what they were hoping to test. A test doesn't require you to buy a battle bass or let you buy currency for cosmetics.

Agreed.  He billed it as a Stand Alone game because he wanted to market it and make money IMHO.  Now he has to live with the steaming pile that he served.

Slapshot1188

Arterius said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Arterius said:

So glad I got a refund for this game.

I like to how in the newsletter he blames us for the Battle Royale not working because we didn't understand what they were hoping to test. A test doesn't require you to buy a battle bass or let you buy currency for cosmetics.

Agreed.  He billed it as a Stand Alone game because he wanted to market it and make money IMHO.  Now he has to live with the steaming pile that he served.

From this message here.

"With Apocalypse, we want to get the Battle Royale game mode ready to be in a state where we can have it up and running 24/7. This requires us to finish the changes necessary from the testing done in December and January, but once it’s ready, it will allow us to gather a great deal more data, and to stress our backend infrastructure in ways that will prepare us for the MMORPG."

I assume they will push out the BR mode once again before the backers get Alpha 1

You should hear the Discord chat.  You think WE get negative?  Damn... these guys are taking it to another level.  I actually feel sad for the Toast CS person in the chat.  She sounds like she is going to cry.

Kyleran

I kinda cringe everytime he references "the Glorious Community. "

Slapshot1188

Kyleran said:

I kinda cringe everytime he references "the Glorious Community. "

You can almost feel the snakeoil dripping off him...

Albatroes

jahlon

Slapshot1188 said:

To the surprise of nobody... Alpha 1 is delayed.  they cannot give a new date, but say it will be months and not years.

Will be interesting to see @jahlon response to this.  When I read through it, it looks like nothing but fluff. The biggest "update" on the MMORPG was just talking about the Battle Royale test in Feb...

Not sure what I expected, but this was really very unfulfilling for a letter that took over a month to write.  Very little tangible dates to measure, very little about MMORPG progress, no date for the forums to be back, no date for the referrals to be back...  This could have been a 10 second forum message (if they had forums) that said "Alpha 1 delayed indefinitely".

My video response is in the forums now.

Honestly, if Steven wrote that entire letter himself, then yes the statement he made on the Discord once about being bad at PR is true.  He is bad at PR.

If the Community Marketing Lead wrote this letter and approved it, then I'm honestly just going to shake my head that someone with the word Marketing in their job title would author this letter. 

How do you talk about stuff and not have one date in your entire letter?

I mean, I guess it boils down to expectations being easy to manage when your community can't have any.   

MrMelGibson

Arterius said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Arterius said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Arterius said:

So glad I got a refund for this game.

I like to how in the newsletter he blames us for the Battle Royale not working because we didn't understand what they were hoping to test. A test doesn't require you to buy a battle bass or let you buy currency for cosmetics.

Agreed.  He billed it as a Stand Alone game because he wanted to market it and make money IMHO.  Now he has to live with the steaming pile that he served.

From this message here.

"With Apocalypse, we want to get the Battle Royale game mode ready to be in a state where we can have it up and running 24/7. This requires us to finish the changes necessary from the testing done in December and January, but once it’s ready, it will allow us to gather a great deal more data, and to stress our backend infrastructure in ways that will prepare us for the MMORPG."

I assume they will push out the BR mode once again before the backers get Alpha 1

You should hear the Discord chat.  You think WE get negative?  Damn... these guys are taking it to another level.  I actually feel sad for the Toast CS person in the chat.  She sounds like she is going to cry.

To be fair I don't blame them for being negative. Some of those people backed for thousands of dollars. I can't imagine how upset I would have been if I backed during the Kickstarter and had no rights to a refund

I get what you're saying. To me if someone backs a KS with thousands of dollars. They are a natural born sucker and I have zero sympathy for them. They can be mad all they want, they were stupid enough to hand that much money on a gamble that might never launch.

Kyleran

MrMelGibson said:b

Arterius said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Arterius said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Arterius said:

So glad I got a refund for this game.

I like to how in the newsletter he blames us for the Battle Royale not working because we didn't understand what they were hoping to test. A test doesn't require you to buy a battle bass or let you buy currency for cosmetics.

Agreed.  He billed it as a Stand Alone game because he wanted to market it and make money IMHO.  Now he has to live with the steaming pile that he served.

From this message here.

"With Apocalypse, we want to get the Battle Royale game mode ready to be in a state where we can have it up and running 24/7. This requires us to finish the changes necessary from the testing done in December and January, but once it’s ready, it will allow us to gather a great deal more data, and to stress our backend infrastructure in ways that will prepare us for the MMORPG."

I assume they will push out the BR mode once again before the backers get Alpha 1

You should hear the Discord chat.  You think WE get negative?  Damn... these guys are taking it to another level.  I actually feel sad for the Toast CS person in the chat.  She sounds like she is going to cry.

To be fair I don't blame them for being negative. Some of those people backed for thousands of dollars. I can't imagine how upset I would have been if I backed during the Kickstarter and had no rights to a refund

I get what you're saying. To me if someone backs a KS with thousands of dollars. They are a natural born sucker and I have zero sympathy for them. They can be mad all they want, they were stupid enough to hand that much money on a gamble that might never launch.

But for the grace of God go I.

I can sympathize with them (understand where they are coming from) while still believing they made an unwise choice.

Be careful not let the inner "edge lord" overcome you.

goboygo

Nothing but toxic responses in this thread, I think most of you need a new hobby, put gaming on the back burner while you decompress and come back to the reality that you know very very little about whats actually going on in developers studio.  Most everything I read from the endless tabloid style posting from a core group here is taking some small piece of information and twisting and fabricating some "theory" about whats going on.

Put down your pitch forks and pokers and go play some computer games, learn to have fun again.

Slapshot1188

goboygo said:

Nothing but toxic responses in this thread, I think most of you need a new hobby, put gaming on the back burner while you decompress and come back to the reality that you know very very little about whats actually going on in developers studio.  Most everything I read from the endless tabloid style posting from a core group here is taking some small piece of information and twisting and fabricating some "theory" about whats going on.

Put down your pitch forks and pokers and go play some computer games, learn to have fun again.

You should have been in their official Discord when this released.  I actually felt sorry for the CS Toast who was trying to stay positive but was getting shouted down by the community.  It wasn’t even just being upset, their was utter disdain for everything she was saying.  Even huge supporters like DeathsProxy.  

So maybe worry less about other posters and more about the game.  I notice that you failed to list or mention a single thing about the Directors Letter in your rant.  Pretty telling.

Cryomatrix

I prefer to spend thousands of dollars of games that release and that I like . . . rather than potential games. 

Anyway, continue the vitriol on this thread, it is pretty entertaining. 

Azaron_Nightblade

Unfortunate. But not exactly unexpected... =/

Kyleran

Azaron_Nightblade said:

Unfortunate. But not exactly unexpected... =/

"Stay Glorious!"

jahlon

Slapshot1188 said:

You should have been in their official Discord when this released.  I actually felt sorry for the CS Toast who was trying to stay positive but was getting shouted down by the community.  It wasn’t even just being upset, their was utter disdain for everything she was saying.  Even huge supporters like DeathsProxy. 

So maybe worry less about other posters and more about the game.  I notice that you failed to list or mention a single thing about the Directors Letter in your rant.  Pretty telling.

I can tell you that community shaping (not management because that's more enforcement of discipline and rules and keeping order) has been lacking.

I think the volunteer moderators do the best they can, but I'm not sure any of them have any moderator experience.  They lack finesse, the sort of finesse Dr. Hannibal Lecter expects of you:

you were doing fine, you had been courteous and receptive to courtesy, you had established trust with the embarrassing truth about miggs, and now this ham-handed segue into your questionnaire tut-tut-tut it won't do

But seriously, the volunteer mods have to deal with a lot of shit and the community is pretty vocal and robust.  It will just take them time to learn the best way to steer conversations instead of the mighty hammer of

"This is off topic, now get back on topic!"   There are way more subtle ways to do it.

Toast is actually really cool, she has helped a number of my viewers from Twitch and YouTube get their tickets resolved quickly. 

Margaret is starting to settle in to find the community will support anyone from the Studio as long as its a little give a little take.  Some of Margaret's early decisions were rough and poorly received, but we've seen them get morphed into the more acceptable end result.  Little things and baby steps.