Scott Hartsman on All Things Trion -

SBFord · August 2015

Scott Hartsman on All Things Trion -

Under Hartsman's leadership, Trion Worlds has successfully transitioned from a packaged goods company to developing and publishing strictly digital and free-to-play games. Today, Trion Worlds operates a growing catalog of first-party and third-party MMOs, including Rift, Defiance, and Trove, as well as ArcheAge from XLGames and the recently announced Devilian from Bluehole Ginno.

Read the full story here

jesteralways · August 2015

Good read, i hope he can influence XLGames a bit more to change up some elements of Archeage.

Morebeerplz · August 2015

Great read! I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Hartsman back at the first Rift Gamer Day many years ago. He's really a passionate and very intelligent guy. I'm glad to see more interviews with him. I would love it if Trion would stop publishing outside games they have little control over and get back to what made them great to start off with. I understand they have to do what they think will sustain the company, but it's sad to see a company I fell in love with get their name tarnished with decisions they don't have much control over. I'd also love to hear more about that game idea he had just got the funding for when he made the choice to go back to Trion. Is Trion making that game now? Is Trion working on a new MMO currently? I can't wait to hear about the next MMO Trion actually makes. They have a great team!

Wraithone · August 2015

Given his experience, he should know that some of their partners are badly tarnishing Trions brand. Trion was once a shining example of how things should be done. Now its little more than any other corp, more interested in the bottom line, than whats best for their players.

VikingGamer · August 2015

I loved Rift and had a lot of fun in AA in the beginning. But the problem I have is that Trion's gamble boxes have the absolute worst odds, value and price of any I have seen in any game bar none. And there are some pretty bad companies out there. And I say Trion's boxes because both Rift and AA have the same problem so it is not something that can be blamed exclusively on XL. Trion had a great F2P model when Rift was transitioned but since they have been slipping down a dark slope. I hope this changes but I have no confidence left in Trion at this point.

Ozmodan · August 2015

You always have to wonder why these interviewers can never seem to ask any hard questions. I think it is a blatant lie when he talks about how he is so restricted by RL Games. I can think of lots of ways he could alleviate some of the problems with ArcheAge without burdering RL games with drastic changes. What is he going to do when the whales start leaving ArcheAge? The entire pay box is designed around them.

I like what Trion has done with Rift, but the rest of the companies offerings just drag it down. You would think after all the problems with RL Games he would be careful what outside games he brings on board, yet he goes out and gets Devilian which had to shut it's servers in Korea?????

The only word I can think of to associate with Mr Hartman is "clueless".

Sebali · August 2015

nice read. i was a huge ruft fan when it released.

on a different note ...do we really have to click and click and then click again just to read the damn article?

jesteralways · August 2015

Ozmodan said:

You always have to wonder why these interviewers can never seem to ask any hard questions. I think it is a blatant lie when he talks about how he is so restricted by RL Games. I can think of lots of ways he could alleviate some of the problems with ArcheAge without burdering RL games with drastic changes. What is he going to do when the whales start leaving ArcheAge? The entire pay box is designed around them.

I like what Trion has done with Rift, but the rest of the companies offerings just drag it down. You would think after all the problems with RL Games he would be careful what outside games he brings on board, yet he goes out and gets Devilian which had to shut it's servers in Korea?????

The only word I can think of to associate with Mr Hartman is "clueless".

You mean XLGames. And no, they can't just force XLGames to do anything, nobody can. Do you know that XLGames changed publisher twice in China because they asked too much change to the game? Trion can not change the coding of the game or how the game works in general, they need to ask XLGames for changes, that is why there were lots of APEX duping while the similar item REX in Rift was never duped once. And it seems you have knowledge on RIft, so you can see there is nearly 0 problem regarding botting and cheating in RIft, same goes for Defiance while AA is filled with these, did you ever ask yourself why? It has nothing to do with Trion's mismanagement and everything to do with XLGames' client coding and client side instruction based system, crack the client and you crack the game and let's face it; gameguard never works in NA/EU region because of how server structure is totally different there. It doesn't work in korea or japan or china too but these countries have some digital rights management laws that can send people to jail if they crack the client of a game and get caught. the only thing Trion can do is keep pampering XLGames and influence them into changing things the way Trion gets feedback from player base.

jesteralways · August 2015

VikingGamer said:

I loved Rift and had a lot of fun in AA in the beginning. But the problem I have is that Trion's gamble boxes have the absolute worst odds, value and price of any I have seen in any game bar none. And there are some pretty bad companies out there. And I say Trion's boxes because both Rift and AA have the same problem so it is not something that can be blamed exclusively on XL. Trion had a great F2P model when Rift was transitioned but since they have been slipping down a dark slope. I hope this changes but I have no confidence left in Trion at this point.

You should try playing swtor and buy their gamble boxes. Best online gambling experience ever.

Kefo · August 2015

I wonder how pissed his team was when he got them all together, told them that they secured funding for their startup but they can all go F themselves since Trion is offering him a big bag of money to come back.

Zezda · August 2015

Was hoping to see something about End of Nations in here

mayito7777 · August 2015

Since Defiance I dont trust in anything TRION says or does.

Volgore · August 2015

About time for just another Scott Hartsman "interview"! You guys we're slacking in that department.

-easy questions. check.
- PR PR PR. check.
-"i'm a people's guy". check.

Just like every SH interview. I'm already excited for the next one!

PS. I lied with the last sentence.

PPS: Many years and a new forum later and the comment section is still not working properly

nicolasrm · August 2015

jesteralways said:

Ozmodan said:

You always have to wonder why these interviewers can never seem to ask any hard questions. I think it is a blatant lie when he talks about how he is so restricted by RL Games. I can think of lots of ways he could alleviate some of the problems with ArcheAge without burdering RL games with drastic changes. What is he going to do when the whales start leaving ArcheAge? The entire pay box is designed around them.

I like what Trion has done with Rift, but the rest of the companies offerings just drag it down. You would think after all the problems with RL Games he would be careful what outside games he brings on board, yet he goes out and gets Devilian which had to shut it's servers in Korea?????

The only word I can think of to associate with Mr Hartman is "clueless".

You mean XLGames. And no, they can't just force XLGames to do anything, nobody can. Do you know that XLGames changed publisher twice in China because they asked too much change to the game? Trion can not change the coding of the game or how the game works in general, they need to ask XLGames for changes, that is why there were lots of APEX duping while the similar item REX in Rift was never duped once. And it seems you have knowledge on RIft, so you can see there is nearly 0 problem regarding botting and cheating in RIft, same goes for Defiance while AA is filled with these, did you ever ask yourself why? It has nothing to do with Trion's mismanagement and everything to do with XLGames' client coding and client side instruction based system, crack the client and you crack the game and let's face it; gameguard never works in NA/EU region because of how server structure is totally different there. It doesn't work in korea or japan or china too but these countries have some digital rights management laws that can send people to jail if they crack the client of a game and get caught. the only thing Trion can do is keep pampering XLGames and influence them into changing things the way Trion gets feedback from player base.

I dont really know if they can try to force changes on XLGames, but trion screw it up really big with archeage, not just in game, they promised things they could not deliver, they refused to refund to the people that got their stuff with false promises, as much as trion can try to put the blame on XL i do remember that the microtransaction part was theirs when the economy of the game went to hell because they had the "great" idea of putting one of the more important items in economy in the ingame store (the ingame store was only trion doing not XL they removed many items from it when communty asked but they totally ninjaed this item), i do remember when they offered a 10% discount on any purchase u made in the ingame store if u where a founder, and as much as they want to blame that one on XLGames it was their own fault, they sold it like that and then they could have simply fixed it by just returning the 10% after the purchase was made, but they decided to change what they offered to a 10% bonus on Trion currency purchase (they said solution was going to leave everyone happy, i feel soo mad at my old self for trusting) wich is a looot diferent from what they offered and reassured me during the 2 months i played, i still feel like they screw me in that game and i refuse to play any other Trion game since, its a shame but i think a lot of ppl feel like me, so please PLEASE dont ever think of Trion as a white sheep they are the wolf and a big ugly one.

donger56 · August 2015

It's really unfortunate that he came back. He basically presided over the destruction of Archeage in the west. His decisions were all about money grabbing and nothing about the game. He was a failure the first time around and an even bigger failure the second time around. Trion's best day was the day Rift released. It has been a long downhill slide ever since. This company has had a string of failures since Rift. Their Glyph was a pitiful attempt to reinvent steam and that failed too. If I was a Trion investor I'd be asking Scott to go back to his "thing" and take his fail with him.

JDis25 · August 2015

The section about Archeage was definitely the most interesting. I want to believe it is all XL, I liked Trion back in the day with Vanilla Rift, you got a lot of bang for your buck in that game. Updates VERY often. I like Trove a lot too, it's easy to spend 10-20 dollars on it and never spend another dime. Then there is Archeage... Rift isn't P2W, Trove isn't really either, so why is AA? Who knows.

Toadmonkey · August 2015

Archage. The longest log in times (of the games I play). A boat load of other problems that are not fixed. Servers merging......Regret ever starting to play Archage?

Thupli · August 2015

I like this guy.

hoping Trion invests in a very pve focused grouping game.

would love to see more out if trove as well... Pvp and raids, harder dungeons

AzucArSalad · August 2015

It is very nice to read thoughts and experiences so passionate from a CEO. Good interview. I would suggest him to separate the games they produce by themselves from the games they only distribute. As someone has already said, Archeage has made a lot of damage to the sympathy and trust I had for Trion.

Stone_Fountain · August 2015

Hartman the hack. I don't believe for a second XL Games does not have variables in their coding systems. With different regions, variables are always going to be necessary. I sucked down the AA koolaid like everyone else and quit when the first box that had a LST in it was revealed. Not playing a game where you can buy your way through it. Especially when there are factions and competition. When the PVE takes a little over 4 hours to complete, whats left is PVP. When you can buy enough rng boxes to get what you need, why should anyone else bother? I hated how they handled the land grab (lots of people could not log onto the servers their guilds were on) or the keep grab. Also, having to deal with griefing ashhats in the tiny little PVP zone where you got your tokens really soured the game for me. I'll never spend another dime on Trions gaming or any game where there is a stupid RNG or cash shop.

Samhael · August 2015

I liked Rift and Storm Legion but since the F2P conversion things have gone downhill. I tried to go back for Nightmare Tide but the massive decrease in levelling speed made those 5 levels take longer than all of the previous levelling I had done. It was definitely a case of "make the hurting stop" and I had to use some of my previously accrued store credits to go to patron status for a month to actually cap levels. And by then I was so burned out on the game that I didn't bother going to expert dungeons or raid. Much less do this on my other 3 characters... I've uninstalled and moved on from Rift. I enjoyed Defiance but it was really never meant to be a deep game. My experience with Archeage was just poor all around. Since Trion is getting away from the "packaged goods" I suspect that Trove might be the best that they can produce now... I have zero interest in voxel games. I find them uninspiring to look at and haven't put any time yet into one that was even somewhat fun. I know others have had better experience with them so obviously this is just my opinion. As a sidenote, this article was very well written and the questions were detailed -- it's obvious the interviewer put in some research before the questions were asked. So that's a nice change of pace. However, out of all that were asked, there was only one "medium" question and no hard questions. It's a shame that no effort was really put into making this a thought-provoking piece.

toomuch4212 · August 2015

Idk he seems super grounded and passionate. His past and descriptions of his ideas coming up in this industry remind me of AMC's "Halt and catch fire" . AA isnt completely Trions fault as they have limits. Rift has had its ups and downs and trove is definitely more than what it appears at first glance. Dragon summoners. Im actually curious to see what they take on next and bring over here from afar and what they get going on their own again as well. Plus their customer service is actually really good.

jesteralways · August 2015

nicolasrm said:

jesteralways said:

Ozmodan said:

You always have to wonder why these interviewers can never seem to ask any hard questions. I think it is a blatant lie when he talks about how he is so restricted by RL Games. I can think of lots of ways he could alleviate some of the problems with ArcheAge without burdering RL games with drastic changes. What is he going to do when the whales start leaving ArcheAge? The entire pay box is designed around them.

I like what Trion has done with Rift, but the rest of the companies offerings just drag it down. You would think after all the problems with RL Games he would be careful what outside games he brings on board, yet he goes out and gets Devilian which had to shut it's servers in Korea?????

The only word I can think of to associate with Mr Hartman is "clueless".

You mean XLGames. And no, they can't just force XLGames to do anything, nobody can. Do you know that XLGames changed publisher twice in China because they asked too much change to the game? Trion can not change the coding of the game or how the game works in general, they need to ask XLGames for changes, that is why there were lots of APEX duping while the similar item REX in Rift was never duped once. And it seems you have knowledge on RIft, so you can see there is nearly 0 problem regarding botting and cheating in RIft, same goes for Defiance while AA is filled with these, did you ever ask yourself why? It has nothing to do with Trion's mismanagement and everything to do with XLGames' client coding and client side instruction based system, crack the client and you crack the game and let's face it; gameguard never works in NA/EU region because of how server structure is totally different there. It doesn't work in korea or japan or china too but these countries have some digital rights management laws that can send people to jail if they crack the client of a game and get caught. the only thing Trion can do is keep pampering XLGames and influence them into changing things the way Trion gets feedback from player base.

I dont really know if they can try to force changes on XLGames, but trion screw it up really big with archeage, not just in game, they promised things they could not deliver, they refused to refund to the people that got their stuff with false promises, as much as trion can try to put the blame on XL i do remember that the microtransaction part was theirs when the economy of the game went to hell because they had the "great" idea of putting one of the more important items in economy in the ingame store (the ingame store was only trion doing not XL they removed many items from it when communty asked but they totally ninjaed this item), i do remember when they offered a 10% discount on any purchase u made in the ingame store if u where a founder, and as much as they want to blame that one on XLGames it was their own fault, they sold it like that and then they could have simply fixed it by just returning the 10% after the purchase was made, but they decided to change what they offered to a 10% bonus on Trion currency purchase (they said solution was going to leave everyone happy, i feel soo mad at my old self for trusting) wich is a looot diferent from what they offered and reassured me during the 2 months i played, i still feel like they screw me in that game and i refuse to play any other Trion game since, its a shame but i think a lot of ppl feel like me, so please PLEASE dont ever think of Trion as a white sheep they are the wolf and a big ugly one.

In korean version of f2p they sell several items on top of labor pots, like crafting success chance increase item, gear upgrade chance increase items. Compared to that Trion's version of f2p is very tame.

And what did you not get when you bought the stupid founder packs? Everything that was written on pack description was provided to players. Nothing was cut, they never promised players that there would not be any cash shop, it was you who thought they would. It is totally your fault for not researching AA properly and thinking you were getting a sandbox savior when the game itself by design was and is a pay2win game. Trion just made it less pay2win in their version.

And as for the problem with 10% discount, i have already already said it, everything you do in AA is done through client, so if you were trying to buy something from store hoping you were going to get 10% discount but the client coding was not properly written for it, thus it did not tell the server to give you the discount, if this system was done through server side script like the patron bonus system then this would not have happened. Your entire argument about 10% discount leaves me to say that you yet again did no research even on Trion, all the patron perk in AA have been available in Rift long before they brought AA, you never bothered asking yourself why the same perk works perfectly on another game from the same company while they don't work here? You did not even bother reading my explanation and even if you did you brushed it off with your "trion hate". Your post only speaks ignorance.

No i will not think of Trion as a big bad wolf for they did nothing wrong to me or anyone, people who dreamed out of their ass that trion was going to provide them with a sadbox savior are at fault here, not Trion. Trion never promised me anything and did not deliver, in fact they delivered more than i hoped for. I wish you luck with your "trion hate train" propaganda.

jesteralways · August 2015

Stone_Fountain said:

Hartman the hack. I don't believe for a second XL Games does not have variables in their coding systems. With different regions, variables are always going to be necessary. I sucked down the AA koolaid like everyone else and quit when the first box that had a LST in it was revealed. Not playing a game where you can buy your way through it. Especially when there are factions and competition. When the PVE takes a little over 4 hours to complete, whats left is PVP. When you can buy enough rng boxes to get what you need, why should anyone else bother? I hated how they handled the land grab (lots of people could not log onto the servers their guilds were on) or the keep grab. Also, having to deal with griefing ashhats in the tiny little PVP zone where you got your tokens really soured the game for me. I'll never spend another dime on Trions gaming or any game where there is a stupid RNG or cash shop.

You have choice mate, you can now play korean, japanese and chinese version, they don't have ip block anymore as far as i know. I am sure you will enjoy the heavy pay2win cash shop in them along with language barrier. Best of luck to you.

Bitrip · August 2015

I don't believe anything a CEO has to say. They are like Politicians. They just want to get you out of their face, while retaining their image.

jesteralways · August 2015

Bitrip said:

I don't believe anything a CEO has to say. They are like Politicians. They just want to get you out of their face, while retaining their image.

Did you even read this interview? Do you even know Scott Hartsman's background? Your idea of CEO is without any doubt 100% correct if it were anyone else but Scott Hartsmen, he is a game developer and have been one since 80's, he got his position because he is one and also he knows how to handle business due to his decades of presence in the industry, not because he is a politician. If he was so narcissist about his image he would not just say that he wanted to start up his own company and he had all the people ready to work for him but as soon as Trion threw him a big bone he told them to fuck off. Someone dishonest would not reveal something like that.

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