New game direction announcements

[Bigbelly]

Recently BB have announced the new content that they are working on : combat rebalancing, pvp and an island expansion.

As a gamer who has been around a lot I have seen more games than I care to remember, simply die off because the developers were all moved on to work on the next great project that was in the pipeline. So whilst I will reserve judgment on the above items, I would like to comment that it is great to see these development efforts being made. They may be implemented poorly, or well, we will have to wait and see. For now though, it is just great to see that they are being made at all, because what it means is that this game has a future and for me thats the most important thing to take from these announcements.

[Mortallicus]

I totally agree. I hope this really cheers everyone up. Lets give these new developments a fair chance.

[Wreckless-]

I second that emotion !

[Cephalad]

While those improvments sound good in theory and BB should be commended for having the vision to make them, then there are a lot of questions regarding the exact implementation that muddies the picture. Especially the new combat system has the potential to ruin entire island setups and render the most expensive gem bought building (endless copper mine) relatively useless, which would just be a kick to the guts for the people who invested money in the game for gems to buy one or two of them.

The island expansion will come when it comes. The mountain removal system was announced almost a year ago and was never implemented. We'll see if this island expansion thing suffers the same fate.

PvP - well, we'll see when the first iteration hits test.

Call me a cynic, but I'll see how they handle all of this before I clap their shoulder for anything. Experience with other games and their development has taught me not to get my hopes up.

[LordPogue]

I have been around playing online games since 1999. I have seen many games come and go, and several fell by the wayside when they started going down the road of making big changes too quick. It's a fine line to walk as a game developer keeping the player base happy and interested and making so many changes so quick that the same said players who were screaming for new changes are the first to abandon ship.

The best advice I can give BB from a players perspective, is to make slow, well thought out, methodical changes that have been tested, retested, and keep asking us players what we want to see next, and listen to us.

[Gubbie]

I totally agree. They need to listen to us and our ideas. Not that they need to implement every idea, not all are that great and some players rather see somthing that benifits them and not the game itself. To be honest, i like the looks of the new combat system. A millitia should not have the same attack damadge as a elite soldier, and elite soldiers need more HP to be worth the resources. For blocking, i know lots of ppl like blocking since it saves tons of troops and resources. However isnt the idea that you shall kill every camp and not just skip them?

For PVP, it will add stuff to do for players who wants it and who play this game a lot. If its a great addition to the game? we will just have to wait and see, but at least they are trying to make this game even better than it is and not just suck it dry for money and watch it die.

[Cephalad]

However isnt the idea that you shall kill every camp and not just skip them?
Without fast generals most blocking wouldn't be possible, so the fact that they are implemented in several forms suggest that blocking is an intended game feature. Also, adventures would seriously bore me out of my mind if there was no blocking.

[Nogbad]

Yes, blocking was clearly "built in", just I don't think they ever anticipated how well it would be used.
If they removed the level cap, and created some well-thought out adventures, that would keep the integrity and ethos of the game.
But what is proposed now is sheer suicide. Pvp will not work, and the majority have been against it from the beginning.
The game came out of beta over 3 years ago, and we have all built up our islands accordingly. It is far too late to now impose such a major change (even assuming they get it right, which I very much doubt), players have invested far too much time and money on a game that works, and provides an alternative to the mindless PvP games already in existence, that were already designed with that end in mind, this game was not.
At best it will be a poor alternative to already existing games, and the novelty will soon wear off. Whichever way they implement it cannot work, if it is "live" PvP, the lag will play havoc with it, and if it isn't live, then it's just more of the same PvE except the players choose the garrisons. Yawn.
Messing up the combat system to accommodate it is disgusting. If you really want to try that, then leave the current servers be, and create new PvP enabled ones, leave these in peace with what we know and love. (Oh wait, you tried that already didn't you? And how is that server, last time I heard nobody was playing it, and it appears to be no longer available? That went well, not).
Then nerfing the adventure loot, again to force players into building many more weapon production buildings to accommodate the new combat system. This is pure mindless vandalism, and the two of these combined, when the blasted Guild Quests keep demanding adventures over and over should pretty much finish off GQs altogether, and probably quite a few Guilds too in the meltdown.
All these proposed changes are going to do is provide some bored level 50s a little novelty value for a short time, but everybody else will be long gone, hopefully finding another game that provided the experience that this once did, and a sour taste in the mouth of those who invested so much into it, only to see it torn apart by stupidity.
Not going to be a good advert for the new Settlers if at the same time you break one that has become a way of life for many.
Please see sense and nip this farce in the bud now, before it's too late.
Instead, go back and make a start on the 3 years of outstanding bugs, and think about content that fits in, like new interesting adventures, and more levels.
What was built in at the start was a much better idea than this, should never have been shelved.

[BAAAHHHHHJJJAAA]

Lol is this a joke ?

They screw up a combat system everyone is happy with, meaning no new content still the same adventures but you lose more troops. They then remove weapons from loot meaning that you will have to spend gems to continue to adventure as frequently as you had down before.

They give us a small bit of land, which will be for gems, as a "look we are doing what you ask.

They give us a island game not PVP which is what people wanted. Most players want PvP but want it as an arena so if you don't want to get involved you don't have to.

Nog has hit the nail on the head rather than pushpin for new ideas BB have resorted to the same old rubbish that is "take what we have already done and rehash it, then offer a treat to fool the masses".

It's the equivalent of a husband coming home with a bunch of flowers from a petrol station to cover up that he is having an affair.

Fact is BB things we are stupid, that we will always come running back. If players stick around after this then they are.

[fishybreath]

I agree with Bigbelly wholeheartedly ... I'm delighted that new plans are in the works.

His post and the couple of posts following it came as a breath of fresh air yesterday, amid all the usual moaning and negativity you have to trawl through on this forum on a daily basis.

Nice to see somebody happy for a change. Good for you Bigbelly. Pity the thread had to go south again afterwards though.

PVP isn't exactly my thing, but who cares, I got over it and now welcome it with open arms.

[Xadro]

I agree with Bigbelly wholeheartedly ... I'm delighted that new plans are in the works.

His post and the couple of posts following it came as a breath of fresh air yesterday, amid all the usual moaning and negativity you have to trawl through on this forum on a daily basis.

Nice to see somebody happy for a change. Good for you Bigbelly. Pity the thread had to go south again afterwards though.

PVP isn't exactly my thing, but who cares, I got over it and now welcome it with open arms.

Yup *** the majority, as long as a couple of us are happy right guys? :rolleyes:

[Mortallicus]

well said fishybreath,

I think its time us players took responsibility for the success of the game too. BB are just peeps like us, would you like to make cool stuff for a load of moaning minnies? Would it motivate you to do a better job? Not all the money in the world provides job satisfaction in this case we are the ones that can give that gift.

A new player coming into the forum must take one look and run out the door.

I stopped playing two other games because of a really bad community spirit and I am sure others must do the same.

[LipglossDog]

lets have a research tree based on sid meiers civilization games and the units that go with it, it seems as settlers we are living in a set time period, were just glorofied boy scouts..as for PvP, then the developers need to steal the battle sequences from the game lords of the realm, where you could direct your armies and thus make it more tactical rather than my 250 cav vrs your 200 cav...your 200 die end of....

[Mortallicus]

just been on test and looked at the Expandable Islands , they will make a huge difference. Approx 180 new building spots. Maybe a good place to put those watermills that seem difficult to place that well. (No pun intended). Or your Residences or both :D Lots of possibilities.

[Bluesavanah]

bet the 3 new islands cost a sight more than 199 gems

[Brayarg]

bet the 3 new islands cost a sight more than 199 gems

I was quite surprised at the price too :p