to all those quitting

[TheVictorious]

To be honest, I like what BB do with new things that really good and restore some goods value like stalks and more things, but I'm one of who soon to quit because:

- The game becomes almost unplayable with the number of bugs that they add to the game after each update and hotfixes!
- Adding to previous point the game freezes and lags become worst without clear reason!
- The graphics level outdated badly, and all newly added content are not good as the original first versions of the game (as for example animations and effects, currently they just "reuse" old assets without even the quality of the first version).
- The game becomes boring because of fewer people I see around, during events you can get some players to join you but outside it is hard to sell LS as for example.
- Support is totally useless these days, whatever you sent the only reply you get is to clear cache, even when I reply that I did that already they just ignore you and you don't get any responses, no more.
- The whole ideas, in general, are repeated, no more new things like the quest all about train something, pay something, complete something you get rewards, that's it.
- no PvP, and no, the current "PvP" it is not PvP at all.
- My last gem pit is gone, no more gems = no play.

For me currently, I only play during events.

[Urd123]

It's not just the weekly thing, those are pretty easy to ignore if you choose to. It's a gradually increasing list of things which is driving people away.

- Increasing amount of event resources needed each year for stuff only available during events.
- poorly tested hotfixes that keep introducing more bugs than they fix, which leads to
- random long maintenances with no notice and which causes chaos when your economy relies on a certain balance.
- dishonesty from developers, eg "we will introduce this"->"actually that was a translation error, we never meant that!"

They need to direct more time to testing and paying attention to critical bugs found on the test server rather than sticking their heads in the sand and adding more stuff you need to buy gems for.

Yes I agree with your points. But also that not just this weekly challenge but also other new additions points to that they want us to change the pace of the game from being a slow game. To keep up people need to have higher production rate. More gem buildings - more everything - more time spent on game.
They can chose to gem their way- a tempting solution. But by doing so, it will kill the game. Some of us been there done that in other games. For me it is why I ended up playing settlers. So really hate seeing the same here. I get that they need money, but this is a bad way to get them.

[Urd123]

I can see that I did last post. Looks that now it is me to quit.
Our super Guild leader Trumpeteer finally packed it in and I think (hope) he found a new game. I will join to see how that goes.
Cant talk for him 100% but this I think sums it up for both of us:
No new game content that brings activity besides white maps where gens move in slow motion and quests that requires that you give away troops wihout using them. Chat in both guild and global that goes more and more empty and quiet. Only very few new players seem to join.
BB starting to ignore any kind of critics no matter how massive it is.
BB more or less ignoring the questions about the game future, with flash ending. The game starting to show same symptoms as other games that are dying. (Endless events that encourage people to use gems and real money). This makes us think that they are closing down anyway.

I have stayed longer than I should, because I like the basics in this game. Not competition among players, but lots of cooperation if you want to, but freedom to play as you like it. The chat and the friends I got made me stay, even though I have been bored and getting more and more annoyed past year or 2.

[Betty_chook]

What is it with this 2020 deadline you all have for the game????

I cant see the game dying coz if it was why do they keep adding new gens etc
just coz flash wont be supported or whatever it was i read that dont mean to me the game is dying
if they went into same mode anno online did and didnt add new things or do mainteneces then yes i would say RIP to the game
how do we know what they have planned we dont but i cant see them adding new gens etc and scout house and other stuff i seen on test for valentines if they gonna kill the game.
think some need to lighten up on the 2020 rubbish and think logicly
the end is not nigh or whatever the saying is

as for spending gems nobody makes you buy them just get them free loads do off the excelicor and quests and achivments.
yeah chats have kinda got dead latley but maybe peeps busy talking in guild or wispa or even just busy playing the game and not moaning who knows

i just dont think the smurfs would add the stuff they have been if they was gonna kill the game that makes no sense to me if they was gonna kill the game i rekon they would just not done nothing new

[SSSecretSquirrel]

At this point i feel like its best if the few doomsayers do quit. Seems all you can read lately is "its all going to end!!!". Bloody depressing..

[Brotherjon]

At this point i feel like its best if the few doomsayers do quit. Seems all you can read lately is "its all going to end!!!". Bloody depressing..

Lol it’s been going on for years, since I started playing in 2014 players have been saying that the game will “end soon”. I think some people are at that wavering point of ‘do I carry on or not’, they kind of don’t want to play any more but kind of do because they don’t want to give up what they have. By talking about the game ending, they almost want it to happen so that they can get closure. Maybe it will end soon, maybe not. If you enjoy playing, keep playing but if you don’t, just stop - even just for a bit like I have.

[Betty_chook]

By talking about the game ending, they almost want it to happen so that they can get closure.

either that or they have a excuse to give up coz dont have the guts to just do it so need a excuse to

At this point i feel like its best if the few doomsayers do quit. Seems all you can read lately is "its all going to end!!!". Bloody depressing..

totally agree i just wish they would stop moaning sometimes. its like ok you wanna quit then quit why make a big drama over it
it is defo depressing
maybe they bored with the game maybe real life has got busier

and on the other hand some are never happy unless they are moaning all the time i know you cant never make everyone happy all the time but i feel some players need to give their head a wobble at times i think

it is a game.
play it if you want and have mates you like talking to and have fun etc
dont play it all the time if you dont want.
have a break some players do that as well it would still be here if/when you came back

[ginny31]

It might be to the fact that the game depends on flash to work and as that will no longer be usable as the browsers drop or/and block its use within their software and BB have kept very quiet on what the future holds its not a hard leap to see why so many think the game is ending or dwindling down ...most other games have or will either close or move to another platform to continue...BB has stated it has no intention to move to another or remake the game or platform..so what do you expect players who have spent time.effort and money to think...if the player base was given some concrete assurances that they have it all covered for when flash will no longer be viable then you would see all the negativity go away

[Kotugo]

I think flash being blocked is probably why the game seems to have suddenly gone so quiet. Even though the steps to get it working are fairly simple, I had to find a guide on the forums to figure out I had to just click to "install flash" each time, which did not make sense when I already had flash installed. Considering the button which pops up is styled with the settlers theme, maybe this needs adjusting to make it clearer that the link also gives flash permission to run in addition to installing it if it is missing.

As a flash game it means the development team will be using adobe actionscript to program the game itself. This probably stops them moving to something like html5 as they would have to sack or retrain the current programmers and create the game from scratch in a new language.

BB_Alex said on the test forums that they may consider using adobe AIR since that's the only path they have where the current developers are not too badly effected.

The major issue is that this adobe AIR changeover should have happened before flash became blocked, it's probably too late now to bring a lot of players back if they have been unable to load the game at all for an extended period of time.

[Xibor]

Many other companies will be facing Flash issues so I have faith that can be worked around. There's always another way when it comes to computer code.

As far as things feeling like they are winding down what is bothering me most is that BB doesn't seem to care anymore. It's like someone breaking up with you. They just stop talking, don't pay much attention, clearly their interest is elsewhere. Bugs aren't getting fixed, little events like the Wishing Well have been forgotten about, support apparently issues 95% generic responses, the only entries in the forum from them are criticisms of players and corrections of players. It feels like everything has been put on auto-pilot because they are busy on other things.

There's no facts in my statement, just an impression.

And since I'm going on my 5th year I don't like the "get over it it's just a game" point of view. It's been an investment of time and money. I've created something that I would like to continue. Sure, it's virtual. But it's still something that matters to me. My analogy when I explain to non-gamers why I spend so much time in it is having a garden. A decorative flower garden. I knew a woman that was into exotic orchids. It took her a lot of time, daily tending, checking moisture levels and humidity and many other things. And what is a flower really worth? You look at it. You enjoy it. But is it very tangible as it relates to the more practical and important things in life? Not really. But she enjoyed it.

If someday I try to log in and I just see "game over" I would feel like she would if she got up and all the orchids were gone.

If things must move on I would hope that this version just becomes stagnant. No new features, no special support, but that things stay up and running for those that want to just keep tending the garden.