FBG_Winston_Wolfe
07-01-2007, 08:13 PM
In an effort to still be helpful, I am making one final post.
I was part of the FBGs invasion of the first incarnation of Everwars back in 2003. I quickly became addicted and enjoyed the game. Back then, there were a couple of monthly tournaments that gave players a chance to get in on the action at the beginning of every month. After a while, the game seemed abandoned by the devs and monthly resets never happened. I drifted away, but not completely. I checked back in from time to time always disappointed seeing the "New Tournament Beginning in Nov 2003" at the top of the page.
Fast forward to April 2007, FBGOnetime announces on another board that Everwars is back. There was much rejoicing. The new game requires recruiting. In an effort to compete with the uber recruiters, I created multiple accounts. FBG_Citizen Juicer and Dalton. I did this entirely for the Silver Prizes.
I was an addicted player that would check in every 5 hours in order to not lose my coveted battle credits so I would not lose ground and I so I could move up the rankings. This bears repeating. I was logging in EVERY 5 hours and battle or so in order to not lose BCs. I even set my alarm so that I could wake up early.
The ranking system was changed to king of the hill and I was still an addicted player. I was saving money so that I could compete with the large sword monkeys. I was working towards a goal.
The new ranking system is implemented, stamina is implemented, a battle timer is implemented, skills are revamped and Everpoints are introduced. I was not completely happy with the battle timer, but completely understand server load. A stamina bug is discovered and stamina is disabled. This is where many a player went into limbo. No one knew what changes were going to be made. There was no "incentive" to attack players that you might lose to. Item costs in the shop were too expensive, so saving your EPs at two and hour (IIRC) was not an option.
What came next was farming. I and many other players chose to attack low level I players at 50% strength gaining equipment, skill points in abundance. Why did I do it? Because it allowed me to improve my character and it gave me something to do without having to wait around for the battle timer, which I felt impeded the enjoyment of the game.
Farming was corrected, and the non farmers in the top 25 were rewarded. This didn't bother me because I was not top 25 before farming, and the rewards that I reaped were far in excess of the special prize still not determined. On the forums, it was "perceived" that the Devs were "punishing" certain players. I'm not implying that's what happened. I am stating that is how I perceived it.
I was losing interested in the game, but I was holding out hope that the new stamina system would add the fun back to the game. Unfortunately, the EPs were limited to 1 every hour if you did not click a button every ten minutes. At the current stage of game development, there is/was not enough to do on the site to keep a player occupied very long. I tried to stay on the site as much as possible in order to earn EPs. This is where the game took a turn for the worse, IMO. I had gone from being addicted to the site and wanting to battle, to becoming a "click monkey". Click a button every ten minutes, collect your reward. I am well aware that the majority of my boredom was the result of being well equipped and the game being less than 10% complete.
In my boredom, I did two things.
1) I created another user in order to gain prize codes. This one was named "Donna"
2) I wrote a script so that I did not have to visit the site in order to collect maximum EPs.
I want to be clear. I did this because I was bored with the current status of the game and I was holding out hope that the future update would bring the fun back into the game.
Fast forward to today. I finally see that the long awaited update has gone live. I see that I no longer have equipment and my EPs are severely less than I should have accrued. I go and read the updates and I see that the database has been reset. I can't say that it surprised me. You can't really beta test a game, when the majority of the players already have advanced characters have surpassed the early stages of character development. The core has been completely rewritten, it needs to be tested. As I said, I am not at all surprised that the database was wiped.
I check out the new features of the game, and I am encouraged by the changes. Upon reading Zeras' post, part of it caught my eye.
However, we became aware of a few exploits about 3 weeks ago that were being abused by users. One of these in particular was being used by several members. When we found it about 3 weeks ago, we activated extended logging to see just how many users were taking advantage of it. To our surprise, there were over 150 users exploiting the bug. As a result, that convinced us the only fair thing to do for the rest of the honest players was to go with the database wipe.
I went into chat and Sadistic was there. I tried to relay that the bolded part came across as "punishment" and it would probably be perceived in a way that was not intended. From the get go, Sadistic was combative with me, called me a cheater and pretty much take a hike.
Not once did I say that I felt it was unfair or that it shouldn't be done. I only repeated that my "perception" was that the bolded part above came across as punishment. I have been around these boards since mid April, one thing that I have noted is that the Devs sometimes come across in ways that are not intended, and tend to come across in certain situations as combative.
I used to be the head administrator for a message board that usually had 500-1000 users as any given time. I have a lot of experience in how the typed word can come across the wrong way. I hope the Devs take this as a constructive post. IMO, you really need to work on your message board communication skills, because at this early stage, every miscommunication has the potential of driving a future customer away.
My reason for leaving has nothing to do with my exchange with Sadistic or any issue with any Dev. My reason for leaving is simple. The current maximum EP you can earn in an hour is 6. That equates to a maximum of 2 battles earned in an hour. This is too slow to keep my interest. This game has amazing potential.
My suggestion for the Devs is to increase the EP earning rate until other aspects of the game are implemented. I fear that the game action is moving too slow to keep users coming back.
I wish the best for Devs and hope this game is a success in the future.
I was part of the FBGs invasion of the first incarnation of Everwars back in 2003. I quickly became addicted and enjoyed the game. Back then, there were a couple of monthly tournaments that gave players a chance to get in on the action at the beginning of every month. After a while, the game seemed abandoned by the devs and monthly resets never happened. I drifted away, but not completely. I checked back in from time to time always disappointed seeing the "New Tournament Beginning in Nov 2003" at the top of the page.
Fast forward to April 2007, FBGOnetime announces on another board that Everwars is back. There was much rejoicing. The new game requires recruiting. In an effort to compete with the uber recruiters, I created multiple accounts. FBG_Citizen Juicer and Dalton. I did this entirely for the Silver Prizes.
I was an addicted player that would check in every 5 hours in order to not lose my coveted battle credits so I would not lose ground and I so I could move up the rankings. This bears repeating. I was logging in EVERY 5 hours and battle or so in order to not lose BCs. I even set my alarm so that I could wake up early.
The ranking system was changed to king of the hill and I was still an addicted player. I was saving money so that I could compete with the large sword monkeys. I was working towards a goal.
The new ranking system is implemented, stamina is implemented, a battle timer is implemented, skills are revamped and Everpoints are introduced. I was not completely happy with the battle timer, but completely understand server load. A stamina bug is discovered and stamina is disabled. This is where many a player went into limbo. No one knew what changes were going to be made. There was no "incentive" to attack players that you might lose to. Item costs in the shop were too expensive, so saving your EPs at two and hour (IIRC) was not an option.
What came next was farming. I and many other players chose to attack low level I players at 50% strength gaining equipment, skill points in abundance. Why did I do it? Because it allowed me to improve my character and it gave me something to do without having to wait around for the battle timer, which I felt impeded the enjoyment of the game.
Farming was corrected, and the non farmers in the top 25 were rewarded. This didn't bother me because I was not top 25 before farming, and the rewards that I reaped were far in excess of the special prize still not determined. On the forums, it was "perceived" that the Devs were "punishing" certain players. I'm not implying that's what happened. I am stating that is how I perceived it.
I was losing interested in the game, but I was holding out hope that the new stamina system would add the fun back to the game. Unfortunately, the EPs were limited to 1 every hour if you did not click a button every ten minutes. At the current stage of game development, there is/was not enough to do on the site to keep a player occupied very long. I tried to stay on the site as much as possible in order to earn EPs. This is where the game took a turn for the worse, IMO. I had gone from being addicted to the site and wanting to battle, to becoming a "click monkey". Click a button every ten minutes, collect your reward. I am well aware that the majority of my boredom was the result of being well equipped and the game being less than 10% complete.
In my boredom, I did two things.
1) I created another user in order to gain prize codes. This one was named "Donna"
2) I wrote a script so that I did not have to visit the site in order to collect maximum EPs.
I want to be clear. I did this because I was bored with the current status of the game and I was holding out hope that the future update would bring the fun back into the game.
Fast forward to today. I finally see that the long awaited update has gone live. I see that I no longer have equipment and my EPs are severely less than I should have accrued. I go and read the updates and I see that the database has been reset. I can't say that it surprised me. You can't really beta test a game, when the majority of the players already have advanced characters have surpassed the early stages of character development. The core has been completely rewritten, it needs to be tested. As I said, I am not at all surprised that the database was wiped.
I check out the new features of the game, and I am encouraged by the changes. Upon reading Zeras' post, part of it caught my eye.
However, we became aware of a few exploits about 3 weeks ago that were being abused by users. One of these in particular was being used by several members. When we found it about 3 weeks ago, we activated extended logging to see just how many users were taking advantage of it. To our surprise, there were over 150 users exploiting the bug. As a result, that convinced us the only fair thing to do for the rest of the honest players was to go with the database wipe.
I went into chat and Sadistic was there. I tried to relay that the bolded part came across as "punishment" and it would probably be perceived in a way that was not intended. From the get go, Sadistic was combative with me, called me a cheater and pretty much take a hike.
Not once did I say that I felt it was unfair or that it shouldn't be done. I only repeated that my "perception" was that the bolded part above came across as punishment. I have been around these boards since mid April, one thing that I have noted is that the Devs sometimes come across in ways that are not intended, and tend to come across in certain situations as combative.
I used to be the head administrator for a message board that usually had 500-1000 users as any given time. I have a lot of experience in how the typed word can come across the wrong way. I hope the Devs take this as a constructive post. IMO, you really need to work on your message board communication skills, because at this early stage, every miscommunication has the potential of driving a future customer away.
My reason for leaving has nothing to do with my exchange with Sadistic or any issue with any Dev. My reason for leaving is simple. The current maximum EP you can earn in an hour is 6. That equates to a maximum of 2 battles earned in an hour. This is too slow to keep my interest. This game has amazing potential.
My suggestion for the Devs is to increase the EP earning rate until other aspects of the game are implemented. I fear that the game action is moving too slow to keep users coming back.
I wish the best for Devs and hope this game is a success in the future.