Emu Population Declining?

[Rossdie [BT]]

I have been around since the beginning of the EMU, I can say it has come a very long way thanks to the dedication of all involved. On that note, all games go through this, everything is about content. Granted, it has been a long time since anything significant has been implemented, and I do understand the Dev's are in fix it mode as there are alot of bugs. I may be wrong, but there has been no real content since the Mordana raids were implemented over a year ago (which were really never finished btw i.e missing drops), and yes I know agrippa was added, which is great, but what is needed is end game content. Not necessesarily raids, maybe just more high level mobs to kill in some of the new sectors. I know, that adding things now means more bug, but wouldn't it be better to have everything in place that is going to be in the game eventually, now? The bugs are going to show up anyway, may as well get them fixed now instead of adding things later, as what I hear the plans are for alpha and beta, to me it makes more sence, imo. You can always close off the sectors, like der-tode, ardus and such, for story purposes when this does go alpha, that way no bugs when it does go alpha.

[Beerrun]

I haven't been around purely because I ran out of things to do lately. Agrippa missions also frustrated and confused me a bit so had to take a break, no offense but whoever wrote those missions needs to take some time to re-write them and clarify things.

[snowy]

Hey guys, well let me at least swell the numbers by one! I've been away for a couple of years but just re-installed again so hope to see you all in-game soon :-)

[snowy]

Lol seems like my old sig from ST2 or 3! Looks like I got a lot of work to do to get my guys back to that lvl, only got one pc at the mo too so it going be a looong journey! :-)

[Mauiman]

Well I for one who heard about the Player Wipe have stopped playing and when I logged on the Net 7 game account management site I found that my characters were still there. So I just started playing again. So yeah I think there should have been an official notice of a player wipe rather than the talk and discussion of a probable player wipe and people know when it's coming and such. And yes I would like to see some more content and be able to see the fifth and final stress test launch and then have it finally go in to Beta.

[Terrell [BT]]

[quote name='Mauiman' timestamp='1339999840' post='59130']
Well I for one who heard about the Player Wipe have stopped playing and when I logged on the Net 7 game account management site I found that my characters were still there. So I just started playing again. So yeah I think there should have been an official notice of a player wipe rather than the talk and discussion of a probable player wipe and people know when it's coming and such. And yes I would like to see some more content and be able to see the fifth and final stress test launch and then have it finally go in to Beta.
[/quote]

I don't think that there's going to be a Stress Test 5. If I recall correctly one of the devs said that Alpha was the next logical step.

[Riz]

[quote name='Terrell' timestamp='1340000542' post='59132']
I don't think that there's going to be a Stress Test 5. If I recall correctly one of the devs said that Alpha was the next logical step.
[/quote]

That is what I heard as well.

[Reon]

tempy and myself are not playing much due to two factors, for one, our finances are very tight and we can't afford to donate right now, and for two, we know that this stress test has been running a long time, and that soon we can expect they will move on to an alpha test.

We have mostly been trying characters out to see which ones she likes and waiting to see when/if a wipe is coming soon. I know people hate the idea of a wipe, but this is an unfinished game and it will happen eventually...people are expecting it...as soon as there was a rumor a wipe was going to take place soon, it seemed like instead of 100-200 people logged on, it was more like 50-70...now that the wipe hasn't happened it seems like numbers are climbing again.

I know the dev's can't post a date otherwise people will hold them to that date regardless of if they are ready to launch alpha, also if a date is released, we can expect that a week or two prior to the date almost no one would log in, which means no real testing would take place in that time.

In summary, when it happens, it happens, and I expect that server population will climb when it goes to alpha...in the mean time, thanks to the devs for the countless hours of hard work.

[Kyp [LDEV]]

I've often wondered why people rumor-mill the wipe thing. I've said in the past, and its easily searchable in the forum, that if you don't see someone with a LDEV tag confirming a date for such, it is NOT happening no matter what anyone else says or theorizes. I'm not gonna promise never, because there will be at least 1 more before we go "live" but barring a technical need for it, the answer is no. Not unless something went horribly awry with the database, and even then we could restore to 24 hours ago if a wipe wasn't truly intended.

Please, stop spinning the rumor mills on this stuff, if you want to know ask your advocate and they can run the question by us. I will be happy to answer it in our meetings. I can only say it so many times on here *shrug*.

Also, to be on topic just a bit: Its common for our population to drop considerably in the summer time. Its always been that way, both player and dev side. People wanna play in the sun while they can, I s'pose

[Mauiman]

[quote name='Kyp' timestamp='1340068288' post='59182']
Also, to be on topic just a bit: Its common for our population to drop considerably in the summer time. Its always been that way, both player and dev side. People wanna play in the sun while they can, I s'pose
[/quote]

I guess people want to have Fu - n, fu - n, Fu - n in the su - n, su - n, su - n, and something about having Mango Juice and Gold fish nipping at some toes.

Gahhh. Red Dwarf Theme song reference.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTEpiFcn0wI[/media]

There now you can listen to it. And holy molly I forgotten how good and epic it sounds.

But back on topic. I do agree with Kyp about the rumor mills. All they are is just stuff that does one of two things.

A ) Excite people

B ) Scare people away.

So just like Wilson Tech 1's host Wilson says "SSSSSSSSSSTOP IT!"

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=SFAibxUbglI&NR=1"]http://www.youtube.c...FAibxUbglI&NR=1[/url]

Soooooo Yeah XD

All the best!
-Alex Edited June 20, 2012 by Mauiman

[jrichards]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orh5IePXv_4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orh5IePXv_4[/url]

[shadowxsx]

Yes back checking in here.

I think a impending wipe is some of the issue with declining population. As I have stated my original guildies refuse to come back as working up a toon only to relive the same thing we did during live is a major (for lack of a more polite phrasing, "SHOVE IT WHERE THE SUN DOESN"T SHINE" type issue). It was a little boring to me but being a ENB lover kept me going for as long as I stayed, yet after coming back and being told by Kyp (now that I see his tag I remember) who was replying to my comment " we will wipe cause that will speed up progress more or less" is kind of a turn off to many. I agree things were screwed up because of the "hulk fest" guild retention in the db issues and alot of other issues. Yet at the same time as (IIRC) Terrell said before "un ending wipes have killed a multitude of emu projects I was in" and that was forgoed for their beliefs.

I love enb but the horror we original players experienced from live being shutdown will never fade from our memories. Even as a fellow guilde that toured EA hq was led to believe (to the point of spending $8k on an account shortly before sunset) that it was going great and they "had big plans". To be blunt it seems the same load of BS that he was fed being fed by those currently in charge here.

I trust one DEV here as they are honest , Tien as some of my ideas from long ago were implimented into mining and he has always been honest with me, yet some I would not trust as far as I could throw them (as they seem to be as honest and sincere as the original EA project leaders).

Any way you look at it if player outflow continues this project will be dead in the water as without a playerbase the DEVs will be clueless as to what really needs fixing and will end up being the only ones being able to play from some one on the DEV team's pc eventually.

Sorry if I sound harsh but it is the truth, either two things will happen. 1 The emu continues and becomes great or 2 only the DEvs end up being the playerbase playing on their own little private server (as long as source is not released) Edited June 28, 2012 by shadowxsx

[alurra [Fmr. ADV]]

8K? Seriously, need to have head checked to pay that kind of money to play ANY game.

Sounds more like you have trust issues Shadowxsx. I don't see any reason they have to lie to you. You aren't being forced to pay anything to play, so what would be the gain for them?

I am not exactly sure what the rest of your ramble was about. It makes NO sense.

As far as your "truth" goes, aren't those the ONLY 2 logical choices? Either it will succeed or it will not.

[shadowxsx]

[quote name='alurra' timestamp='1340909118' post='59756']
8K? Seriously, need to have head checked to pay that kind of money to play ANY game.

Sounds more like you have trust issues Shadowxsx. I don't see any reason they have to lie to you. You aren't being forced to pay anything to play, so what would be the gain for them?

I am not exactly sure what the rest of your ramble was about. It makes NO sense.

As far as your "truth" goes, aren't those the ONLY 2 logical choices? Either it will succeed or it will not.
[/quote]

Apparently you mis understood what i was saying, he had a masters in bio engineering and was making the kind of money that most of us wish to make even today (IIRC 80k a year when Enb was live so he had some money to blow living in Ohio). Look at who won the best idea for EnB in the past that won a all expense payed trip to EA HQ for their idea and you will see Benedict as the winner. Out of every submitted post he won and ended up at EA hq. Where he was led to believe EnB had a future as even the DEVs really had no clue to what the real plan was. He bought Dizzyflys account for 8k on ebay after his visit and was not the only bidder as if he had been it would be far less he had to spen (from Galileo server, who was an uber builder). We talked about it and he asked if I thought it was a good idea and I told him that "if you think it is worth it go ahead and spend that much, to me it is a waste".... Just look at how much some WoW accounts sold for in the past on ebay (before digital items/accounts were some what banned from being legal to sell)

Many of the original EnB DeVs left EA to create another company (i forget he name of it but they made universe at war earth assault). I am not saying he was stupid (since he was led on and had the money to do so). Yet if he had been told it would be dead soon afterwards i doubt he would have bought that account. Some one else i know payed $2600 for another account from my guild and server that had alot of the uber rare items (since they were taken out of the drops).

Personally I think it was kinda stupid paying that much for a game yet if they had that kind of cash to spend it was their rights to do so. I kinda think from a while back spending the remainder of what was needed by an annon acct here to keep the emu from shutting down kinda stupid as you also said (taking on your comment of buying that acct for an outlandish amount). Yet if it some one that has money to blow on actually worthless in game items any way you look at it is a load of BS. spending above what is the monthly cost of any other game.. Edited June 28, 2012 by shadowxsx

[jrichards]

The EMU was started by the devs to play a game that they loved.....not to make money and not to be run by the playerbase.....it was a pet project.......for the devs. They havea done a ton of work over the last, what 6+ years now? At some point people, that knew the devs were working on an emu and visited the site, starting asking when there would be a public server available for anyone to test the code. This took a while but eventually the devs felt it would be worth the huge amount of time to setup a public server. I am sure they felt it would assist them with testing the code, helping get bugs fixed, and reward players that loved the game. Unfortunately a large amuount of the player base seems to act like they deserve 'x' and 'y' with a side of 'z' since they invest time and occasionally donate $. I hate that attitude.....with a passion

Keep in mind at [b]any[/b] point the dev team can decide to [b]kill[/b] the public server and move the development back to only the dev server. So rather than the 'players' having to be made happy by the devs or 'the emu will die' I would argue the player base should make the devs happy or the devs might just kill the player base. I mean what happens if the devs said, "screw these punks, let them deal with not playing this EMU and they can pay for their own server and generate their own code." They could just turn off the sunrise server. Would the EMU be dead? Nope, because the EMU is the people that are coding it. The player base would have been tossed out the door by a dev team that felt they could get the game they wanted to play done with a whole lot less hassle. Be nice to the devs......they frickin' rock.

All this talk of player wipes is a bunch of hogwash that some players have been ranting about for YEARS! Yes, at some point, the devs have said that they will perform a wipe.....after they get everything working and want a final test before the game is close to 'release'. We are no where close to that so please stop bringing that up. If anyone has friends that are not playing due to an 'imminent player wipe' smack them upside the head and ask them if they want to buy a bridge......cause I have a huge one to sell them......cheap™.

[img]http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7snEihuZDxQ/T8-bz4QfA1I/AAAAAAAACnM/CiBjo_i-u8U/s1600/Bridge-to-nowhere.jpg[/img]

[Kyp [LDEV]]

[quote name='shadowxsx' timestamp='1340857869' post='59723']
Yes back checking in here.

and being told by Kyp (now that I see his tag I remember) who was replying to my comment " we will wipe cause that will speed up progress more or less" is kind of a turn off to many.

I trust one DEV here as they are honest , Tien as some of my ideas from long ago were implimented into mining and he has always been honest with me, yet some I would not trust as far as I could throw them (as they seem to be as honest and sincere as the original EA project leaders).
[/quote]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, really. Now, before you go twisting my words, you might remember that I said I wouldn't forego a wipe IF it was an impediment to development. Guess what, still won't. Guess what else, still no wipe. I can likely go down and hunt up the quote, because I recall exactly what you're talking about. I'll leave it to everyone to decide who they want to trust though, you can say what you will. I'm honest to a fault, I have no reason not to be since I and all the rest are donating our free time to rebuilding this game. I don't pull punches, I'm not going to begin pulling punches, and as this game is a work in progress nothing is set in stone, nor will it be until we "go gold."

That said, shadowxsx if I'm not mistaken you decided to leave around the time of the "nerf" against shield sap. Well within your rights to do so, but adding something of an idea you had into the game does not equate to "not lying" or not being worthy of trust. If you have a bad idea, I'll simply tell you its dumb. Ask some of the developers if I wouldn't.

Either way, irrelevant to me since the actual player count isn't changing anymore than it has in the past several years on average. Waxes in the cold months, wanes in the warm months. *shrug*

[Ryle [N7R]]

I guess I was talking more about the overall trend. If you look at monthly players online, regardless of season, it seems like we had a heck of a lot more people a year and two ago. I see the up/down, but the baseline is smaller.

I didnt want this to turn into an attack the devs post though.

[Kyp [LDEV]]

You didn't Ryle. I was content to read it. No worries. I think to some extent its a valid concern as always but it something I keep my eyes on pretty closely.

We have a system that tracks average online and off. I suspect too that when we do announce things it will bring some life back such as you see suggested somewhat in several statements. I guess we'll see.

[shadowxsx]

[quote name='Crichton' timestamp='1340928577' post='59769']
Keep in mind at [b]any[/b] point the dev team can decide to [b]kill[/b] the public server and move the development back to only the dev server. So rather than the 'players' having to be made happy by the devs or 'the emu will die' I would argue the player base should make the devs happy or the devs might just kill the player base. I mean what happens if the devs said, "screw these punks, let them deal with not playing this EMU and they can pay for their own server and generate their own code." They could just turn off the sunrise server. Would the EMU be dead? Nope, because the EMU is the people that are coding it. The player base would have been tossed out the door by a dev team that felt they could get the game they wanted to play done with a whole lot less hassle. Be nice to the devs......they frickin' rock.

[/quote]

They do totally rock as I remember the old days when all we could do was log in and fly around. Some DEVs were pushing for this current setup and some were pushing for a java based server and 2 teams were working on the different servers (yes I am old school here as I have been around longer than some of even the current DEVS)

Yet there has to be a balance if the DEVs want to keep a playerbase or play on their own server, we need to keep them happy yet also they need to keep players happy to keep up donations to run the public server. If they do not have a public then they will loose out on bug reports so only when they would find bugs themselves by playing would they be able to fix those issues if it were their private server. As Terrell said if you keep wiping you will loose the playerbase eventually. Look at any MMO out there and imagine if they wiped every so often... Do you really think WoW would be successful if they had a player wipe every so often? Or would they be dead if they wiped and everyone lost what they had worked on.

As I said back in March if this upcoming wipe were the last then that would not be a big deal (atleast to me), yet I was more or less told that "we will wipe when we need to" . Yet even months later it has not been done so an undetermined date for the wipe accompanied by other wipes fear is hurting things whether you want to believe it or not.

These upcoming wipes are not just hearsay as Kyp has confirmed as the "plan" was to wipe at every stage of release.

Kyp I may not quote exact words but you your self said "we will wipe when we feel the need" (more or less). Yes I did leave after the shield sap nerf but it was over powered for Jens as renewing their reactor totally sapping one enemy was ludicrous, yet for a PW a low shield recharge kinda sucked. I barely even played my PW as I liked the PP class so it really did not matter how it was done to me personally as my main did not even have that skill. My JE was never a real combatant just as it was the in live, purely a wh'er/ miner. So that was not a big deal, I only expressed my concerns that as I saw it could kill the PW class and make them far weaker than they were in live, JE were NEVER meant to solo a group of 10 50+ tengu as the PW was far closer to be able to do so. If you really want to throw spitballs look at the db for Privateerbob (my pp) and compare it to Darkshadowxsx (my pw) unless my guildie that i entrusted my pass and logins to has played up my pw then they are skewed levels, as when I left my pw was around 50 overall my pp was 150 +++. To be blunt JE were over powered to the point of being stupidly so as no JE in live were able to solo the tengu sub bosses in cooper, as they were more intended to be miners and wh'ers than combatants. MY main in live was a JD and before the turbo nerf a PS could out kill that toon, yet that nerf was biased to mainly tone down the progens as they were over powered if they had the turbo devices. As the guildie that payed 2600 for the account had every turbo device ever released revealed turbo was broken as my JD was able to kill almost any single mob in a second or two fully buffed. Even though I was kind of ticked at that I did not quit the game, I moved to a warrior/tank class (aka a PW) which I liked better as that class better suited my play style overall.

Now my main in DCUO is a healer class and with the setup she has only died due to others lack of brain cells. Such as in a certain raid where if the enemy tuns red = run like all &^%$ to get away before they 1 shot anyone. Yet some try to get into close combat with an enemy that will one shot everything around them. I left here because even though I love this game I was bored not because of some nerf that had little affect on me. Also of inner guild infighting that resulted in the guild leader quitting leaving us with a jerk for a leader that expected everything to handed over to them after a raid. Edited June 29, 2012 by shadowxsx

[Kyp [LDEV]]

Don't worry balance will come to all, whether they like it or not.

What I said re: wipes above is the official stance and will remain. There is only one certain wipe and it will either be a few weeks before live, for an all new founders federation (for those most active in beta!) or a couple of days prior to the launch. When that one comes, we will be taking the public server down for a couple of days to get everything in order.

Beyond that it will only be if Tienbau tells me we need it, or if someone in development makes a damn fine case for it to me.

[shadowxsx]

[quote name='Kyp' timestamp='1340941893' post='59789']
Don't worry balance will come to all, whether they like it or not.

What I said re: wipes above is the official stance and will remain. There is only one certain wipe and it will either be a few weeks before live, for an all new founders federation (for those most active in beta!) or a couple of days prior to the launch. When that one comes, we will be taking the public server down for a couple of days to get everything in order.

Beyond that it will only be if Tienbau tells me we need it, or if someone in development makes a damn fine case for it to me.
[/quote]

That is exactly what i meant from all of my prior posts on wipes. You do get it from this comment, I doubt I actually come back as I have fallen for DCUO and love my hot vixen avatar that can solo what most want a group for. Even some of my alts need a group to kill the same boss (in certain instances, the real raids need a group to do so and actually get my heart racing trying to keep everyone alive and even enb live failed to do so)

I have more time on my hands than I know what to do with and even though I love DCUO I still come back and check on occasions here as EnB was my first real MMO. Even if I am not playing I want the project to succeed not fail.
My test per yours shows "

Your gamerDNA is:
Explorer
The Explorer motto: "No stone unturned!" Description:

It's not so much the wandering around and poking about, but that euphoric eureka moment the Explorer strives for. The joys of discovery do not necessarily involve geography, real or virtual. They may derive from the mental road less traveled, the uncovering of esoteric or hidden knowledge and it's creative application. Explorers make great theory crafters. The most infinitesimal bit of newness can deliver the most delicious zing to an Explorer.
Secondary influences

Explorer Killers enjoy seeing the world, meeting interesting people...and killing them. EKs love all discovery, but finding an edge over the competition is best. Always seeking new opportunity, an EK likely knows the ten best places to find certain types of opponents, as well as ten different ways for taking them down.
Explorer Achievers have been there, done that and have the t-shirt...in fact they have a plethora of t-shirts, badges, trophies and other rewards. EAs are the completionists of the gamer world. They like to find new places, quests, easter eggs, unlocks, maps etc. and check them off as have, visited or beaten. Like real world travelers, EAs enjoy collecting memorabilia that helps them relive their experiences later.
Explorer Socializers are the glue of the online world. Not only do they like to delve in to find all the cool stuff, but they also enjoy sharing that knowledge with others. Explorer socializers power the wikis, maps, forums and theory craft sites of the gamer world."

Even though there are question on the quiz that involve pvp that I refuse to play on those type of servers and there was no link for the results as per your sig. I am a EA'er not a a EK'er per this result. When I played rift before coming back here that was my preferred outcome of finding new things and sharing with those I knew. Edited June 29, 2012 by shadowxsx

[Bleakend]

Miss ya dude .

[Beerrun]

Well, I'm back again. So like, rejoice and stuff.

[Gordo]

During the old days, I left EnB to BETA EVE. After I realized that EVE was like work only more tedious, I returned to EnB to find my guild had dissolved leaving nme the guild leader....I was horrified. Then came sunset. It sucked. I cannot put this mistake in a class by itself like the day I married the Goblin Queen but it was a mistake nonetheless. Patience seems to be something in short supply these days, we have so much instant gratification and I don't think it has done us any favors. I look at one of my grandkids and notice he (age 9) has the attention span of a gnat. I swear, if his mind had legs, they would look like Conan's biceps. The rebirth of E & B is a worthwhile effort, there are so many people who have poured so much into bringing this back for us, the faithful, it would seem a terrible shame to move off too far away and not at least check in from time to time. Even during times when I cannot log in my toons, I lurk the forums and if really desperate, I listen to the music. I stray a little at times but always come back.


Real life intrudes at times, family issues, work...on and on. Be patient gang, a lot of good folks have put too much into this project to let them down by bailing now when it has come so far.

[Reon]

i am the last one to talk about server numbers, because any time work and family require more attention, this game gets put on a back burner...i mean, my computer broke down and rather than rush to fix it, I was too busy taking care of the house, kid, and looking for work. Me and my wife got booted from builders inc because we had only been there a week and then were gone for two weeks...but life happens.

People put real life first, and that is how it should be. Server numbers have declined, but when new content starts making its way in and people with more than one level 150 start having something to do (and credits start meaning something) they will hear about it and return.

I think that once the game is polished up and ready for release, server population won't be an issue. A game like this is better than most of the free MMO's you find out there, and there will be plenty of the former ENB live population returning to the game when the emu goes live. I am not too worried about the numbers at the moment, because we still have enough people testing to break the login server...so obviously even with our 70-200 people online we are managing to find stuff to break, so it is all good. People need to remember the game is not complete or balanced, so skills will be fixed, and this is not finished, so soon there should be more sectors, mobs, and missions. Until then, we should continue to blow stuff up and mail the devs energy drinks so they can pull a whole night of coding after working a double shift