Admittedly, I can agree with the majority of what
NecroDee,
kerykeion,
Zodoax and the others have addressed. This game has rather rapidly dwindled to a halt in terms of interesting content (= stuff to do that does
not feel like a chore after the hundredth time) and there really hasn't been that much content in general to begin with, never mind released after launch. Two updates last year (perhaps three if you count the official launch of the game itself and further language servers), is not something one can boast as being constantly updated. Perhaps the devs were referring to more bug fixes and new bugs being added on a regular basis? Oh wait, nope, that falls under maintenance... not content.
Due to the lack of things to do in the game, I rather quickly came to the realisation (within the first 2-3 weeks), that this game isn't for active players. One of the game designers mentioning in the latest February episode that he'd combine spells with 1-day productions just further proves that theory of mine. If you log into Elvenar more than three times a day, you're almost bound to get bored rather soon. Therefore I must conclude and agree with Elvenar's official release having been about one year too soon. I dare not say what my reaction was when I read that Elvenar's first update was the addition of fellowships, a couple months
after it had already been officially released! With that feature being effectively the only social aspect of this game, well... Let's just say, I felt reminded of other online games I've played with lack of social interactivity and how quickly I quit those games. Guess you could say, that is indeed why I'm here on the forums. Just not enough options to socialise in-game. Unless I started to jump from one fellowship to the next just to see if they use the chat enough to my liking. Which also has the trade-off: If they're active enough to chat, they'll likely get bored of the game soon and possibly leave. Plus, such a fellowship will likely ask for daily support and activity, which is not what I want to sign up for. There are exceptions of course, however
that is the problem. They are
exceptions.
So you might ask yourself now, "why does Valerius continue to play this game?" The answer is quite simple really. Elvenar is not very time consuming to play compared to many other online city-builder games (ex. Anno Online) even in order to maintain a good position in the rankings if that's your desire (<300 on Winyandor). Polished visuals that just look stunning? Yeah, that's a key aspect Elvenar delivers upon. Mind you, I'm a player who prefers solid gameplay over graphics, but Elvenar is simply too casual a game to hold against any game with complex, solid gameplay (even if it's still under development). Thus I favour the graphics in this case, as better gameplay usually means more time necessary to play effectively.
To conclude:
The negative bit: I'm bored with Elvenar every now and again, and I've even thought of quitting from time to time. I keep coming back though because every time I try out a different game, it's either the same issue of boredom, or the game becomes too time consuming.
The positive bit: Elvenar still has great potential, however I hope the devs manage to fulfil that at least partially while there are still enough players around to enjoy it. The simplicity of this game and the fact that I can play it when and how I like to a fairly large degree has me hooked on it. It's a beautiful looking little game and keeps me busy enough as long as I don't spend too much time in it.
P.S.: The community here in the forums is another good reason for me to stay. What's rather sad about this is that I do prefer the forums more than the game at times... Then again, is that really so sad? The forums will always remain the superior means of socialising after all.