I like the voice of reason.
But this doesnt make much sense.
The next stages will not do anything for the current problem.
New provinces are at least 3x as hard as they used to be. New units will not solve that.
Especially since they are not intended to do so.
In the end it will all work out. But it will take a VERY long time.
I understand the need for change. No change is bad. But bad change isnt good.
I agree with most of what you wrote, although I seriously doubt that it will all work out well in the end. In order for something to work out, you need to implement a plan and follow up on your key strategy. Go through a whole set of tests, collect data and then verify that data before you start to analyze it and eventually base your decisions from the trial results.
If the intention with this and previous updates was to achieve a better balance in the game, there would certainly have been at least one test run on the beta server where things that didn't work out would have been corrected, bugs would have been addressed and even more tests would have been initiated as a result of the first few failures?
Working with game balance is sort of like dancing. If all you (that would be the developer) ever do is to act on impulse and dash out in sudden bold moves that you've never tried before, then your partner - i.e. the players - will most likely slap you in the face and find someone else to dance with.
Someone more intuitive. Because balance is never achieved by luck or impulse, nor is it achieved by one party alone. It is only ever achieved by all participating parties working together and the ones at the helm must have the experience to see what goes sideways and the wisdom to understand how to correct the faults. If a small tweak that you initially thought would do the trick still ends up breaking the game, then you need to have the dignity to roll back and start over, instead of acting on pride and not admitting your mistake. If you never accept that you've made mistakes then you'll never learn from them either.
The main problem with developing a game like Elvenar is the constant shortcomings of the "never ending game" concept. As long as the players' progress never resets, you will eventually always end up with a very loud and demanding crowd of advanced players who have been playing the game since the server launched (
i.e for too long). Even if those players are arguably your most loyal consumers, they are also the most vocal and demanding ones. On the other side you will also have to deal with a heterogen group of reasonably new players who are nowhere near the first group, but yet they still need to feel that they might someday stand a chance of catching up with the rest of the community. Experienced and inexperienced players may have contradicting needs in many areas, so try focusing on what combines them. They all want a game that works, a game that provides some kind of enjoyment and interactivity.
However, if you decide to pilot your development ship with a skeleton crew who lacks the time and resources to roll out new content as fast as most players will be able to consume it, your only remaining option is to add more interactivity to the game. Let the players interact more with each other. That usually gives them more things to do and more ways to compete with one another.
I wouldn't mind seeing Elvenar being developed in a direction that pretty much contradicts my own best interests as an individual player. But that would require looking at the bigger picture and finding a light somewhere further down in that dark, long tunnel that we're entrapped in right now. I'm sorry, but I just can't see it. It's pitch black from where I'm standing.
Which brings us to another post I agree with; that it would be a more healthy choice to quit the game rather than staying as a disgruntled player who only complains all the time. That would definitely be the most rational thing to do. But sometimes players have invested themselves in the game so much that they stop acting rational. Some may have bought diamonds and are still unable to face the fact that it turned out to be such a poor investment, while others may have met friends that they fear losing if they quit the game. Or maybe they just invested a lot of time in building their cities and they don't want to give up just yet.
The psychological reasoning for staying in Elvenar can be compared to why some people put up with psychological abuse instead of leaving a destructive relationship (or workplace). You clinge on to hope and you decide to see the good and try as hard as you can to ignore all of the bad. Personally, I see it as an endurement test. A psychological experiement borderlining masochistic behaviour
tl;dr version:
Dear developers,
We don't mind if you decide to kill your darlings, but please try not to murder the entire player community in the process.
