Doombad

There was a multi-hour downtime today, can you try your normal internet connection again?

Seats only.

At the moment, you can see an enormous grind at NewWorld. There, however, it is tolerated and seen as a way to reach the goal of skilling professions in order to get equipment and consumables.
But in DualUniverse there is no real goal, you don't have any equipment to improve, you don't need food or potions or gems or.....
One has no choice of ores-plant-herbs-trees, fishing, hunting, lacing, ....es generally lack "professions to specialise in. In DualUniverse I can build a propeller but also engines, toilets, other ship elements. But anyone who wants to can do that. But what do you need all that for anyway? For many players, T1 ores are enough to build voxels from in order to then implement their building projects. Everything else makes no sense, because you don't have to find and fight monsters, there are no dungeons, raids, open-world bosses,... so what's the point of collecting higher-value ores - if you don't need them?
The only thing to do now would be to call it "PvP" - but what for? Only a small part of the community is interested in PvP, as in other games. The PvP in DualUniverse is not even good or balanced. If you have the meta, you win. If your opponent also has the meta, the one with more meta ships or those who currently have fewer bugs (shield bug, warp bug) wins.
But what exactly happens in PvP? Broken down, it only destroys and shifts resources that previously had to be collected at great expense. War is very expensive, so you have to be able to afford PvP and put a lot of time into the game.
DualUniverse itself is for me still in an alpha state and therefore far away from a beta or even further away from a release that would really attract a larger player mass and keep it permanently. There is simply an insane lack of game content, tools and balance. I won't mention that the performance is also a major construction site for now - I think everyone is aware of that anyway.

You have clearly not played other MMOs, where you are forced to grind rep and countless hours to make useless crap to level up your crafting profession of choice, then of course grinding to gather mats to make potions and other stupid things you use throughout various fights, etc. 
 
Mining is so non-painful when you compare it to killing 9,000 rabid bunnies or crazed trees. 
 
Anyway, the mindset is extreme for a number of people of whom I can't imagine any MMO making them happy. 

I love DU- and IMHO this game is in a better place than it's been since I started playing right after beta launched.  NQ has started to turn things around, is it perfect? no. Is it improving? mostly! Does it still need work? well it's still beta haha

When missions came out, it opened up the flood gates of quanta for many small-to-large orgs. It was profitable to run Aphelia missions in the safe zone, and in pvp space as a solo player.  Currently with the inflation in the market on ore prices quadrupling in a matter of months.... causing fuel costs to skyrocket, it's nearly impossible to turn a decent profit for running aphelia missions anymore... and I see a ton less people  taking them/delivering at Market 3 on Madis as time goes on.

Meanwhile, asteroids come out- with them giving us something to fight over... high tier ore that's in short supply planet side. Activity flourishing, finally orgs have some new targets and possibly something to actually fight over. With it, spawning an entire player-driven war of sorts, creating player driven content and contention. Though, in time- the price of high tier ore has decreased to the point of roid hunting/mining loosing it's profitability- with nearly the same hour of time spent mining an asteroid a player can make on a planet mining T1 / T2(and not even meganodes....), not even including the risk of loosing a ship.... a ship that was ultimately dug out of the "ground" by hand..... and for many not worth the risk.

The missing piece? autominers, they're coming soon, people are getting ready for them and old players are starting to have their ears perk up a bit again... and probably one of the hardest to balance. From land being horded/claimed in mass- to how much they'll mine per hour.... and price of creating them.  And while any suggestions may be too late, I would urge... air on the side of /more/ I'd personally like to see this game move from spending countless hours mining- to spending countless hours creating and growing the player made content in the universe.  

With enough ore supply orgs could finally have the resources to expand without burning out members on the "grind", it'd allow for more people to get into PVP- with my hopes to allow orgs an easier way to gain ore and fleet fields of ships to be destroyed... so not every major PVP loss feels like hours of your life gone. This PVE content could help balance the needs of PVP, bringing lower tier ore prices down- making roid hunting and high tier ore mining more viable again... and in doing so balance the price of fuel/mission system to be more viable again as a solo player.

So am excited for this next path, and hope that it brings some much needed balance to the game.

Dear Noveans,
 
We read all your feedback about the changes coming about Element stacking. We agree the previous announcement on the topic was made on a very short notice. As a result, we will limit the Construct deletion to Constructs with stacked Elements which meet both of the following requirements:
The involved Construct has been involved in PvP after Ares release. The involved Construct has also been reported to the Customer Support which will address the situation accordingly.
Clarifications:
There will be no automatic deletion after Ares update hits the live server. Construct deletion will only happen in the case that the said Construct with stacked Elements has been reported for participating in PvP (and proof has been found on our side). If you’re not sure your Construct(s) have stacked Elements, if you have any doubt, don’t use the involved Constructs in PvP until you are sure there are no stacked Elements. Ultimately, in the update after Ares (Demeter), constructs will be negatively impacted if they contain stacked elements, we don’t currently have specifics yet but see this as an advanced notice. Elements Stacking is a bug, there’s no way around it. As a bug, especially one generating a lot of gameplay imbalance, it has to disappear at some point. So here’s a heads up for all builders who made Constructs with stacked Elements.  
The Ares update approaches, it's time for a maintenance! It will start tomorrow on Tuesday the 21st at 11:00 UTC and the Live server should reopen at 15:00 UTC if everything unfolds as planned. 
 
There will be another maintenance on Wednesday from 08:00 UTC to 09:30 UTC, but more information on that will follow soon.

Can we get a fix on engine stacking before making warp changes? Like can we focus on exploits rather than balancing first? Please?

This person really got pissed when I provided data from sources in the game. White Knights have nothing to do with it.   They are so mad that they got shut down in other posts they bring me with them everywhere they go.   I'm glad I'm in your thoughts joaocorderio still, obvious I hit a nerve with you by simply providing data.  Also the source of the data and the code for the data was all made available publicly so you could run your own script bird to find and locate players yourself.   

But as a White Knight your ignorance of the game continues to shine.  "the servers are packing with players" If your going to call me into your fights, at least use correct factual information.  Run your own data tracking tools (publicly available on git hub), stop shitting on DU when you already confirmed you haven't even logged in since 0.23.  

But hey, big streamers like Gottchar quit right so the game must be dead.  (he returned)
Other streamers like AmigoMike quit too because pvp was extremely frustrating. (oh wait, also returned)
Landmark explorer took a vacation, does that count? (also back)

The argument "everyone was at markets in September" doesn't really account for people who are self-sufficient and don't go to markets.  

Watch General Chat in game- new players daily
Watch Help Chat in game- NQ responds to new players questions constantly.

Facts - NQ has focused development to increase content in the game (true)
         - NQ did a pvp balance pass on talents to fix issues with damage reduction at high talents (true)
         - NQ added new voxel tools and improved voxel tool results (true)
         - NQ added GFN service and optimization which has brought a new batch of players to the game (true)

Fake News- NQ is an abandoned game now that JC isn't in charge anymore.
                 - Ground mining is going to be removed when asteroids release
                 - NQ doesn't listen to the community.  (see org change delays)

Are number of players the same as September?  Its impossible for anyone to know. Since NQ has never released this data and all inquiries to NQ staff to this end results in them stating; "This information is not for players to know". 

Are the players who played in September the same as the ones playing now? - Definitely not, most players quit DU due to its janky controls, steep learning curve and lack of direction for new players prior to 0.23.  The remaining ones left when 0.23 dropped because they were upset that something changed they didn't agree with.  NQ certainly is aware of this.  Only a handful of players pushed through 0.23 and are now fully in control of market prices.  (Gottchar, Moriar, others)  (also sure those that did weren't happy about it either)

Is DU a good game to watch on twitch?  - No. Watching mining is boring.  Many of the systems take so much time that it is not entertaining to watch. However there are new people and old people streaming daily still, and the twitch community is by far the funniest group of viewers/players you will find supporting those who do.

Conclusion:   NQ and DU have come a long way in the past 8 months since the release of 0.23, that said there is still a long way to go.  Many of the systems encourage players to take breaks from the game, and afk activities are more predominate now than they were at Beta launch.  Missions allow you to spend 10 mins aiming, 6 hours afk flying, then 10mins landing.   With auto-mining coming down the roadmap, massive pvp changes (visible on the PTS) and asteroid mining fixing what many say constantly "Ore is running out" nearly daily on the DU-Discord.  Has NQ made mistakes, yes they accepted joaocordeiro's application during Alpha, as well as other mistakes. 

____________

TLDR-  I haven't quit DU but I do play "less" than I did 8 months ago, but that might be due to the fact I now "have" stuff in abundance and can be more selective on the projects I start, and the commissions builds I do.  But my friends keep me in the game playing and building and having a good time, pirates keep me busy with Salvage from the 10-20 ships they kill per day.  I do play other games daily as well, but there are many good games out there worth your $7.00 per month, or even $50 one time purchase.  Its okay to take a week off, two weeks off, a month off, because if you set yourself up correctly you will have more talents, better stats, and have made some quanta hopefully by the time you return.  At the end of the day, your entertainment budget and free time are up to the individual player to decide what is worth their time or not.  Every single ALPHA tagged player has their "own" interpretation of what DU should be today.  However trashing the developer, then saying "why didn't it get better" is in no way helpful to anyone.   Calling people white knights because they provide raw factual data as a response that counters your "I hate NQ propoganda" isn't getting you anywhere.   

Quote- "Yes I'm playing New World, and will probably play it alot, however I'm still going to be playing DU, because no other game scratches the building itch quite like DU." - D4nkKnight

Oh and joaocordeiro, I'm a happily married individual, I'd appreciate it if you found someone else to think about daily. 

i guess that skeleton statue was the straw that broke the camels back lol

Schematics are needed. If 15 players cant be organised to get all schematics you need, maybe something is wrong.

I may be a PVPer but I love creation and creativity. This is a breathtaking development and really I would be so pissed for all the people who've put all the time into this development thus far if a wipe took place.
 
THANKFULLY NQ TOOK HARDSTAND AGAINST A WIPE AND HAVE VOICED IT OVER AND OVER AGAIN...
 
 

Nice work communicating with us, this is exactly what we asked for.  Some people are still mad apparently, I'm not sure what it is they want now, but this layout of the planning and design decisions of the team is great.  Looking forward to giving more targeted feedback as these new things hit PTS (still waiting for screens...)

This is the encouraging part. I'm ok with no planetary PVP anytime soon because I do understand that the the game is being developed on a shoestring budget. I'm happy to hear about mining units. I'm happy to hear about rare resources in the PVP zone. I'm ok with there being absolutely no mention of NPCs, because I would be quite satisfied if the things in this blog were delivered. I'm particularly happy to hear about second thoughts about .23 industry. ?This whole blog makes me feel quite a bit better about things.
 
Overall this then comes down to execution. Can you feed us enough content while you spin up and finalize your back end server stuff? Or is this a, "Come back in a year when its finished cooking," situation?

Thank you for doing these threads. They are an excellent idea, and a large step forward in community wide communications.

Sounds good to me
 
By the way, if you need more ideas about the "BREAKING THE MONOTONY" part, I wrote a post on reddit sometime ago about a way to promote exploration & pvp for people who are not interested into mining.
 
I hope you'll read it :  here's the link.
 
Of course it's probably not so easy to implement, but you could keep this as a side note for later
 

If you make at least 50% what's written there in coming months, you saved your game.

Call me impressed, if you guys can pull this off I'll be staying for sure. Proof is in the pudding though. I'm rooting for you NQ!

Your post is spot on BTW.

And why do you need to catch up? Seriously, what have you accomplished if/when you catch up to that rich guy or org?

Your post is spot on BTW.

Your post is spot on BTW.

I've been thinking about the past few days and even the last few months, even back to .23. Some in the DU community including myself can be pretty harsh towards NQ. This last few days has been no exception. Sometimes it's all written off as trolling but that's not the whole story. The trolls are a small number of people. I think this is a huge learning experience for all of us. 

On the NQ side, know that you want us to build a civilization and that requires lots and lots of time. Lots of us have been grinding away at this for many many hours. If something changes and puts that all into jeopardy, we want to know. It's not like call of duty where the damage will change slightly. Changes here mean dozens, maybe hundreds of hours of work lost. In the extreme case of the game shutting down, people want to know they aren't pumping hours into nothing essentially.

On the community side, we have probably learned a lot about ourselves and how we fit into games like this. How sometimes we stop enjoying the game and worry too much about things we can't control.

I think that for a game to be the real life Ready Player One, the developer has to be serious about nurturing it's community and the community needs to be reasonable with their expectations from the developer. I've learned quite a bit here and It's been a fun ride.

You know this is an MMO right? The game isn't meant to have wipes its meant to progressively build upon itself and other than seeding issues there is no reason in hell they should wipe. A wipe would only benefit a tiny portion of the population who started playing later, and even then a couple months down the road when more new people come they will cry wipe again too cause anyone just starting out feels intimidated by the people around them who have been playing for months. Regardless with the economy already fairly on its feet there is nothing keeping a new player from catching up within a short few days. Mine a bit and you have millions to buy whatever you need to start your adventure. Also no one is crying about their stuff, he's explaining a very solid point that when you spend hundreds and thousands of hours building and creating you want to know that your creations are safe. They take a ton of your time, wanting them to be there tomorrow isn't too much to ask when the game is meant to be permanent. No one gives a shit about gold, they care about voxelmancy and designs that took weeks and months of planning to execute, but you probably wouldn't know that, you sound more like a fair whether fan that spends more time trolling in the forums than actually playing the game. Lastly, why the hell are you even in here talking trash? The only joke here is that you think the game is dying and you have nothing better to do than talk trash in apparently dying forums. 

These changes make sense but we have already been encumbered with the change in place. Additionally, some people have bought constructs from people who have quit playing. What are those players to do? 
 
TBH - the critical error with the DRM rollout is that it should only affect new blueprints. Retroactively implementing the RDM change effectively broke every contract between seller and buyer where all transactions were based off the open nature of prior blue prints. Sellers (still playing) must now run around fixing permissions, or buyers are having to tear down their constructs just to update the LUA (as an example). This is why everything should have been left as-is and new DRM rules only affect future blueprints and transactions.  The old rules were already factored into cost and every deal because those were the rules by which people were playing. This has been a headache for everyone.
 
I get and totally appreciate the direction of recent changes. The problem is with how the changes have been executed. Effective change management is a real, and critical activity in everything we do - including games.

These changes make sense but we have already been encumbered with the change in place. Additionally, some people have bought constructs from people who have quit playing. What are those players to do? 
 
TBH - the critical error with the DRM rollout is that it should only affect new blueprints. Retroactively implementing the RDM change effectively broke every contract between seller and buyer where all transactions were based off the open nature of prior blue prints. Sellers (still playing) must now run around fixing permissions, or buyers are having to tear down their constructs just to update the LUA (as an example). This is why everything should have been left as-is and new DRM rules only affect future blueprints and transactions.  The old rules were already factored into cost and every deal because those were the rules by which people were playing. This has been a headache for everyone.
 
I get and totally appreciate the direction of recent changes. The problem is with how the changes have been executed. Effective change management is a real, and critical activity in everything we do - including games.