blundertwink

Yes.. And we all knew this right from the start, and kept asking how they where going to solve the obvious scaling issues. And all we ever got was silence or "don't worry guys" in return, until suddenly years later it was not OK at all.. And this together with all the other stuff is why I do no longer respect NQ as a professional company.

The very idea that Dual Universe is going to last another 12 months is puzzling to me...
 
There's no reason to actually believe that other than hope, which is fine I guess...but let's not pretend that NQ is scaling up their dev efforts and that they merely need to catch up. 
 
Their CEO has been clear that his priority has been (for a long time now) adapting the underlying tech to new products.
 
You know...products that actually have a chance of commercial success, at least in their eyes. 
 
DU isn't such a product, and that ought to be rather clear by now. Bad reviews, flagging pops, and clearly a mountain of tech debt such that changes are glacially slow. 
 
This isn't merely a staffing issue where devs need time to get up to speed -- why would anyone believe that NQ will onboard new devs to a product their own CEO describes as a "moonshot"...? There's no evidence of that, regardless.
 
I keep saying it because people want to pretend otherwise: NQ's development priority is not Dual Universe.
 
If you think that their pace will magically improve even as the company's leader is clearly saying "we're focused on other things"...that's just fantasy to me. 

There will never be Territory War or AvA. 
 
I don't know why people keep talking about DU as if NQ is working on the game full-steam. They aren't.
 
The CEO has been very clear that DU is not NQ's main focus...and why would it be amid bad reviews, flagging player pops, and a mountain of technical debt? 
 
The "big" thing they're working on after 5+ months of release is one PvE mission...this imagination of Haven being full or changes that come when TW is ready is weird to me, because there's no evidence that this will ever arrive.
 
The only real evidence we have is that NQ's CEO is 100% focused on adapting DU's core tech to other projects. It'd be silly to suggest that DU has the majority of NQ's resources when even NQ's CEO describes it as a "moonshot". 
 
Every piece of evidence about the game points to DU getting fewer dev resources as the company attempts to pivot, slower updates, and most importantly...massively churning players. 
 
So this imagination of "when" TW "will" come is puzzling to me, because I don't see it as "inevitable" -- I'd be surprised if the game keeps getting updates through the rest of the year, never mind this far-flung future when Haven is full and TW exists. 

I’ve found an excellent time saving strategy: I completely stopped playing around October or November last year and have wasted almost zero hours since then. 
 
kinda miss my old online buddies, but life moves on. 
 
was hoping to see some new, compelling patches, balance changes, gameplay loops, but in the almost QUARTER YEAR since in stood back almost nothing has changed. 

this is the first Quarter since “release” (lol) so should be buzzing with activity from the devs. 
 
I have less than a year of DACs left so if things haven’t picked up by the end of the year I’m out for good. 
 

Eh, I don't have any respect for this idea that scam victims deserve what they get for being "dumb", especially in real life.
 
It is not a matter of "paying attention". Which...speaking of paying attention, it's "good riddance", not "good riddens". 
 
I hope you don't take offense to this correction -- after all, you're the one that thinks it's okay to punish people for being "dumb". 🤷‍♂️
 
I don't know where you are in your life to believe that scam victims just aren't paying attention, but this attitude strikes me as naive and heartless.
 
Ignorance is not stupidity (not knowing how to spell good riddance is not stupidity, it's ignorance) and even if it were...being stupid doesn't justify jack shit, because being intelligent isn't something you've earned in any real sense. Some people have disabilities, some haven't had an opportunity to get a quality education, and some are just trusting or ignorant.
 
What sort of attitude is this, anyway...? For a game with few players to be like "let's celebrate dumb people quitting" is...well, good luck with that.
 
That's the OP's point...if DU wants to retain new players, it needs to focus on easy wins like this to improve UX across the board. 

1. Games that grow organically always grow on Steam if available there, too. There's many examples of MMOs with stand-alone clients that reflect this trend, from FF14 to STO. If a game is showing churn on Steam, it's very hard to argue that their launcher is showing the opposite trend. 
 
2. Games that are growing always have growing social media followers. DU's reddit hasn't moved beyond ~8.4k subs in a very long time. It briefly became 8.5k after launch, but that didn't last long. Even here, you can see the views for posts are far, far, far lower than early in the forum's history. 
 
3. Growing games have development activity! DU's version of this is a list of (rather small) changes with no timelines. Months after release, very little has changed...looking at the last year of dev, the pace is glacial -- far too slow to combat churn in any universe. 
 
Yes, we will never know the game's true stats....but saying "DU isn't growing" is more than just random conjecture -- it's based on more than just one source of data as evidence.
 
Regardless, no matter how you slice the math...the game doesn't have enough subs to sustain itself, especially with this pace of dev. 

Eh, I don't have any respect for this idea that scam victims deserve what they get for being "dumb", especially in real life.
 
It is not a matter of "paying attention". Which...speaking of paying attention, it's "good riddance", not "good riddens". 
 
I hope you don't take offense to this correction -- after all, you're the one that thinks it's okay to punish people for being "dumb". 🤷‍♂️
 
I don't know where you are in your life to believe that scam victims just aren't paying attention, but this attitude strikes me as naive and heartless.
 
Ignorance is not stupidity (not knowing how to spell good riddance is not stupidity, it's ignorance) and even if it were...being stupid doesn't justify jack shit, because being intelligent isn't something you've earned in any real sense. Some people have disabilities, some haven't had an opportunity to get a quality education, and some are just trusting or ignorant.
 
What sort of attitude is this, anyway...? For a game with few players to be like "let's celebrate dumb people quitting" is...well, good luck with that.
 
That's the OP's point...if DU wants to retain new players, it needs to focus on easy wins like this to improve UX across the board. 

I'm sorry, but this idea is absurdly bad for any subscription based MMO.
 
To me, it betrays a complete misunderstanding of how subscription-based monetization works at a fundamental level. 
 
This idea that once someone's sub lapses, they ought to be completely purged from the game is immensely counter-productive. From a business perspective, it makes zero sense. 
 
This is because every subscription-based product faces high month-to-month churn, and with DU that's especially so. Every churned user then becomes a potential customer, because reengaging lapsed subscribers is a huge facet of any viable subscription service.
 
Consider what percent of active Netflix subscribers has at one point paused or cancelled their sub. I'd wager it's a vast majority. This is just a core concept with how subscriptions work, and any sub-based product that decides to ignore this is not going to last very long. 
 
Deciding to make it so there's no reason for lapsed users to return is an objectively stupid idea for any subscription...especially one that suffers from as much churn as DU. 
 
The push and pull between DU keeping tiles and reclaiming them has been discussed for a long, long time -- the flaw is inherent in the design of this game and the solution that NQ already has makes a lot more sense than this suggestion.
 
Hell, I'd argue timers should be even higher, because 3 months is not nearly enough time to re-engage a lapsed sub, and that's the whole point. 
 
TLDR: a game with so few subs can't be so arrogant in deleting old stuff to "make room" for new players, because there are no new players and regardless, all new players eventually become churned players (especially with DU's high churn rates), so this "strategy" is horribly counter-productive in every conceivable way. 

Wrong. 
 
First, it helps people that are interested in the game -- they deserve to know if the developer charging them month-to-month is actually focused on the game. 
 
Second, it helps people that are already subscribed...NQ is clearly saying "we're working on other things", they just aren't keen on announcing it in places that most gamers see. People have every right to know what they're paying for and if DU is NQ's main priority, because the actual evidence sure doesn't indicate it is. 
 
Third, I'm not obligated to "help or get out of the way" (as if a post that no one reads is somehow "getting in the way" lol). If you disagree with my opinion, fine...you're free to articulate your opinion and explain your reasoning, too. 
 
But you aren't lord of the forum that gets to brand opinions or observations they don't like as "trolling".
 
To me, trolling people is attacking people personally instead of discussing the topic or focusing on opinions about the game.

Wrong. 
 
First, it helps people that are interested in the game -- they deserve to know if the developer charging them month-to-month is actually focused on the game. 
 
Second, it helps people that are already subscribed...NQ is clearly saying "we're working on other things", they just aren't keen on announcing it in places that most gamers see. People have every right to know what they're paying for and if DU is NQ's main priority, because the actual evidence sure doesn't indicate it is. 
 
Third, I'm not obligated to "help or get out of the way" (as if a post that no one reads is somehow "getting in the way" lol). If you disagree with my opinion, fine...you're free to articulate your opinion and explain your reasoning, too. 
 
But you aren't lord of the forum that gets to brand opinions or observations they don't like as "trolling".
 
To me, trolling people is attacking people personally instead of discussing the topic or focusing on opinions about the game.

I'm probably not explaining myself very well here.  So let me try this a different way.  Just to be clear i have no issue with "AI" in general.  It's just a computer program.  They're great.  I'm a fan.
 
But the way the term is being used recently in the industry just sounds like hype.
 
Let's say you went to eat at a restaurant that specializes in hamburgers and french fries.  And they have a huge sign on the wall bragging about how they are switching from fresh cut fries to mass produced frozen fries.  As if i'm supposed to be excited about that...
 
As a consumer i don't see anything to be excited about.
 
And when i hear a game company talking about AI as if it's a direction for the company to go in, that means nothing to me.

I do find it a bit funny that some people insist that the game is not only great, but that it's popular.
 
When you mention Steam stats they get really mad and insist that Steam "means nothing" because it's only one part of the picture...which is true.
 
There's also an ocean of bad reviews (both from players and press), no social growth at all in years, no one watching on twitch, no major dev progress for a long time now, and both the CEO and NQ's open job postings clearly stating that they are working on multiple projects other than DU. 
 
The last new feature (that wasn't merely refactoring concepts they already had) was what...? Alien Cores and the new FTUE introduced around April of 2022...?
 
The only new "content" announced after 4 months of horrible release numbers is what...one PvE mission? 
 
But sure, DU is the one magical product in the universe that's growing organically while showing no growth across social, negative growth on Steam, little press, no ads, and no major feature development. Sounds reasonable to me. 🤷‍♂️

it is irrelevant because you are moving attention away from a post and on the the poster.
you have the same phenomenon around post count and forum join day, where some people put those i high regard when they are not.

What do you even mean by "server engine architecture"...? Why would you want a backend that's failed to scale at every turn -- especially one that's likely vendor-locked into AWS? 
 
Regardless, there is a way to buy it off them...clearly NQ is wanting to be acquired.
 
Their timing and strategy sucks...because they are hoping their early trademarks around "metaverse" and whatever patents they hold would make them an easy target for some big entity investing in the metaverse.
 
Of course, Microsoft just dropped their metaverse project and no one believes Meta's platform will amount to jack shit. There's no "big entity" left other than Meta, and they have no need for NQ's silly trademark or poorly implemented tech. 
 
People in this metaverse space are dropping like flies for a good reason.
 
I do believe NQ's leadership genuinely believes in web3 (hence their announcement that their current development focus is on metaverse tooling like "3d blogging")...and this belief absent any evidence, valid use case, or basic understanding of the technology in general is (as time will prove) not a healthy way to run a company. 

The fact that they haven't implemented a way of communicating on a platform where the boss is busy stroking-thigh with bloggers and 3D Vloggers is a complete joke worthy of Elizabeth Holmes running a childcare clinic.

What do you even mean by "server engine architecture"...? Why would you want a backend that's failed to scale at every turn -- especially one that's likely vendor-locked into AWS? 
 
Regardless, there is a way to buy it off them...clearly NQ is wanting to be acquired.
 
Their timing and strategy sucks...because they are hoping their early trademarks around "metaverse" and whatever patents they hold would make them an easy target for some big entity investing in the metaverse.
 
Of course, Microsoft just dropped their metaverse project and no one believes Meta's platform will amount to jack shit. There's no "big entity" left other than Meta, and they have no need for NQ's silly trademark or poorly implemented tech. 
 
People in this metaverse space are dropping like flies for a good reason.
 
I do believe NQ's leadership genuinely believes in web3 (hence their announcement that their current development focus is on metaverse tooling like "3d blogging")...and this belief absent any evidence, valid use case, or basic understanding of the technology in general is (as time will prove) not a healthy way to run a company. 

I really can't agree with this idea. 
 
First, GTA5 is not merely one of the most successful games. With over 6 billion in revenue, it's among the most successful entertainment products in history, period. By comparison, every "Harry Potter" movie combined is estimated to have made ~$7.7 billion. 
 
So...it's clearly an outlier not only in video games, but in the massive world of entertainment media in general.
 
There's a lot more examples of games struggling to sell because of bad performance than examples of games that were successful despite bad performance. Let's not give into GTA5's survivor bias. 
 
Games like Cyberpunk and NMS infamously had rocky releases because of performance struggles -- it's silly to suggest that studios simply "don't care" and only want to release an "MVP" because that's what makes money. 
 
What actually makes money is releasing a good game that works as it should across every platform, even in the world of Early Access. 
 
Let's take the example of an atypically successful game's PC multiplayer port not working well with a grain of salt...I personally do not see evidence that the industry in general only wants to push MVPs because "that's what makes money". 
 
I also can't agree that "paying isn't the issue" as if money has no relation to what it takes to build a successful game...especially in the context of an MMO.
 
The performance of servers is absolutely proportional to NQ's budget, especially running on AWS. The quality of dev you can afford is 100% driven by budget. NQ's CTO is someone who's previous job was literally as an intern, with NQ being their only game dev role. There's a big difference between someone like that and someone that's spent 30 years making MMOs leading the tech. 
 
Further, most modern MMOs secure at least $200 million in funding -- NQ is trying to do this with 10% of the funding of a typical "theme park" MMO. It's silly to suggest that hasn't hurt DU's chances. 
 
This example of a tiny, discontinued game made by a few people is a moot point and greatly misunderstands the real struggles with optimization and performance between complex titles like DU and simple, incomplete titles made by indies...as someone that spent several years working on an indie title that was also on Steam for a period, I can't fathom the comparison between a not-finished indie game and a released MMO like DU. 
 
Even GTA5 isn't a fair comparison -- there's a world of difference in complexity between 3rd party instanced servers and a true persistent MMO. Granted GTA5's client side optimization and graphics is leagues beyond DU's...but my point is that none of this is so simple. 

I'm sorry, but this idea is absurdly bad for any subscription based MMO.
 
To me, it betrays a complete misunderstanding of how subscription-based monetization works at a fundamental level. 
 
This idea that once someone's sub lapses, they ought to be completely purged from the game is immensely counter-productive. From a business perspective, it makes zero sense. 
 
This is because every subscription-based product faces high month-to-month churn, and with DU that's especially so. Every churned user then becomes a potential customer, because reengaging lapsed subscribers is a huge facet of any viable subscription service.
 
Consider what percent of active Netflix subscribers has at one point paused or cancelled their sub. I'd wager it's a vast majority. This is just a core concept with how subscriptions work, and any sub-based product that decides to ignore this is not going to last very long. 
 
Deciding to make it so there's no reason for lapsed users to return is an objectively stupid idea for any subscription...especially one that suffers from as much churn as DU. 
 
The push and pull between DU keeping tiles and reclaiming them has been discussed for a long, long time -- the flaw is inherent in the design of this game and the solution that NQ already has makes a lot more sense than this suggestion.
 
Hell, I'd argue timers should be even higher, because 3 months is not nearly enough time to re-engage a lapsed sub, and that's the whole point. 
 
TLDR: a game with so few subs can't be so arrogant in deleting old stuff to "make room" for new players, because there are no new players and regardless, all new players eventually become churned players (especially with DU's high churn rates), so this "strategy" is horribly counter-productive in every conceivable way. 

It's beyond stupid to ask players to read and obey rules that can easily be integrated into the game itself...but this is something that's been said many, many times.
 
Game rules are meant to be integrated into the game, and if NQ doesn't want to do that basic thing, at least they can have a lighter hand in enforcement. 
 
Hope you have fun in whatever game you find, @Cergorach! I'm sure there's plenty of other studios that would work much harder for your sub money. 

So the poster is not only a secret NQ agent, apparently NQ employees aren't "real humans"....?
 
Is that the sort of claim a "real human" would make? Unlikely.
 
Please prove your humanity before you accuse others of being some sort of nonhuman spies, else I can only assume you are the non-human spy. 🤷‍♂️

It's beyond stupid to ask players to read and obey rules that can easily be integrated into the game itself...but this is something that's been said many, many times.
 
Game rules are meant to be integrated into the game, and if NQ doesn't want to do that basic thing, at least they can have a lighter hand in enforcement. 
 
Hope you have fun in whatever game you find, @Cergorach! I'm sure there's plenty of other studios that would work much harder for your sub money. 

If food is used in the way Star Citizen to Cyberpunk uses it, I’m fine. It adds minor buffs and provides minor debuffs over some hours in SC. 
 
"actually, it’s super easy... hardly an inconvenience."
 
However, if it’s used as a survival technique then there are far more important things they should introduce first:
 
Power, water and oxygen. 
 
food is waaaay down on the list. 
 
and if you believe repetitive, required activity would add anything to the game, I have one comment:
 
ore-mining. 
 
But, if on the other hand farming to make said food requires tracts of farmland per player and that land has to be conditioned over time to become more fertile if barren, and the. that land could be razed and the equipment destroyed by other players and so has to be defended somehow,  THEN we might be in to something. 
 
but quite frankly, that level of mechanics development alone would equal almost the entirety of the complexity of the current mechanics NQ have put in place over the last SIX YEARS for the entire rest of the game. 
 
Food: don’t hold your breath…. Oh wait, breathing is only decorative in DU, so you’re good. 

It's beyond stupid to ask players to read and obey rules that can easily be integrated into the game itself...but this is something that's been said many, many times.
 
Game rules are meant to be integrated into the game, and if NQ doesn't want to do that basic thing, at least they can have a lighter hand in enforcement. 
 
Hope you have fun in whatever game you find, @Cergorach! I'm sure there's plenty of other studios that would work much harder for your sub money. 

It's beyond stupid to ask players to read and obey rules that can easily be integrated into the game itself...but this is something that's been said many, many times.
 
Game rules are meant to be integrated into the game, and if NQ doesn't want to do that basic thing, at least they can have a lighter hand in enforcement. 
 
Hope you have fun in whatever game you find, @Cergorach! I'm sure there's plenty of other studios that would work much harder for your sub money. 

It's beyond stupid to ask players to read and obey rules that can easily be integrated into the game itself...but this is something that's been said many, many times.
 
Game rules are meant to be integrated into the game, and if NQ doesn't want to do that basic thing, at least they can have a lighter hand in enforcement. 
 
Hope you have fun in whatever game you find, @Cergorach! I'm sure there's plenty of other studios that would work much harder for your sub money.