It's no secret NQ isn't that popular among most of the core player base. There's a few stragglers who will back NQ no matter how hard they kill the player base and how many bad changes are made but the lack and loss of players since beta and release is notable and a problem NQ needs to recognise.
With that being said, I'm not here to criticize NQ on what they've done wrong. If they're not already aware of this they should be so I wont pound this in here.
Now I want to make this clear. I love this game and its potential. It is 100% possible to Love DU and dislike NQ. The DU idea is where the love sits. The lack of NQ's understanding the game and their lack of understanding of the players is where the problem is in my eyes.
Lets take a look at a game thats gone through a similar dev structure and situation as DU:
FacePunch Studios was a indy dev team ( literally a modder who went pro) that had its roots from Garry who designed "Garry's Mod" and later on "RUST". When Rust first started out it was just a tech demo within Garry's Mod. It progressed to what is now known as "Legacy Rust" which was a rough copy of what RUST is today and was built on a limited Game engine. The game was extremly popular and actually eventually out played its Engines capabilities. Garry having built his success off Garry's Mod had a very solid understanding on how his community and there for player base was extremely important in his success. He realized very early on they were the reason he was where he was. Without getting too indepth on how RUST was developed it always had one major rule structure and it went something like this:
**Players First** ---> Money Second ---> Outside Investment Last.
With this rule in mind, Garry and FacePunch knew that Legacy Rust couldn't be upgraded to fulfill what the players wanted. But they saw the opportunity and potential the game had.. The extremly hard decision was made to scrap Legacy Rust and design a new Rust from the ground up, Engine and all. This was HARD WORK, a HUGE RISK, but... it was what was best for what the players wanted and the games vision.
Now with that history lesson complete. I'm not saying DU needs a new game engine or a redesign. What I'm getting at here is DU sits in a very similar situation business wise and in game development. Where NQ has failed and FacePunch thrived can be narrowed down to the way the two dev teams listen to their players as well as the fact that FacePunch devs were required to play Rust a certain number of hours per day to ensure they understood the game mechanics they were designing.
With over 4000+ hours in Beta and nearly a 1000+ hours in release, having stuck around through the disastrous 0.23 update and the later mining and territory updates that all saw a mass loss of players.. Its very clear to me after having been through FacePunches success from that Tech Demo in Garry's mod all the way to where RUST sits today. NQ could learn a lot about community and how to properly make big changes to DU through RUST and FacePunch's success.
Please, NQ if you're reading this. Take a quick look at https://www.rustafied.com/ and scroll through the games past few years of development and the early days. EVERY game change and update has been very accurately documented via Rustifieds awesome update news posts.
Take note on the changes, how they came about and how often the player base was consulted and accommodated. I understand these two games play very differently. But the core idea stands that they both require a somewhat accommodated and happy player base to succeed.
With all due respect. You have failed on this part NQ. The current player base and market situation speaks for itself. First things first. Require your devs to play the game. Set a required hour per week and pay them to use it. Second, from now on. Consider what changes you make and the effect they'll have on your games "FUN" game loops.
~Sarrah ~ (8900 hours in Rust, 5300 hours in DU)