Mod-Meldrik

Hi @Mordgier, @Niemand, @Hazaatan.
 
Your replies on this topic have been hidden.
 
Please avoid posting comment that are considered of provocative nature, troll insinuation, off-topic and/or comments specially designated to bring political matters as to name and shame others in these forums.
 
Please let this be a friendly reminder to all three of you to avoid making comments like the ones you made today.
 
Regards,
Meldrik

0.23 and What We Learned

In reading through the reactions from our community regarding the recent 0.23 update, we’ve gained some valuable insights. 

Before we talk about the changes we’ll make in our processes going forward, let’s get back to the fundamental reason behind the update itself. What we did in 0.23 is at the heart of the vision for a game where a society of players is interacting directly or indirectly with each other through an elaborate network of exchanges, cooperation, competition and markets.
 
As it was, the current state of the game consisted mostly of isolated islands of players playing in almost full autonomy. A single-player game where players happened to share the same game world but with little interactions.
 
It’s hard to imagine how the appeal could last for more than several months for most players once they feel they have “finished” the game. It is also a missed opportunity to try something of larger proportion, a society of players growing in a fully persistent virtual world. For this to work, you need more than isolated gameplay. Players need to have viable reasons to interact and need each other.
 
In many single-player space games, you have ways to make money, and the game then offers you ways to convert this money into whatever you need in the game to progress, mostly via markets. This is the state in which we should end up for Dual Universe once all the necessary ingredients are in place, You get into the game, you farm a bit of money in fun ways, and you buy more and more powerful ships, equipment, weapons, etc., to help your character grow. The difference is that here, the ships or equipment you buy have been made by other players, instead of the game company. On the surface and during the first hours of gameplay, to a new player it would look similar to any of those other space games, but it would in fact reveal itself to be much deeper once you spend a bit of time in the game. Everything you would do would be part of another player’s or organization’s plan, everything would have a meaning. And soon you would realize that you too could be part of the content creation and, somehow, drive the game in the direction you want.
 
In its current beta stage, DU doesn’t have enough ways for people to make money because we haven’t yet had the opportunity to implement all of the necessary features. There’s mining, of course. Trading is not as good as it will eventually be because markets are not really used to their full potential. As a consequence, players rightfully turned to a solo or small org autonomous game mode. 
 
We tried to nudge people out of this with the changes introduced in 0.23. While necessary, many players expressed that the changes of 0.23 came too soon because it lacked a variety of lucrative ways for people to make money outside of mining.

What We’ll Do Now
 
The vision expressed above still holds. We want people to consider going through the industry specialization only if they intend to become industrialists and not necessarily to sustain their individual needs; however, we understand that it’s too soon to press for intense specialized gameplay considering the lack of sources to earn money. 
 
Here’s our plan for now. We will modify the formula of the schematic prices to make it considerably more affordable for Tier 1 and still challenging and worth a commitment but less intense for anything Tier 2 or above. 
 
This will allow most factories focused on T1 to resume their activities rapidly while keeping an interesting challenge for higher tiers, spawning dedicated industrial facilities aiming at producing to sell on the markets. We will also reimburse players who have bought high-priced schematics since the launch of 0.23 (please give us some time since it may take a few days as we go through the logs).
 
We will keep monitoring the price of schematics to see if it makes sense to increase or decrease the costs. The right approach to set such a price would be to evaluate how much time it takes to recoup your investment by selling the products that the schematics allow to produce. It should be a few months so that the investment is a real commitment and it makes sense to plan for it.  We currently lack the metrics to properly assess this return on investment time. We need a player-driven market price for the components and a market price for the products to assess the profit made by each run of a schematic. This will come when the markets start to work as intended, and we can gather more data about them. 
 
Feedback and Testing

The release of 0.23 also taught us that we need improved ways to test new features, both internally and with community participation. The Upvote feature on the website was a good start, but it’s not enough. 
 
To address this, we have two courses of action that will be taken. The first will be to set up an open public test server, hopefully with shorter release cycles, for players to try out new features. This will also allow us to explore ideas and be more iterative. If all goes according to plan, this test server should be introduced for 0.24, the next release. It will mirror the content of the production server with regular updates to sync it. 
 
The second important initiative is to revise the role of the Alpha Team Vanguard (ATV), getting them more involved in early discussions about new features and the evolution of the game. We are still defining the framework, so more information will be released as available. 

What is to Come
 
In the short term, we will push a few corrections to improve 0.23, which include:
 
Ships will now stop (be frozen) when their core is destroyed in PvP, making them easier to catch. Element destruction will impact the restoration count only when it occurs through PvP, at least for now (not when the ship is colliding/falling as we want to avoid having players penalized simply for crashing their ships because they’re learning how to maneuver them, for example). Recycling of un-restorable elements through a recycler that will take an element as input and grant a small amount of the schematics required components as output.
The next major release is already in the making and will be about the mission system, a first step toward giving players more fun ways to earn quantas. We will reveal about it shortly so that we can get as much feedback as possible.
 
We also want to reassure you that the mission system is not the only answer to offering more varied ways to earn revenue in Dual Universe. Things like asteroid mining and mining units will be introduced in the next few months. 

This list is by no means complete, but should be a good jumping off point that gives players reasons to fight and to explore, opportunities for pirates, new ways of making money, and a plethora of other activities our creative community will think of even if we didn’t. 

That’s it for now! We want to thank you again for your support and patience as we progress along this beta road! See you soon in Dual Universe!

Want to discuss this announcement? Visit the thread linked below:
 
 

Good Afternoon(should it be your case  ) fellow Noveans,
 

Just hopping in quickly into this topic to do a quick but friendly reminder of the following;

We know all of you are very excited and looking forward towards the next Q&A with JC (Much information we all crave will be released soon) However, (There's always a however) please avoid instigating other users opinions into an unnecessary heated discussion where there needs to be none, and most importantly, avoid extreme profanity and disrupting this official thread with flame/troll-like comments. (some provoking comments have already been hidden) 


Best Regards,
Your friendly Meldrik!

 

So, You Wanna Be a Moderator?
 
Oh yeah, that’s right! We’re opening up recruitment for our forum moderation team! We are specifically looking to add additional language support so we’re seeking the following languages: 
 
English English/French English/German  
If you’ve ever wanted to get involved with Dual Universe on a deeper level and have some time to give, we’re looking for volunteers that can offer a few hours each week to check in on our forums, help approve posts, moderate reported content and help people find their way around. 
 
How does it work? 
All of our moderators are volunteers. Moderators are given a new account from which to do their duties from and their identity is kept secret. Moderators help to keep the forums clean and orderly. They are the front line for approving posts and content and handling reported issues. They work with and under the direction of the Community Management team. 
 
The rules are below: 
https://board.dualthegame.com/index.php?/topic/11015-dual-universe-volunteer-forum-moderator-guidelines/
 
APPLY NOW!
 
We will contact selected candidates quickly, so don’t delay. If you aren’t selected this round, we will be recruiting for the future and will retain applications for 6 months.  A short quiz/test of skills may be asked in a second round. 
 
We are looking for three to five community members to help us with keeping an eye on the forums to make sure we continue to have one of the most helpful and inviting communities possible. This isn’t an opportunity for those who feel this is a chance to finally be recognized for your contributions because all volunteer moderators will be issued a new forum account to use only when performing their moderation duties. You also won’t be able to tell anyone you’ve been chosen. All community volunteer moderators must remain anonymous. This opportunity is for those who wish to help the Community Team maintain our high standards for an inviting, helpful, and respectful community.
 
If you think this is something you’re interested in and you can be fair and impartial in your actions in the role of a community moderator, then you should apply. Before you do, you should know we have the following expectations and criteria:
 
Requirements and Expectations
 
Must have a clean community record. No warnings, infractions, etc. For at least the previous six months. No suspensions or bans. Posting history shows a helpful, constructive and respectful posting pattern. Apply the community rules in a fair and impartial manner to all members. You understand and accept that this role Is purely voluntary and carries no compensation or other consideration – financial or otherwise. Willing to be and remain anonymous. Ability to serve in this role for at least 6 months. Read and write fluent English for all roles. French, German, or Russian written fluency is a very big plus.
  You should also be comfortable with all the things a volunteer moderator will be asked to do. A Volunteer Community Moderator will have access to tools and forum functions that will allow them to take a variety of actions.
 
Community Volunteer Moderators Can
Move threads to the correct areas. Hide threads and posts they feel are inappropriate until they can be reviewed by the Community Team. Merge multiple threads on the same topic into a single thread. Approve posts by new members (required for first-time posts). Bring urgent matters to the direct attention of the Community Team. Getting Naerais her coffee.  
Community Volunteer Moderators Cannot
Delete any thread or post. Edit the text of any post. Suspend any account for any reason.
  Still with us? Ready to tell us how great you’d be at this? Excellent!  We’ll need you to send us a little information so we can get to know you.
 
Once we’ve collected your applications the Community Team, and other members of the Novaquark staff, will review your information and reach out to those we feel would be a good fit. Those individuals will then need to pass one more round of questions before being selected. If you don’t hear from us, please don’t take offense. We expect to hear from many outstanding candidates. With only a small number of slots to fill not everyone will be chosen.
 
We'll be taking applications starting today, Tuesday July 28, 2020  until Thursday, July 30th @ 12pm UTC. 
 

FAQS
What do you look for in a moderator?
We’re looking for people who have shown they are helpful, well spoken, and welcoming. We expect moderators will be discrete, honest, and always have the best interests of the community along with a healthy dose of fairness and common sense guiding their decisions.
 
How does my backer status affect my chances of becoming a mod?
Simply put; it doesn’t. Your backer status, or lack thereof for that matter, does not factor into our decision. We are looking only at post histories, past behavior, and your application and follow up questions.
 
How long will a Community Volunteer Moderator have their position?
CVMs do not have a fixed term of service; however, we will do regular checkups with them every three to six months. This is to ensure they are still able and willing to continue with the tasks assigned. Of course, we reserve the right to remove any CVM we feel is not acting in a manner consistent with our policies and the community and moderator guidelines at any time and at our sole discretion.
 
What happens if a volunteer mod abuses their position?
We have a set of rules and guidelines for our volunteers to follow. They are publicly posted and if we find a volunteer is not abiding by those rules (both the letter and the spirit behind them) then the community team may choose to remove them from their position. Serious abuse or misuse of their role may result in additional actions if deemed warranted.
 
While we will investigate moderator actions if abuse is reported, please be aware that false reports just to discredit a Moderator reputation will also be severely punished.
 
APPLY NOW: 
https://forms.gle/AYqCsJccatztfNME7
 

OK here is whats going to happen - because at this time - this just went overboard with everyone involved here.

First, @Daphne Jones I apologize for the entirety of the rude and toxic behaviour some have brought into your recruiting thread. As I do understand this is not what you wanted - I've created a new thread cleared of all this nonsense here.

Secondly, this goes to especially everyone else who engaged in this topic;
 
Some of you guys have derailed the purpose of this thread and made it go off-topic Some of you have initiated in trolling, harassment and personal attacks towards the OP Some of you had no intention in asking legit questions or joining the topic in a proper discussion  
 
While not everyone was involved in all the above mentioned behaviour(s), yes, I want this to be a warning and reminder to all of you; keep out of topics you have no intention of legitimately being a part and or stop the continuous harassment some of your have engaged in towards individuals who don't share your point of view. This is a final warning of such and next time this happens it may lead bigger sanctions than just a verbal warning.
 
Topic Locked.

Regards,
Meldrik

Topic locked due to necroing.
 
 
Regards,
Meldrik

Thread locked for inflammatory discussions.
 
@Emtec3PL, please stop making threads discussing this matter, this was already explained here. Consider this a warning. Please resolve this issue between Novaquark and you, privately. More topics like this will lead to more sanctions in your account.
 
@Lethys, please stop playing moderator on the forums. Report the topics and move on. Don't engage in responses that can be seen as moderator-like. Consider this a warning.
 
 
Regards,
Meldrik

Topic moved to appropriate section.


Regards,
Meldrik

 

Comments have been hidden to prevent this into turning into a flamewar and going off topic.
 
To answer your original question @boots_1588, the cost is unknown, (wether NQ releases information regarding server cost, is up to them) and no, NQ has not said it's "one" server, quite the contrary. The games "one shard" or one universe runs on a cluster server, which is composed of multiple servers and multiple systems, as Haunty mentioned above.
 
Single Shard does not mean single computer.
 
As a reminder to all, while yes, the question(s) may have been asked a million times, this does not mean that one should be rude or bait someone into a flamewar over what's already been answered. A simple post that answers the question or links to the answer, goes a long way.
 
 
Best Regards,
Meldrik
 
 
 
 

@Spartan118,
 
1. The block user function IS already present. It is under the profile settings.
2. Regarding the comments about necroing post. The topics to which you posted had no comments added to them after 2 months, some even since 2016. As per our forum rules, yes, they were dead. 
3. Spreading the same link to the same 1 topic you created on those others threads, is and was, spamming, as per our forums rules.
4. You can read our forums rules here: 
 
 
The comments "I didn't know about it" or "It doesn't apply to me" or "those weren't dead" or "I was only sparking conversations" are no valid answers to not knowing about the forum rules and/or breaking the forum rules. As such, you'll be moderated with them accordingly, even if you have not read them. That's what creating a forum account here means. If you are not in accordance to our rules, please read the following snippet: 
 
@Lethys @Cal Rouvenor 
 
1. Please don't feed the troll anymore. Future problems, use the report function.
2. Replying to such posts in such manner only servers to increase the polemics and the toxicity of the conversation and adds nothing of value.
3. Doing so also falls under the "flaming" section of the Forums. Which is a big no-no. If you don't want to be moderated, don't do it as well.
 
 
 
@everyone else, since the original question has been answered, and there is nothing left of value to add to this topic, the topic is now closed.


Regards,
Meldrik
 

Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
I'll get to the point;

1. The topic has been cleaned due to Offtopic Replies - please stay on topic 
2. Necroposting is a no-no based on the forum rules (Don't do it, if you're not sure about it, read before posting)
3. Don't try to backseat-moderate necro'd posts (this a bit disrespectful to the moderators and just makes the necro'ing even worse and harder for us mods to clean up afterwards)
4. Don't Cross-post (this is a form of spam as well - 1 Thread is enough for 1 Topic)
5. Don't provoke others either. Just use the report system (even if it doesn't seem like the fastest way to resolve an issue rest assure it gets our attention and will get looked into)

 
That being said, let's now keep on topic: Antigravity Drives (try not to also break the NDA when discussing this)
 
 
 
 
Best Regards,

Meldrik

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
I'll get to the point;

1. The topic has been cleaned due to Offtopic Replies - please stay on topic 
2. Necroposting is a no-no based on the forum rules (Don't do it, if you're not sure about it, read before posting)
3. Don't try to backseat-moderate necro'd posts (this a bit disrespectful to the moderators and just makes the necro'ing even worse and harder for us mods to clean up afterwards)
4. Don't Cross-post (this is a form of spam as well - 1 Thread is enough for 1 Topic)
5. Don't provoke others either. Just use the report system (even if it doesn't seem like the fastest way to resolve an issue rest assure it gets our attention and will get looked into)

 
That being said, let's now keep on topic: Antigravity Drives (try not to also break the NDA when discussing this)
 
 
 
 
Best Regards,

Meldrik

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,
 
I'll get to the point;

1. The topic has been cleaned due to Offtopic Replies - please stay on topic 
2. Necroposting is a no-no based on the forum rules (Don't do it, if you're not sure about it, read before posting)
3. Don't try to backseat-moderate necro'd posts (this a bit disrespectful to the moderators and just makes the necro'ing even worse and harder for us mods to clean up afterwards)
4. Don't Cross-post (this is a form of spam as well - 1 Thread is enough for 1 Topic)
5. Don't provoke others either. Just use the report system (even if it doesn't seem like the fastest way to resolve an issue rest assure it gets our attention and will get looked into)

 
That being said, let's now keep on topic: Antigravity Drives (try not to also break the NDA when discussing this)
 
 
 
 
Best Regards,

Meldrik

 

Welcome to the forums
 
Regards,
Meldrik

Hopefully...
 

 

First off, Welcome to the forums @smitty.

Regarding your question. You might be interested in the following blog (pertaining to Name Reservations): https://www.dualthegame.com/en/news/2018/03/09/character-name-reservations-how-it-works/
 
Hopefully, that answers your question.  


Regards,
Meldrik

While the information above pertains to French (Novaquark's native language) the information can also be extended to other languages at the moment.
 
 
Regards,
Meldrik

The website has been having issues lately. (which should be fixed as of today) - Rest assured however, that the support team is very active and is not an abandoned game. If you still have not received a reply by now to your email - submit a ticket via the proper support page: https://support.dualthegame.com. (Be aware that, it is currently holiday season and as such may not get a reply as soon as you submit the ticket. But will get one as soon as they can) 

If you still have issues thereafter, contact one of the Community Managers (Nyzaltar or Nomad) who will be more than happy to help you out
 
 
~ Meldrik

Is that a logical statement or a feeling?

Comments have been hidden to prevent this into turning into a flamewar and going off topic.
 
To answer your original question @boots_1588, the cost is unknown, (wether NQ releases information regarding server cost, is up to them) and no, NQ has not said it's "one" server, quite the contrary. The games "one shard" or one universe runs on a cluster server, which is composed of multiple servers and multiple systems, as Haunty mentioned above.
 
Single Shard does not mean single computer.
 
As a reminder to all, while yes, the question(s) may have been asked a million times, this does not mean that one should be rude or bait someone into a flamewar over what's already been answered. A simple post that answers the question or links to the answer, goes a long way.
 
 
Best Regards,
Meldrik
 
 
 
 

Yeah, that has been an ongoing confusion regarding that aspect.

When NQ refers to the DAC tokens as "Non-Physical" items, they are referring to the real world. You won't be able to find a DAC at your local dollar store or super center, because they are not a physical card.  So to answer that question, yes, DACs will be "Physical" items in the Virtual World of Dual Universe. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to move them to the market or from inventory to inventory.
 
Here's a link to more details regarding that matter. (Take it with a pinch of salt as this information is now almost 2 years old)
 
 
 
~ Meldrik

Yeah, that has been an ongoing confusion regarding that aspect.

When NQ refers to the DAC tokens as "Non-Physical" items, they are referring to the real world. You won't be able to find a DAC at your local dollar store or super center, because they are not a physical card.  So to answer that question, yes, DACs will be "Physical" items in the Virtual World of Dual Universe. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to move them to the market or from inventory to inventory.
 
Here's a link to more details regarding that matter. (Take it with a pinch of salt as this information is now almost 2 years old)
 
 
 
~ Meldrik

@boots_1588
As mentioned in the forum rules, please do not necropost on old threads as you have done already several times.
(The forum rules has been updated to indicate what is considered an old thread)
Granted, this time you stay in the limits but keep this in mind for the next times.
 
Now to reply on the topic:
Fallout56 is a multiplayer game and NOT a MASSIVELY multiplayer game. Todd Howard confirmed that during the E3 2018 Bethesda Conference. So it can be compared to Minecraft, Ark, Conan Exiles... but clearly not to MMORPGs where the server infrastructure cost is exclusively handled by the Dev Studio or Publisher.
  The Subscription model is one of the few topics not open to discussion. We have already talked in great length about why we went for a subscription model and no, there is no solid argument countering the reasons why we chose this model.
  1) Dropping monthly subscription to have more players is not a valid argument if the server infrastructure cost grows proportionally to the player base size while incomes don't grow accordingly.
 
2) Saying subcription is an outdated model is not a valid argument as it relies on personal opinion not backed by solid reasons. Seeing less MMORPGs using monthly subscription is not a solid reason if there is no understanding about the "why". 
 
Here is how we view the situation at Novaquark: monthly subscription model has been on the decline due to nearly no clear innovation in the MMORPG industry during the last decade. As new MMORPGs had to offer something different than those already well settled in the market (World of Warcraft, EVE Online, etc), if they weren't going to offer something really new, they had to be different on another level: monetization model. That's how the Free to Play games wave began. Many marketing representatives said many times that "Free to Play" was the future and most people believed it. Inconvients of such model were put under the rug... for a time. The question "Is F2P good or bad?" is irrelevant. Free to Play is a good monetization model good for some kind of games. We just don't think MMORPGs is among those. When you aim to have a game lasting for decades, you need to have steady income for decades as well. Free to play game incomes are too fluctuant, especially because they rely on the success of cosmetics (which is a everlasting gamble for a company as no one knows for sure in advance if players will love the new cosmetics and how much income it will generate before they hit the shop) and lootboxes.
 
Ironically, there has been recently a huge witch hunt about lootboxes. While we totally understand the reasons, it's a bit surprising that this problem has been exposed only recently, as lootboxes are as old as the Free to Play model and represents nearly always a (very) large part of F2P or B2P game incomes. Surprisingly, with this kind of monetization now forbidden in a growing number of countries, discussions about monthly subscription model are a thing again for many studios and publishers. 
 
3) Saying people want to make a one time payment is not a valid argument either: nobody with some common sense can ask for a one time payment (at the price of an average game) and expect to have a service lasting forever.
 
@Sofernius

Quite unlikely.
From a financial point of view, that would mean taking more risks than necessary: as said above, it would mean going from a steady income model to a fluctuant income model. Cosmetics make a good complementary income to B2P and subscription models but again, making it the main income of a game is very risky, especially if the structural costs for a game are high.
 

Those two things are already planned
Beta Key giveaways and Trial period at official release.
 
Best Regards,
Nyzaltar.

Update:20/06/2018: Clarification about Necroposting in section III
 
Smalll update on the forum rules about Necroposting.
 
Best Regards,
Nyzaltar.

Comments have been hidden to prevent this into turning into a flamewar and going off topic.
 
To answer your original question @boots_1588, the cost is unknown, (wether NQ releases information regarding server cost, is up to them) and no, NQ has not said it's "one" server, quite the contrary. The games "one shard" or one universe runs on a cluster server, which is composed of multiple servers and multiple systems, as Haunty mentioned above.
 
Single Shard does not mean single computer.
 
As a reminder to all, while yes, the question(s) may have been asked a million times, this does not mean that one should be rude or bait someone into a flamewar over what's already been answered. A simple post that answers the question or links to the answer, goes a long way.
 
 
Best Regards,
Meldrik