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Opinion: Schematics & Costs Make No Sense


Biblitz

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Without turning this into a rant, I'd like to justify my position that Schematics make no sense whatsoever (after taking some time to think about the patch). I feel many people may be bothered by this patch and can't quite put a finger on exactly what is the root of all the angst. I'm going to make an attempt boil things down to the broad statement that:

 

"Users are bothered by crafting Schematics in the latest patch because everyone knows it's an unrealistic, game developer only artificial mechanism to slow user progression in the game."

 

Consider the following:

  • In just the last  ~50 years, the internet and digital technology has revolutionized how information has been disseminated to the masses. Look at Mp3's & Napster 20 years ago. Now basically any Movies and TV shows can be available on-demand anywhere.
  • 3D Printing is in its infancy and already millions of modeling files can be found to print many useful and useless things for free or near free.
  • One can now google almost any topic and go down a rabbit hole if they so choose to learn many things only taught by institutions and experts. 
  • The trend is clearly towards more information to more people faster and with less barriers, including money. 

 

Now fast forward 500+ years into the future... the cost of schematics make absolutely no sense whatsoever. I'm not saying a game needs to be perfectly realistic, but this is so far removed from anything plausible that any regular user using this mechanic knows it's a completely artificial developer solution to an in game market balancing problem.  This is not just "users not liking a big change" situation.

 

I know the game is in flux but I'd like to state that I believe NQ had things closer to "right" without schematics for industry.

  • The intellectual property cost of things in game should be at or next to nothing and user/market driven
  • If industry schematics were to be implemented, they should be for improvements upon existing items or creations which can be easily replicated, user priced and sold on free markets.
  • It's just more fun to have a goal that is attainable solo within a few weeks of work instead of artificially restricting players to socialize, coordinate and grind forever in order to build a single advanced schematic. 
  • It "feels" wrong to gamers because they know it's a restriction limiting their freedom to play the game they way they want to. Even if it has it's intended effect on markets and industry production, the game is worse off than it is now from a "fun" perspective. 
  • Players are smart, and they instinctively know when they are being bent towards a certain vision vs given a change for the better. This is introducing a massive grind/time sink onto something that already took weeks to work towards.

 

I don't have all the solutions to the challenges NQ faces with markets & user progression but I believe this patch is not the right solution, this sucks the fun out of the game and is going to continue to do so in the future. Unfortunately, because NQ is running on a Subscription model during BETA to keep things afloat fiscally, maintaining their user base is critical to the survivability of the company moving forward and an unhappy userbase (right or wrong) can spell the end of the game :(.

 

FWIW my major was in Technology and have 20+ years industry experience. Hoping NQ has some tricks up their sleeve and can prove me wrong!

 

 

 

 

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21 minutes ago, Biblitz said:

running on a Subscription model during BETA to keep things afloat fiscally

Considering just how low the monthly sub is, and the estimated number of players, they might be paying for a few of their many employees. Where is the rest of the money coming from?

 

It's basically a tax to prevent their servers dying as they would if it were free to play.

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1 minute ago, Emptiness said:

Considering just how low the monthly sub is, and the estimated number of players, they might be paying for a few of their many employees. Where is the rest of the money coming from?

 

It's basically a tax to prevent their servers dying as they would if it were free to play.

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/dual-universe/company_financials
Probably way out of date.. are the estimated number of players / subbed accounts posted somewhere?

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I agree with you. Production was already quite complex. The introduction of schemes only complicated the gameplay. Look at what happened before the patch was introduced: the economy worked, players bought and sold things to each other, everyone was happy, there was creativity, you were not limited, you could do what you want, and what is happening now? The economy is broken, yesterday the dynamic core cost 9.8 million, and now 18-19, you can't buy it, you will have to sit in a hole for several months. Currently, only large organizations have access to the schemes, and the schemes are very expensive. The rest of the players are forced to sit in a hole for hours on end and mine,mine,mine..this is a terribly boring activity, this is a grind, this is not what a game with a paid subscription should look like, the grind is suitable for free games.

I hate to say it, but this is clearly not the game I supported at the very beginning. Look what happened to Twitch, now there are only 10-20 viewers, no one is interested in watching you mine ore in the hole. When the develelopers added schemes to the game, they deprived many players of great mechanics, all your factories are useless, they don't work. I believe that need to remove the schemes and return the previous version of production as quickly as possible before it's too late.

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