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INSIDE NOVAQUARK: DEMETER EDITION - Discussion Thread


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On 10/30/2021 at 2:52 PM, Dunhkan said:

If there is 2 kind of TU, the one with just build and terraforming need some form of tax too or make sure you don't claim with those for free to just not pay the tax, scan the tile and then snipe the good one.

 

 

thats why in my other thread i suggested that when placing a non mining TCU on a tile, the ore pool gets blanked and will need a long time to recover (e.g. 3 month) after removing the non mining tcu. This would stop people "reserving" the tile just in case or because of the ore pool data...

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No doubt, the tax system can be a great chance to release abandoned tiles and refurbish planets. But the way it is going to be implemented at current state of the PTS, is too much at once for many players.

 

I would suggest to implement the tax system without costs at first. That would increase the available tiles previously owned by inactive players, because they are not playing anymore anyway - and in addition, it gives a lot of salvaging opportunities when taking over tiles with abandoned constructs. Then, in a later major update, add the costs at a low rate.

 

Add this system step by step, and adjust the tax rate over time (like you should handle all major implementations, just saying). See how it works first, instead of swinging the wrecking ball right away. At least, give some of us content creators & their projects a certain chance to survive / preserve created ingame content. Give the broad player base time to adjust and learn from the changes, instead of forcing them asap.

 

Plus: What Hagbard said above (regarding non-mining TCUs etc.). I 100% support this proposal (just saying).

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On 10/29/2021 at 6:43 PM, kulkija said:

Atmo brakes have obstruction now. Many expensive ships designs may go down to the toilet

Here our caterpillar XL

image.png.148cbcec0fbb7311f4860084cfec3c79.png

 

- Call To Action – Say NO to territory taxes - 

Maybe you want back element stucking? Why not, who cares physics, lol xD Maybe better remove all obstruction and allow build any shitp.

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Aight, I'm gonna start off by saing that Pann and I are TIGHT! We're besties. She comes into my stream and we talk about boys and hairstyles, and sometimes she even replies in one word answers. I gotta friendzone her though because I'm married.

Anyway:

We were discussing the video on-stream and my band of brainy chums and I came up with three conclusions that could be used to improve videos like this. They are as follows:

1) Show, don't tell. I know certain things weren't ready for the video, but showing interfaces for mining units, etc... would help with putting across information to the players.

 

2) Language used. Saying something is 'expensive' makes people think of money (something I've seen in previous replies). If developers mean expensive in development terms (uses a lot of server-based resources to calculate and feed back to a player) then this could be clarified. The vid is pretty much developers talking development language. This hurts my primitive streamer-brain.

3) Players are all about ME ME ME! While it is indeed important to tell us WHY changes are being implemented, it is equally important to emphasise and summarise (again, with bullet points) how this will effect HOW people play the game (or as I call it, changes the value of the product and how much time a player is willing to devote to it because of now having to do XYZ). Basically, an explain-like-I'm-five-with-pretty-pictures approach would really help and potentially cut down on speculation.

And remember:

NQPann: Forums.

Peace.

Aight, I'm gonna start off by saing that Pann and I are TIGHT! We're besties. She comes into my stream and we talk about boys and hairstyles, and sometimes she even replies in one word answers. I gotta friendzone her though because I'm married.

Anyway:

We were discussing the video on-stream and my band of brainy chums and I came up with three conclusions that could be used to improve videos like this. They are as follows:

1) Show, don't tell. I know certain things weren't ready for the video, but showing interfaces for mining units, etc... would help with putting across information to the players.

 

2) Language used. Saying something is 'expensive' makes people think of money (something I've seen in previous replies). If developers mean expensive in development terms (uses a lot of server-based resources to calculate and feed back to a player) then this could be clarified. The vid is pretty much developers talking development language. This hurts my primitive streamer-brain.

3) Players are all about ME ME ME! While it is indeed important to tell us WHY changes are being implemented, it is equally important to emphasise and summarise (again, with bullet points) how this will effect HOW people play the game (or as I call it, changes the value of the product and how much time a player is willing to devote to it because of now having to do XYZ). Basically, an explain-like-I'm-five-with-pretty-pictures approach would really help and potentially cut down on speculation.

And remember:

NQPann: Forums.

Peace.

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Oh, expensive as NQ mentioned it in the video certainly also means financially for them, they actually said as much.

 

Frankly, the spin to try and get away from that by assuming many here do not understand how expensive can be interpreted in dev terms is frankly a cheap shot and ppssibly targeted at the fanboys so they can start using that argument in discussions.. And Pann knows very well how these things work, she is not exactly without CM experience ;)

 

I'm not saying you are a fanboy here, your post is actually fairly well rounded even when it is duplicated.. ;)

 

And I do not agree that it's about "me, me, me" for players who are critical at all and honestly, that is just an attempt at firefighting and downplaying what really are some very valid arguments.

 

NQ has always had trouble being concise and avoid creating more questions by the way they "explain" or word things. It is certainly true that NQ has a habbit of being nerds and using language suitable for that audience, lacking the understanding they need to "dumb it down" to not confuse the situation.

 

Pann, like me, is of the "old guard". We come from a time of where communication happened though Usenet and BBS.. I agree with her that forums are by far the better platform for a dev to communicate than Discord, which is a very volatile and singe post based platform. Problem here is though that she (and NQ) stop short at driving the use fo the forums though:

 

  • Being more visible there
  • Using the thread based format offered there to engage at atime that suits
  • Provide meningful feedback to the community to the point where it becomes a more viable platform for "direct" information than Discord.

 

Then there is alternative platforms like Guilded which offers both a timeline based and thread based format and has a LOT more functionality and features which would be greatly beneficial to NQ and the community. Guilded is a very active developer and NQ seeking a collaboration with them would actually be beneficial for both and provide free and wide exposure for the game.

 

Problem is that last I checked and verified, the community managers with NQ really just do Cm work on the side and are tasked with other things as well. And with Naerais being absent (not by choice and I hope she gets well soon) they are understaffed as it is.

 

 

Unfortunately, all this once again boils down to one of the long time weak links in NQ.. Communication

 

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Thank you for your holier-than-thou review of my post.

 

My favourite parts were:

  • "...frankly a cheap shot..."
  • Ignorance of subjective language
  • "...an attempt at firefighting..."

If you would like to put words (or anything else) in my mouth in future, please let me know 48 hours in advance. I'm a dinner and flowers kinda guy.

 

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I just gave my opinion on the subject you posted on, I even said I liked your post. It's not a review, it's called a response, it's what people do on public forums.

 

If your intent was to name drop and basically just brag about being "besties" with an NQ employee then I guess you got caught red handed and I'm sorry to say and to burst your bubble, Pann is more likely just "working" in your stream chat, it's not personal, nor is it "because it's you". She does the same in other streams because that is actually part of her job, you are not special (to her) in this.

 

I never mentioned the word ignorance in my response, IMO trying to put the use of "expensive" away as just dev speak and not relating to the financial situation of NQ IMO is a cheap shot and not accurate at all to what was said. Pann is really good at what she does in trying to moderate and downplay sentiments, nothing wrong with that and it is part of why she is in the role she is in. Problem here is that there is many who understand that and see right thourgh it as we're experienced and well aware of these PR/CM tricks as we use them ourselves.. She is certainly firefighting in this instance, and to be fair, in her position she should be expected to so, no disrespect to her at all there..

 

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On 10/21/2021 at 4:30 PM, CMDRTaco said:

Because they have built something no other game studio has created before. They also were not able to predict how players would exploit the game.  Almost all traditional MMOs take 5+ years to develop, so 7+ for a groundbreaking game like DU is not surprising. Would you have preferred that they just keep an unsustainable system in or fix it like they have. I for one think this system is a good solution. The only change I would have made would be to make the ore resources shift once a month like SWG did.

You mean they created a single shard, unstable, less in depth version of Empyrion?  Pretty surprised they haven't been sued for that!

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I think the thing that fanboys and supporters like to leave out is... those that are in favor of some of these changes are often those who alt account to win, and are less impacted because of this.

The other thing they claim is that we are only critical but never offer suggestions or ask questions, which we actually do, but the communication isn't a dialog it is more a pray to your god and hope for a reply dynamic and it is disgusting...

Well when the NQ gods aren't answering... the followers stop worshipping and give up their faith, and instead make a mess inside of NQ's little temples (forums, game chat, and discord). Because when communication is only one way, and you feel unheard and unanswered hope gives way to wrath and resentment.

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1 hour ago, Creator said:

I think the thing that fanboys and supporters like to leave out is... those that are in favor of some of these changes are often those who alt account to win, and are less impacted because of this.

The other thing they claim is that we are only critical but never offer suggestions or ask questions, which we actually do, but the communication isn't a dialog it is more a pray to your god and hope for a reply dynamic and it is disgusting...

Well when the NQ gods aren't answering... the followers stop worshipping and give up their faith, and instead make a mess inside of NQ's little temples (forums, game chat, and discord). Because when communication is only one way, and you feel unheard and unanswered hope gives way to wrath and resentment.

I would leave out the comparison with the gods, as it is simply useless. We humans have always worshipped "gods" that we have created ourselves in order to explain things or find culprits. We humans create these religious problems for ourselves, overlooking the fact that we already have our plump paradise to live in on earth - we are also the ones who exploit this paradise to create a hell on earth. We don't need a god or a devil for that - we humans can do it all by ourselves.

NQ employees are not gods either, not even godlike. They are human beings just like us, and they do their work in order to make a living and enjoy their pensions later on. So people always make mistakes, some learn from them, some don't. In addition, there is the human character, which consists of the fixed character from birth and the experiences and adventures of our lives.
 

What I can see is that NQ wants to develop a different game than many players want. NQ seems to be aiming in the direction of Eve and is simply trying to incorporate small parts from Minecraft. But many players apparently saw DualUniverse more as a huge sandbox without rules and restrictions, so more like a Minecraft or Lego sandbox. Many players don't want an Eve game, and if they do, they only want it as a small part of the big picture.
 

In the end, NQ can do what they want, if those players are not the target group, you can fight to make the game fair for the builders or you can accept that it will be an Eve copy and look for something else. I only know one thing, an Eve copy is a niche product and will not be able to financially support the survival of DualUniverse.


I am tired of asking questions that are ignored or creating ideas to support. I see NQ going a completely different way than I had imagined from the advertising at the time. At the moment the air is out, so much time and money put in here - sorry. At some point I just can't and don't want to anymore.

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4 hours ago, Zarcata said:

I would leave out the comparison with the gods, as it is simply useless.

Not calling them actual gods, nor do I think they are... I am trying to illustrate the imbalance in communication. NQ keeps trying to act like they are giving us the opportunity to have a conversation, ask questions, give feedback, etc. The problem is and always was it was just a customer service facade to make them appear like were in it for the players.

I have seen complaints where people talk about NQ caving to players on safe zones etc... what those individuals don't seem to understand is that it wasn't a cave in to players as much as it served NQ's own best interest to do such a thing in the moment. 

Just like it has served their own interest to make promises along the way that aren't being kept, just like the changes in Dementor are designed to serve the interests of NQ as well.

What you and I are in violent agreement on Zarcata is we both believe they are going in a complete opposite direction of the players vision for a pitiful and watered down Eve clone, when they had something so much grander and better, a real once in a life time opportunity that the players see, but the devs want to kill.

I am also getting to the same point as you... 

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