Less hype/disappointment, more roadmaps please

[Brianmj]

Well, being told you are getting something for a year then right before it is due to be put into the game they suddenly tell you "jk summoners, you got trolled" is absolutely a reason to be disappointed.

The thread

I sympathize with this person. To be operating on information for more than a year, then told at the last moment, "nope, we have other plans now," is kind of unfair. A dev or community rep could have come into the DPS forums and told us the plans for new Egis were scrapped, something else was in the works. A clear outline of where the game is headed would be much better than being left in the dark.

[Garlyle]

Devil's advocate a bit here; you'd be having the same reaction on the day you got told this regardless of whether it was now or six months ago. And to be frank, they could have told you six months ago, "We're working on a system that empowers the Summoner with spirits instead"... and then come Heavensward have been at "Actually, we're going to be letting you dual wield summons", and there'd be "okay but where's our primal channeling!?"

The simple reality you have to keep in mind with game development - especially perpetually in-development games like MMORPGs - is that nothing is set in stone. Even once it's released, that doesn't mean it couldn't be altered, replaced, or removed. Especially as recent discussion gets older and older, you should brace yourself for possibilities. And that perpetual state of development is such that keeping the playerbase constantly up to date with every potential plan or thing they're testing is a lot of A. marketing/communications-related tape to cut through to get it out there, and B. still not necessarily done. By the time a roadmap even got full developper clearance to be posted, there'd probably already be things that have been scrapped or changed on it.

This doesn't mean you can't be disappointed with it, of course; but it's really something to be aware of. "Tell us more often" isn't always a realistic option, it's not necessarily any more accurate to what will happen anyway, and it doesn't necessarily provoke any less anger (in fact it could cause it more frequently, especially because people take any stated plans as determined. Which is why we're here).

[Najara]

The thread

I sympathize with this person. To be operating on information for more than a year, then told at the last moment, "nope, we have other plans now," is kind of unfair. A dev or community rep could have come into the DPS forums and told us the plans for new Egis were scrapped, something else was in the works. A clear outline of where the game is headed would be much better than being left in the dark.

There's no reason to sympathize with them.. We are getting new egi abilities and skins to hide them. I'm assuming these skin replacements will come with the same kits as the one they're mimicking but with different visuals. I'd like to think SE isn't as lazy as to let Shiva use Landslide. Glacial Blast, though? Yes please.

[kyuven]

Long ago, when I was still but a wee lad in the MMO world (and real world, sort of) a game I played a lot made a drastic change to one of its core systems. Namely, EQ2 changed the way leveling classes worked.
Originally it was much like this game: You started as an Archetype: Fight, Mage, Scout, or Priest, then picked a class that branched off from each of those at lvl 10, then a subclass at 20.
When they changed it, they made it so you started as the subclasses. At the time I was appalled, and even quit the game.
Well, years later I came back and saw the wisdom in the system: By nixing the old system, it gave the developers more freedom to add new newbie zones and not have the players hamstrung by a series of quests they HAD to do. It also let them add more classes as well as diversify the existing classes more before lvl 20, allowing them to be less homogeneous.
This was a pretty drastic choice on their part, but it illustrates a point valid here: Sometimes what you have planned, especially in the MMO world, isn't always possible or practical with the systems you're given. Every announcement an MMO developer makes for something should be taken with a grain of salt. This is what they WANT to do, what they PLAN to do, but it's not always practical.
And let's not even get into some of the promises made by game devs for games like SWG or Shadowbane...

[Warlyx]

Long ago, when I was still but a wee lad in the MMO world (and real world, sort of) a game I played a lot made a drastic change to one of its core systems. Namely, EQ2 changed the way leveling classes worked.
Originally it was much like this game: You started as an Archetype: Fight, Mage, Scout, or Priest, then picked a class that branched off from each of those at lvl 10, then a subclass at 20.

the ship intro + the island was awesome T.T sad that they removed it , but it sucked having to lvl to 10 in order to play the class u wanted , over and over.....

[zandervont]

and WoW - WoTLK had aerial combat promised and even printed behind the box, but didnt have it. shit happens in development and "They were looking into adding new egis" not promised as far as i remember.

[mvenom]

NONO they should add Alexander from FF11, so everyone would shut the fck up. Who cares if that massive robot makes you not able to see anything, wipe on divebombs etc because you didnt see the mark because MASSIVE pet was on the way. Who cares about that, at least you have huge pet. /sarcasm_off.

[Khaoticsuccubus]

NONO they should add Alexander from FF11, so everyone would shut the fck up. Who cares if that massive robot makes you not able to see anything, wipe on divebombs etc because you didnt see the mark because MASSIVE pet was on the way. Who cares about that, at least you have huge pet. /sarcasm_off.

Wasn't the convo about egis? Or is this just you trying to downplay your inability to read by being a jerkwad ;p

[UltimateAoe2]

Why is everyone obsessed with new egis?
There'd be no point if Summoners were being changed. What would Levi do? What would Ramuh do?

There's more problems than just having 1 primary egi you'll ever use. Honestly. Let's say you DID get new egis, but they all sucked? You'd have to fall back to Garuda or Ifrit (depending on the fight), and then you'll complain more.


I like these changes. You're actually becoming a summoner. Who the hell doesn't want to call out the power of bahamut?!