Nearly a year in, Does TW acknowledge the anniversary with an update for when EA will be done?

[The Sign of 33]

I hope there are enough genuine white knights to get the company going. Because after watching utter incompetence for a few years now, they won't be getting sales from normal people. Everyday another issue in MP and SP isn't going anywhere. This isn't even about time, I don't believe we will see significant progress in 10 years if they were to continue like this.

 

[crimsonfilms]

Those numbers are misleading, even if you cherrypick just the pinned threads in The Citadel, there is a 69K thread there alone, while in whole of The Citadel there is even a one 8M views thread, so this statement is factually false or an overlook.

I wouldn`t generalize these forums that way at all, as it has abundance of great threads and whole boards that have influenced the development for the better for everyone else, which can`t be said about Reddit or YouTube.

Maybe some people stick arround to watch angry whiteknights shamelessly defend every and any design decision and to laugh at it.

There are a ton of possibilities to why people stick arround here, the main being the oportunity to communicate with the developers, which you most likely won`t experience on any other platform including Reddit and YouTube, but one thing i can tell with certainty - everyone involved enough to post here on forums loves the franchise and wants to make it better, even if frustration slips away from time to time.

In any case, being an active part in the division, and back and forths between the "angry haters" and "shameless whiteknights" isn`t at all helpfull in my view.

68K ? Are you referring to the patch thread? A lot of views in forums are repeats - same few people coming back. Forums like these are frequented by the most active posters.


On topic - the game is a success in every objective measurement. It doesn't mean some of the criticism found in this forum is illegitimate but the game is a success. I'm sure TW is smart enough to filter through it.

 

[Mad Vader]

the game is a success in every objective measurement

That's a bold statement. Apart from initial EA sales, what other measurements make it a success?
I assume you don't count as success the failing mod development and MP scenes who might not recover at a still unknown release date.

Also while Steam player reviews kept it at "Very Positive" for whatever reasons, here's the top review - it's the same as the forum consensus here.

Although I really love this game, I cannot recommend it. The open field battles are fun but that's pretty much the only thing this game has going for it. Every other aspect of the game is lacking.

 

[Clsy]

please buff spear it's worse than a single handed sword help me

 

[Revverie]

It seems to be symptomatic of these forums specifically. The majority of Bannerlord players aren't on these forums, they're on Reddit and Youtube and other places - where there is a lot more optimism about the game and the future than this forum shows.

Sometimes I come here and scan the threads and just facepalm over and over.

Please Reddit is always the place to go if you want brain dead fans and terrible memes. The thing is posting in reddit is easy and voicing critiques in that place is next to impossible, and in youtube? Every time I enter it's either clickbait boring youtubers with 20 min videos about the same things and a lot of the comments are criticizing the game, also, in. Facebook you see a lot of critique too, so this "it's just the forums" it's a complete lie

 

[AndrewArt]

I don't really care when it officially "releases" as long as we get updates every month, and new content at least every 2 months

 

[PaTi6op]

These are just facepalm guys. You are like grumpy grandmas)

 

[five bucks]

When the date comes of the planned release from Early Access, Taleworlds needs to sit down and make themselves a complete design document for what they want a feature complete Bannerlord to look like.

It should include, in order of priority:

1. The things everyone naturally expected would be a part of Bannerlord when they bought it. Missing features from the last Mount & Blade game, and new features Taleworlds said would be in Bannerlord, such as the crime system. Also the Italo-Norman masked helmet which TW used to advertise the game, and banners.
2. Features that give a reason to exist to game mechanics that currently seem pointless. For example, right now there is very little reason to do a long-term dynasty playthrough, because once you reach the endgame and conquer all of Calradia, you run out of challenging enemies to fight. So we need a civil wars or invasions feature to introduce endgame enemies and make longer playthroughs have a reason to continue. Also, we need some kind of feature that gives the player a reason to spend time in towns, as we have these beautifully crafted city scenes but it's pointless when there's very little gameplay reason to spend time in them. And castles currently have very little reason to exist, giving barely any advantages to the player for owning them, so castles need features to make them more useful. In conclusion, features need to be added that give meaning to existing meaningless features.
   
   That can be Taleworlds' official roadmap which they should share with the whole company and community. These are reasonable goals which a company of their size and resources can be expected to complete, and which they are obligated to complete, now that they're rolling in Early Access bucks.
   
   The next two points should only be mentioned on the roadmap without details as to what they actually are; only as general guidelines.
3. "Bonus features": Anything that's been a popular request among the community, but isn't necessary to make existing game systems relevant; this category is things TW didn't give anyone reason to believe would be in the game, and thus have no obligation to work on, making it low priority. Can be considered after release and completed if there is time and inclination, or can be added as DLC later.
4. "Pet projects": Anything which TW employees personally feel like working on but nobody asked for, like barbers. These should be considered low priority as they're being paid by the community to make the game; they aren't being paid to make a game for solely their own enjoyment, and working on pet projects is time not spent working on things the customers paid for.

Such a list would be a good step towards fixing the apparent work culture issues of TW and would definitely be welcomed by the community.

 

[Tacostrom]

When the date comes of the planned release from Early Access, Taleworlds needs to sit down and make themselves a complete design document for what they want a feature complete Bannerlord to look like.

It should include, in order of priority:

1. The things everyone naturally expected would be a part of Bannerlord when they bought it. Missing features from the last Mount & Blade game, and new features Taleworlds said would be in Bannerlord, such as the crime system. Also the Italo-Norman masked helmet which TW used to advertise the game, and banners.
2. Features that give a reason to exist to game mechanics that currently seem pointless. For example, right now there is very little reason to do a long-term dynasty playthrough, because once you reach the endgame and conquer all of Calradia, you run out of challenging enemies to fight. So we need a civil wars or invasions feature to introduce endgame enemies and make longer playthroughs have a reason to continue. Also, we need some kind of feature that gives the player a reason to spend time in towns, as we have these beautifully crafted city scenes but it's pointless when there's very little gameplay reason to spend time in them. In conclusion, features need to be added that give meaning to existing meaningless features.
   
   That can be Taleworlds' official roadmap which they should share with the whole company and community. These are reasonable goals which a company of their size and resources can be expected to complete, and which they are obligated to complete, now that they're rolling in Early Access bucks.
   
   The next two points should only be mentioned on the roadmap without details as to what they actually are; only as general guidelines.
3. "Bonus features": Anything that's been a popular request among the community, but isn't necessary to make existing game systems relevant; this category is things TW didn't give anyone reason to believe would be in the game, and thus have no obligation to work on, making it low priority. Can be considered after release and completed if there is time and inclination, or can be added as DLC later.
4. "Pet projects": Anything which TW employees personally feel like working on but nobody asked for, like barbers. These should be considered low priority as they're being paid by the community to make the game; they aren't being paid to make a game for solely their own enjoyment, and working on pet projects is time not spent working on things the customers paid for.

Such a list would be a good step towards fixing the apparent work culture issues of TW and would definitely be welcomed by the community.

I agree completely with what you've written. Unfortunately I doubt that they will do anything like this, as we know the decision makers at Taleworlds are quite happy with the state of the game and do not allow for complex features to be developed. My theory is that the dynasty system will continue to be pointless (not further developed) and be a gimmick for the vanilla base game. If the heads of the team cared about depth they would be prioritizing more complex features by now.

 

[Craven4]

What year is it? 2016? Because I don't see how its acceptable to continually leave your community hanging every single time with no acknowledgement of your own shortcomings. At least mexxico had the decency to let us know that its obvious the game won't release on time. Meanwhile you @Callum and the rest of management are the WORST! You have such a dedicated fan base and yet your direction is garbage. Your respect for the community is nonexistent. You have yet to make any real progress over EA. There has not been an instance this whole EA where you made an effort to gather community feedback in a widescale or meaningful way. Mr outoftime made more progress on your mp before EA started than your studio has even attempted to make this last year.

Trim the fat! Let go! Its time to release! We all know it doesn't take this long to create a real modding tool (unlike the glorified map/model editor you call mod tools) or custom servers for mp. The community will create 10 times the game you ever could in a small fraction of the time if you just stop holding yourselves back with all these horribly thought out and executed design choices/features you have for the game.

 

[Ratvioli]

Mr outoftime made more progress on your mp before EA started than your studio has even attempted to make this last year.

lol so true

 

[MostBlunted]

Happy birthday TW! Now just sell your engine so that some dedicated studio can make a good game without relying on modders, thanks!

@armagan

Is it that hard to count all that EA money? You´ll never have this hype again. Live the moment!

As soon as another good studio will do "the same" game, with the the "same" engine, nobody will ever talk about Warband/Bannerlord again.

Maybe in reviews they´ll say some stuff like "was inspired by Warband".

Good luck with your space game. I hope you try to compete vs Elite Dangerous or Star Citizen, so your next EA "game" can be ready in 2085. Even console players aren´t that dumb...

Also good luck to find some dedicated devs like Mexxico for your next game.

Best wishes!

 

[Berzerker Jay]

For my part I'll be disappointed if they cave to this pressure. Impatience shouldn't define a game. Good development should.

If you want a game defined by impatience, feel free to play Cyberpunk2077, or any other game that got hastily released only because some prospective players were impatience, like as if kids impatient for xmas and demanding it come days early. Don't. That ruins so many great games.

 

[stevehoos]

Although Bannerlord may be a commercial success, it certainly feels like a failure. I'm guessing a lot of people don't even care anymore, because all hope in TW's ability to develop the game into something MORE THAN a wanna be action game simulator with a "sprinkling of RPG/Strategic elements" is lost. We've seen a year of EA go by with barely any meaningful content or mechanics added to game. The game lacks complexity, it lacks immersion, it lacks creativity and vision. And based on the overwhelming negativity on the forums, its appears to truly lack everything the community wanted it to be, in both MP and SP.

Yep.

 

[Moton]

a 2-person team made the original M&B all by themselves so i would expect more from Bannerlord than the orignal had, as far as we know they have close to 100 employees right now and while not all are devs of course i'm sure there must be more than 3 working on the game.

The devs seem talented and passionated enough, Mexxico for example is awesome and he speaks very well of many colleagues of him, i think the problems in the game are mostly due to the management side of things, hope they get things together and deliver on the game, they have a rough gem here just need to polish it a lot.

You simply cant compare the original Mount&Blade with Bannerlord. The complexity of the world simulator alone makes it 100 times more complex then the original game.

 

[Moton]

For my part I'll be disappointed if they cave to this pressure. Impatience shouldn't define a game. Good development should.

If you want a game defined by impatience, feel free to play Cyberpunk2077, or any other game that got hastily released only because some prospective players were impatience, like as if kids impatient for xmas and demanding it come days early. Don't. That ruins so many great games.

This is also true. However, having a deadline is proven beneficial in many cases. Atleast to have a goal as to when they would want to finnish the game.

I do agree that I would rather see the game in EA 6-12 months.

 

[Fate]

They've made their money, they don't care that they're behind or what we think

 

[Craven4]

For my part I'll be disappointed if they cave to this pressure. Impatience shouldn't define a game. Good development should.

If you want a game defined by impatience, feel free to play Cyberpunk2077, or any other game that got hastily released only because some prospective players were impatience, like as if kids impatient for xmas and demanding it come days early. Don't. That ruins so many great games.

down worry they wont
in my opinion cyberpunk is like you say because of poor development/publishing nothing to do with consumers. bannerlord is a failure in a similar way except that cyberpunk will recover on its own where as TW don't seem to have the ability to make a great game and will never deliver what many of us want even with another 5 years spent on the game. They simply have poor direction.

 

[stevepine]

Look, we know TW is not your average gaming production company. They are different. They are Turkish. They just aren't going to follow normal rules or work in the way we might expect them to. I am at peace with this. lol

I think we all have to accept this as well .

 

[AxiosXiphos]

down worry they wont
in my opinion cyberpunk is like you say because of poor development/publishing nothing to do with consumers. bannerlord is a failure in a similar way except that cyberpunk will recover on its own where as TW don't seem to have the ability to make a great game and will never deliver what many of us want even with another 5 years spent on the game. They simply have poor direction.

By What Metric is bannerlord a 'failure'?

Steam reviews?
Critical Reviews?
Sales?
Player count?

On average bannerlord has twice as many player as Warband had through it's height (apart from a couple of short peaks due to free weekends). Was warband a failure?

I get you are unhappy with the game; but by any typical standard Bannerlord is a success. Maybe it is not as good as it should be - but you can only call Bannerlord a failure in your own opinion. No statistics correlate this. (and certainly not when compared to cyberpunk).

By all accounts Bannerlord has performed very well - now we just need to reinforce the fact that the success needs to drive them to improve the game.