Taleworlds? Are you there?

[Antrix32]

Apologies about the remark about rank, suppose that just comes with the constant dismissal of "recruits" I've seen on here in the past few weeks.

They have clearly already listened to feedback considering the single player thus far, directly applying requested changes. I've seen actual interaction on here on and Reddit and though minimal on the MP side of things, at least complaints are being addressed. This is not something they were all together good at during previous iterations, concerning both multiplayer and single player. You can point to their history of single minded vision, but can't look at the updates since Bannerlord launched and say they haven't taken feedback into consideration stronger than during previous games development. The lack of substantial updates during Beta was disconcerning but not all togeather surprising considering they were pushing for a EA release. The whole thing screamed "performance test" over "mechanics test".

Will their speed of updates addressing issues brought up by the community transition into multiplayer if/when they switch focus? Thats pretty much just a wait and see at this point. I'm just glad to actually see feedback being taken into consideration via SP thus far. Their priority will always be Single Player and for good reason, but with the growth of the studio its not exactly unlikely a stronger focus could be put on MP in the future. I doubt Taleworlds will ever be as communicative as other studios, thats a fairly lost cause, but I can forsee actual issues being fixed in further down the line when SP is in a "working as intended" state. If they stick to their guns and their "vision" for certain mechanics and its alienates the competitive community, so be it. It will force them to implement the changes or have small online community. Personally, Im waiting to see the state of MP on launch to decide whether to give up on it, I'm not in the defeatist "Devs aren't listening, game is doomed" mindset some seem to be. Not necessarily yourself, but its easy to see that attitude through the forums.

 

[Jess_the_Hobozerk]

Apologies about the remark about rank, suppose that just comes with the constant dismissal of "recruits" I've seen on here in the past few weeks.

They have clearly already listened to feedback considering the single player thus far, directly applying requested changes. I've seen actual interaction on here on and Reddit and though minimal on the MP side of things, at least complaints are being addressed. This is not something they were all together good at during previous iterations, concerning both multiplayer and single player. You can point to their history of single minded vision, but can't look at the updates since Bannerlord launched and say they haven't taken feedback into consideration stronger than during previous games development. The lack of substantial updates during Beta was disconcerning but not all togeather surprising considering they were pushing for a EA release. The whole thing screamed "performance test" over "mechanics test".

Will their speed of updates addressing issues brought up by the community transition into multiplayer if/when they switch focus? Thats pretty much just a wait and see at this point. I'm just glad to actually see feedback being taken into consideration via SP thus far. Their priority will always be Single Player and for good reason, but with the growth of the studio its not exactly unlikely a stronger focus could be put on MP in the future. I doubt Taleworlds will ever be as communicative as other studios, thats a fairly lost cause, but I can forsee actual issues being fixed in further down the line when SP is in a "working as intended" state. If they stick to their guns and their "vision" for certain mechanics and its alienates the competitive community, so be it. It will force them to implement the changes or have small online community. Personally, Im waiting to see the state of MP on launch to decide whether to give up on it, I'm not in the defeatist "Devs aren't listening, game is doomed" mindset some seem to be. Not necessarily yourself, but its easy to see that attitude through the forums.

It's hard not to have that attitude for MP when in remembrance of their lack of support for Warband MP throughout its beta and early life. The confusing thing to me as you said is my wondering of why did they even bother with a beta considering nothing of worth was actually addressed. It did scream of a stability test. Although 9 months is quite a long time for something as simple as a stability test which confuses me even further. That isn't even mentioning the fact that a large portion of those players will migrate to private dedicated servers upon their release alleviating the burden on official servers even more.

I can only presume if everything had a logical linear pathway; that they are expecting for higher stress on official servers for rated MMR which would obviously only be held on official servers by a bastion host for integrity. However if that were the case, it brings into question once again why would they alienate the competitive community if their intention was to create official rated MMR for competitive; it's ripping the plant out of the pot before it can even grow.

From my perspective, nothing seems to follow a logical pathway for success in MP and it all screams of either complete and utter incompetence, or lack of care. I assume it is the latter because if they were only incompetent, they would have only needed to heed advice by those they alienated.

This all comes to my final conclusion; they don't care. Singleplayer brings in the dollars short term and they are happy with the short term capital; they need not invest.

 

[Antrix32]

It is important to note that Singleplayer isn't just short term, Warband sold consistently well throughout its long life span. Its a game that benefited massively from its modding community breathing new life into the game constantly. There is a very understandable reason why Single Player is their primary focus.

That being said, I don't believe Il convince you otherwise but I'm still not settled on that mindset of the devs simply not caring. I will, should issues not be addressed during Early Access but as with all parts of the game right now, I'm willing to weather all issues provided they are actually fixed prior to launch, as I know I've bought into a incomplete experience. Obviously if it launches with the issues we still see, I have no intention of clinging to a sinking ship. quicker fixes would be better, but provided they actually come, the multiplayer community will return, I dont blame anybody for abandoning multiplayer for the time being. All the necessary feedback has already been given. Now lets see what Taleworld does with it

If not, theres always Warband to go back to.

 

[Jess_the_Hobozerk]

It is important to note that Singleplayer isn't just short term, Warband sold consistently well throughout its long life span. Its a game that benefited massively from its modding community breathing new life into the game constantly. There is a very understandable reason why Single Player is their primary focus.

That being said, I don't believe Il convince you otherwise but I'm still not settled on that mindset of the devs simply not caring. I will, should issues not be addressed during Early Access but as with all parts of the game right now, I'm willing to weather all issues provided they are actually fixed prior to launch, as I know I've bought into a incomplete experience. Obviously if it launches with the issues we still see, I have no intention of clinging to a sinking ship. quicker fixes would be better, but provided they actually come, the multiplayer community will return, I dont blame anybody for abandoning multiplayer for the time being. All the necessary feedback has already been given. Now lets see what Taleworld does to it.

If not, theres always Warband to go back to.

I think it was a mistake to release multiplayer in this state. You only get 1 real chance to leave a good first impression. It's much harder to reshape that first impression to newer players who are not as dedicated to the series. Just releasing a singleplayer EA, would have been much better for the health of MP by waiting and making a big release for the MP when it was a finished product.

 

[Antrix32]

I think it was a mistake to release multiplayer in this state. You only get 1 real chance to leave a good first impression. It's much harder to reshape that first impression to newer players who are not as dedicated to the series. Just releasing a singleplayer EA you could buy in like we have would have been much better for the health of MP to release it as a finished product.

Honestly I look at games like No Mans Sky and the atrocious launch, then the influx of players after they decided to fix many issues and just think its possible for games now to completely revamp issues and bring people back to their game. You're right in principle, a game should launch in a good state (in this case, Early Access gives some leniency, but not completely), but in practise I don't think the current state of MP is going to doom the game if they end up fixing it. Worse off? Probably and I think your final suggestion would have been better after beta, as that was enough to get feedback, though It would have to release some time during EA just to be sure players could then test the new changes,give more feedback, and refine it. (granted, all that could have been done in beta)

 

[Jess_the_Hobozerk]

Honestly I look at games like No Mans Sky and the atrocious launch, then the influx of players after they decided to fix many issues and just think its possible for games now to completely revamp issues and bring people back to their game. You're right in principle, a game should launch in a good state (in this case, Early Access gives some leniency, but not completely), but in practise I don't think the current state of MP is going to doom the game if they end up fixing it. Worse off? Probably and I think your final suggestion would have been better after beta, as that was enough to get feedback, though It would have to release some time during EA just to be sure players could then test the new changes,give more feedback, and refine it. (granted, all that could have been done in beta)

No Man's sky was a bit unique in that they had significant media exposure hyping it for a long time, and even more attention after the launch through infamy. Even with all of that, it took several massive packages each worth being called an expansion in its own right to turn customer's opinion. Of course as dedicated TaleWorlds fans, we only want the best for the IP and I hope they will take more care in MP later down the route. That doesn't mean I won't stop spreading my opinions and suggestions like a plague though.