To TaleWorlds

[TheBard]

I personally think it's time to conclude that TW is just not competent as a game development company. The reason why people disagree about this is context. Those who have played the series before see that very little has actually changed and added from the original Mount & Blade design (Mount&Blade 1, not Warband) which was released in 2008 (and designed presumably much earlier). Those who haven't played Warband don't realize this, and think what they see in Bannerlord is new and the result of post 2012 (when it was announced) game design. This clearly is not the case.

The truth is that TaleWorlds is far behind on current standards of the game (design and development) industry. The impact of alpha and beta on the state of the game was apparently negligible, there are no up-to-date communication lines with the community regarding upcoming content or feedback. To give an example for comparison here is ArmA 3's roadmap all of which was created by a team smaller than TW, tested internally using bleeding edge bug & UX testing processes, and delivered on time. As it is, 12 years later, TW is still unable to pull of a proper feedback loop and create and release content when it matters, this was the case in Warband days too.

I think it's a mistake to assume that people will just keep waiting too. You can only disappoint people so often before they grow an irresistible desire to move on.

You can't deny that they made quite a lot of money on the EA. While I don't think that they will bail on their promise to finish the game, it might not be what we wanted/expected. Time will tell.

What I'd like to point out is that Warband itself as a multiplayer game was entirely kept alive by the community. The community fixed the glitches on maps (remember the Orignal Maps from 2010 somewhen, where you got stuck on ladders etc?) and even rebalanced the game with a patch, created new Maps, created Mods. Viking Invasion and Napoleonic Warfare - official installments of TaleWorlds - started as mods!

The constant progress in tactics, playstyle and personall skill was achieved by the community, ****tons of tournaments, league formats etc made the game last through multiple "generations" of players. Custom servers were the key for that. An official ETA for this would be good, to know if we waste time or not. Right now I still have time to play this game and "git gud" again. I probably won't have the time to achieve all this in two or three years. Like so many others I'd like to know if I waste my time or not.
People who just join the franchise right now don't know about this - and it's totally unfair to blame them for that or generally be an arrogant prick around them, we all started somewhere, right? We will just shoo them away from MP with this. And we should not strive to do that or disregard them because we need them - new players mean more signifance for MP, more competition etc etc.

 

[RCC_God]

Have you and metafa talked to anyone who’s played a little bit? 90% of people have stopped playing, except for people like me who are masochists

 

[TheBard]

Have you and metafa talked to anyone who’s played a little bit? 90% of people have stopped playing, except for people like me who are masochists

Count me in that 20%, me and my lads
Some people are - in my humble opinion at least - too negative about it. But I can't say that I see myself grinding this game like I did grind Warband in a couple of weeks or even months. Especially when the lockdown ends.

 

[RCC_God]

Count me in that 20%, me and my lads
Some people are - in my humble opinion at least - too negative about it. But I can't say that I see myself grinding this game like I did grind Warband in a couple of weeks or even months. Especially when the lockdown ends.

It’s fun to play with the boys but I can’t bring myself to play with more than 2 guys with the state of stacks rn lol

 

[TheBard]

I hear you and agree with what you say about not being arrogant around new joiners (i never intended to do that, so forgive me if the post comes off as such), but still am a firm believer of "vote with your money/attention". I'm not saying people are at fault for being new, only that it takes more than face value judgement to come to a proper understanding of the situation we (the community of Bannerlord players) are dealing with.

I wouldn't say that you in particular are/were arrogant I have some others on my list
I'd say we all should be more nice to each other. Disappointment in the current state of affairs should be expressed, but we should not resort to look down on newly joined players. This game is still unique in so many ways and I can say that Warband and the M&B Franchise in itself brought me a lot of joy but also quite some negative feelings. More than any other computer game I played before.

It’s fun to play with the boys but I can’t bring myself to play with more than 2 guys with the state of stacks rn lol

Well, grinding the system is the only way to get better. And since I quit Warband for over one year completely I need to git gud again.

 

[TheBard]

Whole heartedly agree again. It's the only reason why i'm still here and elswhere voicing my opinion and hoping for improvement. There is so much potential in the series and even Bannerlord, but it's at risk of going to waste at the hands of TW.

I can't agree more. The reason why I spent my money blindly after the beta test was due to 2 circumstances: I had nothing else to do (lockdown, yey!) and of course - the awesome memories of teenager me grinding through Warband. I looked at some old screenshots and watched some old videos and decided "Yes! Let's do this again! This will be awesome!!".
I can't say I didn't have my fun yet, it's also depending and what you want to do in the MP - but I can't see the long term motivation I immediately saw in Warband.