Utopia blog - June 24th

[Lydias]

Please use this thread to comment on this week's Utopia Blog

[Scontan]

yaj something to read at work!

FTW

[Toadi]

We were initially tempted to try to create a look-and-feel that doesn’t look like something from the nineties (...) So we hope that when you see it, you’ll forgive us for not making it as shiny as it deserves to be.

Seems pretty clear to me that you do not understand yet what Utopia players want. You would have been BLAMED for making something shiny.

the purchasing of credits for premium features

Cool, now I got a real reason for not returning!

Awesome job, OMAC :)

[butterflyFX]

Cool, now I got a real reason for not returning!

Awesome job, OMAC :)

*sighs*

Actually, we all know that you'll create a new account, as you'll stick to these forums as well.


It's kinda funny to see people making pathetic statements about leaving, not returning and whatever.... and, still, they are all here.

[Luth]

butterfly, stop accusing people of being pathetic... whether or not they're still here is irrelevant. and in the 3rd post here you've already accomplished in taking this thread off topic. good for you.

i agree completely with Toadi, i would have hated a new "shiny" product and hope that it stays somewhat the way it is now. the way we've had it since the "last century"... FU is the "shiny" new product, and we want no part of that.

All we want is our "dull" old product to function properly....

Sean and Brian, how long are you anticipating the "alpha" phase of this to last? genesis has already gone triple time, and we'd like some kind of indication as to when we "might" expect it to end.

[butterflyFX]

butterfly, stop accusing people of being pathetic...

I'll stop with that, when people stop being pathetic - simple as that.

and in the 3rd post here you've already accomplished in taking this thread off topic. good for you.

Actually, it was Toadi who accomplished that by pushing the direction of this thread towards "Sean and Brian fail" (or "Evil OMAC"), no?

[Toadi]

I haven't been playing for 8 monthes already lol.

And well, there are like 2 relevant things in this blog entry, I commented both, what else do you expect?

[Luth]

actually, butterfly, he made comments directly related to the blog, whereas you did not.

so just go crawl back under your rock.

[Scontan]

bah at ppl whining at omac trying to make it "shiny"/"attractive" fr a new crowd.

I prefere some GUI changes along with a minor/major boost in population on the server then to have it as it is and let it die off even more.

She expects us all to simply worship the ground they walk on and be completely satisfied being treated like shit by the moderation team.

S&B - please excuse all the ongoing negativity regarding these forums. If you haven't been able to tell they've been out of control with moderator power trips and lack of consistency. This has also created a rift between the players, for those whom have been following whats going on and care about it, and those that do not and just wish it away.

On that note, I'd like to thank you for your consistency, as well as thank you for the decision to leave the game dull. I think you'll find many people are satisfied with the 'classic' layout, so I strongly suggest you implement the choice of themes before you make modifications to the current one.

I hope the premium account credit system is no different than the current one (except maybe actually working and able to transfer say 5 coins instead of the 20 minimum now). Any more money-making jolt ecstatic additions will likely make this into more of a pay-to-play game and that's likely not going to be beneficial to the player base (pending implementation).

Glad you've taken Hurlins suggestion on board. As Dharan said at the end of the last blog, don't expect much questions/feedback from the active part of the community. We've essentially been run off these boards.

[Scontan]

I have one question to Sean & Brian.

As you most likely noticed already a big part of the "core community" around utopia have strong ties to IRC.

Last ages there has been plenty of rumors about people adusing administation powers on utonet (the main IRC server for utopia), wich has lead to many kingdoms and groups within utopia running off to new servers / their own servers etc. This creates segragation within the game, and is imo, very sad to see.

Now to my question:

Are you guys considering to help us by providing an official server, wich wont (becosue it cant) be abused by certain groups with administraton powers with the community?

And if you guys do that, it would be an excellent chance of adding a ingame chatt function tied to IRC (give monarch option to tie a certain IRC channel to the kingdom), wich would be a huge extra bonus!

[Lydias]

I'd like that too :)

[Lead Pipe]

@ Sean & Brian

When OMAC took over the game, at the first age change they announced that they would not be making any game changes for the new age. This drew quite a bit of criticism from the player-base. Then, seemingly at the last minute OMAC decided they would put in some racial changes and a few other tweaks.

And so began The Great Debacle

The age dragged on abit longer than first announced, but the worse part was the extended downtime we were forced to suffer through. It was a full week before we could login to the new age. During this week of downtime they were contacting people who play in the game and trying to get feedback on some proposed changes. The community as a whole were extremely frustrated because the people at OMAC didn't seem to have a clue as to what to do. These forums turned sour and it continues to this day.

There first mistake was not planning on having any changes. The second, and even worse mistake, was backtracking and trying to rapidly put in changes. I think that week of downtime ruin a lot of the hope and enthusiasm the player base had for the new owners. We were happy mehul sold the game, because we could tell he lost the passion he once had, but when OMAC fumbled the ball during that transition we found ourselves missing the old man.

New ages and new changes have always brought renewed enthusiasm for the player-base. A new age without any changes won't have the same effect, big changes have always meant big enthusiasm. So PLEASE consider making some game changes when you begin this next age, and get them figured out early so the transition runs smoother.

[Palem]

the purchasing of credits for premium features

This concerned me as well but hopefully they're smart enough to realize that a pay-to-win game will be the sudden end of utopia. Hopefully this is just stuff like "No ads" and "Sitting" and things of that nature.

It's nice to see that Alpha testing is ready. Hopefully everything goes well and we can get some new ages going =\.

Also, I agree that you should immediately make it a choice if you want to switch the look of the game to something else. I quite enjoy the 'old' look and would likely be dissatisfied with something else.

Also, could a mod delete butterfly's posts where he addresses Toadi as being "pathetic". That's a direct insult to Toadi which is clearly against the rules.

[Luth]

agree completely with Palem. it's sad that we have to point out the insults that they choose to leave alone. Not to mention her post was completely off-topic and should be deleted solely for that reason.

if they make the game pay to win, i'm out. i've been unemployed for almost 3 yrs and can not afford to pay any amount whatsoever to play a game.

Lead Pipe, i'd much prefer they get a stable product first before making changes. Make it a short age once it's out and then implement some changes, but let's get it working first.