1. Development progress and priorities

List of devs priorities and things I would like to see ingame seems to differ a lot.
Majority of their work concentrated on deliverator content and hive upgrades.

Atm new additions to VO content consist of:
- stranded npc convoys creating a commotion around stations and wormholes
- annoying pirate bots that made sedina/odia/bractus desolate, forgotten places on our universe map
- new hive/leviathan that take boring repetitive - shoot, reload, repair - hours to kill
- new station interface
- new guns hive gat/positron, lawgun
- new trade widgets
- TPG raptor and new npc piloted capships
- new engine sounds for heavy ships
- new hive/escort/liberation/liquidation missions
- ship repair costs
- storm sector radar visibility

I agree that a lot of work went into all of this considering there is only 4 devs and it is indeed an impressive list. But.... were those things really a top priority to enhance VO content and existing playerbase happiness?

Expanding content with missions is fine and In the long term development plan, im sure they are quite necessary, but at the present moment imho we have things at the very top of priority list like:
- faction system & FF overhaul
- new, backstory consistent, nation specific technology/ships/weps/equipment
- ctc substitute to enhance competition/conflict between nations
- guild/player owned stations
- guild/player owned/piloted multiplatyer ships /gunships, capships/

Atm player created content thru RP events is the only mildly interesting thing in VO for players that passed beyond 4/4/4/4 levels. Sure you can bot/trade/mine/prospect/watch BS eye candy/hunt hive but really, for how long? Those are all highly repetitive automated tasks.

Suggestion forum is full of good suggestions. Alas, there is too many of them and prioritizing is hard, I know. But going thru all of the suggestions and announcing FOG as a major new VO thing.... I just dont know. Its a bit dissapointing.

2. Lag issues

- npc convoys jumping in sector produce a massive lag
- lot of floating cargo in sector produces serious lag
- sectors with lot of roids kill my framerate and make me lag
- BS mission with lots of cappies = unplayable lagfest

I am sure lot of "overseas/european" players expirience the same thing.
I know devs tried to fix some connection issues but they are still present and they put American players with a ping of 10-50 at advantage over the rest of us.
I tried lowering all of my settings and using every trick available to avoid lag issues but, no luck. Its seriously spoiling my gameplay.

So, im unhappy.

Thanks for saying absolutely nothing new and/or productive. I'm sure the devs appreciate it, and will get right on that new, dedicated-to-Guildsoftware intercontinental fiber-optical link and those features like capships that they've been working on four years or so. Thanks to this post, we should be expecting all of that for next week's update.

Your friendly attitude and cynicism always makes me happy Roguelazer, I probably deserve it because I am not a member of your elite social club. Heck, im not even American and its preposterous that I am even allowed to post anything.
Unworthy Europeans, how dare they voice their concerns in the presence of American gods.

I post suggestions in suggestions forum when I think something could be interesting VO content wise.
Now im not suggesting anything, as a paying customer I am voicing my concern about things that make me unhappy.

roguelazer is right, You didn´t write anything that wasn´t written before, here in the forums. Also the Devs explained the why and when of the priorities etc more than once....

For example: A VERY high priority actually is fixing the Deliverator-Stuff. As Incarnate mentioned a LOT of things based on Deliverator. As long as it isn´tfixed, you wont get other Things that are based on this.

Btw. Incarnate wrote here ( http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/1/15485?page=2 ) why there will be fog as a new feature and not something that has higher priority.

Gamedevelopment is a "little" more complicated than "Hey, thats cool, lets put it in for the next update"

I am quite aware of everything Devs said and did and I admire their hard work and dedication. I know Murphy is sitting on top of deliverator making a mockery out of it.

If anyone, Devs know that I am one of VOs most loyal players and afficionados.

Can I say I am concerned about something or do I have to keep quiet like everyone else in order to not be labelled a "troublemaker"?
You might say its not a good time to voice concerns like that, devs are hard at work, etc, etc.
Ok, then, when will be the right time?

Oh sure, Object, sure, it's more complicated than that. Game development when doing it commercially is even a bit more complicated. It is also about keeping your customers satisfied.

The main reason for sticking to Vendetta for me was the fun I had in Capture the Cargo with my guild mates. When I started there were vast groups of Serco and Itani that cared about winning that week's competitions. It forced people to cooperate and think tactically to achieve their goal. However a multitude of bugs in the CtC mission mechanism however brought an end to that fun. Bug reports were filed numerous times, but the replies were: we want to replace CtC anyway. While the Border Skirmish missions look nice, there is too much repetition and no real strategic group behaviour possible (except for YOU TAKE DOWN THE SHIELD..).

I too believe the developers are working hard, really hard even, but I too am confused about the priorities and even the deliverator problems.

.

Bojansplash: Yes, sure you can voice your concerns at any time. ;)

But do you think it really helps a dev i he reads the same things over and over again (also if its already explained erlier?)

I dont want to forbid writing about these things, dont get me wrong

avirulence: I was a commercial Game-Dev and Graphic Artist for myself, and yes, you´re right, you also have to keep customers satisfied. But: Isn´t it mor eimportant to have existing Things bugfree then having more and more content, but all bugged?
Also: Keeping the customer satisfied doesn´t mean "every customer to 100%" and also doenst mean "We have to put everything into the game that the customer wants"

The two points you make are quite valid, but introducing for instance FOG and Capship Shields is also introducing something new..

Good to know I am actually allowed to post. If Roguelazer was in FM position I would prolly be banned for life.

And FM dont shoot at soft spots... "do it really helps a dev..."
Maybe it does maybe it doesnt. Maybe its annoying as hell to them. Or, just maybe, they value input from ppl that actually play VO a lot on a daily basis.

I am not some silly kid that wants everything perfect and everything now.
I am quite accustomed to Murphy interfering in my work so sometimes I just want to smash my comps and throw them thru the window, go out to play with my dog, think happy thoughts and forget about my work.
But I dont, my customers are depending on me to finish their projects and make them happy. So i pummel Murphy in the face untill he retreats and do my best.
There is no 100% satisfaction guarrantee. People will always find something to object about.
If, in my work, I did something wrong or if i missed something, next time ill try to do it right. I expect Devs to do the same. No more, no less.

P.S.
I really like Incarnate. He is one of the rare kind I admire the most: calm, collected, straightforward and friendly. I dont want to upset him with my concerns but hey, they exist and as, like him, I want VO to become a better game, i am voicing them.

"I want VO to become a better game"

I think everyone of us wants this ;)

hell no!

I'd rather have content late, and good, than soon and broken.
With that said, I'm also becoming concerned.

If you're gonna replace CtC, and all that, why hasn't it happened? How did you allow the deliverator, being such an extremely important piece of the universe, to become so broken?

I respect the work that is being done, and I would sit silently and wait for many months still, but please at least take twenty minutes each week to tell us what's going on.

Thats one hour and twenty minutes a month of telling me why I'm paying, because I'm sure as hell not paying for the game as it stands now. I'm paying for what it will become.

Access to the in-development version is just icing on the cake.

Sure, I've had some fun in the game, and yeah, I've recently re-discovered a lot in adding a more PvP-centered character to my list, but it's not fun for long.

Don't get me wrong, the fog is awesome, and I really do love it, but how far along is the capship control interface? What about the crafting system, is that even planned yet?
I don't need it done any time soon, but a progress report is not much to ask for $9/month.

It's not like I'm costing you much in server resources :(

I'm not at all interested in going too far into this discussion. I also don't want to bring in all the normal tumble agitators (the CDC) to this very well written thread (at least by splash) but I do have to say I feel the same way as splash. Gameplay wise, we aren't any further along than we were a year and a half ago. A new UI and a bunch of new missions, that's about it. Hell, the NPCs even got a new ship we can't even use, which is completely silly. The development keeps going back to square 1, and it feels like it will never leave.

Ahhh well, bojan, I'm with ya at least. You at least care enough to voice your opinions - contrary to what others may say, it's BECAUSE you CARE that you say something, not because you merely wish to be a thorn in Guild SW's side.

I, too, experience the so-called "lag" issue, but it's all on MY end with my crappy broken video card, and has nothing to do with VO's server.

As far as what the developers of this game prioritize on, I'm pretty sure they do the best they can with what they've got.

It kills me to see this game not progressing as fast as I'd like it to. There's SO much potential. However, I'm also aware of Guild's tenuous hold on solvency. I would like nothing better than to see some investor show some balls, take a (fairly mild) chance on this game, and give Guild Software the resources necessary to spool up about 20 new employees to kick these features out the door and have 2.0 ready by next Summer.

So, I'm unhappy about that as well. But it's a hopeful kind of unhappy.

Things that would make me VERY unhappy would be:
1. Guild SW bought out by some lame-ass game developer conglomerate which immediately drops mac and unix support and puts out a PC-only EVE clone.
2. Guild SW closes up shop and turns the lights out on all that potential.

Ninny!

Well, I also am a little concerned about how things look right now, because I dont have any time to see the fog! :P

Nah, seriously, although I wont *give up* on VO, and can still have a blast blasting stuff (or these days, being blasted by stuff :P will someone hand me the WD40 already?) I have doubts too about the immediate future of VO, people are getting bored and leaving (again) meh. But VO has been through worse times! And I'm sure when the time is right, all the folk who left, will pop back, and be like *wow, we got the explore addon now? SWEET!* And again, the happy world of VO will turn like a well oiled machine.

I do miss CTC though, and getting it replaced with something simaler, or maybe just getting it fixed would be nice, but meh, I'm a patient guy, i'll wait.

Thank you Leber. You did get the "behind lines" meaning of my post quite well.
I do care and I would hate to see VO going down eaten by some greedy corporation.

As Incarnate said in some of his posts, he is intentionally holding on some game changes like faction & FF overhaul. Good or bad judgement call?

Maybe its bad, maybe if existing playerbase thinks its a question of very high importance they are actually right and implementing it would mean a big step in enhancing VO content and making players happy.

How hard is it to rework some of existing weapons and give them nation specific stats, like speed, energy consumption, damage, color?
Stats can differ in 1 point only, insignificant for overal ballance but will make players happy to use say: "serco destructor blaster" or "Itani peacemaker blaster".

CTC is dead. Replace it by naming it differently and handing out big and valuable rewards. Does that require lot of devs time and effort?

Majority of VO ships produced by TPG is silly. There is an easy solution to this. Declare some of the ships serco/itani origin and limit their availability to respective nation space. Hard to do that?

There are numerous examples like this /small changes/ posted in suggestions forum that could, by existing playerbase, be considererd as a valuable improvement that doesnt require rewriting VO from scratch.

@yodaofborg: TEH NINNY! is the correct term you git. :P

Agreed completely on all points ('cept tumble's first).

- Concerned Player

"Good to know I am actually allowed to post. If Roguelazer was in FM position I would prolly be banned for life."

"And FM dont shoot at soft spots... 'do it really helps a dev...'"

Why am I, as the ex-Forum Moderator, being involved and maligned here? I've never banned anyone for life, and my grammar is generally better than what was loosely quoted above. Additionally, the Forum Moderator account has not posted to the forums for over a year. You'll just have to deal with me as a fellow player.

With all that said, I have no problem with bojansplash stating his concerns. I believe that the concerns are legitimate and have been expressed often as of late (not that my blessing is needed, but since y'all dragged me into this ...). I also believe that the Devs have adequately explained their situation and their decision-making process. I will continue to support them with my subscription.

Sorry for the mixup Whistler. :)
I somehow got the impression that "object" is actual VO forum moderator.

And for being maligned.... please read that sentence again.
If Whistler=Roguelazer, then yes, otherwise you misunderstood it.

Cool. I now object to being compared to "object". My spelling, grammar and typing skills are superior. ;)