The problem of why people are unable to understand why these updates are being performed even though Incarnate has promised future changes is because we just haven't seen those changes at all yet. We do not know whether those changes may actually happen or are empty words, in other words we are unable to keep our faith holding out and we need some consolation to keep our faith in this game going.

From a message of mine on #general:

I believe that the reason the playerbase is unable to grasp the reason of certain "nerfs" we see in the game may be because Incarnate does not share with us his full vision for the game. Maybe, if Incarnate helped us by indicating at least a rough version of how this game is heading, it would be a great help and would renew our trust in him a hundredfold.

If Incarnate would take the time to make a "roadmap" of sorts of how this game is going, what the Universe Redux is about, what the planned changes are and accepts feedback, I am sure the entire community would take it positively and contribute in order to bring out a good end result.

Agreed.

He said he simply doesn't have the time right now.. but i think it would be cool to see that, when he does find the time to do so.

But he *does* have the time to give us walls of text about why he can't and etc? Yea okay lol

Agreed. A roadmap would be outstanding. Even if its something as simple as a Trello board.

Here is an example of a simple, yet effective, Trello board: https://trello.com/b/oxZy19l5/millikans-reach

A GREAT example of a development roadmap and OUTSTANDING community communication can be found on Artix Entertainment's website for AdventureQuest 3D. Link is below.

https://aq3d.com/game-plan/

But he *does* have the time to give us walls of text about why he can't and etc? Yea okay lol

Yes, this is probably easier.

Yes, this is probably easier.

This is the perfect example of an invalid response.

All the time spent in making responses of how he would not share his vision, would be more than enough for him to actually share it. "He does not have time" or "it is easier" is not an answer. At the rate it is going, he may not have people to play if this continues.

The only answers I will accept are 1: admitting the mistake and promising a roadmap within a while or 2: giving us a justified reason why he has not shared it and will continue not to do so.

All the time spent in making responses of how he would not share his vision, would be more than enough for him to actually share it.

You don't know how long he spends making his responses, and you don't know what would be involved in making such a hypothetical roadmap visible.

At the rate it is going, he may not have people to play if this continues.

This strikes me as unhelpful speculation.

Look, you seem to have the idea that Incarnate is holding on to super secret knowledge regarding the future of Vendetta that could easily be made public by posting a simple jpeg, or something. To some extent this might be true, but I expect the overall picture is much more complex.

We have a history of updates which provides a helpful trajectory, and at least Incarnate takes time right now to respond in detail to concerns which are, quite frankly, vociferously voiced and based on... a slight capital ship weapon nerf? Like... is this really because capital ships can't mount as many swarms?

If you really think the game's community would be better off if there were a detailed, publicly available roadmap, I'm not sure I agree. I think if it were a high yield, low cost effort without potentially setting people's expectations in the wrong direction it would have happened by now.

Finally, if you take time to read Incarnate's posts he does provide quite a bit of info regarding his vision for the future of the game. There just aren't any timelines we can see.

Incarnate works in mysterious ways, you just need to have faith in the creator.

In my opinion, he provides timelines that are in the years range. The specific examples I'm talking about or when we provide suggestions to balance out capital swarms and such other gameplay features. Instead of actually giving a response the same length of "we can't do this because of X feature we are working on to improve the problems Y causes, which we are well aware of" we get the "the future plans we have will change things and improve everything or etc etc just wait blah blah blah" the way incarnate is handling the community (us) isn't appropriate to me. Even if it's "well we are gonna fix that by doing this to this" or "yea this is a good temporary solution but it won't be like that permanently" as far as I can see he hasn't really told us anything of the future except for way back when he talked about updating the universe and etc. Giving us two to three sentences to explain in a short summary what he has in mind for VO wouldn't waste as much time as constantly battling the community about talking about it or the constant suggestions about nerfing or balancing.

The belief that sharing long-term plans quickly and easily is likely based on the assumption that the information would require minimal upkeep.

The assumption misses the fact that Guild frequently turns on a dime to take advantage of new opportunities as they arise, which may invalidate long-term plans that might have been shared. The plan may change frequently, and sometimes the plan may involve significant information that cannot be shared due to non-disclosure agreements with other entities. Guild's agility is one reason why VO is still alive and being talked about as an essential element of the genre.

Incarnate has shared plans in the past, only to pivot for an opportunity that changes the path. Then users here have accused him of "lying" and so forth. A tracker would be nice and has been discussed before, but the maintenance is not trivial.

If we're talking about long-term VISION, that's a different matter, but it would not include the details people seem to want.

The "plan" if it effects gameplay a lot should be shared with us before he decides to make a decision llike that. If we are expecting him to do X, then Y comes up he should at the very least give us a warning that something new was found. And if people would be okay with such a thing. He isn't the one playing the game, we are. And as such it affects us what he does and doesn't do.

I totally disagree. VO is Guild's vision and is not subject to democratic process, group politics, petitions, or the like. I know it's fashionable to claim otherwise, but the fact is these things have no impact on the direction of the game. I have observed Guild for something like 17 continuous years, and I can tell you that they have their own compass.

Think of it like a movie: Great directors completely curate the experience. A movie by committee would be garbage (and often is even with a small committee like a major movie studio's execs).

We don't get to tell other developers how to make their games - it's already done. Here we get to share suggestions and thoughts with the people making the game. Let's enjoy that and strive to make it a rewarding experience for them.

Quite a few people aren't seeing it as a rewarding experience. But indeed. It's his game. He does what he wants with it then.

I could counter that quite a few DO enjoy the experience. Let's concentrate on speaking for ourselves.

Quite a few do because the ones who don't left.

We've learned that people who like what VO is doing stay, and those who don't leave. That's true of anything. VO is not a normal experience, which is what makes it great and why it isn't for everyone.

I, for one, will not engage in speculation of how many people are staying or leaving based on anecdotal information.

There's evidence of it. VO is losing players. Which is pretty obvious. VO may get more players then it's losing but the players it's losing are the vital ones who stayed a long time. The new ones play maybe a month or two then leave. VO was great for the most part because people play it and you can interact with others.

well maybe a simple roadmap with main version numbers and associated features, without any release date on it, could give a bone to chew to those ungrateful spoiled kids.
Or maybe Inc just doesn't have a clue of what's next yet :p.

Lol very true. This "plan" might just be his way of saying this is improvised every step