I lament,

1 player online "Itani IRC bot..."

average amount of players online anymore, 8!

Has Vendetta fallen into the trap so many MMORPG's have?

Where are the player's?!

mutorcs

--- Edit ----

Phaserlight, your right...

Question toned way down, still disturbed though.

Nothing to see here folks....

See my thread in the suggestions forum. This is a disturbing trend, though.

You mean "where are the _testers_ ?"

I agree SirCamps,
they should trim the universe down while still leaving the larger univeres available through special warps...

I really miss the players...

This for me is not a knock on the new universe, it's just to empty right now. And the chat... I rather liked the old system.

what do yall think?

mutorcs

This will all change with more mission content and open beta...sheesh....n00bs.

All you have to do, if you don't want to test (which the Devs really need more of you to do right now), is to come in, pick an unaligned sector that has good ships/weapons, home there and fight each other. The chat system has been tweeked to allow Universe-wide, un-timed chat (channel 100) and if you do this, there is virtually no difference from the old universe.

Trimming the universe down will not help...even if they shrunk it to 6x6x30 systems, it would still take just as long to get around.

Those that just sit outside and clamor for more content are actually holding things up because the Devs are forced to come in and beta-test the Universe themselves.

Easy yall...

more noobs would be nice... , but I would rather see more of the old hats on thats all, I miss the in game hustle and bustle yadda yadda yad...

but for now I think RelayeR hit the nail on the head for me, Thanx R.
I'm not actually requesting any changes, though a open chat system would be nice for now...

mutorcs

*sigh*

http://www.vendetta-online.com/h/news.html

Please review the news and interviews. Vendetta beta is in rapid production in order to get it into shape for going live.

There really is no time or manpower to undo the work that has been done. Vendetta must be allowed to evolve, or it will die. This lull is a natural and expected part of that evolution.

Is it exciting? Not at the moment, but building a solid foundation rarely is. Keep in mind, too, that most games in this stage of beta would simply shut down during a lull like this, and reopen only when there was an update. The amount of users currently on is not a valid measure of future success.

Vendetta has not fallen into a trap like so many other MMORPG - because it is not a MMORPG yet. It's like you're walking through a house that has no sheathing or sheetrock on it and saying "Boy, I'd never buy this house! It's way too drafty!"

Can we now please cease with all the "doom and gloom" threads?

now maybe... just maybe.. if we all stopped whining and just logged into the game it could cause a cascade effect, and we could all have some fun...

Icarus has the best point here. Right now what the game lacks is people, so log in and play!

The chat system is completely open if you figure out how to use it. /join 100. Use capital T to talk to channel 100 (or click on the Channel button at the bottom of the station screen). Both of the other players online are most likely on channel 100.

I know it's been said, but yes, there is nothing to do, which is why there is nobody online. Why would we open up testing to the public now? I mean, look at the Suggestions forum.

"What's the point of this game? It's too bad there isn't an elaborate 55-page backstory for this game, so we'd have something to fight about! It'd be cool if there were trade convoys or something! I have this great idea -- storms should show some graphical effect! Wow, these missions sure are boring! Why do I keep hitting storms when all they do is slow me down? Boy, you guys should really advertise!"

Comments like those are an argument for shutting down our test server for a while. There's so much crap that's missing, and the game obviously doesn't "work" without it.

We'll open the public beta when the game is actually something we're proud to show the world. We have a lot of changes coming yet.

One thing that we did add that I haven't even seen used is the Serco-Itani nation combat missions which direct you to system 4 to duke it out. Last time Waylon and I tried it, it mostly worked..

I love the edit function!

I don't think theres nothing to do, theres plenty to do.

It just gets a little lonely thats all, I knew about channel 100 but theres generaly not alot of peeps on.


mutorcs

Well Andy, I know it's been used because I've seen people use it. Early on, there was a problem with Itani bots coming on for Serco pilots but that was straightened out long ago.

Everyone can still battle/bot, trade and chit-chat...what's the problem?

Get your butts in there and test the crap outta this baby!

New content is coming but, i bet not before old content is fully tested!

[edit - "both of the other players..." You kill me, Andy...you really kill me!! :-) ]

I'm guilty of not being on much too. I'll make an effort to log on and stay on in the evenings. If you're lucky you can find me in System 4 and knock the rust off of me.

a1k0n: Thanks for not shutting down the server despite having every reason to do so. All bitching aside, I still usually log on for a half hour or so to do a leisurely trade run and just fly about... even without content, this game draws me in.

And thanks for taking the time to answer our complaints and rants. Can't be much fun to be on quiet-the-whining-tester duty.

The testers don't have new features to test.

I love the new Universe. I think the channel based chat is great. I've almost been enjoying trade missions. I even was almost pirated by some assault III's that a storm bumped me into. The beta still seems to have amazing potential to be a great game, but...

I can only play now and then for fairly short periods of time. All the level related things to do are very long term. I get no pay off for trading or botting for a few hours and then it's time to go and why would I want to do the exact same thing the next day. It is real player interactions give me that immediate feedback/enjoyment that I need to keep playing a game.

As far as I could tell it was not the expanded universe that killed the tester population it was the new stats system. Server population was at a low before the new universe launch and the chat adjustments combined with the huge universe just exasperated the problem.

As far as the there's nothing to do theory, well there is far more to do than there used to be, it's just that it's all single player (trading, botting) or AI controlled role-playing (Serco, Itani border skirmishes). The one multi-player thing we had (kill each other) is now too complicated to do anymore.

I assume that as these single-player issues get fleshed out that the games focus will once again turn towards player to player interaction and thus be fun again.

As it stands if you play at my frequency you'll be subscribed for a year before you reach level 5. If your into PvP then good luck dodging anyone with your medium engine.

As the old Space Quake days taught us, combat is very equipment dependant. I've dueled enough in the new universe with my plasma hx to know that it's not really that fun. As far as that goes it's not even that good for level III bots. Perhaps in a full release crowded universe there would be more people at my level so this will be a moot point. However it feels like I will always be forced to either excessively bot/run trade missions, or always be outclassed by those with more time on there hands.

Summary + 2 cents: I think the population is low because many people don't like mindless leveling. Faction standings are great, levels are fine too but they need to impact you less and be less arbitrary (what is the real world correlation?) Keep moving them in the direction of opening up special options but have MOST stuff available to all at very early levels (like 3 or 4)

I really think you need to be able to PLAY without feeling like you have to be LEVELING all the time.

ed. regarding a1k0n's comments below: That sounds just about perfect to me. Not that I'm suprised that the devs are paying attention to their game...

I suppose I should have qualified that statement: there is nothing _fun_ to do in the game. That the levelling treadmill is unbelievably boring is obvious to everybody.

We share your concerns about levelling, casual playing, etc. The plan from now on is to make the equipment (weapons, ships, etc) available at higher levels only marginally better than ones you get at level 4 or whatever minimum level any experienced player can reach quickly. [That doesn't, by the way, refer to what you get -now- at level 4. I expect that will change dramatically.] And to introduce a whole lot more weapons to fill the gaps. And to make PVP combat the best way to level up to get your marginally better combat equipment. And to introduce sort of "minigames", such as blockading/defending trade routes of special shipments of items -- the idea being sort of like CTF, but the opposing teams try to get the most widgets into their own territory.

As far as shutting the server down... do it... ESPECIALLY if you anticipate that it'll take you about a month or so to release a new version of the beta. SAVE yourselves the cash of the hosting! :)

P.S.
NO, To all the doom and gloomers out there, I have NO KNOWLEDGE of GS's cash flow. I have NO KNOWLEDGE of how much or how little they have. Just applying some common sense and economics here. So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT READ ANYTHING MORE INTO THIS POST.

P.P.S
If ANYONE says anything about GS running out of cash because of my post... well.. I'll rip ya a couple of new ones! :)