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Dexter

Falling Population and the Realities of Atlas

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 Might not succeed like Ark has which is something I'm sure a lot of people that can connect the dots could see within the past month. I discussed how it lacks good hooks, this is a primary reason why people are leaving. It's not the stone structures or the Chinese, it's that people don't feel rewarded enough or compelled to finish through to end game

 

As some are saying, it's EA which is true but no excuse. They'll 100% have big sales to draw in the crowds but the numbers right now are not promising. Unless they reveal dramatic changes to breeding, MMO mechanics, huge push on magic - this game will keep moving forward but it'll never draw the huge crowds Ark has on and off throughout the years thus. 

 

Modding community is the one thing that might save the day (again). Downside is that people are playing this game to sail vast differences which will be problematic for those developing maps.. but it could also bring incredible new opportunities we haven't seen before. There are a lot more avenues for modders to go down off the bat. The big issue is a lot of modders that invest months/years into their mod want a lot of people to use their work obviously.. if the game is doing poorly my population count, there's going to be far less incentive. The good thing though is Wildcard/Grapeshot clearly see the value in mods.. they literally built a game combing them. 

 

Using us at test pigs without remotely testing it first in a private test environment WILL hurt the game. Say whatever you like, that it's EA, just leave if you don't like it.. whatever.. that's not my point. My point is their practices are selfharming and they don't care. They think they can pull the same stunts off they did with Ark. Statistically speaking this game is way worse off from the start than Ark was in many really important ways that matters including the ratings potential buyers see, it'd scare me away too but also the current player base is treated like shit. 

 

They might not care too much about the population. As crazy as that sounds there is the possibility that they don't care just like Ark. I mean they care to an extent but nothing to lose sleep over. As long as people are able to play the game and their PR is decent, they're good. The target people who've never heard the game, when it goes on sale for $15 - they nab those people. By the time they figure out what the game really is about that they're playing, they've already gone well past the max time allowed for refunds by Steam. If you quit you quit, who cares. They might not be as desperate to keep us as people might think which sucks if you really want this game to work.

 

 

In short: If they REALLY want this game to succeed they'll STOP thinking they know best. They'll STOP saying they listen and respond to the community yet do things they KNOW will piss EVERYONE off. This game will not die. If you are saying that, I really think you're either A) an idiot or B) trolling. For most of us that care about the game, it's rather or not it'll end up like a Conan Exiles or an Ark. Rather you can spend years with this game playing it every day or a good couple months. Rather modders feel the need to pour months into a grand product or not. That's why the dwindling population is a huge red flag, because the reality is people might already be over Atlas. Ark had the advantage of being a first of it's kind, with a huge crowd funding mentality behind it - Atlas doesn't have that same vibe thus in order to keep that ball rolling, they'll need to not treat it like Ark and be significantly more pro-active. This is the wrong studio to hope for that, unfortunately. 

 

Should you stop wasting time and leave or stick around? Numbers really only matter so much so I think if you like the game you should stick around. I think if you are obsessed with how popular a game is, just leave. Also, if you can't handle the fact that a lot of things we want to see may never happen and that this studio will always be the way it is now - then leave. Otherwise, stick around but being that it's so EA, take some forced breaks, make yourself only play X amount of hours during the week, etc. 

 

 

I have a big feeling they'll F things up for themselves, not heed the warning signs of the community that's trying to help them. I really hope I'm wrong. The silliest of things they could easily implement, they don't. To me, that in itself says a lot. 

 

There is such thing as too late.

Edited by Dexter
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...

t's that people don't feel rewarded enough or compelled to finish through to end game

I would say - game DO NOT REWARD players for anything. I mean... I'm 1lvl, in my underwear, I go ashore and being killed by a lvl2 wolf right? After a month I lvl50 with yellow plate armor I go ashore a-a-a-a-and... being killed by a lvl2 wolf.

So what's the point of lvl growing? Yes I can open more structures I can do more "SIMS 2" stuff but... what about adventures? I can spend hours and hours of gathering resources and after that I UPGRADE MY SPEAR and INCREASE IT DAMAGE FROM 26 TO 27!!!!!!!! So much effort and such a great reward right?

---

Or like we go this adventures. We spend couple hours to prepare it. We craft some heavy firearms, grenades. Then after couple hours sailing we face army of damned. We throw grenades, shoot all fire arrows, shootgun and all that stuff. And then when we done - we try to dig a treasure and game sais "there are couple of solders left". Ok we search them. Unable to find. Then whole army respawn. AND WE DEAL WITH THIS ARMY WITHOUT ANY GRENADES, FLAME ARROWS ETC! Just whit spears. So what's the point of preparing? Why we wasted few hours? We could just set sails and go...

---

And yet... you can easily loose everything. All stuff you have been creating for a week or even months.

None of your equipment, leveling, diligence, not a single hour you spent in a game! Nothing will help you to keep your stuff safe. Just a single alpha animal spawns at you, or suddenly 15-20 vultures came while you fighting army of damned (this happened yesterday), SoD camping border... I mean there are hundreds ways to loose it (I say nothing about glitches and internet issues but yet I lost everything to that couple of times) and I see not a single way to safe it.

So... I mean. I can spend next couple of weeks to create all I lost. And after I'll loose it again... well maybe I wont feel I ready to spend few weeks more to do what I've done twice...

---

At start... I couldn't connect freeport due to 155 players there. Right now I see like 5-7 players connected there. There are more players now I my base's region in tundra then somewhere south.

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I don’t get it. How is this development different than ARK’s? EA was always an excuse back then so no idea why it wouldn’t be at this game. Modding communities keep numerous games alive. They used us for testing over at ARK and they’re doing the same thing now. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but I really get the feeling people thought ARK was all rainbows and sunshines when in fact, it was screwed up too from time to time. How many times have we complained over at the forums because they either nerfed something way too much or buffed something way too hard.

 

Having such servers creates lag and rubberbanding, everyone knew/knows it. They’ve done some pretty stupid stuff until now (eg stone update & the entire claim flag system). 

 

Should they have learned from their mistakes over at ARK? Definitely. But if they didn’t, that’s a shame for us but that doesn’t make me want to stop playing the game, for now. 

Edited by Percieval
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2 hours ago, Dexter said:

They think they can pull the same stunts off they did with Ark.

It worked once why not a second time?

I've witnessed/participated in multiple failures (EA and not) and I just don't see the writing on the wall that you do. I could be wrong, hope I'm not, but other than some PR adjustments I dont see the downward trend you speak of. The opposite in fact. They're pushing out updates pretty consistently and improvement is noticable. As far as your opinion on in house testing I don't agree. There are 1000 ways to develop a game and rapid fire community reinforced testing is perfectly acceptable in an EA environment.

My 2cents~

Edited by Nari
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1 hour ago, Nari said:

It worked once why not a second time?

I've witnessed/participated in multiple failures (EA and not) and I just don't see the writing on the wall that you do. I could be wrong, hope I'm not, but other than some PR adjustments I dont see the downward trend you speak of. The opposite in fact. They're pushing out updates pretty consistently and improvement is noticable. As far as your opinion on in house testing I don't agree. There are 1000 ways to develop a game and rapid fire community reinforced testing is perfectly acceptable in an EA environment.

My 2cents~

This.  Seems like a lot of people haven't had the "luck" to experience an EA game that updated once every few MONTHS, took years and years to even become semi stable and then just died and and quit before it ever made it to launch.  Atlas is so far ahead of so many other EA projects it's odd how many people throw shade.  

I truly believe a lot of the issues people have are actually expectation problems.  People look at ark with rose colored glasses and don't seem to remember the shitshow it was, ESPECIALLY in the first year.  So many posts getting made not quite grasping just how early into dev this game still is or even what kind of game its meant to be.  

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9 minutes ago, mndfreeze said:

This.  Seems like a lot of people haven't had the "luck" to experience an EA game that updated once every few MONTHS, took years and years to even become semi stable and then just died and and quit before it ever made it to launch.  Atlas is so far ahead of so many other EA projects it's odd how many people throw shade.  

I truly believe a lot of the issues people have are actually expectation problems.  People look at ark with rose colored glasses and don't seem to remember the shitshow it was, ESPECIALLY in the first year.  So many posts getting made not quite grasping just how early into dev this game still is or even what kind of game its meant to be.  

I'm just gonna quote myself lol. 

Quote

The reality is even AAA studios go through phases of development akin to this. Even the quality controlled environment I spoke of where builds are tested for weeks if not months go through these same struggles and iterations you just don't get to see it or pay to get hands on. The "Proper EA" titles people like to point to are often much further in development before you're allowed to actually get your hands on the product and even the edge cases like Star Citizen are accused of scamming people daily. I think people are conditioned to a higher bar that has been set and there's nothing wrong with wanting to see success for a product you see potential in but we're only a month in, it's not the end of the world (or game).

 

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5 hours ago, Dexter said:

 Might not succeed like Ark has which is something I'm sure a lot of people that can connect the dots could see within the past month. I discussed how it lacks good hooks, this is a primary reason why people are leaving. It's not the stone structures or the Chinese, it's that people don't feel rewarded enough or compelled to finish through to end game

 

As some are saying, it's EA which is true but no excuse. They'll 100% have big sales to draw in the crowds but the numbers right now are not promising. Unless they reveal dramatic changes to breeding, MMO mechanics, huge push on magic - this game will keep moving forward but it'll never draw the huge crowds Ark has on and off throughout the years thus. 

 

Modding community is the one thing that might save the day (again). Downside is that people are playing this game to sail vast differences which will be problematic for those developing maps.. but it could also bring incredible new opportunities we haven't seen before. There are a lot more avenues for modders to go down off the bat. The big issue is a lot of modders that invest months/years into their mod want a lot of people to use their work obviously.. if the game is doing poorly my population count, there's going to be far less incentive. The good thing though is Wildcard/Grapeshot clearly see the value in mods.. they literally built a game combing them. 

 

Using us at test pigs without remotely testing it first in a private test environment WILL hurt the game. Say whatever you like, that it's EA, just leave if you don't like it.. whatever.. that's not my point. My point is their practices are selfharming and they don't care. They think they can pull the same stunts off they did with Ark. Statistically speaking this game is way worse off from the start than Ark was in many really important ways that matters including the ratings potential buyers see, it'd scare me away too but also the current player base is treated like shit. 

 

They might not care too much about the population. As crazy as that sounds there is the possibility that they don't care just like Ark. I mean they care to an extent but nothing to lose sleep over. As long as people are able to play the game and their PR is decent, they're good. The target people who've never heard the game, when it goes on sale for $15 - they nab those people. By the time they figure out what the game really is about that they're playing, they've already gone well past the max time allowed for refunds by Steam. If you quit you quit, who cares. They might not be as desperate to keep us as people might think which sucks if you really want this game to work.

 

 

In short: If they REALLY want this game to succeed they'll STOP thinking they know best. They'll STOP saying they listen and respond to the community yet do things they KNOW will piss EVERYONE off. This game will not die. If you are saying that, I really think you're either A) an idiot or B) trolling. For most of us that care about the game, it's rather or not it'll end up like a Conan Exiles or an Ark. Rather you can spend years with this game playing it every day or a good couple months. Rather modders feel the need to pour months into a grand product or not. That's why the dwindling population is a huge red flag, because the reality is people might already be over Atlas. Ark had the advantage of being a first of it's kind, with a huge crowd funding mentality behind it - Atlas doesn't have that same vibe thus in order to keep that ball rolling, they'll need to not treat it like Ark and be significantly more pro-active. This is the wrong studio to hope for that, unfortunately. 

 

Should you stop wasting time and leave or stick around? Numbers really only matter so much so I think if you like the game you should stick around. I think if you are obsessed with how popular a game is, just leave. Also, if you can't handle the fact that a lot of things we want to see may never happen and that this studio will always be the way it is now - then leave. Otherwise, stick around but being that it's so EA, take some forced breaks, make yourself only play X amount of hours during the week, etc. 

 

 

I have a big feeling they'll F things up for themselves, not heed the warning signs of the community that's trying to help them. I really hope I'm wrong. The silliest of things they could easily implement, they don't. To me, that in itself says a lot. 

 

There is such thing as too late.

You are right on pretty much everything.

i know people say there is a lot to this game but there really isn’t. When I say it is shallow it’s because it’s ark with boats instead of dinosaurs, which is why the game is so shallow. 

You build a boat, build a base, then raid people. Sounds a lot bettter with dinos and tames.

you are very right as far as having sales goes. Ark had even dropped down to under 10 bucks at one point during a sale. Atlas definitely needs to be under 10 bucks so the time when it goes on sale, that is when you might see a spike in numbers. The game just isn’t worth 30 bucks. 

No type or dungeon/instance. Not type of real quests. No factions. 

Once again. Build a boat, build a base, then raid people.

the main thing will be all of the sailing. It will be cool for awhile but people will get tired of sailing for that long and they will make fast travel possible. Which will put an end to boats. Then just need to add some todo is and more tames and the game should be good after that.

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Too much grinding is driving players away, it's virtually turned into Farmville instead of a pirate game.

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7 hours ago, George Catcher said:

 

 

I would say - game DO NOT REWARD players for anything. I mean... I'm 1lvl, in my underwear, I go ashore and being killed by a lvl2 wolf right? After a month I lvl50 with yellow plate armor I go ashore a-a-a-a-and... being killed by a lvl2 wolf.

So what's the point of lvl growing? Yes I can open more structures I can do more "SIMS 2" stuff but... what about adventures? I can spend hours and hours of gathering resources and after that I UPGRADE MY SPEAR and INCREASE IT DAMAGE FROM 26 TO 27!!!!!!!! So much effort and such a great reward right?

---

Or like we go this adventures. We spend couple hours to prepare it. We craft some heavy firearms, grenades. Then after couple hours sailing we face army of damned. We throw grenades, shoot all fire arrows, shootgun and all that stuff. And then when we done - we try to dig a treasure and game sais "there are couple of solders left". Ok we search them. Unable to find. Then whole army respawn. AND WE DEAL WITH THIS ARMY WITHOUT ANY GRENADES, FLAME ARROWS ETC! Just whit spears. So what's the point of preparing? Why we wasted few hours? We could just set sails and go...

---

And yet... you can easily loose everything. All stuff you have been creating for a week or even months.

None of your equipment, leveling, diligence, not a single hour you spent in a game! Nothing will help you to keep your stuff safe. Just a single alpha animal spawns at you, or suddenly 15-20 vultures came while you fighting army of damned (this happened yesterday), SoD camping border... I mean there are hundreds ways to loose it (I say nothing about glitches and internet issues but yet I lost everything to that couple of times) and I see not a single way to safe it.

So... I mean. I can spend next couple of weeks to create all I lost. And after I'll loose it again... well maybe I wont feel I ready to spend few weeks more to do what I've done twice...

---

At start... I couldn't connect freeport due to 155 players there. Right now I see like 5-7 players connected there. There are more players now I my base's region in tundra then somewhere south.

What are you doing that you are getting killed by a wolf at level 50?  I honestly havent been killed by a wolf days.. probably 4 or 5 days.    

 

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Problem with Atlas is despite saying it´s something new, they still keep revert to ARK mechanics. And if people want to play ARK they just play ARK instead.

Alphas, the mandatory elephant, bear, rhino etc and so on. Big ship construction requires a zoo.

Edited by Shintai

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1 minute ago, Shintai said:

Problem with Atlas is despite saying it´s something new, they still keep revert to ARK mechanics. And if people want to play ARK they just play ARK instead.

Alphas, the mandatory elephant, bear, rhino etc and so on. Big ship construction requires a zoo.

I dont even call them animals.. I call them bulldozers.  

 

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No single player mode. It needs single player mode, like others in this genre.

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