Raive

(Yes its another one of those post)

Every Friday after work, I eagerly spam check my iPhone to see if any new information has surfaced surrounding HoT. Of course this Friday being no different, I find myself disappointed (maybe I'm doing it to myself). However, reminding myself the game is still in development but not knowing how early development it is, I ask myself what form or fashion would be reasonable and not over-the-top that they could reveal information.

I find myself in the same situation I was when I was keeping up with Vanguard: Saga of Heroes and Sigil. Like Trion, Sigil was a new company looking to make a brand new IP and like everyone else, do something "new". Now you can consider me comparing Sigil with Trion to be good or bad, but regardless when you think back 4 years ago, they were near identical. However one thing that does separate them is community involvement with development of the game. Again, none of us know for sure how early or late HoT is in development. What we do know is they are still in early enough that no game mechanics can be released to the open public. This is where I question sites such as Telara Central (not the site, but its benefit).

Reason why I mentioned Sigil is because the method they used with VG and its pre-beta information I found to be more informative than "hyping". Which is why I am making this post. It seems many feel that my previous posts are asking for hype and false information, when its neither of the two. What I am looking for is something similar, if possible what Sigil did when VG when they sent out their monthly newsletters. If any of you were there during the pre-beta period, Sigil would release a short 1 page newsletter that would either drop some good evidence of lore, one premier location in game, and a sketching of one class. If I had my emails I would post to show what I am talking about.

I feel personally, a method such as that would send a more positive message that this game is for real, rather than saying "We got jellybeans and gumdrops"/vaporware/just another game. We already know daily updates are out of the question (and are quite frankly impossible), weekly updates are no dice, same with bi-weekly, so monthly could potentially be in the works as its not tons of information, but its enough to let us know that the game is still moving in a forward direction.

I see it as this, HoT was announced in June (if I remember), sametime the website went live (like many of you, I was amongst those spamming refresh at the time of its launch). E3 gave it a bit of publicity and they had a gaming demo there (that none of us have seen), numerous interviews of the same information and then dead silence. Last update we've recieved was 2-3 pics of concept art and 2 screenshots (which are all badass mind you). Then I look at our current following:

800+ fans on facebook
300 member on Telara central with only a handful of active posters 5 guilds with signed intentions
and quite possibly a ton of lurkers

When you look at it, HoT is FAR from being the hyped game (which can work in our favor). Which is why I believe monthly updates on the game could do much more good than the percieved negative. It is something that is constantly nagging in the back of my head and probably others that the game potentially could have been announced a bit too early (like games haven't been before).

Again, this is not a demand nor a whine thread, just an inquiry on where the game currently stands. I guess to summarize my WoT to anyone who can answer.

Newsletter: When can we expect usage of it? And has anyone recieved anything from it?

Game: How is development currently going? I know this has been asked numerous times, but how realistic is the 2010 launch looking?

Website: When can we expect an update to the official website? Its kind of my biggest pet peeve that the website has its display issues where the news is supposed to be displayed.

Website: When can we expect an official forums opening? I remember reading about a website relaunch at beta's start.

Community: What level of community involvement levels are we looking at from now until launch of HoT? Meaning will developers be posting along with community managers or will such communication be reserved for beta participants?

Beta: Will Trion treat its beta phase such as one of an actual testing period or one for promotional reasons? This may be impossible to answer at this point but as many know recent betas have been used for potentially more promotional reasons than testing.

Information: In a timely manner, when could we expect the next wave of information surrounding HoT? We are nearing the end of October which would make it 5 months since the announcing of HoT and the only information we know in concrete is the game will have dwarves. From now until December is a long time and many things can change but for myself personally, I'd like to go into the winter holidays with some hope.

Development Team: (This is an awkward one) Is there any chance members of the development team will be introduced to the community at some point in time? I ask this because the SWTOR videos where they introduced members of the development team already gave me the feeling of involvement and I didn't even do anything!

Gameplay Videos/Screenshots: I'm not sure if this was asked but is there any reason as to why the demo that was used at E3 can't be shown to the public? I'm guessing privacy reasons.

Community: What are your expectations of the current community for HoT? Is there anything we can do to help (asides the obvious hyping)?

AGDC: How valuable was the guild leader panel from AGDC? I've listened to the entire clip and it seems to be of great use given HoT is still in development. How can/will Trion utilize it?

Conventions: Is Trion expected to make any other trips to gaming conventions in the near future?



I believe that is all. If you can answer any if all of them it would be appreciated. All in all, you guys have a small community here, keeping us a bit in the know on how things are going can go a long way.

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Heroes of Telara Team

Wild

Great post, Raive, and well thought out. I truly believe it deserves honest answers.

As to my hopes (can't say expectations), I would say that I would *hope* this beta goes much like the Vanguard beta in that it wasn't a showcase or pre-release effort (such as much as my EQII beta experience was -- I merely was primarily reporting on npc text typos and holes and graphic glitches rather than gameplay mechanics).

Vanguard beta was awesome in that I was hunting and guilded with the devs, talked out gameplay mechanics, when new classes were tried out, got to group with them, and, while many suggestions were *not* taken, many were! The beta community was small and close and I still have the printout of the lore section. We (a group of beta testers) used to give out player-made prizes for correct lore quiz or "what do you do when" answers.... was so darned neat!

...and when whispers arose that the Crimson Fellowship was sighted in Telon, righting wrongs, I joined their ranks -- because I already cared about the player base and the world.

That was my best-ever beta experience and I'd love to have something like that here.

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~ Wild
Trinity - An Online Gaming Organization
Heroes of Telara Team Applicant

Glipkerio

I pretty much agree with Raive and Wild's posts.

Additionally, I always feel awkward posting on fan forums when there isn't much released information and/or direction given by the devs. It often just comes down to wishlisting and armchair game designing, which is totally 100% fine, but I want to address the game in question directly.

Even if it's only to get a sense of what the active posters here think, please use this community to bounce ideas off of. Even if you just set a broad question like "What is your ultimate crafting system?" or a simple poll it makes all the difference to me that a dev is asking the question, that it's relevant to them, than just spinning our wheels here.

The only other comment I'd like to make, at this point, is that I'd like a general idea of when Trion will be ready to start opening up about the game if they aren't ready to do so, for whatever reason, now.

Morwynn

Not to be a naysayer but I registered for the newsletter when the site went live and have yet to receive a single response or letter. Nothing saying "welcome", nothing saying "here is what is coming", nadda, zilch. I know there it can get busy over there, but a little communication would be nice.

Speaking of which, or perhaps it is just me, but I am getting tired of stopping by the various sites on a regular basis without anything new being added. A screen shot here and there would not be that hard.

I get the feeling that they are not really worried about the sites, or fans, just busy working on the game. Don't get me wrong, I can appreciate that but a newsletter or posting does not take up that much time.

I too was in VG and I loved the monthly newsletters that went out. I felt it kept me closer to the game, the devs, and the community at large. Here, I am starting to loose contact with the game. After reading all the faqs and keeping up with the forums, I felt I was well informed. That was month or two ago and not much has changed. I feel no community, no collective, no compassion. Perhaps it is just me but I am starting to feel all alone...

Raive

Well see if they are working on the game then by ALL means continue, heh we do not want to interfere with that at all. But if there's one thing I learned from my stint in VG was that communication can be the make or break in the trust between the company and the consumers, or in this case potential consumers.

Following on what Morwynn stated, I too feel a bit of disconnect at this point in time. I mean, its cool we got RJ, Kunou, and SH popping there heads in here from time to time, but all in all its just small comments and what not. I'm not asking for VP Russ Brown to come and lay it down on us. But truthfully, the existance of the game seems like more of a blur than an actual reality. I want to feel connected even though I'm not playing the game. Our community is too small to be connected because...well look at the recent traffic and threads, like Glip said, its armchair game designing. I want to talk about Heroes of Telara, not what I want in my super 2010 MMORPG game.

Currently, I consider these boards to be relatively dead. Most have strayed off into doing their own little thing until something comes out of the woodwork. If that's what they want us to do then just say so, but I don't want to! I want to engage in deep conversations surrounding the game but at this point in time, there's nothing to talk about.

Again, this is just me and take it with a grain of salt. But if this game has been in development for 3-4 years, then I can't understand why some things haven't been put into "concrete"?

I dunno, maybe I'm just antsy after coming home from the movies, but when you get responses like "We can't talk about it at this point" makes it seem like it doesn't exist.

BTW Law Abiding Citizen = good.

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Founder & Guild Leader
Heroes of Telara Team

Suthainn

Great post Raive! I think you summed up what the majority of the community were thinking. You and Morwynn nailed it on the head about not feeling connected with the game.

My biggest concern with all the secrecy is both SWTOR and more so GW2 with its dynamic content are in direct competition with HoT. SWTOR and GW2 are pulling in huge amount of followers with their frequent info releases and keeping them interested in their games. Now I know it helps greatly to already have a massive fan base, especially Star Wars, but my concern is HoT is already playing catch up with those two giant titles and HoT might fly under the radar too low and become the MMO sleeper that failed to grab any one's attention.

I'm sure Trion knows what they're doing and hopefully when the info does start to trickle out it will be well worth the wait. Until then I just hope that the HoT followers don't get bored and lose interest and jump ship in favour of another game like GW2, which has very similar dynamic content as HoT. I'd just hate to see Trion wait too long before revealing solid info which might possibly be overlooked by gamers in favour of GW2 because they already know GW2 has similar dynamic features.

At the end of the day the proof will be in the pudding with all three games, but I can only play one MMO at a time, so I just hope my gut instinct was right with choosing HoT to be my MMO of choice.

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Ciovala

I feel the same, although one can't help to wonder if this blog post by Rockjaw has anything to do with how quiet it has been the last month (even more than it was prior). Regardless the lack of saying anything sure makes it feel like they don't really care much about their community (as tiny is it is).

However, playing devil's advocate, if they do keep it tight-lipped up until the very end and then explode with some information right before release (that ends up being true and not a load of bs), it could work out. It does go a bit against the bit of hype they started at E3 (beta this year, release in 2010, etc.).

I don't really like to speculate, which is what we're all forced to do when we receive no information, so I'll end here. But, I'll just chime in and say I'd also love something...even a boring screenshot with no information is ok with me...I'd rather not feel like someone high up in Trion suddenly told everyone to shut up.

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Morwynn

I am not asking for much here. I am not trying to dig into the deep workings or secret things that will set the game apart from the rest. Many other games in the past have at least upgraded the FAQs page when they get part of the game system or design nailed down.

I can recall in the past stopping by other games sites just to see if the FAQ page has changed just to get a little new information . I understand that the game is only a year off and we still don't know how combat is to work, nor magic, nor crafting, nor ...

But really, how hard would it be to update the FAQ page with a highlight red for new listings, or change it to represent the current changes in the game. I would settle for that. If that is too much, perhaps a screenshot or two, or if that is still too much, perhaps a dev could comment on what they are working on at this time. Not in great detail, but just something to keep us in contact with the game, design, and the community.

Maybe it's me chomping at the bit or maybe its the game designers being tight lipped about the game until the last moment, but it does seem awfully quiet at the moment.

Kunou

I just want to quickly acknowledge this thread. This isn't the type of thread I wanna just throw down a quick weekend response to, but I also didn't want anyone to think it was being ignored. I'm gonna try to answer as much of this as I can on Monday or so.

Yes, as Stephen stated in that blog post, he has moved on from Trion and we all wish him nothing but the best. It honestly had nothing to do with Trion or HoT or any of our other products, as he stated. He got an opportunity that doesn't come along very often and had to jump on it.

Though that really doesn't have a whole lot to do with our silence. But just because we're not talking doesn't mean we're not listening, reading and taking notes. There's a lot going on behind the scenes currently, have no fear.

Also, in regards to the above comment about SWTOR and GW2... They're not gaining followers primarily because of their information flow. Heck, we barely know anything about GW2 at this point, even their FAW says they won't be talking about the game until next year. They have a huge following because they're existing companies with great reputations who are working on existing and popular IPs.

Not to say SWTOR's info releases haven't helped any, but come on, it's Bioware and the Star Wars IP. They had a following 2 years before they even announced they were working on it even though we all knew they were.

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"There were much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust."

Ciovala

Thanks for explaining a few things on your Saturday morning.

I agree about the GW2 and SW:TOR 'hype' being mainly due to the settings and the fact that both have established companies behind them. However, Bioware does at least throw the fans a bone every week, even if the information may be a bit superfluous and doesn't always (usually?) reveal any game mechanics info. Most people here seem to understand the need to not hype things much, but you can't argue it's not gone the total opposite extreme... That is Trion's prerogative of course.

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