Official: The Future of Duskruin

[Fallen]

For 2018, we're going to be changing a few things on how we run Duskruin.

We have two varieties of Duskruin currently. The Duskruin Dig and the full event (Arena & Sewers). We generally run the full Duskruin twice a year. Moving forward, we're going to split Duskruin into 3 separate events. We are only going to run the full event once a year. We're going to run the Dig once a year. And we're going to run a newer event under the Duskruin banner. We're also going to pace these a bit better. We are aiming to do the Dig next, in February, move to having the full event in June, and the newer event in December.

We'll have more details on everything as we work through our event schedule for 2018, but I wanted everyone to have an idea of what's going on. On top of that, we are breaking away from the April and August runs of the full event so we can give a better variety of offerings.


Seems this is the new name of the game. I get that it's popular, but 3 times a year? Ugh.

We've been running it 2 to 5 times a year prior to this, which were 2 full event runs (some years it was 4 full event runs). This is actually dialing it down a bit.


Wyrom, PM

[Ososis]

Wow. Seriously these guys are pieces of shit. Acting like the dig is duskruin, removing 50% of duskruins, then delaying the upcoming one 2 months.

Wyrom, one of us is dumb as fuck, and in either case it bodes poorly.

[Roblar]

Harsh!

The newer event likely produces bloodscrip as well if it is the new content teased previously. How it works, dunno but something new is good, it's been a few years of the same old same old. If it does, I doubt 3 events producing the currency and power stuff is what was wanted. Do you want bs to become silvers? ha

Yes, the dig was always once a year and Duskruin labeled so it is not acting like that to remove one 'full" run but the addition of a third which forced the change. We don't know how that one (December one) works yet, so will reserve judgement.

The delay of the main money maker one to June is frustrating definitely, and perplexing per a previous post that it was in that months for revenue reporting reasons.

[SonoftheNorth]

Haha people bitch about gemstone become pay2win and non-stop duskruin then they decrease them and still get mad.

[Lord Orbstar]

Haha people bitch about gemstone become pay2win and non-stop duskruin then they decrease them and still get mad. he sees it. I see it. Do you see it? I approve of Wyrom.

[Mogonis]

People are mad just to be mad. Some people think Wyrom runs Simu and Stillfront, so he unduly gets 100% of the blame.

[azim17]

its the typical us vs. them government conspiracy bs. people will complain no matter what. lets face it, these things are a bonus...period. dont complain about something that is gravy on top.

[beldannon5]

Bonus? We pay out the ass for them. A bonus is a free event. Imo. I am just annoyed wyrom said twice april for sure

[SonoftheNorth]

Bonus? We pay out the ass for them. A bonus is a free event. Imo. I am just annoyed wyrom said twice april for sure

I picture a huge jar of change with a duskruin label on it in your house.

[beldar17]

it feels good to bitch tbh.

[AnOrdim]

This is just more flat out lies. It has never run 4 full events in one year. You can even check the wiki to confirm. The most DR events in one year was 4, but it was 2 full and 2 dig (no arena no sewers) in 2016. Duskruin dig was easily the most condensed down version of simucoin gambling mechanics as possible -> buy shovel get items repeat. The stores were open but BS generation was light because it was literally a reskin of EG digging but putting reduced effective simucoin items in it. It wasn't the worst event, but it certainly didnt require any real thought to it either. People get mad because they gate everything behind paywalls and then start charging more or providing less while still asking for the same amount of money. The flip flopping between saying "we dont care about balance as long as we make money" and "well, we have to dial it back because balance" is pure bullshit too. It's the double standard that they keep getting away with, just like the people who worship Wyrom as the PM who can make changes but... don't get mad at him for the changes because he doesn't actually have power?

Seriously, Schrödinger's Wyrom is the most insane fucking mental gymnastic's I've ever seen people perform. He's posted numerous times and included in several public emails about what he dictates and what he can do. The sad part is even HE changes his tune when it suits him best.

stick to your promises and leave that system in place. Generate NEW material, or fuck, maybe just deliver on the material already promised (where the fuck is the documentation on Goesintight, the hentai arkati, that was promised?) and generate NEW material instead of nerfing shit and monetizing existing systems. People will happily pay big money when you ADD stuff to the game, not take it away and charge for what people were getting reasonably before hand. Wheres the bank heist in DR?

[SonoftheNorth]

This is just more flat out lies. It has never run 4 full events in one year. You can even check the wiki to confirm. The most DR events in one year was 4, but it was 2 full and 2 dig (no arena no sewers) in 2016. Duskruin dig was easily the most condensed down version of simucoin gambling mechanics as possible -> buy shovel get items repeat. The stores were open but BS generation was light because it was literally a reskin of EG digging but putting reduced effective simucoin items in it. It wasn't the worst event, but it certainly didnt require any real thought to it either. People get mad because they gate everything behind paywalls and then start charging more or providing less while still asking for the same amount of money. The flip flopping between saying "we dont care about balance as long as we make money" and "well, we have to dial it back because balance" is pure bullshit too. It's the double standard that they keep getting away with, just like the people who worship Wyrom as the PM who can make changes but... don't get mad at him for the changes because he doesn't actually have power?

Seriously, Schrödinger's Wyrom is the most insane fucking mental gymnastic's I've ever seen people perform. He's posted numerous times and included in several public emails about what he dictates and what he can do. The sad part is even HE changes his tune when it suits him best.

stick to your promises and leave that system in place. Generate NEW material, or fuck, maybe just deliver on the material already promised (where the fuck is the documentation on Goesintight, the hentai arkati, that was promised?) and generate NEW material instead of nerfing shit and monetizing existing systems. People will happily pay big money when you ADD stuff to the game, not take it away and charge for what people were getting reasonably before hand. Wheres the bank heist in DR?


Are you going to quit over this change?

[AnOrdim]

Are you going to quit over this change?

You should buy one of my items

[Roblar]

I haven't yet read the rest of your post, but you are wrong.

I looked through my simustore transaction history. Duskruin was run its first year, 2015, in March, May, July and August. Arena and sewers (pre Dig).

Also, for the record, Duskruin in 2016 was late April and late August, both times bleeding into the first day or so of the next month. Duskruin Dig originated in June and was held again in December so the Duskruin "grounds" or area and shops anyway were open 4x as well that year. Though bloodscrip generation was primarily stabilized to twice a month, the same months as 2017.

[Taernath]

where the fuck is the documentation on Goesintight, the hentai arkati, that was promised?

https://orig00.deviantart.net/75e0/f/2011/154/0/6/licking_lips_gif__by_saikka-d3hyimd.gif

[SonoftheNorth]

https://orig00.deviantart.net/75e0/f/2011/154/0/6/licking_lips_gif__by_saikka-d3hyimd.gif



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5pCKy5CFE8

[AnOrdim]

Welp, funny they left out the fact that they ran the event 4 times in the "creating adventure" for 2015. No other list of events for that year that I could find. 2016 was 4 runs but arena/sewers only 1/2 that, because the other half was "dig".

[Roblar]

It was new in 2015 and the arena (and sewer) mechanics changed drastically run to run, from feedback and observation. The arena began, for example, as 5 creatures over half an hour basically (for optimal results and I think 200 bloodscrip max). The traps were crazy wild and damaging, and the whole experience required healing down with herbs for 5 minutes per creature and killing in the last few seconds of time, simulating giving the crowd a show by lasting long against the foes. The herbs were required due to the stacking and trap activation frequency (and could not dodge or mitigate them).

The first two runs only had the village shops. The third one was the SK experiment, among other stuff you could redeem toward the end from a table of scrolls. The fourth one was an auction. There was also a scrip draining auction either that year or 2016 I don't feel like looking up.

The high end blood scrip shop took over from there in 2016.

[AnOrdim]

Yeah, I remember the very first run because it was when I was first trying to come back. I spent a few bucks and wasn't pleased with it. The sewers gave a very low amount of BS, but it seems even the arena did for how difficult it was in it's first form. Really felt like they got to a good spot with duskruin frequency and offerings (if the rotating high end offerings screwed with people saving up for stuff) and to change that because ... reasons?

[AnOrdim]

Wyrom trying to make people happy:

https://i.imgur.com/CLelm3E.gifv
fucking stupid moving picture files

[Fallen]

I've been given the green light to talk about some planning that is going into events, something I've been cutoff from starting back in 2014. We've also been given some freedoms to move the events around that work better for staff.

The pieces I've talked about (Dig, full event, and new event) are just what you guys have known of each event. Each will include much more than just that. Just two months ago, the Dig was demanded in December. We are letting you know that it is still coming. The Dig will not be the only thing available in February's run.

I think we have a proven track record with Duskruin by now that we've added much more content at each one. Those of you new to Duskruin, it might be overwhelming, but those of you who are veterans will have exciting things to look forward to.


Wyrom, PM

[Jhynnifer]

I approve of this message!

[Methais]

its the typical us vs. them government conspiracy bs. people will complain no matter what. lets face it, these things are a bonus...period. dont complain about something that is gravy on top.

It would be a bonus if these events weren't turned into the only way to acquire new high end items.

[SonoftheNorth]

God auction 2018 coming soon JK PROBABLY NOT

[Methais]

This is just more flat out lies. It has never run 4 full events in one year. You can even check the wiki to confirm. The most DR events in one year was 4, but it was 2 full and 2 dig (no arena no sewers) in 2016. Duskruin dig was easily the most condensed down version of simucoin gambling mechanics as possible -> buy shovel get items repeat. The stores were open but BS generation was light because it was literally a reskin of EG digging but putting reduced effective simucoin items in it. It wasn't the worst event, but it certainly didnt require any real thought to it either. People get mad because they gate everything behind paywalls and then start charging more or providing less while still asking for the same amount of money. The flip flopping between saying "we dont care about balance as long as we make money" and "well, we have to dial it back because balance" is pure bullshit too. It's the double standard that they keep getting away with, just like the people who worship Wyrom as the PM who can make changes but... don't get mad at him for the changes because he doesn't actually have power?

Seriously, Schrödinger's Wyrom is the most insane fucking mental gymnastic's I've ever seen people perform. He's posted numerous times and included in several public emails about what he dictates and what he can do. The sad part is even HE changes his tune when it suits him best.

stick to your promises and leave that system in place. Generate NEW material, or fuck, maybe just deliver on the material already promised (where the fuck is the documentation on Goesintight, the hentai arkati, that was promised?) and generate NEW material instead of nerfing shit and monetizing existing systems. People will happily pay big money when you ADD stuff to the game, not take it away and charge for what people were getting reasonably before hand. Wheres the bank heist in DR?

You are aware that the people Wyrom answers to and takes orders from are complete idiots right? Not that that's anything new, but people seem to forget that Wyrom isn't Gemstone. That would be Shartley and Shartfront. Stillshart. Shartshart.

Wyrom takes orders from David Shartley and the faceless ass plungers at Shartshart. My guess would be "Wyrom, figure out how to XYZ NOWWWWWWW!!!!!" and things like Duskruin are the end result.

[Jhynnifer]

You are aware that the people Wyrom answers to and takes orders from are complete idiots right? Not that that's anything new, but people seem to forget that Wyrom isn't Gemstone. That would be Shartley and Shartfront. Stillshart. Shartshart.

Wyrom takes orders from David Shartley and the faceless ass plungers at Shartshart. My guess would be "Wyrom, figure out how to XYZ NOWWWWWWW!!!!!" and things like Duskruin are the end result.

I thought part of the Stillfront purchase was phasing out David Whatley? Was this just a rumor that my decrepit brain clutched tightly to in order to preserve itself?

Talk about unstable, mood-swinging nutters.

[Methais]

I thought part of the Stillfront purchase was phasing out David Whatley? Was this just a rumor that my decrepit brain clutched tightly to in order to preserve itself?

Talk about unstable, mood-swinging nutters.

I thought it was the opposite in that Stillfront was only interested in Simu for the mobile market and didn't really give a fuck about GS as long as it's bringing in money.

[AnOrdim]

You are aware that the people Wyrom answers to and takes orders from are complete idiots right? Not that that's anything new, but people seem to forget that Wyrom isn't Gemstone. That would be Shartley and Shartfront. Stillshart. Shartshart.

Wyrom takes orders from David Shartley and the faceless ass plungers at Shartshart. My guess would be "Wyrom, figure out how to XYZ NOWWWWWWW!!!!!" and things like Duskruin are the end result.

Except, he was creating these events before Stillfront was in the picture. He got the PM job because he developed a way to make more money with Duskruin and the pay2win mechanic. Whately might have said "hey, we need to make more money, anyone got ideas?" and wyrom said "well actually I do..." and thus duskruin in its form was created where people paid money to get points to buy weapons and items. He literally just took the most terrible form of microtransactions and applied it to the game wholesale. THey were so blinded by the money being made that they ignored balance issues. Now they are trying to walk it back after two+ years of access.

According to the press releases, Still front now has a majority share of the company "Simutronics". I'm sure Whatley has a well paying do nothing job where he can do pet projects as wanted while the day to day operations is left to the mysterious "in house staff". With how little information we are given we can only conjecture. The biggest problem is that Wyrom likes to tell different stories that defend his position as he sees fit, almost always in direct contridiction with the last story/excuse he used for the last major problem. He's the Baghdad bob of gemstone when it comes to PR and is almost assuredly more directly responsible for the current event structure than people tend to give him credit for. He may not have made the decision on how often (every other month simucoin events) but he did create the skeleton of how the events would operate.

[Ososis]

Ding ding ding. It was completely 100% his idea to add-in the casino like microtrans features into the game hence probably why he got the job. Also NOTE, Mario has a personal background with casinos and slot machines in particular, so this really is a natural course for the game with someone like him at the helm.

Unfounded assumptions and basic phallacy. Get it? Because you are also a dick.

[gilchristr]

Lol at the Baghdad bob reference

[Taernath]

I thought it was the opposite in that Stillfront was only interested in Simu for the mobile market and didn't really give a fuck about GS as long as it's bringing in money.

It is, but the more $ GS brings in the more $ is funneled toward developing shovelware like Dragons of Elanthia.

[Ceyrin]

There was something in the sale agreement about Whatley getting more money after a certain period of time after the initial purchase was made by Stillfront.

[Methais]

Except, he was creating these events before Stillfront was in the picture. He got the PM job because he developed a way to make more money with Duskruin and the pay2win mechanic. Whately might have said "hey, we need to make more money, anyone got ideas?" and wyrom said "well actually I do..." and thus duskruin in its form was created where people paid money to get points to buy weapons and items. He literally just took the most terrible form of microtransactions and applied it to the game wholesale. THey were so blinded by the money being made that they ignored balance issues. Now they are trying to walk it back after two+ years of access.

According to the press releases, Still front now has a majority share of the company "Simutronics". I'm sure Whatley has a well paying do nothing job where he can do pet projects as wanted while the day to day operations is left to the mysterious "in house staff". With how little information we are given we can only conjecture. The biggest problem is that Wyrom likes to tell different stories that defend his position as he sees fit, almost always in direct contridiction with the last story/excuse he used for the last major problem. He's the Baghdad bob of gemstone when it comes to PR and is almost assuredly more directly responsible for the current event structure than people tend to give him credit for. He may not have made the decision on how often (every other month simucoin events) but he did create the skeleton of how the events would operate.

Do you also believe that if Wyrom didn't come up with something, nobody else would have either and Simu would be like, "Damn guys, we tried. Guess it's time for another RtCF!"?

I don't like the casino bullshit anymore than you do and I think it's cancerous as fuck for the game and will ultimately be its downfall. I like it even less than you do actually, as you've participated and sunk money into it and I haven't. You're still blaming the wrong person for it. Unless you legitimately believe that nobody but Wyrom could have ever come up with anything resembling DR and that he was Shartley's only hope for making GS more money.

Speaking of blame though, Estild ruined wizards. :(

[AnOrdim]

I'm not blaming him for creating it. Saying that i'm angry about that part is missing my point entirely. I was very happy to spend money "when it was worth it". That value is quickly degrading or being removed. I have always been in the camp of microtransactions for stuff you cant normally get via silvers or get something rare more reliably via microtransactions. We may differ from that point. Microtransactions themselves are not the problem but how they are implemented.

The smithy, forge slab generator and now fusion orbs are all perfect examples.

Smithy - The WPS changes, on the surface, are fanastic. If kept around all the time they have the perfect limiting factors - scaling cost on item abilities, scaling cost for getting more work in a short period, scaling cost as power goes up. That series of scaling costs is PERFECT for silvers. It sucks shit and is a complete rip off when it comes to bloodscrip/cash. If they had removed the service time limit and just kept the other scaling factors it would be fine.

Forge slab generator - used to be a silver process with apparently unlimited rare chance to generate higher end slabs. A nice value add to EG. Moved to bloodscrip/cash and now only a set amount of high ends will be generated, this creates the chance for people to pump money into it and never have a chance to get a high end metal. Given how few people check forums/information anyway, this might as well be anyone who uses it.

Fusion shaman/fusion - the whole fusion change is just bullshit. It's a clear cut proof that the dev team is intellectually bankrupt when it comes to developing the game and they have no idea how to move forward so they have to start cutting things down. Instead of developing a hunting area/mechanic that can provide a challenge they just decided to cut everything down to keep fitting into the areas that exist. Sure, you dont want a constant rotation of back and forth, but given the time scale, you could develop a new ultra high end hunting area and get another decade out of it if done properly. If they got real developers who could make a scaling/dynamic area/mob they'd be set for even longer. Remember when Wyrom kept saying attuned items wouldnt be a thing? Well have some attuned degraded fusion orbs for cash!


EG fucked up this year when they mixed in the simucoin event with the main event in the form of quest items and seashell generation. That kind of bullshit is what needs to be stamped out. You can hate that people want to (and did) spend $1k on a house, but fuck it, that is revenue for the company/game AND provides players with something they want and can appreciate. It adds to the game, not take away from it. Thats what microtransactions (thats more a macro...) should be doing. Not being fucking paywalls for abilities and mechanics like a fucking cell phone game. Thats the shit people should be really mad about.

"if he didnt do it someone else would have" is pretty bullshit. I know you can do better than that. Who knows what we might have gotten. If someone who REALLY knew microtransaction trends was involved it probably would have all been cosmetic shit. Everything else could be forgiven to some degree if he wasn't such a shit head who can't keep his story straight about what he can or cant do, does or doesnt want to do or will or wont do. He's done everything from use personal information against the player base, bitched and moaned at the playerbase that doing things is hard and keeps selling everyone bullshit about how fucking everyone over is really in their best interest. Has he done some good things? Sure he has. I think the weighting is against him right now but there certainly are things I could point to that are "good" - The pause on high end script shop scaling, knocks out NPCs when needed to buy back shit during events, script pouchs and quality of life stuff. You could also argue that these are things that also help facilitate the spending of more money and streamlining hte process of getting people to repeat the cycle of "buy simucoin, run gambling machine, clean up, repeat" faster, but they are helpful quality of life improvements in a reasonable timely fashion.

[Jhynnifer]

Ordim being Ordim.

While I don't always agree with him or his rants, I agree 100% with this. I'm not against microtransactions, but the implementation in places was done poorly. EG was a mistake and I really hope it's not one they continue next year.

[Methais]

I'm not blaming him for creating it. Saying that i'm angry about that part is missing my point entirely. I was very happy to spend money "when it was worth it". That value is quickly degrading or being removed. I have always been in the camp of microtransactions for stuff you cant normally get via silvers or get something rare more reliably via microtransactions. We may differ from that point. Microtransactions themselves are not the problem but how they are implemented.

The smithy, forge slab generator and now fusion orbs are all perfect examples.

Smithy - The WPS changes, on the surface, are fanastic. If kept around all the time they have the perfect limiting factors - scaling cost on item abilities, scaling cost for getting more work in a short period, scaling cost as power goes up. That series of scaling costs is PERFECT for silvers. It sucks shit and is a complete rip off when it comes to bloodscrip/cash. If they had removed the service time limit and just kept the other scaling factors it would be fine.

Forge slab generator - used to be a silver process with apparently unlimited rare chance to generate higher end slabs. A nice value add to EG. Moved to bloodscrip/cash and now only a set amount of high ends will be generated, this creates the chance for people to pump money into it and never have a chance to get a high end metal. Given how few people check forums/information anyway, this might as well be anyone who uses it.

Fusion shaman/fusion - the whole fusion change is just bullshit. It's a clear cut proof that the dev team is intellectually bankrupt when it comes to developing the game and they have no idea how to move forward so they have to start cutting things down. Instead of developing a hunting area/mechanic that can provide a challenge they just decided to cut everything down to keep fitting into the areas that exist. Sure, you dont want a constant rotation of back and forth, but given the time scale, you could develop a new ultra high end hunting area and get another decade out of it if done properly. If they got real developers who could make a scaling/dynamic area/mob they'd be set for even longer. Remember when Wyrom kept saying attuned items wouldnt be a thing? Well have some attuned degraded fusion orbs for cash!


EG fucked up this year when they mixed in the simucoin event with the main event in the form of quest items and seashell generation. That kind of bullshit is what needs to be stamped out. You can hate that people want to (and did) spend $1k on a house, but fuck it, that is revenue for the company/game AND provides players with something they want and can appreciate. It adds to the game, not take away from it. Thats what microtransactions (thats more a macro...) should be doing. Not being fucking paywalls for abilities and mechanics like a fucking cell phone game. Thats the shit people should be really mad about.

"if he didnt do it someone else would have" is pretty bullshit. I know you can do better than that. Who knows what we might have gotten. If someone who REALLY knew microtransaction trends was involved it probably would have all been cosmetic shit. Everything else could be forgiven to some degree if he wasn't such a shit head who can't keep his story straight about what he can or cant do, does or doesnt want to do or will or wont do. He's done everything from use personal information against the player base, bitched and moaned at the playerbase that doing things is hard and keeps selling everyone bullshit about how fucking everyone over is really in their best interest. Has he done some good things? Sure he has. I think the weighting is against him right now but there certainly are things I could point to that are "good" - The pause on high end script shop scaling, knocks out NPCs when needed to buy back shit during events, script pouchs and quality of life stuff. You could also argue that these are things that also help facilitate the spending of more money and streamlining hte process of getting people to repeat the cycle of "buy simucoin, run gambling machine, clean up, repeat" faster, but they are helpful quality of life improvements in a reasonable timely fashion.

I don’t really disagree. I still don’t blame Wyrom personally for it though. Simu as a whole, sure, fuck Simutronics I’d much rather see GS in the hands of a company where upper management actually gives a shit about the game but we’re stuck with Shartley and Shartfront until the end it looks like. Wyrom is just a cog in the wheel, just like Fawn, Melissa, Kia, etc. were before him. He could protest all this casino shit and walk out the door and a week later Shartley & Co. will have someone in his place, possibly working on something even worse than the current batch of shit we have ruining the game economy.

Know who should really be blamed? The idiots with no self control that throw thousands at Simu during these events. And then those same people tend to complain after about the very thing they’re telling Simu to do more of by throwing all their cash at them. If they would stop doing that shit, Simu would be forced to come up with better ways to make money without ruining the in game economy and pissing off tons of customers.

Boycott 2 casino events in a row and watch how quickly Simu goes back to the drawing board looking for ways to stop being like Zynga. Problem is there are too many retards with mental issues that have zero self control and are basically Simucoin crackheads, and Simu knows it and is trying to exploit it as hard as possible. Which I would probably do too if I knew such a sizeable chunk of my playerbase was really that fucking stupid.

[Fallen]

I’m not sure where the idea has come that Duskruin will run indefinitely.

Each year things have changed. As a recap, we ran Duskruin 5 times in 2015. While most remember 4 times, there was a very involved beta run that went on, that was basically the full event. In 2016, we ran it twice, but we also ran the Dig twice. In 2017, we ran it twice with no Dig, but 2017’s runs did better than all of 2015 combined. Duskruin isn’t flipping a switch and it runs. There is a lot of work that goes into these. Being able to prepare them needs more time than 4 months between two runs, something I’ve been talking about to my colleagues for over a year now.

Up until this year, we have been locked into a schedule due to events being tied to specific months. I was given approval to switch things around, and you better believe I took it. I think there are a lot of assumptions being made, which is why we struggle with announcing things early. We’re giving people time to plan around our event months. If the concern with a lack of a full event is that bloodscrip can’t be generated, I’ll assure you here that you’ll still be able to at each Duskruin event this year. We are trying to keep the experience fresh.

.

[AnOrdim]

I don’t really disagree. I still don’t blame Wyrom personally for it though. Simu as a whole, sure, fuck Simutronics I’d much rather see GS in the hands of a company where upper management actually gives a shit about the game but we’re stuck with Shartley and Shartfront until the end it looks like. Wyrom is just a cog in the wheel, just like Fawn, Melissa, Kia, etc. were before him. He could protest all this casino shit and walk out the door and a week later Shartley & Co. will have someone in his place, possibly working on something even worse than the current batch of shit we have ruining the game economy.

Know who should really be blamed? The idiots with no self control that throw thousands at Simu during these events. And then those same people tend to complain after about the very thing they’re telling Simu to do more of by throwing all their cash at them. If they would stop doing that, Simu would be forced to come up with better ways to make money without ruining the in game economy and pissing off tons of customers.

Boycott 2 casino events in a row and watch how quickly Simu goes back to the drawing board looking for ways to stop being like Zynga. Problem is there are too many retards with mental issues that have zero self control, and Simu knows it and is trying to exploit it as hard as possible. Which I would probably do if a sizeable chunk of my playerbase was really that fucking stupid.

We are probably a lot closer in agreement then it appears. My anger at Wyrom stems more at his actions and stances than anything else and I could concede a lot of my points are petty when taken on a point by point basis. That being said, I just can't get behind that "defense" of "just doing their job". We will never really know just who did what and to what percentage. Which is really part of the problem. Theres little to no transparancy. For better or worse, we are given scraps and left to speculate. Lets put that idea for a side for a moment though.

There are really two fundemental templates that are used for their simucoin events, three if you count the spire, but I'm not because I believe the spire itself is what the microtransactions SHOULD be. So template one is duskruin - through one or more methods you generate a dedicated currency and then use that currency to buy weapons and items. There are two specific problems this causes as implemented. They are also fundamental flaws that all other issues are built upon. The methods to generate this dedicated currency have secondary benefits. Sewers appeal to non combat people but generates lots of secondary treasure items that are either sold to other players or to the pawnshop for silvers. This generates a large amount of silvers outside the normal treasure system and floods the low/low-mid market with 4/5/6x weapons. This is the first fundemental flaw, even if this is good in the short term for new players (not REALLY a lot of them these days) but hurts the market overall long term. The arena meets a demand that a lot of capped people want, EXP earning while providing a higher amount of the dedicated currency and a small chance at items. The second fundemental flaw is the direct purchasing of mid/high-mid/low-high weapons and items combined with the high end shop offering upgrades to items to make extremely powerful weapons of note.

From a business standpoint, this was the absolute best move to make the most amount of money while providing the most benefit to the player. You have a game population that is used to taking years and years to build up project pieces over how many rare raffles that can now be sidestepped by spending a couple hundred bucks during one of the events (or trading silvers to someone else whos spending the money, either way Simutronics gets paid. Even if you "buy jars from someone else" you are directly contributing to the events profits). The major glaring issue, which was even addressed (partially) near the beginning was that this model DESTROYS years and years of balance around rarity. Simutronics answer to this was "Well, the price scaling will dissuade people" which did on some items but was a joke on others. Now that the genie is out of the bottle on expectations. You'll only anger people who werent angry as you scale back the offerings and start putting in limitations in to curb the greed on selling items causing the problem to begin with.

The second model is the dig/search/whatever model of "slot machine". This is easily the most hated/loved model. You buy a pass and you do a thing and you come out the other end with X of this Y of that and maybe the much longed for Z that is the crux of the event. There are a limit amount of highly hyped up items combined with other rare or otherwise special items that drive people to try and get more in return than what they put in. As much as I hated the duskruin digs, they did this the best. you got 100%+ of your value for the $1 you spent. You got USEABLE (mostly) reduced simucoin shop items (encumberance pots, gold rings, the recharge potions[meh]) AND you got a small amount of BS and a chance to get a rare item (T5 etc). As more of these events were created, the rewards reduced themselves more and more until we ended up with the sham that was deep sea diving. This is easily the most predatory of methods since it hits on the gambling addictions and other obessive/compulsive flaws in people.

As to the playerbase, yes, it is a very very unique playerbase. It's also one that is starved of other methods of aquiring all of these things because of a lack of proper management and offerings in the past. In most other games a lot of these features are part of the game in one method or another. Specifically, item creation, item improvement etc. If warriors could add padding and weighting (slowly), rangers and rogues could lighten items or add resistances (perm), empaths clerics could do a thing and so on down the line, you wouldnt have a game population thirsty to get better items. If you had better hunting grounds and/or new Reim like things (another example of what premium/microtransaction hunting grounds should look like) you wouldnt have a population thirsty to get arena exp. But Ordim, they can only do all the development (lol) because they have the influx of money now!- maybe.

What could they have done differently? Microtransactions starting with cosmetic only or light mechanical. Houses, houses, houses, house upgrades, workshops, storage, premium house upgrades, customized spell effects, double and triple down on the progress made on those fronts. Next to earning exp and getting stronger, playing barbie is a huge part of the game. Customizing and creating unique and storied characters. Having shops open all the time that sell tokens for GM time. This would pay the GM doing work and profit going to Simutronics. This should help spur development that can then start building those projects to give players a way to improve items, even slowly, over time. You could then start offering items for sale that improve artisan skills or guild skills or class skills that improve items. Instead of selling the items directly, you sell the stuff that offers a reduction in aggrivation of creating those items, you sell shortcuts, not the destination.

Well thats great but hindsight is 20/20, what about now? Now, I'd really stick with "Develop either a scaling hunting ground that scales to the people who enter in terms of what their skills are, what enhancives they have and their weapons/armor". This is a dedicated hunting area for the best of the best. Treasure is improved to match the tougher challenge. Continue to add backlogged promises and plans. Expand content in such a way that it gives players options. Artisan skills can/should be expanded. Forging more nouns, more options to alter/change the item, adjust bonuses ? stuff like that. Give players tools to play in the sandbox of the game. As useless as cobbling can be, its a great system in the respect that you just have so many fucking options. If it gave benefits or could make UAC, it would be a near perfect system for all involved in the game.

So going back to the start and transparency. Several games have had AMAZING success creating a player filled group that interacts with the company and works with them to address concerns and help guide the direction of the game. I think gemstone would benefit greatly from this. A small, dedicated group of people who hopefully cover most areas of concern and can act as leaisons with the "decision makers" and hopefully guide the game in a way that creates profits and benefits the players.

[Taernath]

I’m not sure where the idea has come that Duskruin will run indefinitely.

https://i.imgur.com/okUo0Mi.png

[AnOrdim]

"we'll fucking kill this golden egg laying goose!"

Imagine the uproar when they "kill" duskruin and make bloodscrip useless but then start up ruindusk the new event that generates scripblood.
A timely and topical post that hits a lot of the marks on why I dislike Wyrom.

[Hymore246]

I’m not sure where the idea has come that Duskruin will run indefinitely.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n5E7feJHw0

I call bullshit. My GOD do I call bullshit. No way in fucking hell they are pulling the plug on the community's most beloved cash cow without a backup plan. The amount of problems it would cause by ending it would cause the entire player base to riot and possibly doom the game. Funniest thing is this: the longer Duskruin goes on the HARDER it will be to end it because the community will become even more invested in the event.

I'm happy I stopped playing. I can't stand how focused on sumicoin events the game is now.

[Methais]

What could they have done differently? Microtransactions starting with cosmetic only or light mechanical. Houses, houses, houses, house upgrades, workshops, storage, premium house upgrades, customized spell effects, double and triple down on the progress made on those fronts. Next to earning exp and getting stronger, playing barbie is a huge part of the game. Customizing and creating unique and storied characters. Having shops open all the time that sell tokens for GM time. This would pay the GM doing work and profit going to Simutronics. This should help spur development that can then start building those projects to give players a way to improve items, even slowly, over time. You could then start offering items for sale that improve artisan skills or guild skills or class skills that improve items. Instead of selling the items directly, you sell the stuff that offers a reduction in aggrivation of creating those items, you sell shortcuts, not the destination.

This. And it should have been a massive no brainer for Simu, considering how many hoops people will jump through to customize their character with every little detail that they're going for and the depth that text based customization offers that's impossible with graphical games. They could throw a bunch of shit like that in the Simucoin store and they would make a killing.

Look at Overwatch. A full priced AAA game and they make shitloads of money selling loot crates that only have cosmetic rewards via skins and all that. And on top of that, it's a first person shooter so you can't even see yourself in your cool new outfit 99% of the time. Kind of like buying rims for your car - everyone but you gets to see them.

A text game not offering the same thing only reinforces how stupid the people running it from the top are.

The rarity of high end combat items added a lot to the game itself too. Not just with taking your character out to kill stuff, but just the "lore" of the game itself. How many other games do you hear people talk about unique legendary items like Jesh's blade, Kree's spirit draining sword, Tedra's claidhmore collection, Thalior's staff, etc. None of those items would mean shit if P2W existed back then. Now Simu is just being a whore with no shame and eventually everyone will have 10x claidhmores that give handjobs while you're resting.

Nobody ever sees an item in WoW and is like "Oh wow, that X item is amazing tell me the story of how you got it!" Those conversations are more like, "What boss drops that? Cool thanks. LFR need X item from 3rd boss."

Simu is doing all that shit backwards. A text based fantasy roleplaying game with nearly infinite cosmetic customization opportunities, and they decide to sell swords and shit instead, at the expense of the actual in game economy even, despite the fact that you'll never "need" anything more than 4x vanilla gear to hunt at any level, if even that. Even something as simple as selling GALD scrolls for $5-10 or whatever would likely make a killing and the game itself wouldn't have to suffer and you wouldn't be pissing all your customers off with this bullshit.


What Methais actually said is spot on. If you don't like the current trajectory of the game just boycott (ESPECIALLY the whales who Wyrom seems to be targetting).

The thing is Methais is proposing this out of self interest and not out of some 'love of the game' crap. If Simu does remove the soft selling of items for RL dollars (aka simucoin events) then silvers would jump straight back up to 8 or 9 bucks a pop.

Not really, and I still don't get what your nonstop butthurt over me is rooted in, but ok.

I don't depend on the money I make from selling silvers for anything, I usually just toss it into savings for a rainy day.

The biggest reason I sell silvers is because there's nothing I really want in game that can be acquired with them, and I'm not paying Simu cash for items and reinforcing this racket they're forcing on us. I won't even upgrade to a Premium sub not because I can't afford it, but because it's simply not worth it to me for what you get. I don't need anymore combat gear, as between my runestaff and my armor, the only time I really die is to some insta-gib bullshit like implosion or major ewave, I don't give a shit about enhancives, don't give a shit about having lockers full of fluff to play dress up with, etc.

Only a moron would sit on silvers like that knowing there's nothing they find interesting to spend them on. The price of silvers could hit 0 tomorrow and I'd still be playing because I still like the community, what's left of it anyway, and the combat system, despite how gay Estild's wizard nerfs were. I would also still hate the direction Simu is taking the game in with P2W and ruining the in game economy.

TLDR: Wrong, try again.

[Neveragain]

racket

Sadly it won't be the lack of customers that shuts down Gemstone, it will be them getting caught up in a class action lawsuit that bankrupts SIMU. If not a class action lawsuit, it will be the excise taxes, permits and government overlook that kills them. The government won't continue to allow these companies to feed peoples addictions without getting a slice of the pie.

[Fallen]

There will be a lot of fun to be had at Duskruin. If we didn’t care about the experience, we’d just run the same thing every single time and not stress about the commitment to make new things.I don’t think I said Duskruin would run indefinitely 2 times a year, but in case I did, that was because that was what I was told. I also didn’t think we’d get to change the schedule and untether the event from the month it ran. This is a good thing, because we can deliver a lot more now. We’re still running Duskruin, because we know it’s an enjoyed event. We also know many of you have invested into it. We’re just giving the event some new life.

@Leafiara just so it’s clear, the full event is not talking about shops. Bloodriven Village will be open at every event. As for your second concern, that’s both great to hear how you feel about the arena and helpful to know what part worries you. To give you a little bit of a sneak peek, each run (February, June, and December) will have more than just one activity. I’ll post more on the official forums just so we keep information centralized.

@horibu It’s not fishing.
]Let me go into some story time real quick. I know some of my posts have been under the microscope and there are a few people challenging everything I say. Duskruin was birthed from GM Scrimge’s idea of an event that was centered around arena fighting. I had just came off of watching Spartacus on Starz and was all about that Blood and Sand! I decided to take lead on the mechanics because I had a lot of success with the Necropolis. While not a dungeon crawl, the combat mechanics had a lot in common. GM Scrimge ended up leaving us for awhile during Duskruin’s creation, so it became my project.

Duskruin originally had 3 parts. Bloodgames, Champions of the Arena, and the Sanguine Bazaar. Only the Bloodgames have really run (that’s just the arena that you all do). The Sanguine Bazaar got cannibalized into the High-End Scrip Shop. The Champions of the Arena was retired due to the arena mechanics being revamped entirely. Yes, I laid out the groundwork for Duskruin. It’s mostly my brain child, but I don’t call the shots on how often we run events (that goes beyond Duskruin). I just made something that worked really well. There is a lot that I’d love to do. The Bank Heist is something I’ve talked about for a long time, and it’s still slated to be released, but this is a perfect example of working on something I want to do versus working on something I’m told to do. Moonshard Warriors is another example where I had a creative difference, but ultimately that is what we ended up with. My plan was for something called Celestial Champions. At the end of the day, I do what I’m told to do though, even if I don’t agree with it. The end result was still something I think you all enjoyed. GM Haliste and I came up with the moving parts, but the pendants weren’t our original idea.

The original credits for Duskruin can be found here though:


The original design concept was created by GM Scrimge and arena/sewer mechanics were by GM Wyrom. GMs Haliste, Keios, Liia, Luneth, Scrimge, Reidyn, Valyrka, and Wyrom all created shops. GMs Haliste, Liia, Mazreth, Scrimge, and Wyrom all had a hand in painting the area. GMs Aulis, Haliste, Kaikala, Krellis, Sherlise, Spalt, and Vanah were huge helps with QC and testing, as well as various last minute needs to help get this out.

The event has grown quite a bit. I’m glad many enjoy it. It’s nice to create something that both works for the players and the company. I wish it didn’t come with such controversy. There is no hidden agenda. There is no double talk. No one is killing the event, if anything, the event is a complete manifestation of player requests. Events in GemStone have always offered these sort of things. I literally manage three decades of expectations in the three years I’ve been in this position.

I really hope Wyrom realizes there's nothing he can say or do that'll stop the complaining.

[Neveragain]

I really hope Wyrom realizes there's nothing he can say or do that'll stop the complaining.

I have met really nice heroin dealers too and junkies love their smack.

[AnOrdim]

I guess Haliste finally put her foot down and said she didn't want to be thrown to the wolves about posting bullshit. Wyrom, the good soldier, takes up the mantle and fights back against the player base. How dare they go against what "the powers that be" have in store. Wyrom is just caught up ine gears of the machine, a victim of circumstance, no power to change anything! The blight of Wyrom, "just doing his job".

Also, that list sure does look like more than the "we have a dedicated group of event GMs"...

[Neveragain]

I guess Haliste finally put her foot down and said she didn't want to be thrown to the wolves about posting bullshit. Wyrom, the good soldier, takes up the mantle and fights back against the player base. How dare they go against what "the powers that be" have in store. Wyrom is just caught up ine gears of the machine, a victim of circumstance, no power to change anything! The blight of Wyrom, "just doing his job".

Also, that list sure does look like more than the "we have a dedicated group of event GMs"...

My favorite part "I literally manage three decades of expectations in the three years I’ve been in this position."

Basically it translates to "Yea I know we just took your money for the past 30 years and let the game go to shit, but this time it's for reals! Trust me."

::adds more slot machine style games::

[Taernath]

I really hope Wyrom realizes there's nothing he can say or do that'll stop the complaining.

There would be less complaining if he'd stop with the 'Simu's intentions are as pure as the driven snow' schtick. Dude drank a gallon of Kool-Aid then went off the deep end of a pool full of Kool-Aid.

[Methais]

There would be less complaining if he'd stop with the 'Simu's intentions are as pure as the driven snow' schtick. Dude drank a gallon of Kool-Aid then went off the deep end of a pool full of Kool-Aid.

I don't think "I'd rather be working on X, but Shartley and Shartfront are stupid assholes and making me do Y and Z instead." would go over very well. I'd buy at least 17 Simucoins if I saw a post like that though just to show support for it.

If I were Wyrom, I'd start replacing "Simu" in that context with "GameMasters" because the GMs are the ones who give actual fucks about the game, even the ones who have a bunch of piece of shit garbage ass ideas that make things suck like Estild with wizards, while management are just a bunch of out of touch distended dickholes who couldn't give two shits about anything other than what the numbers on the quarterly report or whatever says. The GMs' intentions might be "pure", but Simu's, not so much.

And since GMs are considered independent contractors instead of normal employees, it's not an inaccurate statement.

GMs = care about GS
Simu = doesn't give a flying fuck

Regardless, if people don't like the direction the game is being taken in, they need to either get some self control and stop going to the cash grab events until they come up with something better that doesn't fuck the game itself over, or shut the fuck up with all the complaining about the direction of the game. Which won't happen because GS has one of the dumbest player bases around. Take that $1000 you were going to spend on DR for a text sword and buy some toys for your 67 cats or something.

[Methais]

#EstildDidNothingWrong

But seriously what the fuck is up with Estild and he's pathologic need to nerf every fucking spell in the game.

Some GMs still don't get it. Estild is one of them.

[Fallen]

Estild can be reasoned with, but you better have a very, very solid argument as to why you want something changed. There is some small hope of changes coming to Spirit Guide (130) after a lengthy discussion on Discord.

I largely stayed out of the Wizard stuff. Just too painful to watch play out in real time.

[Methais]

Estild can be reasoned with, but you better have a very, very solid argument as to why you want something changed. There is some small hope of changes coming to Spirit Guide (130) after a lengthy discussion on Discord.

I largely stayed out of the Wizard stuff. Just too painful to watch play out in real time.

Estild was mostly a brick wall despite several people spending over a year posting the math to indicate that his nerfs as well as him scattering a bunch of high lore requirements all over the place when wizards are the only class to have to juggle 4 lores over 202 ranks for mostly lackluster benefits is complete bullshit. I think the only thing he budged on was eventually letting enough EMC training (200 ranks) eliminate the Rapid Fire cooldown completely. Because I guess mana being a limiting factor on its own is something Estild can't seem to wrap his head around. A lot of long time wizards ended up quitting the game entirely over it because Estild literally ruined wizards for them.


Wizards should never have been touched; if anything Bards should be the #1 class to get it's spells nerfed hard.

Why do bards need to be nerfed?

[Methais]

Yeah, agree somewhat here. Never understood what Estild's problem with wizards was: is his main a wizard when he was a player? Also, haste nerf was poorly implemented.

Anyhow, in terms of the thread. I'm beginning to have less and less confidence in Wyrom as a PM. Yes, I agree he is being manipulated seeing how not following Stillfront/Whatley's commands to the letter will find him being homeless, so no blame there. But and this is a BIG BUT; Stillfront/Whatley both have no idea what the fuck is going on with the game in a day to day basis, they only see the numbers at the end. In that regard, I think he still has SOME breathing room to formulate game policy/direction.

I don't know if it's Shartley or some asshole at Shartfront or what, but most of what Wyrom does still has to be approved by whoever he answers to, at least based on the frequency he refers to getting approval for so-and-so. I'm just taking a wild guess here but I'd think that as long as he's sticking to his bosses' outline (i.e. find a way to exploit idiots who have no self control), they probably don't care all that much about the details as long as the bottom line is met.

It's too bad Shartley couldn't have sold GS to someone who would actually give a shit about it.

[AnOrdim]

My favorite part "I literally manage three decades of expectations in the three years I’ve been in this position."

Basically it translates to "Yea I know we just took your money for the past 30 years and let the game go to shit, but this time it's for reals! Trust me."

::adds more slot machine style games::

The best was when an old GM called him out on the officials for his bullshit "I've created more development in my time than any other time in the game!" so now he has to super qualify it with stuff like "in the last decade if you don't count certain things". He simultaneously does nothing and has no power (or limited) but also is single handedly holding up and saving the game? Who knows anymore. Fuck him, he's just a blow hard dude running around jerking himself off at every chance he can get and fuck you if you cal him out or get in his way. Woe to the GMs who dont meet his demanding schedule because he'll fucking throw you under the bus in a split second and find someone else who would love to be ripped off for their work and effort.

[Methais]

To his defense, it's REALLY fucking hard when you're trying to date a girl and your answer to, "so what do you do?" is "um, I'm between jobs right now..." He's just a pawn like people are saying, it's Whatley and Shitfront that's the "big bad". If you people are SERIOUS about change in the game, I suggest getting a signin petition with at least 100 names sent to Stillfront HQ.(not Whatley, as I firmly believe he's immune to all that shit knowing his crack-addled playerbase for decades).

[Stillfront Office, Meeting Room]
All along the walls are shelf after shelf lined with the most intimidating looking dildos you've ever seen in your life.
Also here: Dave, Stillfront
Obvious exits: out

Stillfront asks, "Hey Dave, check out this petition some GS players sent us. What do you think?"

Dave says, "Lemme see that."

Stillfront offers Dave a petition.

Dave accepts Stillfront's petition and is now holding a petition.

Dave squints at the petition.

Dave shoves the petition down the back of his pants and wipes his ass with it.

Dave offers Stillfront a petition with a large brown streak down the middle.

Stillfront accepts Dave's offer and is now holding a petition with a large brown streak down the middle.

Dave says, "This is literally what I think about that, and you should too, because these dumb fucks are still going to show up for DR and throw all their money at you because they're fucking stupid. Believe me, I've been exploiting stupid people for decades. Just look at my unpaid GM staff."

Stillfront says, "Good point. Thanks Dave."

Stillfront drops a petition with a large brown streak down the middle.

Stillfront pulls down his pants.

Stillfront squats down and takes a giant dump all over a petition with a large brown streak down the middle, and in its place is a soggy brown petition covered in rancid diarrhea.

Stillfront laughs!

Dave laughs!

Stillfront and Dave high five each other on the buttocks.

Dave asks, "Do you want to come back to my place?"

Stillfront says, "Yeah alright."

Stillfront just left.

Dave just left.

[Roblar]

https://media.giphy.com/media/10FHR5A4cXqVrO/giphy.gif

[Neveragain]

The best was when an old GM called him out on the officials for his bullshit "I've created more development in my time than any other time in the game!" so now he has to super qualify it with stuff like "in the last decade if you don't count certain things". He simultaneously does nothing and has no power (or limited) but also is single handedly holding up and saving the game? Who knows anymore. Fuck him, he's just a blow hard dude running around jerking himself off at every chance he can get and fuck you if you cal him out or get in his way. Woe to the GMs who dont meet his demanding schedule because he'll fucking throw you under the bus in a split second and find someone else who would love to be ripped off for their work and effort.

I don't read the officials for the most part anymore except to check in on RR from time to time. The GM should have called him on it, he's placing himself above some pretty amazing shit the likes we have not seen in years. For me I think the Vreen was the most amazeballs thing I ever encountered in GS and that was still GS3......I think.