@tyler : new content

[Master of Clan X]

just add something... skirmish was a good idea.

but as you may aware of, it's human nature that they will never be satisfied. so to keep them attracted to your game (and ultimately keep spending money) you need to keep developing and adding new contents.. well, new weapons "might" work, but new "game element" would help better, In my opinion.

Thanks. I believe Skirmish wasn't given enough time to be improved. The initial response was so bad that Tyler just decided not to touch it any more.

I think some new weapons are needed for level 210+.

[Bishop]

I like skirmish. Its one of the few implementations that I do like. Its a good use of APs when you cant CW. The only problem with it is that it does draw away from the "meat and potatoes" of the game that is clan war. Maybe it would be better if skirmish would be fueled by a separate AP bank or not even APs at all?

Clan war is what the game is centered around. It should be a no-brainer that this is what should be focused on. A couple ideas...

1) 5 "Ghost"clans, as Giphin put it. New players are assigned (drafted?) into one of the clans where they'll learn the ropes of clan war. Maybe even let a real clan "sponsor" a ghost clan, though this would be unpopular as that clan would have a lot of influence on what clan new players would join.

2) Allow new players to get involved with a clan day one. They may be too weak to fight a fort but maybe some sort of "combat support" system can be implemented. The bad part of this is that you may (likely) see a flood of multis.

Some real advice... quit getting our hopes up just to let us down, I think that pisses people off more than just doing nothing. Factions seemed like an interesting idea, but all it did was draw lines for alliances. Now we have "alliance war" instead of clan war. Thanks for nothing.

[Ramu Bhai]

#3- The most important problem, IMO : lack of new players.
r..

Thanks giphin for letting them know that it is an issue being felt at highest level too. Else they will keep designing event for top few. Putting 5 top spenders up against each other for batches etc is good for short term revenue, but a major disappointment for majority.

Just an example, I felt really bad to ask a level 60+ guy not to attend clan war because he keeps getting sunk by fort cannons.

[Andrew Bowman]

#3- The most important problem, IMO : lack of new players.

This. Idk if it's explore that's killing the game as the shear amount of money required to be halfway decent at the game. When events carrying some of the better weapons in the game take more than $30 or $40 dollars to complete, you're going to lose players IMO. The average player shouldn't be expected to spend this type of money to remain competitive. I feel like devs are just trying to milk as much money as possible and that's the number one focus. Ember, is the main example. It wasn't supposed to be necessary for game play. But if you're gunner, you continually need ember.

The app would help boost player numbers I think.

[padam]

Definitely reach is going to increase with smartphone apps, but problem is with current gameplay. A lot of player dropout between level 50-80.

[adolf hitler]

you guys should think of a new content to keep this game entertaining.. just saying.
it is just kinda sad that you guys keep recycling events. no major new contents.

i believe u got some big bucks from at least this event..

anton for instance has spent about 130k ap (1,300$ worth of money, or less due to ap discount and ocho bonuses) for this event, and you sure have gotten nearly 1,000$ worth of money from those costumers buying kharybdis fragments from me this month only. i know u need to pay the server, employees etc, but also please hire some good researches and developments/programers team to make this game much better.

PS: brod sucks at programing, better find another legit programer.

unless you are planing to shut the server down any time soon after milking all the money, then it will be a different story. =)

Hahahahaha! The game has been milked long before you started playing!

[nad0886]

Agree with Giphin's idea of 'ghost' clan as training clan.
Dev can make 2 'ghost clan, new player can choose one, rezz time not random, maybe 2 times in a day, after a clan wins, war ends and the winning clan get sunk too, so no FW.

But what makes a clan alive is clan chat, senior players as build advisors or just for walking wiki :)
So maybe some senior players from clans can spend some time there interchangeably, view it as an advertising time to add new members. Well they cannot use their high level main character ofc. as the big damage they have, Maybe they can join the war with their captain with moderated damage, and the new player can see which clan the senior player belongs to. For the senior players, it's not a stressing job, because no admins job needed, just stay in chat 30 minutes before clan war.

After reaching a level when they don't get sunk by fort cannons, players should be ok to join a real clan. Surviving SW needs level 100 or more, i think.

[Master of Clan X]

I think that pisses people off more than just doing nothing.

If nothing is done the game will die.

[Rainbow King]

PS: brod sucks at programing, better find another legit programer.

[Chrisnetika2]

What would you consider to be making the game much better?

Adding Anti-Feed System :D

[hon]

Maybe CW format need to change to arena style e.g.

Hourly 1 session. If prime time can 30minute 1 session. All the clan who want to join spend 1 token choose side A or B.

Highest rank clan taking lead accept or decline joiner. Maximum 4 vs 4

When it start, using normal CW console & can see the 4 enemy clan. Can attack which one u prefer depend attacker/defender etc but dmg is spreading to all the 4 evenly. Floating time can be control by amount of HP for session. 10-15 minute will nice for everyone.

When 1 side win remaining will stay for free-for-all & can be join by normal rez.

[Chai]

All the clan who want to join spend 1 token choose side A or B.

Interesting idea.

[Nikolaj Knudsen]

Part I - New content versus basic problems.

First off it's important to undestand that the situation is normal for a game at his age. Even this topic is normal. In general good online games have a lifespan of 3 - 5 years. Then these problems and posts appear. What they basically say is: "Do something or the game will die." There's always a hidden, but thinly disguised threat in that statement to the owners/developers, namely: "If You do not do anything, You will loose income".

I happen to believe that the owners/developers already know this, and that they have calculated with this. So this is no surprise to them, and by the end of the day they have 2 obvious options: One is to shut the game down, the other is to try to revive it by adding more stuff/functions and/or making changes to the graphical interface. Usually option 2 is shortlived, and there is a reason for this. What happens if they choose option 2 is, that the game becomes more complicated, which is not a problem for seasoned veterans, but may very well be a problem for newer users.

However, the owners/developers have a third option, which is very often overlooked. They can fix the basic problems in the game. Yes, there are basic problems in a game at this age. Problems, which have been forgotten. Users have found workarounds, and some of these basic problems, do not really appear as problems anymore. Also there are dead ends in a game at this age, but users became accustomed to those too. Veterans do not really care too much about all this. They tend to play their own game and there is always a tough competition in the very top, which basically comes down to, who spends the most money.

Another interesting fact is that there is a lot of focus on, why people leave. More than often we as users do not really know if people leave in large numbers, but we often use that as an argument, because it fits well with, what I have stated in the first para. However, in situations like this it is far more interesting to take a closer look at, what makes people stay, despite the basic problems. The fact that people stay doesn't mean that they are satisfied. It simply means that they haven't come to the degree of unsatisfaction, which makes them leave.

So what I'm suggesting here is to concentrate on what makes people stay and to build on that. At the same time identify the basic problems in the game and fix those problems. This is the way ahead. Do not shut down the game. It has a huge potential and it is a good game. Do not add more game functions for now. This is shortlived and will only make the game more complicated. Do not add more "fancy" stuff to the graphical interface, as that will not help solving the basic problems, because it simply serves as makeup.

In Part II I will focus on, what I believe are the basic problems, and probably present a few suggestions on how they can be solved. There is an ancient Ethiopian saying, that goes like this: "If You do not know, where to go, stay where You are or go back to where You came from."

More to follow in Part II............

[Supa Mario]

What would you consider to be making the game much better?

for starters, stop messing up with item stats

[Master of Clan X]

for starters, stop messing up with item stats

Who asked you.