April 8, 2013 - Is this thing on?

[Darkhorse]

So it's been a while since the last dev blog huh? I think it's about time we changed that!

I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Jared and I'm the newbie here at Venan. I recently started as a producer on Book of Heroes, the game you all know and love. I'm really excited to be moving to the games space after spending 7 years in the doldrums of the corporate world working on "improving corporate synergy" and "managing workflow".

Here are a few other VERY important facts about me:

-I just moved to Connecticut, but I've moved 7 times in the last 10 years
-I think Super Metroid is the best game ever made
-I'm an extremely avid fan of everything relating to MMOs (most recently Star Wars: The Old Republic)
-I am the proud owner of a full size Dance Dance Revolution arcade machine
-I have a very strange talent for categorizing really bad electronic music
-I've been playing Book of Heroes actively on and off since it launched
-My favorite class is War Mage, which I currently have in full T14 and raid with regularly.
-I can eat a full garbage plate (including the bread) in under 5 minutes flat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Tahou_Hots)

But enough useless information about me... let's get to the meat and potatoes of this dev blog!

Most importantly, you should probably be clued in as to what my job will be at Venan, and how it pertains to you as a Book of Heroes player. My role at Venan will include wearing many hats, but a large part of what I will be doing is engaging with you, the avid Book of Heroes player on a more regular basis. This might be through the forums. This might be through Facebook. This might be through Twitter. This might be in game (you've probably seen me there already, I go under the names Darkhorse, Shadowcolt, and Blacksteed). No matter what the venue, I'll be working to make sure that the lines of communication remain open, and that we are engaging our players and our fans on a more regular basis.

I'll also be doing some other things behind the scenes (keeping Little_Mike on task so that the patches come out in a timely manner, challenging Lord_Venan to IRL duels, etc.), but the main thing I want to convey here is that we will be attempting to engage you more regularly and clearly.

What does this indirectly mean? Hopefully you'll be getting info on what we are working on a little earlier. Hopefully you'll be getting more clear info about what and when new patches are coming. Hopefully you'll be getting better information when something goes wrong, like when the server go out (we all know that NEVER happens, so clearly this isn't an issue ). Maybe, all in all, we'll all just have a little bit more fun.

In either case, I plan on doing these dev blogs a little more often, and I'll be urging others in the office to do the same. In closing: I look forward to slaying many a Rath'een with you in the near future. Keep an eye out!

[GioRGiO]

Hi Darkhorse

Thankyou for letting us know that there will be more info and communication between players and devs, I am sure I'm not alone in saying there are a few concerns from the more active players about what changes are going to be put in place in the future.

I would like to share a few thoughts and would like your (and others') comments and feedback on them

I think the most concern involves what is coming in 1.6. Is there is new gear coming? If so should ppl stop enchanting to save wasting there hard earned essence? New gems? New valor?
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that much time and effort (and real money in many cases) is being used to farm things such as valor, essence, flux and crafting mats, etc and ppl are concerned that they may or may not be wasting their time trying to obtain these things if they will either be made obsolete or changed to be worth less.

E.g. With new gear, the enchants ppl have will need to be transfered, and the cost of transfer is steep and gets steeper the higher you enchant. I know many people who have stopped enchanting (progressing) because of the risk of wasting essence and flux. This also applies to gear and gems where several players have said they have stopped getting them incase there will be better ones soon....
I'm not sure that this 'inhibition of progression' is a trend that venan wants to promote and so I thought I should mention it.

Another concern I've noted that many players are taking about is the fact that every time an update comes out, the cost of the previous tier equipment is reduced. I'm not sure why this is, I think it's because you are trying to make it easier for new players to 'catch up' which is ok but it kinda stings when those of us spent so much time and effort (and money) to obtain full sets of t12 then see newer players skipping t12 and getting full sets of t14 within a few weeks. Again I've seen ppl save up valor, stop progressing and wait till the prices are dropped before getting equipment and gems.

I guess it's a fine balance that needs to be worked out before things are changed and was wondering what venans views are on these sort of concerns and also what other players think too (new and old). I personally am not sure what is the best way to fine tune the balance, but I do know that earlier 'patch notes' and more transparency etc would help alot in letting ppl plan their energy (and gs) spending accordingly.

Thanks for opening up more lines of communication and again I think this is the best way to keep ppls concerns at a minimum.

Cheers,
-Gio

[Magdalene]

Why are we assuming the next update will reset any/all enchantment/gems/buffs etc? If it is just because this was what happened with the last major update, there is no reason to assume the same thing will happen again... This is a problem that effects the entire customer database. Surely the programmers and QA team will have fixed *THAT* major bug before they allow themselves the extra time to work on any minor game tweak that would only be a benefit to the small percentage of users that want PvP? Right?

-M

[Bimbosigliere]

DELETED

[Darkhorse]

Hi Darkhorse

Thankyou for letting us know that there will be more info and communication between players and devs, I am sure I'm not alone in saying there are a few concerns from the more active players about what changes are going to be put in place in the future.

I would like to share a few thoughts and would like your (and others') comments and feedback on them

I think the most concern involves what is coming in 1.6. Is there is new gear coming? If so should ppl stop enchanting to save wasting there hard earned essence? New gems? New valor?
I guess the point I'm trying to make is that much time and effort (and real money in many cases) is being used to farm things such as valor, essence, flux and crafting mats, etc and ppl are concerned that they may or may not be wasting their time trying to obtain these things if they will either be made obsolete or changed to be worth less.

E.g. With new gear, the enchants ppl have will need to be transfered, and the cost of transfer is steep and gets steeper the higher you enchant. I know many people who have stopped enchanting (progressing) because of the risk of wasting essence and flux. This also applies to gear and gems where several players have said they have stopped getting them incase there will be better ones soon....
I'm not sure that this 'inhibition of progression' is a trend that venan wants to promote and so I thought I should mention it.

Another concern I've noted that many players are taking about is the fact that every time an update comes out, the cost of the previous tier equipment is reduced. I'm not sure why this is, I think it's because you are trying to make it easier for new players to 'catch up' which is ok but it kinda stings when those of us spent so much time and effort (and money) to obtain full sets of t12 then see newer players skipping t12 and getting full sets of t14 within a few weeks. Again I've seen ppl save up valor, stop progressing and wait till the prices are dropped before getting equipment and gems.

I guess it's a fine balance that needs to be worked out before things are changed and was wondering what venans views are on these sort of concerns and also what other players think too (new and old). I personally am not sure what is the best way to fine tune the balance, but I do know that earlier 'patch notes' and more transparency etc would help alot in letting ppl plan their energy (and gs) spending accordingly.

Thanks for opening up more lines of communication and again I think this is the best way to keep ppls concerns at a minimum.

Cheers,
-Gio

Hi Gio,

I think we're getting a little off track here with this, as I wanted this to mainly be an introduction post. That being said I'll try to quickly address your questions.

As for new gear, valor, enchants, etc., while this type of content may or may not be coming in 1.6 (I can't say much yet until it's finalized) you can be assured that we WILL be delivering this type of content in the future. We want to continue to provide new content for players to participate in so that the game feels fresh and the playability of our game continues to be extended.

I cannot comment much on the reduction in cost of tier 12 and lower tier gear, since I was not the person who made that design decision, however I can say that this model is very consistent with most other MMO games on the market right now.

That being said, as an avid MMO player, I totally get your concerns about wasted time and materials. I sometimes find myself frustrated when I get my character fully min-maxed the way I want and then an expansion comes out and makes my old gear obsolete. On the other hand, this is one of the reasons that MMOs are constantly evolving as a service and offering new content and new features to it's player base. I've come to accept that this is a balance that has to be met.

Hopefully that answers your question.

[Darkhorse]

As per my mail when I promoted you Darkhorse, you're supposed to yell SPOONS before each post. Sorry, dude. Major fail. But if you get Beekeo to give me my hot pink text, I'll overlook it. Just this once!

Apologies

[JsXtm]

Darkhorse, glad to hear that you'll be working to keep the lines of communication more open going forward. I've been playing BoH for over a year now, and I really enjoy the game (obviously, since I'm still playing). I think added communication and news about what is coming in the future can only be a good thing, and I'm looking forward to hearing more from you.

[Citlec]

Welcome!

I will be glad to have a little more reading to do as I believe communication to be key to keep players loyal!

Hope to get more news from you soon!

[Hachiman_Defender_of_Oda]

Awesome! I look forward to reading more from you!

[Peter34_merc]

You really should post all dev blog content on here, not just on Facebook.