I think you are working your tails off, but that you are also suffering from some lack of coordination / organization. I think you should have an "update tracker" similar to the bug tracker in a public forum.

Then, if you decide to do something like limit slave gear to tech level +10, you can put it in the update tracker under the "to do" column. Once a dev has started work on it, he can move that project to the "in progress" column. When he has completed the work, he can move that project to the "work complete and waiting for patch" column, and then when the patch is done and it goes live, it gets moved to the live column. But wait! Sometime after the work is complete but before the patch goes live, you change your mind about how to deal with slaves! Two hundred players watching the update tracker will notice that the project hasn't been removed and will remind you before that project goes live!

This would also allow for instant feedback TO the players about the status of updates. There are ALWAYS rumors floating around about which updates are in. Last uni it was the Station Managment Missions. Fortunately for me, I'm on EF, the so-called "admin team." So, I could always just say, "Hey, Jey. Are the SM missions patched in yet?" And then Jey could say, "Don't know. I don't do content. I HATE content."

I understand devs wanting certain new content to come as a surprise, which is only fair after they work so hard on it. However, changes to OLD content should never come as a surprise - like the changes in emp rays, or the changes in base gear / augs we got last uni with no announcment. A public update tracker would help eliminate player rage over such unpleasant surprises.

Like I said, I'm happy with the support in this game. I've submitted several tickets, for everything from bugs, to payment problems, to getting stuck because I bought a EF frigate before I had engines 10 and slaved the helga I got there in before realizing I couldn't undock the EFF. I've always gotten quick, courteous responses to reasonable, courteous requests. I know the dev team has their hearts in the right place, but I think a system like the one I'm proposing would help make those good intentions easier for the playerbase to see.

Better question is why is he in a dg.

/signed

Ruin drones/ Built drones....SUCK.

Urqa ka Drones have worse resists than ares drones. They have one weapon that is the Same as ares drones(eth 3 laser), and an urqa Ka, which not only does significantly less DPS than any of the weapons of the ares drone, it also does less damage than the eth 3, so it only gets fired when the enemy flies out of range, which is uncommon. What should be done: give it a different weapon that is identical, but does more damage, so it will actually USE it. also, boost its Resists.

In GENERAL, fix the resists on ruin drones! Otherwise, they will NEVER be used! Please, Please, Please! i REALLY Want to use my Ka drones, but i cannot, because they die like flies!


AI Running away code....low level players lack the ability to prevent AI from running away. At least low-ish leveled stuff(up to level 400, i mean, such as gammas), should not run away! It just annoys the CRAP out of people. Seriously. It has made me give up on leveling my alts multiple times, and i have experience...imagine what it does for new players? Probably has instigated the quitting of dozens of players, which means less money for you. less money for you=less updates=unhappy old players=more people quit=less money for you...

Fix Pl0x! Both of them!

Overall i quite like the devs performance, however there is a few things that annoy me. Most of my frustrations are with content that was promised, talked about and changes that just never seem to materialise. I mean what happend to the rest of the rebalance, were engines and radars not getting rebalanced also? (Maybe i am wrong on that, dont really want to troll through old posts and check )

Also crated tweaks... Just what the fuck happend with those? been looking forward to those for a while.

Dare i mention stealth classes?

On the flip side is changes that are not really talked about, if at all and then implemented with minimal or no warning.



Also everything said here.

I've made crates for almost all tweaks, someone just needs to put them in somewhere.

in a nutshell

Kanga

Basils are impossibly hard at low levels. Massive DPS, massive range, massive bank, massive resists. What the fuck was the dev / admin thinking when he built this thing that is 10 times better than any other AI at that level?

"OOOOhhh, let's make this fella have a long laser that slows people down, and a weapon that gives parasites! That will be awesome and if people can cap them, then they would be more happy!"

Problem is, only the basils that shoot 2 of their weaps can do real damage, and only gunners or berserkers can use those two weaps if I'm correct...

Everyone can, with MF bots

Y'all are doing a hell of a job. But, your follow through leaves alot to be desired, and y'all are attempting to do to much, to fast, without enough management. And there's some communications issues.

The list of outstanding items is long, and keeps growing with every update. You still hadn't completed the class rebalance, and everything that was to entail, yet you started in on item rebalance, a new UZ, new parasites, new galaxy ownership, Terraforming, drones, Capital ships, Tweak rebalance, BvB rules, etc. etc. etc.

Even when tasks are "completed" they're often only 80-90% done, and worse, when it's pointed out they are unfinished, it may take _years_ if not longer to get the rest finished. Terraforming had no atmosphere bps when it first went in. Tweak rebalance/crates. Things not being added to drop tables, or ruin tables. Rebalance of items, but engines and radars left out. New Gal ownership rules, but without new BvB rules, Engineer rebalance, but no shield drones, additional tweak factories, aura drones, etc.

And then there are the items we are told are going in... that don't make it. Without communication. Shield drones, new AI, etc.

Then the stuff that goes in, without adequate communication... Major base ownership changes (like they go unowned instantly), etc.

From my viewpoint, an aweful lot of what's going on is loosely or not coordinated and managed. I know that a volunteer staff, who work when/if they can, can cause havoc and end up with things partially finished, or chaotically and quickly thrown together. But things like Pip's dev notes from the meetings, posts like these, and many other methods available out there can help.

Communication issues- For once I'm not going to harp on Dev/Player communications, instead point out that there appears to be communication issues within the dev team itself. "That wasn't supposed to be added in yet", "I don't know if that's been added yet or not", "So-and-so's on vacation, so that won't get fixed/looked-at/added until they get back" or worst of all, "I was on vacation, so there was no dev meeting"... Those don't make it sound like the interteam communication is all that it could be. Things like Voomy saying he did the work for tweak crates, and he's just waiting for them to be added... for the 2nd time I recall, the first time being many months ago (1-2 unis?), it doesn't give me warm fuzzies.

On the flip side... it's not all negative. There's been more changes, for the better of the game, in a shorter amount of time, than I've ever seen in this game. We have fairly regular reports (almost weekly?!) from the devs on what they're working on, that include questions from the player base, and direct answers.

Thanks for all the hard work, and please understand all of the above was not an effort to harp on any one topic (I'll do that in other posts... but an attempt to point out what I see as an over-all problem that the dev team has, and that addressing it will help to solve many of the more specific complaints I've seen posted so far.

I disagree with that... (although, keep in mind, I'm not in the end-game stuff)
Not sure if this still applies now, but without a team, I was able to build quiet a few bases (Adonis Z) without a team.
I've PvPed without a team successfully - although, even leading a team, I don't think wars really help... actually... wars with people like JAWSS and stuff is much more painful than an isolated incident...
I don't really do the high-level stuff, and my ships are all capped - except for an unforge I built... I think that's a pretty nice ship (although, I think you're talking about Equamizers and T20 ships). No team involved there.
It's not too hard to make friends without a team though.

The whole commodity thing where it asks you to choose "Galaxy", "Station", etc. doesn't seem to work anymore. Not sure if that's intentional (but it worked 2 years ago...)

Overall, you're doing a great job - after leaving for 2 years, I was really surprised at the progress.

qft

Other than not listioning to people about nerfing basils everythings the same.