I don't know who's more pathetic at this point, the critics or the gatekeepers.

Originally posted by Nwah:

I don't know who's more pathetic at this point, the critics or the gatekeepers.

The gatekeepers act like self-appointed spokespersons for the devs, making sure nobody dares target any criticism at the devs whether it’s well deserved or not.

I love this game, even if it never gets another update, I would still praise it for what it is.

I agree the development seems slow, but anyone with actual coding knowledge will understand the million reasons why a game like this would take so long to develop, and that it doesn't mean that new content isn't coming.

Now, if the mistlands update is not substantial content wise, I may change my current outlook. However as of right now, I have faith that the mistlands update will be a great addition to an already amazing game, and I'm very excited to play it!

Originally posted by Kardy:

I love this game, even if it never gets another update, I would still praise it for what it is.

I agree the development seems slow, but anyone with actual coding knowledge will understand the million reasons why a game like this would take so long to develop, and that it doesn't mean that new content isn't coming.

Now, if the mistlands update is not substantial content wise, I may change my current outlook. However as of right now, I have faith that the mistlands update will be a great addition to an already amazing game, and I'm very excited to play it!

Pretty much my own take on this. I've had a great gaming experience for a few hundred hours. Why would I change my opinion on this game? I may change my opinion of the studio if things fall apart altogether, but the gaming experience is past thing. Who knows - maybe I'm done with the game already? I'd be a shame, but I never got back into Darkest Dungeon again after buying it as early access. It's one of the pitfalls of early access.

The game is fun. yes. but considering how long it's been in Early access, I can't help thinking that content updates are seriously lacking.

I also think people should avoid shilling as a way to repudiate any genuine questioning of why said content is lacking.

Originally posted by Let's Go Brandon:

I also think people should avoid shilling as a way to repudiate any genuine questioning of why said content is lacking.

Can you be more specific about where this 'shilling' occurs?

I mean, I could 'think that people should avoid throwing blatant lies around', but how is that constructive?

Originally posted by SaberToothDeathMouse:

I've never understood why people just assume that the devs have made "so much money". Are you their accountant? Do you know what their expenses have been in developing this game **from scratch**?

There is no reason to pretend they did not make a lot of money. They openly said they sold more than 10 million copies, and Valheim was one of the most successful indie releases of all time. Something would be horribly wrong if it turned out they did not get a lot of money. For the sake of the sustainability of the industry as a whole its absolutely great news that you can still make it big if your product is good.

That said, only the studio owners are millionaires now. Most of the employees are regular hired workers. Also the armchair psychologists get the incentives all wrong. If you work hard on something and it proves highly successful, you don't stop doing it. Instead you keep doing it obsessively. Many gamedevs have admitted working themselves to burnout after a successful game release. Its a good thing that Iron Gate seem to have level heads still and they allow themselves to take some time off during the summer etc.

People should recognize a good thing when they see one. The future of Valheim looks about as good as it possibly can. The studio is hiring more people at a reasonable pace, they have secure funding for the project, and they have a capable team behind it with a vision on what they want the game to be. And they have a fanbase which still cares about the game. Personally I can't imagine how things could be any better.

What did we get over the past 1.5 year in terms of new content?
- a handful of cooking recipes,
- a handful of building items,
- 2 armors,
- new Swamp monster,
- new caves in mountains,
- tar pits with reskinned blobs,
- retweaked numbers for damage/food.

That’s it. Not very much really. I was hoping for more.

Agreed valheim is a wonderful work and am looking forward to the complete product. I don't think many people are peeved just a vocal minority of dopamineless brains looking for their next bright colour and bouncy sound effect. Bet my bottom dollar the day mistlands comes out there will be trolls saying "done everything, winge winge" yet they will never realise the game is still in development and have agreed to pay for this privelage of early access

The question is not “what reason do they have to delay?”, but rather “what reason do they have to keep working on it when they have already made so much money?”.

The tiny amount of development over the past year and a half speaks for itself. They have no motivation anymore to continue and we will just get the bare minimum necessary to keep the appearance that “they have not abandoned the game”.

I'm now on week 3 (almost week 4) since I downloaded this game. I now have 388.7 hours gametime. That's right... I have no life. My daughter told me about this game, so we started playing it together. Then I gifted it (and a new computer) to my daughter's husband. Then my husband bought a computer and now he plays. Then my son and his wife started playing when I gifted the game to them. I have never... ever... done this with any other EA game (and I have a LOT of them).

I love the graphics, I love the load-time, I love the crafting/building/hunting, I love exploring, I love the adventure, I love the progression of skills, I love the realism that doesn't destroy the fun-factor (getting burned in fires, drowning, smoke inhilation, structure integrity, etc.). I love that it's still in development and I'll be happy to wait for "more content". I love that there are mods available to let me build with more items. I love that I have the choice of a persistent character - I can take it from one world to another and not lose skills/items taken with me. Or, I can start a brand new character in a brand new world. Or I can just go into a "creative" world that I play around with different builds. I love Valheim, and I appreciate the devs' work so far, and look forward to more in the future.

I don't love the "Cloud Storage", and I don't love how dark it is at night. Those are pretty much my only complaints.

Originally posted by kestar:

The question is not “what reason do they have to delay?”, but rather “what reason do they have to keep working on it when they have already made so much money?”.

The tiny amount of development over the past year and a half speaks for itself. They have no motivation anymore to continue and we will just get the bare minimum necessary to keep the appearance that “they have not abandoned the game”.

I've never understood why people just assume that the devs have made "so much money". Are you their accountant? Do you know what their expenses have been in developing this game **from scratch**? Do you think they deserve to be paid for their time - or maybe you are one of those VERY VERY incredibly kind and giving people that work for free. I don't know about you but I bought/supported the game for $20 - so far I've played 388.7 hours over the last 3-4 weeks. I'd say I've already gotten my money's worth. I have 5 other family members that play, so together we've spent $120. I've heard that one of the devs has been working on this since 2019 (a previous iteration of what it is now), but they really didn't start development until about 18 months ago. I don't know what their playerbase is, but I hardly think they are laughing all the way to the bank.

Oh and BTW, you might want to check out what's happening in the Beta, by your self-proclaimed "non-motivated developers". I've heard an update is being tested now and will be coming soon.

I freakin love this game.

I've logged just shy over 80 hours with this game, while much of my crew have logged much more than that. Though we've all shelved the game after accomplishing all we set out to do, Valheim produced several moments which were simply unforgettable among us.

We're actively tracking development of this gem and are excited to return to Valhalla in the future.

In the meantime... I'll likely jump back in and build another island base because this game is just so damned relaxing - and it ensures I don't make any impulse purchases due to the occasional bouts of boredom.

I enjoy this game enough to volunteer moderate for these forums.

People complaining have unrealistic expectations of how software development works. These same people complaining who say the developers have taken the money and ran, are actually projecting themselves. This is what the people complaining would do if they are developers.

There was a guy some months ago, that called himself a software developer because he made some mom-&-pop games with Construct 2 with subpar amateur graphics calling out IGS for their slow development. I facepalmed myself, because he compared his 'fast paced' development on the same wavelength as professional commercial development.

There was another guy who compared software development with building construction. He said that IGS should solely focus on content creation and fix bugs when everything else is done. In his knowledge of building construction, it's okay to keep building on top of problems, than to fix those problems for stability. Imagine that in a real life situation. That building will collapse before it finishes.

There was another bunch of people who called IGS lazy because they aren't creating the content the complainers want, REGARDLESS of all of the updates IGS already made to the game. They expect the developers to unrealistically publish the game in full within 6 months to a year.

A lot of these people think of software development on the same wavelength as production line work at a factory. That's not how software development works at all. More people =/= faster development. Too many programmers = too many ideas clashing, too long to learn the structure, more opportunity for bugs to reappear in a different format. The sweet spot for software development is 3 to 15 people, depending on the scope of the project. IGS has 11.

So at the end of the day, from the people complaining, it doesn't matter what IGS has produced. It doesn't matter the 29 updates in the last 16 months. It doesn't matter the active opt-in beta testing/development that has been happening constantly. It doesn't matter that IGS actually fixes things, optimises code, updating their engine, etc. To the people complaining, it ONLY matters that IGS work 24/7, because somehow IGS are robots who don't need rest, food, breaks, fun, and good health. IGS is here only to serve the complainers.

DEVELOPMENTAL TIMES AS REFERENCE POINTS
- Star Wars Squadrons: about 3 years
- Mass Effect 1: ~4 years
- Sims 2: about 4 years
- Kenshi: 12 years total, 5 years in Early Access
- Rimworld: 5 years in Early Access
- Minecraft Dungeons: about 5 years
- Fallout 3: about 4 years with Bethesda, +2 years with Interplay
- Don't Starve: about 3 years
- Astroneer: ~3 years in Early Access
- Diablo 3: ~10 years
- Team Fortress 2: ~9 years
- Owlboy: ~10 years
- Valheim: Early Access for 16 months so far

^Clearly by the developmental standards of everyone complaining, all of these companies and their games, especially the games in bold are excellent examples of developmental failures. Yet, more than half of these games have become major successes with awesome content.

The same people complaining about Valheim, complains how V Rising has become, complained how Kenshi has turned out, etc, etc, etc. The unfortunate fact is that there is too much misinformation and entitlement.

TL, DR: If there were very little updates in the last 16 months, I would agree with the complainers, but the game received major updates since. So the complainers are twisting reality to suit their rhetoric, because the things they want surpass the reasonable development given the time.