Let me first say I will NEVER EVER back another Kickstarter. The game I mentioned earlier, Chronicles of Elyria, was an MMORPG that PROMISED, not suggested via a roadmap, but promised a metric ton of stuff. They had a website, videos of in-game footage (although vague), offered DLC you could buy to get a jump start in the world once it went live to backers (where they made a bulk of that cash)...etc, etc.

They pulled in 14 million dollars. Then when the pandemic hit, they suddenly said they were laying off employees, then the game was shutting down. Some people put in hundreds, even thousands of dollars. I myself was suckered out of about $300. But even before the pandemic, they were dragging their feet and things looked...odd.

A lawsuit from a lot of the backers ensued. Then they suddenly came back saying that a volunteer team was working on the game, and they keep putting out blog videos saying what their new path is and what they are supposedly working on, blah blah blah. But still no solid actual game play or backers put into an alpha or anything (Although they kept saying that is on the way). They could drag that on for YEARS just not to get sued.

THAT is a damn good reason to gripe I'd say. But this game? Valheim? It's $20 dollars dude.

THIS company, of 5 people (Although they say more are or were being hired) have put a roadmap as the guy after me stated. They have been consistently squashing bugs, even fixed 2 events that weren't triggering, and actively listen to player suggestions (If you read that section and see some of the things changed within game). It's already crushing it in comparison to Soulbound Studios, which was a much bigger company.

Just chill and let's see.

I can do a tad bit more than nothing, as in include the team in my to avoid list, and change my review from a glowing appreciation to avoid these devs at all cost.

My goal is simple : I merely want to know if the change to the roadmap is we cant do all the stuff this year and need to push other stuff to next year, which is fine.
If they plan to cut content, that will be less fine as stuff I was looking forward to was beyond the 4 updates and in the 'Odin wills it' parts.

You took the game as is, I took the game as is when I bought it with a road map to more content... why not, it stated a road map with x content.
How do you know that did not factor into my decision to buy the Early Access title? Maybe I may of not bought it.

Why add the road map if they can remove it, do you excuse a AAA dev like EA when they promise a game like Anthem and then make a sub par title with a cash shop ?
Why not hold smaller devs to a standard ?

Understand I am not hating on the dev here, I just want clarification on something I bought early with advertised content to come, if they need time no problem I am patiant and I have lots of other games to play while I wait.

Originally posted by Flare |UKCS|:

Understand I am not hating on the dev here, I just want clarification on something I bought early with advertised content to come, if they need time no problem I am patiant and I have lots of other games to play while I wait.

The underlined part...then why are you here complaining? Wait and see. Play something else. Just seems you aren't really patient and entitled.

Wow, OP showed their true colors after the original post for sure..... Welp thought it was gonna be an intelligent conversation unlike the normal threads like this... but alas.

I am patient when the intent is clear, I don't consider myself entitled when the goal was clearly set, and the product was clearly defined, the game was early access with a road map to define what will be in the game plus more if things worked out, I accepted the game may have bugs, may delete hours of progress and may have issues... early access.

If the content is merely delayed I am happy, yet knowing the current trend to ... enhance the profits a tad ... I am dubious of the vague statement of the devs.

Is it really that bad, considering the trends of developers to want to maximise profits, that I question this developer, that got ... what 5 million vikings .., when they say they want to change the road map ?

Did they say they plan to do 2 updates this year and the rest next ? No , they said 2 this year and they will update the road map.
Is this wording not ambiguous ?

Originally posted by Wyrlish:

Wow, OP showed their true colors after the original post for sure..... Welp thought it was gonna be an intelligent conversation unlike the normal threads like this... but alas.

What colours, I thought my OP was clear, I want to know if the latest statement from the dev means delays or cut content.

Originally posted by Flare |UKCS|:

I read and re-read the last update from the devs, what is not clear is are the merely delaying the updates that was advertised or cutting them altogether.

I have no issues if its a delay, I can happily wait until the devs get stuff organised and set up, but if they plan to cut the updates to 2, I am not happy.
Despite getting 108 hours into the game, I played on the understanding x updates would happen and maybe more, Odin wills it.

I will be annoyed if the 4 updates planned are cut to 2, and no word on the 'Odin wills it' stuff, which to be honest I was looking forward too, I mean the game took off like crazy so what 'Odins wills it' means if not a massive success ?

I dont think its unreasonable to expect 4 updates and all the stretch stuff as the game has done far more that expected... I especially wanted those combat mechanics sorted.

So... is it a delay of the old road map or we talking cutting stuff out ?
If I so much as sniff paid for DLC I will change my recconmandation to avoid this developer at all costs.

I hope its just my cynical self being paranoid, but these days ... well you know what riches bring to developers, once humble now greedy, we all know the EA's and Activision modes.

Delay no issue, I am patiant ...cut content and paid for DLC now that I wont stand for,

I would recommend you re read the log very carefully and closely. They stated That due to the games unexpected success and draw in of millions of players which includes an overwhelming amount of data and discovery of numerous bugs to the game albeit single player or multiplayer servers, they are focusing on bug fixes and making the game playable "before" focusing on new content additions. So they will be Delaying their proposed roadmap updates. So this year we will be getting Hearth and Home in Q3, than as you can imagine or expect more bug fixes and then they will start working on the other content outlined in the roadmap, and will also be reitterating the roadmap once they are convinced and confident that they can stick to it.

It's a small team, and they really just want to make sure the game stays playable before releasing new things and adding bugs ontop of bugs like most other devs do these days.

Originally posted by DarkheartGaming:

Originally posted by Flare |UKCS|:

I read and re-read the last update from the devs, what is not clear is are the merely delaying the updates that was advertised or cutting them altogether.

I have no issues if its a delay, I can happily wait until the devs get stuff organised and set up, but if they plan to cut the updates to 2, I am not happy.
Despite getting 108 hours into the game, I played on the understanding x updates would happen and maybe more, Odin wills it.

I will be annoyed if the 4 updates planned are cut to 2, and no word on the 'Odin wills it' stuff, which to be honest I was looking forward too, I mean the game took off like crazy so what 'Odins wills it' means if not a massive success ?

I dont think its unreasonable to expect 4 updates and all the stretch stuff as the game has done far more that expected... I especially wanted those combat mechanics sorted.

So... is it a delay of the old road map or we talking cutting stuff out ?
If I so much as sniff paid for DLC I will change my recconmandation to avoid this developer at all costs.

I hope its just my cynical self being paranoid, but these days ... well you know what riches bring to developers, once humble now greedy, we all know the EA's and Activision modes.

Delay no issue, I am patiant ...cut content and paid for DLC now that I wont stand for,

I would recommend you re read the log very carefully and closely. They stated That due to the games unexpected success and draw on of millions of players which includes an overwhelming amount of data and discovery of numerous bugs to the game albeit single player or multiplayer servers, they are focusing on bug fixes and making the game playable "before" focusing on new content additions. So they will be Delaying their proposed roadmap updates. So this year we will be getting Hearth and Home in Q3, than as you can imagine or expect more bug fixes and then they will start working on the other content outlined in the roadmap, and will also be reitterating the roadmap once they are convinced and confident that they can stick to it.

It's a small team, and they really just want to make sure the game stays playable before releasing new things and adding bugs ontop of bugs like most other devs do these days.

So its just a delay, then I am happy, take your time devs and make it the best you can.
I was a tad bit concerned that stuff would be cut, and maybe offered as paid for DLC, you know what the trend in gaming is like,,, get a mass of players then milk 'em.
I have a number of titles that was so humble early on, then went paid for DLC, so I was a bit apprehensive.

But if it is as you say, then no worries I am happy to wait, nay play the game more as it is a lovely title to experience.

Modders can add stuff to this game faster than the developers literally the day after it came out modders added a ton of QOL stuff etc. The well bugs man we need to fix .. i played it game was fine.

I enjoyed the game I got my money out of it i guess anything more for free they add is out of the kindness of their heart or the love of their game I suppose .. 25 bucks or whatever is a good price for what we got..but the update stuff caught a lot of our eyes and was obviously said to boost the hype and sales, with the video shorts and lists of stuff coming is a borderline lie or just a gotcha I mean that stuff was the deciding factor for me oohhhh alot of stuff to do and sooo much more coming !

At this rate we wait years for big new stuff, the update video shorts and lists of new stuff that will come, hell it worked on me and was a big factor why I got it because I watched streamers play the game and was like looks decent but still with people beating it in a couple days or so and their just wasnt too much in it compared to like Terraria i was questioning myself to get it but i figured hey the new stuff they said looks great if they do what they said it would be pretty awesome so i got it looking back now I dont think i will ever judge a game on stuff coming this year even, well they got me ..and ! would refund just on the principle of fake hype always a guilt trip put on gamers when we dont get what we were told and call them out... its just wrong and such a common practice now.

The small team thing and covid i guess was a big hinder for the first month or two or three sure.. but all this time from then to now was obviously put elsewhere which is fine id take the money and bail onto the next game no point to work on stuff for free.. we got what we paid for just wish the fake update hype wasnt a thing but whatever gets more zeros is the norm now.

Now with the the struggle to put out 1 decent thing to make me log in like i dunno a boss perhaps, my hope is gone at this rate they need 10 years to make it even half as good as Terraria and thats a 2d game, sure can argue well this game is 10x harder to make then a 2d game and maybe so but if a modder can add more than you to your own game the very next day it cant be too hard to give us more bosses and stuff, but hell it takes Blizzard like 2 years for big updates to WoW and they got billions so what do i know :)

Just kind of a bummer this game could be so much better.
best wishes to everyone :)

The game did far better upon their EA release than was expected by everyone, including IGS, as they even stated.

Just because they had to cut back what was on the roadmap for this year did not mean they don't plan to continue working on it past this year (IMO). It's a small team. They realize the roadmap as it was wasn't possible. Hence they plan the initial Hearth and Home, then moving onto the Mistlands to keep the ones whining for more content right now happy.

You paid $20 for the game. They have said that any additional content will be included in that price. What's the problem? Patience.

Even if they didn't do anything else, we all got our money's worth with what is currently available.

Should of been around for the Kickstarter for Chronicles of Elyria. THEN you'd have a reason to complain.

As I said, a few times, if its just a delay no issue.

My issue is that its not clear if they are delaying the planned content + 'Odin wills it' stuff, or are they cutting.

If its cutting I paid £16 for a game that advertised 4 updates and extra 'if Odin wills it' and considering the success, I dont think I am unreasonable that it should include all that extra on top of the 4 updates.

I dont mind or care if they cant do all the stuff this year and need to push it to the next, thats not an issue... I do care if they are cutting 2 updates and the extra stuff, there is no excuse to cut stuff when the game did so much better than expected.

Delayed, no issue I can wait and I will defend the game all day long, there is no issue if the team had to upsize and teach new members the systems.
Cut content is a different matter, no matter how much I paid or played what was advertised was advertised no matter how successful the title was.

What was advertised was an "Early Access" game. Cut, Delayed, Subject to change and cancelled are all terms used when completing unfinished work. The game will surely be different 2 years from now. The game never advertise updates, they only "Shared" the developers development map which in an EA game are always "SUBJECT TO CHANGE". Not sure what other type of answer you are looking for. Game isn't complete, development is never ever straight forward in an Early Access game. I don't want them to cut things out either but in the end it is their game, their vision and we paid to get a sneak PEEK.

Interesting,,,

So if I made a game Early Access that means I could promise a load of stuff, and when I got the cash I could simply say nope... and you would be happy ?

Hmm sounds sus to me but if that how you guys take it... I have a game with deep dive VVRMMO tech that lets you buy and play in a universe and do what you want in it, gimme cash and I will do that but the game is in EA so you may have to wait, forever.

... again if the stuff is delayed I will not have any issue, stuff takes time especially if you need to upscale the team.

Originally posted by Flare |UKCS|:

Interesting,,,

So if I made a game Early Access that means I could promise a load of stuff, and when I got the cash I could simply say nope... and you would be happy ?

Hmm sounds sus to me but if that how you guys take it... I have a game with deep dive VVRMMO tech that lets you buy and play in a universe and do what you want in it, gimme cash and I will do that but the game is in EA so you may have to wait, forever.

... again if the stuff is delayed I will not have any issue, stuff takes time especially if you need to upscale the team.

first of all ,they didn't promise anything thats just how you interpreted it. secondly, if you care to read any of the R&Rs for EA you'd understand the ENTIRE game, update schedule and even planned content is subject to change at any given moment.

sus? you mean suspicious? use your words please. nothing suspicious about a dev team going quiet during an update cycle, its rather commonplace actually., also nothing suspicious about the roadmap being altered to better suit the devs schedule and manpower. this is a business venture not a service, either have patience or jog on and play something else until its finished.

You were only promised the game as it is for your 16 pounds. Any updates OR not are what I like to call "Gravy". They don't have to update anything.

So what is your overall goal here then? What if they do Cancel the whole game or updates you going to get a refund after your 100 plus hours? My point is even if they stop updating the game now you can't use the "False advertising" ploy. It doesn't exist, you paid for EA on a game that isn't finished, no promises were ever made about updates.

I understand that if they cancel your not having that, what do you propose to do if they cancel an update or two? Quit? Stop playing? Uninstall?

I took the game as is, in EA, $20. 260 hours later and can't wait for more. If they cancel some stuff yes I will be disappointed, but what can I do about that? NOTHING.