I second this. Admittedly for totally selfish reasons, but hey I'm only humann.

Posted By Gnox at 10:24 AM - Thu Feb 21 2019

Just a thought on how to solve this: I assume there are players/commmunity ambassadors etc. who regularly check on discord and maybe even some nobles who know more than we know. Maybe they could regularly sum up the small bits and pieces SbS shared on discord. If something's under NDA they could have SbS check and ask for permission to post it. Reading and giving permission and maybe adding something would still take way less time than writing it from scratch and thus release SbS while still pleasing the community without reducing the wow-effect from "official news". And whoever does it could get IP.

tl;dr: Allow chosen players/community ambassadors to post "certified" updates regularly.

Benefits:

• more happy community
• less work for SbS, the can focus on other things.
• more accurate information
• "official updates" are still somethin special
• players can earn IP
• win/win/win situation

This is assuming there is new information/timelines to communicate out. Very suspicious when basic things like that are behind an NDA. Im not saying anything bad just stating my personal opinion. Kind of reminds me of Legends of Aria as far as the devs not really getting info out. I mean its nice to read love stories and lore excerpts here and there but we should have some basic meat and potatoes if you know what i mean. Slightly concerning how good they were at communicating a bit back and how slow/beneficial its been as of late. I dont buy the whole too busy to post thing because though im super excited they are working hard this sprint, i also think customer satisfaction should be a high priority even if its just simple meat and potato updates proving progress. Its not like this game just went into dev few months ago its been years already. Maybe its those new clouds in Elyria blocking any outgoing communication shrugs anythings possible :)

It could also be that what they are working on isn't something they can show, like how the land selection will be taking place.

Or that it is not finalized enough to leave NDA. For example, if they came out and said to us, "hey we're looking at putting in tiger mounts," you'd have a bunch of people start planning for that. Then a month later they say, "yeah, we decided not to have tiger mounts for such and such reason." Now you've got a bunch of folks expecting tiger mounts that are pissed at the studio and calling them liars, etc. It's just not worth the flack.

Yet, they do still do that sometimes on Discord. Which is not official until they post it here in the forum, but people still take it as gospel.

All that said, sure, it's always nice to get a little attention from the studio. The "shiny" drops they've been giving us with weapon/armor designs and now a little tribal architecture is nice but it's not the game mechanics that a lot of folks are looking for. I think most of us are looking for something to chew on and debate over for awhile. So here's to hoping that an update does drop soon and that it has some meat to it that will light up the discussions to feed the gluttonous mob.

I was perusing the Ashes of Creation subreddit and their community faced similar frustration in developer communication oftentimes coming more through Discord than forums or other official static announcement mediums. It seems to be a regrettably growing trend.

I suspect from the developer side, simply being on Discord in and of itself can give them the feeling of "always" providing news and community presence, and thus they also experienced a subdued impetus or urgency in making official announcements elsewhere.

I know this game is very different, and much younger, but Star Citizen is now in a very good position regarding community communication. Weekly small updates is all people need to feel at ease.

They don't need to show us things, but talking about what exactly they're working on goes a long way.

Posted By Gnox at 05:24 AM - Fri Feb 22 2019

tl;dr: Allow chosen players/community ambassadors to post "certified" updates regularly.

That just seems like it would make the whole thing worse to me. It reminds me of game companies that don't fix games, cause they know modders will do it for them. Just makes them lazy and cut corners.

I still can't see why SBS themselves can't make a short post on their forums as well. Again in case you missed it the first time round, I'm not asking for long detailed posts. I would be happy with even just a paragraph, explaining basically the same stuff that gets said on discord. Information shouldn't really need to be hunted down. Should be easy to find, for everyone.

Posted By Ravenlute at 08:46 AM - Fri Feb 22 2019

It could also be that what they are working on isn't something they can show, like how the land selection will be taking place.

I can understand that, not looking to get NDA information. Not asking them to share that kind of information either. Why I said just something simple like updating the timeline.

Share the order things will be released in. While I can guess Pre-Elyria is coming up first, that timeline from so long ago listed Alpha 1 was coming before domain selection. Since we have heard nothing of Alpha 1 and a ton of hype about domain selection, would seem things have changed.

Which again is all fine, I have no problems with things changing. I expect it. Yet if I wasn't lurking around the forums and a bit on discord. I wouldn't know this. Trying to search for that information isn't an easy thing to do either. Maybe why every so often another thread appears of "is the game in alpha/beta"

The "shiny" drops they've been giving us with weapon/armor designs and now a little tribal architecture is nice but it's not the game mechanics that a lot of folks are looking for.

At the start I liked those updates, seeing armour/weapons was nice. But it got that every week was the same thing, different tribes, but always armour or weapons. Got a bit stale for me. Seeing tribes architecture is at least something different. Even if it's just in concept art.

^This post, however, that doesn't mean that there isn't going to be update posts. Caspian has said for a little bit now that he is currently in the works of creating a large update post. It just takes a while, and it's hard to "talk" about what's being done rather than showing because you can't really show backend stuff sadly especially with all the spatial OS stuff that happened last year that was explained, stuff like that they can't show us, they can tell us, which is hard to explain and not what most people want. But its something at least, theres that communication.

I appreciate the OP's wishes. Unfortunately, one of the things that sometimes happens during even well-managed development processes is that there are long periods of time during which there is nothing definite that can be announced publicly without creating more confusion than resolution. We may be in the midst of something like that now.

Any update would be good at this point. even if its a "hey. we are still here. we are working on this and this, and soon we will have a bigger announcement." and 90% of the community would already feel better. because its been months now without anything. a think smaller announcements during slow periods still need to be done. even if its not the big wow announcement we all like, at least its something.

Posted By Valeska at

I was having a conversation in another thread, over driving that topic more off topic. I thought it just be wise to make a thread.

The thread in question is here. From Labbe reply in that thread, it seems like there wasn't going to be an state of elyria update, coming anytime soon. When there has been one roughly every 6 months.

As I said in that thread and I will post again here:

Soulbound Studios promises to:

• Publish & update our schedule on the CoE website

That is via their kickstarter. The state of elyria posts fitted it well. Gave good information about what to expect, in the coming months/year.

Is there any update coming soon? After reading what Labbe shared, I did jump onto discord and read the rest of what Caspian said. I felt confused after reading it. I don't understand why some update can't be just posted separately from 0.5.0 update.

I also felt annoyed he basically teased that there is heaps happening, but it's all under NDA. Yet as someone clearly not in alpha 1 or 10k, well that means really nothing. I'm not asking him to share NDA stuff with the general public. Just seems like there should be something to update the greater community about. I would really like an update timeline for instance. The last one, well over a year ago.

I'm not asking for some long detailed post. Just feels frustrating, that things get shared onto discord. But SBS, don't post the same updates to their forums. Even when via their kickstarter they promised to. I understand discord is nice and simple. Easy to jump on and say/share stuff. I see it just as easy to make a quick post on here as well.

So basically, is the next update coming when 0.5.0 finishes? Are you going to update the timeline at all?

I hope I'm not coming across like I'm complaining, cause that's not my intent. I just feel like I'm in the dark about what's going on. The timeline is clearly in the wrong order, which is fine. I get it, things change. Just wish this was shared with us and the timeline got updated.

It will probably drop after the income tax return season is over. Can't have a timeline, someone might get the bright idea of holding SBS to accountability. Also, can't hinder the spoils of war (promotional sales) with another unethical blog about nothing. How else can a fool and his money soon depart?

With that said, where the faqq is the EP store at..thank you H&R Block for fast service?!?!?!?!?!?!

Posted By Felwinter at 8:38 PM - Thu Feb 21 2019

I know this game is very different, and much younger, but Star Citizen is now in a very good position regarding community communication. Weekly small updates is all people need to feel at ease.

They don't need to show us things, but talking about what exactly they're working on goes a long way.

To be fair Star Citizen has a lot more employees and millions of dollars more in funding. Allowing them to be able to do things like weekly updates.

Posted By Poldano at 11:21 PM - Thu Feb 21 2019

I appreciate the OP's wishes. Unfortunately, one of the things that sometimes happens during even well-managed development processes is that there are long periods of time during which there is nothing definite that can be announced publicly without creating more confusion than resolution. We may be in the midst of something like that now.

I see where your coming from and thank you for trying to clarify. However, well-managed develoment process's dont necessarily mean lack of communication. I mean honestly communication is key in any setting. I dont think people here are asking for much, a majority arent even looking for exact dates of anything. Its my understanding that people want to see concrete proof that the game is progressing. Nothing less nothing more except perhaps an updated estimated time frame for all the ALPHAS etc.

The lip service, lore stories, and TEXT based events are just getting old and worn out. It works for a while but at some point have to pony up and put something out solid. Something that shows whats progressed since the last snippet shared etc. Customer trust is vital to any brand survival and i think its getting to a point now where that trust is waining because nothing other than picking the map has happened in months literally. Unless you count sketches, and some armor models etc. Anyway im ok walking away anytime so im not upset. Im just hoping this isnt another fizzle i was so excited for this game but kickstarters are a gamble most of us know and accept that. They def have an awesome Idea, but at this point its just that, an idea. My .02.

Quality above all is a great concept. I think most of us can get wanting quality. At some point though TANGIBLE>QUALITY would go a long long way with appeasing people. Unless of course its in such a rough state and/or behind whats been indicated people will be like WTF, but i dont want to make any assumptions. #TANGIBLEALPHA