what are some of the things that are in the works. (in General)

but haven't been completed yet. i know of a few that are kind of pet peeves but i am sure i remember others as well:

moving the "add comment" button on the clan wall to the top of the page

tournament characters not affecting score

was there some kind of change incoming to bonuses and rewards or was that just the tournament issue?

please list others that you remember in this thread as well, maybe we can get some feedback on the status of them. ; )

wasn't there some sort of NCB or bonus change?
also some kind of clan war feature

Bump.

Really, not one post from NS or john?

Is there a real reason for that?

There are some interesting things in the works but we don't want to get your hopes up yet in case it doesn't work out.

status updates on the one mentioned above would be nice then.

You know why there isn't one post?

In my fantasy world, it's because these kinds of posts have gotten RIDICULOUS. The community is entitled to nothing. They don't have to keep up uber up to date on whatever is going on in their world. They don't have to explain every 2 hours that go by without a changelog post. Indeed, they don't have to do anything at all for us.

I'm not saying you can't ask. But it's just gotten silly. Everyday someone else has some complaint about how the devs are doing. And yet NS does a flat out REMARKABLE job of bothering to try to appease everyone of you. And, regardless of what he does, there will always be more bugs and what appears to be an entirely ungrateful community.

And then, to just prove that some people on these forums are totally irrational, there are demands that the dev(S? Hahaha) should make the game perfect (And by perfect, I do mean make it the CB utopia for whoever happens to currently be reading) and keep everyone totally current with their actions.

I'd rather NS spend 2 minutes making the game better than 2 hours explaining what the devil he's going to do to make the game better to people who will always want more from him than what he gives (That itself isn't unreasonable, honestly. Human nature. Just stupid.)

I just want to be able to read the forums without this stuff for awhile. I mean, is it too much to ask? I barely even post anymore because I can't stand how bad it's gotten the past year or so. And here I am adding to the garbage because sometimes it's nice to vent. I will comfort myself with the thought that at least I don't have to vent in every post I make, every day about how I should be getting more information from the devs and be getting exactly what I want from the game I play for free.

Next you'll tell me you go to the public park and demand that the playground be made of solid chocolate, because you have a sweet tooth today. And then complain to the mayor when you don't get it fast enough.

Probably not the best analogy ever, but kinda funny, IMO.

Well..

keeping the community informed on upcoming changes may go along way to helping player retention. Just think of all the player's that have left just because they had no hope of any changes in the future.

Also NS can't do it all. And the CB community is full of 'geniuses' whom I'm sure would be willing to help out if they knew what to help out on.

That I understand. Really. The desire for information is good.


But at a certain point, respectfully and nicely asking the same question over and over is just whining with a nice tone. Which, if you've never experienced it, isn't better than someone screaming at you like a moron.

The fact is, while there are many solutions that have been offered by the community, for whatever reason, they haven't been used. Just spamming forums with the same things won't change what is happening.

I helped NS check something about the tournament score thing... It seemed to be almost working. I don't want to talk for NS but my guess is that it's gonna be fine for next tournament.

Well, we just got one new change. ^_^

That's cool and all. And I really try holding off pestering NS. I do.

But we've not had any game altering changemonths for nearly 2 years. And stuff that's been hinted of was mentioned months and months ago.

The playerbase is just a little restless is all, and I'm sure more people would help, in any way they can, to get some changes coming through, if they are able.

And I want to stress, I doubt anyone doesn't understand how much work this takes, or that it's a labour of love, and I really don't think anyone doesn't apprechiate all the hard work that is being done.

It's more frustration over a lack of change, for a very noticable time.

Get a massive, solid, gameplay changing changemonth through, and you'll notice all this disaapear, as we tuck into the changes with abaddon.

(And /hugz to the devs)

"Game changing" is relative...

As for hinting at things, one of the reasons I hate doing it is that when stuff doesn't work out, people get enraged. There's just so much anger all the time.... To be truthful, it hurts.

CB isn't Farmville, you know? It's niche. It's a wonderful niche, but that's what it is. I don't know.. I feel like this is a place where you can talk directly to the people in charge and say "hey, can we do this?" And sometimes it works out, other times it doesn't. When it does, I don't think people really appreciate what just happened (that is, a player designing a new "thing"). When it doesn't.... Well, a lot of the chatmail I receive makes me never want to log in again.

Then, of course, there's the people that say one thing to me directly, and quite another when talking about me. As if the hatemail isn't enough to receive directly, I then get conversations forwarded to me that are just plain mean. Why? Am I that bad of a person to you guys? Am I so horrible that I must be the target of so many "off the record but not really" conversations?

And lest I forget, there are those that feel they are entitled to bring me down to the ground because I get money off of this game. That's probably the most irritating part. For the record, I have yet to make back my initial investment in CB, or to even come close. CB is a big giant money hole for me, compounded by the time spent. I keep working on it because at times, I do in fact enjoy it. But I assure you... it is definitely not the money.

My frustration is mounting.

Well, I am going to add that ajax notification in the BA window. Does anyone want to draw me a picture that shows what the interface should look like? :)

How about a take on the Gmail notifier symbol? Assuming you can just toss in a universal symbol, we won't have to add unnecessary text.

Preferably in blue, as red won't be noticed.

When I say a mock ui, I don't mean take a screenshot of something you kinda like and post it, I mean actually take a screenshot of CB, and draw the interface you actually want on top of the screenshot. I know what the gmail notifier pop up looks like, but that doesn't help me at all to build this, I'm sorry. :)

Using this picture for the mail icon:

Adding the little icon when new CMs have arrived close to the name would be better than in the BA box IMO...

ns, i was thinking earlier today about how many of the recent changes have started with players and i really am happy about that, especially since you don't just take anything but are pretty selective about them.

the purpose of this thread wasn't to pressure anyone or any other ulterior motive. it actually came about after i went to add a comment to my clan page and had to hit end to get down to the bottom. every time i do that it makes me wonder when we will see the change of moving that darned button up on the page.

i also never got feedback on whether you wanted someone to keep track of all of the things you say yourself you will work on when given time and thought it wouldn't hurt to remind you. after reading many of the replies, not just yours, above i can understand how ya feel in a damned if you do, damned if you don't manner as i feel that as a player.

since this post has kind of segued into the mail thingy, i am pasting from the other thread in case it is missed there:

"i like the idea and if it can link to the chatmail page that would be great! would it also be possible then to choose not to have cm's delivered in either the chat applet or the home page and just have the icon notification as i sometimes miss cm's delivered to my homepage and do not see them until much too late. "

And... what happend to whatever council that was formed or suposed to be?

Something like that maybe, perhaps a bit smaller. Screenshot now with added conspiracy theory evidence.

Either next to (get more) or on either side of the name, as Salk did.

And I say just leave a blank space when no unread CMs exist. Less clutter that way.

That blue icon is ugly if you ask me... Doesn't really fit with the design, I would rather have the blue changed to the red of the links. I would do it but I don't have access to a real editor, I used the wysiwyg from my website's cms...

The problem with red is that it does match the style too well. We may not see a new icon appear. It doesn't have to be neon blue, but something that stands out will help.

have it flashing maybe?

http://bikeshed.com/

I like Salk's mock the best, it will probably be something like that, although I am probably going to put it on the right of the username.

I cannot use cb chat here at school, so my only interaction with CB can be through forums! ahhh!

This should probably go back into Draco's thread anyway.

one other thing regarding what you said earlier ns, if people are sending you private conversations they probably aren't your friend and private conversations are really meant to be between two individuals.

that type of manipulation is kinda crazy if ya ask me, unless the person who sent them to you had told the other party up front that they were forwarding it to you. this is very troubling to me that it would happen in our community and can only lead to an us vs. them mentality and cliquish polarization. i am really stunned by this, am i the only one?

have you not ever said anything in private that might offend someone if it was made public or shown to the wrong person?

I have long since learned that chatmail in CB is as public as the forums. People are lame when they're angry, and a lot of people are always angry with me.

I love you NS

if you are privy to conversations never meant for your ears then i can see why you would feel that way. i would be more concerned about the people doing the sharing though from my experience!

I think you're missing the point, dude.

the feeling is mutual then! ; )

i do get your point, with each change some are happy, some are not. people get mean when they are upset and say things, sometimes to you and sometimes to others. that is all pretty much human nature, like it or not.

my point though is that someone who shares supposedly private conversations without the consent of all parties is already being manipulative, dishonest or both and doing it in hopes of gaining something. if they are willing to do that then what would stop them from baiting someone to say something which is pretty easy to do when people are angry. if that doesn't work, what is there to stop them from just making something up once they gain your trust.

for those reasons i thought it was worth saying that in my experience people doing that really aren't friendly and be wary. if i misunderstood your comment then i apologize for harping on this.

it does bring up a good question though, who all has access to our cm's and what are the circumstances that they would go into that area?

I think NS means that some things most people will find out eventually, at a slower pace than what some people would want to know asap.

;) Maybe I should have said gameplay or game mechanics changing.

Since you have started NS, you have made many amazing fixes to CB, and amazing (I'll use a wowism :P) UI improvments.

I doubt most would disagree (and those that do, or really want to send hurtful CMs are more than welcome to CM me instead of NS).

But we do need some nuts and bolts gameplay changes. Both additional fixes and new stuff. We've needed these for a long time, and I know talking about them gets repititous. And to be honest, I know I'm more focused on the mechanics changes over the UI, as that's the type of player I am.

New stuff is needed to keep interest alive, especially in this day and ages generation of players, bought up with MMO Content Patches and console DLC.

While there will always be those who get, rear end, hurt over delays, or set backs when things don't go in (and part of the allure of Changemonths were the surprise factor) or work the way they expect, a lot more people enjoy a little more two way interaction with developers (and I'm in no way suggesting you don't do this) and maturely enjoy the discouse and discussion about future headings.

And CB has some of the most mature playerbase I've encountered in my online gaming. ;)

An example would be the Supporter Item contest. How's that going? Are we near picking a winner? Is there going to be a community poll? Will I'm sure more than the CPC know what's going on here, the community as a whole doesn't.

I don't think there would be an outcry if we were told it might be the end of the month before it's sorted, and then if that's missed, I doubt there'd be a hue and cry over it.

But it would be nice to know. ;) Reassuring after a year or twos stagnation that stuff is actually happening.

(Again I'm sure we all understand the work invovled is voluntary and takes a lot of time. I'm sure more of us would offer to help out if the extra assistance is needed - And I feel I need to stress this isn't some sort of suble campaign to try to get myself on the CPC - and I'm sure everyone appreciates all the effort being put into this, and ever other facet of CB. From Chat OPs, to Admins, to Tournament running)

Our cumminty is a small niche one. But one of the best I've found anywhere.

Maybe I should start asking more directly, but I hate to pester.

But I do feel we are in need of that old 'surprise' factor we used to get from Changemonths. It bought vibrancy and vitality to CB.

And if we do start getting "What's Planned" updates, and people start to feel aggrived, or hurt when deadlines pass or things stretch on, feel free to CM me instead of the Devs.

personally i think that a regular quarterly supporter item and community updates such as:

http://www.darkcurse.com/news

would go a very long way to making the game seem more alive, dynamic and attended.

dark throne had similar updates and often one would just say we are still working on all the things from our last update and it is taking longer than expected.

hmm, i guess that link isn't direct, look for "4/21 server update" towards the top of the page for their community news section.

My point is less that that kind of thing happens, and more that it happens *WAY* too much.


I never argued this. Yeah, it's pretty lame to do that.. but (1) it still happens, and (2) this one piece of my initial post was definitely a side issue that you keep focusing on and turning into the primary issue.

This is a very typical thing for a CB forum thread (and I guess most forum threads). Take some post laid out like this:

Main Point A
Supporting point B
Amplifying information C
Anecdote D

Replies then turn into:

Main Point D
Main Point D
Main Point D



.... ok, so admittedly, that probably isn't the best way to explain a scenario when people take tertiary aspects of a statement and promote them to primary pieces. But hopefully someone can rewrite that intelligibly.

But that's why I said you are missing my point. You are focusing on the wrong aspect of my initial post.

I don't care that people forward CM's around. It happens. It's always happened as long as I've been here. Heck, sometimes I get forwards of forwards of forwards. On one occasion, I got a CM that *I* wrote forwarded back to me through 3 other people, and in it I said something like "please keep this between us." It happens, and people are dumb.

Further, people send CM's to admins all the time. It is then the admin's responsibility to handle the situation. Sometimes that means logging in as the user in question and verifying the reality of what transpired. G has described this publicly on several occasions (and TBH, I personally send every admin issue to G anyway; I just don't want to deal with that kind of stuff, and he's underworked right now :). For the record, that is not something that admins do on any sort of regular basis. It's an exceptional circumstance that occurs once in a great while.


Yes, the people forwarding junk around are just as bad as the people saying it in the first place. I care more about the fact that there is so much anger floating around in the first place, when the situation could be handled MUCH more eloquently.


Yes, please don't harp on this. I never said they were friendly people. I'm just saying that there's a big giant amount of antagonism on this site, and I get a boatload of it directly. I get plenty indirectly, too. I want it to just plain stop. I want people to stop proliferating negativity and start focusing on the good things, start looking at positive things. Evil begets evil. When a group of people gather and start amplifying each other's negative impulses, it does no good for anyone at all. None. And it certainly doesn't motivate me to go and spend more time doing things here.


See above.

sorry about that then, thanks for the in-depth reply though.

on a positive note, in case it was missed before, kudos on all the player suggested changes recently. ; )

Accepted, and you're welcome.

Ah hah! In that case, G, I'd like....

;)