where is everyone

[Enesis]

i saw maybe 2 people in the starting zone.. how can you expect someone to pay monthly if the game is so lonely

14 people on when I try to play, grind from 26-27 and knowing there is more to go solo has killed it for me Want to play.. but I get so bored and log

 

[Keiban]

Steam would do wonders for Embers at this point. It would be the most solid indie mmo available on the platform and bring millions of potential eyes to the game. This baffles me.

There are over 75k games on Steam, every month over a 1000 get added, so the chances of "accidentally" stumbling over it are very slim, and given how niche it is it's unlikely to be covered on the front page. Also, for the studio to get the same 40$ per game sold, it would need to cost 60$ on Steam, which is pretty hefty.
The game is very niche, but it had pretty good coverage on launch etc., so I'd guess most people that are actively looking for something in that niche will stumble upon it.

And lastly: I'm pretty sure that at this point well over 10k players have played this, at least if you include the free trial/free weekends etc., and how many are left of them? What do you think the reviews would be like for a 60$ game where 99% quit before lvl 30?

 

[Codered125]

This game is really raw but I'm glad it exists in the sea of MMOs that never came out after taking lots of money. I probably won't stick around but I do appreciate that we got a free trial, very generous of the devs.

 

[Elloa]

Heya! Thank you for your kind words!
If you have the occasion, before to make your final decision, try to group up with other playersas the game truly shine once playing in group (not guaranteed you will like it, but the game has been created arround that idea)
To find other players as trial you can communicate via the HELP channel /help - You can also use our Discord server - And hang out with teh streamers playing the game. We do have extremly helpful community members and several players making alts or starting the game.

 

[Codered125]

Heya! Thank you for your kind words!
If you have the occasion, before to make your final decision, try to group up with other playersas the game truly shine once playing in group (not guaranteed you will like it, but the game has been created arround that idea)
To find other players as trial you can communicate via the HELP channel /help - You can also use our Discord server - And hang out with teh streamers playing the game. We do have extremly helpful community members and several players making alts or starting the game.

Will do

 

[Triybits]

Heya! Thank you for your kind words!
If you have the occasion, before to make your final decision, try to group up with other playersas the game truly shine once playing in group (not guaranteed you will like it, but the game has been created arround that idea)
To find other players as trial you can communicate via the HELP channel /help - You can also use our Discord server - And hang out with teh streamers playing the game. We do have extremly helpful community members and several players making alts or starting the game.

The game truly does shine with others but there are no others out there to play with. =( please consider adding mercs you can hire to make a party with. I know it will be more a solo rpg at that point but it already is.

 

[Elloa]

As said in a different thread, mercenaries are not the solution. They can not be developed in two weeks, and it would be a band aid anyway. Not the solution we want.
What we want is to increase the playerbase.

 

[nikgervae]

The more ways there are to not play with other real people, the harder it will be to play with real people. Thank you for being clear and firm on your goals for this game.

 

[Ironlung420]

IMHO, they've created a fun game that functions well and gives you quite a bit to do. You can feel that it is a game of grouping as most the good quests and named drops come from a party. However, there is a TON to be done solo. Especially when it comes to crafting. If you arent into crafting, I would say give it a try on EA because its not as indepth as other mmos where you need to have 5 windows open to look back and forth at who, what , where. Its just complicated enough to make the final creations feel accomplished and when you level the craft to the next set of materials 10, 20 etc. its rewarding and exciting. My wife and I enjoy the game. I would love a bigger player base of course. However, I am fortunate to have found some strangers online who have become friends over time and we get on discord together and play various games. All you need is one other person and it makes a dramatic difference of what you can accomplish but if you get 3-4 you can do, dare i say all the group content as skill in this game MATTERS (if you don't think so, then you are lacking in skill! NOT TRYING TO BE RUDE.). if you can manage a full group of 6. you can go bananas, that is obviously the big goal. My wife and I play together and accomplish things that game says should be done by 3-4 players or more. So if you like EA but the player base is bringing you down. Take it upon yourself to invite a friend to try it with you. I am looking forward to the Steam drop. I think having million of eyes on it will be huge bump on player base. Shoot, it would only take 100 more people to make all the first 5 zones popping again... Anyway, just my humble opinion. Have a good one!

 

[ChadTheRed]

TRAVELS

I think I will make a video comparing how long it takes to cross the Barrens, or Meadowlands as I'm not sure which take longer.
In any case, when it comes to our travels, we have already added the well travelled buff, and the monolith-to-emberring teleportation. We still want players to walk and explore our lands and avoid modern game fast travels system, which are disconnecting the players from the adventure feel.
The next project we may be working, would be a monolith in NewHaven City, that the community build together. But this is at the stage of project. We are nowhere to implement the tech requiered for that.

In anycase, wishing you the best for your adventures

Disconnecting players from the adventure feel is the lack of player base. This game is designed around group content and the group content is pretty fun when you can do it. However, I logged on the other day to 21 people in the whole game. I do however, remember when the game was bustling, waiting for people to get to camps/dungeons even after the long time it took to find group members was NOT fun. Even worse was waiting for replacements in groups to arrive at said group area. God forbid some other group shows up to claim your camp while you're waiting on your replacement to travel 3 zones away. Since there's no instances, you just lose that camp, group breaks, now spend more hours trying to get something together. I'm not saying introduce an instant warp to group function, but focusing on getting players together faster and moving their characters to the content to enjoy the fun part of the game (group camp/dungeon) should be a priority.

 

[MarcusFromOz]

Hey Chad

I'm not sure how familiar you are with the following travel options:
1. You can port from monolith to monolith (i.e. map to map)
2. Within a map you can port from a monolith to any discovered ember ring

If you are familiar with these things, do you still consider travelling to a group an issue?

 

[emberral]

Giving us fast travel that requires a decent amount of running to utilize. Requiring us to run around trying to find "roombas" so the monolith and ring in Newhaven City are activated. Honestly fast travel feels like it was implemented to punish people for asking for it. Ok, you want fast travel? You're going to have to work for it constantly. It's not really ALL THAT FAST travel at times. But hey, I guess it's better than nothing.

 

[nikgervae]

Giving us fast travel that requires a decent amount of running to utilize. Requiring us to run around trying to find "roombas" so the monolith and ring in Newhaven City are activated. Honestly fast travel feels like it was implemented to punish people for asking for it. Ok, you want fast travel? You're going to have to work for it constantly. It's not really ALL THAT FAST travel at times. But hey, I guess it's better than nothing.

There are other games out there. And there are more constructive, less antagonistic ways of criticizing this one.

 

[Faksorfax]

Giving us fast travel that requires a decent amount of running to utilize. Requiring us to run around trying to find "roombas" so the monolith and ring in Newhaven City are activated. Honestly fast travel feels like it was implemented to punish people for asking for it. Ok, you want fast travel? You're going to have to work for it constantly. It's not really ALL THAT FAST travel at times. But hey, I guess it's better than nothing.

Remember that this "work" we do for it is a feature, not a bug. That "work" is fun for us. It's diegetic, which means it adds to immersion instead of kills it. And it's a cost paid before a convenience, which means it heightens the enjoyment of the convenience. If anything this fast travel is a compromise for us, a tolerable reduction in our enjoyment to appease those with different tolerance levels for investment to reward ratio.

So what feels for you like a compromise, IS. And so is it for us.

Although I'll admit, the mechanic of roads increasing run speed has always tickled me greatly. I put it in any game project I make, like right off the bat. Just cause it's fun.

 

[Faksorfax]

What do you think the reviews would be like for a 60$ game where 99% quit before lvl 30?

Honestly... same as every other $60 game. That's just how gaming works these days, huge rushes of kids flock from game to game. They are even aware of it now, the "hype train" is literally its own thing. I agree Steam isn't a Magic Marketing Method, though. The vast majority of games are barely touched.

 

[emberral]

Honestly... same as every other $60 game. That's just how gaming works these days, huge rushes of kids flock from game to game. They are even aware of it now, the "hype train" is literally its own thing. I agree Steam isn't a Magic Marketing Method, though. The vast majority of games are barely touched.

This is not a great defense. I mean really. Lots of games have been around a long, long time. The ones that falter are the ones selling a product that no one wants to buy. The developers and a couple dozen people playing refuse to accept this basic premise of successful economics.

 

[Undone]

Thanks for everyone's contributions to this post.