Today, it's over 1,500 (1,507 to be exact) days ago since any Entropian who invested time and money in taming was able to put their hard-earned skills to use. August 17, 2009, the day VU 10.0 (CryEngine 2) were released on Entropia Universe, taming did not make the transition to the new engine, leaving tamers in limbo. Since then, MindArk has promised several times to re-introduce taming, most prominently in a Buzz in 2011, promising taming would be back in 2012: 2012 came and went without a taming update. The state of the Universe Address 2013 had a similar promise: However, in May 2013, Kim Welter (Timkrans), son of EU endboss Jan Welter Timkrans, and game designer at Planet Calypso/MindArk, revelead in an interview on Atlas Haven Radio, shared the system only exists on paper: Between May and now, there was a long period of MindArk summer vacation, during which most likely the majority of work went into VU 14.3, maybe a more concrete design has been made now, but it's probably safe to say that no actual code has been written for the new taming system yet. We also know that at this very moment most of MA coding heavyweights *snicker* will be involved in fixing the mess of the VU. Additionally, Monria is to be released within 2013; a promise MindArk made when the auction was announced, and which undoubtedly will precede a new taming system. I'm guessing it is safe to assume 2013 will not see a new and improved taming system. I therefore would like to suggest two options to MindArk: 1) Commit to a new taming system. Pick a concrete date in the near future (Q4 2013 or Q1 2014), rather than some vague promise you will just renew a year later. Start crunching on it, and perhaps even live on the edge and feed the community regular updates on what is happening in regards to the new system. Then on the actual date, deliver something stunning that will ensure that those of the Entropians who made significant investments into taming will not have done so in vain, and that will revitalize Taming as a profession. Or 2) Kill off the taming system for now. Simply announce that taming will take longer than anticipated. Remove all tanning related skills and items from the game. Give everyone who is affected by this fair compensation for their items and skills, and perhaps an additional compensation for the wait (similar to how hangar owners were given compensation for their "down-time"). Then take all the time you need to design the taming system from the ground up, and don't mention it again until it's completely done. Perhaps then sneak it into a VU and surprise everyone when they can suddenly ride Atroxes, mount Leviathans, and fly on the back of kingfishers. Pick one. Please. The current situation simply is disgraceful, and frankly undermines the credibility of your platform as an investment opportunity. 1,500 days to reintroduce a system that participants invested good money in simply is too long, and not good enough. Entire games have been conceptualized, designed, developed and delivered in less time. How do YOU feel the situation could be/should be handled? Please let us know :-)
Great write-up Peter, and I think the ideas are doable, so I hope MA at least takes a look at what you have proposed and comes up with something more solid in the way of what's happening with taming.
Great post. It reminds me a little of a thread I made about the PEC bug all those years ago. I doubt I had anything to do with it of course but it was fixed in the next vu. At the time I pointed out the pros and cons of fixing and the should and should nots so I was trying to be fair and empathise with a busy schedule. My main point though was that essentially it was embarrassing and made the company look amateurish, particularly to the new players who were most effected by it (i.e. anyone with a < 100 ped balance). The situation as you describe with taming is the same. Alas it isn't as glaring as the PEC bug so must new players won't jump up and down about it. It isn't "loosing" them revenue but it DOES compromise their legitimacy as a safe/secure platform in which to invest cash. I remember a conversation with my parents once about Entropia and they asked "what if the company caused an earthquake that wrecked everything?" my reply was that they wouldn't because it was unlikely to be financially beneficial to them to do so. Unlike real life where these things happen randomly an investor is safe from such natural disasters. If you consider cryengine2 / the loss of taming to be the "earthquake" though MA have indeed gone and wrecked everything. This makes no sense. Wistrel
