Irreversible?

This sort of thread has been brought up on both Graalians and Era-Go too many times to count, but this game has been losing it's playercount for a good bit not. 3000 to 1800 players? I'm just going to try some force of reflection. There's a reason behind it that nobody seems to want to take accountability or action for. We've gone through too much inflation of guns, with no buffs on jobs..... nearly ever. I understand that iEra is probably a cash cow to Unixmad due to half of you spending hundreds, but the game isn't even operable. I'm not going to bring up the nostalgia of older years and bring up the past so much, but is it really irreversible?

From my standpoint, it started with the players requesting more guns. It then escalated to developers running with their pride to implement more of their useless creations. There has been no supervision of that, ever. Is there even any gun balancing anymore? Years down the line of their release? I know that recently, the guns have been "balanced"(with a roll of the eye). I can't walk/drive anywhere in Northridge without getting obliterated.

I don't see why none of you devs want to pursue some sort of actual storyline. Even with the limited knowledge I have on GS2, I still pursued that on dinky player-owned servers.

How about fixing a few of the systems before creating more? The car missions have never been updated. The last addition was when the market was put in place roughly 8 years ago. There are no missions available throughout all of Southridge, nor has there ever been. New players need to grind, at the very least, for 2 hours for a useless AK-47. The game at one point had no more than 20 guns where they could all keep up with each other. I can't keep track of how many there are now, because you all like to see your work put into place. "Use skill" is not an applicable argument towards that if we're being realistic.

Has there ever been a reflection with any of the teams? I understand that most, if not all, of it is filled with people who have never been in a professional environment with goals, but I really think that there would be more enjoyment of both the administrative side, and the players if the teams had goals. You can all claim that the team is professional all day, but "professional" is an adjective... not a noun or verb.

A reset would be great, but I won't keep dreaming.

You know what's the problem? It's that we players want GOOD and NEEDED updates, not useless ones. That's the big deal. You said it exactly; ''how about fixing a few of the systems before creating more?''. THAT'S EXACTLY what we need. These people keep adding new things, but they don't look back at the old things that REALLY need updates, so adding these new stuff like plasma doesn't change a thing.

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Originally Posted by JimmY1809

You know what's the problem? It's that we players want GOOD and NEEDED updates, not useless ones. That's the big deal. You said it exactly; ''how about fixing a few of the systems before creating more?''. THAT'S EXACTLY what we need. These people keep adding new things, but they don't look back at the old things that REALLY need updates, so adding these new stuff like plasma doesn't change a thing.

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Ok what needs fixed, spill the tea sis.

Also, ak47 is pretty useful. I still use it, so...

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Originally Posted by kaz210

Ok what needs fixed, spill the tea sis.

Also, ak47 is pretty useful. I still use it, so...

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When you have a certain number of hours, you will know what goes wrong in the game and what goes well.
Obviously if you just started playing, it's hard to understand, but do not worry.

Soon you will realize how useless an ak47 is, in base or pk

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Originally Posted by JimmY1809

You know what's the problem? It's that we players want GOOD and NEEDED updates, not useless ones. That's the big deal. You said it exactly; ''how about fixing a few of the systems before creating more?''. THAT'S EXACTLY what we need. These people keep adding new things, but they don't look back at the old things that REALLY need updates, so adding these new stuff like plasma doesn't change a thing.

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Plasma corp is a seperate project made by Junz and a few graphics staff members and player submitted items. It doesnt interfere with the main game updates.

I think we need taxes

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Originally Posted by LYK08

I think we need taxes

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I believe you and your horrible suggestions are the main reason why people quit the game...

Most of your issues you stated were caused by staff that are no longer here anymore and then the current staff team that most likely werent staff at the time get the blame. If you want gun changes go to Bitzsam, he is the Guns Admin and we cant touch guns unless he approves. I would love to add new updates and such but I lack in any knowledge of how to make anything decent that players would either enjoy or want.

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Originally Posted by Keir

Most of your issues you stated were caused by staff that are no longer here anymore and then the current staff team that most likely werent staff at the time get the blame. If you want gun changes go to Bitzsam, he is the Guns Admin and we cant touch guns unless he approves. I would love to add new updates and such but I lack in any knowledge of how to make anything decent that players would either enjoy or want.

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I've lost track of how long Bitz has been the GA. Before him, I remember Meph... that was at least 4 years ago. I'm not pointing fingers, because Meph started with the BAR, but it's expanded and nobody feels the need to supervise the opinions towards the teams. If supervision is present, then there's something not ticking right with you all.

I don't see how any of the jobs were the fault of previous admins, because anyone can modify it now. Old go, new come, but for some reason all of the new want to revolutionize Era which ends up being awful.

This month's VIP... really? Butterfly wings?

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Originally Posted by Keir

Most of your issues you stated were caused by staff that are no longer here anymore and then the current staff team that most likely werent staff at the time get the blame. If you want gun changes go to Bitzsam, he is the Guns Admin and we cant touch guns unless he approves. I would love to add new updates and such but I lack in any knowledge of how to make anything decent that players would either enjoy or want.

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Well just remove the stuff that cause the problems or update them.. The OP stated it perfectly. There are just too many guns. A reset is going to be too much imo since a lot of people have invested thousands of hours in this game, but at least remove the "broken" guns and give people refunds (the chemical gun). Even Bitzsam himself once said that adding the chemical was the biggest mistake they have ever made and it still is in the game. If it's a problem why not just remove it and give out refunds. A lot of players hate it and removing it would make most of the playerbase happy. . Mistakes can and will be made, but correcting them is something the new staff should do instead of adding new stuff that will cause the same issues we have now in the future.



Also I understand that Unixmad needs to make his bread, but at this point the gun prices are a joke. 70$ for an in-game item and there is no guarantee that it will stay the same forever. Atleast buff the jobs so we need less time to earn them without purchases or the playerbase will continue plummeting. Most of the people now have started when the game was new, the gun prices not as high and the most op guns were not owned by so many people. I started around end of 2013 when the gun prices were the same like they are today, however when I started almost nobody had the BAR gun or the minigun. The best I could see on the streets or in the bases were m4's and very few bar guns. The bar gun used to be like a chemical when it was first added. Now when everyone owns those guns the new players have no motivation to start grinding and be one of the "rare" people to own the gun. Make the game more beginner friendly like it used to be years ago and the playerbase might start rising again.



I am probably typing all of this for nothing since no feedback is ever being taken seriously.

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Originally Posted by iHit

Well just remove the stuff that cause the problems or update them.. The OP stated it perfectly. There are just too many guns. A reset is going to be too much imo since a lot of people have invested thousands of hours in this game, but at least remove the "broken" guns and give people refunds (the chemical gun). Even Bitzsam himself once said that adding the chemical was the biggest mistake they have ever made and it still is in the game. If it's a problem why not just remove it and give out refunds. A lot of players hate it and removing it would make most of the playerbase happy. . Mistakes can and will be made, but correcting them is something the new staff should do instead of adding new stuff that will cause the same issues we have now in the future.



Also I understand that Unixmad needs to make his bread, but at this point the gun prices are a joke. 70$ for an in-game item and there is no guarantee that it will stay the same forever. Atleast buff the jobs so we need less time

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It's a bit deeper than just taking things out or resetting. It's hard to say how often it's been brought up on Graalians/Era-Go, because it's been a thought since.... 2013/2014 I could guess. Ego, money, no standard for it, etc. Even if a standard was made, I'd 95% sure that it wouldn't happen. Gralat refunds would be fine. Nobody wants to step up to the plate though, because the teams always want to be all happy without a thought of reformation. The most significant clear-as-day downfall is found with the amount of players online now versus 4 years ago.

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Originally Posted by Adrian321

When you have a certain number of hours, you will know what goes wrong in the game and what goes well.
Obviously if you just started playing, it's hard to understand, but do not worry.

Soon you will realize how useless an ak47 is, in base or pk

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Specific examples would help. That's like expecting everyone to be a mind reader lol

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Originally Posted by dos

I've lost track of how long Bitz has been the GA. Before him, I remember Meph... that was at least 4 years ago. I'm not pointing fingers, because Meph started with the BAR, but it's expanded and nobody feels the need to supervise the opinions towards the teams. If supervision is present, then there's something not ticking right with you all.

I don't see how any of the jobs were the fault of previous admins, because anyone can modify it now. Old go, new come, but for some reason all of the new want to revolutionize Era which ends up being awful.

This month's VIP... really? Butterfly wings?

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We can modify it yes but everyone has their own way / methods to create stuff so old systems made by old staff will most likely have to be remade instead of altered because of no documentation left behind that shows what is what.

- - - Updated - - -

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Originally Posted by iHit

Well just remove the stuff that cause the problems or update them.. The OP stated it perfectly. There are just too many guns. A reset is going to be too much imo since a lot of people have invested thousands of hours in this game, but at least remove the "broken" guns and give people refunds (the chemical gun). Even Bitzsam himself once said that adding the chemical was the biggest mistake they have ever made and it still is in the game. If it's a problem why not just remove it and give out refunds. A lot of players hate it and removing it would make most of the playerbase happy. . Mistakes can and will be made, but correcting them is something the new staff should do instead of adding new stuff that will cause the same issues we have now in the future.



Also I understand that Unixmad needs to make his bread, but at this point the gun prices are a joke. 70$ for an in-game item and there is no guarantee that it will stay the same forever. Atleast buff the jobs so we need less time to earn them without purchases or the playerbase will continue plummeting. Most of the people now have started when the game was new, the gun prices not as high and the most op guns were not owned by so many people. I started around end of 2013 when the gun prices were the same like they are today, however when I started almost nobody had the BAR gun or the minigun. The best I could see on the streets or in the bases were m4's and very few bar guns. The bar gun used to be like a chemical when it was first added. Now when everyone owns those guns the new players have no motivation to start grinding and be one of the "rare" people to own the gun. Make the game more beginner friendly like it used to be years ago and the playerbase might start rising again.



I am probably typing all of this for nothing since no feedback is ever being taken seriously.

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Its probably not gonna happen unless everyone that owns a chem agrees to it, theres always going to be someone that wont agree with something. Thats probably why it hasnt been done already.

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Originally Posted by Keir

We can modify it yes but everyone has their own way / methods to create stuff so old systems made by old staff will most likely have to be remade instead of altered because of no documentation left behind that shows what is what.

- - - Updated - - -



Its probably not gonna happen unless everyone that owns a chem agrees to it, theres always going to be someone that wont agree with something. Thats probably why it hasnt been done already.

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I don't see why documentation is necessary when you can just track the script.

This world isn't fair. This is the sort of thing that I'm bringing up... from a standpoint of myself, I don't have any evidence that there is no micromanagement. Although, I can make the generalization that the team takes no time to assess themselves or updates. I wouldn't call that terribly offensive, because I see too many mistakes whether or not the dev admits it.

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Originally Posted by dos

I don't see why documentation is necessary when you can just track the script.

This world isn't fair. This is the sort of thing that I'm bringing up... from a standpoint of myself, I don't have any evidence that there is no micromanagement. Although, I can make the generalization that the team takes no time to assess themselves or updates. I wouldn't call that terribly offensive, because I see too many mistakes whether or not the dev admits it.

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I saw this thread pop-up the other day and forgot to post so im gonna jump in here a little.

I consider Era's development to be pretty loose and maintained by the player base.

There is a development flow and loose management when it comes to developing for Era's holiday events, themed releases, etc. The main thing being that these 'developers', be it gani artists (animations), pixel artists, programmers, level designers, and so on, all come with a varied level of experience and knowledge of game development, let alone Era's development. It's also important to know that most the people who come into these positions are typically passionate about the game in the first place and are willing to spend their free time working to create content for the game. There is a level of compensation for said work, but it is still something that I'd assume most, unless they have lots of free time or very good time management skills, are not capable of doing. With that said, it's expected for people to learn to use certain tools on their own. There is a decent amount of information out there but lacking platform support and updates for the software in some cases which makes learning to do something harder or impossible for some. Scripting is one that is very hard because the documentation is so lacking that you really need and to find someone who knows it and is willing to teach you.

Assuming you have programming knowledge you likely know that it's harder to understand something that someone else wrote and what it does without good documentation or comments. It's totally possible to look at the program and break down what it does but it comes back to Era, someone is going to have to spend a whole lot of time breaking down the game just to document it. Era is like many older games that is just running its course and aging in said process. It's an entirely different story when you look at a AAA game that has tons of paid developers and likely well documented code with and a game like Era that was, in a way, handed to the players and allowed to grow on its own. On that same note, it's a game with a development team who's maturity / skill level(s) vary heavily, so the likelihood of mistakes and their ability to fix or change those mistakes varies with it.

I believe that the developers and players want to do things that the system just isn't capable of doing, and that fixing those issues can't and or won't happen because it could possibly require you to build the game from scratch again or having knowledge of all the systems that could be affected by said change.

Overall though, I'd say it's just a case of the game is getting older and with it the players and its systems in place (code). I personally only found the game when I was browsing the Facebook games in 2013 and I don't know of any other way to really discover it other than by chance of search terms in the App / Play Store. Even after all that time it became like many other games I played where I was really only logging in to chat with friends until I stopped doing even that. Games like World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Call of Duty and so on aren't capable of making everyone happy with everything they do and it's just as hard if not harder for Era's team to do the same.

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Originally Posted by iBliss

I saw this thread pop-up the other day and forgot to post so im gonna jump in here a little.

I consider Era's development to be pretty loose and maintained by the player base.

There is a development flow and loose management when it comes to developing for Era's holiday events, themed releases, etc. The main thing being that these 'developers', be it gani artists (animations), pixel artists, programmers, level designers, and so on, all come with a varied level of experience and knowledge of game development, let alone Era's development. It's also important to know that most the people who come into these positions are typically passionate about the game in the first place and are willing to spend their free time working to create content for the game. There is a level of compensation for said work, but it is still something that I'd assume most, unless they have lots of free time or very good time management skills, are not capable of doing. With that said, it's expected for people to learn to use certain tools on their own. There is a decent amount of information out there but lacking platform support and updates for the software in some cases which makes learning to do something harder or impossible for some. Scripting is one that is very hard because the documentation is so lacking that you really need and to find someone who knows it and is willing to teach you.

Assuming you have programming knowledge you likely know that it's harder to understand something that someone else wrote and what it does without good documentation or comments. It's totally possible to look at the program and break down what it does but it comes back to Era, someone is going to have to spend a whole lot of time breaking down the game just to document it. Era is like many older games that is just running its course and aging in said process. It's an entirely different story when you look at a AAA game that has tons of paid developers and likely well documented code with and a game like Era that was, in a way, handed to the players and allowed to grow on its own. On that same note, it's a game with a development team who's maturity / skill level(s) vary heavily, so the likelihood of mistakes and their ability to fix or change those mistakes varies with it.

I believe that the developers and players want to do things that the system just isn't capable of doing, and that fixing those issues can't and or won't happen because it could possibly require you to build the game from scratch again or having knowledge of all the systems that could be affected by said change.

Overall though, I'd say it's just a case of the game is getting older and with it the players and its systems in place (code). I personally only found the game when I was browsing the Facebook games in 2013 and I don't know of any other way to really discover it other than by chance of search terms in the App / Play Store. Even after all that time it became like many other games I played where I was really only logging in to chat with friends until I stopped doing even that. Games like World of Warcraft, League of Legends, Call of Duty and so on aren't capable of making everyone happy with everything they do and it's just as hard if not harder for Era's team to do the same.

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So... the clash began when players wanted more. A revival. All that was needed were a few simple things; hats, furniture, melees. Instead, they've added weird things that don't suit the game. These new graphics, although somewhat pleasing to the eye, do not fit Era in any way possible. Era is dark, not contrastive. Now there's a lot of confusion between the tiles and the NPCs around the map. The game was very simple 8 years ago. Players made fun with what they had, and now it doesn't seem possible. It's the same idea of adding too much technology into the world. The difference is, that these updates make Era ugly.

In the addition of VIP, it was made very simple with a(as I remember) modified police outfit. Then we moved onto bicycles(kind of odd), broomsticks(mimicking PC Era), instruments(also mimicking PC Era), and now butterfly wings rather than discontinuing VIP. Again, confusing and ugly. Era now looks like you put 5 year-old stickers onto a rusted out brown '93 Honda Del Sol. Prove me wrong.

The collision of new players having hardly any street activity happened at the point where the amount of guns surpassed 30. The issue wasn't that there were too many, but they were totally out of the job working ratio per their prices. Instead of adjustment, the team kept on trucking with a few gun balances here and there. This was in the reluctancy of hurting feelings of those who spent cash for gralats. It's been around 7 years since I've seen any job updates, besides fishing. Mind you, I've played on and off throughout the years; I wouldn't know of every single update.

For some reason, there's always been the tendency of the manager, and most of the teams, to have no player communication. Not because of swarms. If Era is run on our own platform of listening to the players, there is no excuse. I have no control on whether they acknowledge any feedback, but it sure would be thoughtful of them since the playerbase will continue at a decline. I don't mean the feedback of additional items, but the feedback of their current formula on how the game should be updated and continued. There's too many bandaids attempted to be put over a gaping 30' hole.

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Originally Posted by dos

So... the clash began when players wanted more. A revival. All that was needed were a few simple things; hats, furniture, melees. Instead, they've added weird things that don't suit the game. These new graphics, although somewhat pleasing to the eye, do not fit Era in any way possible. Era is dark, not contrastive. Now there's a lot of confusion between the tiles and the NPCs around the map. The game was very simple 8 years ago. Players made fun with what they had, and now it doesn't seem possible. It's the same idea of adding too much technology into the world. The difference is, that these updates make Era ugly.

In the addition of VIP, it was made very simple with a(as I remember) modified police outfit. Then we moved onto bicycles(kind of odd), broomsticks(mimicking PC Era), instruments(also mimicking PC Era), and now butterfly wings rather than discontinuing VIP. Again, confusing and ugly. Era now looks like you put 5 year-old stickers onto a rusted out brown '93 Honda Del Sol. Prove me wrong.

The collision of new players having hardly any street activity happened at the point where the amount of guns surpassed 30. The issue wasn't that there were too many, but they were totally out of the job working ratio per their prices. Instead of adjustment, the team kept on trucking with a few gun balances here and there. This was in the reluctancy of hurting feelings of those who spent cash for gralats. It's been around 7 years since I've seen any job updates, besides fishing. Mind you, I've played on and off throughout the years; I wouldn't know of every single update.

For some reason, there's always been the tendency of the manager, and most of the teams, to have no player communication. Not because of swarms. If Era is run on our own platform of listening to the players, there is no excuse. I have no control on whether they acknowledge any feedback, but it sure would be thoughtful of them since the playerbase will continue at a decline. I don't mean the feedback of additional items, but the feedback of their current formula on how the game should be updated and continued. There's too many bandaids attempted to be put over a gaping 30' hole.

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I can see where you're coming from, but you have to understand that most of these updates take a long time to make. Like Bliss said, many games have a huge team of developers that dedicate their time to the game they were hired for and they have huge knowledge on what they are doing. Most of iEra's developers are people who are just passionate on the game or videogames and want to gain some experience. With this said, we are also not that many people, and for departments like the Graphics Team it is extremely hard to find suitable people or people who have enough base knowledge to get in the team. Believe me when I say that I have gotten many applications from people who want to be the team and I have only hired one person from the time I became GFXA (on submitted applications). It is very hard to find mature people and people with enough skill to be able to help. Also most of us are in school or work full time jobs, when finals come they will take that as a priority.

Just imagine, to release an AAA game it takes YEARS for that game to be released. We have to continuously make content (sometimes with the span of 2 weeks) and present it to you. Not only that but we definitely lack scripters, who are what bring life to the game. They fix bugs (the zoom in on iPhone bug was fixed not long ago) but with the lack of people on that department it is almost impossible for them to move on to another left off project when there is another 10 coming in.

Believe me when I say most of us work our *** off, for Christmas Day I worked 8 full hours non stop to get work done and that was not only me, it was most of us. We just don't have enough time and people to make the updates that people want, and on some things we are limited to touch (like guns, as Keir mentioned). I wish I could hire more people for graphics but it is very hard finding people who will be willing to give time to a project that will only give you experience. For some people like me that's amazing, but for others thats a waste of time.

Also too, most of the complaints people have are from things that were done a long time ago and that they cannot just be taken off. Remember that any little change will affect a lot of people and gameplay so these updates on jobs may be a little harder to come to a perfect buff. We are definitely working on things to make the game fun again for people but it just takes times to fix mistakes that some of our past members left for us to fix and finding time and the right people to help.

I know people think we don't listen to feedback or that we don't care, but believe me when I say that most of us do, and that we do share your concerns to see if we can find a solution. Just because we don't talk about it or we don't implement it immediately does not mean that we are not trying our hardest to make it better for everyone.

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Originally Posted by NaniRima

I can see where you're coming from, but you have to understand that most of these updates take a long time to make. Like Bliss said, many games have a huge team of developers that dedicate their time to the game they were hired for and they have huge knowledge on what they are doing. Most of iEra's developers are people who are just passionate on the game or videogames and want to gain some experience. With this said, we are also not that many people, and for departments like the Graphics Team it is extremely hard to find suitable people or people who have enough base knowledge to get in the team. Believe me when I say that I have gotten many applications from people who want to be the team and I have only hired one person from the time I became GFXA (on submitted applications). It is very hard to find mature people and people with enough skill to be able to help. Also most of us are in school or work full time jobs, when finals come they will take that as a priority.

Just imagine, to release an AAA game it takes YEARS for that game to be released. We have to continuously make content (sometimes with the span of 2 weeks) and present it to you. Not only that but we definitely lack scripters, who are what bring life to the game. They fix bugs (the zoom in on iPhone bug was fixed not long ago) but with the lack of people on that department it is almost impossible for them to move on to another left off project when there is another 10 coming in.

Believe me when I say most of us work our *** off, for Christmas Day I worked 8 full hours non stop to get work done and that was not only me, it was most of us. We just don't have enough time and people to make the updates that people want, and on some things we are limited to touch (like guns, as Keir mentioned). I wish I could hire more people for graphics but it is very hard finding people who will be willing to give time to a project that will only give you experience. For some people like me that's amazing, but for others thats a waste of time.

Also too, most of the complaints people have are from things that were done a long time ago and that they cannot just be taken off. Remember that any little change will affect a lot of people and gameplay so these updates on jobs may be a little harder to come to a perfect buff. We are definitely working on things to make the game fun again for people but it just takes times to fix mistakes that some of our past members left for us to fix and finding time and the right people to help.

I know people think we don't listen to feedback or that we don't care, but believe me when I say that most of us do, and that we do share your concerns to see if we can find a solution. Just because we don't talk about it or we don't implement it immediately does not mean that we are not trying our hardest to make it better for everyone.

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I can say it with little doubt, that players will not care about the amount of updates brought in throughout the year. Look at Classic. They get updates once every blue moon, and their playercount is around twice of Era's. It's no mystery that devs have things going for them, but you pointed out the issue of adding more over to patch up the hole. I said before, that doesn't help. Holiday items released every month or so because of "tradition" doesn't incline the playercount. I'm not too sure of who's giving feedback, but how applicable really is that feedback? Aesthetics and accessories are very, extremely short term entertainment. I'm sure that if you all broke your tendencies of these "cool new (useless) items" and focused more on the core concepts of the game(what really matters), there would be much more satisfaction and a huge incline of players. There is no difference in time from a few short-term updates than one critical long-term solution. Prove me wrong. I'm willing to bet that every team member will have more self-satisfaction from actual updates. Is someone commanding you all or does the entire team just have a static concept in their heads? I hear it everyday, that iEra is dying. Will you all just work harder at your production, or veer another direction for the good of it all? It's the little things behind all of the rubble that are most important; the core.

This entire time I haven't been pushing downwards on the team, but trying to realign the sight. Can't take things out under the instruction of Unixmad? That's sucks, but let's try to increase job outcome. Can't increase job outcome under the instruction of Unixmad? That's alright, we'll just do our same routine for another 5 years until we drown the whole game so that it's all gone in the end. Can there be a change? Once someone with authority steps up to the man and asks, we'll know. I don't imagine that anyone's tried as of yet.

They should remove and fix bugs and annoying things in game (like the lag and screen freeze), some times these things are so common that players can not stand to go through these situations and simply leave the game.




Sorry if my english is wrong