set-shield some-opinions-about-era .png
This is just my opinions about era after playing it for 9-10 years.You don't have to read it but could be a nice throwback if you do. please don't hate on the comment section and also this is not a discussion about " era is dying" (I don't have an idea on that). I just want to hear your opinions.
I want to start with how I actually got into playing era. It was I think november-december 2010 my brother had already been playing era on pc but I got the first Ipad as a a birthday present and it was one of the first things I actually downloaded. The game used to have 2 versions Era+ and Era free. you wouldn't be able to buy hats or you had limited cosmetics when you had the free version and I remember actually trying to save up like 1.99 or 1 dollars (It was a big thing for a kid to buy a game on itunes back then) to actually buy the game and get more cosmetics. When I started the game all we had where machetes and aks. there wasn't much roleplaying, although we would love to rank up inside our gangs. Now I don't think there are like lieutenant or army ranks in gangs, it was super fun. You had to actually grind by collecting trash or digging shells. I remember it took me around 3-4 days to get the m4 which back then was the only gun used for basing and was only 4500. There was also the neo rifle, the famas and the duel wield silenced pistols which all started being released and not only in shops but for the silenced pistols you had to swim in order to buy them :). The game revolved around basing and since there weren't any fancy sniper rifles which could shoot you through walls or explosive guns it was just basic pking we used to set up boxes on the pathway and just chilled in the base till someone came. There was no event shop or any challenge. The game revolved around the admins hosting talent shows on top of the previously placed fashion/colour picker building which was in the center and they would get on the roof and actually chat with a bunch of people host these talent shows which usually was people trying to be funny or reenacting smosh sketches and the admins would ask you about your day.
The game went on like this for a while having at average 400-500 players and 800 max(EU timezone). There would be famous players like Gilgamesh, HomelessWitch, The Vanderwoodsen family, Sk guys/girls, Ebizou or the Monkey Guy(forgot his name, he had a pretty cool gang photo which was the Beatles remake of him and his friends crossing a sidewalk) The game was revolved around family like connections and actually anticipating for your friend to log in so you could save up for the pikachu hat together or try making your house a trading place or a trash can shield palace for other players. This went on for a while, we started getting more event like stuff where we would need to solve a puzzle to get a christmas hat or they would broadcast riddles to introduce a free new hats. Everything was mostly fun and you did not need to log in everyday to be up-to date or miss on something everyone had their close friends and the admins where truly there for us. You would get scammed by dropping your items in a locked cage at a strangers house get bummed about it but then do the same thing to a fellow player :D, it was a game we all knew that it was, no goal or item was impossibly unreachable you would grind back up and buy the small American flag back. This made you appreciate the game actually put time and effort into a goal that was not idiotic or made you do the same thing over and over again. We would occasionally get 850 players which we where all excited about and would take screenshots to see who was online with the most people and auctions and events where gaining momentum. You only had the hunter knife, the kiwi blade, the bamboo spinny thing and the tech-9 by this time not really sure but the Bar was probably introduced. It was super different for all of us to actually see a gun over 10-20 k it would be like seeing a limited edition car when someone actually had it. Events where not based on small stars but when you won an event you actually choose an item or a gun which was super cool. Auctions where not overpriced however the only items where tech-9's and misc. The admin's where known by everyone and they also knew everyone. I remember Kota actually telling us about the summer park and how there was going to be water guns given to the people with highest gang scores first and then sold on the store. It was small fun days, we knew era was starting to change but we where excited about it and where anxious to hear snk broadcast something funny or cool about the game.
During this time era started to feel a bit more whiney, since the Bar was getting a bit more popular and the whole people dropping items and then getting scammed started to upset a lot of new and old people. The game basically started to loose its manageable flow. During that summer Kota got kicked from being an admin. Most of our uploads where being removed due to various reasons and although still fun and thrilling, basing was starting loose its fresh feeling. I felt like era was trying to please a lot of people at the same time which we supported but we didn't realize that we where being a bit neglected. That summer there was also a big jail wave people would start getting jailed for false micro transactions which where supported but you would also get looked at if you bought a gralat pack which slowed down stuff and started a false interpretation of admins. Guns where starting to glow a bit more during this time. We started seeing the grenade gun in events and auctions and the bpb shotgun was starting rumors. The events picked up a bunch and funnily enough we still got whole items for winning and every event had an individual door so that why old players do so well in races these days, we where trained by running to doors:D. The admin-player relationship was still strong and they would still make you feel like they cared about the issue. After these first 1-3 years I started to be a bit distracted from era, I wanted the Bar so bad but didn't want to pay real money for it, the game however justified the bars price with the fact that the m4 was great and cheap for all players to get into era and get the rush of grinding.
During this on-off again period the southbridge started getting a bit more attention, there only used to be a hospital and a shell shop with a couple of other stuff but the game started to develop into a bigger platform with lots more stuff to do. Shield code houses where still popular and the control over players where sufficient not overly childish and protective. The game started to introduce more jobs which for me at first was fun but then started to get annoying. Mining was super different but had so many necessary conditions( get 3 rock piles and hope you get a gem then get a battery and the mines where super dark and boring also you couldn't pm other players which broke your work-flow) not only this but the m4 became 10x its price and it wasn't always in a good condition. This was around the time I realized I was bored and had lost the spark I had. I still would log in every 5-6 months to check in on people but we had lost the rhythm and new players where confused and frustrated with the mechanics. This was around the time I realized a few stuff. After this I gave up on era, admins where plenty and they would get changed like socks, they added world chat but made it priced with every message, events where more fun and the coin thing was actually fun to grind but still you would crash out of the game or lag out.
Most people just went to their dads wallets and cashed out on expensive guns, props to people who actually collected trash or dug to earn it. The story gets fuzzy from here I didn't care about era during this time and neither did it care about me and my friends I would have 2000 hours but still get confused on how people actually managed to kill someone in 5 shots or do some crazy stuff which I always appreciated due to their commitment and skill but also at the same time didn't want to spend time on actually trying to be the "best" at something, it was going to fade away anyway, why should I still spend time on era? Up until entering high-school and during highschool I was distanced from it I had no close friends left or any admins which asked me how my day was or actually cared about something. It was not unusual to get 150+k guns or have crazy skills in events:D This is when I realized a few things.
1) For me era was taking the wrong path, neglecting old players and trying to constantly pump fresh blood into the system.
2) The stuff they where adding where just annoying
i) Mining was bad you should not be able forced to mine for 10 minutes to actually fight for 2 mins since you logged in missing the game but logged out hating it.
ii) from a developer and business viewpoint, take for example mining again, you would not earn 10 dollars for a player actually having his gun freshened up it would just cost the players time and cost you the most important thing about era, enthusiasm.
iii) again from a developer point, either make it crucially expensive so you earn something from it and the players also don't feel like it is burden or just remove it so players don't loose interest
3) The constant renewal of staff got annoying, every week there was someone new and every week someone got kicked out you started to loose the connections between players and PR(Player relations).
4)The game lost its reachable level of fun, it would take a few weeks to buy a gun.
i) you would buy the gun and have your work looked down upon by having it changed.
5)It lost its authentic feel and became too modern/childish they started changing buildings, where they where placed and how they functioned in the social side of era.
For me these where the things that kept me here, we all knew it was a game being scammed was not fun but was at the same time crucial. you would learn from your mistakes on who to trust or not to trust. I feel like these where the things which had a place in my heart actually learning stuff from era and realizing it's not all flowers and sunshine in the real world and you just stood back up carried on. Then it lost this feeling due to it being too time consuming and form my point of view and I was not getting my times worth.
- - - Updated - - -
I wanted to say a few more stuff but passed the word limit
so I attached a screen shot of the last paragraph
https://imgur.com/F2xJ89P
