Quote Originally Posted by dos View Post
I'm not sure that Ol' West created significant problems. Possibly? I remember that a lot of manpower was sent over there during the development of the game, and I believe that there might have been more competition for players to come to Era vice Ol' West, but I don't believe that it really could have declined Era's quality at the current level.

The main scheme to invite or keep players during Era's entire existence has been to develop new shops, weapons, events, and to redesign so much of the gmap that it skewed Era's theme. All of these updates that weren't thought about more than once because they were "cool" drove Era's basing system, currency, staff involvement, and most importantly our community out the door. I disagree when people state that most of us 10-year players left because of age or responsibilities (while that may be partially true), but a lot of us left because Era's theme, style, morale, and community took a dive. That statement alone comes from talking to a good few people that I've run into who have been around the block.

Yes, Unixmad is going on 60 or something of the likes. I don't expect much from him, just the same as the entire Graal community hasn't expected much from him across it's existence. I don't expect much to come from this thread either, but I would like something to come from it. I just don't believe that the game, on all levels of management, is in good hands to solve the tough problems. Updates can be released all year long for the next few years, but I don't think that's going to solve the issue of why Era, a game with so much more life for the app store, isn't (and hasn't for the last few years) reaching a consistent playercount of higher than 2,0000 anymore.

Graal3D has been an inconsistent project since 2006. Let's see if we can make it another 15 years and see if it's released.
Yeah the Graal3D thing was a joke. Chances are its been cancelled, considering games don't sit in development Hell for that long.

Era's theming is also one big joke. Some ideas are novel, and the designers are really talented. However, I seriously think that the game needs a new, broader sense of appeal to bring back new and old players. The map is one big mish-mash of ideas, what made the game so special to begin with was the creation tools given to the players. Seeing hyperdetailed, higher resolution items in my inventory next to items made with a bottle of piss and 3 colors is jarring, to say the least. It's lost its sense of self in favor of adding items that don't fit it's general theme.

Reconfigure the basing system so that the five main conglomerates can't abuse bases for rewards. Fix the broken trading economy by introducing items that aren't just reskins of another. Optimize the game for devices other than the iPhone and iPad lineup. Get rid of items that are unnecessarily overpowered … for the sake of being overpowered.

The game holds so much potential, but it's gonna take a lot of work. Work that, if I'm being honest, is too much for the team the game already has. This thread is going to do absolutely nothing, in reality. Many players have tried again and again to offer solutions to management on how to revive Graal's expansive community. Until then though, we'll just have to wait and see. The games are on a set-course to crash and burn during this decade; it's surprising how long they've lasted in this gaming landscape.