In all honesty to be fair to all players they might need to just reclaim everything and start fresh. That way everyone is treated the same. Everyone has the same chance to start a mall or portal network or claim land in a desired location. They may need to provide some assistance like lowering Oort costs or allowing portals to be opened for free for a short time in order for the infrastructure to be put into place quicker.
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It would make logical sense to wait till they have more types of gems, soil, trees, rocks etc to do a world wipe imo. Shouldn’t be too hard to bang out another 50 textures.
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-OR- work with the community to bang out some more content
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Unfortunately I don’t think it’s just a case of banging out textures. Whatever those new textures represent would also need to have crafting recipes associated with them.
Additionally, if they’re also struggling to find the time to get 249 over the line, they’ll likely not have the time for textures and recipes either (especially as Jess has moved elsewhere).
The way I’ve been looking at it is, if they only had time/funding/resources for one last update to the game, what would have the most chance of keeping Boundless from slipping into the annals of time (I was asked a similar question by James/Ollie prior to release. My immediate reply was “Titans” - man, I wish they had done Titans lol)
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What boundless needs more than anything?
A reason to play together again.
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The real shame in all of this is the player count is actually up on steam. It might not be much but it is one of the first times that an increase in players is not related to a new release or an event like gleambow. It could just be existing players playing more. But even if it is there might be an opportunity to find a way to fund running the game and spread that over more players.
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I think private universes might have saved the game. We certainly have had a huge number of people at least start playing the game. If they had a poor experience in the MMO, but could have moved to a private universe to play either solo or with friends, would they still be playing? Especially if they could mod the game to change some of the game mechanics they hated. Or to get away from players they were being griefed by or to not feel like they were competing for resources with players that could play much more each day then they could.
I guess that is why I would like to find a way to keep it all running in the hope that we can get private universes if we just give them enough time to finish 249.
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Wow, you have some very discussed topic here (accidentally saw a link on the discord)
I will say right away that I did not read the entire wall of text, only a few posts.
I hope I get the gist of this discussion.
I’ll start from afar. I am basically a very rare guest on the forum and am an old boundless player (played a little EA, and then from the release until 2020 it seems) The total amount of hours is 259. For me this is a very large number, few games reach the threshold of 100 hours, and only a few overcome it.
If I remember correctly, I stopped playing somewhere in December '20.
My main problem is lack of content.
More specifically, I still did not wait for the improved customization of the character, other races that were oort online.
Hell, just give me a lizard’s tail and head and I’ll be right back in the game! I miss the customization of my avatar in the game!
My second problem was that there was nothing to do. Don’t get it wrong, you can dig, build, hunt. But it soon becomes routine.
Personally, I don’t have enough events. Meteor is the only event you can play …
Personally, I want either random dungeons that are temporarily generated in the main worlds (conditionally for 2-3 days). Or titans, although I did not go further than T5 worlds (I am a solo player)
The third reason, there are few mobs. At first it was interesting, but in the end there are few varieties. Look at the concept art - a hunter (who has been sparing for some unknown years), a stone thrower, worms in the dungeons, some birds, fish. Just imagine the types of 20-30 different monsters, instead of 6, as now …
My suggestion for the first time.
Add some custmization that looks really good.
I even agree to paid “parts” for the avatar (to create the my lizard for example)
But personally, I think the game desperately needs some new content, not necessarily high-level content.
For me, these are clothes and new body parts for the avatar.
New in-game events, except for the meteor.
By the way, I really like the idea of biomes with different levels (t1-t3 on the same planet, for example)
I really missed that when I was playing. I don’t really like the fact that now every planet has one level.
Sorry for only google but my english really not very well for this long post.
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I ultimately will never agree with additional P2W aspects being added to the game to help it survive in any form or fashion because it will just hurt it in the long run. Just like slimming down the planets - sure a wipe and putting us on on a smaller set of planets would be great and lower costs a lot but probably destroy the game in other ways.
I think a problem with this thread, though, is that there is A LOT of missing context and other information that doesn’t explain stuff. We see comments that aren’t fully put in a perspective that we can even understand the terms or other details and people are trying to piece together the information and come to a whole host of assumptions. e.g. - rental planets not paying server costs. We don’t know what the money goes toward or if the rental literally just covers the cost of that server with no excess.
Everyone is grasping for information and not ever going to get what we need to understand the complex situation they are in and what it will take to unwind the host if decisions and steps that were taken that put the game into the point it is at.
At this point it sounds like a simple “donate” button would be a best solution. Allow people to just give money. James said to me once they would always considering “investment” but I never took any steps further to understand about what that would look like.
Overall, people should just share the game as they like it on their social channels and promote it as they can. Do what they can to sell it as it is…
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This isn’t the right approach. The right approach is to focus on playing the game and showcasing what is fun about it on our social channels and promote it.
James isn’t going to be able to at all explain the complex situation they are in and it isn’t worth his time at this point because it will never unwind or get people to accept the answer he already gave in his last basic statement about keeping the game running and trying to find time for dev.
We don’t need transparency because enough information is already there for everyone to understand the situation the game is in. We should stop complaining and adding FEAR to the situation with game shutdown comments and talk about the stuff that is still working and WHY we all keep playing the game.
It takes TIME to even figure out how the community can help them and post them. He would rather focus on dev time. Instead we just help by playing and promoting it to new people and helping those new people in game. Get people to use GC, etc…
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This might not be very fair. I think people are themselves afraid that a game we’re all very passionate about could just vanish, which I feel is a reasonable emotion given some of the comments from Phil in this thread. I think it fair for people to express those concerns and fears given that there is a lack of communication to the contrary.
I’m currently in two minds about this if I’m honest. Whilst I 100% want Boundless to reach it’s fullest potential, I don’t know if I can promote it any further without knowing what the future holds with regards to continued server uptime.
Y’know, is there a cut off date where Square Enix eventually says… “we’re not recouping our costs here, so we’re unable to continue paying the server costs”?
This is obviously only a rhetorical question, as I know that any answer to it would likely hinder player growth more than it would help.
I guess what I’m saying is, I can’t consciously continue to promote the game without some concrete statement to say that the server will be up for at least a year or something. I would hate for friends and colleagues to buy into the game only for the plug to be pulled. That said, I’m already considering pulling boundlesscrafting.com down.
I think we’re all just looking for a little reassurance here.
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As I stated, I am just bowing out of this conversation at this point. My response to this is below to a few others I have spoken to.
No it is fair. People in this community continue to do this every few months - death, gloom, destruction. This time it was fed by Phil. I mean no disrespect to him and am grateful that he actually responded even though most of the times information provided to this community just takes the topic south more.
But, people need to actually remember that this is ONE side of a conversation and set of agreements and other things. It doesn’t give anyone justice because it does not go enough into the actual details of the situation or provide any real color to things that are happening. Again, I’m grateful he added some information but there is still much more missing and this ends up like every time with people trying to fill the missing data with their own emotions and many times misguided ideas/beliefs.
Every person in this forum is obviously distraught and bothered that the game has not succeeded and is stuck where it is. Many of us are mad, frustrated, you can name the emotion about the debacle this has become. But to go on and on about “pending server shut down” and constant other things helps NO ONE. In fact, it HURTS the game because any “new person” that happens to come into the forum will be quickly driven away from the game because they see the disaster it is.
It helps the game to focus on the things we CAN CONTROL. As I said, showcase what is great about it and other good things we can do. That does not stop us from being honest about the situation when the time arises it is but actually brings a level a maturity toward the discussion and keeps it in a positive nature so that people stay up beat and more willing to keep staying with the game. The issue is people keep bringing this up over and over…
It has been months of “people expressing concerns and fears” with countless threads so I don’t see a reason to call it out when people continue to complaints that isn’t going to solve one thing. Especially a thread where there is only tiny bits of information that lack HUGE context.
The point I was trying to make is people in this community turn these threads into just junk and complaints (like a bunch of old grandmas worry-worting about something in their little worry groups over tea) and nothing good has ever come out of it to help the game. Lets just help the game how we can or where we want to…
Personally, I am exactly where you are with the promoting the game. I think we all are mixed because none of us want to waste our time building if it goes belly up at the end of the year nor suggest it to a friend. I’m not suggesting people lie or try to make this situation better than it is. I’m just asking people that love the game to love it and share it… that is ALL you can do.
Here is the reality and everyone should have clearly seen this a long time ago – you are not going to get any more reassurances than you already have been given. James and the team have shown they have not given up yet or plan to in the near future. So leave it at that and we wait for BG3 to get closer to the end of their contract to see if the team can pick things back up or not…
Either they will have the ethics to let us know if everything is going to go to die or they won’t. We can’t control that… I believe if there was a final nail in the coffin yet that James is a mature enough and ethical man that he will tell us that the project is terminal.
The posts (when and if ever the time) we should be focusing on is options that we as a community would deal with if they did get to a dire decision - e.g. a universe wipe where everyone keeps all points, cubits, items reclaimed but the universe shrinks OR other things that we will accept to allow costs to slim down.
Otherwise I feel more showcasing good versus bad will keep people coming and staying with the game over leaving…
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I had a thought the other day. While talking with a friend about “time”, and how it is a perceived notion (not an unchanging constant), I thought about this game…
So I’m old. After 4 years of playing, I am under 1/10th of my life that I’ve been on Boundless. For a 12 year old, who has been playing the same game for the same time, thats 1/3 of their life…
Point being, yes…its been a long time since an update. In old man time, its still not that long ago. I can see how for some tho, its been an eternity!
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Actually we do know this. Square Enix is covering the cost to keep the servers running per Phil. The money for rentals does not go to Square Enix but directly to Turbulenz again per Phil. Currently Square Enix is not even getting enough income to cover the cost to run the servers.
I agree it would be nice to have more context, but that is up to James to provide and if he cannot do that or won’t, then players are left with the information that has been provided. The context we do have is that the development team is employed by Larian and as James has stated Larian has no affiliation with Boundless. How can that not have an extremely detrimental affect on development?
No one has stated that the game is being shutdown now, but they have been clear that the game is not self-sustaining financially. These are business people at at a certain point, they are not going to continue to run a game at a loss. That may be an assumption, but it is a better assumption than one that says a few more players are going to turn everything around for the game financially. At this point, I strongly believe the time for wishful thinking is over and we need to figure out what it would take for the game to cover its costs for long enough that Turbulenz has a chance to finish the latest release.
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So they are paying for the rentals too and not just public worlds? Where it the actual documented and financial data showcasing this? Actual numbers just not words. Phil shouldn’t drop comments around finances without full clarification and specifics because it will leave holes in interpretation. That is being reckless in an attempt to be helpful. This is why James doesn’t post stuff like that… People can now quote him as much as they want but be loosey goosey with numbers. I heard last year the game was “paying for itself” but didn’t go spreading that because it is much more complicated than a few sentences or comments.
My point is - maybe not you Kal-El but others will take a few sentences in a post about “covering costs” and build a whole financial services report on the company and game. It seems pretty obvious that there is a bit more “context” and actual legal and financial specifics that you all don’t have insight on.
Incorrect. One person on the forum with limited ability to even say stuff said there is a financial issue going on. Yes that should have already been assumed by every person in the forum because it is pretty obvious when you see the attrition of players… But there is no official statement so none of us have the REAL answer on financial viability or not. If James states it or the official Boundless twitter says they are up the creek without a paddle then fine. But they haven’t so everything else is complete speculation since people are trying to link financial stability to whether the game stays around or not. THERE IS MORE CONTEXT on whether the game stays or goes…
All these discussions do is drive people AWAY… it helps NO ONE especially the game. If you want the game to get past the huge challenges it has (financial and otherwise) people would be smart and focus on what keeps the game alive and fun… not trying to kill it with a thousand cuts of negative ■■■■ that they have no control over or even 1/10 of the actual information and data.
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I’m sorry you feel that way; but as with most things, folks will interpret things differently.
EDIT: Anyway, there’s nothing more I can add, so I’ll bow out here. I’ve tried to give some context - specifically - to the question of why Square Enix “isn’t doing anything” to help the game. Anything else is really for Turbulenz to discuss. I’m always available on PMs, but I’ll leave the public forum discussion now unless anything significant changes.
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Thanks for coming on to share what you could, and with the context that you could. I think most of us really appreciated it.
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I second this. Regardless how you take the news I am totally glad to get any information at all at this point. There are some great people that just want to help out.
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I respect the attempt to provide clarity and information. Even though I was strong worded in many of my posts I had said at the very start I wasn’t going for being disrespectful to you and apologize if you really felt that… In a general aspect I think your comments were good and helpful to see some details. Unfortunately, though, in these forums there are people that take a crumb and turn it into a nuke - hence why I said reckless in an attempt to be helpful. If you really weren’t watching the forums over the years much you’d not have known that.
We’ve had situations before where a few statements by devs like yours just turned into more junk that ended up making things worse. Multiple situations like that is why we don’t really get information any more – because the community mostly lacked the ability to process “generic information” in a “generic fashion” and “missing context info” in a “missing context fashion”. So the community ended up hurting itself because it taught the developer to just limit exposure to finer details and leave very basic responses.
I admit I just don’t understand most of why the community does things like that. SE and the Devs have shown they haven’t given up on the game yet and that they at some level agree that the BG3 deal was best for the long run options of Boundless. In the long run that decision might change or might not. If you all had decided anything else either there would a “closed shop” sign or some other announcement.
I will never see what good “constant 6 months worth of posts” complaining about no dev response will do for the game. I just see it as more harm that drives away and new forum person and gives the game a bad taste. I prefer good tastes especially if the chef isn’t sending out new stuff for a while…
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