Thoughts about P.U.R.E. disbanding and player retention

General
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I don’t see anyone talking about P.U.R.E. disbanding, so I want to share some thoughts that I’m having and start the conversation.

As far as I’m aware, which could just be a rumor and I want to put it out there right now that this is me basing it off of what I’ve heard and have no confirmation of, but as far as I’m aware this is due to people leaving the game.

Long time players leaving the game. Again.

As much as I appreciate the devs and all they do for us and all they do to keep us involved in the development of the game, and as much as I understand that this is not entirely their fault because another thing I heard is that release was rushed and they weren’t ready to leave early access yet, I can’t help but feel this is a recurring problem that isn’t really being solved.

People who have been playing this game for a long time, have dedicated a lot of time and energy, have championed the game, have created large communities and structures in the game, are leaving. the. game. So clearly there’s something wrong. I personally think this stems from a lack of things to do in the game, and how the endgame is essentially a grind to keep everything running (which is usually not even a fruitful effort, at least from what I can tell both from experience and from reading other posts on the forum). So I was looking back, and the last time we were given something new to do - aside from events and not including new blocks or QOL things that we were already doing - was sometime pre-release.

I know I’m not alone when I say that this is a great game that has the potential to go really far, and again I understand that things take time and it isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault, but from what I can see the game is slowly taking a downward dive and that’s really upsetting to see. So even though I know this post is probably more me sharing my feelings about what’s happening, more me mourning the loss of P.U.R.E. than actually accomplishing something, I don’t see anyone talking about it on here at all and I think it needs to be said, that things haven’t been getting better as far as player retention and it makes me worry for the future of this wonderful game and even more wonderful community.

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The game is good, It has plenty of time consuming activities and you can go as far as you want yourself. Every game has a range of how much time it takes before it gets repetitive or something like that. Yet you can go as far as you want yourself.

Dont forget that long time players also might consider playing an other game. I can speak of myself that i’ve had periods where i didnt do mutch since i had other games to play. But if you look at Portal Seekers, we are gladly switching turns on when we play and always try to keep the leadership occupied be people who play the game.
Maintaining a guild is hard work, while in this game besides reconisgion you dont gain mutch from it. It something needs to suit, there for its not strange that guilds dissapear.

The devs are doing allt hey can to improve this game and i can bet they are keep doing that. If you see how mutch time the devs play this game :slight_smile: I’ve been hunting with James, Sam, Amy and maybe more people of the company then i’m aware of.

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There’s also a lot of toxic people in game as of late that are pushing players out or away. There’s players who have been around for a long time that have been pushed away from this game. Just imagine how many newer players have been pushed away by the toxic people.

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I heard this and my thoughts were
“Well this was expected”.
Ive seen so many organisations going “full throttle” on something… network etc and then they run out of gas. This is not a 100m sprint this is a marathon.

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I agree with you Buugi, some players go to hard and burn out. Some will take a break and come back and some will move on. I keep in contact with a few players that had burnt themselves out on personal and guild projects, and some that just wanted to try another game. The majority are sure they will return at some point, but not sure when.

Personally I will be taking a break myself shortly. I will be back to the game for time to time in the short term but for now the weather is getting nice and lots of family things to do. As things change and I have more time I will play more.

Just my personal perspective. :ok_hand:

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I think it needs to be realised that players and groups are going to come and go, whether it be new players or long time players, small groups or large ones. Burnout is a thing no matter what game you play and burnout has nothing to do with toxic players, or what the devs are or are not doing. It’s just a simple reality of games in general. I’m not playing ESO anymore, does that make it a bad game? Absolutely not. I had fun playing it and that’s all that matters.

Don’t forget that the very fact that a large group like PURE has existed was because of the good job that the devs have done.

I wish the people of PURE all the best. Love you guys. :green_heart:

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I think there are a lot of reasons players take a break or leave games.

1 - As has been said, the burn out trying to do too much.
2 - There is a new game they want to try.
3 - Experiences with other players in game. As much as we would like to think players can just move past the jerks. Sometimes players do leave the game due to the actions of other players.
4 - Players getting bored with a game. Whether this is due to a lack of content or feeling that a game is to grindy and not worth the time investment, players do leave for this reason.

It is always hard to say without specific information from players on why they leave. I think with the small size of the current player base, we can feel it more when a group that has provided infrastructure or guided hunts or just had a major city in the game leaves.

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My son and I have talked often about the game, of how it has so much potential that it is a shame that it is the shape it is in.
It needs to be faced that the number of players is low, much lower than what it should be and there are several reasons. I agree with @Kal-El in what he has said, but I think it is also the lack of content. I am at the point where I feel like I am a revolving door, I go out and mine, or gather the same items, or repeat the same tasks and feel like it is a never ending circle.
Some of the needed items were put in, I think, for busy work to keep up occupied, same with how long they need to take. Many are too long and yes, I can load up the machines and go to bed to get up and they are ready, but I can’t always wait till bedtime to do some of them and then I have to wait, or find short term things to do and there are few of those, gathering, mining and others can not be accomplished in half a hour.
Many players want a story, and there is none and what little I know makes no sense. Travelers who came to a deserted planet yet have no tools, equipment, no clothes to wear and I that is unrealistic and I have yet to see a game where the character don’t have something other than a loincloth except primitive beings.
If the developers want new players and want to keep the older ones, more content is needed and needed fast, not races, not short term events but something that lasts. A real story that gives players a connection to the game, to who they are as they role play. A wider variety of critters, and not just more advanced ones of the same type but totally different ones for ever level. We have five types, the spitters, goats, cuttletrunks, hoppers and road runners and they all look almost the same, bigger the higher level of planet, but basically the same. Quests, mini-games maybe to have a chance of pace as we play and are tired of making food, crafting tools, and trying to find a way to make coins. Those who have big shops or several smaller ones are doing the same tasks in crafting over and over and over and over and. . . It gets boring doing so.
I haven’t heard anything of P.U.R. E. disbanding, but I would not be surprised if some of the members have burnt themselves out. I spent three years playing Sims three and was never bored, so many new things to do, new expansions pack with different careers, worlds to explore, new objects to find. I have played this since Oct and I am not starting to play less and less because they there is to some extent nothing new, even starting to make items in the centraforge will be the same, gather items needs, the same type, going to the same places to find them, same machines, same grinding to get the amount needed and the same long wait for them to be made.
I want something that is totally different, I won’t quit, but I will be playing less. Running a shop doesn’t take any time, make the items, take them to the shop and put them in the stand and leave, go back the next day and get the coins if there are any and restock if there is a need. Can be done in 10 minutes. Now what do I do?

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A game like this is very repetitive. This game is also very easy after a certain point with pretty much no challenging things (naturally soloing t6 meteors or whatever can be challenging but is easily substituted by mass hunts). If you are not a builder or like building cities or huge structures, the game will get boring eventually. And when you build something, you really can’t use those buildings for anything but machines or shops, which very few people use or see cause of low player count.

I personally also think that travelling between planets is too easy. All worlds are really the same place when they are connected through the hubs as it is. Imagine if travelling to another planet was somewhat difficult and actually rewarding when you come back with smart stacks of wood or even rocks. Imagine if seeing a real “alien” person from another planet with a whole “different” playstyle than you. That just doesn’t happen now because everyone is linked through ultima and ps etc. I legit don’t even need my own portal because someone else has got it covered for me.

Big guilds and players burning out happens in every game. We can spend hours speculating left and right but someone who enjoys the game doesn’t quit unless they really have to. My guess is just game got boring or frustrating. I constantly see people yearning for updates or facing lots of grief. Devs do what they can, but more often than not, this stuff is resolved in the favour of the griefer. I see many planet capitals shut down, New Laden is now gone and constant post of grief.

There are many things wrong with the game (all is debatable) but many of these contribute to game becoming boring for someone who played for a long time.

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Why would we expect people to play a specific game for the rest of their life? This is silly. People come and go.

This isn’t a problem with the devs. They’re doing a great job. Given some baseline requirements, a game’s popularity is more of a lottery than anything else.

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Not gonna happen in aqua empire if there is no organisation it can’t break :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I totally agree. I’m waiting for the time when I can finally start working on my project when my planet comes out. When you’ve been waiting long enough to actually start something you’ve wanted to start since launch… I’ll be very much in it for the long haul.

Until then I’ll just help other people out.

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PURE is not shutting down because of lack of content or anything to do with the devs or the “state of the game”.

As an ex-faction leader of PURE, I can tell you they are falling apart because of poor leadership.

As for greifing and jerks… it’s an MMO… you gotta just let them roll and don’t let them get to you and don’t stoop to their level. Eventually, they’ll move on.

And to the devs @james this game rocks. Myself and my guild are growing fast and having a blast. Keep up the hard work! I can’t wait for farming!

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The issue, plain and simple, is that you don’t have any repeatable end-game content. You can only do so many builds and gather so many of the same blocks. The game needs the PvE content that was advertised and, based on the roadmap that was presented, we’re a looooooooong way off from that.

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Right on. I could not tell you the first thing about pure, but I’m sure they each got their money’s worth of Boundless.

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I totally agree with you. There are so many games out there to play, it is unreasonable to expect this game to hold your attention for even a year. I love this game, and I play it when I feel like it. My Gleam Club keeps my beacons running, and I play when I want to. But I play at least 9 other games in the same fashion.

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PURE is just under a rebranding. Out with the old and in with the new, more active and less dead leadership. Things will shape up after the events are over and kinks are worked out for things to get reestablished. If you couldn’t see this coming from a mile away with people leaving the faction idk what to tell you lol

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Pure will be missed, I enjoyed going on their hunts, but I’m sure some of the former members, or new people will be leading hunts soon. Once I get a chance to deep dive back into the game heck maybe I will even try a hand at leading a couple hunts.

I’m not sure how long they were playing, but I am a “launch baby” and I remember a boundless before Pure, and I am sure boundless will be trucking on fine without that guild. Don’t get me wrong, I will miss them, and I wish the players nothing but the best, but we are all drops in the river of the code in the end.

I’ve not ran into any yet, but I know a lot of players have. I do hope we can all get along, but as long as Humans are controlling the Citizens there will sadly always be some drama to go around.

This is a big reason why I have slowed down on my plans. I want to build big things, and great things, I want to accumulate millions of coins going back and forth through a trade empire, and much more. But the things I want take a long time to do in the real world, and they take a lot of hours in a video game as well. Instead of trying to achieve my loftiest dreams in the game all at once, I’m slowing down and trying to just keep moving forward instead.

I understand what your wanting here, as of right now, it seems that the role of writing this is on us the players. Check out some of the Illuminoorti’s stuff (most is buried here in the forums), it is pretty interesting to read. I am hoping to make a series of YouTube videos speculating about Boundless’s story and the origin of the Known Worlds. That is my hope, but I never have time for all these plans lol.

I am happy to hear some of the leadership from Pure is still around, I am glad to hear you are thriving in your own guild :+1:

I wasn’t aware of breakaways until today. But I am not super involved in many of the guilds in the game. I know some players, and some of those players happen to be guild leaders, but as to how things are run and are running, I’m left in the dark lol.

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Same. I have no idea how long they were around, but to me it seemed like they just popped up one day.

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I left PURE almost one month ago. :blush:

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