I'll try to address all of the points you've proposed as best as I can so that you can see our side of this, as I now have a better insight into yours (and that of numerous other members of the community). Firstly, the Chambers of Xeric rework has certainly been in need of some attention to tie up the last few loose ends with it -- it was a huge update to change the raid from a single layout to a dynamically generated system and there were bound to be bugs, and while a few bugs being present is clearly not the issue here, I would like to apologize for the delay in these fixes being applied to the actual server. I know it is difficult to know exactly what goes on behind the scenes, and all of those bugs are actually already patched up (among a plethora of updates that are waiting to be pushed) but some unexpected IRL circumstances have caused us to push back the update schedule a few times this past month. Some staff members who've helped us beta test this week could also attest to the fact that we do have a sizeable update planned for this week, which you'll also be able to see for yourself shortly. Also, the idea that the Eternal donator rank has somehow slowed down the update schedule is simply incorrect, the Eternal donator rank has only been worked on the past few days, the rest of the month has been spent fixing up CoX and other bugs, as well as adding in a huge amount of new content (Tithe Farm, Mahogany Homes, new RuneLite plugins, a Vote Shop expansion, an in-game Lottery system, and much more). We know that there's no way for you to know that we're working on all of this, which leads me to my next point: communication. With that being said, hopefully you can also sympathize with us and understand that sometimes things happen in our lives that we cannot control.
Let’s go paragraph by paragraph so we make sure not to miss anything..
“...all of those bugs are actually already patched up (among a plethora of updates that are waiting to be pushed) but some unexpected IRL circumstances have caused us to push back the update schedule a few times this past month.”
Why must our playing experience suffer because of delayed bug fixes? You said yourself, all of the bugs are already fixed and ready to be pushed through, but why does this have to take so long? I fully understand new content takes time to develop, but if the bugs are already fixed why not just push them through every week with a weekly reset? Better experience for us, and less bitching coming your way. Weekly resets have been something the players have been asking for for as long as I can remember. Sure, the server doesn’t lag as much as it used to due to longer uptimes, but there are other issues to be dealt with, and this allows bug fixes to be pushed through consistently, keeping the players happy. It doesn’t matter if its 3 bug fixes or 100, every fix helps the server stay on top.
The issue is not whether or not the new rank has slowed down updates or bug fixes, rather that the rank itself seems very rushed, with little thought as to possible alternatives. Players have been begging you for rank transfers for a long time now, and that isn’t even being considered. But for some reason you are considering a new top tier rank that will allow players another transfer, and it's simply not realistic. You can even see current immortal donators like @
S / Seabound showing no interest in having to liquidate their entire bank to obtain this new rank.
Communication has been an issue for awhile now, as Chad and I scramble to rush updates out (as a 2-person development team) we do sometimes lose sight of the big picture and neglect the communication aspect. It isn't something we intend to do, it simply makes more sense to us to put our time and energy into developing these updates to have a healthy, constant flow of new content and bug fixes, as well as responding to all the PMs that we receive daily and keeping in touch with the higher up staff team to make sure that things are running smoothly. That isn't an excuse, and we have made attempts to change this, such as providing more development blogs, but that has admittedly slowed down as the summer has ended. We understand your concern though, and I really would like to change this by planning out future updates on a stricter schedule with more consistent development blogs.
This communication problem could be solved very easily… delegate work. The staff team wants to help, they are passionate about the server and it’s very obvious. You need to have the trust in your team to let them work for you. You could delegate work on the forums that only you can do, to some of the admins. Let your staff team test and publish development blogs. You can keep saying the same things over and over, but until you trust your team to help you on this journey, it won’t succeed like it could.
As for the rank, as I mentioned it is something that we've worked on this week and some of you may have noticed the usergroup on the active members list. I'll address a few points here to allow you to understand why we are adding it, and hopefully you'll come out with a different view of the rank. To preface, we have never proposed a previous donator rank. We do sometimes poll updates that affect Alora in a massive way, but donator ranks have not fallen under this category as they have always been a part of Alora. The fact of the matter is that Alora requires income to operate, and without income we would not be able to advertise or provide the development or support that we have for nearly 4 years now. The store, and the donator ranks that go with it have always been a part of Alora. I understand how seeing us working on a new donator rank after a month without updates may leave a bad taste in your mouth, and that goes back to the communication point, because we absolutely never intended to release this rank without the massive update that we've been working on.
The rank seems, simply put, rushed. It seems like a last resort to keep the server alive, when there seem to be other options out there, options that would make the players much happier.
As you can imagine, after 4 years of uptime (longer than most servers last), store purchases are nowhere near where they were when Alora was first released. This is simply a side effect of having a mature economy -- nobody is purchasing whips from the store anymore, and to be fair custom donations for rank account for most of Alora's income nowadays as people don't need to purchase anything from the store. How can we counter this? Well, we can slowly start adding new over-powered items to the store to entice people more, but I don't think anyone wants to see those sorts of items in the store. Instead, a donator rank that a few will marginally benefit from, but will massively benefit Alora in staying alive as long as we possibly could seems like the best option to us. The way things are at the moment, we'd be forced to start cutting advertisements sometime in the next few months to make sure that Alora isn't losing money. Expenses to operate a private server are not cheap, especially if you care about the longevity of the server and want to ensure that there's a steady influx of new players.
My issue with this isn’t that the rank would be too powerful, rather that it is unnecessary and a ridiculous ask from your players. How do you counter this? Intermediate donor ranks, rank transfers, an updated in-game store.. Shall I go on? How about you ask your staff or your community for help and listen when they tell you their ideas.
Aside from that, the Eternal rank is simply a prestige rank -- yes, there are a few new perks (such as being able to transfer your rank more regularly) but at the end of the day it isn't anything that threatens the integrity of the game, and ultimately the addition of this rank will do more good than bad as it will allow us to keep providing the best support and content that we possibly can.
Why would anyone in their right mind pay for a prestige rank? You’re basically saying the only thing that this rank would offer is more regular rank transfers.. So why not just offer rank transfers as a custom donation? This would apply to a much larger portion of the community, rather than the 1 person that MIGHT buy this new donor rank. You are flat out admitting that this new rank is a cash grab by saying it’s a prestige rank just so players can give you more money.
It’s time to admit when you’re wrong and own up and make changes. It’s clear that the community is fed up and ready for a change. Stop making excuses as to why things can’t be dealt with appropriately, there are options, you just don’t want to implement them. You don’t want to trust your staff to make all of these things possible, you don’t want to make a legitimate effort to fix these issues. Prove me wrong.
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