I appreciate your response and I do look forward to seeing the upcoming changes whatever they are. As I’ve noted, I think we all understand that changes are a way of life for early access and generally players are patient and understanding as updates are made.
I do take issue with this:
I challenge anyone to say that this description is not misleading about what to expect in terms of the anticipated means of Relic acquisition:
I’ve harped on this already but I think any rational reader of these notes would infer that Relics are themed around Dungeons; you collect Relics associated with Dungeons; and Dungeon completions would be a reasonable means to attain Relics. It’s fairly clear that there is no indication that the drop rate of relics from dungeons completions would ultimately be <0.1% which honestly I would say is generous. You are more likely to get a relic from salvaging than from Dungeon completions; there is absolutely no way that is clearly communicated here. Furthermore, (again as I have said before), saying that something is a means to acquire something but making the rate equivalent to finding a dollar on the street is unsatisfactory. Without this other “main way” of acquiring Relics, the existing ways are no means to acquire anything at all. It would take presumably months and months of gameplay to chance luckily upon 4 of anything of the right dungeon and rarity to do an evolve. Does your data differ? Share it, prove me wrong.
This is not true. Glyphs have not been easier to find unless you mean some increase in frequency in the shop. Does your data differ? Show us, prove me wrong. Also, there is no indication here in subtle text or otherwise about “another primary way” (I still love that phrase, a mastery of obfuscation) of getting Glyphs is forthcoming. Can we assume so? I guess, but that’s not what was communicated.
3 days after the release of the patch notes and a collective head scratching from players as they attempted to find Relics by completing dungeons, you chimed in with:
I think we are all glad that you provided that update (otherwise our brains probably would have melted out of desperation to understand what was going on) but it seems a pretty big thing to mention that the newly released items that were presented as a means to improve the evolve situation and that everyone of course will be looking for is actually something so rare that there literally is zero chance in the current framework of purposefully finding them. That would seem worth mentioning. Additionally, you indicate that they will be included in “more” Daily Deals. That would imply that they were included in Daily Deals, which is not mentioned in the patch notes as a means of obtaining Relics, and to the best of my knowledge is not true, since I don’t know of a single player who has seen a Relic in a daily deal.
At the same time you said this:
This was the first mention of this as I indicated above, but even if that is the case, it’s the same issue with Relics. This new means to collect Glyphs appears not to be “the primary place” but really the only place other than shop deals. You essentially confirmed this when you said:
So I think we can agree on this point that the patch notes were again misleading as they were very rare drops before 0.35 and they continue to be very rare drops after 0.35. I don’t exactly see how that was communicated well when the notes said “It is now easier to find Glyphs after level 45 in-game”.
8 days after the patch after much frustration from players about the state of drops with the 0.35 release, you provided the following update:
So at this point it is acknowledged the main issue that exists is not that players are frustrated that you haven’t sufficiently mentioned the existence of other means of acquiring Relics and Glyphs, but rather that the current means of acquiring Relics and Glyphs is so low as to prompt the growing volume of discontent across the player base. You suggest that any tweaks to the current drop rates is pointless because the focus is on the new content to be introduced in the future which is supposed to work in tandem with the current rates (see above on that synergy). Furthermore, instead of providing a bridge to the new content with increased drop rates of Relics and Glyphs to provide motivation for early access players to engage with content especially given the scope of the new updates and the time it would take to roll them out, out of concern for players being upset in the future, no bridge will be extended. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the degree of disappointment about the reduction of bridge rates would be slightly less than the level of frustration that exists currently.
So, again, I appreciate the response, but I am also disheartened that your takeaway from all of this was that the community felt you didn’t tell us often enough that “the main way to get glyphs and relics is coming”. What should have been said was that the only feasible way to get glyphs and relics is forthcoming and any attempt to acquire glyphs and relics currently is essentially fruitless and that evolutions are essentially on hold for a month+ as a result.
To be fair, I don’t think this is your fault. If I’m being completely honest, my impression is that you are often given partial information as well and it must be challenging that you have to try to explain things when it seems as if you are being treated by the developers as just a bit taller of a mushroom than us. I look forward to hearing more from you going forward and I want to end my post here to say that none of my comments are personal; it is all about process. I harbor no ill will, and I caution any player to be judicious in talking about these issues and to not make personal attacks or insults a part of the responses here, even out of frustration. I do, however, believe in holding people accountable.