Recent DMCA Takedowns of Third-Party Programs - Discussion [Updated: November 8th]
This is the thread from the News & Announcements area. Please be kind, respectful and if you want to add constructive feedback, it's welcome.
Disciplinary action will be taken if any player uses foul language, attacks EME employees or other players.
Bookmark this thread, we'll be updating where to find our latest posts in regards to this topic:
Update #5 - find it here
Update #4 - find it here
Update #3 - find it here
Update #2 - find it here
Update #1 - Find statement from Denommentor here
Disciplinary action will be taken if any player uses foul language, attacks EME employees or other players.
Bookmark this thread, we'll be updating where to find our latest posts in regards to this topic:
Update #5 - find it here
Update #4 - find it here
Update #3 - find it here
Update #2 - find it here
Update #1 - Find statement from Denommentor here
15
Comments
Here's my constructive criticism for En Masse:
Eme, you've been on super bad terms with your community consistently for about 2 years or so now. That is a fact. While a lot of players are whiny and entitled- you as a company have been negligent and you have broken a lot of promises that you've made.
First and foremost, you've broken your promise to be transparent and honest with your community. This needs to be fixed for you to get in good standing as a company again. You can fix it by being much more active in answering questions and giving updated detailed information about policy and game changes on a regular basis. You also need to put more effort into stopping the release of misinformation.
Secondly, you need to be more careful when you handle situations like these. A lot of people are sharing information about being banned on discord or the forums for not doing anything against your ToS at all. En Masse has also been very touchy about being told what they're doing wrong. You need to actually listen to your community and reflect on your actions instead of blinding yourself to actual constructive criticism. I'm at the point where I think this post will be considered "an attack on Eme staff" even though I am only expressing concerns and I am giving possible solutions for those concerns. These kind of actions have given En Masse a reputation for being childish and unwilling to listen to any kind of feedback.
Third: You have been dropping the ball a lot when handling the game itself and its content. Lots of incorrect patch notes exist. Every event you've run recently has either been economy breaking or not worthwhile at all (mostly the latter). News posts and emails have had blatant typos or missing content. Most major content patches have some sort of game breaking issue that requires hot fixes. The recent faces of your community also have shown they don't know how the game works at all. That is a major problem. I can't offer a solution for this beyond "get a tighter grip on your quality control." I understand that some stuff is out of your hands and have to be fixed by the developer. But a lot of things such as fashion coupon store updates, making sure your staff is educated, and making sure your news is proofread are entirely in your power.
I do understand that a substantial, loud portion of the player base are screaming toddlers. People should not be upset that a 3rd party program is being taken away and that people are being banned for having it. A lot of the people who use it don't even actually need it to make the game playable. Even separated from this specific issue, people like to whine without giving constructive feedback. However, En Masse has not been seen taking any actual constructive feedback into consideration. I know listening to angry incoherent shrieking is tiresome. But you've got to remain mature as a company.
This was posted in your discord, during a time when over 300 people were active on your discord:
Seriously though, with the amount of action this channel has right now, may be time to consider a re think on your position regarding the issue... I'm just saying, I don't run a gaming company, but I would definitely be listening. "Cheating is cheating" isn't an acceptable answer atm, seriously, listen.
This is how I would gather 90% of that over 300 people feel. Without saying "game is dead lul" "you guys suck", etc. I mean, in fact, I believe that is constructive criticism of your actions (If someone responds to your actions, that is criticism, how they respond is constructive), but that's hearsay. Your playerbase, I would gather a large portion of your playerbase, is overall negative about your recent actions. What does that tell you about your actions? Your game? Your idea? I would sincerely hope that you are actively listening to what people are saying. Let me start my constructive criticism here:
Your game lags, beyond anything I've ever seen before. For a "fast-paced-action-based-combat" game, that is extremely negative. How do you intend on fixing it? Without even looking at it from a "single minded" damage standpoint, survival is near impossible. "That's what makes a game fun dying repetitively until you learn not to die". No. No it isn't. A few times, yes. Dying repetitively because my ping jumped over 50ms for a few seconds, or my FPS lag became a big issue because the party used 3 heavy skills at the same time, is enraging.
No real support for classes/guides/instructions. There are websites, out there, discords, etc, that claim to be "guides" on the game. None of which are updated. EM attempts to, but doesn't quite get there in terms of class guides, as these are all individuals who poste these. (Half if not more of EM's class guides don't even have Awakening Skills listed for the classes from AP1) You actively shut down and close threads/websites related to gold-farming, an essential part of the game you've published. Those methods that are still in-game are nerfed into uselessness, making those who were doing them, and newer players who are in the midst of learning the game, less inclined to do so. (BAMs, lower tiered dungeons, etc)
Staffing: Though KTC has recently come under fire for her own actions on your behalf, I'm not going to flame her here. I will say, you do need people on your staff like her, but you also need someone at the heart of end-game content. Having anyone in the top-tier of players would tell you the issues of the game, and attempt to help offer suggestions to patch the holes in your currently sinking boat. Having someone who is excited about leveling and cosplay is good, but in the end of all things, your game is an mmorpg, which means there is an end-game, and if it sucks, people will be less inclined to continue to play your game past the "lolis in anime combat".
(roundabout from the previous point and moreover onto the issue that will remain unnamed)
I would start seriously considering about working with the people who are developing the tools you are currently trying to remove from the game. You can call them cheats, and fallback on the ToS if you want, but you will end up closing down, for good. Look at companies like Blizzard, they have 9 current (many more older games/versions) games on their official platform. Each and every one of them still has supporting staff and development. Some less than others, but they haven't let any of them die, or actively tried to kill any of their own games. They work with software developers, people who play and love the game, and try to diversify their strategies for making each game better. This is the sort of attitude that fosters great gaming companies. Do you really think people will swap from Tera to Closers or Kritika after what you've done to Tera? The short answer is no. If you actively try to kill your own games, no one wants to pay you to make more. They want you to quit trying and go work at Home Depot.
More on developer tools, why do I call them "tools"?: For me, in my opinion, a DPS meter is a tool. It helps me to understand what I'm doing, and how to do better. It also let's me help other players, as they can see if I'm doing well, ask questions, how to fix rotations, priorities, etc, to do better, if they want to. I understand that DPS meters in other games are epeen fueled rage monsters, but they are still used by a majority of people as a tool to better themselves and others who want to do better. I fail to see how "some people will use this as a weapon" means that no one can use it. That's like saying "This guy beat somebody to death with a hammer, so we outlawed hammers."
Patch Notes: I am almost done with, and completely shocked at your lack of patch note details. I have to search, and then translate, the Korean patch notes to get an accurate representation of what has changed on NA/EU servers. I have to do that, myself, or hope that someone else already did and posted it somewhere. This is your job, one of your very few jobs in fact. As I understand the deal between you and BlueHole Studios, they allow you to publish their game in NA/EU. They are in full control of their game, and that you are our representation to them, from NA/EU. Which also means you are their representation of BHS to us. Meaning you are required to provide accurate information, as it pertains to their game. You have failed to do so, on so many occasions, and received so much feedback on this, it's shocking that it still occurs, regularly. This isn't an attack, I'm simply stating the facts of the matter as I see them. (Case in point, and the most recent: Changing the gold rewards from 412 and 431 dungeons to be lowered, lowered gold/material costs for enchanting and upgrading Guardian and Twistshard gearsets. None of this is mentioned in your patch notes, and we get a "surprise" when we login.) Aside from that, your job is to moderate the game and report feedback to BHS. Based on the amount of feedback you receive via the forums, BHS either doesn't care what we have to say, or you aren't doing a good enough job in articulating the issues.
As this poste has now reached it's apex, I'd be inclined to say that I do love Tera, it's a great game, it feels good when I'm playing and not lagging. I implore you to not kill the game. Seek mediation in your current issues. Attempt to find a middle ground. As it sits now, I listened to your official discord voice chat, which was being used to discuss what the next game everyone will play will be. This cannot be how you want your community to feel/act.
It has been over 2 years since the server lag started and nothing has changed. I don't think I need to say more, proxies are needed.
You have been following in the footsteps of Blade and Soul in some aspects, so why not add a meter, which even Blade and Soul do?
Its been years dealing with my ping due location, also with enough computer to run any game in Ultra cant play tera with decent fps.
I kindly ask you or any staff member.. what's left for us?
Well even if you don't try your best ^^ But honestly, improvement needs to take place, for the sake of the players and solely for the comfort of the players.
This would, conveniently, also eliminate the potential for it to be used as more than a quality of life tool (ie hacking/cheating).
Many of us would like to see xigncode removed. Even if it's not harmful to anyone's system (which it may be), it causes most of us an increase in ping and a drop in fps which is detrimental to playing an action-combat based game well.
Server lag was why most people used proxies. Has been semi-stable to bad for a couple years now.
DPS meter was more of a tool and yall even said it was okay as long as we weren't being jackoffs with it so not sure why the sudden stance flip.
Xigncode is why everyone used a proxy bypass.
This is all without even saying optimization.
And why the heck you guys even advertise your service to BR players?
https://joguetera.uol.com.br/
And a tip: Consider an IP block for any players outside NA (or even within NA) that play with more than 80 ms ping, cuz you can't provide an acceptable gaming experience and at the same time you don't want third parties to make the game playable for that playerbase.
I'm pretty sure NA Tera will be healthy with only players from Chicago
Or if you wanna a "really constructive feedback:" Tell BHS to make a built in DPS meter and to TEST their game on a higher than 120 ms ping envirioment and create a built-in skill predictor that works only for PVE, that way you solve EVERY problem for every player and nobody gonna need third party stuff anymore.
The chances of that happening is close to zero cuz BHS doesn't even care for anything outside k-tera and theirs 20 ms ping.
Thank you!