Forums » News and Announcements

January Dev Roundtable Part 2 - General Q&A with Joppa

    • 1273 posts
    February 26, 2020 10:02 AM PST

    Cash shop was a CM question created by me mate (I post two a week on various topics that I think will create discussion), they are to engage with the community, provide a platform for you guys to voice your opinions and generate discussion, nothing more. If they also give us feedback on certain topics then greate but take them with a grain of salt, they are not official surveys. :)

    Thanks *thumbs up*

    • 1921 posts
    February 26, 2020 10:18 AM PST

    Kilsin said: ... You're honestly looking way too much into this man. We will not give up control of Pantheon to anyone, no matter how much money they throw at us, the team is very passionate about that. I understand that you guys are impatient and want more but trying to dissect things like this just create rumours and fuel negative discussions.

    A big investor(s) or Company(s) means more hires, more work done, faster progress without sacrificing quality, access to more resources etc. it doesn't mean handing over control of our game.

    Great to hear.  This is the first time in 6 years you've referred to a Company as a potential investor.  Pointing that out and asking for clarification is not a rumour.  It's not a negative discussion.  It's a transparent, open, honest question from a member of your community and someone within your target demographic.  Evidently, from the other responses on page 1, a few other members of your community and target demographic were also concerned about this new turn of phrase, in context.

    If a Company is now a possible investor, great.  You've confirmed that.  Previously, that wasn't the case, in any communication since 2014 that you've posted on the subject.  Awesome to have the clarification.
    Additionally, you've now confirmed nothing else would change within Visionary Realms.  Again, great to have that clarification.

    Personally?  I don't believe for a second it's true (that nothing would change if a Company fully funded Pantheon), but I appreciate you having the courage to make the public statement. :)
    And as for why I don't believe it's true?  Because historically, such a thing has never happened, in 20+ years of the genre.

    • 201 posts
    February 26, 2020 10:55 AM PST

    It is good to see a fairly strong comment about possible company backed funding and explicitly that they have rejected at least one offer based on the control which would been given up.  That indicates at least to me, that whenever that offer (or more offers) have or were made, the team obviously had the funding at that time that there was no immediate desperation.  Unfortunately for anyone in any industry, if the choice is shut shop or sell or hand over control, at some point if it comes to that, people choose to get the money they need to keep the lights on.  Good to know that the opportunity has come but they were in a position to reject it in order to stay in control.  We can hope that kind of situation continues. 

    Obviously I am sure Kilsin wishes he had not said anything in the stream and certainly wishes he had not posted about the cash shop, certainly not contemporaneously with the comments in the stream.  Frankly when the game is almost all crowd funded (as far as we are told) and is WAY behind schedule with no real end in sight or stated, you cannot expect that people are not going to be on the lookout for any kind of insight into major things like funding etc, and as I stated before, even on its face the statement made in the stream really is not anything shocking. From my point, I am GLAD he made the comment and honestly, I think transparency is only positive for the most part.  It may create some discomfort at times, especially as people digest information and forthrightness, but overall it only leads to better outcomes I think.  Darkness and opacity regarding things is not conducive to success because people really can only interpret it in negative ways for the most part.  And, if at the end of things, opacity is there because things are getting very bad, then ultimately they will fall apart anyway, so it still makes no sense not to be upfront unless the goal is to deceive people for as long as possible.  It is refreshing to actually get those kind of comments and actually get some follow up on them in a way that is not quite so "nothing has changed from what we said before, which is very little."  Kudos to the team even if is caused a little discomfort.

    Obviously they want and need more funding, and they have money well, until they don't.  That obviously does not mean they are bankrupt tomorrow, and it is just a statement of a very obvious basic truth that applies or would apply to anyone.  Hopefully the game makes it to release and hopefully it is a success, and lord knows, hopefully it fills the EQ sized void myself and many many others here have sought desperately for, in some cases, 20 years. 


    This post was edited by antonius at February 26, 2020 11:00 AM PST
    • 9115 posts
    February 26, 2020 3:11 PM PST

    vjek said:

    Kilsin said: ... You're honestly looking way too much into this man. We will not give up control of Pantheon to anyone, no matter how much money they throw at us, the team is very passionate about that. I understand that you guys are impatient and want more but trying to dissect things like this just create rumours and fuel negative discussions.

    A big investor(s) or Company(s) means more hires, more work done, faster progress without sacrificing quality, access to more resources etc. it doesn't mean handing over control of our game.

    Great to hear.  This is the first time in 6 years you've referred to a Company as a potential investor.  Pointing that out and asking for clarification is not a rumour.  It's not a negative discussion.  It's a transparent, open, honest question from a member of your community and someone within your target demographic.  Evidently, from the other responses on page 1, a few other members of your community and target demographic were also concerned about this new turn of phrase, in context.

    If a Company is now a possible investor, great.  You've confirmed that.  Previously, that wasn't the case, in any communication since 2014 that you've posted on the subject.  Awesome to have the clarification.
    Additionally, you've now confirmed nothing else would change within Visionary Realms.  Again, great to have that clarification.

    Personally?  I don't believe for a second it's true (that nothing would change if a Company fully funded Pantheon), but I appreciate you having the courage to make the public statement. :)
    And as for why I don't believe it's true?  Because historically, such a thing has never happened, in 20+ years of the genre.

    An investor covers companies to mate, could be multiple companies...either way, it is an injection of money from someone or something that allows us to hire more good people to get the job done faster while maintaining the same quality.

    You don't have to believe it but unless you fully understand an investment, you're probably using the wrong mindset and reasoning to justify your thoughts. No matter who supports us via investment, we have (since the creation of VR and Pantheon) been very clear and transparent on keeping control of our game, company and brand. People just don't understand the business and investment side of gaming as well as they think and it typically causes false flags of negativity.

    • 9115 posts
    February 26, 2020 3:15 PM PST

    antonius said:

    It is good to see a fairly strong comment about possible company backed funding and explicitly that they have rejected at least one offer based on the control which would been given up.  That indicates at least to me, that whenever that offer (or more offers) have or were made, the team obviously had the funding at that time that there was no immediate desperation.  Unfortunately for anyone in any industry, if the choice is shut shop or sell or hand over control, at some point if it comes to that, people choose to get the money they need to keep the lights on.  Good to know that the opportunity has come but they were in a position to reject it in order to stay in control.  We can hope that kind of situation continues. 

    Obviously I am sure Kilsin wishes he had not said anything in the stream and certainly wishes he had not posted about the cash shop, certainly not contemporaneously with the comments in the stream.  Frankly when the game is almost all crowd funded (as far as we are told) and is WAY behind schedule with no real end in sight or stated, you cannot expect that people are not going to be on the lookout for any kind of insight into major things like funding etc, and as I stated before, even on its face the statement made in the stream really is not anything shocking. From my point, I am GLAD he made the comment and honestly, I think transparency is only positive for the most part.  It may create some discomfort at times, especially as people digest information and forthrightness, but overall it only leads to better outcomes I think.  Darkness and opacity regarding things is not conducive to success because people really can only interpret it in negative ways for the most part.  And, if at the end of things, opacity is there because things are getting very bad, then ultimately they will fall apart anyway, so it still makes no sense not to be upfront unless the goal is to deceive people for as long as possible.  It is refreshing to actually get those kind of comments and actually get some follow up on them in a way that is not quite so "nothing has changed from what we said before, which is very little."  Kudos to the team even if is caused a little discomfort.

    Obviously they want and need more funding, and they have money well, until they don't.  That obviously does not mean they are bankrupt tomorrow, and it is just a statement of a very obvious basic truth that applies or would apply to anyone.  Hopefully the game makes it to release and hopefully it is a success, and lord knows, hopefully it fills the EQ sized void myself and many many others here have sought desperately for, in some cases, 20 years. 

    I don't regret it at all and we are not behind, we are on track internally and looking good. You need to remember that we went through an entire company reform and complete game overhaul a few years ago, completely starting from scratch on both points and have never set an official release date.

    We made the mistake of giving rough estimate dates for testing previously and had those thrown back in our face when we didn't make them, so that was a lesson learned even though we had good intentions it is best to keep these things to ourselves, work our butts off and show results rather than speak about them or try to predict a date that they will be ready by. ;)

    • 291 posts
    February 26, 2020 3:54 PM PST

    These devs really do have the best interest of the game at hand. Im not going to point out the obvious any longer as your feelings are more important to them than their own, and so I digress on the topic completely. They can obviously handle it.

    • 201 posts
    February 26, 2020 4:43 PM PST

    Thanks for the response Kilsin.


    This post was edited by VR-Mod1 at February 27, 2020 2:50 AM PST
    • 291 posts
    February 27, 2020 6:11 AM PST

    Yea. Thank devs! :) Very appreciated.

    • 523 posts
    February 27, 2020 7:13 AM PST

    When is the next video update?  I enjoy these, but I'm still fuzzy on their frequency.  I thought it was every second Thursday of a given month, so does that mean something is coming this afternoon?

    • 1273 posts
    February 27, 2020 8:01 AM PST

    Mathir said:

    When is the next video update?  I enjoy these, but I'm still fuzzy on their frequency.  I thought it was every second Thursday of a given month, so does that mean something is coming this afternoon?

    They might be skipping this week since they did the big reveal last week.  If you missed it you can find it on youtube (among other places) 

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z_udroswXc

    • 379 posts
    February 27, 2020 2:43 PM PST
    The next one "should be" on March 5th
    • 13 posts
    March 1, 2020 6:51 PM PST

    To me, you may be the last great hope of MMOs.  Take your time and do what you need to do to bring this game to us.  The progress is obvious and if investors are making that happen then so be it.  I honestly trust you guys to deliver.   You seem as sincere and devoted as any dev team I have ever followed.  You can feel the love you have for this game.  Keep it up and I can't wait for the next reveal stream!

    • 9 posts
    March 7, 2020 6:52 PM PST

    Kilsin said:

    Fragile said:

    Well you guys don't need to worry thus far, as VR wants to maintain complete control of game design and the VR company as a whole. If they didn't, they would of had big money by now.

    Exactly. We have rejected offers that involved control aspects. We are serious about our game and our community.

     

    I love  you guys... dont ever give it up