Bored playing yet?

I don't know about you guys, but I'm starting to feel very bored of this game. Normally, I'm playing and looking forward each day to logging on and hoping to see they publish some new dev. diary or hope they introduce something interesting on the test server that will get me excited.

But right now, the things they've introduced in the past few months have been very stale and not so spectacular.

The Fairy Tales Adventure and the Science were entertaining for a bit. But after awhile I realized how flawed and terrible the science system for the GEO and Explorer. And the increasing book production cost/time makes it really awful. Was looking forward to generals science or the island science but that hasn't been introduced yet.

EpicWork yard not impressed. Just a coal machine. And silly quests (XP but no star coins).
Rock Blasters for more island space? Not really impressed with that either, even if I got more island space that doesn't do much for the overall gameplay. The gameplay doesnt' change still. The new buildings they've introduced really are just silly stuff. (granite? exotic tree school? silo?)
Upcoming new maps (co-op) aren't really great either. Same ole same ole. More annoying really. The only thing it offers is probably the new Bone Church (but its just decoration, no population gain.)

Weak Potions "was" interesting as it had a random chance element to get more beans but that was nerfed and now it's no fun anymore. No point in buying them every 3 days or trying my luck with them. It was a nice dynamic to doing adventures.

The Christmas event was nice. I must say. Good job on that event. Got me logging in everyday for the doors and gold tower. Master Architect loved the chance of frozen manors, pirate huts, witch towers. Nice rare provision house.

But that's not enough to alter the gameplay experience. Got more population and way to make more map fragments. however, at the end of the day it doesn't change my experience on adventures.


This game needs PvP - something a bit more competitive.

Maybe- It needs some sort of adventure mode map with economy style play mode mission to mission. (like settlers 2, and 3- moving from island to island restarting/rebuilding to defeat the enemy on the island and move to the next?) - current island has no more enemies thus boring.

Or introduce better adventures with new units and gameplay mechanics as I suggested in another thread.
http://forum.thesettlersonline.net/t...Fantasy-Themed)


Can't seem to find the urge to play anymore other than log in to do a daily and log out. Do I have the urge to go on adventures? not really. Do I have the urge to buff my buildings or deal with trade buffs? not really. Do I even care to buy stuff on trade or post trades. Not really. Right now I'm just logging into get my week 100 gems (and 100 star coin gems). Waiting for gem pit to payout to buy another. That's the extent of my play time.

Hopefully the developers will introduce more game changing mechanics rather than new silly buildings. I'm slowly losing interest in this game.

Right there with you, Ron. Have been there for a long while, in fact. The move building feature was the last one that I got excited about. Everything else just seems like distractions while we continue to tread water waiting for PvP. But I've given up on it, and really doubt it will ever arrive in a way that works. The fundamental aspects of the existing battle mechanics make it unlikely that any PvP system would offer enough richness, diversity & challenge to be of value. So either BB will have to overhaul the entire mechanics, with a potentially huge (and upsetting) impact on existing adventures & island clearing, or forge ahead with a PvP model where you send an army & wait for an email with the results. Yawn.

If you've played other online games with well-developed & mature PvP systems, you'll know what I'm talking about. If TSO is all you know for online games, probably you won't.

Yea. I've played a few other PvP oriented browser games. Travian, Lords of Ultima and Stormfall to name a few.


This game does need something interesting. At least add new unit types and new battle mechanics.

New buildings do not excite me as much as new gameplay mechanics. Was looking forward to Generals science and hope that it alters the game play dynamics. but I doubt it will be arriving soon. They already pulled the star coin generals based on the feedback. (which I agree new star coins generals were pretty bad).

I just started downgrading a lot of my production so I have less maint. so I don't have to log on as much. I used to enjoy this game but now I am just sick of the same boring combat system and with no alternatives for earning exp I have stopped progressing. I figure I will limit myself to one login a day until either they revamp the combat system or give us some alternative to earn exp

i enjoyed some aspects of stormfall, but i got tired of the constant drama...maybe some players enjoy that, and maybe thats one of the attractions of pvp. travian and forge of empires i got bored with quickly cuz there was no good social aspects. i think you can get burned out on any game if you play it long enough. don't quit, just back off a bit and find other entertainments. it'll pick up again with the easter event. xmas was very fun, and ya i got a lil burned out and went 'whew' when the event ended and went on a movie watching spree.

i know several players who have quit waiting for pvp. having other islands to fight over would certainly renew the game for many. and probably bring in more revenue, from new and old players. give us a new purpose anyways, a different dynamic from grinding the same advs. i know there was a poll a while back about battle dynamics, and i know stuff takes time to code. it's high time developers make a decision and move forward with it! players need to know there's something to look forward to.

I posted the following back in May:

PvP - LVL 50 - Boredom

Without proper attention these three things spell out great danger for our game. While it probably is an excurse in futility, I have to have to pass on my thoughts.

TSO needs to introduce new things to solve these problems. There have been many suggestions in these forum pages. Some have been brilliant. I especially point out the work done by The_Director. His designs for a new and better TSO are great. The main problem I see is the Developer's time to make these happen. In my opinion we must do something quickly. We therefore have to crawl before we can walk or run. The following are my thoughts on how this might be done.

1. Create more islands. There are already islands available, like the ones used for the egg hunts. The new islands would be uninhabitable islands (UI) On these islands place exotic trees and ore deposits, like granite, titanium and the ever popular salt peter.

2. Give explorers the ability to do an ocean search where they can find one of these islands.

3. When a UI is found a general can be sent to the island. He can take troops, a geologist to find the ore deposits and resources needed to build the buildings to harvest the wood and mine the ore. The number of troops taken will be reduced to allow space for the geologist and the resources. Something like 10 less troops for each geologist and one (1) for each 100 units of resources. More than one general may be sent to the UI. (Really on a ship, but who needs to actually see the boat.) A general must accompany any visit to the new island to transport men or goods back and forth between the home island and the new island.

4. The Fort. The first thing to be done on arrival is to build a Fort. Nothing can be built, cut or mined until the Fort is built. Lets hope the resources to build the Fort were brought to the island. Like fir planks and stone since this is only the first level of Fort. Like all buildings the Fort can be upgraded to LVL 5. The Fort acts as a storehouse and to defend the island from attack. As a storehouse the Fort will have to be able to store fairly large quantities of goods. Once the Fort is built, the island can be found by explorers searching the ocean and it can be attacked by others.

5. PvP. The fun begins. (There needs to be some type of plan to see that LVLs are equal. Perhaps we start with only LVL 48+ even participating.) Once your explorer finds an inhabited island (II) you may send troops to attack it. Know that the defenders always have the advantage. They have troops in the Fort, limited to the number the one General in the Fort can support 200/250. There can be other troops and generals on the island to defend it but all the fighting occurs in the Fort. The troops outside the Fort are hidden, no garrisons, they are in the trees and rocks and can't be seen by the attacking force. At no time can the troops on the island exceed the total allowed the generals on the island, either attacker or defender. The troops in the Fort can see the attacking force and it's composition. The attacking force can't see into the Fort. To win the island the attacker must defeat the Fort by killing off all the troops in the Fort. The attackers can send as many waves as they have generals, however only one general my be on the attack at the same time. If the first wave fails to kill all the troops in the Fort a second wave can be sent. If the Fort still stands after an attack they may reinforce the Fort from the woods and rocks, up to 200/250. The attack may continue as long as the attacker has generals and troops. The battle report will show attackers the troops left in the Fort but not the reinforcements. The level of the Fort adds to the defenders hit points. Scaling up with each level. 5% per LVL or 10% per LVL or ??.

6. If the fort is taken the attackers capture all the resources in the Fort and all the buildings on the island

Gotta say, Wimpy. It works for me! and while certainly not a programmer/code writer - it seems compatible with the mechanisms of the game as we experience them - so it would seem like something that could be accomplished - rather than some of the wish list stuff folks post.

Thanks for the post! Not bored yet, Ron....but I am beginning to see how it could happen....

Cheers!

Most of my buildings are now at level 5. With a few left that just requires more granite. And I normally don't like to buy granite on TO. but grind for them through adventures (that's the only thing adventures are good for right now. that and star coins.)

the game is failing to capture my interests. if it wasn't for the gem pits that I have running - I would probably just stop logging on. hopefully by the time they pay out- there will be something interesting to spend the gems on. was going to get the 1 year premium but at this point, im just waiting to get enough to just buy another pit (now that they've added 5 more pits to buy). no point in having premium when I'm not playing as much anymore.

Some of your ideas Wimpy are good. They need to do something to capture the high level players interest again.

@ RonEmpire

I 100% Agree with you. Hoping for something more entertaining. I'm pretty sure everyone wouldn't be bored if you can get a 2nd Island at level 50 and they increased the level cap to level 100. Though however, there would probably be a ton of new features to that but it would probably require a lot of testing and would take MONTHS for them to even implant it into the game which is somewhat disappointing with the game but necessary for everything to be working and not crashing all the time on how like the Demolition buffs were doing.

Well- even if it takes a lot of testing time. At least its 'something'. Which is better than nothing right now.

I'd be on the test server providing feedback and be involved more in shaping it like I was with FTA content.

But right now there's nothing worth my time on the test server. And looking at how the schedule flows. I don't expect anything interesting until Easter. Because they're wasting so much time mucking with co-op and new buildings. They really didn't need to waste so much time on new buildings. They should have a focus group of long time players working with developers, instead of having clueless developers who know nothing about how the game works create silly new buildings and silly maps with awful loot tables.

The co-op adventures I'm not really interested in unless they make it worth wild doing. New Buildings, Kinda pointless if they would expand our island. Other then that.. Nothing seems interesting besides running RB's and FTA's.

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Originally Posted by RomanGodCamper

The co-op adventures I'm not really interested in unless they make it worth wild doing. New Buildings, Kinda pointless if they would expand our island. Other then that.. Nothing seems interesting besides running RB's and FTA's.

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Yup. New maps with no new loot. Only the bone church was introduced to entice people to do them. (only decoration. like angel gate. nothing special).

It boils down to which map gives you the most efficient loot/reward for loss. And they make these maps with boring loot tables. There's no real reason to do multiple maps.

With the exception of the new Bandits nest and More secluded experiment ( at least these maps offer you sort of alternate way of getting books or catapults/weak potions) but weak pots are kind of useless. Not sure if its worth the cost/time to do the more secluded experiment anymore.

The only reason to do say Nords 2 was for the frozen manor. Unique loot making it a unique map. White castle for stealing from rich. Witch tower for dark bro.
But with frozen manors being the more superior building you just sort of skip these other maps because the superior building is the same foot print.

But at the end of the day- you realize these building chase is not enough to be perpetually entertained.

ive been playing for about 2 yrs now, i took a 5 month break after a year of playing due to boredom and now i am back interested as ever in it. I know this game is slow but with the right guild and mindset you can enjoy your time on here, but i dont think i would be as interested if i hadnt taken a break, i probably would have RAGE QUIT by now.

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Originally Posted by RonEmpire

Yup. New maps with no new loot. Only the bone church was introduced to entice people to do them. (only decoration. like angel gate. nothing special).

It boils down to which map gives you the most efficient loot/reward for loss. And they make these maps with boring loot tables. There's no real reason to do multiple maps.

With the exception of the new Bandits nest and More secluded experiment ( at least these maps offer you sort of alternate way of getting books or catapults/weak potions) but weak pots are kind of useless. Not sure if its worth the cost/time to do the more secluded experiment anymore.

The only reason to do say Nords 2 was for the frozen manor. Unique loot making it a unique map. White castle for stealing from rich. Witch tower for dark bro.
But with frozen manors being the more superior building you just sort of skip these other maps because the superior building is the same foot print.

But at the end of the day- you realize these building chase is not enough to be perpetually entertained.

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yeah. Agreed.

They need to add more new adventures in. Return of the Bandit nest on how they give books as rewards was a great idea... we need more like them!

Throwing my two cents in. Not gonna name names but (romangodcamper) some of you babies need to actually finish your island before you even 'need' new content;)

Kidding aside though the development focus on the xmas event was well spent and a success, but you are exactly right the new buildings are weak and exciting content is needed.

This could be done through economic competition (could do 4 player adventures in competition with each other building the best economy on your slice of the adventure), could be pvp.. could be high end content grind if it really pushes economies to the test making it difficult to achieve with adequate production (sadly now improved pop building past 150 would be required rewards or something epic)

Island expansion would be fantastic but we havn't even heard them even talk about it as far as I know....

The epic workyards could be good content update IF they are given the ability to really ratchet up a selected production chain efficiently (should be a grind to unlock the most efficient level of the workyard but when done should save space and kick ***... and I am not sure I see that in them as is)

All this aside though we don't really know what the business model is - maybe they do have enough new people activating accounts and spending gems high level content isn't their best way to make money... compared to buildings without clear value.... that they can suffer the clear attrition of active higher level players.

That said we aren't all depositking where we literally do rage quit, so when content comes out we can always re activate... I think what would make you feel better Ron is to roll with me for a while on zues. We can work on upgrading a badass gold chain on my island or something ridiculously grindy where you dedicate all your work and effort to my resource accumulation. It will be fun.

I also think a lot of the burn out we all feel isn't necessarily just from the day to day of the game, I think it's because we have been lied to before around PVP and the hyper active player base is dying to find out what the plan is around the long term development in the game. With the pointless communication we do get around buildings and BB cards it just kinda serves to bring us down, knowing that the outline we crave to have fleshed out is either being withheld or worse just non existent.

We need a mole to find out if all the decent developers have been shifted to Annon or if the future content in Settlers is more than just bad buildings and meh adventures!

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Originally Posted by LordB

Throwing my two cents in. Not gonna name names but (romangodcamper) some of you babies need to actually finish your island before you even 'need' new content;)

Kidding aside though the development focus on the xmas event was well spent and a success, but you are exactly right the new buildings are weak and exciting content is needed.

This could be done through economic competition (could do 4 player adventures in competition with each other building the best economy on your slice of the adventure), could be pvp.. could be high end content grind if it really pushes economies to the test making it difficult to achieve with adequate (sadly now improved pop building past 150)

Island expansion would be fantastic but we havn't even heard them even talk about it as far as I know....

The epic workyards could be good content update IF they are given the ability to really ratchet up a selected production chain efficiently (should be a grind to unlock the most efficient level of the workyard but when done should save space and kick ***... and I am not sure I see that in them as is)

All this aside though we don't really know what the business model is - maybe they do have enough new people activating accounts and spending gems high level content isn't their best way to make money... compared to buildings without clear value.... that they can suffer the clear attrition of active higher level players.

That said we aren't all depositking where we literally do rage quit, so when content comes out we can always re activate... I think what would make you feel better Ron is to roll with me for a while on zues. We can work on upgrading a badass gold chain on my island or something ridiculously grindy where you dedicate all your work and effort to my resource accumulation. It will be fun.

I also think a lot of the burn out we all feel isn't necessarily just from the day to day of the game, I think it's because we have been lied to before around PVP and the hyper active player base is dying to find out what the plan is around the long term development in the game. With the pointless communication we do get around buildings and BB cards it just kinda serves to bring us down, knowing that the outline we crave to have fleshed out is either being withheld or worse just non existent.

We need a mole to find out if all the decent developers have been shifted to Annon or if the future content in Settlers is more than just bad buildings and meh adventures!

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You're two cents was noted and then thrown into the Trash!

Have a nice day! :D

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Originally Posted by RomanGodCamper

You're two cents was noted and then thrown into the Trash!

Have a nice day! :D

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Romangodcamper must be a bb developer. :)


Kidding aside. Lordb is right about how pvp hype for the last 2-3 years ( and not followinv throug) have really killed it for the long time players like myself. And lack of news or updates makes it even worst.

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Originally Posted by RonEmpire

Romangodcamper must be a bb developer. :)


Kidding aside. Lordb is right about how pvp hype for the last 2-3 years ( and not followinv throug) have really killed it for the long time players like myself. And lack of news or updates makes it even worst.

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No. I'm just a CL... in disguess... name... Bob... The CL... rofl XD

But yeah, They annouced PVP 2-3 years ago.. nothing has been said about it and no update about it. So they probably forgot about it.

I first heard about PvP during the closed beta.

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Originally Posted by Wimpy

I first heard about PvP during the closed beta.

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yep. they never said anything about it after that though

I think they realized that pvp would make this an entirely different game. They may as well make a fully new game that has pvp since the beginning.

My 2¢ is worth $27.93. Lots of complaining going on from usually the same ppl.

1. It's FREE
2. Stop crying an idea to death before it hits the live servers
3. A few of you boast how you never spent a dime on the game if you're going to complain see 1
4.Theres always other options i.e. find a new one

I don't disagree. I will be honest, BB has done some great work with some of the new content over past 2 years but some of it, is clearly focused on commercial game. There have been so many great players who have come and gone. I started this second account on Ares just to challenge myself again (also during blackout) and even this island is as good as it needs to be almost... We need some seriously inventive and adventurous content that challenges the top players. Give us pvp - give us content that makes the daily login worthwhile. We need to be challenged. The time has come

I'm not cheap GFM I spend coin!! I have told you I don't ball on a budget!!

But yea Ron with a grind fest you just need to know what you are grinding for. If I am grinding just to always have a game that is Farmville - then it isn't really a big deal if I maximize efficiency and create the best island possible. If however I know there will be a good form of competition that grind becomes more meaningful and fun especially knowing I will be able to pit myself against other like minded individuals who will challenge me.

We want a state of the union!!

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Originally Posted by LordB

We want a state of the union!!

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Excellent choice of words!

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Originally Posted by G_F_M

My 2¢ is worth $27.93. Lots of complaining going on from usually the same ppl.

1. It's FREE
2. Stop crying an idea to death before it hits the live servers
3. A few of you boast how you never spent a dime on the game if you're going to complain see 1
4.Theres always other options i.e. find a new one

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Regarding #2 - if PvP hasn't HIT the live server, where does that leave us? Are we to stop crying for it, since it hasn't hit the live server? Isn't it possible that the very presence of our cries for PvP would be the very catalyst that gets it there? Granted, there is absolutely nothing from BB that would indicate this is the way to make PvP happen, but given the choice of saying nothing, and "crying" for something I'd like to see, I'll pass on your advice, thanks.

In summarizing all of the PvP discussions that I've seen, people seem to have struck a good balance for the high-level implementation. I think it was made pretty clear that no one wanted a always-at-risk, log in & find your island destroyed scenario, like an Evony. The idea of optional, off-island, "adventures," where there was some level of conflict to gain, and/or keep control, seemed to be the majority choice. I don't anticipate BB, or any game company, being able to implement a major feature like PvP where they make 100% of the players happy. But as this game was never set up for direct competition against other players, the optional off-island approach seemed to garner a lot of support.

Now, if they can figure out how to move to Battle Mechanics 2.0, and implement a good PvP system, then I suspect a lot of commentary around boredom would disappear. And I'm not terribly sympathetic to it taking a long time to test. We've been talking about it for a long time already.

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Originally Posted by Hobknocker

Regarding #2 - if PvP hasn't HIT the live server, where does that leave us? Are we to stop crying for it, since it hasn't hit the live server? Isn't it possible that the very presence of our cries for PvP would be the very catalyst that gets it there? Granted, there is absolutely nothing from BB that would indicate this is the way to make PvP happen, but given the choice of saying nothing, and "crying" for something I'd like to see, I'll pass on your advice, thanks.

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Well said Hobknocker. And we must not forget that the more we 'cry' about something. The more BB will likely to take us seriously and do something about it. If it weren't for people "crying" about it (and a lot of people) things won't get fixed or get implemented. Take the New Mail interface for example. Took a lot of crying for them to actually even consider making changes. And the SAME feedback was already given months ago. Only not enough people cried about it for them to care.

If I wasn't making any noise and crying about it and getting our community to cry about things, we wouldn't see some of the changes here today on live server from the test server. Things like the Gold Tower originally wanting to consume 50 wheat! Or the Wood cutting behavior they wanted to change.



So do us all a favor and cry really loud about how we need PvP to improve this game asap. Being passive and just accepting what we're given is a terrible way to be part of this community.

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Originally Posted by Hobknocker

In summarizing all of the PvP discussions that I've seen, people seem to have struck a good balance for the high-level implementation. I think it was made pretty clear that no one wanted a always-at-risk, log in & find your island destroyed scenario, like an Evony. The idea of optional, off-island, "adventures," where there was some level of conflict to gain, and/or keep control, seemed to be the majority choice. I don't anticipate BB, or any game company, being able to implement a major feature like PvP where they make 100% of the players happy. But as this game was never set up for direct competition against other players, the optional off-island approach seemed to garner a lot of support.

Now, if they can figure out how to move to Battle Mechanics 2.0, and implement a good PvP system, then I suspect a lot of commentary around boredom would disappear. And I'm not terribly sympathetic to it taking a long time to test. We've been talking about it for a long time already.

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I totally agree with what you wrote there Hobknocker!

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Originally Posted by G_F_M

My 2¢ is worth $27.93. Lots of complaining going on from usually the same ppl.
1. It's FREE
2. Stop crying an idea to death before it hits the live servers
3. A few of you boast how you never spent a dime on the game if you're going to complain see 1
4.Theres always other options i.e. find a new one

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Considering that I've paid a lot of money for Gems multiple gem packages totaling over $100. My 2cents is worth more than yours.
Just because the game is "FREE" doesn't mean they're not out to try to make money from those willing to spend money. It would benefit them to get the free players to want to spend money on gems and those who spent money on gems like myself to spend more money.

Basically your comments translate to this: "This is a free game. Don't complain. If you don't like this game the way it is, go play a different game."


I don't think BB would say go find a new game to play because we don't feel like making this game better for you.
And certainly a bad business mentality if they were to think "oh this game is free. so don't bother to complain. we don't care about you. Free is not an excuse to not improve the game experience" (customer complaints is a form of feedback. this is an online game. feedback is a way to evolve and make the game better and last longer.)

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Originally Posted by Wimpy

I first heard about PvP during the closed beta.

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Originally Posted by RomanGodCamper

yep. they never said anything about it after that though

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Well this is not true RomanGodCamper. In 2012, they actually posted a dev diary saying that in 2013 there will be PvP.
I have to look for the link to the dev. diary. They've also posted about PvP in 2011 as well. They at least gave us an update on how it was changing and included some screen shots and teaser of the spy. There were a lot of communication after the closed beta for a while.

But in 2012, they pretty much stopped talking about it. And missed the window on the release.

Would be nice if they gave us an update on what's going on.

The closest thing we got was a survey on the combat mechanics but there wasn't a discussion or dev diary of any sort about it. Just a survey.


Edit: Found the link:

http://forum.thesettlersonline.net/t...y-Update-11-20

This was a nice "Dev Diary Update" giving us a general idea of what they had planned for 2013. But that was posted in 11-20-2012.


There was another update on PvP in 5-15-2013.
http://forum.thesettlersonline.net/t...Dev-Diary-5-15

the economic adventures with economic objectives mentioned in that dev diary was something i was looking for...
pvp could be fun too, but its not easy to implement in this game

atleast what i would like would be something different than the usual, fairytales was fun, for a while...

I really have to stop buying gems everytime they offer a 100% gem sale even though I dont need them..... I am worried my desire to fund a game I enjoy may in itself be giving a false sense of security that something isn't rotten in the state of denmark!!!

I stopped buying gems a long, long time ago. So I probably balance your indulgence. :)

I think the biggest sign of being bored is when you're spending more time on the forums than in the game. :-)

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Originally Posted by RonEmpire

I think the biggest sign of being bored is when you're spending more time on the forums than in the game. :-)

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Indeed. And I am catching up on my reading also.

Thank you guys/girls for posting your concerns about the game. I have read everyone's posts and there are several points that I see we can improve on and several that we can get rid of to make your empire building experience better. I will continue to keep informed of what the community wants so we can do our best to cater to your suggestions as without you all we wouldn't be here! Thanks again and we greatly appreciate the suggestions and feedback!!

Looking forward to seeing those economy adventures and island and guild quests improvements!