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Xeno wrote on 2016-02-07 00:29
Real talk time. The last real content update for this game was Renovation: Extra, released on July 22nd, 2015. That is nearly 8 months ago.
Every single week that goes by without a content update, more and more players get bored and leave the game for good. With the recent launch of Blade and Soul, it visibly affected the game's population, at least here on Mari. Some entire guilds seemingly have switched to that game (even if it's only temporary). With Black Desert Online coming out THIS month and The Division early next month, I'm starting to worry that these games are going to seriously carve out even more of Mabinogi's remaining population.
Thinking about all this recently, I've started to wonder what happened to the Nexon NA dev team for Mabinogi. Before the last update on July 22nd, we were receiving updates fairly regularly every 2-3 months. The previous updates before that were in June, May, January, December, November, and so on. It was a constant stream of updates every 2-3 months.
Even if we get G20 in the coming weeks, how many MONTHS will we have to wait for the new and exciting Uladh Dungeon / Rabbie Revamps that this game desperately needs? Another 8+ months? A year? Are we even going to actually continue to get content updates? It's not like G20 is going to magically add a ton of content that is going to tide players over for another 6-8 months before we get actual real, new content. And honestly when I think about how long it'd take to prepare/translate these updates compared to G20, it's rather worrying.
At this point, the signs to me point that Nexon NA's dev team has either been significantly downsized or even moved to other/newer Nexon games they'd prefer to focus on instead. All we've gotten since July 22nd is some gachapon and small events. I'm not trying to make a gloom and doom post here. I'm trying to spark a real discussion on the state of the game as it currently stands.
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Yai wrote on 2016-02-07 01:04
I honestly have to wonder about this as well.
They seem to be deliberately delaying G20 for whatever reason also. I mean it is clearly obvious at this point they are stalling for time with the current events and the Samhain stuff.
Not sure if this is the NA team itself or if KR is making NA wait since they are essentially in control here.
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Rynn wrote on 2016-02-07 01:22
There's probably too little content left to bring us so they have to space things out.
It also seems more like a dying game than usual, likely cause the endless barrage of sales the past few months left everyone's wallets empty. Might be more profitable on their end to just let things stagnate and wallets refill for a while before working on new content.
On the bright side, blade and soul is fun even if it's a short term distraction. Haven't had time to do anything besides event dailies in mabi since BnS came out.
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Xeno wrote on 2016-02-07 01:43
Yeah the BnS hype might be temporary. But what really worries me is Black Desert. The game is basically as close as we'll get to Mabinogi 2 for a long time. I can see that one having a hard hit on the population, a sleeper hit compared to BnS.
And then I think what if we don't get G20 for like another 1-2 months, which could be completely realistic at this point. I can't see the uladh and rabbie revamps coming any sooner than G20 did when you consider the magnitude of those updates, all of the legacy systems they change and so on. I don't see the current team being able to handle those updates in a reasonable time span. If those updates aren't coming out until late 2016 or early 2017...
When you compare the game's population to how it was even eight months ago, there is a staggering difference (at least here on Mari). I wonder what it will look like if we go through another 8 month content gap.
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Rynn wrote on 2016-02-07 02:00
I don't think it's just Mari, even Alexina is mostly just social and fashionogi afkr's afk'ing nowadays.
Even these forums are getting really slow from overall lack of interest in the game.
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ironwoman wrote on 2016-02-07 02:18
Isn't it kind of expected though...?
I mean, the game bombards the players with character aesthetics more than combat stuff, especially recently, so it only makes sense players are in the game for mostly social purposes.
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Second wrote on 2016-02-08 21:01
What exactly was that Samhain thing? It had english voice overs so it can't be some normal event.
JP just got G20 2 months ago and we get our client from them I think. I would assume we're getting it soon.
Delayed JP client + English voice overs + translation = Big Delays
:cry:
It's hard to buy KK as a Canadian. The exchange rate is really bad. I believe the Mexican peso is falling as well.
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Kingofrunes wrote on 2016-02-08 21:11
I don't know what NA is up to but their lack of communication is what pisses me off the most. You'd think they'd be more communicative with their players. Heck, even Sabina has been really silent over on Nexon Forums lately and I haven't seen a single peep from any of the other Nexon folks outside of the obligatory maintenance and event posts. Only real activity I see is from the Forum Volunteers.
That being said, I've given up hope on any Korean MMO's and am quite content with Runescape and the content that Jagex is offering. At least they listen to their players and it isn't like talking to a brick wall >.>
They've also released a brand new skill that is keeping me plenty busy and now with progressing being had on one of their main plot lines and the big 2016 plans they have, there's no shortage of things to look forward to there. Mabinogi on the other hand does not have as much to look forward to aside from G20 and the Dungeon revamp.
There's also some exciting Nitendo games coming out soon that have my attention like FE: Fates and the Twilight Princess remake.
If there was a Korean MMO with a good and supportive english staff that could listen to players concerns and act upon them, I might be willing to give Korean MMO's a shot. Nexon has left a really bad taste in my mouth over the years and has made me incredibly jaded about the fate of Korean MMO's.
Also, a lot of these kinds of topics have also been popping up on Nexon Forums as well. It's a common concern that players are having. Of course with all things you have the group of die hard Mabinogi fans who see this game as being fine and being filled with hope and then you have the group who think Mabinogi is on it's death bed.
I'm in the don't care either way group, I'm indifferent to the whole situation. It would be a shame for Mabinogi to die but I've already moved on to other games so Mabinogi dying wouldn't affect me much.
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Tropa wrote on 2016-02-08 21:20
At this point, NA is just updates the game whenever KR decides to let them have it, then forgets about the cashcow until the next yearly update.
With gachapons and recycled events here and there, of course.
As far as challenging/meaningful content goes, FFXIV has me booked. Square Enix knows what players want.
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Qnjo wrote on 2016-02-09 01:27
NA team might be affected, just like we all are, by the state this game is in right now. We can picture it as stuck in some kind of tight passage and devs are unsure whether to pull or push to get it out.
"Pulling" would involve reducing work to little above weekly maintenance and letting the game die while some kind of spiritual successor takes over. The thing is - with Arena cancelled and Peria Chronicles dead in water for over a year (and probably cancelled as well), Mabinogi just doesn't have one.
The second option is to to give this game a complete overhaul eventually. Right now there is a good bit of groundwork being done, so I'm actually kind of optimistic here. But taming this abomination of a code appears to be even harder than making a new game from scratch, so following through with this plan sounds almost crazy. Thus the dilemma.
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Kingofrunes wrote on 2016-02-09 14:03
We could also just be going crazy, as someone pointed out on Nexon Forums we did just have 3 new events added and a recent gachapon so it's not like they aren't there. It's just that they are delaying it for some unknown reason because once again....THEY DON'T FUCKING COMMUNICATE WORTH SHIT TO THE PLAYERBASE!
I cannot stress enough how much that pisses me off that they refuse time and time again to effectively communicate with the players and let them know what is up. Talking to NA Nexon is like talking to the brick wall most of the time, there's no QA sessions or IRC chat with them. They are capable of such things as they've done it in the past, but for some reason they would rather ignore the playerbase. It's absolutely mind boggling....
They can do better, especially as I've seen other gaming companies do a much better job at communicating with their players and keeping them up to date on what they plan on doing. Heck, even the monthly community report videos they used to do would be a big help! I think they stopped doing those? Let me check on that before I continue my rant...
Last one was from December. None for January and so far none for February and prior to the December one there was an 8 month period of no community reports. This is what I'm talking about right here! Such lack of communication, grrrr....
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tachiorz wrote on 2016-02-09 14:32
Mabinogi KR is alive and kicking, it's much more popular than new maplestory 2.
Maybe nexon NA reducing attention because profits became really low? I hope not, that's vicious circle.
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Kingofrunes wrote on 2016-02-09 14:48
Quote from tachiorz;1293708:
Mabinogi KR is alive and kicking, it's much more popular than new maplestory 2.
Maybe nexon NA reducing attention because profits became really low? I hope not, that's vicious circle.
Well the issue here isn't Mabinogi KR. We know that Mabinogi KR is doing exceptionally well as always and Nexon KR is taking care of their players very well. The issue has and always has been bloody Nexon NA. They just plain old suck. They don't talk to their players, they repeatedly treat us poorly. The entire thing is one big giant farce.
If Nexon NA's profits are really low, that is the one thing I'm worried about and what others are beginning to wonder as well. I can only think of these as possible reasons for the current state of NA Mabinogi:
A) Nexon is just really bloody lazy and doesn't care about their players
B) They cannot act because they are being told not to by the higher ups
C) They are low on profits and had to cut down on manpower and resources
D) Maybe...all of the above?
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Yai wrote on 2016-02-10 01:16
I really do think the majority of the problem is your B scenario.
Remember Europe? They weren't allowed to release G13 at all for the longest time (it was G12 for a year!) and they only pushed it out near it's demise.
It seems the KR branch has very little care for the western versions, and are happy to let them go about their own thing for a long time before approving new content.
Maybe the low population is a factor for this, but without actual concrete evidence from the KR branch we can't really say what their motives are for letting NA lag so far behind.
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gundamweed wrote on 2016-02-10 06:57
Quote from Tropa;1293702:
At this point, NA is just updates the game whenever KR decides to let them have it, then forgets about the cashcow until the next yearly update.
With gachapons and recycled events here and there, of course.
As far as challenging/meaningful content goes, FFXIV has me booked. Square Enix knows what players want.
Right on, brosef.
Joined around two months ago, and christ there's so much content to DO. It's not even overwhelming cause it's all laid down, but man there's just so much to get done.
Can't wait for 3.2