Navigating the Roadmap: A Breakdown of MindArk’s 2014 and 2015 Plans

Hello everyone, 

In the last several posts I’ve made for the Revival, I’ve been focusing a whole lot on what we’re going to do for the game. However, as we all know, the principle of “too much of a good thing” is real. So, for this post, I want to take a step back and post an article that focuses more on Big Brother.

My plan over this post is to step through the 2014 Roadmap that MindArk released and try to get a good handle on exactly what the plans are, what I think is going to actually get done, and what we can expect to keep waiting for.

The last time I wrote a blog like this, it was about the state of the Universe and got some really great feedback for it, so I hope that everyone will find this post equally as useful. For everyone’s benefit I have linked the 2014 Roadmap up in the top menu of this blog. So, if you have any questions while you’re reading through this, the direct article is there for your reference.

And with that, let’s get right down to it.

Section One: What is actually planned?

For the 2014 year, MindArk has slated a relatively uneven distribution of fixes and additions for the board, with additions comprising the vast majority of the docket. Some of these things are inconsistent with the 2014 State of the Universe, but others seem to match well. So, let’s start by taking a look at what the 2014 roadmap actually looking like:

• In 2014, the Taming system, battle arena (more on this soon) and server stability seem to be the biggest key points. In other words, we have three things slated for 2014 that are the “major changes” for this year.

• Taming is going to be released in several stages, and then integrated with an off-world, mobile-app-based “battle arena” for your pets that will allow you to essentially cage fight your furry friend

• The roadmap also makes note of some other, important things (like the political system) to do nothing more than essentially tell us “we had to delay that until 2015”.

That being said, how does this compare to the State of the Universe Address, and what does this mean for the players?

Well, as you all probably know, I covered the state of the Universe earlier this year in this post, and although I was critical of it, I was also optimistic for 2014. With MindArk making a strong advertising push in 2013, I was really hoping to see some big things come out of MindArk.

However, what I saw in the State of The Universe scared me a little. There wasn't much slated for Calypso (which should have been there because MindArk currently owns Calypso directly), only a few major updates were on their way to the game and for the first time in the State of the Universe, MindArk threatened to explore the option of monthly-subscription “premium” accounts.

Not good.

So when I saw the roadmap and saw that there was no talk of Premium Accounts on the Map, I sighed out of relief.  I wasn’t happy, however, to still see no talk of working directly with Calypso, but I’ll get to that in a little while.

Overall, MindArk has done a good job sticking to the plans they put forward in the State of the Universe. MindArk promised to overhaul the social system, and although we’re still working out the bugs, they delivered on that one with (what is to me) a major improvement. They have delivered on server stability. Even though the bugs from the last VU are still plaguing us, I have noticed that loading time in world is reduced, and server lag has come down as well – so for that, MindArk gets another +1. They have also stuck to their guns with the “legacy and new systems” implementation in the way of taming (which, when combined with the ComPet battle arena, technically overflows into both of these categories).

However, despite many plans being executed, not everything that was outlined in the State of the Universe has been accounted for. The PVP changes promised haven’t been substantial in the game and the affiliate system still doesn’t exist (which pays currently players for bringing in new players) with no mention of it coming in 2014 at all, according to the roadmap. Furthermore, the citizen and housing system was actually pushed off to 2015 in the 2014 roadmap. In the State of the Universe, this was slated for Q4 2014. Now, we’re looking at Q2 2015 at the earliest.

What does all this mean?

Well, let’s start with taming. Based on the massive undertaking that Taming has apparently turned into, I can see why it took so long to release. It seems MindArk had much bigger plans for this than any of us ever anticipated – so I can now clearly see why it took so long to re-implement.

If we follow this logic, hopefully the other “little things” that we used to love before VU 10 will all come in a massive “social update” and hit all at once, as a massive release, rather than the series of small releases we’ve been asking for. From what I can tell, this has been the “MindArk Pattern” throughout the last few years, and I can only hope that I’m right. Although I don’t see any plans for re-implementation anywhere, I am, thanks to the way taming was released, still holding a tentative candle that some super-update is coming in the next year or two that will change the way we interact with one another in the game. Only time will tell, but the patterns here hint towards something good.

Also, it’s clear that, although MindArk owns Calypso, they aren't focused on managing it. I have a feeling Calypso is still for sale, and we, the Calypsians, are sitting in a foreclosed house that had the heat and electricity cut off long ago.

We haven’t seen any real plans for anything come out of Calypso in a long time , and with that being the case I worry every day about the future of our home planet. Then again, that’s what The Revival Project is here for, right?

Anyway, MindArk is doing a good job of focusing on the platform, and for that I’m thankful. As we know, the taming release is major, and the amount of work that likely went into that is massive. I only hope it pays off to help grow Entropia and that MindArk follows it up with some other major updates next year.

So, what do I actually think of all this?

I have a lot of feelings about 2014, and I don’t think I’m decidedly happy or unhappy. I am, however, very clear on what I think needs to happen next year.

• For starters, MindArk really, really needs to develop a method of communicating with it’s player base that is better than what they’re doing now. Although I have been able to take the time to decipher the State of the Universe and compare it with the Roadmap while taking the recent events into consideration and drawing a logical, human-readable conclusion… most people don’t want to take that time. So, MindArk – you need to communicate with us. Tell us what’s happening. Tell us why you’ve postponed this and re-approached that. Don’t leave us hanging.

• MindArk needs to give us something on their main webpage, on a very visible site, that maps out a loose five year plan. I want to see that you intend to actually put social animations on the docket, even if its three years from now.

• I want to be told that premium accounts aren’t actually going to become a thing.

• I want to know what the deal is with Calypso, and I want a separate development timeline for Calypso and the platform.

Although these seem like demands, I believe that they’re basic things that everyone needs to believe in these platform updates. It will help player retention – a lot.

I am, however, very pleased with a lot of things that I’ve seen this year. I’m pleased with the advertising that’s been done, and I’m pleased with the updates to game mechanics.

The Conclusion

I think 2015 is going to be a Big year for Entropia. Unless MindArk decides to hit us with another huge update, I think we can expect to see some major growth from 2015. Although I don’t have a clear picture of exactly what to expect just yet, my gut tells me that 2014 is setting us up for good things ahead.

As always,

Good Luck, and Hunt Dangerously.

-Faucon


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