Suggestions to improve KnC

[x0o]

The thing about ads is that they are a huge resource-hog. They slow down the browser badly. And that's why I use adblocker to get rid of, same for noscript when I'm using FireFox. If you intend to partly fund a game by ads at least make sure they aint disturbing the game-play.

[Sjoerd]

My Firefox has been crashing multiple times today (my duke expired yesterday) cause of all the ads that have to be loaded. No wonder we can't hold new players.

I suggest you look into the problem. If it's a specific ad that's causing it, we can block it. But first, please make sure you're running the latest Flash version and your browser and operating system are up to date.

- No congratulations messages since age 71 (I just see Stinky wrote one for age 75, so good. Keep it up).

I don't think new players will be put of by the absence of a tradition that they were never part of to begin with.

- No response to players asking for new maps, unit changes or anything else that could improve stuff here.

Maps are occasionally changed. As are units.

- No map variety in gameplay

I'll acknowledge that that's a problem. (Though more for long-term player retention than for new players.) At present we don't have the time available to fix that properly. Sorry.

- Very little interaction between game leaders and (paying!) players.

True enough. Same problem. We'd end up replying to everything that's we think is a good idea with: "We agree, however we don't have time available to fix it. We'll keep it in mind for the future." Replying to stuff that just isn't a good idea would be even worse. Either we take half an hour to reply why it isn't a good idea - several hours if we get involved in the discussion - or we just reply "No." We prefer to put the time available into something more productive.

- I will buy no more duke until ads disappear for non-paying players, it's really madness to play without a duke. Most players responding here have knight/duke account, so it might be a good point to bring up.

I'm sorry to hear that, but we will not change our ads. The ads are a huge part of our income. It's nearly impossible to cover the costs as it is, removing the ads puts us at a monthly loss. Removing the ads will not increase the player base enough to offset that (or to even make a dent in it).

On top of that: most pages have only two ads, a few have three ads. That's pretty much the norm for ad-supported sites, and even a bit low. It is widely accepted by people, even though you hear the few percent that are running way more than is justified by their number. Unbothered people aren't going to complain.

Now, if a specific ad is misbehaving, do report them. In the past we have taken action against such ads, even to the point of removing ad networks that were repeatedly causing these problems.

[T]hat's why I use adblocker to get rid of, same for noscript when I'm using FireFox.

Perhaps we should create a quip for this: no ads, no duke, no service.

[b24019]

dont take this as an attack, but as a paying player i got no idea why nothing is changing.
u state that nothing is changing now as there is no time.
would it be possible to have a small forum post every x weeks with just a small overview of what the admins are doing/have done.
i think alot of people would understand lack of change, and appreciate it if they knew what was going on.

[Mints]

True enough. Same problem. We'd end up replying to everything that's we think is a good idea with: "We agree, however we don't have time available to fix it. We'll keep it in mind for the future." Replying to stuff that just isn't a good idea would be even worse. Either we take half an hour to reply why it isn't a good idea - several hours if we get involved in the discussion - or we just reply "No." We prefer to put the time available into something more productive

Although, I totally understand that everyone has lives outside the realm of this game, I still have to wonder, if its reasonable to expect that it would take from Thu Jun 10, 2010 (original posting date of this thread) to Wed Jul 21, 2010 (Sjoerd's reply) to hear anything back. Thats well over a month, and I believe, the faith of the this game's following diminishes, in some respects, simply because many feel, there is little to no interest shown by game owners. I know Ive heard the gumblings by other players and have at times felt the same myself. I do understand any changes can take time to become effective in a wide number of situations, but I would think, 'good customer service' would indicate, setting some time aside to reply to your customers inquiries/complaints or cudo's...I believe I am a customer of sorts, of your site, in which I freely choose to pay for services offered, but, still pay for them, I do and I know I would much appreciate the feeling that at least the folks running this site, care about it as much as some of the long standing oldsters do and even the newer players that have found the doors to this game, enjoy it and stay as well....

Anyway, thanks for your reply and I for one, would love to see you around these parts more often...

[Sjoerd]

Although, I totally understand that everyone has lives outside the realm of this game,

It's not so much as "lives outside" as it is "full-time jobs and lives outside". Most of the time available is spent on administrative issues. Handling nobility, handling the advertising, emergency response when the server acts up, doing taxes, that sort of stuff. For three games.

I still have to wonder, if its reasonable to expect that it would take from Thu Jun 10, 2010 (original posting date of this thread) to Wed Jul 21, 2010 (Sjoerd's reply) to hear anything back. Thats well over a month, and I believe, the faith of the this game's following diminishes, in some respects, simply because many feel, there is little to no interest shown by game owners.

I didn't feel I had anything to add. Let me stress that I do read everything. (I've put the forums in Google Reader, so I read new posts during my morning coffee and my evening tea.)

I really don't think that saying "great idea, but it'll take a year before we get it done" is really going to make anyone feel better. What we need is more time to work on it, but that's not a matter up to me, unfortunately.

I believe I am a customer of sorts, of your site, in which I freely choose to pay for services offered,

Well, the service you pay for is playing the game as a duke or knight. We try to improve stuff as much as we can, but that's an investment in our site more than it is part of the deal. Unless the game is unplayable (which it isn't), you get what you pay for. That doesn't mean we don't want to improve the game - we do - but we want to do that for everyone playing and for the good of the game, not just for the paying players.

and I know I would much appreciate the feeling that at least the folks running this site, care about it

I understand. We do care, but caring is not enough.

u state that nothing is changing now as there is no time. would it be possible to have a small forum post every x weeks with just a small overview of what the admins are doing/have done.

It would be a mostly empty post, or full of boring administrative stuff if you want those in. And a lot of "worked a full-time job for someone else". The personal matter I mentioned when we put the new TLK on hold hasn't been resolved yet. It's what I feel is holding us back the most, but I am as powerless as you are.

[Mints]

Good grief, I suddenly feel like the dog, who has a bone and just can not let it go, lol, but I feel compelled to reply..

It's not so much as "lives outside" as it is "full-time jobs and lives outside". Most of the time available is spent on administrative issues. Handling nobility, handling the advertising, emergency response when the server acts up, doing taxes, that sort of stuff. For three games.

Perhaps, then, If I may make a suggestion, its time to consider, loosening the reigns of control, to certain players, that you deem trustworthy, possibly current admins, that could be taught or learn, some of the basics, such as map changes for example, to lesson the load for you? I'm not sure if that is possible or even something you would consider, but just thought I would toss the suggestion on the table.

I didn't feel I had anything to add. Let me stress that I do read everything. (I've put the forums in Google Reader, so I read new posts during my morning coffee and my evening tea.)

I really don't think that saying "great idea, but it'll take a year before we get it done" is really going to make anyone feel better. What we need is more time to work on it, but that's not a matter up to me, unfortunately

You would actually be amazed, I believe, to see the effect, of your acknowledgment, to what is posted here, by the players and people who frequent this forum. I may be totally wrong in my assessment, but I believe, knowing that at least, the person or persons, you are hoping to get your message to, is actually taking the time to read it, makes the writer feel less ignored, for the want of a better word. When there is simply no response whatsoever for weeks or months on end, I fear people feel their threads/posts are waste of time and not worth the 'spit it takes to bring them forward' so to say.. Any response is better than no response, is my belief.
That being said, I understand taking the time to answer each and every post or thread on here would be much too much of a burden for anyone, but, even a weekly, 'Hi folks, read your messages, some are very worthy and we will keep them in mind for the future when we have more time' I 'think' would suffice for most.

Well, the service you pay for is playing the game as a duke or knight. We try to improve stuff as much as we can, but that's an investment in our site more than it is part of the deal. Unless the game is unplayable (which it isn't), you get what you pay for. That doesn't mean we don't want to improve the game - we do - but we want to do that for everyone playing and for the good of the game, not just for the paying players

I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to infer, just because I choose to buy an account, I am more a customer than those who play free. I believe everyone who enters the doors of this game and decides to sit awhile and play, are ALL your customers..

I understand. We do care, but caring is not enough.

On this point, I agree, caring alone isn't enough and although the memories of this games"golden days" may never be something we see again or will the newer players get the chance to feel what it was like back then, I still believe, there may perhaps be, some people who play, who are very trustworthy and could possibly lessen the load you carry, if you felt that was up for consideration, by you at all.

Again, I'm not usually a big poster on this forum, believe that or not, lol, but I do feel strongly about this lil' game of yours and have grown fond of the community that gathers here... I believe when you feel strongly about something, you speak up, as holding silent, will never effect any changes..
Nothing I have said, is meant to sound as a bash towards anyone, so I certainly hope, I have chosen my words with enough care, that it comes across that way when read by others. I do completely understand, how overwhelming it has to be to try to keep these 3 sites working, plus try to have any semblance of a real life..

Thanks again for responding Sjoerd...

*Hope my posts aren't ruining your day too much, lol..*

[lee12akma]

It's been a while since I last posted on this forum. After all, I don't really have anything decent to suggest most of the time. Well, this age I'm in Argentina and thought about something that perhaps can be a suggestion to improve this game. For one, as we know, most of the units are constantly being nerfed and nerfed in order to make the gameplay of this game more challenging. However, despite these nerfs, you have to realize that bonuses and units sometimes don't match up with the country or the country's terrains as well. Perhaps this does not make much sense- I don't know but I'm stuck in Argentina and I came to realize that ranking armies or training armies after Brigadier rank in Argentina is nearly, if not, entirely impossible. Anything with x + healers, don't work in Argentina. Footies have been nerfed, anything cavalry + healers don't work. Yeah, if this game was as active as it was in the past, perhaps wars could have already been declared on other countries and it would be possible to take away some of the units there to rebuild and use it. But! Now a lot of us are stuck with "MajGens" and simply just cannot go beyond that rank. This not only gives a greater advantage to those countries that have the decent units and decent bonuses to train with - they can just rank and then go to war, no problem. But for countries like Argentina, even if we have onliners we can't make a strike force because everyone's of the same rank. That's just ridiculous. Right now is Day 3 of Argentina. I'm surprised we're still alive too. But if you look at the entire country, we can only choose to take PVP units to at least have decent bonuses - like Horse Archers, Camels, Rifles. Yes, it is true that with rifles you can rank higher too but considering that we only actually have 2 dukes (1 which just joined recently), or most of them are inactive players- it's almost impossible to rank higher considerably any faster than those countries with decent ranking units. I haven't complained in the forum about the units in Argentina, but I'm in day 3, we just can't train because training sucks and injures units for like 6-7 ticks, and because they're pvp units. And so, I sit in my little city Buenos Aires, waiting for armies of dead countries to join. Ironically so far, only 1 LtGen joined Argentina and maybe- only maybe- we might even have a chance of doing 1 sf right now.

Oh, and another suggestion: stop nerfing everything. People who are experienced with this game may be able to do something with their army (simply because they know, and they know what's good and what's bad) but those who are new might find this a bit too challenging. Moreover, there are units that have been nerfed so badly that everyone uses the same stuff nowadays- like Grens/Rifles/Sammies/Ninja whatever etc. There are almost no diverse units being used in this game like there used to be and what's the point of having special units then? Well, I might be saying this because I may be a noob, but I think things are way too nerfed for people to use the units creatively. I have been trying out different combination of armies for many many ages (hence my crappy profile but there's also the "noob" part responsible for it too) but some combination just won't work because things are so nerfed. People get bored from doing the same stuff all the time - and I think "change" is somewhat necessary here. It's been day 3 and mains are still sized about like 15-20 per country. That shows you the seriousness of this activity issue too. (KnC: 314 army players of which about 50-75 are inactive grey ranks which gives us about 264-239 players, and 274 navy players which i'm not going to do the math for how many are inactive or active; same goes for TLK, I've seen more than 556 players play in one age in the past. What happened?!?)

P.S. I love you Mints <3

[Sjoerd]

Good grief, I suddenly feel like the dog, who has a bone and just can not let it go, lol, but I feel compelled to reply..

Well, you're a good doggy It's not unpleasant to have this discussion with you. (Well, as pleasant as is possible considering the unpleasing facts.)

Perhaps, then, If I may make a suggestion, its time to consider, loosening the reigns of control, to certain players, that you deem trustworthy, possibly current admins, that could be taught or learn, some of the basics, such as map changes for example, to lesson the load for you? I'm not sure if that is possible or even something you would consider, but just thought I would toss the suggestion on the table.

Map changes for KnC involve some code changes. Code is definitely not something we'd like to share access to. Too much risk. However, the Asian units of TLK are already a "community-effort", with some trusted players suggesting unit changes. I'm quite willing to expand this. I'll have to discuss with Vincent how much of that's feasible and how far we can go.

That being said, I understand taking the time to answer each and every post or thread on here would be much too much of a burden for anyone, but, even a weekly, 'Hi folks, read your messages, some are very worthy and we will keep them in mind for the future when we have more time' I 'think' would suffice for most.

I'll take that into consideration. It seems a good suggestion, but I'm still not sure if it's really helpful if we're posting essentially the same message over and over again. (Sure, some customisation can be done, but it will be mostly the same any time it's said.)

On this point, I agree, caring alone isn't enough and although the memories of this games"golden days" may never be something we see again

I'm not sure how much of that feeling is something we can influence and how much is just plain nostalgia

I still believe, there may perhaps be, some people who play, who are very trustworthy and could possibly lessen the load you carry, if you felt that was up for consideration, by you at all.

AFAIC, it is, but I'll have to discuss this with Vincent.

*Hope my posts aren't ruining your day too much, lol..*

Nah... My day today is filled with doing tax stuff. NOTHING can ruin it further

For one, as we know, most of the units are constantly being nerfed and nerfed in order to make the gameplay of this game more challenging.

It's much more a balance issue. If there's one unit that's overly strong, the only right choice is to play with those units. If they are more in line with the rest, the unit choice is much more diverse. In general, that should increase playability. (That's not to say all nerfs are good nerfs, just that the principle in itself is sound.)

As a side effect, it does make the game more challenging because a good strategy can change to being one that isn't so good. I'd consider that a good side effect.

(Summary: Argentinian units and bonuses - Sj.)

If you're still alive because other countries aren't on their A-game too, it may not be so bad, at least it's balanced. If you have a severe developmental retardation (in the original sense of the word, not in the mental disease sense) compared to other countries, there may be an issue of balance there. Maybe the suggestion of Mints about offloading will help.

Oh, and another suggestion: stop nerfing everything.

See above

but some combination just won't work because things are so nerfed.

Not all combinations should work of course. But I'll take your comments about declining diversity to heart.

People get bored from doing the same stuff all the time - and I think "change" is somewhat necessary here.

Yeah. Most of these requests are just that. Requests for "change", because doing the same thing is boring. I'd almost consider changing the unit stats randomly by small amounts each age. But that's likely to cause huge balance issues, not sure.

For the new TLK we have a randomly divided map planned, so borders and cities are rarely the same. But ah, the new TLK *sigh* Time.

That shows you the seriousness of this activity issue too.

Yeah. I'm hoping the advertising is going to help with that.

(KnC: 314 army players of which about 50-75 are inactive grey ranks which gives us about 264-239 players, and 274 navy players which i'm not going to do the math for how many are inactive or active; same goes for TLK, I've seen more than 556 players play in one age in the past. What happened?!?)

I rarely trust numbers like this. There's no real methodology to how they're collected; it's different every time. I tend to think the stats block shouldn't really be there, it only deceives people in thinking they have exact data.

Nonetheless, the trend is clear. Let's hope advertising solves it.

P.S. I love you Mints <3

Agreed.

[crazy_fuzzy_rabbit]

Looking at ideas that the game is getting to easy and the idea of changing things.
For the army how about changing the fights for training.
Changing them would add a challenge as most people know the order or use a guide.
Though this does of cause add issues, Time (being your biggest) so maybe switch the orders?
Also new players often get refereed to the guide to help them.
This may also annoy vet players not expecting and get injured.
So this could have a lead of effect with numbers though not likely.

Maps being the other big thing as mentioned a few times as San Jose is a key point every age but moving maps you add a challenge to the navy, so by moving to Europe would be a great move also it could also mean the old countries come in to use ie Denmark. Countries people have forgot about.
This would of cause take a vast amount of time to do as you said map changing does.
This would have a great knock on bring back some the older players that check every now and then and see the same old maps and cant be bothered to play.

Hopefully this has given someone some more ideas

[Fredo_Corleone]

Looking at ideas that the game is getting to easy and the idea of changing things.
Hopefully this has given someone some more ideas

Only more questions. How in gods name can you have a nick with 18 carracters when I am only allowed 15.

Username must be between 3 and 15 characters.

I want to change my name back to my oldest name for ages now but that isn't possible and you play since age 47 and have way more than allowed.

[Mikki]

u state that nothing is changing now as there is no time. would it be possible to have a small forum post every x weeks with just a small overview of what the admins are doing/have done.

It would be a mostly empty post, or full of boring administrative stuff if you want those in. And a lot of "worked a full-time job for someone else". The personal matter I mentioned when we put the new TLK on hold hasn't been resolved yet. It's what I feel is holding us back the most, but I am as powerless as you are.

That, Sjoerd, is probably what most of us have a problem with. Sure we all understand that Vinnie and you have jobs, lives, and all that general stuff. But the fact is that KnC is neglected and has been for so long. We've been crying out for changes to improve the game and even the sensible ones get ignored because this game is clearly low on your list of priorities.

The best form of advertising is word of mouth. You keep your players happy, they tell their friends how cool this game is, they sign up and it's all good. Right now I wouldn't invite anyone to play this game. My Duke expired a few days ago and I will not renew or play at all until I see some activity on the development side of things. Even if I don't agree with the changes, at least it's showing some kind of interest from you guys.

[ImmortaLegend]

Looking at ideas that the game is getting to easy and the idea of changing things.
Hopefully this has given someone some more ideas

Only more questions. How in gods name can you have a nick with 18 carracters when I am only allowed 15.

Username must be between 3 and 15 characters.

I want to change my name back to my oldest name for ages now but that isn't possible and you play since age 47 and have way more than allowed.

Hack.

[Sjoerd]

Only more questions. How in gods name can you have a nick with 18 carracters when I am only allowed 15.

Hack.

No, bug. Seems the registration page allowed 3 to 25 characters, whereas the profile page only allowed 3 to 15 characters. I fixed it yesterday night.

[Fredo_Corleone]

No, bug. Seems the registration page allowed 3 to 25 characters, whereas the profile page only allowed 3 to 15 characters. I fixed it yesterday night.

Yeah I got your mail. Thanks Sjoerd !

[crazy_fuzzy_rabbit]

No, bug. Seems the registration page allowed 3 to 25 characters, whereas the profile page only allowed 3 to 15 characters. I fixed it yesterday night.

Yep, hence I never changed my name nice to see it fixed though

I want to change my name back to my oldest name for ages now but that isn't possible and you play since age 47 and have way more than allowed.

That in itself would be nice though if someone takes your orgional name it wouldnt not be possible to do, as for age 47 for this account it is true though I had an old one which I lost the password and email for ex_luther started age 2.
Though I love my 1 and only fuzzy account