Why all the negative towards Outspark

[Jhanniss]

I stumble on the continued threads of negative outlook over Outsparks progression. That is what has happened, progress.

I read about how this is broken, this is bad, why isn't this getting fixed, why is this done that way.. etc etc etc.

But I ask to reflect on how Outspark has come since it's start...

Oh like what, you may ask?

1) We have more GMs.

Back in Closed Beta? We just had Steam and Dakkon and occasionally WiLDFiRe and Murdock.

Now we have Dakkon, SnakeEyes, Silkypico, Frank, Kenny, and still occasionally Murdock and WiLDFiRe.


2) We have more Customer Service.

What WAS customer service back then? I can't remember anymore. We had Cretz however (may he someday return). Now? We have Hal and Logan (and hopefully again, Cretz)


3) We have have expanded in levels, maps, and items.

Before it was just level 59, now we have 79 and eventually you guys are heading into 89. Yah, the maps currently are mid level but we know that Burning Rock and others are near on the horizon. It's on the main map in-game with little dots to boot.


4) We have more servers.

I'm sure a lot of the older players will remember Teva's overpopulation for the longest time. We use to only have Teva. Now we have Teva, Apoline, Bijou, and Epith!


5) We have players helping assist in the forums (CL) and in-game (GL?)

So, so long ago it was unheard of such things ever happening. Then they enacted the CLs to help with the forums and I'm hearing the new stuff about these GLs that in game now? If so that is a great step forward for helping make the game a better place for all as I know GMs cannot be there 24/7. People may not like players having such abilities but it has been proven through the CLs that it DOES WORK. And we are thankful for you guys. If Outspark is willing to entrust you with such then I know they're making very careful decisions regarding such.


6) We have X-trap!

*ducks numerous spoiled vegetables being thrown at her* Yah I said it... bless X-trap. You cry because you want it removed but it's helped more than harm folks. It's blocked so many cheat programs and hacks out there that you have no clue about (and hopefully never will). I am thankful for it helping make the game a better place. Is it perfect? Obviously not. We still see spammers and glitchers and hackers. Like a virus scanner or Spyware scanner, it times to root out new things and find ways to fix them.


And I'm sure there's a lot more that will and can be said about Outspark's progression. I'll leave that up to the others, however.

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was Isya. ;)

[Kaiza]

Fine words. I like it very much!

[joecracker]

yea, i think they are getting more people to help for demand, :) things take time, cant just hire anyone to be csr or gm without doing homework :)

as for the maps, i think they could have released before cap, but they did make TR more exp, so that helped :)


as for x trap, never really had a problem for the most part, a lot of people did and some still do, did it stop gold spammers? i would have to say no, bots? not sure havent seen any for a long time, cause i dont go to the maps they loved to be in


there is a few things i think they can and could have done differntly, but thats neither here nor there, but for most part they do the best they can to try to run a tight ship :)

there is always going be things to improve and change, cant happen over night :)

[smitske]

I stumble on the continued threads of negative outlook over Outsparks progression. That is what has happened, progress.

I read about how this is broken, this is bad, why isn't this getting fixed, why is this done that way.. etc etc etc.

But I ask to reflect on how Outspark has come since it's start...

Oh like what, you may ask?

1) We have more GMs.

Back in Closed Beta? We just had Steam and Dakkon and occasionally WiLDFiRe and Murdock.

Now we have Dakkon, SnakeEyes, Silkypico, Frank, Kenny, and still occasionally Murdock and WiLDFiRe.


2) We have more Customer Service.

What WAS customer service back then? I can't remember anymore. We had Cretz however (may he someday return). Now? We have Hal and Logan (and hopefully again, Cretz)


3) We have have expanded in levels, maps, and items.

Before it was just level 59, now we have 79 and eventually you guys are heading into 89. Yah, the maps currently are mid level but we know that Burning Rock and others are near on the horizon. It's on the main map in-game with little dots to boot.


4) We have more servers.

I'm sure a lot of the older players will remember Teva's overpopulation for the longest time. We use to only have Teva. Now we have Teva, Apoline, Bijou, and Epith!


5) We have players helping assist in the forums (CL) and in-game (GL?)

So, so long ago it was unheard of such things ever happening. Then they enacted the CLs to help with the forums and I'm hearing the new stuff about these GLs that in game now? If so that is a great step forward for helping make the game a better place for all as I know GMs cannot be there 24/7. People may not like players having such abilities but it has been proven through the CLs that it DOES WORK. And we are thankful for you guys. If Outspark is willing to entrust you with such then I know they're making very careful decisions regarding such.


6) We have X-trap!

*ducks numerous spoiled vegetables being thrown at her* Yah I said it... bless X-trap. You cry because you want it removed but it's helped more than harm folks. It's blocked so many cheat programs and hacks out there that you have no clue about (and hopefully never will). I am thankful for it helping make the game a better place. Is it perfect? Obviously not. We still see spammers and glitchers and hackers. Like a virus scanner or Spyware scanner, it times to root out new things and find ways to fix them.


And I'm sure there's a lot more that will and can be said about Outspark's progression. I'll leave that up to the others, however.

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was Isya. ;)

Some things I wouldnt exactly call good things like the cap raise, it made a lot spoiled people that are really not fun to play with.
More Gm, well 2 arent really active yet, but silky for evenings and weekends is certainly a plus.
custemer service, no opinnion.
More servers, certainly a good thing.
CL's, well seeric(and oters to ofcourse) was the best that happened to outspark to MO.
And X-trap, well thzeyr still may hacks, bots and spammers, not really happy ith it cause it gives erors when people start spamming ><

[Serric]

Jhanniss, thank you for this - we so often see the negative we fail to stop and consider the positive. Thank you for reminding us all that we can not have rainbows without first having a little rain.

Blargh, did I just say that? Urgh!

At any rate, everyone is entitled to their opinion but I would like to see this thread be given the same respect as all others in regards to flaming. Pretty much, don't. If you have a difference of opinion please feel free to post but be respectful to the OP (Original poster) and others.

Thanks.

:goes to wash mouth out with soap.... very, very strong soap:

[lordalden]

In many ways I do appreciate what you've said here, Jhanniss. I agree with Serric that so often we see 'mud' being thrown that it is easy to forget about the good things that have happened in recent days. No, nothing is ever perfect, but at least Outspark is making the effort to improve the quality of play, and experience to the greatest amount that they can, and all the time I've been around, I've been nothing but thankful.

For those that have also posted in here, I thank you for your feedback, your criticism, and your thoughts. I certainly hope to hear more from you, and I earnestly desire to see more positive output.

Gracias, mi amigo's/amiga's!

[smitske]

Oh ye and on your thread title question:
Why all the negativity towards outspark, its the company in charge, and if you got people that are influenced by the choices they make, they must be able to handle it, like they said it themselves you cant do good for everyone, so there will be critic from the ones you dont do good for in this case.

We got a nice saying in my language about it but cant translate unfortunately ><

Also a positive thing was that they made it 30 lvl difference with mob only 1 exp, not perfect but its a start to get rid of plvl'ers

[Cherushi]

Totally agree. :) I like seeing how they've made so much progress ^^! Hehe, these people I supposed never saw how Fiesta started :P That is why they could not appreciate the new things added or stuff that were fixed. :)

[smitske]

Totally agree. :) I like seeing how they've made so much progress ^^! Hehe, these people I supposed never saw how Fiesta started :P That is why they could not appreciate the new things added or stuff that were fixed. :)

if thats referring to me, I know how it started, I even was here before you.

[KireiYosei]

I was about to make a thread lecturing about something kind of similar, but hmm... not sure now.

Good job though! =D So true. Thats how I look at things.

But then again... do something right, they will forget, do something wrong, and they won't let it go.

[smitske]

thats how humans are, they bash me for being so while they only remember me for saying so.

[KireiYosei]

We should also realize...

1. Kids play this game. I'm not stereotyping, but they tend to be naive. They don't understand some things, like why some rules are the way they are.

2. There are people on here who have never played an MMO.. or they're coming from an MMO like WoW, that is P2P, has probably PLENTY of funds, and the devs are right there. Fiesta is a smaller MMO, I'm not calling Outspark broke, but they obviously don't have as much money as an MMO like WoW.

Anywho, with that point, some peoples expectations might be too high. But we must remember... THE GAME IS FREE.

3. Outspark is NOT the developer of the game, they just publish it. Meaning, they do not make the stuff that goes into the game. Think of it like... a book publisher. They don't write the book, so you don't go to the publisher complaining because a character in the story dies. You can hold the writer responsible for that.

3.2. Outspark always updates the CS because thats the one thing they do not have to wait on patches for. Plus, they're a company, a company that needs money. Of course they're going to advertise something that helps them make money. They're normal working Americans who probably have a company, families or themselves to support.

They make money, we get more content, the world keeps spinning, we're all happy in the end, I hope.

4. While your #1 priority may be getting this one certain bug fixed... think of Outsparks priorities. Every little bugg, glitch, balance, w/e issue is a priority to Outspark.

5. Don't dwell over what the foreign versions(Shine, BK, etc) have, because they've been out longer. Their communities are smaller, and they are a completely different community. Our content and balancing issues might be slower because compared to the others, our community is huge. And by community, I mean population, economy, our gaming style, our strengths. We may be all about being strong, but the players on BK may be more concerned about dressing up their characters, who knows.

Also.. with all of the complaining...

Humans naturally crave appraisal, positive criticism, and complements. It boosts morale, energy, and enthusiasm, thus they end up working harder.

People who receive insults, negative criticism, and complaints tend to feel down, unenthusiastic, and don't work to their full potential. A lot of people in the end will just end up thinking its pointless.

SKiNG once said they love positive feed back, it makes them want to makes them want to improve the game even more.

*deep inhale*
Okay, I'm done.

[Lythari]

Speaking from a psychological standpoint:

People need a scapegoat. Every time something goes wrong, they need something to attribute it to. Any time there are problems with the game (glitches, bugs, etc.) they naturally point fingers at the first available target: Outspark. You guys host it, and are the channel to the developers through which the gamers communicate. Basically, you are branded as the authority behind everything. You make recommendations and the developers execute them. Whether this model is accurate or not (which I don't believe it to be), you are viewed as the responsible party for all game functions, errors, and so on. Basically, people know you aren't the developers, but you are the face attached to the game. You are who they blame because of this. Simply put, you are just blamed because you are handy, but because you are genuinely at fault for everything.

That being said:

I feel Outspark has done an excellent job of managing the game in terms of it's everyday function. Any time something goes wrong, they are quick to step forward with appropriate restitutions. The staff do an good job of policing the game, and setting up events to keep things interesting to those who participate. I commend Outspark on their vigilance, efficiency, and customer consideration.

Now if you guys can just give the developers a kick in the pants in the archer department... XD

[Serric]

We have become a society if instant gratification. When we want something we go out and get it. Hungry? Go to a restaurant. Thirsty? Get a fresh bottle of water out of the fridge. We tend to forget it wasn’t always so, and the newer generations have absolutely no clue. 100 years ago if we wanted food we’d have to go to the fields and reap it – water? Pump it. Sure, there were grocers but most people grew their own foodstuffs. If you wanted something you had to earn it and, dad gum it, it was worth having at that point. You had pride knowing you worked for your reward.

These days more and more people are used to getting what they want whenever they want it, they don’t even consider for a moment that in order to get that cheeseburger from McDonald’s a crew of people have to be there to take their order, cook the meat, assemble their burger, take their money and serve them their food, not to mention everything that takes place prior just to make the food available in the first place. I am not suggesting today’s generations are spoiled or lazy by any means, but that the thought of actually waiting for something is becoming an alien concept to many.

A shame, really. When you can get something for nothing it tends to lose its value much more quickly…

Lythari - glad to see you on the forums again :)

[KireiYosei]

Cornucopia of love(aka group hug) on Outspark staff! lol

[TheCentrix]

A lot of people werent even there when Closed Beta started. I still remember a lot of it. I remember 60% of the quests having bugs in them (repeated quests? they didnt even work!) And thats just one of the many many things that were broken back then.

The game has been improved a LOT in just a few months. Outspark has also grown a lot. I only remember seeing 2 GM's online at the time... Dakkon and Kaalan... Now we have...*counts* Dakkon, Silkypico, SnakeEyes, Murdie, Frank and the other one I forgot =.= (its 11:22pm for me, and super sleepy >_>) 7.... Not including Murdock, SKiNG, dschang, etc.

Remember the old Outspark website?... lol

But then again... do something right, they will forget, do something wrong, and they won't let it go.

I agree. People will only look at what others do wrong.

[Lythari]

Lythari - glad to see you on the forums again :)

Thank you Community Leader Serric; I am please to hear that.

[The-Sakura]

Go outspark!

They are really awsome!

I visited them once, and wowies- they are nice!!

[Lubetek]

Having worked in the automotive industry for roughly 7 years I can relate to everyones negative opinions. We would for instance have a specific brand of motor oil we used, if there were a problem with the customers vehicles (whether we thought it was a valid complaint or not) we treated all the exact same. We had a "partnership" with this specific brand of oil, while we weren't direct employees we were still able to give specifics to them and have the situations rectified. Any company that cares about there customers wants to act as fast as possible to make the consumer happy. A lot of consumers that play this game feel as though there opinions go unnoticed, since there are other issues being addressed before some feel more serious ones. It appears at times not a single person can have a negative opinion on the game or its staff. I don't believe I've ever heard any one recently curse out the staff or the people working for Outspark. As soon as any negative opinions surface the thread gets "closed" before it gets out of hand. An easy solution would be to fix this. I honestly have never had a job that this long to fix peoples frustrations. You can also sit and tell me working on cars doesn't even come close to being as in depth as fixing a "bug" in a line of code. It has nothing to with, that they both have there difficulties. It is simply a matter of addressing the issues, plain and simple. If you don't currently have the manpower to fix an issue (this not being addressed solely to Outspark staff members, any job in general) you hire more people. If you don't have the funds to hire more people you hire more efficient people (this statement either, any job in general), those who can handle more at once. I don't necessarily agree with this at times, but sadly it is the way the world works. I'm not trying to sound angry, just simply relaying as to why there is any amount of negativity. There are a lot of positives otherwise no one would play the game. It's just that I'm sure some people feel that unless they always have positive feedback and nothing else there feedback goes unnoticed. I know this isn't true but scolding people who don't have necessarily great things to say isn't the way to go about it. All opinions should collectively be looked at the exact same way negative or not.

[TheFusion]

Well, said, ive been a member since January and all ive seen is constant improvement in all of outsparks ares, they have done a great job to keep the community strong,

[Erbian]

I dont like jhaniss (JK*tongue in the cheek joke)but all her words are correct (mumbles something about xtrap) the only thing is .... i wished everyone in Fiesta could read this post...

Dont wanna say anything bad but really players who read the forums are the ones that become better players....

they learned to play the game and enjoy it ...with the ocassional black sheep but mostly us the ones that wanna enjoy the game

Anyway i dont know if my words have a point or not but those are the words that came to my mind :D :P

[Draco_Zandros]

I am not suggesting today’s generations are spoiled or lazy by any means, but that the thought of actually waiting for something is becoming an alien concept to many.

If you won't say it I will. People are becoming spoilt and lazy ;)

I wasn't there at the beginning, heck still could be classed as new to this game but in the time I've been playing I've seen several things improved and fixed, all the time people have been moaning about Outspark.

People see what they want to see.

[xieda3]

I have noticed that some people feel that people aren't paying attention to what they say unless they say something back to them. I'm not saying that every problem that is posted needs to have a response, I know that Outspark is busy and looking into the problems, but people need to know that they hear you the first time, and you do not need to repeat things for them to notice and get things done. I know that others have said stuff like this many times in the past but some people still just don't get it. They hear you the first time and are working on it without you saying anything else, you don't have to complain about it.

[phanthunderrage]

I dont refuse the efforts of OutSpark Staff. They did alots, and I think they know they need to do more.
But, customers want to see the process, to see their problems are beeing worked on.

[RikoRain]

Great point, but you forget several others:
Updates are made/applied that INSTANTLY cause either the servers to crash, or the things they are updated to COMPLETELY not work. (I remind you of the general updates that caused server crashes, onetime for nearly a whole day).

While we have more GM (I remind you I never heard of 'Kenny' and 'Frank' until a few days ago, and finally figured it was one of them now posting the [notices] and thats why they went too fast/too many at a time), and that Ive only EVER seen WiLdFiRe ONCE, and then he/she wasnt talking, but simply showing off the Pinata mount before it was released. But not only that, but some GMs are.. well, RUDE.
I could point out several times where, during an event, of course, we lag. What else can we do during a lag but complain? (On my computer, when I lag, the only thing that still works is the chatbox, therefore: Im left to use it), but theyre responses are just.. rude.

I understand they have opinions.
I understand theyre trying to be nice to us and have an event.
But seriously. When I say "Im lagging so bad I cant leave Elderine, WITH people hidden" just to agree with other laggers or just express how many fiends mus tbe spawning -- and I get some rude comment about how I should have left earlier (Hello, half the time I get a 30 second notice. I already lag a bit as it is, 30 seconds is not enough time to haul my rear to the stone merchant, storage, and stock up on things so that I can escape and avoid towns for the next 1-2 hours) or how I should shut up, or be greatful, or logout ... well, How can I logout when I lag so bad I cant move? I cant..

And as for Xtrap..

Ive lost over 1 mil experience because of Xtrap.
If Xtrap were gone I would be several lvls higher.
I could enter Collapsed Prison without fear.
I could use GATES without fear.
Im tired of trying ot go help someone in another area, only to be Xtrapped as I go through the gate. Seriously! What am I trying to do thats so wrong when I use a gate?! NOTHING. Yet I get kicked out, and not allowed in for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile my characters stands there in the other area. Defenseless.
So many times I log back in to find myself all of a sudden in Elderine.
***.
I get Xtrapped when I PT, when I use gates, when i go in vendor mode.. Heck, even when Im just STANDING STILL I get xtrapped.
I realize all the good its doing (yeaa yea even though I see no difference in the spammers..) but its doing just as much harm to the honest players of Fiesta.. So Dont bless it so quickly.

xD There. I expressed myself. Like I said I like your post, you express alot of good pts, but.. there are more you arent taking into account.

[TheCentrix]

WiLDFiRe is SKiNG (product manager), not really a GM actually. You have to realize that they sometimes come ingame to test something out or help people in whisper.

Ive tried it before, and I have to tell you, that it is very hard when you get 2-5 whispers per second. (does not seem a lot, but really... it is)

You read a whisper, you reply to it, and before you're even done replying to it you see 50 new whispers you have to answer. Do you really think GM's can answer ALL of them?

Besides, while they are online, seemingly AFK, they might be in a meeting as well, or busy on an other screen with backend work. You never know what they are doing, but I can asure you that they are busy.

The server crashes by patches is not Outspark's fault as well...

Anyways I have to go to work, see ya'll >.< Im already late

[Poisoned77]

I don't think people realize that Xtrap isn't really broken. It is performing the job that it is programmed to do, and doing it rather effectively. The reason spammers don't get blocked is because Xtrap only looks for programs capable of changing files in Fiesta. The macros the spam bots use don't mess with the game files. We are lucky that Xtrap is there because programs like Cheat Engine, WPE Pro, and decompilers could get in, change the coding and we could all of a sudden be Pvp'ing against players with unlimited HP, or coders able to give themselves premium items, and create armor and weapons for themselves.

[hesqua]

Thank you Jhanniss for making this thread!!

I have noticed the same thing also, that people can never stop coming up with things to complain about.

All the good things that comes by, they take it for granted, then with all the bad things, people grudge and grudge...

It's good to give feedbacks to help improve the game, but I see more and more non-constructive complains, which isn't doing any help.

Thanks to all the GMs for being fun and supportive all the time!

[Kraehe]

*nodnods*

I still wanna stabstab x-trap tho :P My dad's not too fond of looking for a new hard-drive for my computer XD

[papa_g]

Speaking from a psychological standpoint:

People need a scapegoat.

I'LL TAKE THAT JOB.

I have nothing to do with Outspark, but when things go wrong and everyone is looking for someone to blame?... go ahead and put all the balme on me.
Spam my PM box with insults and threats
and leave the Staff alone to do their job, and maybe they can get it done sooner.

Thank you for reminding us all that we can not have rainbows without first having a little rain.


As for Serric?

I already took your thesourus away, aparently though, I should of taken your Hello Kitty Cutesy Sayings Vol 1 also. :p

[smitske]

lolz on the thibng of they cant always answer, if we message them I dont think its that hard to write something simple like we are looking in to it.

Or I once said there's a bot there and they said you need to Pm this on forum ><
I mean c'mon you could go there now and kick him away withing the minute and you would have the operfect proof, this way poof cant be found insufficient as it sometimes is, and we got ridof another bot.