Guard Frequency Episode 039 | LTIWTF

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5 responses to “Guard Frequency Episode 039 | LTIWTF”

1. 

   Dillek

   September 23, 2014

   Another Gem! Is it just me, or is the podcast getting longer! Anyways, awesome show, very informative and very entertaining. BTWm Lennon, long live the LTI!

   Reply
   1. 

      Justin Lowmaster

      September 24, 2014

      SHHHHH! Don’t tell Lennon it’s getting longer, he’ll make it shorter! He’s such a chronocurmdgin! -Chiv

      Reply
2. 

   seannewboy

   September 23, 2014

   Wonderful show everyone. I like the stretch goal ideas recently put out, i agree that at this point more systems are not needed.

   Reply
3. 

   Ostron

   September 24, 2014

   Wonderful show as usual gentlemen.

   I agree with you that too much has been and is being made of LTI; I think it will be funny if the PU starts up and hull insurance ends up being something like 5 credits per month per ship. That said, I’m not sure if there is a correct way for them to act on ship sales. Despite the results of the Mustang survey, when there is a dearth of new things to buy, the community starts bitching. Let that get loud enough and it translates to bad press. I think CIG is very stuck right now; they don’t want to reveal anything about the FPS module or about S42, and it sounds like the lions’ share of their resources are being focused on those projects and on maintaining Arena Commander. None of those provide a lot of opportunities for pledgable ships (since S42 is going to be full of ships that will only be player-useable if captured), and the existing ships only get further developed if they factor into those modules. However, most of the concept art for those projects sounds like it’s already done, so their artists would be free to concept new ships players could buy. I think they’re facing a choice of either releasing those concepts for sale, or going all the way through the Christmas season or longer with nothing new for sale (even assuming FPS gets debuted at PAX Austrailia, there aren’t a lot of items that would be for sale as a result). Branching off of the discussion from 3 or so shows back, selling concepts is equally risky because of the heavily variable stats and the fact that some backers still haven’t sussed the “in-development” part of this whole gig. I think the LTI and other perks are a way help diffuse that rage before it manifests.

   Like I said, maybe not the best way to go, but I think CIG is facing a slew of bad choices from a marketing perspective right now.

   P.S. I don’t know if the recording is getting cut off or if you guys are just that good, but there seem to be less and less bloopers at the end of the shows.

   Reply
4. 

   Ostron

   September 26, 2014

   Great show as usual gentlemen.

   I don’t know if CIG’s concept sale policy is the right way to go, but I do think, at the moment, it is the lesser of the evils they’re faced with. To my mind, they’ve painted themselves into a corner; despite the Mustang release poll, when the backers don’t have shiny new things to buy and distract them they get cranky, and cranky can translate to bad press, particularly since the only new thing for AC lately (racing) currently has issues with accessability; you’re not competitive without a 350r or an M50. With most of their designers and modelers busy working on either the FPS module (which probably has no ships and very little gear to buy at this point) or on S42 (where the ships left to design and build are ones that players can’t own in the game), I think it’s going to be a long time before a brand new ship would be ready to go for the hangar – probably well into next year. On top of that, the FPS module, if it actually debuts at PAX Australia, will probably be a double-edged sword. Very few people “know” how a modern space sim game is supposed to work, but there are legions of gamers who “know” how FPS games are supposed to work – we’re in for a ragefest if only because CIG isn’t primarily building and balancing an FPS game. Given all of that, I imagine CIG is looking for a reliable way to put positive reinforcement out there – shiny new ships usually work, and the concept artists are probably the only ones not totally focused on the aforementioned projects. The extra bonuses are likely an attempt to mitigate the whining of people who haven’t sussed out the whole “in development means stats change” thing.

   Like I said, possibly not the best way to do things, but I really think they’re facing an uphill climb with marketing going into the next two quarters.

   P.S. I don’t know if the recording is getting cut off or if you guys are just that damn good, but there seem to be fewer bloopers in the past few weeks.

   Reply

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