I am greatly dissatisfied in Lusternia, a dissatisfaction that has less to do with the contents of this game (although there are conflict quests that are bugged that do affect the player orgs negatively) and more to do with my relationship with the administration. I am bringing this up here, publicly, not to criticize the administration team or throw a tantrum, but to identify a huge problem: communication between players and administration.

In the past few months, I have lost almost all faith in the admins as a whole, and not for reasons beyond their control. I'm a programmer myself. I realize that crap happens (code gets deleted, bugs, etc.), and I -greatly appreciate- the time offered. However, communication between the players and the admin is extremely lacking. I don't consider it unreasonable that time is needed to fix bugs. I do consider it unreasonable not to communicate back to the players.

To point out my example. I sent in an email requesting 5 reactions and inherent bodyguard for my custom pet, Suez. I waited a full week without hearing a word before issuing myself asking for a status update and/or if my email wasn't received. A week later, Oneroi replied saying that it was being handled. Two weeks to hear anything is a bit unacceptable, in my opinion, and a simple reply email saying, "We'll get to this ASAP," would have gone far. I wasn't expecting anyone to stop their current projects and get to work. I just wanted to know that the admins were aware.

Finally, three weeks after the initial email, I get an email from Estarra saying that everything was implemented. Four out of five reactions were implemented as I suggested, but one was deemed too powerful, and Estarra stated that reactions weren't meant for that utility. The first problem here was that a fifth reaction was implemented anyway without anyone contacting me asking if the reaction was something I wanted. It wasn't. I should have been contacted about the reaction if it wasn't acceptable and offered the chance to change it. I wasn't.

I immediately replied to the email (within 5 minutes or so) asking for the reaction to be changed. The original reaction wasn't deleted, but altered to include the change. The result was a bugged reaction. The original triggers when the new is supposed to (the original should have been deleted) with the new line being shown when the trigger bugs out. I was pleased with the fast response to change the reaction, but the bug the change created (noticed within 30 minutes of the change) has yet to be addressed, and I've sent at least one email regarding the bug.

In the course of these back and forth email exchanges, I asked each time for inherent bodyguard explaining that it was free (pet credit package). Not including the emails that contained the reactions, I believe two emails were sent requesting this ability alone. About two weeks later, I sent an email requesting an additional inherent skill (beast begging) and mentioned bodyguard; a week later, Estarra contacted me wanting 200 credits (each email, including the one requesting beast begging, detailed that bodyguard was already payed for). Six weeks from the initial email, I finally got bodyguard. To this day, the fifth reaction hasn't been fixed, although I will admit that I haven't sent any further emails regarding it (not that I should have to).

I wish I could say that Suez was my only problem, but not so. I don't think I need to detail the other problems I've had, but the others are similarly disheartening. In both cases, all that was missing was communication. I can point, also, to threads discussing major game changes (order affinity and end-game review): no one knows why affinity was implemented, and there are two threads that address the end-game review that provide suggestions and potential risks. I skimmed the Demigod tweak thread, and although I do agree that time is needed to test it, quite a few of the complaints raised were concerns raised in one of the two other threads.

Furthermore, I do want to stress that I am appreciative of the time volunteered by the admin team and the care they put into this game, and I want Lusternia to improve and better itself. I will ignore all flames in response to this thread. It isn't designed to cause problems for Lusternia, but to identify a major problem.

I humbly apologize for the poor response to pet issue. I bear responsibility for that as I pretty much do all pets and customizations. I've been very backed up but that of course is a poor excuse and will look into it immediately. Volunteers have nothing to do with this!

As for affinity, that was something I believe was needed and I think I participated in discussion in at least one thread.

As for end game, we are looking at all suggestions but we will be making the final determination.

If I'm not communicating well, I do apologize! The buck obviously stops here.

I think the affinity communication problem was that everything was normal, and then suddenly, there's Affinity. With no prior warning, or even an idea that there was such a problem, players are left perplexed. (Perplexed is a fun word).

Although I personally have only good things to say about Jeanne's treatment with Estarra. She was very helpful to me, so in that regard, I think you were just unlucky unfortunately.

So in the past couple of months, we've seen major end game changes, two brand new skills, and a few new areas released, and the Admin aren't working hard enough?

The Admin here communicate far more frequently with players than in other places I've been. Eventru is becoming a baby Shiribot, it seems like , with the way he is able to answer so many questions.

I'm sorry it took longer than you expected for your request, but given what's been going on this summer, I completely understand that it could happen.

EDIT: As for Affinity-- I suspect that they know full well that Affinity would be and still is incredibly unpopular, but it was decided that the game needed it anyway. Given those circumstances, I can see why they wouldn't give us advance warning: we're not known for our civil reactions to things we don't like. I may not like that there was no communication, but I see the rationale there too.

For the sake of feedback:

Overall, my direct interactions with the administration here have been pretty solid. I'm sorry Sahmiam had problems with his custom beast, but when I had Ma'arra made, it fortunately went much more smoothly.

As for other issues, one thing I have been mostly pleased with is how the administration personally deals with complaints. When I made a serious complaint, Estarra wound up addressing me personally, and actually talking to me as a person. She even seemed upset, which was a very human response, and gave me a lot of faith that the admin really do care a great deal about the game, and don't just see us as transient plebians to get money from before we vanish.

For me, the communication break down happens on the larger issues. Things like this end of game review, it honestly felt to me that it was powered through in response to a rather small portion of the playerbase hammering on it in a thread that was initially utterly unacossiated, and became a horrible case of "group think". To this day I feel that efforts should have been made to talk to the playerbase as a whole, especially the bulk of plain vanilla demis who would be the most adversely effected, rather than leaving the distinct impresion that a subset of the already forum going minority was in the driver's seat.

That said, the after-the-fact response and willingness to change course a bit is very nice to see and much appreciated.

This is more than you will get in most areas of the gaming industry, even from other IRE games. In many IRE games, the admin and divine are not even allowed to post on the forums.

You can't really expect perfect service, mis-communications happen, things get lost, etc. It happens, but, when an administrator is willing to step up, accept personal accountability - publicly, no less - for the issue and give their word that it will be fixed... that's good service and those are the kind of gestures that are going to go far in building the confidence of their customer base.

I hope your issue is worked out to your satisfaction and, from Estarra's post, I have no reason to believe that it won't be.

Whatever you say about the admin handling general decision-making I don't think I've ever been unhappy with the result of an issue or something that went to support, off the top of my head anyway.

As far as one-to-one interactions with Estarra goes, I have very few issues (all of which can come down to both of us just being human, so we obviously don't always agree!). Issues are usually handled promptly when there is a problem, I always get responses to my emails (even if it's a, "Sorry, we don't really have time to look into this right now" or a bit of a discussion). Usually there is some kind of, "Okay, I realize there's something we can do better here, so let's tweak things at least a little to try to make things more streamlined / standardized" component. It's clear that Estarra deeply cares about the game.

However, where I see the disconnect is in terms of large-scale matters. The Administration is intentionally 'distanced' from the playerbase, which makes sense in some regards (to try to remove bias), but at the same time it causes its own issues; all of which can be boiled down to the fact that they are disconnected from the players on the whole and are supposed to be so.

This leads to large-scale decisions often being made in a sort of 'vacuum' it feels. I do not think the administration does not care, but they don't at this point have the same things invested into the same areas that we do. Instead, they're off invested in their own Administrative fiefdoms and projects.

As an example of this, we have the old Domoth power income. This is something that I personally hammered at for a bit over a year, when each Domoth Crown was giving 1000 power to the holding organization. This was 9000 power, and one organization theoretically could (and in practice did) hold them all. 9000 power was far, far greater than could be received through any other activity (even the library system can't pull in that much), but it was very difficult to make the connection between why the players felt this was a concern / too much, and the Administrative view of it.

In the more modern era, we have Affinity. This is another 'disconnect' area; I think that most of us are pretty resigned to it just being the way it is (as you stated), and we can kind of come up with rough ideas for why it exists. However, it never really got discussed in-depth, there was no true attempt to try to bridge the understanding-gap between one side of the game and the other, and this is another 'communication problem'. From my observations, you could likely cut Affinity costs to 1/10th of what they are and it would still be a disincentive (you could have someone in at lower ranks just fine, but they will be forever relegated to the outer ranks even at a much lower cost unless they really work at it). So maybe there could be some way to come up with a compromise in a discussion that leaves people 'happier,' it's just never really gotten anywhere.

And then right now we have this Demigod / Ascendant thing, where a lot might've been headed off with some player testing / discussion prior to it going 'live'; I mean, when this went up I know I was very intrigued up until I got done reading through all the things and then switched over to looking at the costs, which just floored me. Then when the initial response was, "Just buy it and we'll revisit it later," it's a bit... eh. They're prohibitive to the point where I personally feel like there's no point in buying it, because they're that far out of the ballpark (essentially, another example of the divide in perceptions from one side to the other).

All that said, this is nothing I haven't said before, though I've used different examples in previous posts. You know my thoughts in terms of working to address these-- mainly just pointing out that it hasn't 'gone away'.

More than any other IRE game, Lusternia feels like a labor of love.

You can really sense the connection between Estarra and the game. There are so many aspects of Lusternia where Estarra could have taken the easy route, implemented the same mechanics present in other IRE games or lifted some aspect of Achaea/Aetolia/Imperian and just left it be, but, instead chose to completely re-invent and change the entire understanding of those things to coincide better with his vision.

That is not a common thing, really, an administration willing to forego an easy solution that would be widely acceptable to most people in favor of a difficult, time consuming solution that - at least, in my perception - is not only acceptable, but absolutely fascinating.

I hope your problem is being dealt with or is solved by now Sahmiam, and you get something for the trouble you've gone through. I would be upset too if that happened to me. I do think cases like these are rare, or I hope so anyway, and like the others here I haven't had problems with admin - the few times I've communicated with them I've gotten impressively fast responses.

With that said though, I wonder if maybe there aren't enough staff/volunteers. I was kind of surprised to hear that Estarra deals with all pets and customizations, which seem a bit trivial when compared to all the important things she must have to deal with. But maybe it's like a hobby or interest, that would be fine. However it might've helped to avoid situations like Sahmiam's, though I'm sure everyone has learned a lesson and it probably won't happen again.

Speaking of staff shortages, I've been in Isune's order for... over 2 years now I think (and others longer of course) and she has made a 'comeback' at least 2 times, probably. But each comeback only lasts a few weeks at most before she goes back to sleep again. From what I see from other players, it looks like orders really add a whole new social and RP dimension to the game and it could be so fun. But I'm tied down by this feeling that if I leave and join another order, Isune will come back and maybe finally stay for good... so I'm not sure. And then there's that whole Affinity thing. I think Elostian is awesome but Wuy's RP is closer to the artsy feely side. It kind of limits, or at least poses strong disincentives, to your other options =/

There's never enough staff/volunteers! There's one reason why I handle pets/customizations: credits. I feel that anything related with credits should be handled by a paid staff member. While Roark and Sior are on the payroll, they rarely touch the creative building end of things, so that leaves me. I'm really fine doing it, but when things get busy or projects pile up or whatever, then sometimes I can fall behind or even mess up like I did with Sahmiam (which is rare, really!).

As for volunteers, I've said it before and I'll say it again, they are the backbone of Lusternia! However, this is definitely a hobby for them and I can't in good conscience treat them as though they are employees. My goal is to make this a fun environment for them where they can enjoy being the powers behind the scenes, the dungeon masters, the wizards behind the curtain, etc. They also get to explore the unique joys of roleplaying a deity and running an order. Yes, volunteers build and help with issues, overseeing guides, running events and any number of things (including coding!), but only to the point that they enjoy doing so as part of their hobby. It takes a special type of person to be a volunteer and we should all be grateful that we have such wonderful ones in Lusternia!

I've been wary of what seems to be a growing "my way or the highway" vibe from the admin I've been getting all this year. If it's true, though, it's only because this is and always has been Estarra's baby. Even if I get to the point where it drives me away, I can't say much bad about the admin on anything but a very personal level. I've had one terrible interaction with support, but it worked out in the end and my rage is gone.

I think things could be handled better. I think the exact same decisions can be made and have two very different impacts depending on how the PR is managed. It's like night and day when Eventru posts about something and then Estarra comes by later, for example. They're just different people and they handle things differently and I prefer one to the other when it comes to handling the fallout of unpopular decisions.

That said, what a lot of other people has said is definitely true. I only care about the small missteps because we're spoiled by all the attention and interaction we get. I'd almost rather bad decisions get made and communication happen than have good decisions handed down from on high all the time, over and over. It just has a different feel after awhile.

Estarra approached me personally and all of my problems were directly fixed. This act speaks volumes in and of itself, but I do want to make one thing clear: Suez was not the only instance, but as I said, all my issues were handled last night.

To be honest, I'm quite pleased with Estarra's response. I half-expected to get a receive a defensive reply or to be told to email, but obviously that's not the case. But to be open, Suez was not my only problem. There was another that took a while to get situated as well, but that was fully resolved last night too. My intention was to draw attention to the issue of player and admin communication outside of people ranting and complaining and to approach it in the most objective manner possible.


Everiine: As I stated, I didn't and don't expect people to drop their projects for me or anyone, but there is no excuse not to send a confirmation email within one to two days (and never past a week). It's not that the request took months to get addressed, it's that the average turn around for emails was 2 to 3 weeks to only then get bugged results. Don't forget credits (money) was exchanged.

Additionally, quite a lot of the new releases have been bugged in some form or another (not unexpected), but the perception is that it's better to release new content over fixing existing ones. Some that have been released are quests that affect organizations directly, but the affected org can't undo the quest due to bugs. That's not good, and additional content doesn't fix the existing content.

Sylphas: The "my way or the highway" vibe is very much there. In the demigod tweaks thing, people have pointed out what they would like changed (essence costs for Veneration, the time and essence consumption, etc.), and Eventru has pretty much given that vibe going as far as saying "maybe you're not meant to be a cult leader then" (paraphrase). I'm not pointing the finger at Eventru here; he's just the one example that is fresh on my mind. I'm not going to say he's wrong in defending it or that people are justified in questioning the delay and essence investment, but the vibe of zero leeway is there.





Idea: We have an envoy system. Would there be any way possible to have a player-advisory board or something? I think if the admin hand-picked a group of players that give good feedback would benefit Lusternia as a whole, and act as liaisons of the players. Things such as affinity and the end-game review could be run by this group who would then be expected to provide objective comments and suggestions. This "board" could be handled through the forums for ease of implementation (secret/private board + user group).

Such a group would go a very long way in fixing communication breakdowns on the big changes.


EDIT: I almost forget to reemphasize my appreciation in what does happen. Sometimes people get worked up over what the results are and forget the volunteered work effort. The work is something no one should forget!

While I really, really appreciate your opinions and feedback, and you must know that I am responsive to it, I am still the creator, producer and designer of Lusternia. I will continue to make decisions that I think is best for the game and sometimes those decisions won't always be popular. If this means I am painted with the "my way or the highway" brush, so be it. Lusternia is not a democracy and I don't believe we don't need more "player committees". (I've tried player committees before for multiple things, and the results haven't really been very favorable or productive.) In any event, I think the forums work fine for expressing opinions and as a place where we can have a conversation (as we are now!).

Believe it or not, I wasn't hired for Lusternia for my public relations or customer service skills. Surely, I've made missteps and regret some words I've said and actions I've taken after being goaded into anger. However, I think I've mellowed and improved over the years--for those who have been with me since the beginning, I hope you agree with that! For better or worse, I'm who you're stuck with and you can expect that I will probably continue to make decisions and roll things out per my usual infuriating, tempestuous and (hopefully) delightful manner. And, yes, I fully expect reactions to range from joy and wonder to what-the-frack-was-she-smoking. But I do promise that I will continue to put all my creativity, inspiration and heart into Lusternia and work as hard as I can to make Lusternia an excellent, wondrous and exciting game. I promise to listen to your opinions and comments, and while I may not always agree, at least know that I do care what you think and am interested to hear what you say.

This, combined with the fact that you are the only one responsible for Lusternia's vision, as opposed to several people, is why I love this game so much.

The only problem I ever really have with the admin is that sometimes I feel they are in too much of a rush to release something (probably to keep us occupied and interested) , and haven't fully tested it, or are missing a vital part of the skillset/area.

Now, one thing I can say about building and testing is that in any field I have been or seen, there can never be enough testing. Bugs, oversight and mistakes will occur and not be caught in the time limit given to the testing phase (which I must add is the longest phase in any design phase). Just when you think that you nailed every bug, someone else will find a new one.

We do perform testing, and troubleshooting to the best of our abilities. However, we can only do so much in a test field. Most of what can be uncovered only can be found when it is implemented in the actual field itself. Which is why feedback is essential, though both developers and players may disagree over certain points in the design itself.

Well, you know me, Estarra. I've been a big critic of you for a long time and we both know this. From what I have recently seen of you since I started playing again, I have been pleasantly surprised! You're much more approachable, responsive and open to ideas that, years ago, you'd have instantly shot down. Change is win, and I am someone who takes great joy in seeing personal development in people. Kudos!

I think the forums don't work for player communication. Can each admin, those that are responsible for these changes, say that they read each thread in entirety that deal with game changes, issues, etc.? I don't mean just small ones, but the 36 pages from "Announce 1609", the 7 pages from "Vernal Ascendants", the 12 pages of "Demigod Tweaks", and the 28 pages of "Demigod/Ascendant Overview (each one that I could find that deals with the end-game review). You have to in order to sift through the rantings, the flames, etc. to find the genuine suggestions. The answer is most likely, "No," and 83 pages (and growing) are a lot to read. This thread is minuscule compared to others, and perhaps only slightly more important., however. Furthermore, the admin replies seem to be posts that come in three types. Reassurance that the admin are right in their decision. "My way or the highway" posts. Posts that address a specific player's post which mal-represents the thread, misses key issues/concerns, or is off on some--largely unimportant--tangent.

I also want to point out that I suggested an advisory board, not a committee. Committees usually make decisions and/or investigate the best options and then recommend them. The purpose of the board would be the admin to run their ideas (especially major ones) in reasonable detail by the board and then hear out the feedback. At no time would the admin be required to follow the board, but at least the admin could hear, succinctly, opinions about future changes. Rather than close to 90 pages on an important change, you might get 10 to 20, but you still wouldn't have to sift through the usual BS a thread can produce.

There is absolutely no need for any admin to be painted as "my way or the highway". That view gives the perception that any and all ideas/suggestions/comments are ignored unless they agree with the person. There are people who will always disagree, and ultimately, the admin have a unique view of the game. But it's important to remember that players have a unique view as well. People can appreciate being told that it's ultimately your decision, but steps need to be taken to prove that the players are cared about.

For three years, I was an avid player of Guild Wars, and not once can I say they made a bad decision (I did disagree with some). I was satisfied with their customer service and administration without once (excluding a conga line by Gale Grey or whoever) interacting them. I can't deny that I have a closer relationship to the Lusternia administration than I did to the Guild Wars administration, but I'm not sure that I can say that the Lusternia admins listen to their players more (not just listening to me). Guild Wars handled 10 million accounts (in fairness, with a full staff) and I would guess that Lusternia has less than 2500 active players and probably less than 1000. Yet despite the much smaller playerbase and the closer relationship to the Lusternia admins, I have to say that I feel that Guild Wars listened to their players more than Lusternia does its. I hate saying that, but in my opinion, Lusternia should be much more attuned with the players than GW ever was, and it's simply not so.

In all fairness, I doubt anyone starts on page one and reads an 28 page thread. But I bet a lot of the admin read the pages of them that pop up between their visits to the forums. Or at least one prolly does and summarizes for the rest. When I'm reading those threads, I see Eventru reading them often as well as Shikari and a whole slew of invisible people who are prolly some of them admins.

I think the forums and emails work well enough as a methods of providing feedback, honestly. And, as Estarra has shown, they're not above speaking individually if needed. I don't like the idea of an advisory board and I'm not even an admin. Plus, I don't feel 'not cared about' when the admin say 'my way or the highway.' It's not my game. I just play it. To me, expecting admin to run every decision by the players would be like Hasbro changing the rules of Monopoly just because a lot of people express their frustration that they can't find a get out of jail free card often enough. Games have rules and structure and features and what-not, all designed by the makers of it. That they let us have feedback at all, proves, irrevocably - in my mind anyway - that the folks running Lusternia care about their players.

And yes, sometimes they make decisions I disagree with. I really, really, really dislike Order Affinity. But, it's not my game. So, I suck it up and focus on the things I love about it. Of which there are almost too many to name (which is part of the reason I never finished my testimonial in time! ).