I liked Rift and Storm Legion but since the F2P conversion things have gone downhill. I tried to go back for Nightmare Tide but the massive decrease in levelling speed made those 5 levels take longer than all of the previous levelling I had done. It was definitely a case of "make the hurting stop" and I had to use some of my previously accrued store credits to go to patron status for a month to actually cap levels. And by then I was so burned out on the game that I didn't bother going to expert dungeons or raid. Much less do this on my other 3 characters... I've uninstalled and moved on from Rift.
I enjoyed Defiance but it was really never meant to be a deep game. My experience with Archeage was just poor all around. Since Trion is getting away from the "packaged goods" I suspect that Trove might be the best that they can produce now... I have zero interest in voxel games. I find them uninspiring to look at and haven't put any time yet into one that was even somewhat fun. I know others have had better experience with them so obviously this is just my opinion.
As a sidenote, this article was very well written and the questions were detailed -- it's obvious the interviewer put in some research before the questions were asked. So that's a nice change of pace. However, out of all that were asked, there was only one "medium" question and no hard questions. It's a shame that no effort was really put into making this a thought-provoking piece.
I don't know man, before f2p the game had lots of problem that included lots of bots and cheaters in PvP and PvE, not to mention rabid gold sellers. Along with that there were population problem with most of the servers. After f2p conversion, almost all of these problems are gone, there are bots and cheaters here and there but upon report they get nuked very fast, sometimes they even get nuked by automated back end security without even report, it is always fun to see a botter/cheater stuck way above in air in warfront maps, unable to do anything and screaming someone to kill them so that they can respawn :pleased:. But population problem is not really gone though, not for EU servers at least but that is as expected i guess since eu servers for most games die out fast. If one thing i have against Rift that would be abysmal gear imbalance in PvP. They said they would try something so let's see.
As for defiance, people just got the initial expression and then left, never gave Trion a second chance regarding the game, it is in a far better shape now then it was but it lacks players to play it, it is sad really. If you think back when Rift was released it was same, lot of people joined during launch, stayed for a few months and then left because of the problems but never bothered coming back to see even after f2p conversion, even after trion addressed most of the issues.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Actually if someone really dug into his " resume " they may find some discrepancy. Like being a server tech at earth link, not a game designer at interplay. I guess we all fudge here and there, and he did get a lot of experience at SOE wrapping the EQ2 project when Brad and his team walked, but the actual " designer " that pulled out EQ2 was Brad's wife who stayed on to honor the contract and complete the project when the rest of the team huffed off like a bunch of two year olds.
Actually if someone really dug into his " resume " they may find some discrepancy. Like being a server tech at earth link, not a game designer at interplay. I guess we all fudge here and there, and he did get a lot of experience at SOE wrapping the EQ2 project when Brad and his team walked, but the actual " designer " that pulled out EQ2 was Brad's wife who stayed on to honor the contract and complete the project when the rest of the team huffed off like a bunch of two year olds.
Bill gates did not even complete university, neither did Steve Jobs. Does that disqualify their achievement?
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Boring Interview but I don't blame the interviewer. Hartsman seems like a typical CEO just riding the wave of micro-transactions. His company might be making money and staying afloat, but in the long run this brand will fall. There is too much hatred for this company and their reputation has fallen drastically. I was hoping Hartsman was going to address Trions faltering reputation. I see Trion getting gobbled up by another company within the next 4 years, because they simply can't sustain this mediocre haze their in. New F2P games coming around the corner that will absolutely crush a lot of gaming companies. On a positive note: Scott Hartsman comes across as a nice person. I do wish him the best but I feel his presence is hurting the company.
Did you even read this interview? Do you even know Scott Hartsman's background? Your idea of CEO is without any doubt 100% correct if it were anyone else but Scott Hartsmen, he is a game developer and have been one since 80's, he got his position because he is one and also he knows how to handle business due to his decades of presence in the industry, not because he is a politician. If he was so narcissist about his image he would not just say that he wanted to start up his own company and he had all the people ready to work for him but as soon as Trion threw him a big bone he told them to fuck off. Someone dishonest would not reveal something like that.
Well, there are other companies who have game developers as CEOs as well. CCP and Undead labs are 2 of them and their CEOs are also pretty into making fun games. Heck, Trion had an even more dedicated boss before, Van Caneghem who also created the Heroes of might & magic IP.
Ohh dear...yeah we miss elrar too but he was not fired, he got hired on better position on a different company. As far as i know he joined an european company as a game designer, which is a huge promotion from community manager job.
Post edited by Vaross on
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
He was in charge of Rift and he left Trion Worlds to work on his own stuff. Trion Worlds started tanking. End of Nations trainwrecking and hemorrhaging money, Defiance lost direction, Rift F2P implementation was going poorly and signed a BS contract to distribute ArcheAge as publisher (which would come to bite them in the ass.) Morale rock bottom, company looking like they were going to take a nose dive. CEO is fired. They hired Hartsman as CEO. Trion turns around and in the black now.
Yeah. Guy is an awful CEO. Just like all the rest. *eyeroll*
I will never trust Scott Hartsman and Trion to handle any game ever again. Their cash grabbing and marketing scheming ruined ArcheAge completely. Ever heard of a game whose Alpha test state was a thousand times BETTER than beta or release? Yeah, that's because it got ruined AFTER Trion's cash shop ideas got added. Hah he even said himself in this interview that they rejected the China version of ArcheAge that XLGames handed to them originally... Well guess what, the China version of AA is so much better than the crap we got in NA. "No tricks, no traps" is such a blatant Trion lie.
Oh and Trove was launched with F2P in mind? Then why was a subscription "Patron" option added quietly when it launched? Yup. You can pay a monthly sub for Trove to dig faster and jump higher, among other benefits. The only thing true in this interview is how he is focused on finance rather than making a successful game. Way to go! Any conscious gamer with any passion/care for the games that he/she plays would not be supporting this money grabbing CEO & company.
*Also, is the mobile page version of the article supposed to only show comments from other mobile users? I commented on the mobile version at first and then realized that my comment wasn't being shown here.
He was in charge of Rift and he left Trion Worlds to work on his own stuff. Trion Worlds started tanking. End of Nations trainwrecking and hemorrhaging money, Defiance lost direction, Rift F2P implementation was going poorly and signed a BS contract to distribute ArcheAge as publisher (which would come to bite them in the ass.) Morale rock bottom, company looking like they were going to take a nose dive. CEO is fired. They hired Hartsman as CEO. Trion turns around and in the black now.
Yeah. Guy is an awful CEO. Just like all the rest. *eyeroll*
He rejoined Trion only a few months after F2P - and remember he was HARDCORE AGAINST F2P and probably WHY HE LEFT. I'm assuming they offered him a shit load of money so he sold out, turned F2P Rift into something as close to P2W as possible without it being ridiculous and then helmed the god awful launch and also P2W Archeage. I respected him when he moved on from Trion and that respect has gone beyond zero well into negative territory over the last two years. Money>Soul Trion as a company is long dead to me...on par with EA.
He was in charge of Rift and he left Trion Worlds to work on his own stuff. Trion Worlds started tanking. End of Nations trainwrecking and hemorrhaging money, Defiance lost direction, Rift F2P implementation was going poorly and signed a BS contract to distribute ArcheAge as publisher (which would come to bite them in the ass.) Morale rock bottom, company looking like they were going to take a nose dive. CEO is fired. They hired Hartsman as CEO. Trion turns around and in the black now.
Yeah. Guy is an awful CEO. Just like all the rest. *eyeroll*
He rejoined Trion only a few months after F2P - and remember he was HARDCORE AGAINST F2P and probably WHY HE LEFT. I'm assuming they offered him a shit load of money so he sold out, turned F2P Rift into something as close to P2W as possible without it being ridiculous and then helmed the god awful launch and also P2W Archeage. I respected him when he moved on from Trion and that respect has gone beyond zero well into negative territory over the last two years. Money>Soul Trion as a company is long dead to me...on par with EA.
Rift is pay2win? please indulge me. I have been playing for so long yet never seen anyone beat me with their money. Please indulge how someone kicked your ass with their money. I am eager. As for AA being pay2win, i am not going to provide info on how they are being monetized in korea, japan and china. go look for yourself. And also if you insist trion is dead to you then don't post here where we are discussing trion and their games.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
I will never trust Scott Hartsman and Trion to handle any game ever again. Their cash grabbing and marketing scheming ruined ArcheAge completely. Ever heard of a game whose Alpha test state was a thousand times BETTER than beta or release? Yeah, that's because it got ruined AFTER Trion's cash shop ideas got added. Hah he even said himself in this interview that they rejected the China version of ArcheAge that XLGames handed to them originally... Well guess what, the China version of AA is so much better than the crap we got in NA. "No tricks, no traps" is such a blatant Trion lie.
Oh and Trove was launched with F2P in mind? Then why was a subscription "Patron" option added quietly when it launched? Yup. You can pay a monthly sub for Trove to dig faster and jump higher, among other benefits. The only thing true in this interview is how he is focused on finance rather than making a successful game. Way to go! Any conscious gamer with any passion/care for the games that he/she plays would not be supporting this money grabbing CEO & company.
*Also, is the mobile page version of the article supposed to only show comments from other mobile users? I commented on the mobile version at first and then realized that my comment wasn't being shown here.
yeah give it a few months, china version will be added the same crafting chance increase and upgrade chance increase item like korea cash shop, it has been confirmed. But please continue with your trion hate train.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
He was in charge of Rift and he left Trion Worlds to work on his own stuff. Trion Worlds started tanking. End of Nations trainwrecking and hemorrhaging money, Defiance lost direction, Rift F2P implementation was going poorly and signed a BS contract to distribute ArcheAge as publisher (which would come to bite them in the ass.) Morale rock bottom, company looking like they were going to take a nose dive. CEO is fired. They hired Hartsman as CEO. Trion turns around and in the black now.
Yeah. Guy is an awful CEO. Just like all the rest. *eyeroll*
As far as i know it was him who made deals with XLGames regarding Arcehage. And it was him who 1st talked about Rift going f2p but his idea was shot down and he left but then they were going downhill and gave him a big bone and he caught on. Yeah sounds kinda bad but at least he is honest about it.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
I look at it this way he left SOE and went to Trion and immediately implemented the SOE business model at Trion, now Trion sucks.
That is totally wrong, he did not implement SOE business model in trion, Trion was a subscription only company for over a year. Their 1st f2p transition was with Rift, their flagship mmorpg and Rift f2p model is far far superior to SOE/Daybreak's f2p model. Trion don't ask players to pay for access to content, they don't ask money for literally anything, what we get with trion's f2p is more than enough to play the game as much as we want, anyways we want. Of course, that depends on how a person looks at it, if someone wants to waste money buying gears they will replace in a week, who am i to argue?
Now if you are talking about AA business model, i have written my opinion regarding it a lot of time. You need to research for yourself before you point a gun at Trion or Scott Hartsman.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Ohh dear...yeah we miss elrar too but he was not fired, he got hired on better position on a different company. As far as i know he joined an european company as a game designer, which is a huge promotion from community manager job.
I do not think so. As I understand it his first job after Trion was as a community relations type in a firm that did "peer review software" in the HR market.
i played Rift for a solid year and a half. Easily the longest tenured mmo besides WoW for me. I kept playing in part because I think (or thought) Trion is a good company. But, I agree with a lot of posters in this thread. Trion is not the customer service oriented company it used to be.
As CEO your decisions makes are breaks your company's reputation.
before Archeage, hell Archeage alpha even ! i still had good faith but man did it turn around fast once this mmo was released.
All the No Tricks No Traps on Twitch streams from the community manager screamed out for monts to milk more founders only to spit in their face after launch.
I hold Scot responsible for that fiasco as he should have been aware or just dint care how awfull this would turn out.
I coulnt care less if it was a bad mmo, but truth is this could have been a pearl with years of fun to offer, but instead it was turned into a quick cashgrab and a ruined name for Trion.
yeah give it a few months, china version will be added the same crafting chance increase and upgrade chance increase item like korea cash shop, it has been confirmed. But please continue with your trion hate train.
Well now, I wasn't aware I was on a train of any kind. However based on your sheer amount of comments on this article you are on some kind of Trion hype defense train of some sort. I'm just stating facts lol, and I am not the only one who can see that Trion ruined AA in their hands and also that they don't deserve any customer loyalty after the way they've treated their customers and games. I mean come on, Scott even says it himself here that he is more focused on the finances instead of the game.
Are you one of them or something? Becoming so defensive when people are pointing out what Trion and Scott Hartsman did wrong? Instead of blindly defending them, why don't you give us some facts to prove your point? Because as far as I've seen, all Trion tries to do is publicity spin. Trion is not a company that cares about their games.
If they had focused even half as much time on listening to their original playerbase in AA as they did on marketing tricks and PR, then maybe they wouldn't be in the situation they are in now with having to arrange the server merges.
Interesting but could be much longer. It is an interview, ask some silly questions too like, what is yoru favorite cereal!!!!! Will be interested to see what directions Trion goes and Defiance specifically.
yeah give it a few months, china version will be added the same crafting chance increase and upgrade chance increase item like korea cash shop, it has been confirmed. But please continue with your trion hate train.
Well now, I wasn't aware I was on a train of any kind. However based on
your sheer amount of comments on this article you are on some kind of
Trion hype defense train of some sort. I'm just stating facts lol, and I
am not the only one who can see that Trion ruined AA in their hands and
also that they don't deserve any customer loyalty after the way they've
treated their customers and games. I mean come on, Scott even says it
himself here that he is more focused on the finances instead of the
game.
Are you one of them or something? Becoming so defensive when people are
pointing out what Trion and Scott Hartsman did wrong? Instead of blindly
defending them, why don't you give us some facts to prove your point?
Because as far as I've seen, all Trion tries to do is publicity spin.
Trion is not a company that cares about their games.
If they had focused even half as much time on listening to their
original playerbase in AA as they did on marketing tricks and PR, then
maybe they wouldn't be in the situation they are in now with having to
arrange the server merges.
Yes i am Trion fanboy, if you had read my previous posts you would have known why. If there are people made it their mission to bash trion on every post then i have made it my mission to defend them. savvy?
And i have been providing factual statement while you and people like you continue to ignore it. Trion or Scot Hartsman did nothing wrong with AA, you expected it to be a niche sandbox subscription based game without any kind of cash shop, Trion never promised that, they would never go for a business model which failed in Japan twice over, which failed in korea. And i have explained it many many times in multiple posts why they had the APEX duping, bots and cheaters on rampage but you would not take it as proper answer since you and people like you lack the understanding as to how online game security works in NA/EU and in eastern asia such as china, japan and south korea..
And Scott Hartsman has to look at money side now since he is the CEO of Trion, as he said he no longer looks at game design since there are many talented people who are doing great job at that. Twisting words into something they are not is not "fact".
Well whatever continue to live in your world of hatred. Best of luck to you and people like you.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
As CEO your decisions makes are breaks your company's reputation.
before Archeage, hell Archeage alpha even ! i still had good faith but man did it turn around fast once this mmo was released.
All the No Tricks No Traps on Twitch streams from the community manager screamed out for monts to milk more founders only to spit in their face after launch.
I hold Scot responsible for that fiasco as he should have been aware or just dint care how awfull this would turn out.
I coulnt care less if it was a bad mmo, but truth is this could have been a pearl with years of fun to offer, but instead it was turned into a quick cashgrab and a ruined name for Trion.
Exactly how did Trion spit on your face? You purchased alpha packs and did you not get the exact items listed in your pack description on launch? And did trion promise you there would not be any cash shop? And exactly where is the trap or trick in AA business model, please tell me. i certainly don't feel tricked or trapped when i am playing AA.
Your 1st mistake was thinking AA would be the sandbox savior of west. 2nd mistake, not doing any kind of research on different version of the game that were already in full force in japan and korea, there were several people here on this forum who posted translated forums post from korea and japan with detailed mention of how the game is failing there, why did you not take the time to read? 3rd mistake and the biggest one was to buy alpha packs, no matter how much i love trion i will never support founder pack or selling alpha/beta testing.
Yeah i also thought Trion could provide a complete free game with a better cash shop than the korean version and they did provide a bit better but not what i expected and i am also not satisfied with some feature of AA but i can hardly blame Trion for them at this point since i know that korean version has much much worse and Trion doing all they can to provide us a better version of AA.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Comments
As for defiance, people just got the initial expression and then left, never gave Trion a second chance regarding the game, it is in a far better shape now then it was but it lacks players to play it, it is sad really. If you think back when Rift was released it was same, lot of people joined during launch, stayed for a few months and then left because of the problems but never bothered coming back to see even after f2p conversion, even after trion addressed most of the issues.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Not all people running game companies are suits.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Yeah. Guy is an awful CEO. Just like all the rest. *eyeroll*
As for AA being pay2win, i am not going to provide info on how they are being monetized in korea, japan and china. go look for yourself.
And also if you insist trion is dead to you then don't post here where we are discussing trion and their games.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Now if you are talking about AA business model, i have written my opinion regarding it a lot of time. You need to research for yourself before you point a gun at Trion or Scott Hartsman.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
And i have been providing factual statement while you and people like you continue to ignore it. Trion or Scot Hartsman did nothing wrong with AA, you expected it to be a niche sandbox subscription based game without any kind of cash shop, Trion never promised that, they would never go for a business model which failed in Japan twice over, which failed in korea. And i have explained it many many times in multiple posts why they had the APEX duping, bots and cheaters on rampage but you would not take it as proper answer since you and people like you lack the understanding as to how online game security works in NA/EU and in eastern asia such as china, japan and south korea..
And Scott Hartsman has to look at money side now since he is the CEO of Trion, as he said he no longer looks at game design since there are many talented people who are doing great job at that. Twisting words into something they are not is not "fact".
Well whatever continue to live in your world of hatred. Best of luck to you and people like you.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.
Your 1st mistake was thinking AA would be the sandbox savior of west. 2nd mistake, not doing any kind of research on different version of the game that were already in full force in japan and korea, there were several people here on this forum who posted translated forums post from korea and japan with detailed mention of how the game is failing there, why did you not take the time to read? 3rd mistake and the biggest one was to buy alpha packs, no matter how much i love trion i will never support founder pack or selling alpha/beta testing.
Yeah i also thought Trion could provide a complete free game with a better cash shop than the korean version and they did provide a bit better but not what i expected and i am also not satisfied with some feature of AA but i can hardly blame Trion for them at this point since i know that korean version has much much worse and Trion doing all they can to provide us a better version of AA.
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.