Request for more information and a road map from the Epoch devs

[AltisTales]

Hi everyone

I'm seeing a few threads on here lately about Epoch, and a big Epoch vs Exile debate, most of the replies involve gifs with popcorn, which, while funny, don't help decide anything.

I'm not going to bash, I love Epoch! I have both an Epoch and an Exile server and since Exile came out I have seen my Epoch server plummet from 35-40 players a night (it had been rapidly climbing recently) to 5-6 unique players in a 24 hour period...not good.

There have been a few new AAA games released recently which will account for some players but not the drastic number that we've lost, most of them are in Exile. Now, as I said I do love Epoch and I want to run both servers side by side. 

Most players are asking me "Why would I go back to Epoch? What does it offer?" All I can really tell them is, 'just wait for 0.4, it's going to have a lot of new building updates in it, it should be really interesting!'. But of course they ask for a time scale etc. I also hear from a lot of players saying that they won't be returning to Epoch due to lack of updates etc.

 

So Epoch...please give us some ideas about what the future holds and an idea of when we can expect it. It's just a plea, not a demand as some ragey posters have done in the past. I want to keep our Epoch server going but I need to be able to give people a reason to keep playing. 

Can anyone give any news about that?

 

Thanks.

[KPABATOK]

Not a fanboy of either mod... (ok I'm lying, sue me). But there is no debate about Exile or Epoch, at least on this forum. Exile is more like Wasteland than Epoch, the only similarity is building. You see the migration because people always get hyped for new shit. Did you see? Twitch streamers now stream Mad Max. And how many people still play H1z1? Or even DayZ SA, which gone to shit since patch 0.26 and only a thousand of people play it on twitch?

Every new stuff gonna draw users away, and eventually, give or take few months, some come back. Or not. Because such people look for any other "fresh new meat" and are, how I would call them, hypers, playing only stuff that's new and edgy.

Exile offers easy play, what some people may want, it has a lot of features that any heavily modded Epoch server has (and it is not a good thing): halo spawn, black market, earplugs, notifications etc. I personally do not consider those servers Epoch anymore because they are not. Making Epoch easier to play is like making it yet another shoot shoot bang bang game with no spirit.

Anyway, I hope and expect A3 Epoch to have all the best features of A2 Epoch, or at least, re-imagined features, not necessary copies (as some people think that copying stuff is wrong). You can not "give reasons" to play, because if people stay just to expect something good in the future, then chances are they gonna feel regret and blame you for holding them back. Such is with Epoch servers, it has decent amount of players at first and after one week you are left with one or two. It happens to 99 percent of the servers and in this case Exile isn't to blame here.

 

[Richie]

All I can really tell them is, 'just wait for 0.4, it's going to have a lot of new building updates in it, it should be really interesting!'. But of course they ask for a time scale etc. I also hear from a lot of players saying that they won't be returning to Epoch due to lack of updates etc.

Tell them to subscribe to the Announcements threads, all info is posted there.

Also link to This Thread

 

Regarding updates i belive the stable recieves updates every month, unless it's a hotfix and/or security related but the experimental branch recieves several each day, new things are coming all the time, creases need ironed out and testing done.

[IReeceI]

Not a fanboy of either mod... (ok I'm lying, sue me). But there is no debate about Exile or Epoch, at least on this forum. Exile is more like Wasteland than Epoch, the only similarity is building. You see the migration because people always get hyped for new shit. Did you see? Twitch streamers now stream Mad Max. And how many people still play H1z1? Or even DayZ SA, which gone to shit since patch 0.26 and only a thousand of people play it on twitch?

Every new stuff gonna draw users away, and eventually, give or take few months, some come back. Or not. Because such people look for any other "fresh new meat" and are, how I would call them, hypers, playing only stuff that's new and edgy.

Exile offers easy play, what some people may want, it has a lot of features that any heavily modded Epoch server has (and it is not a good thing): halo spawn, black market, earplugs, notifications etc. I personally do not consider those servers Epoch anymore because they are not. Making Epoch easier to play is like making it yet another shoot shoot bang bang game with no spirit.

Anyway, I hope and expect A3 Epoch to have all the best features of A2 Epoch, or at least, re-imagined features, not necessary copies (as some people think that copying stuff is wrong). You can not "give reasons" to play, because if people stay just to expect something good in the future, then chances are they gonna feel regret and blame you for holding them back. Such is with Epoch servers, it has decent amount of players at first and after one week you are left with one or two. It happens to 99 percent of the servers and in this case Exile isn't to blame here.

 

 Whilst alot of what you said is true, Exile has got some really really good features, auto run is one i love :D

theres alot of reasons why people switched to exile, its more like A2Epoch than A3Epoch is, and thats what people wanted, people wanted safes, door locks and vehicle locks, a back to basic build system that works, and half walls :D we all wanted half walls, I myself have been waiting MONTHS for Epoch 0.4.0, and can really see why he is asking for a roadmap, announcement thread + this thread really does not help on the matter :( , I like the way Ark do their updates and plans, Epoch could take alot from that (and as i wrote that I remembered its very similar to how exile are doing theirs) I am also feeling like this message is bashing Epoch devs, which I am not meaning on doing, but if we scroll back months (A good 6 when i first started asking) us the community still have no roadmap :( 

Another reason why people may be switching too is performance gains, which i really do not understand, say a Epoch Cherno server with 50ish players I get like 40ish FPS on ultra, whilst Exile server with closer to 100 players I get 60 (ultra) not sure if thats to do with the way the loot is sorted or not ! 

 

 

[KPABATOK]

Yes it got nice features, no argument against that. I think autorun can be implemented through a simple script, like earplugs for example, nonetheless, very good thing. Safes and door locks are nice too. Now you get twitch streamers blacking out part of their screens all the time :D Though I prefer, myself, "finger print" (for a lack of better name) locks which are in Epoch currently, but code lock would definitely be a nice feature to have as well as bigger safes. It will probably come in future patches only.

The advantage that Exile devs had was that they saw what people wanted in Epoch and that mod didn't have something, so they added these things in Exile by default and didn't work from "scratch", so it was a very smart tactical move which payed off well. Though I do not hold my breath until Epoch devs will implement similar or better ones themselves, it's never ending process. I watch the development of Exile on twitch too from time to time, it's very interesting even though I am not a programmer/scripter. Just fun to watch. Same was with Axle (or was it vbAwol? sorry, I confuse them) updating loot positions for various maps :D By the way, some furniture positions on Altis are quite broken or wrong (maybe rushed, don't know) so they need to update the buildings too. For example, these blue crates on the roofs are very hard to reach for new people (though I learned it very quick how to loot them up top).

Building, yeah, I haven' tried myself, but Exile has similar issues as Epoch have, maybe less, but few problems with snapping ladders to the ground for example are present from what I have seen on other videos.

I play on a potato computer and am happy with 30 fps on standard/high settings. Shadows, PIP and other nonsense disabled of course. I think the reason Epoch doesn't have a roadmap (and that's just a speculation ) is because it is not their main job but a hobby so it would be impossible to keep up, unlike for example DayZ SA devs who have roadmap (and still can not keep their deadlines, as their roadmap is out of sync by several months, persistence still doesn't work etc.)

 

Edited September 6, 2015 by KPABATOK

[axeman]

The closest thing to a roadmap we have publicly is the issues section on the public github. https://github.com/EpochModTeam/Epoch and the above threads mentioned by Richie.

Suggestions get added and vetted here. We also chat about stuff when we can. Personally have been a bit awol lately with real life. Is sometimes not practical to commit time.

That said, there is some new blood in the team producing quality content. Am looking forward to the next updates, and freeing up some time to keep up :)

[IReeceI]

The closest thing to a roadmap we have publicly is the issues section on the public github. https://github.com/EpochModTeam/Epoch and the above threads mentioned by Richie.

Suggestions get added and vetted here. We also chat about stuff when we can. Personally have been a bit awol lately with real life. Is sometimes not practical to commit time.

That said, there is some new blood in the team producing quality content. Am looking forward to the next updates, and freeing up some time to keep up :)

Indeed there is, I jump in Steampunks broadcasts quite often :) and may I say he is doing a fine job, then you also have Richie, and he has always seemed such a great guy :D

But one thing alot of people have been itching to know, will you be adding in all the stuff we loved from A2E, Like H-Barriers, Tank traps half floors ect ? its really what is missing, even tho I do love the new bunker Steampunk has been crafting xD 

[Chainsaw Squirrel]

I just looked at the commits for experimental .. I was impressed at the cool crap we are about to get on epoch ! .. cant wait ..only thing I like about exile.. is the easier way to pick up loot .. hate halo spawn with no choice..many servers are dumping that and going back to ground spawn. crafting .. couldn't tell you with 5k flag .. and loot hard to find.. I will stick with Epoch. And I just built a new epoch server .. first server I've had since I closed my a2 server 6 months ago .. Couldn't stand it any longer.. Ive had my server up 24 hrs and have had 20 people on it all day ..so epoch is not dead lol