Is There Any Hope?

According to an interview with Kate Paiz in an episode of the DDOcast podcast last summer, Module 9, which was advertised to include the increase in the Level Cap to 20, etc., etc., those who were listening distinctly remember Kate telling us that Module 9 was targeted for release in the December/January time frame.

The last time I checked my calendar...

The Gregorian Calendar...

... the calendar accepted internationally to help coordinate... everything...

*NOT* the Turbine Calendar...

It's now just past the middle of April.

APRIL!

I'm usually pretty patient with the folks at Turbine. After all, I've done my fair share of programming and application development. But,

...

YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN' ME!!!



As any long time readers (if any are left) may know... I've been working with Autodesk applications, like AutoCAD, 3ds Max and Revit, for over twenty (20) years now. During that time, I've seem something quite remarkable in the way they develop "improvements" to their software.

Namely that, when they promise to release something, they release *something*, ON SCHEDULE. It doesn't have to be ~everything~ they promised, but it has to be *something*.

Especially once they'd committed to requiring an annual subscription (maintenance) agreement for those who like to upgrade to new releases without paying full retail price for the new version of the software.

In fact, on an Autodesk Subscription, end-users are GUARANTEED at least one major update each year, along with at least one (but usually three) minor updates in between.

For this service, it costs about $700 each year to keep your software up to date.

Granted, that sounds like a lot, compared to the subscription for DDO, but investing in *any* software title written by Autodesk is quite significant. (As in, you can buy a brand new car for the price of some of their software.)

It seems to me that there needs to be a fundamental attitude adjustment on the part of the folks at Turbine. *IF* you're going to tell your user base that a new "Module" (an update) is coming, then you'd better stick to it. Even if it means you didn't get everything into it by the time you told people you were hoping to release it.

Actually, I wish Turbine would treat DDO in more the same manner that the company that produces my wife's game does. They publish small patches and updates to her game on an almost monthly release schedule. And, this is during the interval between any major updates they have planned.

Granted, the player base for my wife's game is significantly larger than that for DDO, which means they have far more money to throw at development. BUT (however)...

*THEY* seem to take development of her game more seriously than Turbine does of my game.

And the result is quite clear... it brings more players into her game. And the game continues to grow.

Meanwhile, I keep seeing folks growing tired of waiting for Turbine. And they end up taking a sabbatical, or even permanently leave the game.

How is that good for the longevity of DDO?

I mean, DDO is three years old now. But it *feels* more like it's sixty-eight.

I'm not saying that I have any intention of leaving DDO. But, if Turbine can't take my game seriously, then neither can I. I was once a seven-day-a-week player. These days I'm lucky if I put in three two-hour evenings.

I suppose there's *some* hope, however...

Turbine did announce that a Module 9 preview has been loaded onto the test server for players to beat on the new features before the prime-time release.

But, then, they haven't committed to a release date yet, either.

Oh, well... I guess I can go play with my Character Planner and see what new multi-class experiment I can come up with next.

Keep it fun!