Graphics, the never-ending conundrum.
I’ve hesitated writing this because I worry it will be misunderstood as a rant, or a complaint. But I think this may be valuable and overall helpful to Citan so here we go.
10 days ago Citan said this in a post while replying about player housing...
“ Recently, I spent time trying to figure out why new players quit playing, and so my recent focus is... to try to keep new players from quitting. It turns out lots of players think Eltibule is especially ugly. That's is a problem because it's a new-player area. New players reach Eltibule, see those 90s-era ground textures, and they just can't deal... it's too ugly. So that needs to be the focus for the moment. “
Unfortunately, I think this statement is true. Though, I don’t think Eltibule is ugly, it’s not beautiful yet. For most of the current players this is ok because we understand the value of this game is in gameplay, mechanics, features, lore and so much more. Having said that, I think there is a base level, or minimum level of expected graphic quality in the year 2022. I love this game and I have tried to get many of my friends and family to play, all of which play other mmo’s like EQ2 and FFXIV, so this game seems like a perfect fit. The problem is, they are all turned off when they see my character. An example is, I have some pants with good stats that I don’t want to give up and they are really ugly and don’t match my other gear. Every time I try to show this game to someone, they see my character and laugh. I try to explain that they need to look past the graphics and it’s always the same reply. Too ugly.
Now, any serious PG player reading this would say … You are missing the point of the game!
To that I would say, No I am not. That’s why I play. I understand graphics are not the reason to play this game. But if the gear and landscape where just 10% better, I think we could draw in a few more players. Maybe I am wrong, but that’s at least what I have seen. I just want to see PG be a successful game and for that to happen, we need people to buy the game.
I also recognize the dev team is 2 or 3 people and they have prioritized other things over graphics, which the community agrees with. But at some point I worry that you have built such a fun game that it’s starting to appeal to the masses, and then the masses leave when they see the graphics. Such a conundrum.
