Game Update 22nd February 2017

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BucksNBuffalo
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Game Update 22nd February 2017

Post by BucksNBuffalo »

Mills wrote:Totally agree with Chuck on that one. The barrel attractiveness needs to be re-worked asap. I miss being able to sit in my tree stand droppin' bears with my bows one after one. Right now there is no point of filling the barrels/feeders for this very reason.
And even so, Millsie (lol), it wasn't even about dropping 20-30 bears in a session as you know. The way the feeders worked was it attracted even when you were not online (just a little gimmick, we all know this). The amount of bears spawned close to your feeders and in the area was based on the attraction levels, and used the one-hour animal travel time difference. Sometimes, there could be 3,4,5 bears directly at the barrels when you got there, with a few more on the outskirts. Other times, there was maybe one directly at the feeder already, with 2 en route which you were able to see coming and maybe a few more on the outskirts. There was even a hierarchy introduced, with smaller bears hastily leaving the feeder and running to the outskirts when larger bears appeared. It made for some very fun and exciting moments, even walking to your feeder could be very dangerous. And the bears themselves, would spook and take a long time to come back if they even did. That's when the smaller ones would move in. The attraction radius was quite high, giving the bears character to show off their extremely sensitive noses. Even IRL, you can have a group of Black Bears around a feeder, tho ofc they are not exactly friendly to each other haha. This worked in game perfectly. Now....just a memory. But, let's see what happens here evantually. Alena did say a while back that they'd have to rethink the design based on our feedback, and I do trust her words as she's always been up front. So, we just wait. And our bears continue to get skinner and skinnier lol.....

Ok but enough about this, let's get back on the topic here, and that is the game update from yesterday :)
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Hawkeye
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Re: Game Update 22nd February 2017

Post by Hawkeye »

InstinctiveArcher wrote:I really don't think that filling baits from the launcher is a good idea. I know that this game doesn't do everything super realistically, but filling baits without even going into a game seems to be going a bit to far to me. Filling baits manually also means that you are more invested in the entire process. Not just click a button, wait a few days, then go shoot something. Just doesn't seem right to me.
Alright all you haters, let me have it. :lol:
Alright, i guess I'm a hater, so I'm gonna let you have it! :) There isn't an issue of feeder maintenance when you own just a few feeders, but when you try to maintain the limit, it gets cumbersome fast. When combined with the fact that you have to do this every few days, it's even worse. The current feeder maintenance mechanic is so cumbersome that people who have to travel for work, go on vacation, have a medical issue, or simply not play for a few days, find themselves with empty feeders & decreasing attraction. Even for the player that tries to manually fill all their feeders, sooner or later, real life kicks in, and you're not able to play for a few days, your feeders go empty, and you find yourself having to refill them all again & wait a week before they're huntable. In many cases, it is the prospect of having to start the entire process over again that discourages players from restarting their bait sites.

Think of this from the perspective of somebody that has to travel one week per month. They would return home, fill all their feeders, wait a week before they're at max attraction, have 2 weeks to hunt them, travel for a week, return home with empty feeders & declining attraction, restarting the cycle. Under the current mechanics/system, baiting sites is just not realistic for this player. That's just one example, but I'm sure there are many examples where the current system is prohibitive.

In my case, there are some feeders I might not hunt very often at all, but I still want to keep them full. Let's say if I have 3 bear barrels on a map. I might hunt one or two of them myself, but keep them all full for MP hosting. This means visiting that last feeder is not something that I would naturally do. I would much rather pay Doc to have one of his folks keep them full.
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InstinctiveArcher
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Re: Game Update 22nd February 2017

Post by InstinctiveArcher »

Hawkeye wrote:
InstinctiveArcher wrote:I really don't think that filling baits from the launcher is a good idea. I know that this game doesn't do everything super realistically, but filling baits without even going into a game seems to be going a bit to far to me. Filling baits manually also means that you are more invested in the entire process. Not just click a button, wait a few days, then go shoot something. Just doesn't seem right to me.
Alright all you haters, let me have it. :lol:
Alright, i guess I'm a hater, so I'm gonna let you have it! :) There isn't an issue of feeder maintenance when you own just a few feeders, but when you try to maintain the limit, it gets cumbersome fast. When combined with the fact that you have to do this every few days, it's even worse. The current feeder maintenance mechanic is so cumbersome that people who have to travel for work, go on vacation, have a medical issue, or simply not play for a few days, find themselves with empty feeders & decreasing attraction. Even for the player that tries to manually fill all their feeders, sooner or later, real life kicks in, and you're not able to play for a few days, your feeders go empty, and you find yourself having to refill them all again & wait a week before they're huntable. In many cases, it is the prospect of having to start the entire process over again that discourages players from restarting their bait sites.

Think of this from the perspective of somebody that has to travel one week per month. They would return home, fill all their feeders, wait a week before they're at max attraction, have 2 weeks to hunt them, travel for a week, return home with empty feeders & declining attraction, restarting the cycle. Under the current mechanics/system, baiting sites is just not realistic for this player. That's just one example, but I'm sure there are many examples where the current system is prohibitive.

In my case, there are some feeders I might not hunt very often at all, but I still want to keep them full. Let's say if I have 3 bear barrels on a map. I might hunt one or two of them myself, but keep them all full for MP hosting. This means visiting that last feeder is not something that I would naturally do. I would much rather pay Doc to have one of his folks keep them full.
Never thought about it that way. I never had trouble filling my one hog feeder and bear barrel. :lol: If you're running a full scale operation, I guess that would be pretty handy.
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stancomputerhunter
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Re: Game Update 22nd February 2017

Post by stancomputerhunter »

Hawkeye wrote:
InstinctiveArcher wrote:I really don't think that filling baits from the launcher is a good idea. I know that this game doesn't do everything super realistically, but filling baits without even going into a game seems to be going a bit to far to me. Filling baits manually also means that you are more invested in the entire process. Not just click a button, wait a few days, then go shoot something. Just doesn't seem right to me.
Alright all you haters, let me have it. :lol:
Alright, i guess I'm a hater, so I'm gonna let you have it! :) There isn't an issue of feeder maintenance when you own just a few feeders, but when you try to maintain the limit, it gets cumbersome fast. When combined with the fact that you have to do this every few days, it's even worse. The current feeder maintenance mechanic is so cumbersome that people who have to travel for work, go on vacation, have a medical issue, or simply not play for a few days, find themselves with empty feeders & decreasing attraction. Even for the player that tries to manually fill all their feeders, sooner or later, real life kicks in, and you're not able to play for a few days, your feeders go empty, and you find yourself having to refill them all again & wait a week before they're huntable. In many cases, it is the prospect of having to start the entire process over again that discourages players from restarting their bait sites.

Think of this from the perspective of somebody that has to travel one week per month. They would return home, fill all their feeders, wait a week before they're at max attraction, have 2 weeks to hunt them, travel for a week, return home with empty feeders & declining attraction, restarting the cycle. Under the current mechanics/system, baiting sites is just not realistic for this player. That's just one example, but I'm sure there are many examples where the current system is prohibitive.

In my case, there are some feeders I might not hunt very often at all, but I still want to keep them full. Let's say if I have 3 bear barrels on a map. I might hunt one or two of them myself, but keep them all full for MP hosting. This means visiting that last feeder is not something that I would naturally do. I would much rather pay Doc to have one of his folks keep them full.
I submit this scenario..aside from the number of feeders you have, would make EW more money. If you were able to even top up feeders that don't get to 100% for over a week, you would purchase more bait in the long run.


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Hawkeye
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Re: Game Update 22nd February 2017

Post by Hawkeye »

stancomputerhunter wrote:
Hawkeye wrote:
InstinctiveArcher wrote:I really don't think that filling baits from the launcher is a good idea. I know that this game doesn't do everything super realistically, but filling baits without even going into a game seems to be going a bit to far to me. Filling baits manually also means that you are more invested in the entire process. Not just click a button, wait a few days, then go shoot something. Just doesn't seem right to me.
Alright all you haters, let me have it. :lol:
Alright, i guess I'm a hater, so I'm gonna let you have it! :) There isn't an issue of feeder maintenance when you own just a few feeders, but when you try to maintain the limit, it gets cumbersome fast. When combined with the fact that you have to do this every few days, it's even worse. The current feeder maintenance mechanic is so cumbersome that people who have to travel for work, go on vacation, have a medical issue, or simply not play for a few days, find themselves with empty feeders & decreasing attraction. Even for the player that tries to manually fill all their feeders, sooner or later, real life kicks in, and you're not able to play for a few days, your feeders go empty, and you find yourself having to refill them all again & wait a week before they're huntable. In many cases, it is the prospect of having to start the entire process over again that discourages players from restarting their bait sites.

Think of this from the perspective of somebody that has to travel one week per month. They would return home, fill all their feeders, wait a week before they're at max attraction, have 2 weeks to hunt them, travel for a week, return home with empty feeders & declining attraction, restarting the cycle. Under the current mechanics/system, baiting sites is just not realistic for this player. That's just one example, but I'm sure there are many examples where the current system is prohibitive.

In my case, there are some feeders I might not hunt very often at all, but I still want to keep them full. Let's say if I have 3 bear barrels on a map. I might hunt one or two of them myself, but keep them all full for MP hosting. This means visiting that last feeder is not something that I would naturally do. I would much rather pay Doc to have one of his folks keep them full.
I submit this scenario..aside from the number of feeders you have, would make EW more money. If you were able to even top up feeders that don't get to 100% for over a week, you would purchase more bait in the long run.
Exactly. The system becomes less prohibitive for the player and is better for everybody. Players can more easily maintain their feeders, keeping them full, less downtime, more time hunting, and EW makes more off of bait.
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Re: Game Update 22nd February 2017

Post by phil1 »

Hawkeye wrote: Players can more easily maintain their feeders, keeping them full, less downtime, more time hunting, and EW makes more off of bait.
Which kind of asks the question, why does it need to be a premium feature? They'll sell more bait, which you can buy with $GM! ;)

Thanks Alena for clarifying my earlier question.

On another subject:
Alena Rybik wrote: But while we are doing it and in order to be able to afford doing it, we still need to produce a constant revenue stream, that's why we are looking into new premium features that would be interesting enough for players to invest money into using them as opposed to owning their 20th rifle.
The reason I used to buy a lot of equipment and weapons, was to increase my Hunterscore, not for leaderboards, but for my own personal enjoyment, much the same reason as why I did all the missions. So when the weapon and animal achievements doubled overnight, it removed my reason for buying new weapons, if they had remained more achievable, I would have probably kept investing and as Alena says "own my 20th rifle". At the time I said it would affect sales and that EW had shot themselves in the foot.

A few of my playing friends have max'ed out every reserve with equipment and feeders (and boy, do I mean max'ed out), because they enjoyed playing MP and encouraging new players to join their servers. They have spent many, many thousands of US$, not $ems. When the barrels were 'fixed to work as originally intended', they stopped filling them (As pointed out by Bucks n Buffalo, they originally worked correctly, it's just that EW changed them in the past to being less effective).
Most of my friends have stopped playing now and that's another reason why I hardly ever play anymore. You might bring them back by returning the barrels to their original state, but it would be a slap in the face to expect them to pay extra to autofill the barrels.

And now to the crux of the matter, this is a game, not a simulator. There are too many factors and variables that cannot be simulated in a computer game, the experience and rewards cannot be replicated. By restricting gameplay choices, changing the effectiveness of barrels, changing the permissions of weapons for certain species and the myriad of other changes, chasing the misguided concept of 'Realism' has cost you players and money. Yes, those that advocate realism above all else will be the last to leave the sinking ship, but the game cannot survive on those numbers of players and you need paying customers.

Finally, as Instinctivearcher brought up the term 'Hater', I'd just like to point out that there is another group of people out there, whose numbers are growing quickly (apart the from the 'Fanboys/girls) and that's those of us who just don't care anymore.

Good luck for the future.
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L3M182
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Re: Game Update 22nd February 2017

Post by L3M182 »

Alena Rybik wrote:
L3M182 wrote:well i think this is a fantastic update. Too long the trophy shot mode has been in need of an overhaul and now it has one. However thats how i see it an overhaul of old content, i thought my membership went towards constant development and thats how i see this. I dont see it as a new piece of equipment like a rifle, bow or bait sight etc, weve always payed fairly big price tags for that stuff and thats always been up to the individual player to justify. but this is just meat on the bones and modernization of long overdue game features. this is on par with if we'd be charged to have the new reload animations or the new black and brown bear fur textures or the ability to fill bait sights from launcher if that ever becomes a thing.

i really want these poses, they would have game me an incentive to start keeping trophy pictures again but i wont be buying becasue A) i cant talk myself into buying poses for an old game that cost a 3rd of the price of the entire game just released by the same company(and thats at the bundle price) and B) becasue if i do it just open the door to get charged for any additional changes that are made to the core game. members shoulda got this stuff for free just like the use of an avatar in trophy pictures and the use of profile pictures.

disappointing.

I've decided to take your post to express my position on this matter, but I will try to address not only yours sentiments but also similar ones of other people.

I get what you are coming from, "pure" features is not something we monetized a lot in the past as opposed to "pure" content, such as weapons, or equipment, or similar in-game items, and I understand that someone's first reaction to this could be surprise and yes, maybe even disappointment. There are two things I would like you to ask you to consider:

1) Why introduce paid features? After 7 years of live operations and constant stream of new and half-new content I am feeling that theHunter Classic has a quite sufficient amount of that, to put it mildly. And I think that the community shares my opinion on that one. Sure, we can always introduce new rifle, or a shotgun, or a piece of equipment, but: a) it's getting more and more difficult to come up with something that would be exciting enough; b) players who have everything are not that keen on buying their n-th rifle, and that's understandable. But we, as a company, still need to make money, every day and every month, for the ship to stay afloat. Salaries, servers and other company bills need to be paid. Otherwise theHunter Classic will seize to exist. When I said in one of the status updates that we are looking for the game to grow deeper, not wider, I meant that, as I feel that this is the only way for us to stay relevant and interesting for our community. But while we are doing it and in order to be able to afford doing it, we still need to produce a constant revenue stream, that's why we are looking into new premium features that would be interesting enough for players to invest money into using them as opposed to owning their 20th rifle.

2) What should cost money? Now to the point what is the meat on the bones (I liked your metaphor) and what should cost money. New reload animations, revamping bears or polishing deer animations is the meat on the bones, and this will never cost extra money. When we release a new animal or a new reserve, this never costs extra, in fact your membership didn't increase in price for many years, so you are now getting access to 10 reserves with 37 animals for the same price as when theHunter had half of that. This is meat on the bones and this is what our membership is about. When we bring out premium features - something you DO NOT need to play and enjoy game, something hat doesn't have a significant impact on the gameplay, something that serves as a little extra for those who care enough, this is what we feel should be available to be purchased. Think of it as a bit of fat on the meat on the bones - it makes it tastier and juicer, but it's not a must to enjoy the meat. Some people don't even like fat ;) Premium poses for your character to make your trophy shots more aesthetically pleasing - one of such examples, because you still have old basic functionality which works well (as we read above, some people think that the existing functionality is better than poses); filling barrels from the web / launcher, if we were to introduce those - same, because you do not need to use the feature to achieve the same result in game, it's a matter of convenience and saving time; overhauling the harvest screen and other game UI, improving the baiting system, adding new animals, reserves, events, competitions etc. - not the same, and we are offering this at no additional cost.

Thank you.

firstly thanks Alena for taking the time to give such a detailed explanation and answer, the explanation has gone along way to clearing this up. all i can say is im elated the company has decided to maybe go "deeper instead of wider" in terms of content. other than drive hunts i cant think of much id like to see in the game that we dont already have so expanding on current content is a winner in my books. and i understand you cant go deeper without funding. the flip side to that is some of us have been funding with memberships content that has long been broken. is that fair?

all i ask is that if you rely on members to sustain the game when times are hard, look after the members when times are not so hard. i must admit personally at times ive felt that this is a one way street and that the focus was on getting members not keeping them. prove me/us wrong. loyalty bonus, discounts, the odd reskin perhaps. a free pose for every year you'd held a membership. wasnt long ago the decision was made to overhaul what a guest gets on the house. just food for thought.
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RickC
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Re: Game Update 22nd February 2017

Post by RickC »

InstinctiveArcher wrote:I really don't think that filling baits from the launcher is a good idea. I know that this game doesn't do everything super realistically, but filling baits without even going into a game seems to be going a bit to far to me. Filling baits manually also means that you are more invested in the entire process. Not just click a button, wait a few days, then go shoot something. Just doesn't seem right to me.
Alright all you haters, let me have it. :lol:
What about allowing tents to be placed close to the bait stations? They'd sell more tents.

I cannot remember what the 400 or so meter restriction was for.
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Re: Game Update 22nd February 2017

Post by Trackfield »

L3M182 wrote: firstly thanks Alena for taking the time to give such a detailed explanation and answer, the explanation has gone along way to clearing this up. all i can say is im elated the company has decided to maybe go "deeper instead of wider" in terms of content. other than drive hunts i cant think of much id like to see in the game that we dont already have so expanding on current content is a winner in my books. and i understand you cant go deeper without funding. the flip side to that is some of us have been funding with memberships content that has long been broken. is that fair?

all i ask is that if you rely on members to sustain the game when times are hard, look after the members when times are not so hard. i must admit personally at times ive felt that this is a one way street and that the focus was on getting members not keeping them. prove me/us wrong. loyalty bonus, discounts, the odd reskin perhaps. a free pose for every year you'd held a membership. wasnt long ago the decision was made to overhaul what a guest gets on the house. just food for thought.

Well put L3M182, You wrote a good post and things to think about for sure, but this one part you wrote, sums it up as to how I feel (not speaking for others)

"all i ask is that if you rely on members to sustain the game when times are hard, look after the members when times are not so hard"
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Re: Game Update 22nd February 2017

Post by Slinky Pickle »

tsg303 wrote:An error occured. Download of torrent data failed?
Anyone else have this fail?
Yes, this is what I receive over and over since the update. So far I am not able to play TheHunter. I have rebooted a number of times but haven't had any success updating.

Have you installed COTW?
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