theHunter:Classic and its future

[HD_Artworks]

Hi, everyone.
I hope you have a great time IRL and in the game!

Well, before you start reading, please consider these important notes:

Note 1- This is not a complainant at all. I'm completely positive and I just sees the real things about the game and its future.

Note 2- I hope devs see this thread in a good way. Sometimes, players can see things that are hidden from devs. So, devs might notice many things from this thread.

Note 3- If you agree with me, please, try to be polite and judge the game as a fan, not a hater! And if you don't agree with me, please, don't attack me! I'm just a player and of course a fan of this game!

Note 4- Try to make this thread useful. I don't like to see this thread closed because of a useless fight at the end! We should support devs not only with our money! We have to help them by seeing things that might be hidden from them!

Thanks and I'll see you at the end of this post!

1- Bugs:
I know, EW created a thread about it a few days ago and I'm glad that EW has plans to do something about bugs. We all see EW fixed some bugs in the updates. But, as a player, that would be better to see the devs act like a bug-killer! In the recent updates, EW fixed some bugs that appeared in the previous features/updates! I'm sure you guys noticed that there are plenty of bugs still needs to fix for a long time(more than a year).
I'm not talking about what bugs need to fix first or which one is older. I'm just saying, a non-bugs game with fewer features is better than a game with lots of features and plenty of bugs...
So, I'm asking devs to do something about releasing updates and killing bugs. Me, as a player with more than 800 hrs playtime only on Steam would like to see fewer features and fewer bugs. Actually, one of the reasons that I don't have plan to renew my membership besides the economy things, is the bugs that affect gameplay.
I have to remind that I'm not a hater! I'm a fan and I'm trying to make this thread constructive...

2- Transactions:
Transactions in a game is not a bad thing and I'm not against it. theHunter:Classic like many other games are under heavy development and devs without money can't really do anything. One of the reasons that keep the game alive is money. No doubt about it. But some transactions are not good and the players feel bad when seeing these kinds of games. Usually, online games have to keep players satisfied and happy. Then players will spend money and support devs without any hesitation because they have a good time playing their game.

Let me take an example. Right now a new rifle+scope is about 1000em$.(Rifle= ~650em$ + Scope= ~350em$)
1000em$ is about $10 real money. I'm sure, many players don't like to spend $10 to buy a rifle in a game. Especially the new players. And online games will survive more with new players.
For example, 50% of new players spend $10 and buy the new rifle+scope. So, you think how many players will buy the new rifle+scope if it's about $5? I'm sure it will be so much more than 50%...

Let me show you some screenshots.
In this screenshot, you can see the game loses about 50% of its players on steam since the beginning of 2018.


And you can see the reason why they're leaving the game:

Spoiler:

As I promised, I'm not going to be a negative person. I'll never forget the good times I had in this game while playing with my friends. This game is really something different to me. That's why I promise to be constructive and try to turn the lights on for devs...

There are a bunch of good reviews too:

Spoiler:

But, the majority of players want to see the game more free to play. I'm not saying this game should be completely free...

I hope you know what I mean...

Ok guys. I hope you know what I'm saying and feel me. I really want to help the game and see the players change their opinions about the game. Because a negative opinion for any game can change others players mind that like to try the game...

If you guys agree with me, please reply in a polite way... And if you don't, be polite again!

Regards,
Hossein

[Max20077]

I brought up something similar to what you are now awhile ago. I agree with what you're trying to get across and it is a issue that I'm afraid won't be addressed and it may be to late if they tried.

[gas56]

Though your intentions are good at heart expecting a business to run things the way you see they could benefit from it isn't going to
change the way the business does its practice. STEAM reviews doesn't stop players who want to play the game and know how the
game base of member transaction works once they play the game have a decision to make whether they want to play the free version with limited access of the game
or pay for memberships and equipment to take full advantage of having full access of the game.
It's not rocket science to figure out, and players who knock down the game because they find out how the FTP part really works release their frustration on the
FTP aspect with bad STEAM reviews because they are not getting everything at no cost.
Ask yourself this...... If the game was completely FTP with full access of the game how would any company cost be paid for or profit be made by the business?
It couldn't! period. That's how simple it is and EW cannot change its business practice to make theHunter game profit otherwise.
Though the bad reviews on STEAM by players who don't want to support the game with money expect the exact opposite of how it really works.
Have a good day.............

[L3M182]

HD i can see where youre coming from, however the steam chart stats you post dont show the full story. allot of players still use the web launcher and since joining steam in june 2014 the hunter has peaked and troughed the entire time. granted it currently sits the lowest it ever has but this time of year following the trend is always the quiet time. it picks up towards the end of the year. maybe it coincides with the holidays or the major big game hunting seasons, who knows. maybe you're completely right

however what i have notices is this is no longer EWs flagship hunting game. cotw is the bigger game now. simple as that. ive got no information or data to prove this but i very much get the feeling thehunter classic is in its twilight years/months now

[Buckkiller4]

Though your intentions are good at heart expecting a business to run things the way you see they could benefit from it isn't going to
change the way the business does its practice. STEAM reviews doesn't stop players who want to play the game and know how the
game base of member transaction works once they play the game have a decision to make whether they want to play the free version with limited access of the game
or pay for memberships and equipment to take full advantage of having full access of the game.
It's not rocket science to figure out, and players who knock down the game because they find out how the FTP part really works release their frustration on the
FTP aspect with bad STEAM reviews because they are not getting everything at no cost.
Ask yourself this...... If the game was completely FTP with full access of the game how would any company cost be paid for or profit be made by the business?
It couldn't! period. That's how simple it is and EW cannot change its business practice to make theHunter game profit otherwise.
Though the bad reviews on STEAM by players who don't want to support the game with money expect the exact opposite of how it really works.
Have a good day.............

While I agree with a few points, I have to disagree with a few. I know a few people (and I'm one of them), who look at STEAM reviews to decide if they want to play a game. If you can't get more positive that outweighs the negative, most people will turn and avoid the game. Also, I don't think the original post was saying everything needs to be free, just that it needs to be cheaper. Another game that I play that is FTP that has had some discussions like this is War Thunder. While it is FTP, there are micro-transactions, but they are completely unnecessary and the full game can still be accessed. However, if you do pay you get significant bonuses. I for one, favor this over EW's business model but it is what it is. EW still needs to make money in the end, but I feel the prices could at least be lower for items. As for memberships, I actually find them a good value for how much you pay per day. I made a video about it on my YouTube channel, but for sake of time I'll sum it up here.

For a basic 3 month membership: $0.11 or 0.09 euros per day
For a basic 6 month membership: $0.10 or 0.08 euros per day
For a basic 12 month membership: $0.09 or 0.07 euros per day

For the Deer Hunter: $0.17 or 0.15 euros per day
For the Stealth Hunter: $0.22 or 0.19 euros per day
For the Duck Hunter: $0.27 or 0.23 euros per day

For Wayfarer: $0.17 or 0.15 euros per day
For Pathfinder: $0.18 or 0.15 euros per day
For Trailrunner: $0.14 or 0.12 euros per day

Overall I find the memberships are considerably fairly prices. Also considering that the bundles are not counting the stuff that comes with it, only amount of days you are paying for. I would also like to note these are approximate estimates and may be wrong.

[VonStratos]

Well there has been lots of discussions about the future of The Hunter, i remember when i joined there was already apocalyptic predictions about this game could not last another year of life... and here we are, still playing, I think we all agree that the game cant escape the hands of the time, and a new engine or a new The Hunter2 will be needed soon or later, but i think that after all the written in many discussions in the many years of this game is that the only certain is that The Hunter will be here as long be profitable.

Now the store may be expensive or cheap, for me is average compared to the many others mmo that i have seen, but something positive and that won me as fan of this economic model is that you get what you pay for, if you want "x" rifle ok just buy it, but many other games use economic models where to get that rifle(or desired item) you must buy some kind of tricky item like a lucky box that may or may not give the desired item(usually not) so you need buy lots of that box and hope you eventually get the thing. Here the things may be expensive, but you can buy it fair and square, you can buy all if you can afford it or just the minimum necessary for your purpose.

And i Agree with op about the bugs, i would trade 3 new reserves to solve half of the bugs of the game, but a list of bug fixes don't attract new costumers like a new reserve, or weapon, and devs need the income to keep the game afloat. so its complicated to balance new items and bug fixing, that's has been the reality of the game since i can remember.

[vsaet]

For me as an old player I have to say that if the game continue to not provide non online updates that make the game crash and push players to downloading the game from the beginning in opposition to steam that never a patching update fails the game goes to end or better it will given entirely to Steam . is something that most of players of " The Hunter classic" hope never comes but the reality is all different
If they can do it with the COTW they can do it here to. BUT they are not ready to lost money by permitting to player the choice of the update

[Pretty_Boy]

No.1 Bugs:

I have given the QA Manager (by a PM) full access to use my account, so they can re-create the crashes I get.
I have the most unstable maps in the entire hunter community, so if they can't re-create the crashes, it's because they can't start the game.
I have still granted them access to use my account, so I'm sure they know why the game crashes.
I have worked with QA myself, and it's about, does it work, or does it not, and it's nothing between.

If a dev use my account and host an 8 player MP, lets say on Whitehart, he/she may get 3 things: The computer will reboot due to a BSOD, or get the DxDiag error, in addition probably the longest of all error reports.

No.2 Transactions:

I do not care about the money this game cost.

No.3 What I think:

Since the game still is a 32bit game, and not converted to a 64bit game, means for me their business plan for this game for the future is limited.
Other old big 32bit game titles, devs has seen it neccesasy to convert their game into 64bit, to still be able to develop the game.
If it was me to decide, I would convert the game into 64bit while they still have millions of members.
Other even newer game titles gets their game remastered, it's a reason why they do it, and one reason is to keep their costumers.

[Konsilt]

I have been playing the hunter since the very start, I was 14 back then. The thing that made me play the game was it's graphics, I wanted to test my new PC before I get to Crysis. I absolutely fell in love, I even accepted game's monetary system. Keeping in mind that I was a kid with not alot of money and with no real life hunting background at all, that was a thing.

I have been observing the game, it's player base and other games and software with subscription models, I'm also working as an User Experience designer now and here is my point:
- The Hunter: Classic playerbase has always been based on people with real life hunting background, primarily from US and western europe, as they are wealthier and the whole system (including GM$, missions etc.) is made to force a player to pay as soon as possible and make him pay even more over time. That is working with current target group, but people that try the game just to see how it is most likely are not going to stay as they will feel despised and insulted by how the game forces you to pay even though it is branded as Free to Play. To turn things around, it would be enough to introduce something that blizzard does, a welcome packs and occasional paid packs that help new players or the "sunday players" catch up and not feel behind. These packs offer extreme value for money, help new players catch up and not feel insulted by the company and most important at the same time, old players that paid shitton already don't feel cheated. At current state a player sees the store and is like "are they mental they want me to pay that much or what". There could be for example packs for a new player to choose from, for example "big game hunter", "duck hunter", "silent ambusher". For example, silent ambusher would cost 10$ and consist of parker python and a tenpoint crossbow with sights, lures for some deer species, a treestand, a single tent, summer forest sneaky 3D and so on. That should've been really something, not another money milking machine. The point of it would be to help players start and let them pay more once they fall in love. Current FTP model does the opposite and membership options were good 7 years ago when there were 3 maps, not now when you have acces to 10% of content with these starters.
- Call of the Wild is already a decent game and it can "swap" with Classic over time as the devs add stuff. However, at some point people that invested loads of money into Classic will feel anxious. They won't be sure if they want to stay with dying game or to switch to a bit more arcade and still less developed (Im talking how it will be in a few years still) game. Another thing is that EW needs constant cash flow, I'm not sure if COTW can asure that, even with more DLCs coming out regularly. That's something that current Classic has, but it will slowly fade if they don't do anything to attract new and old but retired players (was a retired players myself for 4 years, I came back to the game because I started working, but I would never come back if I had no sentiments). That's why I think EW needs to treat these players with love and offer them something before they can pay more. A player that pays 10$ is still better than one that pays nothing and he will be much more likely to pay more in the future to try different playstyles.

[rhapsodaisical]

Just a note on the Screenshot. I love to see 2017 and 2016 as well. I played a lot of MMO's and May/Sept is always a vacation period and summer sales which draw players away for periods. More screens about former years would give is a better indicator. Right now it doesnt tell me much.

1 Bugs:
Bugs I can accept, no problem and am willing to do my part to improve the game. However my main gripe is that I hate the current sloppiness. Bugs happen, being sloppy and failing to do a check-double check before putting something live is crap. New updates messing up other aspects is a simple visual check and an improvement.(continuously) Sales that are messed for days without Devs noticing (I mean, update store, refresh, check -> adjust?)

2 Money:
I will always top my game up with Em$ when I can but I have to admit that recent errors/bugs have gotten me more reserved. They can have my money, but I expect a good quality game. (When you go to a restaurant and the food is delicious but the plates are all chipped and cracked you start to wonder if they actually care)

3 Thoughts:
Given TheHunter keeps launching new items and mechanics I will keep on playing as its a one of a kind game. Their only concern with me is that there will be a more complete game beating Classic (and COTW isnt it!) or if the sloppy Q&A continues over a longer period (not summer period w less manpower)