1. How long have you played SoD?
- I have played SoD for about 5 months.
2. How did you hear of SoD?
- FoH forums
3. What character(s) do you play? Name(s), class(es), race(s) and level(s). Put your "main" character(s) in bold.
- Cleric, HIE, 65
- Shaman, Frg, 23
- Warrior, Halfling, 25
- a few other minor characters
4. How would you grade SoD? (On a scale from 1 to 10)
- When rating a game I look at 2 criteria. Gameplay and Customer service. I would give SoD a 4 out of 10. 4 out of 5 in gameplay, I find the GM events that occur above and beyond the average mmo experience. 0 out of 5 to the customer service. Gamewise, I think SoD has alot of potential. I think Wiz and the rest of the staff are creative and devoted to the creation of the game. However, my experience with the "customer service" end of the game has been disaterous. When I first started playing I evaluated the game to try to decide if I would become a donator, how much I would be willing to donate/could afford to donate. Immediatly I saw things in the staff that concerned me. As an adult player seeing "this is our sandbox, not yours" in the first 5 seconds of loading the game in the rules really made me wonder if the staff was mature. I decided to proceed with checking out the game hoping that it was just a gamers sense of humor showing in the rules. As I played the game I saw comments made by GM's in public channels that made me more concerned about the staff of the game. At this point I was hoping it was just a few individuals that would eventually be rooted out and replaced by Wiz. I had one serious issue with one particular GM making sexual remarks in a public channel that were offensive to me as a female player, when he was asked to stop the conversation he did nothing but insult the females that were complaining and even told me good riddance if I didn't like it. I followed the directions on the forums about who to contact in this sort of case. I sent in my complaint, complete with screenshots of the events showing the inappropriate comments of the GM, the 4-5 players that were asking him to stop the conversation and his responces to them. Wiz's responce to this PM was the first big glimmer of hope I had for the staff. He seemed concerned and eager to ensure this sort of treatment of his player base did not continue. To my surprise however the next day his support was totally withdrawn as he told me that the offending GM was not logged on "for the worst" of the conversation...yet in my screenshots, and in the logs, you can clearly see he is online and commenting. My main concern here is the fact that it was overlooked that the GM was making comments, that had they been to one person in particular, would be considered sexual harassment...not that he just let the conversation continue when people were asking him to put a stop to it. In the end I was told to contact everyone in the public chat channel and explain to them that we were all wrong in our personal oppinions of what occured...and that the offending GM was "innocent" of wrong doing. To say the least...I was appaled. I left the channel so that I would not be subject to this GM's chat any longer and informed Wiz that I was unable to fulfill his request because I disagreed with it on a personal level and feel other adults are able to make their own decisions on conversations. At this point I simply tried to avoid contact with the staff and enjoy the game community. I joined a guild and even participated in two GM events I came across. To my dismay, the implementation of the "Soandso has been JAILED" messages came about. I found it extremly disruptive to the feel and flow of the game to see such messages and not be able to turn them off or ignore them. Further frustration came from them containing unprofessional, sarcastic, and even beligerant remarks. After several attempts to make ammends with my feelings for the staff and enjoy the game I have decided not to be a donator and am leaving the game.
5. What do you like the most about SoD?
- The GM roleplay events and the special attention that is put into world events by the staff. The creativity of the staff and their endless hours in development is really a credit to them. I only wish their ability to deal with players was as much of a priority.
6. What do you like the least about SoD?
- Any interaction I have had with staff on an out of game (meaning non-roleplay) level. I am a former GM of another mmo and perhaps this causes me to have a rather hardassed opinion on how staff should conduct themselves. I do believe however that SoD would find it's donations status and player count increase dramatically if it showed more concern to the feelings of it's player base and would treat them with the dignity that adults should be given.
7. How well a job do you feel the SoD staff is doing at present?
- As far as their devotion to the game...they are amazing. There is rarely a time when a GM is not online. Weekly patches with new content, brainstorming etc are above and beyond any expectation I would have of a donation based game. However, the customer service aspect of the staff is extremly lacking. There is obvious prejudices against certain guilds and favortism towards others. The rest of my comments on staff have been noted.
8. What do you feel regarding low level (< 30) game balance on SoD presently?
- very nice.
9. What do you feel regarding low level (< 30) game content on SoD presently?
- I think one or two more zones are needed in this level range for xping.
10. What do you feel regarding mid level (30-49) game balance on SoD presently?
- still seems on par with other mmo's.
11. What do you feel regarding mid level (30-49) game content on SoD presently?
- this level range finds it difficult to find groups. only way I can think of to improove that is an increase in player base.
12. What do you feel regarding high level (50+) game balance on SoD presently?
- on par with other mmo's. Some classes are more adept than soloing than others but that is exactly the way it should be. A cleric should not be able to solo as well as a druid or ranger. There are a few concerns based around the rezzing abilities of other classes outside of clerics but I have not played these classes so I am not able to determine accuracy of this concern. From what I hear however, there seems to be a decrease in these classes solo-ability that would help balance the rez ability.
13. What do you feel regarding high level (50+) game content on SoD presently?
- There is certainly pleanty to do at these levels! Perhaps a few more high level quests could be implemented with more balanced rewards that would be close to raid loot levels. the changes to the Tmaps I think did help this area a great deal.
14. What do you think of the direction that SoD is taking at present with its updates (content versus fixes, usually)?
- I like the constant attention that the staff gives the gameplay aspects and the changes and implementations (both good and bad) that are seen each week. I am one of the folks that is not fond of the mana changes, but in a way it just adds a new aspect to playing and in the end I am sure the staff will find a nice balance to implement.
15. What is the most important factor that keeps you playing SoD (and the Game in general)?
- Sadly I am opting to leave SoD due to staff issues. I can play the worst games in creation for betas etc as long as I feel the staff is listening and active to the concerns of the players and respect the players, unfortunatrly respect shown to the staff does not give respect back.
16. Finally, what would you wish for the absolutely most to be implemented onto SoD?
- Two things:
- Customer service. I think the staff needs to revamp they way they handle people. Most responces from a Gm I see give me the impression they are burnt out, jaded and resent the fact they are a GM. It would be much better to give a more positive impression of support, concern and activity.
- More instancing.
*I know this post was long and not always flattering. I do hope the staff can take my comments and use them to improve upon a weak area that would greatly increase the ability of the game to be productive. I am sure you are all wonderful individuals, but at times we tend to loose sight of where we are and why we are there.
Respectfully.
- I have played SoD for about 5 months.
2. How did you hear of SoD?
- FoH forums
3. What character(s) do you play? Name(s), class(es), race(s) and level(s). Put your "main" character(s) in bold.
- Cleric, HIE, 65
- Shaman, Frg, 23
- Warrior, Halfling, 25
- a few other minor characters
4. How would you grade SoD? (On a scale from 1 to 10)
- When rating a game I look at 2 criteria. Gameplay and Customer service. I would give SoD a 4 out of 10. 4 out of 5 in gameplay, I find the GM events that occur above and beyond the average mmo experience. 0 out of 5 to the customer service. Gamewise, I think SoD has alot of potential. I think Wiz and the rest of the staff are creative and devoted to the creation of the game. However, my experience with the "customer service" end of the game has been disaterous. When I first started playing I evaluated the game to try to decide if I would become a donator, how much I would be willing to donate/could afford to donate. Immediatly I saw things in the staff that concerned me. As an adult player seeing "this is our sandbox, not yours" in the first 5 seconds of loading the game in the rules really made me wonder if the staff was mature. I decided to proceed with checking out the game hoping that it was just a gamers sense of humor showing in the rules. As I played the game I saw comments made by GM's in public channels that made me more concerned about the staff of the game. At this point I was hoping it was just a few individuals that would eventually be rooted out and replaced by Wiz. I had one serious issue with one particular GM making sexual remarks in a public channel that were offensive to me as a female player, when he was asked to stop the conversation he did nothing but insult the females that were complaining and even told me good riddance if I didn't like it. I followed the directions on the forums about who to contact in this sort of case. I sent in my complaint, complete with screenshots of the events showing the inappropriate comments of the GM, the 4-5 players that were asking him to stop the conversation and his responces to them. Wiz's responce to this PM was the first big glimmer of hope I had for the staff. He seemed concerned and eager to ensure this sort of treatment of his player base did not continue. To my surprise however the next day his support was totally withdrawn as he told me that the offending GM was not logged on "for the worst" of the conversation...yet in my screenshots, and in the logs, you can clearly see he is online and commenting. My main concern here is the fact that it was overlooked that the GM was making comments, that had they been to one person in particular, would be considered sexual harassment...not that he just let the conversation continue when people were asking him to put a stop to it. In the end I was told to contact everyone in the public chat channel and explain to them that we were all wrong in our personal oppinions of what occured...and that the offending GM was "innocent" of wrong doing. To say the least...I was appaled. I left the channel so that I would not be subject to this GM's chat any longer and informed Wiz that I was unable to fulfill his request because I disagreed with it on a personal level and feel other adults are able to make their own decisions on conversations. At this point I simply tried to avoid contact with the staff and enjoy the game community. I joined a guild and even participated in two GM events I came across. To my dismay, the implementation of the "Soandso has been JAILED" messages came about. I found it extremly disruptive to the feel and flow of the game to see such messages and not be able to turn them off or ignore them. Further frustration came from them containing unprofessional, sarcastic, and even beligerant remarks. After several attempts to make ammends with my feelings for the staff and enjoy the game I have decided not to be a donator and am leaving the game.
5. What do you like the most about SoD?
- The GM roleplay events and the special attention that is put into world events by the staff. The creativity of the staff and their endless hours in development is really a credit to them. I only wish their ability to deal with players was as much of a priority.
6. What do you like the least about SoD?
- Any interaction I have had with staff on an out of game (meaning non-roleplay) level. I am a former GM of another mmo and perhaps this causes me to have a rather hardassed opinion on how staff should conduct themselves. I do believe however that SoD would find it's donations status and player count increase dramatically if it showed more concern to the feelings of it's player base and would treat them with the dignity that adults should be given.
7. How well a job do you feel the SoD staff is doing at present?
- As far as their devotion to the game...they are amazing. There is rarely a time when a GM is not online. Weekly patches with new content, brainstorming etc are above and beyond any expectation I would have of a donation based game. However, the customer service aspect of the staff is extremly lacking. There is obvious prejudices against certain guilds and favortism towards others. The rest of my comments on staff have been noted.
8. What do you feel regarding low level (< 30) game balance on SoD presently?
- very nice.
9. What do you feel regarding low level (< 30) game content on SoD presently?
- I think one or two more zones are needed in this level range for xping.
10. What do you feel regarding mid level (30-49) game balance on SoD presently?
- still seems on par with other mmo's.
11. What do you feel regarding mid level (30-49) game content on SoD presently?
- this level range finds it difficult to find groups. only way I can think of to improove that is an increase in player base.
12. What do you feel regarding high level (50+) game balance on SoD presently?
- on par with other mmo's. Some classes are more adept than soloing than others but that is exactly the way it should be. A cleric should not be able to solo as well as a druid or ranger. There are a few concerns based around the rezzing abilities of other classes outside of clerics but I have not played these classes so I am not able to determine accuracy of this concern. From what I hear however, there seems to be a decrease in these classes solo-ability that would help balance the rez ability.
13. What do you feel regarding high level (50+) game content on SoD presently?
- There is certainly pleanty to do at these levels! Perhaps a few more high level quests could be implemented with more balanced rewards that would be close to raid loot levels. the changes to the Tmaps I think did help this area a great deal.
14. What do you think of the direction that SoD is taking at present with its updates (content versus fixes, usually)?
- I like the constant attention that the staff gives the gameplay aspects and the changes and implementations (both good and bad) that are seen each week. I am one of the folks that is not fond of the mana changes, but in a way it just adds a new aspect to playing and in the end I am sure the staff will find a nice balance to implement.
15. What is the most important factor that keeps you playing SoD (and the Game in general)?
- Sadly I am opting to leave SoD due to staff issues. I can play the worst games in creation for betas etc as long as I feel the staff is listening and active to the concerns of the players and respect the players, unfortunatrly respect shown to the staff does not give respect back.
16. Finally, what would you wish for the absolutely most to be implemented onto SoD?
- Two things:
- Customer service. I think the staff needs to revamp they way they handle people. Most responces from a Gm I see give me the impression they are burnt out, jaded and resent the fact they are a GM. It would be much better to give a more positive impression of support, concern and activity.
- More instancing.
*I know this post was long and not always flattering. I do hope the staff can take my comments and use them to improve upon a weak area that would greatly increase the ability of the game to be productive. I am sure you are all wonderful individuals, but at times we tend to loose sight of where we are and why we are there.
Respectfully.
