Read more about our plans for the year in a new Producer's Letter!

Read the letter and see the road map on DDO.com. Thank you and have fun! Feel free to offer your feedback in this thread.

Producers Letter: January 2023

https://assets-cdn.daybreakgames.com.../101.jpg?v=1.0

Greetings! I’m Producer Amanda “Tolero” Grow, and today I’ll be giving you a look at what’s coming up for DDO in 2023. I hope that your New Years has been off to a wonderful start, and we’re looking forward to more fun and excitement in DDO this year.

If you’re new to DDO or coming back after a long break, here’s a recap of the latest things that have been added to the game: Last year our story took us to the Isle of Dread, where in addition to fighting dinosaurs, players came face to face with the infamous D&D villain Vecna! We had an exciting Hardcore Season in the summer, as players were hunted down by deadly Hounds throughout the game. We added Archetypes to the game, bringing new ways to play and build our D&D classes. And we introduced a major overhaul of the Character Bank, with filters, customizable tabs, and expanded amounts of storage there. Towards the end of 2022 we debuted our latest Adventure Pack which brought players back to Sharn to continue thwarting Vecna and others over the fate of the Planar Eyes.

Now that I’ve covered the big beats of where we’ve been, let’s talk about where we are going next. Our game will be celebrating its 17th anniversary this year with fun free content! We’ll introduce three new free Archetypes as well as a free Dungeon for all players to play.

https://assets-cdn.daybreakgames.com.../142.png?v=1.0

Work in progress rendering of our upcoming 17th Anniversary armor!

The free quest will set the stage for the upcoming Mini Expansion in the spring, where players will help Morgrave University try and neutralize the threat posed by Vecna. Our long-running story will reach a peak we know you'll want to be a part of! We’ll have a lot more information about the story and content of our mini-expansion as we get closer to it. After that we’ll be kicking off a new Hardcore season this summer with another rules change up, but we’ll release more details about that later.

We spoke last year about work being done to reduce lag and improve game performance, and you saw some elements of that work get deployed in 2022. This work will continue in 2023! We've been focusing on the way the game communicates with itself, along with making some of our more complex systems more efficient behind the scenes. One reason for this focus is that we are able to measure the impact it has, before and after, and while no one fix will banish lag for good, we are able to see the benefits of these small but steady improvements over time. We know you want us to make lag reduction a focus, and we agree!

There are more features and content happening later in the year, such as a Legendary revamp of Droaam content and another Hardcore redux season, but this should give you a good sense of what is in store for the first part of 2023 and beyond. We can’t wait to see you in game!

Tolero

What about ViP?

No complaints about what is there but it seems pretty lacking to this reader. Are we to assume

• No level increase this year?
• No changes to VIP benefits?
• No improvements to processes that saw some of the worst updates in DDO history?
• No further changes to banking even though what is there is insufficient and not working?
• ...

Basically, so much not mentioned and nothing to address the drama that has cropped up in the past few months. It is a marketing brochure more than a producers letter, IMO.

Lag has been reduced? Where?

Enlarged bank, yay! But very minor and for outrageous prices, it's still buggy, and it's still more annoying to use. So... not quite yay?

Not a word about VIPs, but hey, we can get to pay for a "mini-expansion" - aka rebranded adventure pack that we used to get included in the VIP subscription.

No mention of new classes or races or levels, but more archetypes that have so far been fairly meh. Hopefully the new ones are better.

This can't be possible. What an underwhelming letter.
Does anyone know another game worth investing 15 years in?

Unbelievably weak.

Justifies canceling my VIP even more. Producers "letter" what a Friggen JOKE.

what's this?

any of us could have written something like this, if being told that the mini-expansion (it was alredy clear that this year we would have the 2nd ddo mini-expansion) was about Vecna and that the yearly revamp was about Drooam.

and also told to write this thing from lotro forum but changing the words a little, like when we used to cheat some homework when we were kids

https://forums.lotro.com/forums/show...35#post8173135

(copypaste)
We have spent a lot of time and energy investigating and resolving sources of degraded game performance over the past two years, and that work will continue in 2023. Much of the work is centering on how the game communicates with itself, to become as efficient as possible, and to improve the various game systems when we can in cases where older design perhaps didn't fully consider the ramifications of a game entering its 16th year and the amount of things that would be added to it. You've already seen some of this work, including things like land block loading and the way some deeds query the system, well, also the updated Legendary Item system really, but there is always more work to do. While no one change or fix will permanently remove lag from the game, our ongoing work will chip away at it.
(end copypaste)


all the rest is hardcore and festivals, yeah we know they are going to be a thing. what is this, seriously.


and about vip? i don't care, i don't pay for vip, and i love the fact that ddo lets you play with zero hassle even if you don't subscribe, unlike other games, please go on by this path it's cool and you did and doing the right thing....but i feel so sorry for my dear fellow players who paid and are paying for...what exactly? would you please tell em something?

At first I thought "you know maybe because I clicked on the link so fast after Cordovan posted it, the real letter wasn't available yet." That was my first thought, honest.

I am shell shocked at how tone deaf this letter is to the requests and comments from the player base.

1 free quest and 1 Adventure pack?
A Mini Expansion?

No comments on VIP.

It would have been better to not release a Producer's Letter than to release this.

Wow. Really, really bad. Wow.

Looks like the other thread has it right, giving the number one sign to VIP's.

ON a positive note, that armor might be the best thing you guys have done over the last 3 years.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Tap4black

Justifies canceling my VIP even more. Producers "letter" what a Friggen JOKE.

---

Other than those that praise anything that comes out of SSG's mouths, everyone else prefers not to be gaslit. The writing has been on the wall for years.

This "update" is the culmination of ever more aggressive means to monetize the game (which I have ZERO problem with as it is a business) but provide incrementally less and less value in return. The constant shard and Otto box sales are a clear indication that SSG wants quantity (money) over quality (content). The value proposition is eroding - fast.

Everyone who is of open mind and has a modicum of critical thought should realize this is a game in slow demise. It happens to businesses all of the time and to pretend SSG is somehow immune to profit/investor expectations is folly.

Wasn't there talk of a Ravenloft mini expansion this year?

I still haven't gotten the furries & dinosaurs expansion, but it doesn't interest me as much as Ravenloft.

I'm okay if you forgo the Ravenloft mini expansion for a Ravenloft full expansion next year.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ahpook

No level increase this year?

---

I assume no level jump with this mini-expansion as it wasn't mentioned; but that would be a big question that would nice to hear officially if we are/aren't getting a bump with it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Assassination

Wow. Really, really bad. Wow.

Looks like the other thread has it right, giving the number one sign to VIP's.

ON a positive note, that armor might be the best thing you guys have done over the last 3 years.

---

A cosmetic armor is NOTHING I will spend money on. So... I'll just go with the rest of your post. +1

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gordo

only one update? 58 is it?

---

4 updates like always.

https://i.imgur.com/QyroLd8.jpg

You can see the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into the production of this epic tome. The effort of slaving over the keyboard for several months, meticulously composing this masterful narrative shines through!

Anyone wanna go to PAX and ask them point-blank why they are ignoring us? Would be funny.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WaxLyrical

You can see the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into the production of this epic tome. The effort of slaving over the keyboard for several months, meticulously composing this masterful narrative shines through!

---

Someone nat20'd their sarcasm role.

I don't wanna harsh anyone's VIP pitch-fork rally...but, I'm excited about this year.

there's free content for all. new dungeons new archetypes!

i'm most curious as to what the Raid Update bullet is about...anticipation building. :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WaxLyrical

You can see the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into the production of this epic tome. The effort of slaving over the keyboard for several months, meticulously composing this masterful narrative shines through!

---

Uhh, I think you misspelled “minutes.” :D

I’m not as doom and gloom about this, but it is a weirdly vague letter. The roadmap contains as many updates as normal, and a ‘spring’ mini x-pack is earlier than expected.

What is super noticeable is the lack of character content detailed. Nothing on archetype plans beyond next updates, nothing on the missing three destinies. And I find that weird because there’s no evidence that content is less important - the Druid archetype on lamania looks more involved than the usual 1x universal tree we got per x-pack in the past. Clearly they still have ideas!

The lotro one was more specific and most of their big stuff is longer away. IDK?

Anyway, a strange letter, and bad hype building, but I’m not going to read too much into that.

Sev stream will be interesting after this…

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Arkat

4 updates like always.

---

Arkat. If you believe three of those four are "updates" instead of rinse/wash/repeat of old content, I can't help you.
Respectfully.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by systemshaker1941

Anyone wanna go to PAX and ask them point-blank why they are ignoring us? Would be funny.

---

100% if we can also find another game to invest time and money in as well.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WiseFreelancer

I’m not as doom and gloom about this, but it is a weirdly vague letter. The roadmap contains as many updates as normal, and a ‘spring’ mini x-pack is earlier than expected.

What is super noticeable is the lack of character content detailed. Nothing on archetype plans beyond next updates, nothing on the missing three destinies. And I find that weird because there’s no evidence that content is less important - the Druid archetype on lamania looks more involved than the usual 1x universal tree we got per x-pack in the past. Clearly they still have ideas!

The lotro one was more specific and most of their big stuff is longer away. IDK?

Anyway, a strange letter, and bad hype building, but I’m not going to read too much into that.

Sev stream will be interesting after this…

---

Your response is tempered, thoughtful, and is good example to the rest of us. It is hard to ignore the disappointment I feel.

I'll be honest: this letter is a bit underwhelming -- and a far cry from what we got on the LOTRO side (which was excellent across the board, bar the lack of mention of lag updates, which DDO has, at least, addressed). I appreciate the roadmap, and credit Tolero with giving us the first roadmap last year when LOTRO had none.

But this letter is very spartan and lacking in any detail. Why not a mention of a new Iconic or Race with the new expansion? You don't even need to give details, like LOTRO's "New Class" for Q4.

We also really need additions to VIP, and I was kind of expecting that this would be addressed in the letter.

I'm looking forward to the new content regardless, but this letter should make me super excited for the year ahead. Instead, I feel a little let down.

-Bel

I was so excited when I got the notification that the Producers letter was out! I really couldn't concentrate on meetings ai was in. Then my meetings ended...and I read it...

Ok, 4 updates. Typical.

Honestly, nothing screamed off the page to me. I really love this game, but there could have been more to hype me for 2023. I read this as, rinse and repeat.

Oh well.

Why am I always disappointed playing this game? Tolero's letter last year was much more impressive, and this roadmap of information we already knew does nothing to excite me for the coming year. And noticeably missing is ANYTHING to do with VIP improvements.

If I tried to intentionally sabotage this game, I don't think I could do any better than the developers.

Yeah this feels like a non-letter....like it's just a bunch of fluff just to have "a letter" but doesn't actually convey any info that hasn't already been said for a while

Also I'm still fuzzy on what a mini expansion means, besides "we're going to do less but still charge you full price"

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by droid327

Also I'm still fuzzy on what a mini expansion means, besides "we're going to do less but still charge you full price"

---

This is not true. You're not fuzzy at all about what it means, you just wrote precisely the meaning of it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dandonk

This is not true. You're not fuzzy at all about what it means, you just wrote precisely the meaning of it.

---

Correct. The letter is just cringe. SSG holds its customers in very low regard. That this would pass as a business announcement without ANYONE inside SSG saying "wait a sec" is dumbfounding.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mbartol

Uhh, I think you misspelled “minutes.” :D

---

this is what happens when you leave your magnum opus to ChatGPT

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by droid327

Yeah this feels like a non-letter....like it's just a bunch of fluff just to have "a letter" but doesn't actually convey any info that hasn't already been said for a while

Also I'm still fuzzy on what a mini expansion means, besides "we're going to do less but still charge you full price"

---

They have been less expensive than the full expansions, but they really are along the lines of

" Here's a pack that used to be free for VIP'S, But were going to charge you anyway" expansion.

No no no. You guys aren't seeing what I'm seeing.

That "raid" update is going to be legendary T.o.D.

RIGHT DEVS?!

So, like, THAT would be cool, imo. So.... I'm choosing to be optimistic.


As-is, there really isn't enough info here to be excited or not. It's just a skelly, and the devil will be in the details. Also, there's devils in T.o.D... JUST SAYIN'!

Quote:

---

Read MORE about our plans for the year in a new Producer's Letter!

---

I might be confused where is the “MORE” part of the letter.

There is virtually nothing in here we couldn’t already surmise.
Okay not entirely true the Mini Expansion is a quarter earlier than expected, there is only one new adventure pack when we were expecting two.

No classic D&D module. No comment on race or universal trees or epic destinies.

No comment on VIP, nothing on transfer issues, nothing on anything.

Please add cosmetic wings in the mini expansion ultimate pack.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Meat-Head

No no no. You guys aren't seeing what I'm seeing.

That "raid" update is going to be legendary T.o.D.

RIGHT DEVS?!

So, like, THAT would be cool, imo. So.... I'm choosing to be optimistic.


As-is, there really isn't enough info here to be excited or not. It's just a skelly, and the devil will be in the details. Also, there's devils in T.o.D... JUST SAYIN'!

---

It MUST be Legendary ToD. This will make me happy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by droid327

Yeah this feels like a non-letter....like it's just a bunch of fluff just to have "a letter" but doesn't actually convey any info that hasn't already been said for a while

Also I'm still fuzzy on what a mini expansion means, besides "we're going to do less but still charge you full price"

---

While I agree on the disappointment about the letter (and I can't really understate how disappointing it is), I think many should know what a mini-expansion is by now (we've had one before for DDO and two before for LOTRO): a somewhat smaller scope expansion with a lower price tag. For example, the base edition of Saltmarsh (our previous mini-expansion, which was pretty good overall, and arguably better than what LOTRO got) is $20 compared to $40 for others, and we got a 10% discount for VIPs to boot (a small gesture, and not enough to address VIP's lacklustre offering, but still appreciated). I think it's fair to criticise SSG for this letter and the treatment of VIPs, but not to say that we're being charged the same for less for a mini-expansion.

-Bel

We know players are asking us to talk about our VIP program, and we'll have more to share when we can. We've been reading and discussing your feedback in recent weeks, and we look forward to providing more information in the future.

I hope there's plans for improving quality assurance. So much stuff has slipped thru and gone live that shouldn't have as of late. Plenty of good content and releases too, but some nightmare level bad QA work seems to be going on amongst it all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cordovan

We know players are asking us to talk about our VIP program, and we'll have more to share when we can. We've been reading and discussing your feedback in recent weeks, and we look forward to providing more information in the future.

---

sorry ghostrider, SSG has had an entire year to address this. total fail.
I can't make this sound any nicer, SSG has screwed over the ViP's
Good luck in 2023

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gordo

100% if we can also find another game to invest time and money in as well.

---

I'm open to suggestions.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cordovan

We know players are asking us to talk about our VIP program, and we'll have more to share when we can. We've been reading and discussing your feedback in recent weeks, and we look forward to providing more information in the future.

---

You've had an entire year. And you still can't even answer yes or no to "Are you improving VIP?".

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cordovan

We know players are asking us to talk about our VIP program, and we'll have more to share when we can. We've been reading and discussing your feedback in recent weeks, and we look forward to providing more information in the future.

---

And yet, Tolero couldn't add that message to the producers letter? Its not like it was so jam packed with details that something had to be cut for space...

But thank you Cordovan for sharing that.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cordovan

We know players are asking us to talk about our VIP program, and we'll have more to share when we can. We've been reading and discussing your feedback in recent weeks, and we look forward to providing more information in the future.

---

You had a year. Not even a single line about VIPs in the Producer's Letter, and nothing more concrete than "we're discussing it". You had a year. Seriously.

Also.... "providing more information in the future". +1 for the least concrete reply possible. "more information": Well, no info at all so far, so I guess 0 >= 0, so this statement is true no matter what if anything is happening. And it doesn't actually promise that anything will change. Good one.

Second, "in the future". Also nice cop out. Some time between now and the heat death of the universe? OK? A year passed since last time, so are we talking years, decades, centuries or millennia?

Color me not impressed at all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WiseFreelancer

I’m not as doom and gloom about this, but it is a weirdly vague letter.

---

It like it was sent in by telegraph where you have to pay by the word and have to use them sparingly.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ahpook

And yet, Tolero couldn't add that message to the producers letter? Its not like it was so jam packed with details that something had to be cut for space...

---

To be fair, that message would not really have impressed me. It's the one we had last year, and so far nothing has happened. So based on past experience, I am ready to be disappointed again.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dandonk

You had a year. Not even a single line about VIPs in the Producer's Letter, and nothing more concrete than "we're discussing it". You had a year. Seriously.

Also.... "providing more information in the future". +1 for the least concrete reply possible. "more information": Well, no info at all so far, so I guess 0 >= 0, so this statement is true no matter what if anything is happening. And it doesn't actually promise that anything will change. Good one.

Second, "in the future". Also nice cop out. Some time between now and the heat death of the universe? OK? A year passed since last time, so are we talking years, decades, centuries or millennia?

Color me not impressed at all.

---

The only really impressive part is that no-answer answer.

I don't want to add to the doom and gloom... so I wont.

I do have a question though, since this letter is somewhat vague.

Is SSG aware that the endgame has become trivially easy and many endgame players are getting bored due to lack of challenge? Are there any plans to increase difficulty either through higher difficulty settings or system wide nerfs?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Monkey_Archer

Is SSG aware that the endgame has become trivially easy and many endgame players are getting bored due to lack of challenge? Are there any plans to increase difficulty either through higher difficulty settings or system wide nerfs?

---

...are you legitimately complaining that R10 pug raids are too easy?

perhaps a depressing thought, but if we are comparing LoTR to DDO and and if LoTR is winning hands down on marketing/development/communication, then I'm led to believe that LoTR is the better profit center for SSG and therefore the executives believe their return on investment is better spent there. i have no idea how far off I am here, pure guessing. but, if i'm correct, then this is a product on decline, and mgmt is only giving us enough to keep us floating. I'm becoming more and more interested in Sev's live call in a bit.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by systemshaker1941

...are you legitimately complaining that R10 pug raids are too easy?

---

If the plan was to increase DDO's population by 10x and merge all the servers, then one of those might be possible to fill :rolleyes:

No, I'm talking about questing. Sure you can create artificial challenges by soloing or attempting to find enough people to raid push, but most players would prefer to play in ~6 person groups. R10, which is supposed to be the hardest difficulty, does not provide a real challenge for 6 person groups at all.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Monkey_Archer

If the plan was to increase DDO's population by 10x and merge all the servers, then one of those might be possible to fill :rolleyes:

No, I'm talking about questing. Sure you can create artificial challenges by soloing or attempting to find enough people to raid push, but most players would prefer to play in ~6 person groups. R10, which is supposed to be the hardest difficulty, does not provide a real challenge for 6 person groups at all.

---

Its too bad SSG can't make alts viable. Otherwise you could just work on an alt.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by systemshaker1941

Its too bad SSG can't make alts viable. Otherwise you could just work on an alt.

---

Oh I already have 6...

I'm not really speaking for myself here, I am the person that will create my own challenge if SSG cant offer one.

Most people don't though, they just slowly stop logging in.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Monkey_Archer

If the plan was to increase DDO's population by 10x and merge all the servers, then one of those might be possible to fill :rolleyes:

No, I'm talking about questing. Sure you can create artificial challenges by soloing or attempting to find enough people to raid push, but most players would prefer to play in ~6 person groups. R10, which is supposed to be the hardest difficulty, does not provide a real challenge for 6 person groups at all.

---

Fact.... we're in the middle of running an R10 life right now (lvl 4 borderlands to lvl 32 end game questing). It's fairly smooth, even with 2 of us being on low-PL (3-10) and mid reaper point (pre-wings) alts.
There need to be new challenging mechanics. A raw increase of monster damage won't change the difficulty. I don't care if at lvl 5 a famine reaper hits me with a Niac's Cold Ray for 1k dmg or 5k dmg. The only difference between them is how negative my HP goes.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dandonk

To be fair, that message would not really have impressed me. It's the one we had last year, and so far nothing has happened. So based on past experience, I am ready to be disappointed again.

---

Agree that it wouldn't impress. Though I would have expected that Tolero would have the authority to add a couple more sentences to color or justify the statement. And as unimpressive as it would be what's even less impressive is not mentioning it all and having an employee drop a vague (and deniable) mention as damage control.

Maybe ask some questions here :rolleyes:


Join Executive Producer Severlin for some Q&A shortly on http://Twitch.tv/DDOstream! Starts at 4:00pm Eastern. #DDO

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ahpook

Agree that it wouldn't impress. Though I would have expected that Tolero would have the authority to add a couple more sentences to color or justify the statement. And as unimpressive as it would be what's even less impressive is not mentioning it all and having an employee drop a vague (and deniable) mention as damage control.

---

True enough.

Now to see if we get anything more out of the twitch thing...

I might be poster #57 and I have yet to read a positive response to this letter.
It lacks in style and content itself and in innovation for game changes. It would have been wiser to just post the graphic or to not post at all.

Totally wasted 5 min coffee break.

Titus.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cordovan

We know players are asking us to talk about our VIP program, and we'll have more to share when we can. We've been reading and discussing your feedback in recent weeks, and we look forward to providing more information in the future.

---

It's been almost a year since you gave us the free daily gold rolls. It's been almost a month since you took them away with the promise that new perks would come.

We're not asking for a lot.

Would it be so difficult to just turn the gold rolls back on until you do come up with a more permanent perk?

This letter really feels like you're saving a lot of the excitement sizzle for later in the year, but not telling us that there's more details to come.

17th Anniversary and U58 - OK, our yearly cosmetic looks good. I'm assuming the Party challenge is returning with Cordovan reincarnating into a Formorian or something. We've known about the Archetypes for a couple weeks. Will there be any big subscription announcements? (ex. New VIP benefit?, Updated content coupon?)

Will any of the systems work be player facing? (ex. 4K UI? Updated textures for the hairstyles? PDK character models finally being something better than a tall dwarf? A solid date for the Argo/Cannith/Sarlona transfer fixes?)

Will the Mini Expansion feature any new, non-archetype toys for the players? (ex. New Race, New Class, New Universal Enhancement tree)

What do you mean by "Raid Update"? Is it another "You're going to pay for a raid in Q2, but not get it until Q3" situation? New raids that don't tie into anything? Or revamps of dead raids to make the content worth playing?

This is about what was expected. The bar is so low for this game. What is surprising is that people still put up with this. Seriously folks, move on. You can retain all relationships you've developed through this game quite easily in the 21st century. There is no other reason to play this game anymore.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GramercyRiff

This is about what was expected. The bar is so low for this game. What is surprising is that people still put up with this. Seriously folks, move on. You can retain all relationships you've developed through this game quite easily in the 21st century. There is no other reason to play this game anymore.

---

I would like to hear your thoughts on the letter I crafted here:

https://forums.ddo.com/forums/showth...oducers-Letter

I am interested if the letter was more in this direction what your thoughts would be. I realize I did not cover all issues.

Humbly,

Fellow Player1

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Monkey_Archer

If the plan was to increase DDO's population by 10x and merge all the servers, then one of those might be possible to fill :rolleyes:

No, I'm talking about questing. Sure you can create artificial challenges by soloing or attempting to find enough people to raid push, but most players would prefer to play in ~6 person groups. R10, which is supposed to be the hardest difficulty, does not provide a real challenge for 6 person groups at all.

---

You want your challenge back? Get rid of the Reaper trees. Nuke 'em. They should never have been made. Reaper points should net you no character power, only cosmetics, titles, wings, special mounts, etc.

It baffles me to this day why people don't understand the absurdity of making a difficulty setting to challenge good/great players and then as a reward, a system to make said content easier.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TitusOvid

I might be poster #57 and I have yet to read a positive response to this letter.
It lacks in style and content itself and in innovation for game changes. It would have been wiser to just post the graphic or to not post at all.

Totally wasted 5 min coffee break.

Titus.

---

There is nothing positive because there is nothing to this letter except for the festivals and that there will be 4 updates, one of which is a mini expansion on Vecna… which we already knew. I’ll write next years Producers letter right now: There will be four updates in 2024- one will be either a mini expansion or expansion early in the year, an adventure pack later in 2024, a couple hardcore seasons, and all the normal DDO festivals. It’s really not that much less information than what we just got.

For some reason they are holding future plans so tight to the vest, which is providing ZERO excitement. Yeah it took a couple years to deliver IoD from when it was first mentioned, but that gave the community something to be excited about. Yeah things happen and sometimes plans are delivered late or even canned completely, but right now your asking us to be excited about a black void of nothingness. Live on the edge and tell us your current ideas on the raid or adventure pack at a minimum. Create some enthusiasm. Last year’s Producers letter I remember thinking was fun and created enthusiasm. This one….

HOLY CANNOLI.

This letter is such a luckuster.

SSG did NOTHING to even try to win leaving players back.

This is not an epic fail. its of such much bigger proportions that I can't even find the right words to describe such INCOMMENSURABLE fail.

And as for you, dear Cordovan, instead of replying trying to make up for the laughable mistake your company did for VIP...

Do as Hasbro is doing for D&D.

SAY NOTHING...

Things will stettle and fix by itself (if you believe it frimly enough)

HAPPY 2023!


EDIT P.S: Placing "seasonal events" to thicken the things you are putting on the plate... for real? this is not a Battle Royale, we know how to read and to think...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Baahb3

You want your challenge back? Get rid of the Reaper trees. Nuke 'em. They should never have been made. Reaper points should net you no character power, only cosmetics, titles, wings, special mounts, etc.

It baffles me to this day why people don't understand the absurdity of making a difficulty setting to challenge good/great players and then as a reward, a system to make said content easier.

---

The problem with this is a matter of incentive. The number of people that will intentionally challenge themselves for no reward are a small minority. Players also want to see real progress, not only challenge.

So the reward incentive needs to be there. The issue is that the rewards vastly out pace the challenge available. Why does reaper difficulty arbitrarily stop at 10? Getting small increments in power is good, we just need much larger increments in difficulty to keep up with the power creep.

MY take-away from the twitch: They would like to do something for VIPs, but don't know if their idea is doable, and no idea when it might appear. Joy. Marginably more concrete, but still disappointing result after they had an entire year to look at it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cordovan

We know players are asking us to talk about our VIP program, and we'll have more to share when we can. We've been reading and discussing your feedback in recent weeks, and we look forward to providing more information in the future.

---

Isn't this pretty much what y'all said last year?


*sigh*

Really glad I didn't try the "wait and see what the PL says" route. This and the Producer's Letter is simply anemic, to put it as nicely and politely as possible.

I just want to see "Q2 Ravenloft ultimate is coming back to the store so you can finally buy your bottle of mist" added to that timeline.

Legendary Droaam with a raid-ok I like those quest packs.

No increase to the Level Cap-AWESOME!

Mini X-pac, well I haven't played the older mini x-pac, so I guess I can same some money there.

Quarterly Festivals-cool

More Archetypes-ok, I still haven't played the ones that were released.

I am whelmed.

I am not amused and I am certainly not impressed. Where is the hype?

Ok, the good part - a raid update. I am looking forward to that. But just one raid the entire year, or does the mini-expansion atleast include a raid as well?

Now for the meh to bad stuff:

1) More archtypes without also adding more epic lives does not work well for me. Now, if archtypes worked with iconics that would be fine but seeing they dont we need more epic lives in equal measure to archtypes for it to work.

2) Why are archtypes free to all? These should be free to VIP and come at a price to others.

3) Another mini-expansion? These packs should be free to VIP! Either make a full expansion and charge for that - or make it free for VIP.

4) More of the same HCL and Festivals. Ok, thats fine, but thats nothing to write about. Those are fully expected and nothing great.

5) ONE actual pack for VIPs.... /sadface

6) Nothing more on banking? The inventory system is very poor - finding anything is a chore. Which items across my characters has those Master Gifts augments? The banking update we did get was far from a real solution.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gljosh

No increase to the Level Cap-AWESOME!

---

They didn't actually say there would be no cap increase. They didn't actually say much. Your statement would be making assumptions based on what wasn't said.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gljosh

I am whelmed.

---

I think you just won the most positive review of the producer's letter. Congrats. ("Congrats" is your prize. It is agreed that your prize is less than what is deserved and there are ongoing discussions about improving your prize. At some point in the future an announcement will be provided about any improvements in your prize.)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ahpook

They didn't actually say there would be no cap increase. They didn't actually say much. Your statement would be making assumptions based on what wasn't said.

---

They said 2 level increase every other year with full expansions on the stream; with a mini-expansion and no level bump on the years in-between.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rabidfox

They said 2 level increase every other year with full expansions on the stream; with a mini-expansion and no level bump on the years in-between.

---

I came late to the stream and missed that. Or maybe it was mentioned after I got on but while I was distracted.

If only they had a letter from the producer or something where they could put cool info like that. Someplace where anyone could easily read it at their convenience. If only....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cordovan

We know players are asking us to talk about our VIP program, and we'll have more to share when we can. We've been reading and discussing your feedback in recent weeks, and we look forward to providing more information in the future.

---

Thank you for the time you took to make this reply.

I am not trying to read too much into Rob's words on the stream when he made reference to macro-economic woes, but I think I see why there's more to this story than you can say. That aside, I think there are enough patient people.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cordovan

We know players are asking us to talk about our VIP program, and we'll have more to share when we can. We've been reading and discussing your feedback in recent weeks, and we look forward to providing more information in the future.

---

thank you for saying that. i personally don't care, i'm no vip, but i thank you for communicating.

you know, thinking about communication, i feel bad for this post of yours, it will be quoted with a lot of follow-up bashing. i mean, you are doing your job, but i'm thinking, i can't help it, this is a thread about the producer's letter. can't the producer, like, write a nice(r) letter and than stay online just a couple of hours, like, something that happens once a year, like, staying online just a couple of hours once a year, i mean, it would be cool if after a nice(r) producer's letter, wrote by the producer, the producer maybe can stay online to answer the follow-up. like, spark some interest while withholding some info on purpose, and use said withholded info in the answers. a simple game. you write 80% of the info in the letter with the intent to share 100% of the planned info while answering the follow-up by the community. win-win on a lot of levels with minimal effort. we would be fooled into thinking you are reading and listening and communicating and we would be even happy about it.

but no.

after the myth "ddo has no marketing" you are giving birth to another myth, "ddo has no producer"

respectfully speaking, read this whole post as a sort of my personal stream of consciousness, born from reading this thread.

i mean, look, the letter talks about a raid and it got 0% interest, but the epic communication fail this letter represent, it would have been better no letter at all, 100% negative feedback. tomorrow i don't know how Severlin will repeat the same "we are working on vip stuff" again with a straight face. bad situaton, bad position to be into. yeah part of the job, but bad nonetheless. if really this letter was supposed to be so bad, was it that hard to at least to publish it after the interview with the executive producer and not just one day before? couldn't ssg forsee the backleash? we know ssg is a small team, and we accept that a small team can do only so much, and we are grateful for your job. i personally am aware what means to push forward a (in my case a really small) business with limited manpower. the sacrifices you have to do. but you are basically showing us that your business is not functioning. your producer letter, it was not written by the producer. it's a placeholder in lieu of...nothing. with a pic of a roadmap in some tredyish style that if you take out the obvious stuff what's left is nothing. as i was saying, even in my personal case of a really really really small small small business, the projection to the customers that we have control, concept, organization, it's critical, and it happens. why can't you do the same? i don't mean the real thing, it's difficult, i mean the projection of it.

this producer letter looks like an epitaph on a gravestone, no one in office realize it? you are showing us you have no control. we are in no position to really know if you have it or not, i mean you are showing us that you have no control on your chance to fool us into thinking that you have control instead of not having it.

i think Cordovan realize it, community manager, why should the community manager do damage control on producer letter...what about the others? like, e.g. the producer?


this is not intended as an attack to ssg as a whole or to any ssg employee. i am not attacking anyone. i am not attacking the producer, i have zero interst in doing so. actually, eventually i have only to lose in doing so. i am just looking at the elephant in the room, please, think about it, i'm just saying out loud what i see and what i hear, what a lot of players are saying, writing, thinking, seeing, considering.......and that is:

dear ssg, if you are not even able to fool us, locked-up players eager to be fooled, what are you thinking you are doing?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by baahb3

you want your challenge back? get rid of the reaper trees. Nuke 'em. They should never have been made. Reaper points should net you no character power, only cosmetics, titles, wings, special mounts, etc.

it baffles me to this day why people don't understand the absurdity of making a difficulty setting to challenge good/great players and then as a reward, a system to make said content easier.

---

/\ /\ /\
this

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by rabidfox

They said 2 level increase every other year with full expansions on the stream; with a mini-expansion and no level bump on the years in-between.

---

So its going to take 10 years to get the cap raised to level 40?

At the rate people are leaving this game, it does not have 10 years.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Valerianus

i think Cordovan realize it, community manager, why should the community manager do damage control on producer letter...what about the others? like, e.g. the producer?

---

This was not damage control. More like casual damage observation. Ain't nobody on damage control.

2023 is going to be a dumpster fire for DDO.

In my opinion, this very conservative document reflects a desire to avoid the problems of last year.

When Tolero openly talked about expanding subscriber benefits she created a huge amount of player expectation. She continues to pay for that rookie move in player dissatisfaction. When the people at Standing Stone Games do get around to adjusting subscriber benefits, it will very probably not be enough and more complaining will follow. Giving out gold rolls every day for the better part of a year without charging for it was super unwise, setting player expectations way too high.

The very aggressive release schedule last year resulted in a tidal wave of bugs and many unhappy players. A more conservative release schedule will probably result in more time to polish and less bugs. However, only a fool would promise less bugs. The result is a bunch of players complaining about the more sparse release schedule they asked for.

Hardcore seems to make more players happy than unhappy and probably generates a lot of revenue so we get more Hardcore. They are following the money.

Many players asked for more Vecna so we are getting more Vecna. No surprise there.

Many players like Archetypes so we are getting more Archetypes. No surprise there.

The level cap raise is contentious so they are rolling it out slowly. No surprise there.

They release about 20 quests a year. This schedule includes about 20 quests. No surprise there.

A fair number of players want all development to stop to fix bugs. This schedule is a step in that direction.

Only a fool would make a concrete promise about lag. The answer to all lag questions is, "we are working on it". No surprise there.

If things go well, this schedule leaves them room to push for a surprise or two. They cannot talk about such things because if they promise and fail, players will attack them.

Many of you complain that this document contains no surprises. You also complain that the people at Standing Stone Games never communicate with you. Well, apparently, they communicated their plans so completely that this document reflects what they already communicated because their is nothing left to communicate. You got your wish.

In 2022, the people at Standing Stone Games delivered many major updates to game systems. A lot of complaints ensured. Now they want to settle things down in 2023, which is exactly what many players asked for.

Very conservative. Very sedate. Follow through on things already started. Get that done before tearing up more stuff.

Now a bunch of you will tell me the problem is that the people at Standing Stone Games never work on the right things. You are right, because players as a body do not agree on anything accept lag.

I wish the people at Standing Stone Games much good luck in 2023. I hope players enjoy the new archetypes and quests and festival prizes and Hardcore rewards and Raid updates. I hope you are able to kill more bugs and win some victories against the lag monster. I hope you find a way to make players happy, even when they do not agree with one another. I hope a star of supreme good lights your path to wisdom, prosperity, and success.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Valerianus

.... we know ssg is a small team, and we accept that a small team can do only so much, and we are grateful for your job. i personally am aware what means to push forward a (in my case a really small) business with limited manpower. the sacrifices you have to do. but you are basically showing us that your business is not functioning. your producer letter, it was not written by the producer. it's a placeholder in lieu of...nothing. ...

---

Good note. On this point I will say that a small team is restricted on what it can do. It cannot rewrite the engine. It cannot not dump out new content every month. It cannot solve all the rule problems that have crept in over the year. One thing it can do is have good communication with its players, sharing what it can and cannot do and why things can be a challenge. Yet SSG chooses not to. Its like they never recovered from their year in hiding leading up to the Free to Play transition. They would rather have a p-o'ed player base than the occasional difficult conversation.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Annex

In my opinion, this very conservative document reflects a desire to avoid the problems of last year.

When Tolero openly talked about expanding subscriber benefits she created a huge amount of player expectation. She continues to pay for that rookie move in player dissatisfaction. When the people at Standing Stone Games do get around to adjusting subscriber benefits, it will very probably not be enough and more complaining will follow. Giving out gold rolls every day for the better part of a year without charging for it was super unwise, setting player expectations way too high.

The very aggressive release schedule last year resulted in a tidal wave of bugs and many unhappy players. A more conservative release schedule will probably result in more time to polish and less bugs. However, only a fool would promise less bugs. The result is a bunch of players complaining about the more sparse release schedule they asked for.

...
Many of you complain that this document contains no surprises. You also complain that the people at Standing Stone Games never communicate with you. Well, apparently, they communicated their plans so completely that this document reflects what they already communicated because their is nothing left to communicate. You got your wish.

In 2022, the people at Standing Stone Games delivered many major updates to game systems. A lot of complaints ensured. Now they want to settle things down in 2023, which is exactly what many players asked for.
... .

---

And if most of this was in the producer letter it would have been a far more satisfying letter. Why does a player come and need to do the job of filling in the blanks of an underwritten producer letter? I am thinking right now that you, Annex, have done more thinking about this game than the producer.

I watched maybe 5 minutes of stream until I heard the answer about ViP.
As I predicted in Aeol's thread ... "Announcement in Jan, with the new perk in March."

well, AFTER ONE YEAR. YOU DON'T HAVE AN ANSWER?

I can't give you any grade, not even an F. To earn an F, you would have had to produced some type/ ANY answer to our requests (not demands) for some type of new or improved ViP perk, no answer no grade, COMPLETE FAIL.

You want to take content I already own, and sell it back it back to me? FAIL.

You have seen the last of any money from this player, Boot me from here, do whatever, I don't care anymore about a tiny social media site than you do about any of our collective gripes.

Way to go SSG, can't even score an F.

I don't see this game making it past Q3 of 2023'.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Gljosh

Legendary Droaam with a raid-ok I like those quest packs.

No increase to the Level Cap-AWESOME!

Mini X-pac, well I haven't played the older mini x-pac, so I guess I can same some money there.

Quarterly Festivals-cool

More Archetypes-ok, I still haven't played the ones that were released.

I am whelmed.

---

Is the raid related to legendary Droam? I’m not sure we even know that. It’s just in the same quarter. Is the raid related to the mini-expansion (doubt it), or is it just a refurbished ToD or Titan? This is the kind of information missing from the PL.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Annex

When Tolero openly talked about expanding subscriber benefits she created a huge amount of player expectation. She continues to pay for that rookie move in player dissatisfaction. When the people at Standing Stone Games do get around to adjusting subscriber benefits, it will very probably not be enough and more complaining will follow. Giving out gold rolls every day for the better part of a year without charging for it was super unwise, setting player expectations way too high.

---

Not charging? What is $15/mo for VIP if not charging?
Brother, are you high right now?
There used to be content "free for VIP". We haven't had any of that in a long time. All the content lately is either free for all, or buy for all.
We get 500 TPs per month.... mind you, 600 of them cost $8 Let's consider being able to skip a quest for sagas the difference here.
Tiny exp boost, which isn't all that relevant with the amount of quests available.

The moment SSG moved away from adventure packs and toward "mini expansions" - VIP lost its value.
We're essentially being charged double for what's still left. So don't tell me that we were getting gold rolls and not being charged for them.

Did Tolero make a mistake? Yeah, I've been in her shoes and made similar mistakes at work.
But there would still be dissatisfaction with the current state of VIP regardless of her statement.

If you think the producers letter is bad, watch Cordo and Sev muck it up for 45 minutes.... lol... hysterical. No wonder this game is in the tiolet.

Cant believe SSG is just glossing over our inventory issues. We have no bank space .. and you all are making more expansions and quests , which means even more items.. Come on all ready... Why are you all being so quiet about this, when people are complaining about it. Its a complete disrespect to us as players, when you give us so many items in the game and we have no space to put it and then you dont acknowledge the issue and say your all working on it. Its really sad.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Annex

When Tolero openly talked about expanding subscriber benefits she created a huge amount of player expectation. She continues to pay for that rookie move in player dissatisfaction. When the people at Standing Stone Games do get around to adjusting subscriber benefits, it will very probably not be enough and more complaining will follow. Giving out gold rolls every day for the better part of a year without charging for it was super unwise, setting player expectations way too high.

---

Literally all she had to do was follow through on time, even if it was just something simple. If the end of daily gold roles coincided with "We're up VIP XP to 25% and the monthly point allowance to 750" ALLLL of this ire could have been avoided. If she took one of the 100 other easily implementable suggestions. Hell, even if she just came right out and said "We don't have a plan yet, but we are working on it" the same day the gold roles ended.

This is the worst handling of anything in the game's history.

Event we do every year
New pack
New Hardcore Season
Event we do every year

Could this roadmap be anymore vague, boring and unexciting?

What no full price expansion??? You have to do that every year you know to maximize whale harvest.

https://i.ibb.co/GR17n47/22e2eNa.png

Make sure you nerf everything in the new expansion before I even get a chance to play it.

I feel like if we would have gotten pictures of, I don't know giant robots, or spaceships in this year's producer letter; like we got dinosaurs in last year's, there would have been more positive feedback.

anything done with reaper cap?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by droid327

Yeah this feels like a non-letter....like it's just a bunch of fluff just to have "a letter" but doesn't actually convey any info that hasn't already been said for a while

Also I'm still fuzzy on what a mini expansion means, besides "we're going to do less but still charge you full price"

---

DDO is the most expensive game to play ever. I'm sorry but I don't know what it is about DDO that makes you think you can justify higher prices than almost ANY MMO. It makes me think you are abusing your playerbase with these prices. No wonder [redacted] exploits are rampant, at the "other forum". Nobody can afford even basic QOL stuff from the DDO store. I'm actually sorry for the VIPs. I've NEVER subscribed, but I know how much VIPs have been used and abused. I can't believe they have stayed this long. A sizeable amount of the playerbase is clearly codependent. But, can't leave their abuser. DDO prices are abuse.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Cordovan

a Legendary revamp of Droaam content

---

Is there any chance - any chance at all - of actually finishing that storyline off for us? I know I know I know you want and need to pad out* the high level content, but I've been waiting for you to tell more of the story of the sisters of Sora Kell, and the invasion of one of the most interesting Khorvarian civilisations for what, ten years now? Pleeeeeeeease.

Come on we've got a whole triple pack of Xoriat (and very enjoyable it is too) the least you could do is give the monster nation its due :)

*"Pad out" isn't really a criticism, just recognition of what you inevitably will need to do in order to raise the cap. Repetition of existing content used to be 100% of epic+ play so it's an improvement on circa 2012 for sure, and I of course understand why "polish what we've got" rather than make new is how you have to proceed most of the time. But epic/legendary is my least favourite content area for that same reason.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by capsela

DDO is the most expensive game to play ever. I'm sorry but I don't know what it is about DDO that makes you think you can justify higher prices than almost ANY MMO. It makes me think you are abusing your playerbase with these prices. No wonder [redacted] exploits are rampant, at the "other forum". Nobody can afford even basic QOL stuff from the DDO store. I'm actually sorry for the VIPs. I've NEVER subscribed, but I know how much VIPs have been used and abused. I can't believe they have stayed this long. A sizeable amount of the playerbase is clearly codependent. But, can't leave their abuser. DDO prices are abuse.

---

I mean I just don't think that's true*.

I do think that, like LARP, it's expensive enough that it's mostly suited for middle earners, which makes folk who want to spend their disposable on more than one thing feel like there's a huge barrier to entry.

But you know, SSG could be a worse corporation. *sideeyes at WOTC*.

*(I mean, I think the codependency suggestion is true, but that's how it is with any game- video games are addictive and that's been the entire point of making them since about 2001, so why would anyone be surprised if players become co-dependent if they play something for a long time? Might as well be surprised that the stuff that falls out of the sky tastes like that stuff you find in streams. For my part, it just helps kill another few hours of my life between work and bed as a healthier alternative to drinking whilst I wait for the old biochemistry to stop. At least DDO quests are legitimately laugh out loud funny from time to time. I suspect DDO is just where middle aged & older gamers come to put down roots really - after all the excitement hope and fight is beaten out of you, you conclude "well I might as well be comfortable". And of course, all of this supposition is as much speculation and projection as your view that the prices are abuse, we can, neither of us, make an evidence based case for it other than 'well *I* feel that way').

The information is too minimalist, each point would have needed to be explained a little with news, etc.

What's that raid update, Cordovan? What are you going to change in the raids?

Isn't there going to be more work on the storage problem? The crafting bank needs larger and more standardized stack sizes and filters. The regular storage still needs improvements, the minimal space increase you gave us last time (at an exorbitant price) doesn't solve anything, and it came with a more cumbersome interface to use. I wouldn't have cared about the interface if the extra space had been plentiful, but so...

No wonder they have nothing to say about VIP. When they said last year that there would be improvements, it seemed to me that it was a simple way of placating people without a real will to do anything. And so it has been, so they have met with the wrath of the people, who did believe them, by surprise. I really don't understand how SSG can't see how much mini-expansion and annual expansions have devalued their subscription, not to mention the proliferation of iconic ones. If they want the content to not be a fundamental part of the VIP membership, then they have to increase the other perks, it's obvious to anyone who thinks about it for a moment.

I am not a fan of mini-xpacs. To me, mini-xpacks are the old packs that you used to make, absurdly overpriced and not available in the store until six months after they were released. I don't like your new sales policy at all.

And every year you put out more and more past lives, and you do nothing to help alts and new players. Absurd.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Baahb3

You want your challenge back? Get rid of the Reaper trees. Nuke 'em. They should never have been made. Reaper points should net you no character power, only cosmetics, titles, wings, special mounts, etc.

It baffles me to this day why people don't understand the absurdity of making a difficulty setting to challenge good/great players and then as a reward, a system to make said content easier.

---

If you don't want to use the reaper points, just don't use them. Nobody is forcing you. There - you nerfed yourself.
You're welcome.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Baahb3

You want your challenge back? Get rid of the Reaper trees. Nuke 'em. They should never have been made. Reaper points should net you no character power, only cosmetics, titles, wings, special mounts, etc.

It baffles me to this day why people don't understand the absurdity of making a difficulty setting to challenge good/great players and then as a reward, a system to make said content easier.

---

It baffles me to this day why we need better gear..... We want challenge, we should just run from 1 to 32 R10 naked..... Gear just makes the said content easier
Now that I think about it.... why even get levels? Can we just run legendary raids as lvl 1 toons, pls?

How many reaper points do you have? Do you even play r10?
The only thing reaper points do is MAYBE, in some situations let you survive 1 hit. I mean when mobs hit you for 3k, does it matter if you bring a 1.5k hp toon or 2.5k hp toon into the quest? Fatter melees will go from like 3k to 4k hp (obviously tanks will do better) and survive 1 hit, so that healers can at least try to heal. HP/damage scaling past a certain point doesn't make the content any more difficult.... challenging mechanics in a quest do. What does it matter if I'm dead with -1k hp, -2k hp or -20k hp? I was dead in 1 hit anyway.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Baahb3

You want your challenge back? Get rid of the Reaper trees. Nuke 'em. They should never have been made. Reaper points should net you no character power, only cosmetics, titles, wings, special mounts, etc.

It baffles me to this day why people don't understand the absurdity of making a difficulty setting to challenge good/great players and then as a reward, a system to make said content easier.

---

I, and many others I know, love the reaper trees and the benefits we get from there (in and outside of Reaper mode). Instead of nuking that, or rebalancing the ten existing Reaper levels, why not simply add another 5, much harder, ranks? And then, when we get Legendary Reincarnation and all the power creep from there, add another 5 even harder ranks. That way you don't take anything away from those enjoying the existing progression, but give more challenge to those much further along. Best of both worlds.

-Bel

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kelledren

There is nothing positive because there is nothing to this letter except for the festivals and that there will be 4 updates, one of which is a mini expansion on Vecna… which we already knew. I’ll write next years Producers letter right now: There will be four updates in 2024- one will be either a mini expansion or expansion early in the year, an adventure pack later in 2024, a couple hardcore seasons, and all the normal DDO festivals. It’s really not that much less information than what we just got.

For some reason they are holding future plans so tight to the vest, which is providing ZERO excitement. Yeah it took a couple years to deliver IoD from when it was first mentioned, but that gave the community something to be excited about. Yeah things happen and sometimes plans are delivered late or even canned completely, but right now your asking us to be excited about a black void of nothingness. Live on the edge and tell us your current ideas on the raid or adventure pack at a minimum. Create some enthusiasm. Last year’s Producers letter I remember thinking was fun and created enthusiasm. This one….

---

I agree (except we can almost certainly predict a full expansion next year, as that alternating pattern seems well-established for both games now -- and I don't personally have an issue with it).

The Producer's Letter is probably the biggest opportunity to create excitement and enthusiasm for the game, and as much as I liked what Tolero delivered last year, and appreciate the roadmap (however skeletal), this letter hugely underperformed on that front.

I get that there may be some hesitancy to share about all upcoming plans, especially ones that are less concrete or might get canned or postponed, but we learned a tonne more from Severlin on the stream (which mostly made up for how lacking the letter is for me), bit that info should really have been in the letter. Just emphasise that some things may not make it (the roadmap already has a disclaimer) and most players will be understanding. Saying as little as possible isn't a good way forward though, and I think that was learned quite strongly on the LOTRO side.

-Bel

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Belnavar

, this letter hugely underperformed on that front.

---

Laughable is a better term