I couldn't agree more. . . that stinks for lack of a better word. . . . I thought the game was getting bigger to be honest. It certainly seems alot bigger from a player count than when I first started playing. I gotta be honest that it does scare me a bit though. . .

bigger...? Maybe but how many of those people play for free which doesnt keep people like Cuppa & Crickette & Anson and the rest employed when NCsoft posts a 61% revenue loss in the last fiscal quarter?

And to reiterate for everyone who is upset/pissed off and angry about this:

Please keep in mind that I am in NO WAY defending the actions of NCsoft in this, but we all have to understand that behind the fun we all have here, this is a business, and when a business loses 61% of it's revenue in 3 months, you have to understand that the suits, the "powers that be" that write the paychecks and look at the Profit and Loss statements are gonna react...

They're gonna tighten the belt and get REAL "cheap" until they can right the sinking profit ship...Which unfortunately leaves no room for "Community Managers and other "expendible" people..

The core people that are left here I am sure will be even more focused on delivering a superior product so I am not too concerned about quality content, but with a group of only 5 remaining programmers and artists, QUANTITY not QUALITY of the content comes to mind.

I'm still here, and I'll miss them too =/

Please continue to post in the Bugs section about any game issues you are experiencing.

Hmmmm, I semi-regret buying my box copy now. I'm definitely glad I didn't pick up multiple copies like some. Guess the crazy word of mouth I've been spreading needs to be cut back now too. I had such high hopes for this game. D:

they will be missed for sure. this sucks in the aspect I was in beta forever in mythos. I hope that the box set will help bring the cash flow back that is needed. to those who are playing for free hopefully they will read this and spend the 5 or 20 to help keep us kicking

*sigh* I rest my case.

Look, there was a business change, it happens. It does not mean that DR is going down the drain. Your reaction is not warranted. If you are enjoying the game, then you should not regret purchasing the box. Getting others to play the game will only help DR. There is no need to think the sky is falling. Play the game, give the team time to adjust, and move forward.

*hands Blasphemy the traditional this-flat-out-sucks-but-we-can-get-through-it triple shot of hard liqour* I know, I know. But this is the post you should be focusing on:

We're not dead yet. Being down on my knees means I am half of the way back up. Right?

Enjoying the game or not, there is reason to think the future is not great. Not for nothing but when 72% are let go that is a sign things are not rosy. Now they may stabalize and maybe things get better in a few months, but my gut tells me they only kept it alive to avoid lawsuits over the box sales giving 6 months of a game that would then have been cancelled less than 2 months after the box went on sale.

Now I hope I am wrong and 6 months from now the game is still going strong because this game is the most fun $19.99 I have spent outside a strip bar.

A business change is selling the rights of the game to another company, today was better known as a slaughter.

Or halfway to a fun night.

*abandons all pretense of propriety* If I'm down on my knees, it means your crotch is at perfect biting height. Bring it on

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Hey we were supposed to keep it somewhat vague.

We were? *quickly checks the game rating* Oh. Whoooops.

No worries. Just remember dont bite off more than you can chew.

That shouldn't be a problem at all...

Big mouth eh?

Nah, just superior technique.

We now return you to your regular, family-friendly, DR forums.

It's not the end of the world. CoH/V had a big layoff a couple of years ago (Where they were cut down to 15 people working on the game) and it continues to be a strong runner. Much to the point where they are now aggressively hiring for the game.

I do, however, hate the fact that some really good people were treated this way.

Just woke up and got a mail from mmorpg.com
http://www.mmorpg.com/newsRoom.cfm?R...441&bhcp=1

This is a hard blow for Dungeon Runners, and a lot to the general community and playerbase too. Knowing that Mythos closed down so recently many players probably thing twice before putting their time and effort in Dungeon Runners, and especially before becoming premium members. This really reminds us of that the game-industry simply is a business and nothing more. I sure hope that Dungeon Runners will survive this since there really isn't any other game like this. It's fast and action paced, and it gives you lots of laughs. No other mmo even comes close to the genre.

There where to be a new graphics-engine before the end of the year. Is that postponed now?

And all my best wishes to Crickette, Anson and Zliten. Gonna be weird not having Crickette around. No one could answer questions and be available for webpage/forum input like her. And Twnston Chat without Anson or Zliten? No one to answer questions or just kill a bit of time with? It feels like Dungeon Runners has lost their best PR people, as it were they who was easiest to reach. I wish you all the very best of luck in the future, and you will all be remembered as legends in this community.

As for Stephen... Wouldn't you say a appropriate tribute would be to mention them all in quests? I know Zliten already is in one, but we sure wouldn't say know to honoring Crickette and Anson by running a quest or two in their names too.

And for all other players: Head up! Stand proud, 'cause Dungeon Runners will prevail!

I think I is in love.

Yes I know COX has done well since then, but it is the exception not the rule. It is showing growth in year 4, which is an freak in the MMO industry. Can DR follow that path? I hope so.

First i played Titan Quest and a year later Iron Lore closes its gates.
Then i installed Hellgate:London and a few months later it died, too.


A week ago i started having fun with dungeon runners and now this!

Is it me? Do i have the power to destroy Diablo Clones simply by playing them?

Maybe i should try World of Warcraft then...

I read these posts a few hours ago and I had to sleep on my initial reaction post. *snip Rant* Really shocked about Cuppa n Crikkette having interacted with both of them in CoH/V (Cuppa-Thon FTW!). And if Im not mistaken didnt Cuppa just relocate to Texas from Cali? Wow...so...um..yeah..Woah. Ok nuff babble from me for now

Wow, I, like several others, just bought the box game after trying the free version and loved the game. I really am stunned, and sure hope that they don't shut it down completely, but I have a small feeling in my gut that they are just stringing out the 6 months box thing....Wasn't Walmart and Target gonna start selling the boxes? Why wouldn't NCSoft see that their base would possibly start growing and in DR case, their paying player base when this came to fruition. I feel so bad for the developers and pr people. They were doing a great job and this game is very fun to play. Well lets keep DR alive!

Well I'm saddened to hear about the lay offs however I will be able to keep in touch with at least some of the people I've talked to here from staff. As for DR ending, my statement is the same as it's been since I started playing back in December. "They'll take my DR when they pry it from my cold dead drive!!!"

Ethan

Yeah, that was kind of what I was getting at. I'm just concerned that after this new chunk comes out that that will be it. Who knows when or even if a new one will come. I absolutely love the game but there is only so much to do once you do all the dungeons numerous times, reach max level, and do all the treasure hunting that you can do. Yeah, you can do it 3 times with each of the classes but I'm just worried about having so little support for the game.

I'm also really shocked because I thought the game was selling outstandingly. Of course this game was never going to sell on the levels or WoW or even FFXI, but that's besides the point and even irrelevant. I see most people with Bling gnomes signifying the purchase of a retail box(at least on World 7) and my local GS sold out at least twice.

Thank you, everyone, for your words of support.

I wanted to chime in here and make my presence known again -- my name is James Cleaveland and I've been working on DR since the beginning of the year. I wasn't here for the start of the project, but we've taken this game a long way from what it started out as. The level of improvement that has come with each iteration of the game is something that I'm really proud of, and that's especially true for the upcoming Chunk.

We'll be evaluating how to best spend our time for upcoming Heaves/Chunks so that we can maintain this level of iterative advancement as best as possible. We have a commitment to the game, and more importantly to the players, to continue living up to DR's potential. My personal hope is that we can one day welcome back as many team members as possible, and that drives me to pursue the most efficient paths for DR's lasting success.

Its good to hear this news. Your team has done a great job thus far and have done a great job interacting with the DR userbase. That is something that is missing from near all online games. Only thing I can suggest is to try and keep the fans and userbase as updated as you can on the current state of DR and plans for the future.

Oh man, thats quite a shock...
I started about a year ago and came frequently back to see whats new in there and now with paypal online, I bought myself the gnomethingy for 15€ and it's now way more fun with the extra dungeons, new stuff and all.
The game is getting bigger and bigger and I really like it more and more.
I hope it's not running the same way mythos is.

I wish you all luck!
Hope to see that game still growing. Never ever can't have enough different items :>

I would not get my hopes up for DR staying alive too much longer.

Why's that?

I think the most important thing to remember is currently DR is still going and that until either the game won't sign on anymore or Stephen announces to us that they are going to have to close the game, we should try to stay positive about it all. Right now the game is going, therefore, keep your support alive if you enjoy the game. Talk to others about it, encourage them to try it.

I recently read a blog posted by my old employers. They recently changed locations around the corner from where they use to be. So a customer walked and questioned what happened to their favorite store that use to be there before my old employers moved in. Well, guess what that old store, a comic book one I believe, had been closed for over a year. So my old employees were left to wonder, if that use to be one of your favorite stores: a) why hadn't you known they were gone and b) why didn't you support your "favorite" store more. The moral of the story is, if it's something that you like, don't take it for granted that it's always going to be there; especially, if you haven't been around it in awhile; instead, buy stuff, to help keep it around.

So basically don't regret buying the box or membership online, it wasn't overly expensive and it helped support a game I assume you like or love. Instead, tell your friends about it. If someone you know has a birthday or some other special occasion, and a gift of a game is appropriate... give them the gift of DR. Just keep supporting DR and be positive; being negative isn't going to help anything or anyone.

My question may or may not be a simple one, but what is the average time between content updates to DR? And followed by, what is the average time between content updates on other games?

I can't answer the first one because I've not been playing long enough, and I can't entirely answer the second because this is my first real MMO. BUT, I can maybe add some perspective by asking this semi-rhetorical question: How often do you get content update on console games or on PC games? I'm guessing, based of experience, rarely if ever and most often they aren't "free". Expansion packs, equipment packs, content packs, etc. all usually cost something.

Check the patch list. In 2007, there were regular content updates and bug fixes and this is when the dev team was actually smaller (when I joined, I believe it had 9 dedicated staff). In 2008, the number of content patches is just two, going on 3 with Chunk #4. It would appear that smaller heaves are being rolled up into Chunks. Personally, I'd rather get some smaller, iterative content releases than wait for months for huge patches, but that's just me.

Yeah, its interesting how adding more people to a team actually slows the delivery of features. I was just thinking about that the other day.

It seems the problem comes from the fact that more people can generate more content and features. The more content and features we deliver, the more testing is required to verify them.

More complexity leads to more bugs which causes even more delay as we fix all of the issues. It's a pretty interesting problem to me...

The solution seems to be to either keep the development team small or to increase resources for our testing department. My preference is to use the community as a testing resource while things are still in a pre-release state. As you may know, we don't release new builds to the PTS until we feel really good about them. This puts a tremendous workload on our internal QA group. I would much rather putting our builds up on the PTS more often to get more thorough coverage of the game.

Perhaps one day...

steve

Hi all, just wanted to say I have been playing this game for about 3 months now and I think it is great. I hope the game does not have to be shut down, and I will not be one of the negative people who who says "We're Doomed".

So far i have enjoyed all this game has to offer and even if the game did have to be shut down I would not regret the $30 for first six months plus the $20 for the box+ 6 months, even if it was shut down today that is still only 15 a month for what I got. Although I would much prefer the game does not die and only gets bigger and better, keep up the good work.

If the game shuts down does that mean everyone who paid for membership/box loses all thier money? and all thier time and hard work they put in the account....?

Well, the game isn't going to be shut down. So, don't worry about that.

steve

Pff, I could care less about my $20 I spent for the retail version, or the $5 a month I paid before that...

To me, the game would be worth TWICE the price. In the past, I've already plunked down retail costs for EverQuest (plus many expansions, and 6 years of playing), World of Warcraft (plus the expansion and nearly 4 years of playing), which has amounted to thousands of dollars spent over the years...sadly, I have nothing to show for my investment, other than the enjoyment I reaped from playing the games.

So--even if Dungeon Runners *DOES* shut down,--which Stephen assures us it won't--I'm very satisfied with the quality of production, the lack of bugs, the irreverent humor, and the ginormous amount of entertainment I've had playing Dungeon Runners.

On a side issue-- You know, Stephen-- I'm sure many of us here wouldn't mind pitching in to help with 'bug testing' and reporting issues to whomever the Overlord of Bug Fixing might be... I'm not looking for a paycheck or anything like that, but I know I'd be willing to volunteer my time helping to ferret out bugs and test gameplay issues to help out...(Some of us 'old folks' have way too much time on our hands anyway, and might as well support a good cause. )

What about setting up a server where ONLY playtest characters can play (they wouldn't be allowed to go to the other servers, and other 'regular' characters couldn't log on to the playtest server, (too much chance for abuse/item swapping, etc)), where the new content could be tested by a larger pool of people, or people who wanted to help playtest? Terms of course would have to be that the player would understand that character wipes would be possible at any time, and that gear/spells, etc. would be subject to change as well, but like I said--if it could possibly help Dungeon Runners development and speed up releases of content on the regular servers, I'm willing to pitch in.

Psstttt... The very thing you are asking for is alredy here. It's called the PTS or Public Test Server and it's accessed from the PlayNC menu if you have the PTS client installed. You can get it from the dungeonrunners.com FTP site (ftp.dungeonrunners.com)

Thanks.

Internal testing for Chunk 4 is progressing well, and it should be arriving on the PTS soon. We're looking forward to everyone's feedback! There are a lot of great additions to the game, so you'll have a good opportunity to flex your testing muscles.

In the mean time please feel free to post about any bugs you may find on the live service in the Bugs and Technical Issues forum. You can also send them to me via Private Message if the bug is too sensitive to be posted (exploits or similar).

We only copy characters to the PTS on occasion, so your character may or may not currently exist on PTS depending on when you started playing. All characters should be copied to PTS when Chunk 4 is made available for testing.

I was thinking about this the other day and I was trying to remember how many staff were around way back when and for some reason had the number 6 in mind. Then again, my memory isn't what it used to be. In fact, I'm convinced my memory belonged to somebody else at one point.

good riddens to crickette

This may not be the best thread to express joy that one of the devs was laid off. Just a thought.

Looks like he took his crap and moved it to another thread...

http://boards.dungeonrunners.com/showthread.php?t=16981

I was thinking about the "do I lose my $20" thing a few people have posted and while I don't echo that statement I do have have a reply, sorta. Think about it, $20 got you a game that doesn't suck, is amusing, and even if you played for a month is far better than a good number of console type (or other PC games) that folk have purchased for $50-60. For example, when Devil May Cry 4 came out, I dropped $50 on a used copy of it from Gamestop. Thankfully they have a 7 day return policy on used games because I beat it in 7 hours and it went back to the store the following day. Had I bought the game new, I'd have spend $55 for 7 hours worth of entertainment which I'd have traded back in for $30 leaving me out $25 total. Even doing it that way, it's $5 more than DR cost!

Even though Steven said DR wasn't going anywhere, for those that are worried and/or feel they are about to be ripped off for paying $20 for the game, I say to you: Hurry up and play atleast 7 hours so you get your money's worth!

I could not agree more. Everyone who is worried that you will have lost your money... do you even know what games cost these days?

if you played 4 hours since buying game you have got monies worth, 2 movies(about 4 hours) and popcorn and a coke cost more than that.

I feel the same way...

I really have nothing to say on the matter... it's just really sh|tty and sad.

Though perhaps unlikely, I would hope that maybe we'll see Crickette Anson and others on the forums form time to time...

This thread makes me sad.
Ninja

Sorry to hear about the loss in staff.
However,I am sure that the DR devs will keep the game going and long term,we will see more staff being added.
Dungeon Runners is a great game,with great features and with the upcoming guilds,it will become even bigger