Give early announcements for upcoming updates/patches to users

In the past, there has been some updates and patches that made users very frustrated mainly because all these changes were unexpected (i.e. night lord avoidability nerf). I am confident that none of us expected this situation (but forgive me if there has been an idea to nerf night lord’s avoidability before the patch was made) which eventually lead numerous users upset. To add on, there was a new implementation in regards to “hp gaining method” which made some users surprised since this specific idea of hp washing method popped out then implemented expeditiously. I understand this was to benefit the users who have hard time with hp washing on their characters for bossing; however, the idea is that the implementation was made as it almost seemed to happen anyway in a short amount of time.

With that said, here is my suggestion/recommendation to potentially prevent any further unreasonable damages by new patches. I would like to suggest/recommend letting users know what the upcoming updates and patches will look like at least one week before (the time can be flexible – i.e. 3 days, 14 days, etc.). From this, we know how the future updates will impact the users and the server rather than seeing it occurs out of nowhere.

Feel free to comment and share your thoughts. Thank you

Thanks to @visker for helping out this thread!

 

in regards to the hp gaining method, there was an active feedback regarding it, it did not come as a surprise.
https://royals.ms/forum/threads/feedback-thread-a-new-way-to-gain-hp.190296/

 

I am aware that there was a feedback in regards to hp washing method, but I personally think it would have been better if the official announcement was given before the patch is applied so everyone knows what to expect.

 

I think a problem with announcing certain updates too early is that some players might take it to their advantage.

For instance, let's say if next patch, they decide to make certain things untradeable e.g what happened to Winner's Podium, then for those days prior to the update, everyone would be panic selling Winner's Podium.

If let's say they wanted to nerf duku, suddenly for those days prior to the update, duku prices triple up.

There would be more consequences to releasing patch notes early than just what I've mentioned, and it's not easy to maintain a consistency with that sort of idea especially when changes affect the market with the intention that players should not see it coming incase it gets exploited pre-patch.

 

What I think is missing from your argument is what you expect to derive from knowing about this change (or others) in advance.

To add on to this, if the OP is asking for early announcements in order to be able to prepare for the changes in some way, then how long in advance should announcements be given, and why? Different changes could be argued to "require" different preparation times, and users are in different positions to react and adjust to changes in advance, which could also be unfair.

 

im very hppy bout the hp gaining method. i think people only got pissed because their apr areorthless now. it is very welcoming to new players to be aable to do bosses, and doesnt affect players who hp washed. this is "i had to suffer so others should suffer too" mentality that focuses on putting others down instead of bringing everyone up

 

No spoilers please

 

spoilers are welome in things that actually afect our gameplay imo
like "yeah guys, you cant use 3rd/4th job skills anymore in early PQs, what do you think aobut it?"

 

I personally think it is ideal to give an early update/patch note in a certain period of time (such as 3 days or 7 days) before the official announcement is made. The objective of better explanation of game changes and updates is to provide additional context and intention behind some of the significant changes which will be implemented in future game updates through the patch notes. Plus, another goal can be that it provides better visibility to the players in regards to why a specific change is being made.

For instance, if a player wants to trade Winner's Podium effect to the other character but ultimately could not be done due to the sudden patch, this seems unfortunate that nothing could be done beforehand. Another instance could be about trading mini chicken/yellow chick pet. If I remember correctly, there was an update of how mini chicken/yellow chick will be untradeable before a few hours of next patch, and this notified players that they could purchase if they would like to before the patch was made. But, I believe the situation could have been better if the update was notified earlier so that the price would not be escalated and people would have more time to consider buy/sell before the patch. These are just small instances; however, I am afraid how the server would look like to the players if there were to be a bigger update/patch in regards to gameplay without any notice.

I understand about the conflicts and concerns about the economic perspectives of the server; however, I personally see that giving early announcement would not hugely impact the economic side as the early announcement is given a few days before the official announcement is made. I am confident that there are many other ways to resolve the economic perspectives of the server if you are concerned about the inflation, and I hope the server to be healthy and best to the players as we all want to be.