GamezBD roadmap ? Website + client improvements suggestions

Hello,

I would like to share my thoughts about the whole GamezBD server and talk about the improvements that i think will make the user experience even better.

First of all, i would like to congrats the whole GamezBD team for the product they have made. I'm a retail BDO player and i always thought that the rates wasn't great and that it was way to much P2W.... What you've achieved on this server is, to me, really well balanced and enjoyable so thank you for that.

But i think there is still a lot to do with your Game client and with your website. I'll split my suggestions into two parts.

Game Client/Server Side:

1. It would be great to update the game client to the latest retail version. (if it is already a work in progress, then it would be nice to have more information about the progress, for instance when do you plan to release it ? Are you even working on it ? etc...). I'm a retail player as well, and i know that they've added a lot of stuffs (Awakening and Succession, for many classes including the Guardian, annimation fixes, new outfits, repressed boss gears that allow new-commers to at least reach the TRI level easily wich is good specially when you're entering in a server where you have older players that plays for more than a year and are 500+GS... They also have fixed a lot of translations issues in the game and they've added the New UI wich is, in my opinion, way better than what we used to have.) But of course i have no idea on how difficult it is to upgrade the game client so i can't say.
2. It would be nice to have more events added to the game, like the Oasis event, or seasonal events like on retail, like Ellie Festivals, Toshi event... etc. I don't know how difficult it is to enable those events server side but it would make people wanting to stay longer on your server. And maybe add more custom events like your Olympiads, that would make your server more unique and enjoyable.
3. When you're running a maintenance, you should sync it with your client and block the user from launching the game (like on retail).
4. Add more performant servers and display informations about server population (low, medium, high). That allow us to choose the less populated server in order to have less lags ingame (which is really anoying especially for PvP and boss fights).

Website Side:

1. I think the website needs an overhall design improvement.
2. We should have info about your roadmap, specially for the big updates that you've planned to do etc... Maybe a read only bug tracker link as well ?
3. I think we need to have more information about the sate of the servers as well. When you do a maintenance or change something server side, it would be great to have a special section for Server status (under "server info" tab maybe ?). Because it is frustrating to try to connect without success and think there is a bug or something when it is only because you're running a maintenance on your side.
4. We need to have a better UX for the webshop. It is really not user friendly right now and it is anoying from a user perspective and make buying stuff harder (that mean less possible money for you).
5. Maybe display somewhere on website the donations monthly goal that you need to make the service as good as possible (servers rental, salaries etc...). That allow us to know what you need and if we can, we may help you reach your goal and insure that the service live longer.

I'm not telling you what to do or not do, those are just my thoughts and i just wanted to share them with you.

PS: I'm a senior web developper, and i have experience with private servers so if you're interested on updating your website, let me know in MP, i might be able to find some time to help you with that beside my full time job.

Thank you.

 

We've got some good suggestions here!

They're currently working on the patch afaik but there's no ETA.
As for the server population, bot, bosses, siege timers it can all be found on Telegram but if we manage to link that up to the GameZ Launcher? That would be amazing.

And as for the website especially the webshop. It definitely needs a re-work, better graphics and ease of usability = more money.
Kudos for the TS!

 

Ho ok, how do you know that ? Where can i found the same info ? (i can't wait to play on my Guardian with awakening or succession ).

 

Hello,

Thank you for all those clarifications. I'm really glad to hear that you're working on all those stuffs, full time moreover ! That's really good news.
And i totally understand your moves, since retail client has a lot of new stuff coming this year (we already have some new successions added last month), it's better to wait to have as much as possible before spending all this time to make it works... I didn't know it was taking that much time actually... But i guess since you doesn't have access to retail source code it's a lot more complicated... So i'll trust you when you say that it can take up to 15 months to do a new client build... I'm just so impatient, It looks forever for me XD. But ok. Do you have an idea on when you'll start working on the new client version or it is still too uncertain for now ?

About the website, it is true that when you change something, peoples get lost at first but if it is more intuitive and easy-to-use than before, they will always thank you for the changed design over the old one. I'm in the WEB business for more than 10 years now, and i've did a lot of UI/UX updates through this time on multiple websites and we always get more friendly feedbacks than complaints. If it's done well, it is always better to go for the change.
Look what Steeve Jobs did: There where no smartphone before and Apple comes up with the iPhone with iOS and some people was saying that it was shit and that it will never works, but now, it has become the new norm. So changes is good and makes more sells at the end ;-).
So i'm glad that you've planned to work on it.

Thanks again for those info.

 

The reason why PA release weekly content is to prevent the player base loss, that way they keep players interested releasing new content every week, even if it's just an outfit. They also work on their fixes to launch together with the next week update. Note that I'm not saying GameZ should do it exactly the same, but holding back content doesn't make a happy community, as we can see. You said you guys wait for major updates (like classes, maps etc) to work it all together, but Shai and Guardian's content was launched incomplete and we had to wait months to get the full version. And the full content were already available in retail, so if you said you guys wait for big updates to work on it, why in this both cases the content came in parts? It's a genuine newbie question, not trying to be sarcastic or anything like that.
About web site update, like @Azazel971 said, they get lost at first when you change something, but if it's done well, it is always better to go for the change. And I know how gamez tend to hold content fearing the dumb part of the community, because they think it's better to ask first and search later. I would even like to help making a new visual identity for GameZ. Remember the patch I did? I just don't know how to program it. XD

 

I think the problem on Gamez is that they are not in any way part of Peal Abyss and they actually "hack" the PA client in order to run it on their own server including their own event/contents. Did you noticed the "Gamez" logo when you launch the game ? This should be a pearl abyss logo instead. That mean they've modified the original client to do it. They don't have access to the readable source code from peal abyss directly, they can only hack the compiled version of the client which is really hard to do and really time expansive... That's the reason why it takes so long to do huge changes i presume...
But Gamez actually release patches/fixes almost every weeks so that's something already ! It's just that there is no new content yet.

But new location (O'Dyllita) should be released soon on retail, that mean that Gamez team would be able to start working on a new client starting from June or July (i hope so) that mean we would have a new client release next year lol. (this is so long XD).

 

Well, our client comes from Global Lab, wich means everything they have there and in KR we could get here. Also they do get updates first than NA/EU/SA. But still...
I know that releasing Guardian in this build was a bless because it was the pre creation build, and I praised Kolka for that. But if the next build was already up in Global Lab, also available in NA/EU, why did they chosed an already outdated version? You know what I mean? NA/SA just got Infinity Potions and Ash Forest, we got it a long time ago... Because? Global Lab. Anyway. I don't know if I'm making myself clear and I'm afraid to be miss understood.

 

Hum... Yeah maybe they could get their build before retail EU/NA, but it doesn't change what i said right ? The client that you can download from global labs is still a compiled client that they need to hack for their needs, they also need to update their server client... They still doesn't have access to the source code, Black Desert Online is not an open source project lol...
And also, getting the client from Global Lab doesn't insure that it will be out of bugs or last updates before the global retail releases. On Global labs they have the latest, unfinished and unpolished build. Specially for the new location O'Dyllita it is not fully done yet... It needs to be polished, but it is already available on test servers already to let people test it before the release and give feedbacks.
So i rather like to wait instead of having an unfinished version of the game. Specially for localisation (it is still partially written in Korean).
So that's why it take much more time to release a new GameZ updated client. They are not Peal Abyss and it is kinda illegal to do what they do, but they do it anyway and we thanks them for that .

I don't think i'm wrong, but i'm not 100% sure that this is what they're doing. I'll let a developer correct me if i am.

 

It still doesn't answer my question, I'm sorry. ><
I do understand the time needed to make everything work, because it's not an open source, it's not like Ragnarok Online with a community coding everything for you. They need to do it from 0, we know this. And I also know that 2308 build was not suppose to have Guardian, but yet they managed to unlock her. That's why it came incomplete, wasn't their intention to bring her, but they surprised us.
What I really asked was: what factor will determine wich build version will you work on? Let's take Shai update for ex... We had to wait to get her Talent, why you guys didn't worked in the next build that has her Talent already? Back then, when we got this update, retail already had her Talent for a month or so. We waited for a incomplete update, when we could wait just a lil more to get it complete. You know? It's really a humble question.

 

What i understand is that when a retail build comes out, it contains multiple kind of updates :
- The ones that are directly available at launch.
- The ones that are partially implemented and added for an up-coming update or that needs to be more polished (those are hidden).
What @Kolka says is that, in the 2308 build they already had some hidden updates like the Guardian or like the Shai talent which was planed for a later update on retail (like you said, retail BDO try to launch new stuff every months to keep their player base happy, so it is not impossible that the shai work was already done for 2308 but just hidden and waiting for an up-coming announcement or simply because they wanted to polish it a bit more, we'll never know...). So that make sense that those changes was already there for this particular release.

About your question, it has been answered actually: They want to wait for a "big" retail release with a lot of fixes, improvement and new content (like the new upcoming O'Dyllita zone) and new awakening/succession or new class before starting working on a new release since, like @Kolka said, it can take up to 15months to release a new game client for Gamez for a specific retail release...
So retail will always be the most up-to date game version and it is IMPOSSIBLE to follow up the releases with an emulated game client. So, that means we'll wait a lot between two releases unlike retail that has new small releases every months or so.

 

I really think they should do it differently. Small weekly patches or every other week. It would give time to players appreciate every content and the staff would have time to work on fixes and, since it would be a minor content, we would probably see less bugs.

 

Yeah that would be the ideal solution but it is not possible to do it.
Like @Kolka said, they are creating an emulator for every retail version. That mean that they need to re-create a new emulator each time there is a new retail version. And like he said: It can take up to 15 months just to create a new emulator... The only thing they can do is to disable some parts that are present in retail build and enable it every weeks or months but they just can't add new features like Pearl abyss does every week or months. But i hope they won't do it like that because if we wait 15 months for something incomplete, i will be really frustrated.

Also, there is a new Zone coming to retail sometimes this month or next month as well as a new class for this summer, they've also re-worked the PVP and added a lot of fixes on retails... So i think GamezBD team is doing the right move to wait until this is added on retail before working on a new emulator. The next release will be HUGE ! I can't wait !

But one thing that GamezBD can do, is to add custom events more often (if possible) like weekly and/or monthly events. That will keep the players base happy.

 

For clarification I am pretty sure he said 1.5 months and not 15 months

 

I am Pretty sure it says 1-15 months hehe

 

nah, its 1.5 just went back through the telegram to confirm

 

You mean how long it will take to get new client update right?

 

According to @Kolka sentence, it seems it's more like 15months than 1.5 months... Otherwise why would he said that we won't have any other updates next half year ? As a developer myself, 15 months to create an emulator make sense. This is not an easy task to do. Otherwise we would already have a lot more updates on current GamezBD client (but that's not the case).

But i hope i'm wrong and that he wanted to say 1.5 month ! Sooner is better .

 

Up to 15 months seems like a realistic time frame. Also he says alot of content, so yeah. I do bellive it might have been a miss type somewhere, or that @GodGlaive wanted it to be 1 1/2 Month hehe.