Originally posted by Celcius

Originally posted by ereyethirn

Originally posted by Celcius

I hope this does not mean the calibur of updates will go down. They have done really awesome so far and other then possibly GW2, no one else has come close to the rate of content updates Rift has had. 

When it comes to content updates I don't think anyone comes out with them faster than the secret world. Ever sinse launch there has been a major update with lots in it every month with no exceptions thus far.

Lol really? TSW updates are a joke. A handful of new missions? 

Issue 1: July 31st

Delayed marketplace (supposed to be in at launch), 2 new versions of old dungeons (lol), New missions that take a few hours to complete

Issue 2: Delayed for weeks, September 18th (almost 2 months later)

More new versions of old dungeons, LFG tool, new missions,barber shop, new weapon (decent patch, but not nearly the calibur of a Rift/GW2 patch and took longer)

Issue 3:  Sept 26th (turned around delay, but patch content suffers)

New missions and new event missions 

Issue 4: November 15th (so much for monthly patches huh)

A useless theatre zone for social events that no one uses, raid delayed even with the huge gap between issues, new weapon, new decks (continued imbalances in pvp included), terrible reticule target mode that no one uses, new version of old dungeon, new missions

So yeah as you can see TSW is not doing as well as you make it out to be with content patches. They may patch fairly often, but that is quickly changing and the lack of content they are offering within each patch is pretty insignificant. The latest patch has alot of stuff in it that is worthless or doesnt do much to improve the game, but the 2nd issue they did well with. It seems to me like they are still using content that was developed by the staff before they laid people off post launch. 

Really?  Worthless content patches?  Sigh.  TSW is an awesome game and the patches are wicked aswell.  The only Dev that equals them or slightly trumps is Trion.  As a big TSW fan I feel for you guys this is the same doom and gloom TSW has gotten.  Chin up, both great games and if TSW can survive so can Rift. :)

"As much as one-third of the development team working on MMO Rift at Trion Worlds was let go on Tuesday"

"refused to confirm either the number affected or whether it was the Rift team specifically"

Those two statements from the article contradict each other. I call bullshit until more is disclosed.

...wish people would read things properly and journalists (if you can even call them that) had some brains and weren't just trying to score more website hits with their tricks.

Originally posted by Acidon

 

EDIT to add:  This did surprise me.  Trion was the last company I expected to have layoffs.  But, after thinking about it, it's logical to trim the fat now that the expansion is released and in full swing.  News like this may seem like doom and gloom, but it actually makes sense. *shrug*

No, its not logical.  The logical thing to do would be to start work on the next expansion.  Or at the very least assign people to your newly acquired MMORPG (End of Nations).

Ive been playing MMORPGs for well over a decade at this point.  I have never seen a game that Ive played (EQ, WoW, EQ2 mostly) massively layoff staff after an expansion.  

Originally posted by Vannor

"As much as one-third of the development team working on MMO Rift at Trion Worlds was let go on Tuesday"

 

"refused to confirm either the number affected or whether it was the Rift team specifically"

 

Those two statements from the article contradict each other. I call bullshit until more is disclosed.

 

...wish people would read things properly and journalists (if you can even call them that) had some brains and weren't just trying to score more website hits with their tricks.

These journalists have their sources and there have been multiple reports that Rift staff has been hit.

You have fan site operators posting on the official forums mentioning a friend of theirs that has been with the company for a long time has been let go.

It does seem to be mostly Q&A but not all.

Originally posted by KhinRunite
But...Storm Legion...

      Thats just it...Quite often in the software industry when a project is done then quite a few of the devs are laid off, especially if there is nothing on the horizon.....If they decide to do another expansion, then they hire a new round of devs to work on it..... I still have never believed the hype for this game and that it was doing all that well......The quest hub to quest hub theme park is dying a slow death.....

Originally posted by Ginaz
Not really surprising.  Most video game companies fire a lot of their employees shortly after release.  Probably the same thing here.  Once the expansion was out the door, some of the employees became superfluous.  Its not necessarily an indicator of success or failure.

Im really curious as to where this comes from.

Name AAA MMORPG expansions where this has happened.  I cant think of a single set of layoffs that wasnt due to poor performance.

Originally posted by Vannor

"As much as one-third of the development team working on MMO Rift at Trion Worlds was let go on Tuesday"

 

"refused to confirm either the number affected or whether it was the Rift team specifically"

 

Those two statements from the article contradict each other. I call bullshit until more is disclosed.

 

...wish people would read things properly and journalists (if you can even call them that) had some brains and weren't just trying to score more website hits with their tricks.

And we would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for that dang dog and those meddling kids.

Originally posted by strangiato2112

Originally posted by Ginaz
Not really surprising.  Most video game companies fire a lot of their employees shortly after release.  Probably the same thing here.  Once the expansion was out the door, some of the employees became superfluous.  Its not necessarily an indicator of success or failure.

Im really curious as to where this comes from.

 

Name AAA MMORPG expansions where this has happened.  I cant think of a single set of layoffs that wasnt due to poor performance.

While not an example of a MMO expansion, this is a good writeup on the issue in general as it relates to the gaming industry. Not exactly proof of Trion's case, but It is actually quite common.

http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2012/10/lionhead-layoffs/

It’s just business as usual in the game industry. Developers staff up to make a huge game, then shed members once it ships because they no longer have anything for them to do. It happens again and again, whether the game is successful or not: Take-Two had a huge hit with Red Dead Redemption in 2010, then immediately canned 40 workers from its Rockstar San Diego studio, calling the layoffs “typical.”

My entire guild transfered from WoW hoping to find a new challenge when the game launched and on the whole we were initially enjoying the game.  It didn't take long before we began to get bored of the game though and this was primarily due to the completely overpowered macro system.  

If you had a guild who are capable of getting out of the fire the only challenge in maximising your dps in Rift was copying and pasting the right macros. This meant just about every encounter became a gear check rather than the player's skill level being able to make a difference.  

If it wasn't for that one significant issue I suspect our guild might well still be playing Rift as there really were a lot of things to like about the game.  It sounds like Trion haven't taken their foot off the accelerator ever since and hopefully one day if they fix combat I'll play again.

Originally posted by korvass
Could it be possible that the extra 40 people needed to produce the expansion are no longer needed?

Well, in theory, they would still be needed to start work on the next one?

I personally think that Trion's issues are not Rift, I feel you have to look at their whole raft of projects when considering this news. They are spending a whole shedload of cash right now, with only Rift brining money in, but maybe reducing costs across the board is the only way to appease investors to deliver one of the other projects (EoN or whatever).

Who knows for sure? The way some folks here are jumping to conclusions on very little real information here though to just hate is a bit pitiful.