exxxe said:

i would totally disagree oh wait we got fortresses/sketches/the stupid offers that take advantage of who pay, now i totally agree

but trust me the game wont die bcs the people who complain about this are counted on fingers djmoody, gadheras and more (in forum) other reason is there are a lot of coiners (A) they play and pay then they realize their mistake and leave however new coiners are added (B) by the time (A) leave and after a while they realize the same thing and leave giving time for (C) coiners to jump in and such so this game wont die 

Thing is, as with most online games, very few of the players actually go visit forums and such. I'm quite sure if the Marshalls in the leagues around the game, did start rally their members to send them to forums to state their opinions about things, maybe would been more of an inpact. Most of the time you just see, "ah fk this" and people leave the game, give their accounts away to other players to increase the alt armies.

It's nothing wrong about want to get paid for your game/product, but regard the players as little else than cattle in the process is just bad. Take care of your customers, and the customers take care of you right?

inevitably.... think only of making sapphires traps

M'lords and ladies,

Please remember, it's not that the money being kept in a big safe. In the contrary! The money's meant to make those updates, and in order to keep those updates happening, Plarium needs their money.

Notice that the game has been growing a lot. A little more than 1 year ago, when I started playing, it wasn't as big as now, hence it didn't cost too much money. Even on a level up in that time, you'd get Sapphires! Unfortunately, that has been removed for probably the same reason as I wrote before. Plarium desires money, in order to keep the game running.

So think about it as giving a gift to them. Think that you're not just a Lord or Lady, but rather a hero for spending it on Stormfall, because it definitely helps Plarium!

Remember, though, that purchasing Sapphires is completely optional and thus if you prefer not to spend your money, then you'll have to obtain this in-game currency, which is worth real money, for free in a little more difficult way; earning them at Hamlets for example, which is completely logical in my eyes!

If you're uncertain about where to earn those Sapphires and how you can spend them wisely, check out this wiki article.

I'm sorry if this wasn't really helpful, I try my best to assist!

> SlopranoDark

the problem is that it does not deserve one penny so, sapphires are not additional but mandatory for all now, the game is unplayable, in every game they think a return (logically), but here come to fraudulent practice

think about giving a good game that brings in revenues  is very different that  think of a trap for revenues

you have to reflect on our not/actions and because the game takes you to avoid contact with others castles and do not spend

the game has grown? well in fact i read good feedback on the network...... many "thieves" or fake feedback "the best game" 

here is not facebook platform, is many different ppl

Lords and Ladies, thank you for all your comments, they will be considered. I assure you that we thoroughly analyze the effect of every feature that we implement into the game. As I said our main goal is the evolution of the game and we do everything possible to make it more enjoyable and comfortable for players.

As I already said, every player chooses different strategy for the game. You may decide to use only those features that fit your strategy. Sapphires that you earn in the game may be used in a way that you prefer.

they still ask always for more money, i not spend another euro so :), earn sapphires  in tournaments and weekly rank ohh yes, Plarium you can see how are they made, a regular normal players can not even trying respecting Rules, this game will become only for big pay vs plarium team (alts vs alts)

jumy said:

when you understand not to make fun of your clients probably you will grow !!!!!!!

how many beautiful words, if you want to have a list of at least 100 alts, the problem that many are  Plarium team and not block them, in different ways but the whole game is connected to the usual league.... what do you say?

how can an idiot like me see clearly and plarium not? your game is to give this fake entertainment?

Greetings. Please refer all issues about multiple accounts to our Support Team. Unfortunately, we are not authorized to make any decisions concerning them. Only our Support Team can investigate those accounts and take measures.

I understand that you want to see some actions, but unfortunately, I am unable to help in this case.

mrfreezzzz said:

SlopranoDark said:

M'lords and ladies,

Please remember, it's not that the money being kept in a big safe. In the contrary! The money's meant to make those updates, and in order to keep those updates happening, Plarium needs their money.

in 2015, plarium generated a gross revenue of over $100 million. spreaded over 7 games, that's $14 million per game. or, $1.2 million per month, per game.

a total of 600 employees, that's 85 employees per game. let's assume they're decently paid, that'd be an average of $3000 per month per employee. for 85 employees, that'd be $260000 per month. multiply that by 2, to cover charges, taxes and such. it comes to a total of $520000 per month. out of $1.2 million, that still leaves $500000 per month. 

even taking in consideration the CEO, CFO, and all the VPs salary, there's still plenty of money to update the game, as you say, without systematically looting players, with updates that are nothing but money grabbers.

remember that overall people are smart, not dumb. 

remember that most of your customers are grownups, and not kids who don't know much, or at all, about business and company finances

and bare in mind that in a vast community of players, chances are some of them are in the internet field as well, some might even run software or gaming business

so please, stop taking us for idiots.

If you look at wages and such in places like Ukraine, where they got some of the biz, Im quite sure, that wages rather low there. 

this new sketches option is an obvious money grab

it could be the straw that kills the game

I am seriously thinking of send all my resources to league members and dropping out

the number of saphires needed to buy sketches is ridiculous

but hey I see from the new offers since sketches were released

that for only $50 you can buy enough saphires to trade for sketches

it seems to be pay it or else piss off

I am leaning towards the last alternative

shame on you Plarium

Long version:

Plarium is on a charge for money.

This isn't the kind of money that pays the wages and puts bread on the table of the people work in the company, it's corporate greed, to make a fast buck.

There is zero respect for the customers playing the game. There is no desire to create new content to be played in game. Only content to be bought. Customers are fools to be sucked dry. This has been the the case now for about 9 months but it is coming to a head so violently, I am now posting.

I post with little hope that what I write will be understood by a developer that is just part of a blinkered industry that is slowly eating itself. But I post anyway holding on to a slither of hope. After all I have played and loved the game and invested hundreds if not thousands of hours into it.

I also post with experience, I have already seen a developer, of a similar RTS MMO game, go all out cynical cash cow and the game was dead within 2 years, zero customers left.

I could write a small book about the sapphire only updates of the last 9 months but I will call as evidence just one area of today's updates. But this area is so heinous on it's own is stands evidence as the death of the game.

Sketches

These represent the end of the need to raid.

Don't bother playing the game anymore. If you are addicted/stupid/manipulated enough just tripple your castle resource production to the point that 24/7 troop production is assured. What does this take... nothing you can do it right now immediately with enough cash.

Why will this kill the game?

They have just allowed people to buy there way to the end game. You can now buy your way to not having to play the game each day. This isn't even good business sense in the long run because without content these people will literally stop playing and move on from the game. You take short term money to turn your biggest spending customers into ex-customers in the long term.

For the rest of the player base, it just unbalanced the game to the most ridiculous level. Pay to win player logs in for 2 mins and achieves what might make take you 2/3hrs to achieve. It's way over the line of common sense. It will leave people cold. No one wants to play a game which is so unbalanced they can't hope to compete.

I bet a load of sketches will be bought in the short term. I bet the team will be slapping themselves on the back for their cunning and success. In two years time when the game is dead..... well you will just move onto another job I guess, there is no love for this game so will anyone at Plarium even care?.

Seemingly Plarium won't know what a valued customer is until we are all gone, turned cold by cynical, short termist, money grabbing.

Aleksandra Miroshyna said:

Lords and Ladies, first of all I would like to say that I appreciate your feedback and that you took your time to write it.

You all are very experienced players and I'm sure you know that even though our game based on free-to-play model, there are some limitations. We would love to make everything in the game free, unfortunately this is not possible. If we want to develop and support the game further, certain features must have cost a value. Without this, we would not be able to keep the game running and growing for all players. Of course such features should bring players some advantages otherwise why else would they invest in the game? These are facts of the free-to-play model.

No one is objecting to the fact Plarium need players to spend to keep afloat. What players object to is how it is done and how it affect the sandbox we all play in. Can you honestly say 4500 sapphires just to increase ONE leve of the market is reasonable? Then think about all the other buildings that can be increased in levels as well ?

When I look at what I got available to spend on games and entertainment as whole. I have to consider value I get for my money. Can you honestly say Plarium is competive in this regard? Like, if I see a game for sale on steam that might offer 15-20h of fun, would I rather buy that than one level of a building in Stormfall?

Wouldn't lower prices with more players spending, be more worth it than few players spend a lot? With players spending money they get invested into the game and get harder to leave. The entry barrier into Stormfall is just to high a climb in addition to everything takes way to long time.

We (at least I) are not asking for everything free, just asking for things to be more reasonable its a big difference. Must successfull p2p games, is the ones where what you spend on affect for most parts vanity and boosts, not buying yourself to victory.

Lords and Ladies, first of all I would like to say that I appreciate your feedback and that you took your time to write it.

You all are very experienced players and I'm sure you know that even though our game based on free-to-play model, there are some limitations. We would love to make everything in the game free, unfortunately this is not possible. If we want to develop and support the game further, certain features must have cost a value. Without this, we would not be able to keep the game running and growing for all players. Of course such features should bring players some advantages otherwise why else would they invest in the game? These are facts of the free-to-play model.

I assure you that we have no intention of destroying the game. We want Stormfall to continue growing and evolving.

As I already mentioned, we should release some features that can be opened with Sapphires. However, we always give all players possible ways to earn Sapphires that can be used for these features. Apart from this, we release free features very often. Not a while ago we added into the game a great option for Leagues - League Fortresses. With the last update we released the Dragon. Every player can use them for free as well as almost all posibilities in the game.

If you are playing without purchasing Sapphires, the development of your Castle and the growth of your army may be slower, but if you are active in the game and learn game mechanics, you may reach top players. For sure, our game mechanics is not very easy to understand, your game skills mean a lot for your future success. But you shouldn't learn them alone. We've created this forum not only for collecting the feedback from you, but also for the communication between players.

SlopranoDark said:

M'lords and ladies,

Please remember, it's not that the money being kept in a big safe. In the contrary! The money's meant to make those updates, and in order to keep those updates happening, Plarium needs their money.

Notice that the game has been growing a lot. A little more than 1 year ago, when I started playing, it wasn't as big as now, hence it didn't cost too much money. Even on a level up in that time, you'd get Sapphires! Unfortunately, that has been removed for probably the same reason as I wrote before. Plarium desires money, in order to keep the game running.

So think about it as giving a gift to them. Think that you're not just a Lord or Lady, but rather a hero for spending it on Stormfall, because it definitely helps Plarium!

Remember, though, that purchasing Sapphires is completely optional and thus if you prefer not to spend your money, then you'll have to obtain this in-game currency, which is worth real money, for free in a little more difficult way; earning them at Hamlets for example, which is completely logical in my eyes!

If you're uncertain about where to earn those Sapphires and how you can spend them wisely, check out this wiki article.

I'm sorry if this wasn't really helpful, I try my best to assist!

> SlopranoDark

Honestly we wouldn't know. Because Plarium doesn't release any stats and metrics. How many players logged into this game (on this server) within like last week? Its easy to pull such data from their database. How many players over 5 months playing and so on. You say the game is growing, but dead and abandoned castles that litters the map does not equal growth.

I got a bot line above me and beneath me on the map, the most interaction in my part of the sandbox is people raiding and using these as fifes. I got several Russian alt castles around me that is just used to make units to act as feeders for pvp tournies and such. They been there since I started play this game. And please don't ask me to report this, because nothing happens with this no matter how many times it get reported. 

As for where money being keept, I wouldn't know. I do know a healthy business does use the income to cover bills, wages, overhead and so on. Problem with Stormfall how it come across for many players now, is what is consideded the level of greed of Plarium. 

In a more or less healthy enviroment the players get offered a choice between spend to speed things up or grind with their time and effort. In Stormfall the grind aspect is more or less not here at all. The rewards you can get from events and tournaments takes months and years to get you anywhere. 

Although this new dragon thing was kinda neat, the cost of 150 sapphires to go again after one fight seemed a bit high, consider you get slowed down by the training time of the dragon arts anyways. The biggest beef with the last update is the sketches cost way to much. Even a older player that have maxed out their buildings and have little to spend on in that regard find this quite extreme. 4500 worth of sapphires to upgrade market one level, does that sound even reasonable to you? How long does it take the average player to grind for 4500 sapphires in this game if they going to earn it through tournaments?

Players (me included) is inclined to spend money when we feel we get our moneys worth. Feeling like being a cash cow to get milked have the opposite effect. Plarium need players to spend, but they do need the players to actually be there to spend too. I find myself play this game less and less. I guess I'm reaching the end of my cycle -) The number ONE thing in this game to do is.. WAIT, and people in general think their time is valuable. 

i think rather that many are not interested in the forum, a useless book.... so is my next step 

i think also after deep analysis, poor real pay ppl, 600+ team plarium with free sapphire, when found pay ppl all against and schedule game (tournaments and many other actions) are study for close the corner and use sapphires....

by their not/actions and update  confirm continuously

you study me but i study you... stay alerts Regards

i would totally disagree oh wait we got fortresses/sketches/the stupid offers that take advantage of who pay, now i totally agree

but trust me the game wont die bcs the people who complain about this are counted on fingers djmoody, gadheras and more (in forum) other reason is there are a lot of coiners (A) they play and pay then they realize their mistake and leave however new coiners are added (B) by the time (A) leave and after a while they realize the same thing and leave giving time for (C) coiners to jump in and such so this game wont die 

Its a bit like overfishing..... and then one day, where did the fish go?`

see nerfed troops build time and incoherence base time -% in obelisk and time build with maxxed obelisk and see who develops the game is also incompetent

excellent post & could not agree more

I have not spent a dime in some time now and I have no desire to spend any more

M'lords and ladies,

Please remember, it's not that the money being kept in a big safe. In the contrary! The money's meant to make those updates, and in order to keep those updates happening, Plarium needs their money.

Notice that the game has been growing a lot. A little more than 1 year ago, when I started playing, it wasn't as big as now, hence it didn't cost too much money. Even on a level up in that time, you'd get Sapphires! Unfortunately, that has been removed for probably the same reason as I wrote before. Plarium desires money, in order to keep the game running.

So think about it as giving a gift to them. Think that you're not just a Lord or Lady, but rather a hero for spending it on Stormfall, because it definitely helps Plarium!

Remember, though, that purchasing Sapphires is completely optional and thus if you prefer not to spend your money, then you'll have to obtain this in-game currency, which is worth real money, for free in a little more difficult way; earning them at Hamlets for example, which is completely logical in my eyes!

If you're uncertain about where to earn those Sapphires and how you can spend them wisely, check out this wiki article.

I'm sorry if this wasn't really helpful, I try my best to assist!

> SlopranoDark