[2019] MICRO MANAGEMENT ON A MMORPG

Aye, we can certainly understand why it seems odd given the initial intent behind ATLAS. The alternative game modes were created as part of Early Access, it wasn't something that we had initially intended to do but the feedback and requests were there, and it was something we knew we could tackle. Blackwood's creation stemmed from wanting to provide the modding community with a resource/example of a map that could contain what ATLAS has to offer but within a single server. Now that these alternative game modes and Blackwood are out the door (albeit with issues we'll need to resolve over time), our attention will be on the Mass Multiplayer version of the game, as that is our team's main priority, which you'll see over the months ahead.

From our point of view, players who are interested in playing those game modes (non-dedicated and single player) aren't really interested in playing the Mass Multiplayer version of the game. Additionally, ATLAS has a pretty steep entrance in order to become competitive and it's very easy to get driven off of the main servers (at least on PvP). Providing these options give players an alternative choice, whilst we work to resolve ATLAS fundamental design issues. It's not something that will happen overnight, or I guess over the last 6 months. In hindsight, the team recognize there's a lot of things that could have been done differently, had we the power of foresight . We are planning for the long term and I am hoping it's something we'll be able to cover more in upcoming articles/streams -- you'll have to stay tuned for now .

Yup, that's definitely true, though I don't think those people would feel that way about the mass multiplayer game in its current state, perhaps as we get further along in its development

I think it's fair to say a lot of players had already departed before any time, thought, or effort was put into those alternative game modes. As for Blackwood, it's development did start much earlier but was primarily handled by one developer up until the last two weeks to get it out the door and deal with the technical issues.

Obviously the openworld game has its issues, we don't shy from that, but it's clear the direction the team had taken with our updates weren't really impactful in turning the ship around. You could argue that taking a break from it allows us to give it a fresh perspective and tackle different things in order to get ATLAS to where it needs to be.

As for not caring, you're highly mistaken. This isn't just a job for a lot of the people here, it's a passion and everyone wants to see the project succeed.

There's still a lot more work to do and will be continuing to do it over the months ahead. Whether people choose to return or stick around, that's up to them but the team will always put it's best efforts forward in that regards.

These are things we had actually spoken about today, at least in regards to additional QoL, taking a look at what mods are doing, and decay timers. I can't say any of it will change in the immediate future but we are certainly looking into these areas.

As for 'to come' in the next Mega Update, so far it'll be what we've revealed thus far in Capts Logs, we can update the notes to include those. Beyond that, we'll be sharing details soon-ish and may even have a roadmap of sorts (no promises )