Has anybody else besides me kinda given up on the forums and the game until the Alpha comes out?

Guess that depends on what you mean by "kinda given up". I still check in, occasionally load up the game. Run around a bit. Smack around some thugs. Wish fervently for waypoints/maps to appear.

I'm not entirely convinced Alpha will arrive any time soon, so I take what I can in the meantime. But it is awful quiet around here ...

Random

Not sure if it's what Takron means by "given up" but I haven't loaded up the game in a long while and don't intend to do so until they officially get into alpha phase.

Couple this with the almost non-existent forum activity by the devs and the game looks almost dead to me. At the very least they could post announcements here as well as on Twitter and/or Facebook.

I have.

Hopefully the Alpha truly surpasses the current product. That is a pretty big leap in quality when you think about it; other pre-alpha games are at least playable, with some feel of the game, not the case with VO. I am still hopeful, not giving up on them yet, but this game needs a ton of work, can the alpha truly change the game? That is a huge leap.

Know how you feel, this will be my last visit wasting time here since this is a clear case of vaporware, along with City of Titans. The steam announcement was pretty much the last straw, that was supposed to be completed about a month ago now, and nothing still, not even an update. Sadly we will have to wait for a real company to take an interest in superheroes, one that doesn't have to beg for money on the internet.
Not to mention the content they have shown basically stinks, I don't think we will be missing much if it dies. I hate to contemplate it but I might have to go back to Champions Online, at least it exists.

The quality of super hero games is pretty bad, and VO and CoT are not really giving the super hero community anything to be excited about. The survival, sci-fi and fantasy genres are doing great in general, even with their early productions.

The super hero genre? Not so much. We have DCUO, CO, and Marvel 2016.

Marvel has no creator

DCUO is slow to push out any sort of content and has a shallow creator.

CO is probably the more balanced of the three, but not that great neither.

CoT and VO?

VO's current state worries me.

CoT is the boy whom cried wolf at this point.

My predication is that we will hear something this week.

By "Given Up" I mean that I don't play anymore, between the bugged missions having me stuck in a no-man's land of being able to do anything and abilities pretty much not working, I don't bother anymore. Now the forums are pretty much dead and that makes me think this game is pretty dead. You would think that if they were proud of their game and had plans for it, they would be constantly making posts for people to see what's up.

I only played it a little to see the direction as I want to avoid burn out on the game before it gets released at a mostly-complete state. That being said, it also doesn't help that there is a limit on the character creation atm which is boxing away more of my ideas.

that's not a bad thing, after all it is in Pre-alpha and it's certainly not like the team claimed it wasn't which would've created a massive backlash. Also the forums have always felt somewhat dead to me, but then again I am not as active as I'd like to be on the forums so it might be just a case of people having seen all the current content and just waiting for the next few updates.

Their FB page is VERY popular and I'm not always the first to comment on a new piece of information that's been updated or shared, like the pictures of their storyboards they just published as their plan for the into to the game.

TheCity wrote:
I personally disagree with VO and CoT, but something many of us seem to be forgetting is that the team are not on the game Full Time (That's when they hit the first funding tier) however I have seen an increase in their activity since I started funding and they jumped from 50 donators to 80 (Still short as it's only 12.6 funded at first tier).

I think it might be a case that they are doing the game in their spare time and have no time left for the forums. I may bring this up with whoever is running the FB group as they are VERY active there and always reply to any concern I've thrown their way along with many others but it could also be a lack of staff moderating the forum who can contact the devs...that being said there was a thread about if they may ask for more volunteers in the future, but I've not heard from them yet regarding that.

Hells Wing wrote:
I agree, the FB page is fairly active. It was updated not to long ago. The forums? Not so much. We do receive prompt FB updates so i am not upset with the lack of forum communication.

As far as the game's development goes, I am gauging VO to the standards of any and every other alpha/pre-alpha project. If a company releases a pre-alpha project, it better resemble a game. If they release an Alpha project, it will be gauged by the standards of its' peers. There are no excuses, if the product is lacking, do not release it. Steam nor the video game community in general cares about part-time or full-time.

First impressions are everything,there are no excuses in gaming.

Try telling the gaming community VO does not work on the game full-time, that will make matters worst.

"Vaporware"

"They don't care about it enough to work full-time, look at it..."

"They don't have the funds to make it...."

"Etc, etc...."

I am not saying this is the case btw; however, I do represent the common gamer whom has no allegiances to any game. Therefore I will call it like I see it. i have to be impartial. Tons of games are funded but look much smoother than VO; they play much smoother as-well.

The census in the gaming community is VO and CoT are vaporware, and that name will stay until VO and CoT does something about it. I am rooting for them. This is the only MMO with a companion creator (That I know of), I need that feature.

Unless you're willing to walk away from the idea of a COH successor, patience is your only option. As has already been stated, this is an alpha being created in people's spare time. You can't expect it to be a finished product (yet). That said, a little more interaction would be nice. BTW, I'm a 30-year software development veteran with a family and understand what kind of load a "spare time" project can be.

To all of the Devs reading this: I'm (we're) still with you guys, keep on cranking...

I have walked away; I accepted DCUO and CO as the "Premier" super hero mmos of this era. The sci-fi and fantasy genre is where I spend the majority of my time. The MMO field is extremely competitive, there are too many solid mmo's available to harp on a niche genre. The super hero genre is a niche genre, I am willing to walk away because super heroes are not premier mmos. Sci-fi, shooters, MOBA, and fantasy games are the top dogs.

Working on an MMO in ones' spare time sends the message that this game is not truly a priority. I play video games in my spare time, and tend to more important matters during my set time. VO is a reflection of this. Valiance looks like a game which folks worked on during their free-time, or whenever they have time.

You get what you put in, VO resembles a free-time project. Companies work on MMOs as a job; this is the problem with kick-starter projects, they are not an organized paid group of individuals, therefore the game's development is thrown out of whack.

If Valiance is released in good stature, cool beans. If it is never released, I will not lose any sleep. VO is not the end all of MMOs, there are other games which I play. I do not even test VO because it is not a presentable project. Therefore I do not know what I am missing because the game was not in a functional state.

A super hero successor of CoH is not the end all of MMOs, I play other games more-so than super hero mmos.

When you do something for free for a community, yes, there is no real expectation to it. When you take money from people for a project, you now have a responsibility to said project. I understand its a spare-time project but the communication on this game from the devs is very piss-poor.

There are advantages to not being beholden to a massive corporate entity. Rapid turnaround isn't one of them unfortunately, when you still have to hold down a day job.

SpellCannon wrote:
Yeah, it's not a easy thing developing a game. Especially an MMO which is so much more massive.

Also on the recent update, they said on facebook they hope to have the servers back on Tuesday (today for me) which might mean Alpha is THAT much closer. We'll see what happens when I get back from work tonight.

Takron wrote:
I did speak with them on FB recently and they said after the Alpha build they're going to be more active in the forums.

A company that is attempting to gain fans and their trust should be working on this game with a purpose, not in their "Whatever" free-time. Companies whom work on games during their free-time will have a product which plays nearly identical over 2 years later.....

That is the case with VO, I am sorry folks, but the progress is not there. We can nitpick the nuances but I am telling you, this will not fly on Steam. Alot of people need to start being honest with SilverHelm and stop praising everything they do, giving them false security. Stop telling them what they want to hear and what they need to hear.

Maybe SilverHelm wants real feedback? That will not happen here, folks are so amped for a CoH, that they will praise anything they do. This game has not progressed at the rate in which an MMO should, case and point, look around the pre-alpha world......

Enough said, I can post many pre-alpha and alpha projects that play like a functional MMO. I do not care if it is a fan raised project, worked on during free time, etc, because at the end of the day, it is an MMO, and will be judged with its' peers.

They need another strategy imo, this will not work. There is noway this game will improve from what it is now, to a respectable Steam project.

I stand by this comment, they should go the CoT route and release a hero and minion creator, because that is currently the most respectable feature they have. Now, I am not a developer, so I do not know if a team can focus solely on the creator(I would imagine not, because it is not as simple as picking out the creator to work on neglecting other parts of the game, does not work like that to my knowledge at least) for advertising purposes, but apparently CoT will realse one. Black Desert released one as-well.

Please change the idea of going to Steam at anytime this year, just work on the game and release a respectable creator and final product.

The current creator, while limited is not that bad; a minion creator would grab folks attention regardless of the number of features available, folks will just be happy that it is ingame.

By the way, I am rooting for you guys, but I must keep it 100.

.....On the subject of keeping it 100, I think you guys should shutdown public testing. The game is actually worst than it was before. No way this game hits Steam this year. I am urging you guys to shut it down for now, to the public that is. There is reason why the Titan people are not releasing playable content yet.

If the masses get hold of this product VO is doomed.