game is turning to farmville

[strpk0]

Fair points, I can't say that I disagree. Where else could it have been advertised other than the forum? Considering the demo point, would anyone that doesn't play now have even cared? I'm also not all that confident making it F2P again would bring in any new players, some old ones might come back though.

Anywhere, really. From people actively making YouTube videos (example, mind the view count and the emphasis the video maker puts on "the game is free"), to recommending the game on other forums, or just in real life by convincing your friends to play with you. It's kind of impossible to convince anybody at all to pay up $10 monthly for a game they didn't already know or care about to begin with, though.
Haven & Hearth in its current state isn't exactly great on its own at convincing new players to stay and pay for a subscription. It can safely be assumed your average player will simply quit when they notice their playtime is limited, and their progress and general "good impression" are still nearly non-existent at that point.

[dageir]

This game was made for the chosen few.

[Redlaw]

Cant have a running game with out a player base. They need to make it free to play again, then give some extra bells and whistles to the subscribers. Like use the curo wear idea as part of that. With out a player base that is of good size, it wont matter how big the world is, or what they add. They could set up bundles of cosmetic clothing, and many other things, since who wants to start a world naked? There are options, yes?

When the biggest trade item I see being asked for is something I tried to do and failed at, game time. Its what matters.



Now look at farmvile, lkess harsh all free and a lot more money grubby. You want them chickens that can do two eggs at once, buy em. Want ones with a santa hat? Buy those as well. Cafeworld fallowed the same trend, small advantages (like instant stoves, or one that could cook more then one dish at a time).

But even if those games can inspire jorb and loftar, this is not either of those nor do I want to see H&H become a clone of any other game. Let the other games inspire you to suggest ideas, to inspire are fav devs. I rather they look up and get inspired by said games, then make this one a clone. No amount of ghosts and things will change that.... Not every game you can send a ghost to mess with your foes.

[strpk0]

This game was made for the chosen few.

But the problem is a game of this scale will not work properly without atleast a decently-sized player base. Neither for the "chosen few", nor for the developers (they have to make some form of profit, and unless you're willing to pay for all the missing players I don't think this would work). I would hope that its in the dev's interest to market this game to the broadest audience possible, while not ruining the game for everyone else that already likes it as it is.

If you simply leave the game to be "for the chosen few" it will just probably slowly die out soon enough. Not even the most hardcore of players are silly enough to spend time and money into a game they perceive as "dying" (not trying to say it is dying right now).

[dageir]

Well, you have to be a special kind of person to play this game over any length of time. And special people do not grow on trees. All you have to do is read the forums.

[shubla]

Well, you have to be a special kind of person to play this game over any length of time. And special people do not grow on trees. All you have to do is read the forums.

Some might find it relaxing right clicking crops.

[Kaios]

It's kind of impossible to convince anybody at all to pay up $10 monthly for a game they didn't already know or care about to begin with, though.

True, but it's always been a difficult task to convince many people to play this game. "Hey, want to try a game that requires hours upon hours of investment not only in to your character but your industry as well? And it can all be lost in an instant to some prepubescent kid?"

I mean, I've done this one to no avail while it was free and most of the time I got maybe one or two players interested:

to recommending the game on other forums

and this one too with an even smaller amount of success:

or just in real life by convincing your friends to play with you

Ultimately though I'm in agreement with you, if they wanted to keep doing their thing and running "the experiment" rather than listening to the vast majority of complaints that all usually relate to the same mechanics and the suggestions to fix or alleviate those issues then they should not have had a payment model in the first place.

Their initial content patches were great don't get me wrong, they addressed some key issues and made useful additions and squashed many a bug and I think at that time the game was worth paying for. Now however I am losing just as much motivation as you I am sure.

[Redlaw]

I do enjoy farming, cooking baking. But I cant do any of those with out someone to sell it to. I cant mine as a hobby with out the time to do so, cant forage with out the time. I can ask people to do either if I know they spend more time trying to feed there character then getting some job done.

The right clicking crops, at some point you reach a point in farmville it becomes to much. You do not get enough less lag space with out your 600+ groupies.