A Farewell To Arms - Nosgoth’s Final Days Are Upon Us

[Oghamsmith]

Denizens of Nosgoth,

It has been more than two and a half years since we partnered with the wonderfully mad men and women at Psyonix to embark upon a rather ambitious adventure. Our goal was to bring the world of Nosgoth to life in a new and challenging manner; a manner which allowed players to wage asymmetric warfare against each other as both human and vampire-kind.

A massive amount of work has gone into making Nosgoth a reality, and continually bringing new developments to the game. Our own teams, as well as the great guys at Psyonix, have dedicated a huge portion of themselves to making Nosgoth bigger and better over the years. Not only that, but dedicated community members provided a great deal of feedback that has been tremendously beneficial to the game. We are eternally grateful. Thank you one and all.

The above only makes today’s announcement that much more difficult.

It is with a heavy heart and an immense sense of sadness that we must announce the end of Nosgoth’s development. Servers will continue to run until 31st May 2016, during which time you will be able to play the game as normal. After that date, Nosgoth will be taken offline for the last time.

This was not an easy decision to come to. It has been a pleasure to build this game with your help, but ultimately its audience hasn’t grown enough to sustain ongoing operations.

On behalf of the entire Nosgoth team we want to thank you all for your feedback, support and dedication to the game throughout Nosgoth’s life.

Should you have any additional questions, please read this FAQ:

• Can I still play the game?
  Yes, new and existing players will be able to continue to play Nosgoth until 31st May 2016. Players will no longer be able to make real world purchases in the game.
  
  
• Am I entitled to a refund?
  All purchases made since 1st March 2016 will be automatically refunded.
  
  
• Where and when can I claim a refund?
  You won't be required to claim a refund as all eligible refunds will be automatically processed in the next 14 days. Email notifications will be sent out when the refund has been processed. For all other inquiries, you can contact Square Enix customer support at support.nosgoth.com or Steam customer support support.steampowered.com.
  
  
• How long will it take to process the refund?
  Refunds for in game purchases or purchases through the web store will be processed as soon as possible and, in any case, within 14 days.
  Refunds for purchases of the Definitive Pack on the Steam Store will be processed from week commencing 18th April 2016.
  
  
• Where will I receive my refund?
  Any in-game purchases made through Steam Wallet will have credits refunded to their Steam Wallet. For purchases of the Definitive pack on Steam Store please see the Steam Refunds Payment Methods section for details on how these refunds will be applied (http://store.steampowered.com/steam_refunds_methods). Any purchases made through the Nosgoth Website or in-game through the native client will be refunded to your method of payment used to make the original purchase. Please contact Square Enix Customer Support at support.nosgoth.com for further information.
  
  
• Will there be any more updates for Nosgoth?
  No further updates are planned for Nosgoth.
  
  
• Are there going to be more Leagues seasons?
  There will be no more Leagues seasons.
  
  
• What does this mean for Nosgoth Cups run by ESL?
  The Nosgoth Open Beta Cup Series will continue to run in April after which they will cease. For details of the upcoming cups visit http://play.eslgaming.com/nosgoth/global
  
  
• What happens to the Runestones and Gold in my account?
  You will be able to carry on using Runestones and Gold until the game is taken offline. Runestones are no longer available for purchase but you can still earn Gold by completing public matches.
  
  
• Will the automatic refund remove game content purchased since 1st March?
  No, no game content will be removed.
  
  
• What will happen to the forum on www.Nosgoth.com?[www.Nosgoth.com]
  The Nosgoth forum will remain online until 14th June 2016, after which it will be taken offline.
  
  
• What does this mean for the Legacy of Kain franchise?
  Any future Legacy of Kain project will be considered independently of Nosgoth and on the merits of the proposals alone.

[Bird Stalker]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Rowbot:

We deserve better than this.

[BlackHorse23]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Taki:

they cannot fix, i think is the main reason they shut down, the new launcher broke all, so badly they had to invest too much money to fix for good, so they shut down.
They are incompetent and unprofessional.

.

[BlackHorse23]

I think the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ thing about this whole thing is this is happening to a game that was actually really good when it worked.

[HotSexyFisherman69]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Wolf Spider:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από SallyCantDance:

yes,play on EURO servers.

I had the settings set to "any server" :/

set it to Europe

[Danny Sleeves]

I bought this game a while ago, with the hope of playing a bunch when I got a good computer. I never did get one, so is there any chance of a refund even though I bought it 2 years ago, or is that a no?

[Syncroniam]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Danny Sleeves:

I bought this game a while ago, with the hope of playing a bunch when I got a good computer. I never did get one, so is there any chance of a refund even though I bought it 2 years ago, or is that a no?

nope, they ♥♥♥♥♥♥ us.

[Hubris]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Syncroniam:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από Danny Sleeves:

I bought this game a while ago, with the hope of playing a bunch when I got a good computer. I never did get one, so is there any chance of a refund even though I bought it 2 years ago, or is that a no?

nope, they ♥♥♥♥♥♥ us.

Ofc they did, Square Enix being the EA wannabe that is...



Honestly I can only speak for myself when I say this but, I'm pretty sure anyone who has invested themselves (economically or emotionally) would know that Nosgoth was never coming out of early access.

First I'll go over the people involved:

For those of you who dont know, Nosgoth was built upon the multiplayer components of another cancelled game (ironic right?) called Legacy of Kain: Dead Sun, which was shut down in it's pre-alpha stage. You can search on google to see articles and videos about it.

Since Dead Sun was a AAA (I.E. expensive) project, SE forced everyone into making a game that nobody asked for in order to make some profit and make it seem like it wasnt a waste of money.

So they contracted Psyonix to make Nosgoth, you can tell how staged and forced this was from their first Nosgoth announcement video, link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=143&v=VbpMhMfnTuQ

Honestly, I dont understand what good would do having such retarded microtransactions such as the chests that looked like they belonged in a Freemium mobile game.

I am almost certain that the fault does not lie in Psyonix as developers since anyone can very well see that their most recent project, Rocket League, is a polished success, so this is why I fully lay the blame on the ones that made the decisions and marketing, I'm assuming those are mainly the folks at Square Enix who were involved in Nosgoth.

Now onto the game itself:

I think it was a tremendous mistake not to implement a server list very early on into the game, because as many of you know, any major multiplayer only game has server lists because it's necessary for it to survive.
Counter Strike, League of Legends are good examples, infact I remember back in the open beta that League of Legends worked on a server list system long before a matchmaking mechanism was implemented. And I have to strongly agree with the following that was previously stated in this line of comments: Any game without a server list system is bound to have an expiration date.
I'm pretty sure at one point I suggested something like this in the forums a long while ago, the post was utterly ignored.

Another thing I'd really like to point out is the fact that, taking in account this game has been in early access for almost 2 years, I feel like I've played a game that was less buggy when I began playing it than when I last played it, absurd isnt it?
Anything ranging from the broken party system, poor matchmaking system, friends not properly displaying in the friends list, broken Leagues ranking display, frequent game crashes AND that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ excuse for an abhorrent launcher (which I'll leave it to it's own paragraph) were tiny brick by tiny brick that built the mauseloum that now holds the game so many hated and then fell inlove we call Nosgoth. The neglected & ignored bugs/gliches contributed strongly to the snowball effect that killed this game.

Specifically regarding the launcher: a launcher that not only doesnt shut itself off when the game is started but also is so slow and glitchy that it keeps players from entering the game through the occasional "black screen" on the launcher and disabled Play button, IS an objectively bad launcher! (feels like an understatement to say such thing)

I almost forgot to mention the fact that when I exit Nosgoth, the launcher stays minimalized in the form of an icon in the Task Bar as well as marking on Steam that I'm currently playing Nosgoth and thus messing up both game and party joins from other games/people over Steam. So this launcher not only was damaging to Nosgoth, it was also a nuisance for anyone using Steam.

I kept telling everyone that the devs shouldnt focus on new content nor income, but rather fixing the bugs and condensing the present core game as best as possible and only then add new content and proper income "providing mechanisms" from there, but I kept hearing people say "Dont be like that! It's an early access game! Expect bugs!", that is no excuse, Nosgoth has been early access for 2 years now, it may as well be a finished game at this point.

I feel like whoever was running the major decisions didnt really care about the game enough to properly invest in it to be a successful game, which is sad because it has tremendous potential, perhaps more than enough for it to compete agaisnt Blizzard's release OverWatch. I say this because the gameplay was amazing, the combat was great, the visuals were great, the maps were great and the overall setting/aethestic to the game was there, and despite it was initially recieved so poorly, the game slowly won over thousands of those who previously hated it.

However the fact that despite the frequent updates, the changes made were too small or few in proportion to the elapsed time of Nosgoth's development, in other words, progress was slow.

And so, all these little things amounted to a snowball that caused players leaving the game, and because of the lack of players, finding games and lobbies was harder and consequentially driving more players away, thus furthering the vicious cycle.



Lastly I'd like to state that when Oghansmith says "It has been a pleasure to build this game with your help, but ultimately its audience hasn’t grown enough to sustain ongoing operations.", I say the fault lies in the staff (premusingly Square Enix) that this happened, that Nosgoth's audience hasnt grown enough to sustain it further, the fans of this game were loyal and it was neglectful decision making that drove them away.

A thank you to all that read the entire post through, I am very emotional towards this game so forgive me if I sound too condescending or if I this was needlessly long. If I got any of the information wrong please do correct me.
To Oghansmith, if you are reading this I'd appreciate your feedback, and appreciate further if this were to be shown to those involved in Nosgoth's development

[Bird Stalker]

ImATomato, Don't apologize for being condescending. We have all earned that right.

[RoyaleChaos]

I agree with Bird Stalker.

[MrAndrew]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από ImATomato:

Ofc they did, Square Enix being the EA wannabe that is...


Nosgoth announcement video, link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=143&v=VbpMhMfnTuQ

I am almost certain that the fault does not lie in Psyonix as developers since anyone can very well see that their most recent project, Rocket League, is a polished success, so this is why I fully lay the blame on the ones that made the decisions and marketing, I'm assuming those are mainly the folks at Square Enix who were involved in Nosgoth.

Just look at credits, SE made management and web stuff only. All programming on Psyonix.
I dunno, if it was just other department full of indies and newbies, or they were too busy with RL. But the fact is that they are in response for Nosgoth death too.

Nosgoth announcement - 25th September 2013.
2.5+ years passed, i don't see anything new except 3 new classes. Ok, for one year they made some stuff, but there were no changes (buggy duckmaster update doesn't count) after releasing open beta. Ok, no new stuff - that's fine, but then broken matchmaking, useless leagues (throw more cach in vain, MOAR!) and launcher that burned last loyal community to ashes. Yea, really, cool idea guys.

[My Legs Are OK]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από ImATomato:

Just look at credits, SE made management and web stuff only.

The management screwed the game more that the bugs. It was poorly advertised. If not for a fan of this game on a certain resource I would never have heard of it. Nosgoth is a fun game, and if mroe people tried it, more would play it and stay, for ming the necessary audience. But square enix did not seem to give two ♥♥♥♥♥ about whether the game gets popular or not.

[SPOOOOOON]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από My Legs Are OK:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από ImATomato:

Just look at credits, SE made management and web stuff only.

The management screwed the game more that the bugs. It was poorly advertised. If not for a fan of this game on a certain resource I would never have heard of it. Nosgoth is a fun game, and if mroe people tried it, more would play it and stay, for ming the necessary audience. But square enix did not seem to give two ♥♥♥♥♥ about whether the game gets popular or not.

I don't believe you can just blame Squeenix for this one. I may be remembering wrong, but it seems like the blatant disregard by the devs (or indifference toward Nosgoth) coincided perfectly with me hearing of Rocket League on Steam. As if Psyonix knew they knocked it out of the park with Rocket League and shifted ALL the developers except a token team left to Nosgoth.

Like I said, I could be completely wrong, but this is how I remember it going down and I also remember telling my friends I couldn't support Rocket League because I felt it's success was the reason they removed resources/personnel from Nosgoth.

[Hubris]

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από My Legs Are OK:

Αναρτήθηκε αρχικά από ImATomato:

Just look at credits, SE made management and web stuff only.

The management screwed the game more that the bugs. It was poorly advertised. If not for a fan of this game on a certain resource I would never have heard of it. Nosgoth is a fun game, and if mroe people tried it, more would play it and stay, for ming the necessary audience. But square enix did not seem to give two ♥♥♥♥♥ about whether the game gets popular or not.

True, it was poorly advertised, I just wished they had focused on the game itself and let the advertisement for either later or allow the fanbase to do it for them, in similar fashion to that of what Mojang did with Minecraft.

Secondly, I will say that from observing their actions, it is safe to conclude the assumption that SE doesnt care what the consumer thinks, they just want money.
If I may remind you, the way Nosgoth came to be was that SE developed a prototype called Dead Sun, which was scrapped because they didnt think it'd sell. Later they decided to salvage it's components for profit by having Psyonix develop Nosgoth, and now that it's no longer profitable they scrap this as well.

This is why I say SE is a EA wannabe, picking games from successful franchises with a legacy of great games, milk them to oblivion for all their worth in money, and when they're dried out they're tossed in the trash just like a stale & chewed out bubblegum.

[APadrevics]

I purchased the Warlord pack and the Veteran pack, My PC was too weak to properly run it, now I was upgrading it keeping in my mind that this is the game I would play as the first one, but I guess I won't have the chance now to play it as it should be played. Will it be erased from steam as well? Couldn't You at least make a server search in this game, so the ones still wanting to play it could make our own servers?

[robaczek]

Your question has already been answered: NO.

Why should they keep servers for a game for which they're making no money? They released it to get $, when that didn't happen, they just scrapped everything and that's it.