What can we discuss about this?

[coatifan]

While I certainly won't blame players for getting hype (hell, I was hoping for some new content or at least a teaser too) I do think the negative response is pretty extreme, given that the process was basically see twitter teaser > assign greater meaning > get disappointed when assumptions aren't confirmed.

With that said, I think this speaks to one issue that I think fuels a lot of the vitriol in the larger fanbase: Planet Zoo fans are hungry for news/content, and while I love Frontier I think they don't quite know how to deliver on that want. Currently, the format is very boom-and-bust, with a week or two of huge hype every time a pack theme is revealed, then near-silence afterwards. I don't know how this could be altered given the current nature of the packs, though... maybe by announcing upcoming features earlier? I don't know if that would upset the development cycle, however... It seems like unfortunately, the most attainable solution for players right now is to simply temper their expectations, which is unsatisfying.

 

[markun]

While I certainly won't blame players for getting hype (hell, I was hoping for some new content or at least a teaser too) I do think the negative response is pretty extreme, given that the process was basically see twitter teaser > assign greater meaning > get disappointed when assumptions aren't confirmed.

With that said, I think this speaks to one issue that I think fuels a lot of the vitriol in the larger fanbase: Planet Zoo fans are hungry for news/content, and while I love Frontier I think they don't quite know how to deliver on that want. Currently, the format is very boom-and-bust, with a week or two of huge hype every time a pack theme is revealed, then near-silence afterwards. I don't know how this could be altered given the current nature of the packs, though... maybe by announcing upcoming features earlier? I don't know if that would upset the development cycle, however... It seems like unfortunately, the most attainable solution for players right now is to simply temper their expectations, which is unsatisfying.

I have zero expectations of content outside the every three months cycle. But when they use a model that was used as recently as last month to announce new content it is hardly unreasonable for people to think something might be coming.

 

[coatifan]

I have zero expectations of content outside the every three months cycle. But when they use a model that was used as recently as last month to announce new content it is hardly unreasonable for people to think something might be coming.

That's very fair! I don't blame you or anyone else (again, I was hoping pretty hard for something coming too!) but I think the frustration directed at the dev team is a bit much. Unlike a few situations (cough cough malayan tapir cough cough), this seems like a real non-issue, and to me at least elicited nothing stronger than an "aw, that sucks." On the other hand though, maybe I'm reading too much agression into things... it's so hard to understand tone over text, lol!

 

[ElectricMonk]

I don’t think it’s fair to blame Frontier for expectations that were never stated, hinted, or implied but we’re %100 invented by the same people who are now angry/disappointed. All I can say is… see the first few pages of this thread - you were warned, repeatedly, not to get too excited or expect anything. At this point your disappointment is your own fault.

 

[markun]

I don’t think it’s fair to blame Frontier for expectations that were never stated, hinted, or implied but we’re %100 invented by the same people who are now angry/disappointed. All I can say is… see the first few pages of this ethereal - you were warned, repeatedly, not to get too excited or expect anything. At this point your disappointment is your own fault.

Nothing was invented. The idea that something might be coming was entirely reasonable based on the pattern of Frontier’s previous communications.

 

[Britches]

Is it so hard to appreciate the art of making up a fairytale about a lynx musician and his friends? I mean, we all know, there will be an update and another DLC coming when it's time - that's a fact. Being disappointed because that it isn't NOW doesn't mean we can't appreciate the tale about Lumi. Everyone wanted Frontier to communicate more! They are doing this now and they are putting efforts in it with the tale, cause it takes creativity to make it up. I can't see why appreciating the tale and waiting for an update or DLC should cancel each other out.

 

[Birini]

Nothing was invented. The idea that something might be coming was entirely reasonable based on the pattern of Frontier’s previous communications.

(a) I completely agree. It is pattern recognition which people are outstanding it. At its heart, pattern recognition is what underlies the AI craze that is burning through the western world. It’s a big deal precisely because we’re teaching computers to do such a distinctively human function.
(b) It doesn’t really matter if it was smart to predict a given outcome. The fact is people did and — by pattern recognition — had a valid reason for doing so. They are gonna be hurt now. Saying “Man were you dumb for predicting this” is going to further split community and be a fun by-product of the whole event.

 

[Iben]

Nothing was invented. The idea that something might be coming was entirely reasonable based on the pattern of Frontier’s previous communications.

To be fair, we know the DLC release pattern for the game quite well by now. We have the last two years of the game, we have JWE, we have Planet Coaster. We know that March/April, June/July, September/October and December are the months to expect a DLC in. Anyone who expected that this would have lead to a DLC announcement was setting themselves up for disappointment. I think we can at least agree on that.

Now when it comes to a free animal, people have been speculating about that for the longest time but with only the anniversary to show for it, it was extremely unlikely to begin with. So that was another thing that, albeit less unlikely than a DLC, was something you'd bet on on your own risk.

Then looking back at the North American Animal Pack, they've done a similar thing. We had the roadmap which was used to showcase the animals, and after release the roadmap was retreated. This time they retreated it again, but with the story that was used to announce the pack. So yes, I kinda understand the expectation of something, but it's more because people assumed that the fact that a story means an announcement, whilst with the Europe pack the story itself has been central to the pack. (it's heavily featured throughout the scenery of the pack). So the fact that they went back and made another story is in hindsight in line with how they went back to the roadmap. It wasn't as clear, I can agree with you on that, but now looking back at it, I can see it being in line with what we had with NAAP.

Look, it wasn't handled ideally that's for sure. But let's also not blow it out of proportion either. I agree with @coatifan here. It's an "Aw bummer" moment, but not the end of the world either. I personally would have loved a small hint towards someone who hid the trumpet from Lumi, which then would be a clue in a long series of clues we'd get over the coming months which when we puzzle them all together allows us to figure out the next DLC; but alas, it isn't that. It's a shame, it would have been cool. But it's just that and nothing to get super annoyed over either in my opinion.

 

[Swjosdotschka]

Is it so hard to appreciate the art of making up a fairytale about a lynx musician and his friends? I mean, we all know, there will be an update and another DLC coming when it's time - that's a fact. Being disappointed because that it isn't NOW doesn't mean we can't appreciate the tale about Lumi. Everyone wanted Frontier to communicate more! They are doing this now and they are putting efforts in it with the tale, cause it takes creativity to make it up. I can't see why appreciating the tale and waiting for an update or DLC should cancel each other out.

Writing a tale isn't communication, though.
Communication would be: "Hey, we heard your feedback regarding issue xy (e.g. the malyan tapir) and we are looking into it."
Or: "It's great to see you all so excited about our little Lumi story. We appreciate your engagement and at the same time want to be straight forward with you and say that this fun story does not include any hints for upcomming content."

Speaking into the void isn't communication.

And I still don't think that a zoo game got any benefit from a fairy tale that has no other aim than filling a social media schedule. The first very cute fairy tale had a deeper purpose, that's why it was recived so well and actually had something to do with Planet ZOO.

 

[Gabboi]

I think most of us aren't that mad about this, it's just a game and we just feel it's a mistake from Frontier to communicate in this specific way, but I personally wish they keep communicating more with the community, just do it in a better way that isn't vague enough to create false expectations (the mistery about Lumi's trumpet, dealing with something that leads people to expect a satisfying and interesting resolution, making them speculate about the possible outcome). I hope next time they do this sort of stuff it isn't so divisive and instead it involves some sort of real communication, where we can actually interact with them and not just watch them tell a story that leads to nothing lol.
I'm not extremely mad at this situation, however the people blaming us for all this does annoy me way more than the situation itself, I think applauding every single move that Frontier does isn't helpful at all, we have to criticise when mistakes are made, and this time, the cute story that would have been well received otherwise, ended up dividing the community because it wasn't well handled, so let's hope next time they improve on that part and we can all as a community enjoy what they do.

 

[markun]

To be fair, we know the DLC release pattern for the game quite well by now. We have the last two years of the game, we have JWE, we have Planet Coaster. We know that March/April, June/July, September/October and December are the months to expect a DLC in. Anyone who expected that this would have lead to a DLC announcement was setting themselves up for disappointment. I think we can at least agree on that.

Now when it comes to a free animal, people have been speculating about that for the longest time but with only the anniversary to show for it, it was extremely unlikely to begin with. So that was another thing that, albeit less unlikely than a DLC, was something you'd bet on on your own risk.

I have made it very clear in previous posts that I do not expect to get free content, indeed I don't especially want free content. We do know the DLC release pattern but we also know that there have been changes in how things have been done since the game was launched, not least the advent of animal packs as well as (I think) changes to the team that show that things are not set in stone.

True a DLC announcement was highly unlikely. There are however all kinds of content that this could potentially have been leading to, for example the much discussed monthly surprise animal. Given that many have suggested this could be a way to release 'clone' species, that could have included for example an Iberian lynx, a wisent, a red fox, an Iberian ibex. So it's absolutely not unreasonable to think that this could have been leading to some kind of announcement.

Then looking back at the North American Animal Pack, they've done a similar thing. We had the roadmap which was used to showcase the animals, and after release the roadmap was retreated. This time they retreated it again, but with the story that was used to announce the pack. So yes, I kinda understand the expectation of something, but it's more because people assumed that the fact that a story means an announcement, whilst with the Europe pack the story itself has been central to the pack. (it's heavily featured throughout the scenery of the pack). So the fact that they went back and made another story is in hindsight in line with how they went back to the roadmap. It wasn't as clear, I can agree with you on that, but now looking back at it, I can see it being in line with what we had with NAAP.

It's not in line with the North America follow up. The North America follow up simply showcased the animals from already released pack (Folklore Friday is more like this). The North America follow up didn't hint, it didn't tease, it didn't invite speculation. This did.

Look, it wasn't handled ideally that's for sure. But let's also not blow it out of proportion either. I agree with @coatifan here. It's an "Aw bummer" moment, but not the end of the world either. I personally would have loved a small hint towards someone who hid the trumpet from Lumi, which then would be a clue in a long series of clues we'd get over the coming months which when we puzzle them all together allows us to figure out the next DLC; but alas, it isn't that. It's a shame, it would have been cool. But it's just that and nothing to get super annoyed over either in my opinion.

It isn't the end of the world. But I feel this has been clumsily managed and it is entirely appropriate that we as a committed fanbase, and indeed paying customers, make our feelings known in a frank and reasonable manner.

 

[Britches]

Writing a tale isn't communication, though.
Communication would be: "Hey, we heard your feedback regarding issue xy (e.g. the malyan tapir) and we are looking into it."
Or: "It's great to see you all so excited about our little Lumi story. We appreciate your engagement and at the same time want to be straight forward with you and say that this fun story does not include any hints for upcomming content."

Speaking into the void isn't communication.

And I still don't think that a zoo game got any benefit from a fairy tale that has no other aim than filling a social media schedule. The first very cute fairy tale had a deeper purpose, that's why it was recived so well and actually had something to do with Planet ZOO.

Hmm, comparing a tale and dead silence... guess, the tale takes the communication cake. I mean, we WILL get an update. We WILL get another DLC. Aaaand the Europe pack is merely a month old. I can't understand how people can get totally overexcited for own expectations when it is already known how the pattern works and then get utterly disappointed. For me the Lumi story is definitely something cute to fill the void between updates and DLC and I appreciate it. Nobody has to like the story, but we can appreciate the creativity behind it. That's my opinion at least.

 

[ElectricMonk]

Nothing was invented. The idea that something might be coming was entirely reasonable based on the pattern of Frontier’s previous communications.

Everything was invented. The only way you could read a pattern into it is if you ignored all previous release schedules and assumed any new non-specific communication means new content. Could they have stepped on the rampant speculation? Yes. But they didn’t hint at anything new at all. The idea that something might be coming was reasonable but the expectation that something was coming wasn’t.

 

[markun]

Everything was invented. The only way you could read a pattern into it is if you ignored all previous release schedules and assumed any new non-specific communication means new content. Could they have stepped on the rampant speculation? Yes. But they didn’t hint at anything new at all. The idea that something might be coming was reasonable but the expectation that something was coming wasn’t.

No one assumes that non-specific communication means new content but (regardless of release schedule) this very specific form of narrative has in the past only led to content announcements. I refer to the Europe DLC teasers and the South America DLC teasers. Based on this precedent it was entirely reasonable to speculate that something might be coming and as you say, they should have shut down the speculation at once.

 

[SanRazo618]

Honestly a bit disappointed but it’s ok we’ve got so much content very fast and more is on the way

 

[Veah]

From a storytelling point of view, I find it odd to start a story, setting a mystery, creating expectation among the readers, then suddenly stop posting anything on social media during the weekend and keep people intrigued just to suddenly giving it an abrupt and simple finale.

Imagine that Marlin realises his son Nemo is missing. He goes to find him and hears a crash behind a rock, just to realise it's Dory. They go together to find Nemo somewhere. Nemo is not there, so they say, "we'll find Nemo other day". Then Nemo suddenly appears saying he was having a bath. End of the story.

Yes, it was strange because they used to write just 1 tweet every day and then suddenly 3 in a row. And the story isn't as good as the first one, like those bad sequel films with recasts Maybe they had some leftover Lumi drawings and they thought they were too good to not use them? But they have at the same time the Folklore Friday promo tweets about the Euro Pack, so they didn't need filler, unless they want to increase the social media activity quickly.

Well, I'm much more amused than disappointed. That sudden ending after all that slow grow of expectation last week, and the simplicity of the story, really made me laugh today

 

[ElectricMonk]

EDIT: apologies- double post.

 

[ElectricMonk]

No one assumes that non-specific communication means new content but (regardless of release schedule) this very specific form of narrative has in the past only led to content announcements.

This specific form (or any form) of narrative has only been used once before…. That hardly constitutes a ‘pattern’.

 

[Fini]

Oh. I'm irritated. Story is over? That's weird.
Okey Then i wait for April
(But I'm really confused? Why its over...I mean... They posted last week nearly every day, than over the weekend nothing ... to make the last post on monday? That's strange)

 

[Firestar97]

It would've been nice if the last Part would've at least been released together with the next Update