Hey there!
As many of you surely think just like me, the european Elsword version is in very, very dire need of a couple improvements aside of the things coming from Elsword Korea (aka. content).
If I happen to forget anything or you just wanna discuss, please post it in here as well!
The player base feels like it is increasingly declining, people announcing there leaves ingame and on social media platforms, visibly less people in sparring, visibly less people for raids and visibly less items on the Market board indicate that the player base is shrinking, despite the merge we had. I think a couple improvements should be made to stop this free-fall situation.
1. Patch Notes
Patch notes are mostly incomplete, don't go into detail and come as a very unpleasant PDF file. While looking at any other Elsword version, that devotes entire web pages to Updates, explaining mechanics, sharing pictures and trailer videos, the PDF provided to us are barely even on point if it comes to the very basics.
A lot of information given in those files tends to be wrong, horribly translated and just screams WE DON'T CARE as you look at them.
Why is that? Is Gameforge by now counting on the players to get their info from NA/INTs webpage or users having to fill everyone else in on the Updates of EU thread?
2. Website
A welcoming website is a selling point. Looking at the EU website, featuring outdated trailers and screenshots from Season 1 on the Landing Page, dreadful news / patchnotes to look at similar to the PDF files, Elsword EU sure as hell is not inviting to any new potential player. Advertising presence is basically not given for this version, having seen KR, NA and JP ads before, but never ever for EU, I think spendings on this behalf is lacking. The Terms and Conditions set for this game are incredibly loopy, lost in wording and all over the place, leaving a lot of free space of interpretation to the teams as well as the players.
3. Game Stability
I think everyone had them already. Random disconnects. If during Drabaki, Varnimyr raids or trying to grind El Resonance EXP, the game just boots you out along with a couple party members every other run. Never having experienced any of this on any other Elsword server, I can only pinpoint this problem to be on Gameforges behalf, especially because it tends to hit multiple people in the same run. The servers and the connection are in urgent need of a stability fix, or else Elsword EU is going to lose lots of its players, who will frustratedly leave (and rightly so).
Second off, the game engine. It is outdated. Compared to servers like NA (and recently on steam released) Japan servers, EU runs horrible. Constant fps drops, optimization problems, random game crashes. Considering patches and Updates are not in the same state at any point, having an instable game that is left unoptimized is yet another point that will scare players off.
4. Update Frequency
Updates come late. Like, very late. A view onto this web page tells a tale of abandonment for Elsword EU : https://elwiki.net/w/Server_Differences
Any server gets korean updates a month, a maximum of two months after Korea. Well optimized, well worked and with great stability. On Europe, we can be happy if we get an update six to eight months later, while it is incomplete and damaged (poiting at Eclipse nerf which took like two years, content updates lacking some of their mechanics or having mechanics broken).
In all honesty, who would even still play EU, if they had not stuck so much time and money into it? And people are leaving, Gameforge can't be that blind to ignore it. Even illegal servers are further in progression and stability at this point, making EU the laughing stock to literally any other server globally.
The pace needs to increase, if you don't want players to leave after they have been left behind. Devote some more workers onto Elsword, for crying out loud. Having Shop Updates to skip weeks, literally adding 1 Item and removing 1 Item from the shop, is insulting to the player.
Edit: Other servers already have announced the International Tournament to take place, with exceptions being JP and EU. Since JP just recently changed publisher, that is relatable, however EU s just so far behind that we can and never will be able to participate in any of that, if GF does not pick up pace now.
NA: https://elsword.koggames.com/2019-pvp-league-1/
KR: http://elsword.nexon.com/events2019/0306/league.aspx
CN: http://els.ztgame.com/html/new…0-1553-0117c-600747.shtml
TH: https://elsword.playpark.com/t…pvp-league-2019-season-1/