Trion Team Layoffs

[raptorak]

Apparently a lot of the jobs were QA, without a massive expansion to test this makes sense. Maybe they'll let guilds test all of the bosses now

This is what I was thinking... people are blowing the whole situation out of proportion. The expansion is out, that means less people are needed. It's like anything else, pre-launch and at launch time is when the most employees are needed. After that, things calm down. Retail stores do it every year (think of Black Friday/the holidays as being an "expansion"). It doesn't in any way mean the company is having financial trouble.

[Fencers]

We rarely see reports when a company hires dozens of artists, testers and system engineers while developing an expansion. From the looks of things it seems bringing in End of Nations in-house to Trion + the now finished expansion is/was to be expected.

Story sounds worse than it is but is likely just a smart ass move because why are you paying 4-5 QA people when you don't need their services anymore? I would fire those people too.

[Kelimbror]

Same spin story, different game, different day. Why people think this has any impact on a game is beyond me.

[mavetmavet]

Although there are a couple of people I was sad to see go (Walshingham). Although personally I believe the Q and A team were complete **** as most

In reference to Walshingham, good riddence to bad rubbish I say. Person was an arrogant prick and deserved to be let go. Just another moron spurting crap. Got what he deserved. As for letting go of the QA peeps, bad move by trion but then again, their current track record is really in the crapper. Most of the stuff in game is either bugged or broken. The crafting now is broken and over-priced. All over the rift forums people are complaining about this and threads are either being locked or deleted. Content is being nerfed so that a 3 year old can play the game. Trion is walking down that dark path trying to emulate blizz and wow. If they don't change, i only see a very bleak future for that game.

[Azuri]

We rarely see reports when a company hires dozens of artists, testers and system engineers while developing an expansion. From the looks of things it seems bringing in End of Nations in-house to Trion + the now finished expansion is/was to be expected.

Story sounds worse than it is but is likely just a smart ass move because why are you paying 4-5 QA people when you don't need their services anymore? I would fire those people too.

Yeah pretty much agree with everything here. This announcement will have little or no impact on the game IMO. Trion so far seems to making wise business choices yes it sucks that some people lost their jobs but this is the nature of this industry. I'd say it's common operation for every software devolper not just a gaming specific trend.

[mavetmavet]

As the only mmo that has necromancers who actually employ corpses as servants I am looking into playing rifts regardless of what this article says or implies, but I think that everyone should keep in mind that only time will tell us if this is a good thing and to try not to doomsay or even shine a turd based on liking or disliking the game. Keep an open mind and hope this is for the best.

Wrong answer. Path of Exile (POE) allows you to use corpses (turn them into zombies), spectres and skeletons for the necromancer. Currently I have a small army of 27 undead that go running around with me causing havoc and destruction wherever we go. Even though it's classified as an ARPG, it plays, FOR FREE, as a mmo as there is pvp, events, grouping, etc...

[Slipmat]

From what i've read it seems most, if not all, of these lay-offs pf 30 people are at the San Diego branch of Trion which has nothing to do with Rift, totally misleading Thread name

[Puremallace]

From what i've read it seems most, if not all, of these lay-offs pf 30 people are at the San Diego branch of Trion which has nothing to do with Rift, totally misleading Thread name

hmmmz It is kind of odd to figure out just wtf exactly they did in San Diego

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/new...5#.UMisDazdVHA

[Fencers]

Wrong answer. Path of Exile (POE) allows you to use corpses (turn them into zombies), spectres and skeletons for the necromancer. Currently I have a small army of 27 undead that go running around with me causing havoc and destruction wherever we go. Even though it's classified as an ARPG, it plays, FOR FREE, as a mmo as there is pvp, events, grouping, etc...

I greatly enjoy Path of Exile and try to promote the game when possible.

However, POE is an ARPG through and through. It does not play like an MMO. It's just an always online ARPG. Essentially D2 MP all the time.

Sorry for going OT, Azuri. I'll accept the shame of my fanaticism on this one.

From what i've read it seems most, if not all, of these lay-offs pf 30 people are at the San Diego branch of Trion which has nothing to do with Rift, totally misleading Thread name

Someone commented on this on Reddit, iirc. The layoffs are supposedly Trion wide, not Rift development specific.

Many headlines even read, "Trion Developers/Publishers of Rift layoff 1/3rd staff". Which if we are [hopefully] intelligent reader's, as taught by our 3rd grade teachers, isn't necessarily a statement about Rift. Or rather, doesn't specifically state Rift itself is the source of all these layoffs.

And for the sake repetition; the people let go seem to have been in departments such art, customer relations and QA. Redundant positions more than likely.

[Angel25]

What is QA?

[Puremallace]

What is QA?

Quality assurance. Look at the Crucia raid in 2.0 for the reason why QA testing is extremely important. My view is fuck this private guild testing and just cave and do what Blizzard has resorted to doing.

Put the bosses up for x period of time on the PTS so they can be tested by everyone. No more of this private invite crap. The idea that it ruins the RP aspect is becoming annoying at best as a reason this has not been done yet.

NQ, SO, GO, Addiction have no right to bitch a boss is extremely bugged when they defend a testing method that leads to them being HEAVILYYYYYYYYYYYYY criticizd as pet guilds with massive advantages. They should be trumpeting this method of testing to Trion.

[Diranux]

Could be Obamacare.. alot of companies can't afford to pay for the healthcare changes in January and that can't say that is the reason they are letting people go. But for whatever reason it really does suck to get let go in december.

Please don't bring politics into the gaming forums, it never ends well and usually ends with off-topic discussion. -Edge

[Kelimbror]

Could be Obamacare.. alot of companies can't afford to pay for the healthcare changes in January and that can't say that is the reason they are letting people go. But for whatever reason it really does suck to get let go in december.

This is ridiculous. Please don't resort to politcal bait posts so early in your post history. We beg of you.

[Puremallace]

Could be Obamacare.. alot of companies can't afford to pay for the healthcare changes in January and that can't say that is the reason they are letting people go. But for whatever reason it really does suck to get let go in december.

Trion is not papa johns here who is too cheap to provide health care. They are game studio with full benefits. Doubt this is the issue. I'll put money on i is the cost from End of Nations not releasing on time, expansion releasing and them being over staffed along with some shit QA on the newer content.

[Deleted]

NQ, SO, GO, Addiction and Parabellum have no right to bitch a boss is extremely bugged when they defend a testing method that leads to them being HEAVILYYYYYYYYYYYYY criticizd as pet guilds with massive advantages. They should be trumpeting this method of testing to Trion.

To the best of my knowledge I believe everything that currently is broken with crucia, was found during beta testing sessions and reported on several occasions, I would criticize an eight legged developer that was in charge of this encounter in all fairness to the top guilds.

[theWocky]

I think people have unrealistic expectations of "what" a successful mmo is. EvE Online has been chugging along now for what? Eight or Nine years with a fraction of the subscribers of WoW. Their small player-base helped fund huge projects. They certainly don't appear to be suffering.

Even if Rift only has a conservative estimate of 300k subscribers (no-one knows), that's a very healthy, successful company. Remember, these guys didn't have to pay for expensive loyalty fees like SWTOR, and as we've seen, their development is really fast and fixes are implemented damn fast.

Also, take into consideration that most people that are currently playing Rift have very little "bad" to say about the game. As a PvE mmo, in my opinion, it is the best out there at the moment. I would also rate it's warfronts as more fun than some others I have played too.

EDIT: Something else - did you guys not notice the huge number of guilds recruiting? Noticed that other gamers have also noted the influx of players into the game and are now actually starting sites to compete with maxdps, etc? I don't believe it is anecdotal. My server is most definitely more active at the moment. There are regularly 40+ people on in my guild and we aren't the biggest on my server.

[Tharkkun]

"Not a good day. If anyone has a lead for a Sr. EQ or Assistant Lead QA job, please let me know."

Who did not see those QA lay offs coming though honestly? Sorry these guys lost their jobs, but come the fuck on people have you seen the quality of the raids released lately here?

Sorry, but shitty bugged raids cost companies subscribers in a very competitive genre and Trion obviously got fed up with it and did not want to repeat chocolate Rift.

Here

http://forums.riftgame.com/rift-gene...sible-fix.html
http://forums.riftgame.com/rift-gene...-overkill.html

One locked thread after another and the best raiders get is zero communication on shit QA should have clearly caught. I 100% support the QA changes. EoN not being released on time due to QA and bugged scenarios HAD to be costly.

I promise you they told Atrius something because his ass magically became more communicative lately here with a load of pissed off warriors he either drove from the game or out of the class all together.

I think they will be better because of this. Expect a letter from Scott Hartsman shortly owning this and putting confidence back into the game.

You don't raid so please stop commenting on them.

[Puremallace]

You don't raid so please stop commenting on them.

Actually I do raid, but I can also read proficiently. Trust me raiders have been pretty loud and clear on the bugs they have noticed. I have bitched and moaned since patch 1.5 that the PTS needed to get ALOTTTTT more loving when it comes to testing of content before release.

Just like I threw Atrius under the bus for hardly any communication the raid team does not get a pass. Top level guilds have raised valid concerns and have not had even a mere "we are looking into it". The dev managing the raid should not be scared to acknowledge a fact.

[Deleted]

Anyone else noticed that this all comes from a completely unreliable source and their is no actual facts to which department at Trion saw the loss?

[Deleted]

If you actually make some enquiries you find that Trion has had 4 games either in production or in rifts case expansion they also produce a media platform, these are all either finished or nearly finished, the artists and qa will now have done the bulk if not all of the work needed and I seriously doubt that they will be making another 4 games worth in the near future. And remember rift is the game that has supported all this work up till now on the old amount of players and they have seen growth on that amount with SL. The future looks quite rosy at the moment and I just hope they stay Trion. The title of this thread is not even what ign posted which itself is sketchy at best, should just say Trion not Rift.