[Kargool]

Originally Posted by Ferretus

Reason for leaving
PA is too demanding on time. I have a life, a house, a decent job so there is no way I will be playing the hard core style originally required. No plans to be waiting up til 4am to see if I got incoming, or likewise setting alarms for research etc. Has any of this changed?

This has changed slightly. I think that you still will have to be active if you want to achive a good position, but you can also achive a good position without being nightactive, as several alliances and players have proven the later rounds. Alot of the people I know (and myself) Usually get up at around 0600 my own time to send defence and attack. (Im 27 myself)

Constructions have gotten a que option, so that you can que the second construction. This means that you dont have to login that often, but ofc, in the beginning if you want to min max all bonuses constantly, being up is an advantage.

However several people have proven that its not very important. Me myself started ca tick 400 round 19 and managed to end top 50. So its still possible to do good.

Originally Posted by Ferretus

The players are/were on the whole a bunch of whining kids more concerned with score than common courtesy, friendship and looking out for one another. For the majority of my PA career I was the GC of my gal, in the earlier years often an officer/minister. Typically what would happen, is that after you have set up the IRC room and worked out your cluster relations seeing who is gonna raid in cluster and who isn't some trumped up kid backed by his alliance mates will seize control typically ending in the galaxy getting pounded and the GC and his mates jumping somewhere else. Has anything been put in place to promote people getting along?

I would say yes, some might disagree with me, but the basis of the question I would have to say yes too.

In order to get along in the galaxy the PA team has introduced trusted levels. Each galaxy now has 3 levels of trust. There is the not wanted level, which gives you limited access to for example outgoing fleets, and also that you will automatically get exiled after a certain amount of ticks, you have the wanted level, which basically is the same as not wanted, cept that you wont get exiled, and then you got the trusted level, which gives you full access to forums and galoverview.

This I think forces people to co-operate more and that people will have to try and get along better. I think its getting quite okay, but yeah, the community should probably work abit more on getting the galaxy to be a place where you can feel welcome.

Originally Posted by Ferretus

and finally...the forums were used basically as an opportunity to slag people off and give negative ratings to their profile, taking the game fights to the forums. what has been put in place to promote common courtesy on the forums and addressing the issues of the feedback system?

Sigh, what can I say about this, sadly, the forums are still a place for flaming. And yes, sometimes I have been flaming myself, I try to avoid it, but sometimes it just happens.

I would wish that the moderators of the forums were stricter on flaming, and also flamebaiting and namecalling, sadly it seems that lately the forum moderators have been putting themself on a somewhat more liberal line on this, and tbh, most of the cases they slip through.

I think that if people start making this an issue the moderators would have to take this more into consideration. I have for example started reporting alot of posts which I see as flaming or derailing of threads etc. I hope to do it more in the future, and I promise to attempt at being a better poster myself for the future. Maybe others would follow suit? Here we got a returning PA player who wants the forums to be a better place for discussions and for PA related stuff, instead of flamefests, so lets take him up on his word and start a better discussion fora.

The feedback system. ( I assume you mean the reputation system, feel free to correct me if Im wrong) There were plans to improve on this system sadly the changes stopped, and the attempts I've personally have made to try and find out why have died out because of never being able to get in touch with the person who are mainly responsible or the head honcho in charge. (Where the hell is JJ theese days?) Maybe there is time for someone else to be put in charge and finally get introduced the changes that were agreed upon.

Originally Posted by Ferretus

Basically at 28, I'm finding the online community just isn't as nice as it used to be with the most common word thrown about being 'noob'. PA used to be the worst for this and so we as a clan moved onto other things. Other games are similar but PA in particular was very bad. I doubt this has changed but are the other aspects of the game good enough to put up with this?

Yes mate, this game is definitly still worth playing. Its fun, its entertaining, and you can enjoy it greatly provided you get into the community that you feel comfortable with. Alot of the mid ranked alliances are good at helping returning players back to the game, and there are many people who still put in a huge effort guiding people and also trying to make sure that people enjoy the game. If you find the right alliance who has a good community you will surely feel both welcome and feel good about playing PA again, and if you are prepared to do a little effort in the galaxy you join im sure the others that get into your galaxy are willing to do the same. If not, save up some resources and exile around till you find a place you feel a tad bit more comfortable with.

The game itself has changed alot during the last 3 rounds, and I will say that round 21 was the best round of Planetarion I have expirienced since my return to the game in r12. So cudos to the pa team for that.

So yeah, I'd definatly play next round.

Anyways, good luck and I hope to see you on the battlefield next round, and if not, well, good luck to you anyways