I think that until about 90% of all the current issues & bugs are resolved, updates/patches should not introduce anything new into the game. Instead for the time being, any updates/patches that are released should solely focus on fixing anything that is not working as intended (look at the growing number of reports in the bugs mega threads).
Any new content that is being worked on or planned for release should be immediately be put on hold. Every team and every team member should be focused on fixing the game as it exists right now (or supporting the team that is working on the fixes). Basically you need to divert all power to life support.
Don’t fix too many issues at once either, fix about a dozen at a time to make sure it is a fix and hasn’t broken anything else. Focus test the updates/patches on the PTR (example if you’re fixing something with crafting, don’t let people run around doing dungeons). Give top priority to those that are effecting the most people / the most game breaking. Less priority should be given to, for example, typos and fixing icons (but they should still be fixed).
I think that if you announced a plan to do this and stick with it, it would be a great step in retaining your existing player base and it might even bring back some that have quit due to all of the bugs.
TLDR; No new content releases until 90% of all existing bugs/issues are fixed/resolved.
I’d generally agree with one exception and one addition. I think adding tweaks/balancing are easy enough (like if they tuned down the difficulty of the elite areas by 20%).
The exception is server mergers. This desperately needs to happen ASAP.
Edit: I know mergers aren’t new “content” (those on low pop might argue otherwise), but you get my point - I think mergers are more important than pretty much all bugs
Tweaks/balances like that would go under current issues because they broke it and it needs to be fixed.
Server merges would fall under current issues and a high priority one. I think I saw one post of a server who got everyone online at the same time for a pic. There was 10-15 people in that image.
By new I mean brand new things like new quests, new(reskinned) enemies, new areas, new mechanics, new expeditions, new weapons, new cosmetics (don’t care if its a different team - they can work on fixing clothes clipping and in game icons), etc etc.
Makes perfect sense, I’ve definitely seen server pops that low (on the 3rd party tracking websites).
I’d be very surprised if AGS doesn’t agree and I’m sure they are working hard on it. They continually encourage group play, which, naturally, require people (mandatory group quests, buffing end-game HWM runs, OPR, wars, invasions, PvP missions now requiring PKs or elite content, etc.). They’re limited to gathering/crafting and solo quests. And there are thousands upon thousands of them.