Is this forum becoming obsolete?

[EternalSilence]

I've been here since Medieval 2. (other acc)
It was my favorite place to be, when i looked for mods and discussion of the game.
But it seems, since the failure that was Rome 2 on release, many many people left this forum.
Also the forum was very slow, those days.

Now it seems nobody is posting anything on the forum
I've seen threads, were the latest post was 1-2 months ago.

If you look at the forum of CA for the total war games, the new post are all over the place.
Also, the CA employee's are posting every day on the forum, answering the questions of the gamers.
How did this happen?

Because of the easy-to-use steam workshop?

[keldor]

Back then it was easier to edit the campaign map. Now its not that simple, closest thing we have to that is that shogun 2 mod where it expands the map into China and Korea. Thing that killed it most to me was not being able to take some backwater city and turn it into a great city - because of the limited building slots. After Rome 2 I didnt even buy warhammer even though Im a big fan. Maybe I'll buy it cheap when they're done releasing all the regions/factions.

[The Holy Pilgrim]

Yeah, I've noticed the same exact thing. Ever since Rome 2 (heck, even Shogun 2 to some extent), there have just been less and less posts and users. I remember a few years ago, this forum was bustling with new threads and discussions. Heck, even Call of Warhammer's mod forum had a much more lively post activity than this forum does.

Still, though, I don't think that the TWC is obsolete; not by any means. We still have a hefty amount of users posting and there are still plenty of discussions to take part in around here. It's just compared to the ealien days, this place can still feel a little empty.

[Meretrix]

Steam has taken over the modding scene since the old days where TWC was the only place for TW mods.

[Påsan]

Also the rampant negativity that has ruled here since Rome 2 was released turned a lot of posters away who really just wanted to discuss the games and not go into a hostile debate on developer ethics. The CA staff used to post here as well but they are gone too.

Honestly as I think warhammer is an excellent game, ive been posting more on the official forums than in this subforum. I use TWC for keeping up with mods and the non-tw parts and the official forum to discuss Warhammer tw.

[SenseiJT92]

Holy heck - where have all the CA threads gone? I remember there were loads in Rome and Attila for announcing new content... surely they haven't turned their backs on TWC??

[Ravagers Prey]

I still remember this one post a week before Rome 2's release, "what if it's bad?". Forums been going downhill ever since.

[The Holy Pilgrim]

Also the rampant negativity that has ruled here since Rome 2 was released turned a lot of posters away who really just wanted to discuss the games and not go into a hostile debate on developer ethics. The CA staff used to post here as well but they are gone too.

Honestly as I think warhammer is an excellent game, ive been posting more on the official forums than in this subforum. I use TWC for keeping up with mods and the non-tw parts and the official forum to discuss Warhammer tw.

I whole-heartedly agree with you here. When Rome 2 came out (and way too long afterm that), all I saw were piles and piles of negative threads and rude remarks. It was a bad time for sure and it wasn't much fun to be around as consistently as I was.

I thought that Warhammer would bring some of the liveliness of the TWC back, but it seems that I was wrong. At least the official forums seem pretty active, at least on the Warhammer front.

[The Wandering Storyteller]

In 2010, at the time of Napoleon these forums were much busy. I joined the forums then and remember replying to a thread where CA had posted about turning their games into consoles. I didn't use much of the forums as I forget my password until 2013. Man 2010 now revokes more memories.

Anyone remember Darthmod? The
most outspoken modder of his time. It's a real shame he left.
Shogun 2 had a lot as well. RII was the dark days. Let's hope CA make a great total war game in the future. TWC is slow to use. The forums are quick and easy to answer. Besides most of CA's community managers have either left or being replaced by new ones. I don't know much about CA'S interaction with the modding community now for the historical side only. They have abandoned it so far. I hate that Warhammer is getting special treatment and just browse through the Assembly kit forums for Attila and it is throughly abysmal.

CA don't even update their old games with new content. They should be making it. But Warhammer so darn special.

Remember, modders have asked since the days of Empire and Napoleon for modding support on editing the campaign. CA failed to deliver this on RII and Attila. And it's only now they are forced to accept that modders make their work a thousand times better by editing campaign map settlements.

Total war Warhammer will ule the roost until the next historical time period. I just want to know what the heck the time period is. This total war arena should learn something from For Honor. CA should make a total war game set in Ancient Mespotamia or China. But CA'S greatest fault is making cities medium sized. Now I don't know about you but I don't care about the stupid ai. I often don't see it. I like big massive cities. Anyway TWC has less activities from the old modders of 2010. I remembered a lot of NTW, Shogun 2 and ETW modders around. Now we don't see them anymore. It's a shame.

Sent from my GT-I8200N sing Tapatalk

[eizo]

When Shogun 2 came out it was an ok game but it was nothing spectacular, people expected a lot from Rome 2 and CA kept promising that they will correct their previous mistakes and avoid things they did in Empire and Napoleon. They did not, they just kept lying to people. CA's decision to kill the modding community was what really ended their relationship with people here i think. Today most mod makers simply quit modding since it is no longer possible to create great awesome mods that were possible in previous games.

In order to have good mods that utilize battle maps and for people to want to take time to create new battle maps, people would need to be able to create overhaul mods, and for those we need campaign tools and unit editing tools. Without these, no new mods will come that are actually worth something because why would any mod team spend years working on something they know will never even closely resemble what they want to create. Without campaign map tools you cant for example create new campaign or have mods like Medieval, Rome or some other setting.

CA simply chose a path in which they will produce DLC that have things that mods used to provide to people. Things like units, factions and micro campaign are now things that are basically ripped out of the game and sold later as DLC, and for dumb people to pay for that, you have to kill the mods. They still cant realize the fact that mods are what keeps the game alive and makes people buy the game long after its initial release and also fight piracy as well.

Me personally, i gave up on CA's games, i didn't buy Atilla nor Warhammer even though i adore Warhammer universe. From the looks of it it looks like mediocre Warhammer mod and not really a game. You have Warhammer mods that look better in most aspects than the CA game.

I recently started playing LME mod for napoleon and came back to this forum for that. Seems like most of the mods there are dead as well unfortunately due to mod limitations on those games as well.

I would not say that this forum is obsolete (you will still find a ton of nice and helpfull people here), but i think that its focus should be moved to some other devs and games, Ultimate General: Civil War for example made by "our" very own Darth is amazing and as far as i am concerned, better than anything CA made since Medieval. And he's the guy CA didn't wanna hire even as a beta tester...

[General Sultan V]

I've been here since Medieval 2. (other acc)
It was my favorite place to be, when i looked for mods and discussion of the game.
But it seems, since the failure that was Rome 2 on release, many many people left this forum.
Also the forum was very slow, those days.

Now it seems nobody is posting anything on the forum
I've seen threads, were the latest post was 1-2 months ago.

If you look at the forum of CA for the total war games, the new post are all over the place.
Also, the CA employee's are posting every day on the forum, answering the questions of the gamers.
How did this happen?

Because of the easy-to-use steam workshop?

Yes fam, I've seen this forum buckle and slowly fall since right after Rome 2 released (the months leading up to release were extremely hot and high-tension, constant new threads racking up 10-20 pages within only few days, I was a participant in these discussions, some of the vets might remember me)

Everything else on the forum was also lively, everything. The off-topic subs, the modding subs (still alittle bit lively), Rome 2's sub was getting filled with new threads every day. I went on a year-long hiatus in the past due to a censoring TWC in my country because apparently tom cruise (a user) was posting naked pictures in the forum, when the censoring was lifted I was all "meh" with the low-activity (This all happened atleast 10 months ago from now), and went on another hiatus, now that I came back to the forum due to buying Warhammer total war and enjoying it greatly and wanting to join some community that is also interested, I returned once again. But activity is lower than I have ever seen it on the forum, it is actually a bit depressing seeing the slow, painful death this forum is suffering, and how loose and all-over-the-place CA has become with it's outlets and news.

[Påsan]

Well Atilla got in my opinion the best modding project since the glory days of Med2 in Medieval Kingdoms which is hosted here. And warhammer getting modding tools will help this site when the bigger project starts coming around that can't be hosted on the workshop.

Sad thing about the workshop is that while it is excellent for showcasing what is available, it dont encurage interaction between modders and fans like we can do here.

[Abdülmecid I]

Eh, I am really skeptical about the negativity argument. Maybe it played a role in the following months of Rome's II disaster, but after two new games and 4 years, I strongly doubt it. The forum's traffic has probably been more affected by Rome's II horrible state, the gradually decreasing modding potentials of TW games (the Hosted sub-forums are pretty much dead, compared to Medieval II), the universal phasing out of the big forums trend and the fact that Warhammer's audience is composed of largely new to TW franchise customers, who have no incentive to join TWC, especially considering that the moddability of the game is very limited. Anyway, I don't know how much exactly TWC traffic has been reduced, but the situation is not much better in the official forums. Since the glory days of Rome II, I would estimate that approximately 80% of its activity has been evaporated. Granted, that might be explained by their "advanced", but totally impractical forum layout, accompanied by many glitches, but it definitely shows that decline does not concern only TWC.

[EternalSilence]

I would not say that this forum is obsolete (you will still find a ton of nice and helpfull people here), but i think that its focus should be moved to some other devs and games, Ultimate General: Civil War for example made by "our" very own Darth is amazing and as far as i am concerned, better than anything CA made since Medieval. And he's the guy CA didn't wanna hire even as a beta tester...

It was indeed a shame, they didnt invite Darth for that modder summit.
But he clearly proved them wrong, when he released Ultimate General: Civil War.
It was a big middle finger to them.

[Frunk]

A lot of the comments in this thread are on the money, but for me, I think everyone should consider what keeps people coming back (and what did in the past).

There's only so many questions that someone is going to have about a game. Browsing the WARHAMMER General Discussion forum, there are many questions about gameplay and related things, which is great, and natural for a game that is new. Once your questions are answered, though, you might hang around for a while whilst you play the game, but it's clear that eventually people move onto something else and there won't be a need for you to come back. Attila General Discussion was much the same until a couple of months ago when it slowed to the same trickle that exists in most other sections, barring, importantly, Medieval 2.

Medieval 2 has a reputation as one of the most moddable games ever. The sheer amount of possibilities that exist using that (admittedly limited and outdated) engine are impossible to ignore. Medieval 2 is comfortably the most active amongst Total War sections here, because it's a game people often come back to after many years. And those same players come back here, because they know they can find more great mods, like they have for the past decade.

Basically, I think they got the formula right (perhaps unintentionally) with Medieval 2. However, mods don't make CA as much money as DLC does, and that's what they want (and need) at the end of the day.

I don't claim to know what the future holds for TWC, but as a realist I suspect, like many forums, it will gradually become inactive. That shouldn't happen for quite some time, though (another decade, perhaps). We have a very loyal community who are great at encouraging newcomers to stay, and old timers to stay around. However, people will continue to change, grow up and move on; forums will come and go with them. All we can do is enjoy it while it does last.

[Lord Baal]

Everything has an start, and an end. It's the natural order of things. However I don't see the forum being obsolete, maybe less relevant yes, but obsolete never. I don't like or use steam to communicate or anything. I rather a conventional forum, is far more manageable and orderly than steam.

As for the reasons CA might not post here anymore, while it's true people were often too strong voiced and even straight up rude without need, CA did have (and still has) a lot of shortcomings, which they simply decided to ignore. A lot of sensible petitions were lost and buried among the sea of harshly criticisms and the great potential Empire, Shogun 2 and Rome 2 had was lost forever.

Even when Medieval 2 still has some potential left, it's simply too old and not worth the investment, or so I thought until I knew they released Rome to Ipad, which make me wonder if they ever do this with Medieval 2, in which case then their "lie about having lost the source code" would be blown and they'll have no technical excuse to implement the few changes that could turn that engine into the perfect one. Of course they'll still have no obligation in doing so, and probably wouldn't anyway. But all this is highly speculative and I digress.

So in short, my opinion is no, the forum is not becoming obsolete.

[craziii]

Also the rampant negativity that has ruled here since Rome 2 was released turned a lot of posters away who really just wanted to discuss the games and not go into a hostile debate on developer ethics. The CA staff used to post here as well but they are gone too.

Honestly as I think warhammer is an excellent game, ive been posting more on the official forums than in this subforum. I use TWC for keeping up with mods and the non-tw parts and the official forum to discuss Warhammer tw.

I blame it on a few regulars who dumped crap in every thread. you would think it is their full time job with how much they did it. maybe it is :/ I actually stopped posting with the warhammer release and just enjoy my self. no time or energy for the trolls or paid trolls. which had a knock on affect for my desire to visit TWC. with the mod launcher being part of steam now, that took away a part of my reason for visiting. I especially hated how criticizing a youtuber's video who made an account on twc = attacking, violating the tos. so alot of reasons for less visits. these are my top reasons.

[Col.KanKrusha]

Steam workshop is a big effect. It is great for mod distribution but is almost too easy. There is no sense of shared community just disconnectedindividuals. Keeping up multiple web sites and responding to posters is a pain if you have more than one mod.

Plus I feel that CA has almost killed the forum but bringing out games so quickly recently. The Rome 2 forum pretty much died when Atilla came out. I don't know how many people still play Rome 2 or Atilla but it felt like the numbers dropped again when Warhammwr was released.

Frequent games is probably good for sales and and profits but doesn't do much for game longevity.

[hellheaven1987]

Remind me when Empire released there was a time the forum was like dead.

[Kraut]

In my opinion, there are three main reasons for the decreasing traffic. Two of them have been mentioned by others before:

1) The bad release of Rome 2. Here I think it is two-fold: first, the bad release shape of R2 itself angered many users and drove them away from TW games in general, thereby abandoning the TW Forums, especially if you take into account which high hopes were put into Rome 2. On the other Hand, the resulting negativity and sometimes outright hostility here at the Forums might have also convinced some users that they would be better served discussing their game at another platform.

2) Changes in the modding community. The steam Workshops for sure draw away quite some modding Attention, and the fact that the recent TW games are not as moddable as e.g. RTW or M2TW have been adds to the decline in activity in the modding subforums.

3) Change in the TW Setting, i.e. Warhammer. Frankly speaking, the Warhammer TW has been praised by the press and without doubt the TW formula and Warhammer universe blend quite well. But I think the "old crowd" of TW Players are to some good degree "history addicted", because this was the traditional TW Setting. It might be that with changing to the Warhammer lore, TW gained some new users (Warhammer fans), but I also think quite some number of "old TW fans" are losing interest in TW if there is no new historical title.