A Better FR Update Schedule
First of all, I’m one of those people who think FR doesn’t need to update weekly and who would rather wait longer periods of time for higher quality content. But if they’re going to continue with weekly updates, here’s some thoughts I had on how to make sure weekly updates are happening while still being quality ones. Whether it would work or is feasible, I don’t know, these are merely my thoughts.
First, right now it’s completely random what update we will get except for festivals. That’s how things like Keel and Glowtail get released within weeks of each when each really should have been the “big” update. By which I mean big updates should be paced further out to give the staff more time to work on them. It used to take months between gene releases and now we get two in just a matter of weeks? Gene releases are, and should be, a big deal, not put out one on top of the other.
Secondly, all updates don’t have to be “big” either by amount of content or what the content contains. Smaller updates are fine! Obviously, it needs to be bigger than what could be put in the Site Status box, but making an update about Fiona getting new tasks and recolors is completely fine to do by itself. It’s not a “big” update like a gene, but it’s bigger than the Site Status box allows. And it can stand completely fine on its own. Meaning that it doesn’t need to be coupled with a gene release or something else.
Thirdly, an update should last for at least a week. Usually they do, but not always.
Considering these points, I think there should be a sort of schedule to the updates. Obviously some amount of surprise should remain to keep things fun but a rough update schedule can still exist without allowing players to know exactly what’s coming each week and when.
For simplicity sake, I’m saying a month is four weeks. One week is a festival week, that’s a given and can’t change (I’m including Night of the Nocturne as a festival though it has some special circumstances too being that it’s announcement is usually left for two weeks). So that leaves three weeks of other updates which can occur.
What sort of updates can these be? They can be broken down into these categories:
1. Gene release (modern or ancient)
2. Breed release (modern or ancient)
3. Apparel release or refresh
4. Apparel recolors
5. New items (this covers anything from Fiona to new trinkets)
6. Coli update (new enemies, new venue or venue refresh)
7. Ask the Team
8. Developer/Community updates
9. Seasonal mini-holidays (only four times a year)
10. Anniversary celebration (only once a year)
11. Special (adding new site features or events (I’d love some more item tooltip contests) or other things that don’t fall in the above like April Fool’s or cycling items)
Even taking off the last four because those aren’t regular or require more spacing (staff has said that they won’t do developer updates unless there’s something significant to announce), that’s still seven types of updates that we could get for three weeks. If you think a breed release is too big to be considered regular (even if it’s an ancient), that’s still six types of updates. Working with the idea that not all updates have to be “big,” there is a wide choice of update options the staff can pick from!
I also propose that Ask the Team become a monthly update. These would still cover questions ranging from lore to site functions. It can be a complete standalone update, one of the smaller ones obviously. But it’s always fun to learn more about the FR world or to have teasers about future updates (hint words for example). Plus it’s an update that I imagine wouldn’t require much time or planning so that it would be easy for the staff to release.
So, if Ask the Team becomes monthly, coupled with the festivals, that narrows new, unknown updates down to two weeks out of a month. With 5-10 choices to pick from. And then there’s five months of the year where it’s only one unknown update because you have the seasonal mini-holidays or the anniversary in that month. You could even say it’s six months because as I mentioned earlier, NoTN often is up for two weeks (which is completely understandable, being over the holidays, and I wouldn’t change that). Or it could even be seven months because the April Fool’s joke staff does every year.
Five to seven months out of a year where staff has to pick a different update twice with 5-10 choices. That leaves ample room to space things out and to give themselves time to work on whatever.
But, besides the festivals, I would also not make it predictable when an update happens. Ask the Team could be the first week, it could be the third week. By allowing it to move around, it gives staff even more time to work if they need to. And it keeps an element of surprise for the players even with a schedule.
There’s a way to do weekly updates like staff is wanting while still giving themselves time to do whatever checks they need to before a release happens and still satisfy the players that they’re receiving regular but also quality updates.
It just requires some organization.
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