It has now been just 8 days since we launched the new FTB and for what may be the first time in the history of FTB, I want to talk a little bit about stats. (This next bit is likely to be more than a bit boring, so feel free to skip to the next section if you have no interest in stats.) As an internal rule we have never really spoken about stats publically before, however the main reason for this is probably not the one you may think it would be. When FTB was first released, we distributed our packs exclusively on the FTB Launcher. During this time I don't think we ever released any form of numbers with regards to downloads. This was a time where I was streaming heavily on Twitch.TV and I ran with a philosophy of “number of viewers doesn't matter” as a streamer. I carried this same philosophy over to the launcher. (Remember back then I was as I remain now, some idiot that made a map that became reasonably popular. I wasn't and am still not anything more than some guy who made a map. Despite what some parts of our community think, a lot of time and care goes into the crafting of all of our packs. This work however is predominantly done by people with far more energy and far more intelligence than me.)
However even at my age, I have learned a few new tricks since then and one of those is regarding the importance and value of stats. In the original launcher the closest we ever really came to being able to gather any kind of statistics is with Google Analytics which required you to have a large rolling pin to extract anything close to useful out of. But back then we didn't really have a clue what we were doing and we were pretty much just making it up as we went. Now though, like I said, I have learned a few things. Minecraft is a weird animal and modpacks may be even weirder still. Our community is constantly growing, changing and evolving. This is reflected nowhere greater than in pack popularity. Over the years I think it has become apparent that as players, the packs we play run in cycles (this is maybe a slight over generalisation, but it is certainly there). Whether it be a standard kitchen sink, or an expert mode pack; a skyblock or a normal world. Over time we are constantly looking for new experiences. Packs as a rule can last the average player anything from 2 weeks to 3 months in playtime. However there are some packs that can last years.
I write all this as a precursor to this. With the new app we now have some more meaningful access to stats and it makes for some interesting reading. I'm not going to waste people's time with a whole bunch of numbers. However I do think the following numbers are pretty interesting. This is taken from a sample size of approximately 45000 pack installs. The top 5 packs (this is exclusively FTB packs installed through and played using the New FTB App only and no other source) currently are Revelation, Omnia, Infinity Evolved, Sky Factory 3, and Ultimate Reloaded.
There is however a stat that I personally value over downloads. I have always said internally, downloads is an almost meaningless number. It is easily manipulated and has no value at all to me as a developer. I have lost count of the amount of games I have installed on steam, only to play them once and then never touch it again. These games may even stay installed, gathering virtual dust for months or even years before being touched again or just uninstalled. This same thing can be said for modpacks. Which is why to me the much more important number has always been 'Replay Rate'. As a developer I would much prefer to make a pack with less downloads but a higher replay value than more downloads but they only get played a couple of times. With this in mind the 5 FTB packs that currently have the highest Replay value are FTB Ultimate Reloaded, FTB Infinity Evolved, the Direwolf20 1.12 pack, Revelation and Continuum.
THE BORING STATS BIT IS FINISHED NOW,
With 1.15 still in its early days, these stats can guide us into where we can focus our energies right now in a way that will benefit the highest number of people that are currently playing our packs. With this in mind, we are currently looking at updates for all 5 of these packs:
FTB Ultimate Reloaded, Infinity Evolved and Continuum will likely be standard updates that will just be updating the mods already in the pack.
For the Direwolf20 pack and Revelation however we are looking at the possibility of releasing 2 sets of patches for these packs. The first will be an update that just brings the mods up to date. This will be followed closely by a major revision update. These are updates where we would recommend a world restart. In both packs we are going to be looking to possibly remove some mods that just don't really fit in any longer and also maybe adding a new mod or two that maybe were not quite ready or didn't quite fit in at the time the pack was released.
These updates will be exclusively released on the new app starting in about 3 weeks. We are also going to be releasing an update to FTB Sky Odyssey as well as introducing a new Sky Odyssey Pro Mode pack which will also hopefully be available in the coming weeks. The main reason for the delay is given that it has been a while since we worked on these packs, we want to make sure that we don't break anything with these updates.
FTB LAUNCHER NEWS
We are now just over a week since we released the first beta of the new app watching from the sidelines as the team have worked to ensure that the release went as smooth as possible I think it's now safe to say that the launch has gone far better than I expected it to be. We have had reports from users of downloads starting off slow, however this is an expected issue and should only remain an issue when a pack is initially installed and should not be an issue for pack updates.
Bug reports from the community have been coming in and in most cases getting resolved pretty quickly. I don’t think I have seen anything major come through the doors; everything so far seems to be working as good as we could hope for at this stage. Hopefully if this remains we can start to add in new features that are being requested by both the team and the community. We have already started to compile a list and prioritise these features. As per usual I don’t want to give out ETA’s for any of this as it always adds unneeded pressure to the team. I can say that support for 3rd party packs is top of the priority list and is actively being worked on right now. Our current plan is to initially open this up on an invite basis to established pack makers. This is purely so we can make sure that the submission method for packs is working as intended. As soon as we can confirm that this procedure is operating correctly, we will then open this up to general submissions.
Before people ask, these features will be ready when they are ready
.
EXPANDING THE TEAM
With FTB now devolving away from Twitch and returning to a completely autonomous organisation, we are now looking to bring back and/or increase the number of people that are involved in the day to day running of FTB. In particular we are looking to increase the number of people we have helping out in the following areas.
Mod Pack Beta Testing
Over the next few months, we are going to be starting testing on updates to several existing packs as well as testing on new packs that are currently in development. We are looking for players of all skill levels that want to be involved in the testing of these mod packs. Testers may be asked to either do general playthroughs or asked to focus on specific areas.
For players interested in joining the FTB Beta Testing Team, you can apply here.
https://forms.gle/KuKEmqtuHj3Y1LuW6
Map Team
Part of our future plans includes working on new maps both for Java and Bedrock. For anyone that has an interest in helping out with these maps, we are currently looking for people with the following skills.
-Detail Builders
This mainly focuses on going through worlds and adding details such as furniture and decorations to rooms.
-Texture Artist.
Looking for someone who can do textures designed to fit map themes.
For anyone interested in any of the above areas, you can apply here.
https://forms.gle/7Ky9tt5TJJUREfB29
Moderators
FTB runs active communities on both our forums (found at https://forum.feed-the-beast.com) and on Discord (https://discord.gg/qTgsXFY). We are looking to expand our moderation team in both areas. If you are interested in joining the moderation team you can apply here.
For anyone interested in any of the above areas, you can apply here.
https://forms.gle/ePi6LKqr5horWwVRA
FTB Forums
With full control of the forums now being passed back to us, we have been investigating the possibility of fixing a number of errors that have crept in over the years. After a bunch of testing, we are now looking to roll out Xenforo 2.0. This is going to allow us to start to add new features and fix a lot of those broken issues.
However even at my age, I have learned a few new tricks since then and one of those is regarding the importance and value of stats. In the original launcher the closest we ever really came to being able to gather any kind of statistics is with Google Analytics which required you to have a large rolling pin to extract anything close to useful out of. But back then we didn't really have a clue what we were doing and we were pretty much just making it up as we went. Now though, like I said, I have learned a few things. Minecraft is a weird animal and modpacks may be even weirder still. Our community is constantly growing, changing and evolving. This is reflected nowhere greater than in pack popularity. Over the years I think it has become apparent that as players, the packs we play run in cycles (this is maybe a slight over generalisation, but it is certainly there). Whether it be a standard kitchen sink, or an expert mode pack; a skyblock or a normal world. Over time we are constantly looking for new experiences. Packs as a rule can last the average player anything from 2 weeks to 3 months in playtime. However there are some packs that can last years.
I write all this as a precursor to this. With the new app we now have some more meaningful access to stats and it makes for some interesting reading. I'm not going to waste people's time with a whole bunch of numbers. However I do think the following numbers are pretty interesting. This is taken from a sample size of approximately 45000 pack installs. The top 5 packs (this is exclusively FTB packs installed through and played using the New FTB App only and no other source) currently are Revelation, Omnia, Infinity Evolved, Sky Factory 3, and Ultimate Reloaded.
There is however a stat that I personally value over downloads. I have always said internally, downloads is an almost meaningless number. It is easily manipulated and has no value at all to me as a developer. I have lost count of the amount of games I have installed on steam, only to play them once and then never touch it again. These games may even stay installed, gathering virtual dust for months or even years before being touched again or just uninstalled. This same thing can be said for modpacks. Which is why to me the much more important number has always been 'Replay Rate'. As a developer I would much prefer to make a pack with less downloads but a higher replay value than more downloads but they only get played a couple of times. With this in mind the 5 FTB packs that currently have the highest Replay value are FTB Ultimate Reloaded, FTB Infinity Evolved, the Direwolf20 1.12 pack, Revelation and Continuum.
THE BORING STATS BIT IS FINISHED NOW,
With 1.15 still in its early days, these stats can guide us into where we can focus our energies right now in a way that will benefit the highest number of people that are currently playing our packs. With this in mind, we are currently looking at updates for all 5 of these packs:
FTB Ultimate Reloaded, Infinity Evolved and Continuum will likely be standard updates that will just be updating the mods already in the pack.
For the Direwolf20 pack and Revelation however we are looking at the possibility of releasing 2 sets of patches for these packs. The first will be an update that just brings the mods up to date. This will be followed closely by a major revision update. These are updates where we would recommend a world restart. In both packs we are going to be looking to possibly remove some mods that just don't really fit in any longer and also maybe adding a new mod or two that maybe were not quite ready or didn't quite fit in at the time the pack was released.
These updates will be exclusively released on the new app starting in about 3 weeks. We are also going to be releasing an update to FTB Sky Odyssey as well as introducing a new Sky Odyssey Pro Mode pack which will also hopefully be available in the coming weeks. The main reason for the delay is given that it has been a while since we worked on these packs, we want to make sure that we don't break anything with these updates.
FTB LAUNCHER NEWS
We are now just over a week since we released the first beta of the new app watching from the sidelines as the team have worked to ensure that the release went as smooth as possible I think it's now safe to say that the launch has gone far better than I expected it to be. We have had reports from users of downloads starting off slow, however this is an expected issue and should only remain an issue when a pack is initially installed and should not be an issue for pack updates.
Bug reports from the community have been coming in and in most cases getting resolved pretty quickly. I don’t think I have seen anything major come through the doors; everything so far seems to be working as good as we could hope for at this stage. Hopefully if this remains we can start to add in new features that are being requested by both the team and the community. We have already started to compile a list and prioritise these features. As per usual I don’t want to give out ETA’s for any of this as it always adds unneeded pressure to the team. I can say that support for 3rd party packs is top of the priority list and is actively being worked on right now. Our current plan is to initially open this up on an invite basis to established pack makers. This is purely so we can make sure that the submission method for packs is working as intended. As soon as we can confirm that this procedure is operating correctly, we will then open this up to general submissions.
Before people ask, these features will be ready when they are ready
.EXPANDING THE TEAM
With FTB now devolving away from Twitch and returning to a completely autonomous organisation, we are now looking to bring back and/or increase the number of people that are involved in the day to day running of FTB. In particular we are looking to increase the number of people we have helping out in the following areas.
Mod Pack Beta Testing
Over the next few months, we are going to be starting testing on updates to several existing packs as well as testing on new packs that are currently in development. We are looking for players of all skill levels that want to be involved in the testing of these mod packs. Testers may be asked to either do general playthroughs or asked to focus on specific areas.
For players interested in joining the FTB Beta Testing Team, you can apply here.
https://forms.gle/KuKEmqtuHj3Y1LuW6
Map Team
Part of our future plans includes working on new maps both for Java and Bedrock. For anyone that has an interest in helping out with these maps, we are currently looking for people with the following skills.
-Detail Builders
This mainly focuses on going through worlds and adding details such as furniture and decorations to rooms.
-Texture Artist.
Looking for someone who can do textures designed to fit map themes.
For anyone interested in any of the above areas, you can apply here.
https://forms.gle/7Ky9tt5TJJUREfB29
Moderators
FTB runs active communities on both our forums (found at https://forum.feed-the-beast.com) and on Discord (https://discord.gg/qTgsXFY). We are looking to expand our moderation team in both areas. If you are interested in joining the moderation team you can apply here.
For anyone interested in any of the above areas, you can apply here.
https://forms.gle/ePi6LKqr5horWwVRA
FTB Forums
With full control of the forums now being passed back to us, we have been investigating the possibility of fixing a number of errors that have crept in over the years. After a bunch of testing, we are now looking to roll out Xenforo 2.0. This is going to allow us to start to add new features and fix a lot of those broken issues.
Last edited by a moderator:
