I’m reposting this from the guild thread as I don’t want the content to get lost in any other debate that may pop up. These are just my ideas and I’m open to criticism and friendly debate, please keep it civil. I think it is fair to say we all want this to succeed and last for as long as possible, so let’s work together to make it an environment we all want.
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I also think that along with the guild change, the fortune checker has had an adverse effect in that people have found just how low the drop rates are compared to the ease of levelling. It’s created a negative mindset where people can’t see the benefits of hunting after getting to a high level.
It doesn’t effect me personally as I play maybe a couple of hours 2-3 nights during the week and a few more at the weekend, so I’m still low level and have plenty to do. The drops are like a low rate high population server, I say this because the rng rates require large numbers of players to keep a constant stream of items flowing in. But the levelling is like a medium rate.
This was even a problem in Euro that had probably three or four times the user count of here in the early days, but it had the drop rates of a 10,000 player korean server.
Not everything needs adjusting, but the mid level items and superior items need a review. Book system needs some looking at, if not adjusting drop rates then all books 40+ should have a guaranteed page amount from say 50/100+. They could even be added to some more caves to allow the odd lucky lower levels to get one and have something to sell.
I would also revamp the level 4 skills mechanism, it is the least used feature that’s been implemented to date. People rarely bother even trying to get them, it should be made clear which spells benefit from level 4 and what the advantages are and they should be easier to obtain, the rate seems way to low. Give people something obtainable to aim for it keeps them motivated to keep logging in and hunt.
A guild change was needed, but as many have said, perhaps this is too far. A server with a 300 user count average shouldn’t be able to fit into 3 guilds (not saying it would, but it shouldn’t be an option). You want probably 6-10 guilds made up of 30-40 people, no more than 50.
A starter guild up to level 45 should be implemented, get more players attracted, move the 30% buff to that guild to get people on the ladder through the lower levels, they are the ones that need the exp/gold/drops the most as it’s the constant stream of players that keeps the items flowing into the economy. I would also allow alts to join this instead of enforcing alts are in the same guild as main.
More subs need adding or their spawn time needs adjusting, keep it random if neeeded but half the timer. More subs need bene’s and the like adding to them, so again there is an influx of those items giving people something to aim for, it also helps the new players because they can sell them and progress with gold to find item progression.
Boss shouts should probably go from global and review the spawn times, again probably make them more frequent but still random. The caves that open by killing can still have the shouts inside that cave, lower the requirements in these areas as less people now hunt them.
Extend the map buff system across all the dungeons, review how much the health/damage increases so that lower levels can still hunt there, but increase the drop buffs on them. People need a new and regular influx of all the items to encourage a healthy economy and also a sense of achievement, if you can get something new and shiny every few levels then there is something to aim for and that will keep people playing and coming back time and time again.
To counter the influx of items, review accessory refining and add in a chance of failure, let items break. There should be no system that isn’t based on risk/reward. Allow breaking of weapons from master refine and/or weapon reset. Encourage the correct type of item usage and don’t allow exponential power growth without any risk, it unbalances things allowing the strong to be stronger without any risk. The accessory economy is already crashing below that of shop value because everyone has refined what they need and have little use for low level stuff. This also fits into reviewing drop rates and diversifying the drops we are seeing, make the lower level superior items a lot more common than they are and allow them to be refined, but with that risk they will break and you have to go hunt some more.
Review the success rates on the Numa and Lair rusted items, they seem too low for how many drop and how many players there are.
Overall philosophy needs to be that of constant but incremental progression for all players at all levels. It keeps people engaged and interested enough to want to continue playing. The server needs to be tuned to the audience and the user count.
—————————————————————
I also think that along with the guild change, the fortune checker has had an adverse effect in that people have found just how low the drop rates are compared to the ease of levelling. It’s created a negative mindset where people can’t see the benefits of hunting after getting to a high level.
It doesn’t effect me personally as I play maybe a couple of hours 2-3 nights during the week and a few more at the weekend, so I’m still low level and have plenty to do. The drops are like a low rate high population server, I say this because the rng rates require large numbers of players to keep a constant stream of items flowing in. But the levelling is like a medium rate.
This was even a problem in Euro that had probably three or four times the user count of here in the early days, but it had the drop rates of a 10,000 player korean server.
Not everything needs adjusting, but the mid level items and superior items need a review. Book system needs some looking at, if not adjusting drop rates then all books 40+ should have a guaranteed page amount from say 50/100+. They could even be added to some more caves to allow the odd lucky lower levels to get one and have something to sell.
I would also revamp the level 4 skills mechanism, it is the least used feature that’s been implemented to date. People rarely bother even trying to get them, it should be made clear which spells benefit from level 4 and what the advantages are and they should be easier to obtain, the rate seems way to low. Give people something obtainable to aim for it keeps them motivated to keep logging in and hunt.
A guild change was needed, but as many have said, perhaps this is too far. A server with a 300 user count average shouldn’t be able to fit into 3 guilds (not saying it would, but it shouldn’t be an option). You want probably 6-10 guilds made up of 30-40 people, no more than 50.
A starter guild up to level 45 should be implemented, get more players attracted, move the 30% buff to that guild to get people on the ladder through the lower levels, they are the ones that need the exp/gold/drops the most as it’s the constant stream of players that keeps the items flowing into the economy. I would also allow alts to join this instead of enforcing alts are in the same guild as main.
More subs need adding or their spawn time needs adjusting, keep it random if neeeded but half the timer. More subs need bene’s and the like adding to them, so again there is an influx of those items giving people something to aim for, it also helps the new players because they can sell them and progress with gold to find item progression.
Boss shouts should probably go from global and review the spawn times, again probably make them more frequent but still random. The caves that open by killing can still have the shouts inside that cave, lower the requirements in these areas as less people now hunt them.
Extend the map buff system across all the dungeons, review how much the health/damage increases so that lower levels can still hunt there, but increase the drop buffs on them. People need a new and regular influx of all the items to encourage a healthy economy and also a sense of achievement, if you can get something new and shiny every few levels then there is something to aim for and that will keep people playing and coming back time and time again.
To counter the influx of items, review accessory refining and add in a chance of failure, let items break. There should be no system that isn’t based on risk/reward. Allow breaking of weapons from master refine and/or weapon reset. Encourage the correct type of item usage and don’t allow exponential power growth without any risk, it unbalances things allowing the strong to be stronger without any risk. The accessory economy is already crashing below that of shop value because everyone has refined what they need and have little use for low level stuff. This also fits into reviewing drop rates and diversifying the drops we are seeing, make the lower level superior items a lot more common than they are and allow them to be refined, but with that risk they will break and you have to go hunt some more.
Review the success rates on the Numa and Lair rusted items, they seem too low for how many drop and how many players there are.
Overall philosophy needs to be that of constant but incremental progression for all players at all levels. It keeps people engaged and interested enough to want to continue playing. The server needs to be tuned to the audience and the user count.
