ppl coming back boon?!

[sye]

You know, I know games like world of warcraft and other mmos have it..

maybe if you can get a 'rested' bonus or something.. if you dont log in a character for an x amount of time, you log in and 'you find blam' randomly? like a runestone.. or.. anything randomly even up to a super rare legendary stone(okay maybe thats too much lol)

Possibly getting back into the game and logging into "you gain a boon of double xp for 10 mins" etc?

This would help people not get hindered for having a real life, and give them some reason to keep logging back in for a chance for some cool items? you know, you dont have to get THAT carried away with it, its the idea in general I was suggesting.

[Daklore]

Uh .... why?

The reason games have those sort of rewards, is to encourage people to stay logged off for longer periods to lower the strain on the servers more than anything.

[Thalia]

I'm all for welcoming players back, but do you think a player who hasn't been around ... like say Zircon ... is going to be inspired to come back for a 10 min double exp bonus?

[sye]

Well.. well put, but something should be considered to help keep people around, I see our population getting rather low, up to zero people on for long periods at a time.   

And that brings me to my next suggestion, when people rage leave... maybe if they left a small detailed note why?  Like for instance.. Tysthor, he left cause the augments can't be gmed..   Maybe if Five peoples toped playing for the same reason?  You guys could think about what to do (not to keep people running and threatoning to quit playing, but to see what people have problems with)

I know Zircon stoped playing cause he started a war and got angry that he died.   Nice guy I got no problems with him, but when he hunts down and kills lower players.. that happens.  So I guess thatd be my fault

As for other players.. They all have their various reasons.   That can't be helped, but What it CAN help with.

is people who come back seasonally in between school or let them have some spring break And still enjoy playing,  I just think its an interesting aspect to look into is all.   I understand its not a fix all solution, but it would help promote people with alts  (which is the real reason that rested bonus is there Daklore )  So people are incouraged to have more chars on more servers and so when they come back they have something to look forward to.

*shrug*

[Daklore]

I'm firmly against altitis, it doesn't actually alter the lack of population problem, just might keep one or two people who want to play alts around.

The long term problem is repititve grinding with no real gain. Yes, augments are nice, but without GM, most augments are only flavour skills/spells at best(which is how I treated augments, to put towards the Daklore flavour of RP). Legendaries are pretty limited to the top of the tier people because, well... I hog them(hey, I'm logged in more than most people, it's gonna happen) and legendaries themselves are already strung thin and... not really very varied.

What the game needs is something to make the grind less of a grind, and add something to do other than quest and level. RP is always going to be optional, unless you have IMMs sitting there constantly introducing in-game RP events, like zombies invading Murkwood.

And the problem with "invasions" from mobiles, is that the massive differences in ability and survivability levels give, it'll end up geared to only a small portion of the populace anyway. So... giving them a "Rested" bonus isn't really going to offer much, only to people with alts. Which doesn't resolve the underlying issue.

[Thalia]

I don't think there is going to be "a new thing" that solves all the problems with keeping people from leaving or getting them to return. 

Reason's I've heard for people leaving...

• IRL time conflicts [another game, marriage, child, moving, no internet, busted computer, school, new job...]
• Players/IMMs too helpful/intrusive
• Players/IMMs not helpful/welcoming enough
• The game is all about grinding
• Game can't be "won" unless you have customs (& grinding for customs is no fun)
• [Player A] is getting "picked" on by other player(s) [characters/alts attacked repeatedly, verbally picked on, harassed to join/switch kingdom/religion, et al]
• Takes too long to get powerful enough to be the best (PKer) in the game
• Augments too powerful [unbalancing] or not powerful enough
• Not enough skill/spells for my class or race
• Not enough powerful skills/spells for my class or race
• My class/race isn't special enough -- other classes/races have overlapping skills  and that takes away the specialness of my class/race
• [race A] not as powerful as [race b]
• [race A/racial mod B] sucks and I didn't realize that when I picked it... and it's too much of a pain to start over
• [player A] must be an IMM who cheated to get so powerful
• [player B] must be a favorite of the IMMs 'cause they always get the cool changes/auctions/stuff
• The IMMs hate me because my race/class/kingdom is always getting n***ed and I only when crap at auctions
• The IMMs interfer too much/little with interplayer conflicts
• IMMs too easy on players who should be banned or should have been banned sooner
• IMMs too hard on players who didn't quite understand the rules and should have had a 2nd or 22nd chance
• It's too hard to learn the game - not enough info in HELP, newbie hints, et al
• There are too many/few areas
• Too hard to find your way around the realms
• Nobody really RPs unless they want to find a reason to attack you/your kingdom

... and that's just the ones I could remember hearing after thinking about it for 5 mins.  I'm sure you all could come up with more.

What's the point of throwing up that list??  To caution that a good idea may solve some items, but it's probably not going to solve all them.... AND that addressing some items may make other items worse in comparison -- e.g., Augments being perceived as both unbalancing and not powerful enough.

When we evaluate ideas, we need to evaluate not just the "good"/beneficial aspects of an idea, but also the ways in which it could be "bad"/detrimental to some other aspect of the game.  Sometimes we can find ways to mitigate or minimize a "bad" and it's a hell of a lot easier to to that BEFORE a change is released into a game. 

And sooo.... keep tossing up ideas, but don't be surprised if someone brings up an issue with it or wants to modify it in someway or spins it in directions you didn't.    I hope/expect that at some point we'll come up with ideas that have been pressure tested and modified in discussion  -- that can be coded and that will improve game (and not just change it for the sake of change).

[sye]

Okay so no to that one. ;/ *ducks out*

[Daklore]

• [player A] must be an IMM who cheated to get so powerful

This one always amused me. For a while, people really thought I was actually Chalgyr. No way Chalgyr can be as cool as I am *shifty*

[Chalgyr]

Everyone really knows that I'm Daklore's alt... erm...

what I was so amused by in this post?  That I've heard everything on Daklore's list, and how much of it conflicts with other items on the list.  In the end, I just decided it was in my best interest sanity-wise to make a game that I hope people will like, and try to stay out of things unless there is a real problem that comes up.  That said?  I don't make nearly as much content as I used to, and in the end, I blame Daklore.

[Elendil]

Hello all,

To be honest with you all, I think this is the main reason for the retention issues with new players:

-IMMs too easy on players who should be banned or should have been banned sooner
-Certain players whom really have no clue as to minding their Ps and Qs when we might have   really new players whom wonder just what they have stepped into.(that one I have heard/read, and I am not pointing fingers, we all know whom the guilty parties are  )

Everything else is negligible.  The festivals that are held are just fine, as is everything else this game has to offer, no complaints from this player  .

[Daklore]

Hello all,

To be honest with you all, I think this is the main reason for the retention issues with new players:

-IMMs too easy on players who should be banned or should have been banned sooner

QFT
For anyone unfamiliar with QFT, it means quoted for truth, not quit f'n talking

There's no spoiler tag option. This should be rectified.

[Chalgyr]

The ban/don't ban issue has always been a challenge for us to juggle.  At it's very core, we're saying: we might have more players if we boot some of our existing ones?

That said, Dak's been around forever and a day, and I think he would agree we as a staff take a lot less crap from people than we used to during our 50 players a day period.  I think we're generally much more decisive on things than we used to be.  That said, there is probably room for improvement still.