(09-17-2017, 05:46 PM)Antonio Wrote: [ -> ] (09-17-2017, 04:38 PM)Sombra Hookier Wrote: [ -> ] (09-17-2017, 04:28 PM)DannyD Wrote: [ -> ]Taking into account the success of Gallia, I suggest adding 4 new houses to combat the old ones..... But really cut Gallia. Less systems = more interactions.
Nope. Less systems, less people logging.
The worst thing devs can do is taking away content from the game. This includes systems. You can cut away Gallia - it wouldn't make a difference, because there are only so many people anyway. The only thing that needs to be reviewed are all the current jump hole connections and lane placements. The ways are always the same, because someone thought it would be legit to cut connections to FORCE people to use certain connections. This is dumb and backfires in terms of people not even logging anymore because why would you enter certain systems you know you will have to cross certain individuals. Variety in jump hole connections is better, because people are not forced to go with the meta. For example, they tried to make Omicron Gamma a bottleneck. Look at the current connections. Many systems lead there, but the jump hole placement in Gamma is so bad, you find yourself in the big green nebula most of the time. That's boring as hell.
And end up like Crossfire with 200 systems and 0 players. I get it, you like to fly offplane, cloaked, complain about "shadowloggers", visit empty systems for the sake of visiting them, trade with a cloaking whale and whatnot to avoid player interaction while asking questions such as "what if I don't want to interact with others on my miner?". But guess what, not only is that approach shockingly bad for player interaction it's also what's making Discovery so "empty".
Empty activity like that where you try your best to avoid player interaction is as good as not logging into the game. Flying through one of the redundant Omegas no one ever visits or chilling offplane while making youtube videos about how Freelancer looks nice won't help anyone but yourself. Might as well play singleplayer at that point. Removing redundant systems such as Omega-9, Poole, Cayman, Tottori, Cassini, Bremen, etc. is something we desperately need for years now, and it doesn't do any harm while directly promoting player interaction unless you get hunted down by mighty shadowloggers!!!11. Add pre-arranged roleplay and pre-arranged PvP (new in stores, check it out!) with a certain clique of friends and you have a disaster for player interaction.
As for adding house wars, both Kusari attacking Liberty as Gallia's puppet and Rheinland conflicting with GMG/Corsairs are still a possibility, although I'm sure I heard story devs saying no to the first one.
And once more you've proven you have literally no idea what I do ingame while I still have more RP encounters and online-time than the entire Aoi without cloaking. But hey, it's easier to talk smash, right?
(09-17-2017, 05:49 PM)Sombra Hookier Wrote: [ -> ] (09-17-2017, 05:46 PM)Antonio Wrote: [ -> ] (09-17-2017, 04:38 PM)Sombra Hookier Wrote: [ -> ] (09-17-2017, 04:28 PM)DannyD Wrote: [ -> ]Taking into account the success of Gallia, I suggest adding 4 new houses to combat the old ones..... But really cut Gallia. Less systems = more interactions.
Nope. Less systems, less people logging.
The worst thing devs can do is taking away content from the game. This includes systems. You can cut away Gallia - it wouldn't make a difference, because there are only so many people anyway. The only thing that needs to be reviewed are all the current jump hole connections and lane placements. The ways are always the same, because someone thought it would be legit to cut connections to FORCE people to use certain connections. This is dumb and backfires in terms of people not even logging anymore because why would you enter certain systems you know you will have to cross certain individuals. Variety in jump hole connections is better, because people are not forced to go with the meta. For example, they tried to make Omicron Gamma a bottleneck. Look at the current connections. Many systems lead there, but the jump hole placement in Gamma is so bad, you find yourself in the big green nebula most of the time. That's boring as hell.
And end up like Crossfire with 200 systems and 0 players. I get it, you like to fly offplane, cloaked, complain about "shadowloggers", visit empty systems for the sake of visiting them, trade with a cloaking whale and whatnot to avoid player interaction while asking questions such as "what if I don't want to interact with others on my miner?". But guess what, not only is that approach shockingly bad for player interaction it's also what's making Discovery so "empty".
Empty activity like that where you try your best to avoid player interaction is as good as not logging into the game. Flying through one of the redundant Omegas no one ever visits or chilling offplane while making youtube videos about how Freelancer looks nice won't help anyone but yourself. Might as well play singleplayer at that point. Removing redundant systems such as Omega-9, Poole, Cayman, Tottori, Cassini, Bremen, etc. is something we desperately need for years now, and it doesn't do any harm while directly promoting player interaction unless you get hunted down by mighty shadowloggers!!!11. Add pre-arranged roleplay and pre-arranged PvP (new in stores, check it out!) with a certain clique of friends and you have a disaster for player interaction.
As for adding house wars, both Kusari attacking Liberty as Gallia's puppet and Rheinland conflicting with GMG/Corsairs are still a possibility, although I'm sure I heard story devs saying no to the first one.
And once more you've proven you have literally no idea what I do ingame while I still have more RP encounters and online-time than the entire Aoi without cloaking. But hey, it's easier to talk smash, right?
That "online time" is as good as playing singleplayer, barring a few exceptions mentioned in the first post which are a terrible type of "interaction" in their own way (read: pre-arranged RP).
(09-17-2017, 05:53 PM)Antonio Wrote: [ -> ] (09-17-2017, 05:49 PM)Sombra Hookier Wrote: [ -> ] (09-17-2017, 05:46 PM)Antonio Wrote: [ -> ] (09-17-2017, 04:38 PM)Sombra Hookier Wrote: [ -> ] (09-17-2017, 04:28 PM)DannyD Wrote: [ -> ]Taking into account the success of Gallia, I suggest adding 4 new houses to combat the old ones..... But really cut Gallia. Less systems = more interactions.
Nope. Less systems, less people logging.
The worst thing devs can do is taking away content from the game. This includes systems. You can cut away Gallia - it wouldn't make a difference, because there are only so many people anyway. The only thing that needs to be reviewed are all the current jump hole connections and lane placements. The ways are always the same, because someone thought it would be legit to cut connections to FORCE people to use certain connections. This is dumb and backfires in terms of people not even logging anymore because why would you enter certain systems you know you will have to cross certain individuals. Variety in jump hole connections is better, because people are not forced to go with the meta. For example, they tried to make Omicron Gamma a bottleneck. Look at the current connections. Many systems lead there, but the jump hole placement in Gamma is so bad, you find yourself in the big green nebula most of the time. That's boring as hell.
And end up like Crossfire with 200 systems and 0 players. I get it, you like to fly offplane, cloaked, complain about "shadowloggers", visit empty systems for the sake of visiting them, trade with a cloaking whale and whatnot to avoid player interaction while asking questions such as "what if I don't want to interact with others on my miner?". But guess what, not only is that approach shockingly bad for player interaction it's also what's making Discovery so "empty".
Empty activity like that where you try your best to avoid player interaction is as good as not logging into the game. Flying through one of the redundant Omegas no one ever visits or chilling offplane while making youtube videos about how Freelancer looks nice won't help anyone but yourself. Might as well play singleplayer at that point. Removing redundant systems such as Omega-9, Poole, Cayman, Tottori, Cassini, Bremen, etc. is something we desperately need for years now, and it doesn't do any harm while directly promoting player interaction unless you get hunted down by mighty shadowloggers!!!11. Add pre-arranged roleplay and pre-arranged PvP (new in stores, check it out!) with a certain clique of friends and you have a disaster for player interaction.
As for adding house wars, both Kusari attacking Liberty as Gallia's puppet and Rheinland conflicting with GMG/Corsairs are still a possibility, although I'm sure I heard story devs saying no to the first one.
And once more you've proven you have literally no idea what I do ingame while I still have more RP encounters and online-time than the entire Aoi without cloaking. But hey, it's easier to talk smash, right?
That "online time" is as good as playing singleplayer, barring a few exceptions mentioned in the first post which are a terrible type of "interaction" in their own way (read: pre-arranged RP).
I think Antonio covered everything I had in my head but couldn't say. I completely agree with him. Adding more doesn't always = better
How about a mock war between Kusari and Liberty?
How about a situation in which Kusari, as an ally of Gallia, is expected to open up a front on Liberty, and while openly does so, behind the scenes both sides agree for it to be a showoff with possibly minimal casualties on either side? In-game representation could go as wild as the players want while inRP all what would happen are few minor skirmishes per month in Galileo and Kepler. What do you think?
Seriously, you're embarassing yourself right now. When you're done talking bull just because you can't accept other people's opinions and focuses and take the energy to actually do constructive things for Discovery again apart from shooting newbies in New York or spending hours in Connecticut with the TS circlejerk crew and whining about other people making use of cloaks so you can't shjote them for a blue, maybe you could return to the floor of reality. There is literally no person who shows more transparency about their player behavior than I do, as I have more than 500 videos on my YT channel that can prove you wrong. But I guess repeating rumors and posting Tom Cruise are easier than investing time in your own faction and its issues and its flawed reputation.
Three big factors of why people stop playing are simply repetition, people profiling themselves in being dicks for the sake of being dicks and disappointment.
Repetition:
The gallic war is the best example. All Bretonia and LIberty can do is waiting for the enemy to come to them. All sides are yelling and begging for GRN ZoI in California, Bretonia and Liberty want to strike back but have no ZoI in Gallia. Gallia is dead like that. The battlefields are always the same. In Bretonia, GRN fights some few people that know how a battleship works, but rarely experienced snub fighters. In Liberty, GRN gets ganked massively from Lolwut-Caps and Bounty Hunter indies. Just give GRN access to California and New York, and we might get rid of the Indie Outcast playerbase that shiets all over the Orange Treaty. People love the Valor, and people love to fight the Valor, and Liberty has enough snub pilots to allow MRG a good matchmaking and the other way around. Stop making wars one-sided, no matter how the roleplay situation is supposed to be. Gallia has much to offer, including many flaws, but when people aren't allowed to go there, it's no wonder GRN ships are only in Leeds and Magellan, GRP is dead and Gallia a paradise for silent traders. Same should work with other wars as well.
People profiling themselves as dicks for the sake of being dicks:
Ask the mods and admins how many posts have been reported in the last seven days. A certain group is currently on the very top of their ego.
Disappointment:
Investing weeks, months and years of effort into certain things just to be ignored. There is a big problem with stagnance of requests. The problem is less about things getting denied, the problem is that things tend to be forgotten and ignored. The communication with the devs and admins could really use some improvement, as anyone who isn't lobbying via Skype or TeamSpeak or has the opportunity to approach people in other ways can be pretty sure the right people have no idea about certain requested things. The rule clarification thread hasn't been processed for months, people keep repeating themselves in the remind-the-admin thread for months. The community only knows so much about where the team in general needs help. More devs? Yes. Anyone willing to write a recent tutorial? Eh... The community is demanding much, giving not much in return, but without any communication, the disappointment is just getting bigger and bigger. This goes in all ways.
(09-17-2017, 05:46 PM)Antonio Wrote: [ -> ]Removing redundant systems such as Omega-9, Poole, Cayman, Tottori, Cassini, Bremen, etc.
I never understood why this hasn't been done. Yeah, the guard systems were removed, but there are still
quite a few reduntant systems. And the Omega-9 situation is simply a work of art. A new soulless buffer system is introduced while Omega-11 gets simultaneously s**t on. Also certain travel distances are disgusting. Why not downscale all systems by 30%? Except for those that have already been downscaled like Munich etc.
1. Trading balance.
2. Because it makes no difference to cut away those systems when they aren't frequently visited anyway. People go to certain systems to explore them or to have a less-frequent used smuggle-ways. The problems aren't the systems but how they are connected. As long as there are activity hubs, you can have as many systems as you want.
Taking away content is always bad. Especially in a giant sandbox like Freelancer. Reducing that sandbox to PvP-comfortable environtment is bull, because you end up like HHC, with everyone only hugging Freeport 9.
Possible house wars, listing only the ones that make an iota of sense:
Kusari/Liberty - Rejected by story team. Probably would've worked a few years ago, horrible idea now.
Kusari/Gallia - Rejected by story team on the basis that Gallia has literally no other friends that matter.
Rheinland/Bretonia - Rejected by story team on the basis that Liberty would immediately blitzkrieg Rheinland and utterly stomp them.
Rheinland/Kusari- Rejected by the whiny, isolationist echo chamber that is KuGov and Skynet because MUH TECHSHARING despite being painstakingly set up by the story team over the course of a year.
But remember, we're the reason Discovery only has one house war, right?
Taking out those systems will frankly do nothing to resolve the activity issues, in addition some of those systems are heavily involved in future events so that would doubly hurt folks who actually use or RP within those systems. Removing systems for the sake of 'activity' has been done before but with 0 Improvement to the overall game and activity levels.
As for future wars. There is something in the works planned, we just need to get over the last couple of hurdles before it can begin.
(09-17-2017, 06:27 PM)Sombra Hookier Wrote: [ -> ]1. Trading balance.
2. Because it makes no difference to cut away those systems when they aren't frequently visited anyway. People go to certain systems to explore them or to have a less-frequent used smuggle-ways. The problems aren't the systems but how they are connected. As long as there are activity hubs, you can have as many systems as you want.
Taking away content is always bad. Especially in a giant sandbox like Freelancer. Reducing that sandbox to PvP-comfortable environtment is bull, because you end up like HHC, with everyone only hugging Freeport 9.
Surely the overall activity is more important than trading balance. The increased profits could be offset in a way that would make trading balance stay relatively the same as it was before the downsize.
The content is a lot more relevant for single-player mode than multiplayer. I love exploration as much as the next guy but cutting away certain irrelevant systems would do a lot more good than harm. Even when Discovery had 200 people logging on a regular basis Crossfire freelancer had arguably better overall content but only had around 30-40 people online tops.