How can we make Discovery better?

[Sath]

The thing that I like very much about Benitez is that their friendships extend beyond Disco, beyond other games that they are now playing together and even beyond the computer screens. They meet in RL at times, have fun and such. That is something that I never expected in an online gaming community. Glad that I am a part of them, if not, very late

And as Jose mentioned, official factions receive not much distinction from other factions for the amount of work that they put in which causes less activity due to majority of the players opting to play as indys rather than official faction members. I myself feel a tad more independant while playing as an indy rather than a official faction member, (mostly for the pew pew factions). So, something that gives official faction an edge over indys could be another helping step in increasing their activity, and which in turn will increase the server population due to the fact that most of the times, official factions offer a higher quality of RP than the indys or unofficial factions(most of the times). That would solve the case of people leaving due to quality of RP decreasing and lolwuttism increasing in the sever nowadays.

And yes, I am still a very basic PvP'er and get beaten to it most of the times, which makes me feel bad. So, anything that gives RP a slight edge over PvP would satisfy my personal greed

[WesternPeregrine]

I think that after many months of discussion about "righting the wrongs" and "addressing the issues", we didn't make any reasonable development in the mod "progression", and we spend too much time arguing on what could be wrong or in excess, which wears down everyone.

I send a small suggestion, a small change in the paradigm. Instead of thinking about returning to better times, or fixing the complex structures that are grinding down the community's patience, how about we look for what is the core of the mod, what is it's basic concepts and the things that should be preserved and developed?
In short: find what is the minimum necessary to keep in the mod, and consider the rest superfluous and to be reintroduced as needed.

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Kusari Former Mastermind

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[mayu20]

Rollback to 4.85. Problem solved.

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My Media

[Vendetta]

Rollback to 4.85. Problem solved.

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Youtube

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[Zed26]

If this is to be a RP server as advertised, consider reviewing the requirements for factions, SRP, and unique ships so people can get to playing the way they want to play - especially in terms of time requirements.

• Staff are still the judges - vetted players can be too - it doesn't mean there needs to be a compromise on quality just because someone isn't a 6 month to 1+ year vet. If the technerf system is here to stay (though relaxing/removing it may alleviate these problems), this at least gives players a chance to demonstrate they've given some thought to their proposed unorthodox combinations and that they're still RP-driven.
   
  
• Requiring one year of documented roleplay for unique ships appears highly prohibitive/discouraging for new players. Yes, it's a great privilege/requires considerable work (maybe beyond swapping engines/powercores), but at least knowing your ship has been queued up for the next update before the storyline has progressed and you've gone through several grades of school/jobs/had a kid/misc life events can be motivating, help players feel they're a part of the community, and can make some change.
   
  
• Include a clear provision - "exceptions may be made for what is deemed to be exceptional RP". Staff may say, "Of course, it goes without saying and it's our way of filtering out the non-serious RPers," but that's presumptuous when players are inundated with rules from the get-go, see others being sanctioned (often with a lot of vitriol), and feel there is a lack of dialogue with staff.
   
  
• Consider fast-tracking for players who have already made factions/approved SRP and then request unique ships. Giving a Spec Op ID + something approximate and tangible for players to fly while awaiting their unique ship can be a good holdover.
   
  
• Application fees can be a very big forum-based money sink that arguably transcends any purchasable equipment in-game, isn't just bling/fluff, and requires no major tweaks to the game itself before the eventual ship/faction.
  

[Catbert]

Warning: the post has been considered a "tl;dr" by the poster. Summary: reverting to 4.85 won't help; people's interest burns out and they want something fresh; a radical change which would require a server wipe and can either reignite Discovery or finish it off; thanks for everything, Disco, and all the best to you!

Might I remind you that the player activity started dwindling by the end of 4.85 era (that may've happened earlier, but I only joined during the second half of 4.85). And quite a few people were tired of it and were waiting for 4.86 to come out. 4.85 may have been one of the most successful versions, but it still doesn't mean that reverting would change much.

I have good memories about 4.85, but it's mostly because it was my first venture into a relatively large multiplayer community (compared to Russian FL servers at least). I flew around, explored, RPed, etc., and everything seemed so new to me. Basically, that's what a typical newbie experiences when he goes online. It was fresh.

Eventually I started looking forward to 4.86, because it promised a lot, mainly the storyline changes and full-blown Gallia (believe it or not, but having those sealed jumpgates kind of felt wrong at that time). We could discuss the advantages and drawbacks of 4.86 and 4.87, but I still believe that simply reverting to 4.8x (x<=5) isn't an option.

If I were new to online gaming and Discovery in general (which was the case in 2010), I'd probably be enjoying the mod now (although the player count has decreased twice, I think). But many people have already spent quite some time here, so...

The general idea is that with time people's interest just burns out. They tend to miss the good old days, when the grass was greener, the rules were harsher and Gallia was smaller. Don't leave people's interest out of the equation. Now, I do salute the devs for their continued support on this mod and the effort they put in its evolution. But to truly reignite people's interest it would take more than just Discovery 4.87 or 4.88... Something along the lines of Discovery 2.0 would be in order.

Now, what do I mean under Disco 2.0? I honestly don't know the answer to that. It might be a jump 80 years into the future as someone suggested... Or a couple of hundred years into the past... Or the exploration of some other sector... I wouldn't even mind Discovery: Gallia (with 4.86 Gallia, which could house the entire server population).

Of course, it's easier said than done. I'm not asking people to do it, nor do I have the skills and time to contribute to an endeavor like that at this point (diploma paper and all). I could learn how to mod FL in the future though, should the need arise. But mind you, I'm just a random forum lurker who no longer plays or cares about his ships (which have been given to various people long ago anyway). A radical change would require a server wipe, and that as might be the final nail as well.

Oh, and speaking about the community... No, I actually won't say too much bad stuff. It's just that people take the stuff which is going on here too seriously sometimes (which in worst cases leads to open hatred). But still, comparing to some other communities I've seen, Disco GC is like a big family (with some issues, of course, but that's beside the point).

Well, it looks like I've produced a tl;dr wall of text. In conclusion, I'd like to say that Disco has been extremely fun while it lasted (for me, I mean). I had my share of RP, PvP, faction leadership, etc. I do wish the community and the developers all the best and hope that the community gets through it. If not... well, all good things come to an end (and Disco is definitely good). And thanks if you've made it till this part of the post.

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You're welcome to leave feedback here | My inbox is always open

[Oorn]

In response to all who want forumdwellers to dissapear: you understand that so many players posting on forums without playing means just as many 'new' players will magically appear should something interesting happen to mod, right? So please, stop this flamewar.

On topic:
Matter of factly, I also consider discovery in current state beyond saving. By this I mean Creating conceptually new mod is far better idea compared to trying to enchance what we have now.

Creating new mod, however, doesnt mean we must abondon everything we have. Being 'ancient' mod, discovery has lots of baggage that hinders development. Not all of it is negative though, and should not be wasted. Player factions, their rp, individual player stories and rp, as well as gigantic foundation for revised universe setting and history. While worthy in itself, it also opens many possibilities for how could story go in Discovery 2.0. Just pick random faction, read their past rp and think how it could affect story but didnt, you will understand what I mean than.

Then (which actually means at the same time) comes designing new map. In that regard, past history should be thrown out of the window. Perhaps even parts of vanilla. Firstly create vague political map, with faction, their primary zones and their spheres of influence. This part should be handled at the very begining, before all other lore and map development. Then create SMALLEST map that would corespond to political situation, have some existing cool locations, have sensible object density, and 1~2 systems betwen major houses. General reasoning should be if something doesnt have very good reason for existing, it shouldnt exist. If something can fit into system that alresdy exists on paper, it would. And dont forget player interaction with map design, if two factions fight, fighting should be localised, that means single shortest route, no long travels, no annoying asteroids inbetwen if both factions have caps, etc. Alternative routes may exist but they should be abit longer/ involve pissing off other factions, as well as use existing systems, not spawn new. Final result should be no bigger than vanilla, but different from it. Economy design would follow.

And dont forget ship rebalancing, shake things up a bit. Even if things will not be perfect at first, freshness would more than compansate it. Gather ideas from good pilots, create closed solely combat beta, invite sizable amount of people there, but still keep it closed, EXPERIMENT.

Bottom line, if original discovery started as ship pack, Discovery 2.0 should start as alternate universe fanfiction and as pvp balancing experiment.

EDIT: everything said above doesnt have anything to do with current devs, nothing stops another team from forming and creating 'better' discovery, while not giving a damn about things they dont like.

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When "roleplay" around you seems to be diminishing... all you can do is be a new beacon of roleplay to light up everyone else's interactions.

[Astraea]

I have a suggestion (a few actually but they all work together):

1. beyond necessary bug fixes and what have you, put a stop to all dev work.

2. devs and admins poll the community on what should stay and what should go. no arguing threads or flaming, just simple polls. eg POBs, buffer systems, etc. no topics like zoner caps or etc, becaus that would be counter productive.

3. after polls are done, devs remove those features that the majority has chosen. in the case of POBs, they are turned off for an indefinite time (or until POBs can safely come back).

4. increase the size of the angels, get them (even some of the admins maybe) in penn to greet new players and direct them to factions that could use people.

5.also bring back the beginner restart with the gull.

6. now indies wont like this, but throw out the "no restricting indies" policy and restrict battleships and carriers to official factions, and SRP for indies.

7. Give official factions, as a benefit for reaching officialdom and contributing to the mod, a little bit of influence on storyline.

8. scout the community for possible new devs and hire them. divest power out from aerelm, and put some admin oversight on decisions (i.e if devs want to do something that would be detrimental to the mod, admins could go "Nope!")

9. devs do more regular, but smaller updates. also, more dev transparency (ties in with admin oversight on devs).

10. seriously, shift the focus away from liberty. surely there is someway to randomize where people spawn.

feel free to add to this list.

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It's not every day that I read about Somali pirates pirating a US navy aircraft carrier in their speedboats.

[Python 72]

I like your number 10 Astraea, not sure about random respawn and whether that is possible, but I seem to recall someone suggesting a new player start system. this would exist outside RP, and have Jumpholes to each of the main houses for new players to take. Apart from the ability to aid new players into the game, it would aid in the spread of players, as newbies don't just simply fly straight into Liberty but can go anywhere. And for those who say the restarts solve this issue, I would say that for the completely new player who isn't entirely sure where they want to start off, has no idea what factions to join, the temptation to just leap into the first one they approach would be quite high. I know it was for me when I started playing.

[Unlucky_Soul]

4. increase the size of the angels, get them (even some of the admins maybe) in penn to greet new players and direct them to factions that could use people.

How about a command like /newbie(or something else) for new players. Basically it will alert the staff in case a new player is in and an angel/admin or some willing players can come in-game and show them the ropes. Would be really helpful.

I say this from experience because way back in 2010 in Disco USA( now no longer active although people from there play here) my first time in Disco, a player actually took the time to fly with me and show me how things are done. The whole id rules, the history and ongoing lore etc.

I have been playing Disco ever since.

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