There's no Dev and balance feedback thread so I will post it here.
As a newer player I very much like the direction game development is heading - constant small to big improvements to actual gameplay are being done very frequently, with focus on how to make the game more interesting and make people actually log.
New ships are coming seemingly out of nowhere - the Gallic heavy transport and 3.6ker were such a pleasant and unexpected gift, so was Civ GB rework etc. etc.
This place is like Rohan in Lord of the Rings before Gandalf frees King Theoden from the grip of the Saruman. This business with the AFK rule continues to prove you all only treat symptoms here, not the cause of an illness. There is a way we can bring average population up, it just won't be entertained by the present 'king'. It is weird how everyone seems to want the place as alive as possible, yet its always actions that speak louder than words, or in this case, inaction.
I can't help but bring up the need for new macro activities that will change the value of the entire game. It might be enough to finally begin opening up possibilities to encourage players to return or stay, since there would be countless new little sub activites and opportunities arising [from a Faction Challenge System]. Otherwise the dark cloud continues to linger. And bringing population up, solves many other problems regarding trade, piracy, faction functionality.
Anyways, at is point, I'll literally drop $50.00 CAD's a month on this place if we would finally see a new system of activity like that to add to what we already do, and to ensure the server we use is quality enough to handle any potential jump in activity.
We have massive world here we make almost no instrumental use of, we fly around bases, planets, etc. The inability for players to just get moving on how to effect the game world (yes people like that, some may even be brave enough to admit it!) is why people run aground of outlets, reasons to endure problems, or fresh activity in general. If we change that I think you'll find there is still a lot of potential life in this place that is going unharnessed.
vague responses from someone suggests theres been little to no discussion
maybe have people on your team who are willing to do what they signed up for? a rather extreme suggestion, i know
St Denis can't do all the work for you forever
i am a semi new player but what ive seen is any type of galiic faction is a little too powerful. also i feel that there are more players working with pirate factions than lawful. with these two "opinions" that might give the moderaters some ideas to go forward with discovery. besides what ive read and seen i a love this game more and more. GREAT JOB!!!!!
I have been in and out of freelancer since it came out (2003). I have always enjoyed the creativity and stories that players have driven the enjoyment of the game. I would like to start by mentioning creating new content or keeping things interesting is a genuinely difficult task that I appreciate the admins taking on.
Looking back on busier times the problem may be choice. Imagine you look at a bunch of sauce on a shelf and you have 100s of choices...what do you get? Do you take the time to try every thing- do you pick just one- do you give up and just leave? It's the endless choices on the server that may contribute to the decaying population. At the end of the day players want to play with others. As many have pointed out, when someone logs on you see 20 players maybe. Put 20 players in 3 systems- that's good interaction and RP. Now when I say "choice" it's left vague on purpose. There are many ways to limit "choice" with the objective of promoting player interaction. The first that comes to mind is factions. You could theoretically around 50 players that belong to 50 different factions, most of which may not even readily interact. Another problem may be the vastness of of the systems and sizes. Perhaps the problem lies in the limitation of RP depending on a combination of those factors or the limitations of the IDs (system/ship/combat restrictions).
I would suggest that "less is more" in the current state of things. The best experiences I have ever had on this server have been between only a few factions, the nomad revenge server used a 3 faction system of pirates, hunters, and traders. It promoted cooperation between each faction while allowing for flexibility of ship types, RP, and system roaming. I'm sure there are ways to create unification between factions that are redundant to allow people to interact more. My recent logging has gone like this: Log, look at population an system locations, realize there are like 20 players with only 3 belonging to the same factions, look how far away they are -log off. Best days go like: log on, attempt interaction, run out of RP because its 1 on 1,-log off.
When I first started playing freelancer multiplayer, I played on raw, an unmodded server as "Sajuuk" then the nomad revenge mod as "Sobek" then eventually landed here. I have always loved the expanding story, universe, and ship base. It saddens me that the server is slowly decaying. I remember having to wait to log in with over 100 players online at any time. I very much would love to see a creative idea or change to bring back those times. I don't know if those days will ever return, but I hope the community finds a way to revive itself. It would seem that the current path may be losing player interest.
There are attempts to fix this via systems. I am to this day baffled what happened to Omicron Delta and that the Dev team let it happen.
Basically majority of Omicrons activity was concentrated into a circular system with high level missions where all interjected in the open middle. There was a freeport with chilling Zoners and rpand dangerous mining. It was so popular it attracted factions that had no business being there. You could blindly log any time of the day and get interactions, even with low server pops.
The systems people didn't like it. They wanted people to fly in more systems. They didn't want unrelated factions to come. They broke it up and killed omicrons for a very long time altogether, completely oblivious to the state of the server, living in the past, wanting to control people by breaking them up.
Now there are attempts to fix this - the omegas have been dead for years on end but Omega-48 is suddenly a top5 most popular system because of that simple design. People want to explore, people want to run many factions. But they also want to log without sciencing player list and interact right away. Creating these activity hubs, one per region, with pvp, PvE, mining and a rp hub for is a good answer.
There's nothing to work on over the long term in the game that makes being online the number one way to achieve long term gains. There would be way more people online around the clock on any given day if the ability to effect the game/story was unlocked and a system applied to keep such options fair.
Add new activities after all this time please. I guarantee a few simple changes to rules and there would be a lot more to do at any given time, which is much better for spontaneous interaction.
Battles here are reduced to once in a while, registration only, arcade events. There are no spontaneous battles anymore, no spontaneous skirmishes or things that cause the outbreak of a crisis or war. Too much is locked, the very mode by which the server is run defeats its own purpose.
Change to a mode of 'play to effect', as in let players be able to come here with the open purpose to be able to effect things by doing stuff in the game, like winning real battles, and stop the mode of letting people just fly aimlessly.
The system should be that we play to effect the game world, and there should be ways to do that in the game, not only being removed to neutralize what happens in the game as much as possible. Hasn't anyone else noticed its like every change actually sets the place back?
If those in charge really care about keeping this place in as a good shape as possible at any given time, priority should be on player population, which can undoubtedly start to be fixed by changing the game back to a place where we had teams that actually immersed themselves in what they do, meaning having real stuff going.
The other problem is not outlining enough in advance, like using a system to outline rules for roleplay story writing. Take Gaia for instance. What is going on there? It would be cool to write a story around it but there is only vague info to go on, and details are so sacred to some we can't just go to work writing. To me I should be able to look at the planet infocard and go to it.
The other thing is, player involvement is so capped, nothing is going on that makes sense. There's no way a planet so valuable would just stay like that. Bretonia would be back in there, or the CR, or a smaller faction like the Gaians or Molly's might want to make a run for control. Or maybe a unique faction would sprout up founded by Gallic refugees or Leeds survivors. But non of that can happen as things stand, and so its no wonder no one is doing as much flying as in years prior. That is just one situation where there is a bunch of opportunities to draw in players. Yet is has to be accepted that is what people want to do with a place like this. If factions could challenge over the real estate, and win from doing stuff in game, this place would never be dead, and hotspots would develop on their own.
So it would be nice if we switched to a system where players could play the game, and play a larger game where we cared about the game world, and what happens or not gets you online. To me its way better to have big groups contantly playing and working on goals, even if fighting over a planet or system, than insisting its better to keep things locked. and therefore dead. Change that aspect of the game to open things up and I'd bet we'll never see it get below 30 ever again, and maybe even back to 40-50 most of the time. The only way to know for sure is to try!
(08-30-2021, 11:29 AM)Relation-Ship Wrote: There are attempts to fix this via systems. I am to this day baffled what happened to Omicron Delta and that the Dev team let it happen.
Basically majority of Omicrons activity was concentrated into a circular system with high level missions where all interjected in the open middle. There was a freeport with chilling Zoners and rpand dangerous mining. It was so popular it attracted factions that had no business being there. You could blindly log any time of the day and get interactions, even with low server pops.
The systems people didn't like it. They wanted people to fly in more systems. They didn't want unrelated factions to come. They broke it up and killed omicrons for a very long time altogether, completely oblivious to the state of the server, living in the past, wanting to control people by breaking them up.
Now there are attempts to fix this - the omegas have been dead for years on end but Omega-48 is suddenly a top5 most popular system because of that simple design. People want to explore, people want to run many factions. But they also want to log without sciencing player list and interact right away. Creating these activity hubs, one per region, with pvp, PvE, mining and a rp hub for is a good answer.
Agreed, it's become a common refrain over in HS> that we need something like Omega-48 up in the Taus.
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