What would you do to increase Population?
Seems they trying the F2P thing ( Hope that works out)
But WHAT does the Die Hard Dark Age Player think needs to be done?
(Maybe some light needs to be shined on the Problem of declined numbers in the last few years..)
I know I tried the other 2 freeshards and really hated it. DAOC needs no limit on accts. or getting buffs from 2nd acct. Live is the Answer or a new Classic Shrouded Isles server with rules like live.
What say YOU?
But WHAT does the Die Hard Dark Age Player think needs to be done?
(Maybe some light needs to be shined on the Problem of declined numbers in the last few years..)
I know I tried the other 2 freeshards and really hated it. DAOC needs no limit on accts. or getting buffs from 2nd acct. Live is the Answer or a new Classic Shrouded Isles server with rules like live.
What say YOU?
Comments
Secondly, it's got to be on Steam. I've Dow loaded countless **** games on Steam,and still play time to time.
Old Hunter RR5 back to bring back hunters who quit after an unnecessary nerf.
Those are my suggestions. :-)
I actually mentioned this to a couple of them this week. I told them exactly that the Hib stealth zerg was killing the game. You know what they said? One said "he who has the most rps when game dies wins" and the other said "game's already dead". So people who don't care about the damage they are doing to the game will continue damaging the game and causing the population to leave.
THIS IS A DAILY THING. Please, Broadsword, ask the players about what they think about the Hib stealth zerg.
One other member actually tried moving to Mid, because he felt being in a stealth zerg was boring and soul-sucking, Then he realised he was too low RR on Mid to have fun and went back to being a Hib stealth zerger.
I have to wonder how many rps they get from killing soloers when there's 12-16 of them in the weekends.
drop price to $10.00
make old armor relevent again
and #1... Promote the game...
"The type of of dev communication of 30 mins a day updates mentioned here just isn't feasible." - Carol_Broadsword
"Our Studio. Our Rules." - http://www.mythicentertainment.com/
My 12 Hour Realm Timers are a suggestion and do not presently exist. The Hib stealth zerg is more than alleged and is there every day causing people to not want to log in.
Again, disliking a particular playstyle is not meant as a personal offence to those who engage in it. I don't know why they do it...nihilism seems to be part of it. The belief that "the game is dead anyway". So they are trying to see who has the most rps as the game gets shut down, partly because of their own action? I can't comprehend it.
On another note, addressing an issue we've talked about before, I'm sorry if Midgard seems a bit cold-shouldered. What you do is you find people in there who aren't, and try being closer to them. In the end you'll have a group of friends. It's not instantaneous, and it pays off in the long run. I consider most people in Mid to be my friends. There are a couple extremely hard-headed people who have issues and those issues are no solvable by others. But most aren't like that.
Get rid of the daily Buggane quest and EV would not be the focal point of most of the action. Btw, most of our fights involve other stealth groups not as many soloers as you think. Also, if you know a safe path or milegate is camped find other avenues to enter EV. I notice that Runningwithscissors, Loki, Gasseal, and their group rarely come down Mid safe.
Just because it is your choice to solo Buffsteria doesn’t mean we ALL have to do what you wish or what other soloers or 8 mans dictate.
Many groups btw, have stealth or stealth lore classes in them, we get popped we’re pretty much dead anyways. Rangers do not get Vanish. Also, if you aren’t far enough away, FP and PS won’t help you it doesn’t work like SOS does.
There are many issues with this game(pet pathing, FZing someone up a hill, unbalanced classes etc) than just play styles that have caused people to leave.
If Live is to survive Lower the price to 4.99 - 9.99
Offer immunity to people that lost acct to cheating. 1 time reprieve. Can't be too over strict and make rules so over bearing that people just stop playing, need to give people warnings and 2nd chances. What I see, Game is close to Death-knell.
I read on forums on different games, that people not crazy about the F2P idea...we'll see, need crafting, housing and more then rr5. I don't know who comes up with this stuff.
Make a classic/shrouded isles server. Same rules set as live.
Logged on mid today and no one in frontier. Very sad. 59 in mid ;(
I think a pledge system could work. In order for a banned account to be allowed to sub again, that account/player must be under the responsibility of an already existing player. If the previously banned player gets caught cheating, than both players get banned.
Mordred ruleset event is what we need though.
You don't know how little the CSRs care about that. They still suspend people for saying mean things, using abilities they don't know how they work ( @Parox ) , lagging into geometry, pulling the plug, AFKing with pet on aggro, etc... CS department is not in touch with DAoC culture or the fact that they are driving people away.
I wouldn't bring any cheaters back!! Leopard can never change its spots it just gets better at hiding them. Let the cheating scum find another game to contaminate. Broadsword said they would be advertising the F2P so I hope it brings players back to the game.
I'm just trying to have an open mind, since the game is dead. Less then 200 is worst then life support. I'm into forgiveness and if a person cheats and get banned with zero tolerance, I believe deep in my heart about 2nd chances. People that really love the game, and their toon, will never jeopardize it again. If someone stupidly try to cheat from the get go, Perma banned them, but I really don't think that would be the case. I have cheated in the past, and would never, ever even consider it again. I learned my lesson. I love the game more then ever getting some kind of advantage using a cheating software.
At this point, I hope John and Carol have an open mind on all topics and ideas to hopefully get this great game going again, cuz what saw with /who in game, seems pretty slow. Capital cities are ghost towns.
[edited]
But not RR12 again.
Depends how often you have to do it. I think it's just better to follow the rules and not get banned.
mordred style will just turn into the same griefing---porthopping garbage it became.....................
https://divoxutils.com/users/user_2ZTPHy8tjVF9LWMgujSZfCY9Mos/characters
I know several people who have quit this game over people radaring and nothing being done. And as a stealthier its easy to tell who radars. we go and hide unstealth and watch a group come straight at us .. we report them nothing gets done and people quit.Then we complain about it on other gaming forums then it just becomes a bad Yelp review. It sucks but its true. I stay because all my friends are here on Hib and Mid. I hope only for the best for this game I have played it since launch and except for a couple years of playing other games I always come back.
you are right but rr12 isnt what it use to be. it use to take years now with bonues you can be 12 within a year. but playing by the rules is recommended..
Agreed. Perma should be 3rd strike tho imho.
1) 3 day ban
2) 1 week or month Ban remove RPS
3) Perma-Ban
Going hard on a first offence just makes people want to quit, and right now YOU NEED PLAYERS to make this game work, not Excessive rules that make folks go to another mmo. Or maybe go outside, heaven forbid.
Nope, seeing same cheaters again makes people quit. Have you seen a toon fly into the sky? Sorry, none forcing anyone to use these tools, get rid of them.
What happened to the other realms stealth teams? Are they nonexistent or do the Hibs outnumber them?
Saw a fg of scouts camping HT the other day, but like all good stealth zerger they zephyr you at 1% when you are about to die so you can heal up and kill them. Pro players.
Just make stealth have diminishing value when you have realm mates (visibles and stealthers) within 2000 units from you.
Runningwithscissors usually has a 8 man and the Alb scout zerg runs about1.5 to 2 groups Nexxron runs around 2 fg and Lastkingdom runs about 1 fg at most . The problem isn't the stealth groups we are easy to find now a days Broadsword pretty much gave every one stealth lore so stealth groups cant stay static any more. Plus I pay my 14.99 x 2 so why should I get diminishing rps if I play stealth with my friends. That will cause a lot of paying players to quit. Heck they nerf'd our poisons into the ground. I play Visi's also and the elite 8mans destroy new groups. I have seen players rage log over IRC. So if your largest paying player base is stealthier's why would broad sword nerf there rps? How about this get the fight off of EV have the bug start moving again, It was fine in Hib maze that was silly when they moved it from there. The ruined keeps are terrible just advance the story line on that already. Like I said earlier the average player of MMO's play for the PVE raiding not pvp so give us a paid expansion and you will see people come back.
I agree with your post. I personally don't see a different with a fg Steathers or Visi. Visi just more powerful with C/C and heals. I always thought that Stealth was really important in this game, and people that say bad things and don't like them should just play another game. The more solo's, and duo's, the more small man's will be and the Full groups. It's a vicious chain. Cater to everyone and win/win Single out someone and they lose. Here's a cookie. /cookie
And then the obvious, FTP and a new server to start from scratch.
Xuu I don't see a rvr event bringing a lot of people back to the game ftp yes. But to make this game survive you need to get the free to play peeps to spend money it is a business after all I agree with a new server but that would all depend on the population after free to play.
RvR events aren't there to bring new people, they are there so people don't end bored out of their mind after 2 weeks of running laps on EV
realm pride made the game what it was ..............
Yes Shokes I know this but Xuuu did say on this thread to have a rvr event to help population so I replied. Great ideal get the fight off of EV because it seems like its Dark age of EV and Sorry to say Classic dude but making it free with a donantion button would kill this game. I think Broadswords new bussiness model will work.
yeah...and what is your definition of the game currently? Least people would get in the game again. DAOC is a very addicting game. Just raise monthly sub back to 4.99-9.99 after few months. Folks don't want to play 15 bucks for a 18 year old game. I did for 1 month, but went out for pst 8:00-9:00 RVR and was a ghost town. I canceled, till things improve dramatically.
There are so many characters in a game that is 18 years old that anyone that hasn't been playing regularly is at a disadvantage RR wise. Also, there is nothing to do but PVP now and most people have multiple toons to roll out that anyone new or returning to the game won't be able to find a group and quit. Additionally, a new server lets people PVE together again and that builds guilds, friendships, etc.
Maybe nothing can change an 18 year old game but given how free shards get so popular quickly, a new server might not be a bad shot.
1. FTP option as it is currently being described is the first step. This game survives quite a bit on the nostalgia of us veterans, and our youngins whom have watched us play it. Many of us may drop it for a year, but we always come back. Being more affordable will not only retain us, but also make more of us.
The FTP ability will allow people that can't always sustain a subscription to remain "present" and not completely lose progress. This in turn keeps the population capable of growing.
You might be surprised how many people would love to play again were they not to feel overwhelmed with all they'd need to accomplish to feel current and able to compete.
2. Old school resolution limits and UI. People have mentioned the resolution enough times already so I'm only going to mention it without much emphasis. The other situation; you have got to do something to freshen up the UI. This doesn't have to be anything crazy or redefine it, just clean it up, maybe add a 4th quickbar. Mods are only band-aids and can only do so much.
3. Additions to the Broadsword website that includes an updated, easy to use Spellcraft calculator, character builder/planner, and a chart with stat caps, mythic caps etc. How do you expect new players to find absolutely vital information that isn't outdated, confusing and misleading.
Trying to figure out these things for a beginner is 100% miserable, and adds to the sense of being overwhelmed and giving up before you even try the game. Google is littered with old and useless info. There is nothing left but a collection of mostly missing archived VN board posts and abandoned fan blogs.
4. Clean up ( As in UPDATE ) the loot from ALL the expansions so that it is current. I'm actually very disappointed that this wasn't done a decade ago and the result is that a good 85% of all DAOC is a ghost town not just due to population, but because its a waste of time other than nostalgic sightseeing.
So many places would get back all the mystery and wonder if you just added alchemy drops, patterns, custom dyes, tinctures, just anything useful. The same goes for old classic quests.
5. Banners/colors/emblems that have not been active for a certain number of years - WIPED. There is no excitement or incentive in making a guild anymore because there are no options left. That is ridiculous, especially considering the population.
Let's face it, from a business stand point, you want to create as many reasons not to quit as possible. Nothing like the dread of losing an emblem or color you've had for 10 years or more to make someone reconsider how long they un-sub for. We lost our colors once already when we moved servers the last time. We can handle it.
6. 1v1, soloing, Zerging and small-manning are all as important as each other. Every individual has a different objective, and they play for different reasons. People like to dictate that it should be one way or the other but it takes all types to make an interesting environment.
There should be an arena but not for events as much as just a really cool looking place where people can duel without being interrupted, and maybe a gambling box for fighters to place an item in, winner gets their item and their opponents item back if they win, or possibly even plats etc.
A few people in this thread have good ideas for maps and ways to make everyone happy. Either get rid of quests that force everyone into one place, or spread out multiple ones to cause unpredictable activity and get people into the places no one ventures. Again, most of the Homelands and the frontier is completely wasted, and there are too many activities that require more people than are on, like taking keeps for example.
7. I get that some people don't want realm timers, but there has to be some long-term goal or incentive to bring back a sense of realm pride, otherwise this has become a giant death-match where people just want to be on the winning side, and the game as it was intended is left broken.
These kinds of players are parasitic in the sense that they don't want to play well. They don't want the community of players to thrive because they really don't care either way, they're just riding what they see as a sinking ship down to the bottom of the sea. They simply want to win at absolutely any cost - cheating, flooding the field with only the most OP classes, and logging off a defending toon and onto an offending one because now they're armed with precise knowledge of what is most likely to succeed in "getting that keep", or where their enemies are.
It is completely counter intuitive to what this game was designed to be. A lot of people don't want to get involved at all and give their time to any kind of lengthy keep-battle, you know why? Because whether or not it is successful for them will rely only one 1 thing... which side the majority chooses to play on, and that SUCKS.
A small realm timer is NOT a big deal, and it will make people less likely to dilly dally and force them to choose to fight a battle harder, to not give up so quickly and stay a little longer, or log. Either way, since it will be FTP, they'll come back when their attention span recovers. The fact that some dope can log off the guy you just killed and then spam your chat with insults immediately after completely cheapens the experience. It takes these once, massive three worlds and makes them much smaller and less relevant.
8. Advertising even on a small scale. How do you have what is arguably one of the greatest and most respected MMOs of all time, and not too many people have heard of it. It's not on Steam, or anywhere else it would get exposure to my knowledge.... what is the deal?
9. Fix bugs, pet-pathing, etc. Update quests etc instead of just deactivating them. Make housing merchants able to hold more money. You know how many quests instructions aren't even accurate? You have to clean some stuff up before making new content. This is a pattern a lot of games follow where you add new things before refining the old things and create more complicated problems.
These in particular should have been the focus from the get go when BS took over: quality of life adjustments. Instead, they added new content that devalued existing content and made major changes to classes BEFORE cleaning up the game (a trend that Mythic started and BS perpetuated). This has always been my gripe with DAoC since the ToA expansion: new content that makes existing content obsolete. I hope BS has learned from their approach and redirects it to polishing the game rather than changing it to the point where it becomes unrecognizable.
"The type of of dev communication of 30 mins a day updates mentioned here just isn't feasible." - Carol_Broadsword
"Our Studio. Our Rules." - http://www.mythicentertainment.com/
7. I get that some people don't want realm timers, but there has to be some long-term goal or incentive to bring back a sense of realm pride, otherwise this has become a giant death-match where people just want to be on the winning side, and the game as it was intended is left broken.
These kinds of players are parasitic in the sense that they don't want to play well. They don't want the community of players to thrive because they really don't care either way, they're just riding what they see as a sinking ship down to the bottom of the sea. They simply want to win at absolutely any cost - cheating, flooding the field with only the most OP classes, and logging off a defending toon and onto an offending one because now they're armed with precise knowledge of what is most likely to succeed in "getting that keep", or where their enemies are.
I call BS , and not broadsword, on this. Not one group I know switches realms to take a keep or defend a keep. they all switch to the lesser populated realm to fight the rescue zerg or the Pillager guild Zerg. If they decide to take km after the switch yeah we and others will defend but we are not switching mid fight.
It has happened. More than once. Usually Rhilder/Certified do it. I'm not saying it isn't hilarious but it does cause backlash.
I see it alot in the bgs too, especially since everything is smaller scale and the benefit of switching is even faster to reap.