a simple poll

[gankstar1868]

Hot zones is necessary. There are a lot of people playing this that do not have the time required to get to 50-60 range. Would really appreciate a constant boost. I don't mind the added PvP from hotzones. Makes it more interesting.

[TheLieka]

The basic problem here is that you guys (the self-proclaimed voice of the people) are trying to push ideas to the staff by holding population numbers as the carrot. The server's staff cannot, and (if they're smart) will not make knee jerk decisions with the direct goal of increasing the server's population. Making decisions with the goal of increasing the server's population always amounts to pandering. Pandering makes the game easier. Making the game easier is better for a player, but worse for the server.

The discussion of blanket xp bonus vs no xp bonus is moot; it really comes into reducing the time it takes to level, thus reducing the content with which players interact, thus reducing lifetime of the available content.

The discussion of hot zones vs no hot zones has the goal of promoting interaction amongst the existing population without forcing it. Increased interaction should make the experience more fun (or at least more memorable). A fun and memorable experience will generate more buzz, which will attract new players and keep existing players without making it the express goal of the action (i.e. better game, better experience, better population, no pandering required)


TL;DR:
1) The staff should not make project decisions in an attempt to increase population.

2) The staff should make project decisions to make the box more fun; if the box is fun, the population will increase as a result (without pandering).

Summary: Hot zones are good. Blanket xp bonuses are bad. If you want to know why, read the rest of the post, numb nuts.

[SearyxTZ]

Originally Posted by TheLieka [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The basic problem here is that you guys (the self-proclaimed voice of the people) are trying to push ideas to the staff by holding population numbers as the carrot. The server's staff cannot, and (if they're smart) will not make knee jerk decisions with the direct goal of increasing the server's population. Making decisions with the goal of increasing the server's population always amounts to pandering. Pandering makes the game easier. Making the game easier is better for a player, but worse for the server.

The discussion of blanket xp bonus vs no xp bonus is moot; it really comes into reducing the time it takes to level, thus reducing the content with which players interact, thus reducing lifetime of the available content.

The discussion of hot zones vs no hot zones has the goal of promoting interaction amongst the existing population without forcing it. Increased interaction should make the experience more fun (or at least more memorable). A fun and memorable experience will generate more buzz, which will attract new players and keep existing players without making it the express goal of the action (i.e. better game, better experience, better population, no pandering required)


TL;DR:
1) The staff should not make project decisions in an attempt to increase population.

2) The staff should make project decisions to make the box more fun; if the box is fun, the population will increase as a result (without pandering).

Summary: Hot zones are good. Blanket xp bonuses are bad. If you want to know why, read the rest of the post, numb nuts.

Agreed on all of this.

Pandering to whiners is a door you don't even want to crack open, because once you set a precedent for it then it never stops (and good god did I ever learn this the hard way).

Separating real feedback versus a players personal preferences is not always easy especially with this community, but I do think the polls give a lot of hard data.

And there's a wide chasm of difference between "I want to level fast because I'm lazy and want to play Counterstrike With Elves. DO IT" and "I'm leveling on your server and it isn't fun because I've seen five people since I started and have to solo grind and opportunities to pvp are extremely fleeting due to the size of the world combined with the size of the playerbase combined with the lack of design considerations to funnel players in the same areas". I really think the 1-40 player experience is what needs a look. I think the high level experience is probably pretty damn solid and has lots of good pvp opportunities, which is the only reason I'm playing and gutting it out. I know I'll be able to roll into KC or Seb and find plenty of people to kill.

The staff here have very rarely communicated with the players on the forums though Dax, about anything. To some extent I'm sure you can understand why. It's not.... fun, dealing with this kind of player discontent. I think Nilbog actually does care but he's been doing this for some 3+ years now and is also responsible for the blue server iirc.

I also think this box is like one patch away from being in a state where it can be left alone, and players have this tendency to exaggerate minor gripes or complaints. Like "I'm not playing because this server doesn't have YT".... really? Of all the reasons you could not play on an EQ PvP server, that's what's holding you back? You were cool with Monks kicking for 300 and MQ2 script kiddies running shop and incomplete item/npc databases five years ago, but you're not cool with this?

thinkin about it, hotzones might be the best idea.

hotzones helps new players to stick together/to group and also helps to find pvp!

i could see following zones as hotzones

faydwer:
crushbone
unrest
mistmore

antonica east:
oasis
najena

antonica south:
lower guk

antonica central:
runyeye

antonica west & north:
blackburrow

kunark:
that low lvl dungeon at field of bone

odus:
lol whut?

This server needs 2 hotzones. No more 3.

Any more than that defeats the purpose. We have 50-100 players to work with, spread across 60 levels.

Rotating would be fine. I personally wouldn't highlight zones in out of the way locations, as cool as some of the lesser-visited zones are. I'd stick to Kunark. That's where people are going to be anyway, and travelling in EQ is a god damn pain. Something as simple as this:

Low/Mid Hotzone: Lake of Ill Omen (or Overthere)
High Level Hotzone: KC (or Seb/Chardok)


bam -- lowbies are leveling in Lake. Instead of being spread across Lake, Overthere, Warsilks, FM, Oasis, Guk, Unrest, Crushbone, Blackburrow, Solusek A/B, etc.... they're in that one zone. They're fighting eachother. They're grouping. It almost resembles a classic red server.