Raising Server Numbers
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@solarfall I couldn't care less about player housing but a system where people can buy a one room hovel in old town or downtown for say 25k has an advantage.
To get that much coin is not reasonable for one person, but a group can do it. And while they are getting that gold they will need to be in game, questing and such in a group... Would it bring people to the server? Maybe. Would it make people leave? Probably not.
The only reason I'd not ever suggest such a system is that it would probably take a fair amount of time for our dms to do it. Time that they don't really have.
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http://nodebb.cityofarabel.com/topic/35686/puffy-spice
Spices added IG for people to uncover to raise numbers and add flavour :)
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THE SPICE MUST FLOW.
Strong work, Puffatron.
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Skag and I ran into one of the mini event areas and I gotta say.
Felt reaaaaaaaal good.We felt all excited that we found a neat little hidy hole event juuuuust for us. And it did feel like a legitimate mini event, then we got double lucky because Tinker was around and gave us some spiceseption (spice within a spice), by the end of it we could see the future and fold space and time.
We weren't expecting to find anything but we did and oooh boy did it feel rewarding.
If dm's got into the habbit of making a bunch of tiny 4 minute resman spice areas and occasionally resman them in. Tarith and I stayed online a good 2-3 hours longer than we planned to just to see if we could find another of those areas lol, we didn't find those but since we were on long enough for a dm to log in and see us dicking around we still ended up getting some interesting spice a second time around (you can't get attention if you're not in game to get any is the moral of the story)
Really good tactic, because it lets dm's make some fun for people that don't play in the same timezone as them.
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Its a ... awesome idea Puffs! To get us back on track and make this not a whine fest, I did conjure up some ideas this morning eating breakfast.
New Area Content
Expand the server with new areas. Two days ago, I took some folk exploring with me. And while it is always good to explore the familiar, it is all the more epic when we expand further. Even if said areas just hold Cares Spawns.We have old Areas that vanished, but should be somewhat easy to reintroduce elsewhere. Gmork did Zhentil Keep, with a long road there. CF had the whole Daleland Areas, Abby made a ton for Kings Forest, and we likely have a SHIT ton of old dungeons.
From the top of my mind
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New Swamp areas, with Barbarian villages or more areas filled with Lizardmen.
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Redwood Springs, and the village there.
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More mountain valleys in the Stormhorns.
Throw some of them in. Hells, you could introduce some of the new stuff you are making for the new server.
New exploration areas to the ruins, in the Hullack Forest, Further south in the swamps. Right now, you do not get the feeling that there are people living in the swamps.
Copy Quests and place them other places
For instance, the Lizard man quest in Immersea, could be copy / Pasted with small alterations to also be found on the Southern trail to Suzail.
Plot Contest
IMO, you can either contribute with scripting, area building, but why not writing storylines? Could be big, could be small, but a small template, with interesting plots that the dm team could either directly implement, or help when the imagination or creativity is hindered by stress and RL shit. -
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Personally, I would just enjoy to see more people IG TOGETHER, hanging out and RPing. I felt super motivated yesterday when we had 10ish players IG :) It's hard to spice a group when everyone is sitting alone.
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Due to my timezone, most of the time, I login with zero players in server. I have taken recourse in crafting as something to do when no one is around to kill time and hang around in server till someone joins. solo exploring is not a viable solution with certain build. Even that has hit a limit where progression cannot be made without specific items that can be procured from exploring or hunting powerful spawns. This is mainly for smithing
Can the crafting be looked at where you dont need ingredients which can only be procured by team effort and rather people can farm around.
The reason is that
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It gives a reason to hang around even if there is no one in the server
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Quest and DM loot will always overshadow crafting items.
Also for people playing around different time zones, can we look at a shared storage space where people can exchange goods even when the other person is offline..only for crafted items.
The only reason I bring this up is to ensure if crafting can be leveraged to make people stay online even when the numbers are 0, 1 or 2 with varying alignment
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@shonmann said in Raising Server Numbers:
Due to my timezone, most of the time, I login with zero players in server. I have taken recourse in crafting as something to do when no one is around to kill time and hang around in server till someone joins. solo exploring is not a viable solution with certain build. Even that has hit a limit where progression cannot be made without specific items that can be procured from exploring or hunting powerful spawns. This is mainly for smithing
Can the crafting be looked at where you dont need ingredients which can only be procured by team effort and rather people can farm around.
The reason is that
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It gives a reason to hang around even if there is no one in the server
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Quest and DM loot will always overshadow crafting items.
Also for people playing around different time zones, can we look at a shared storage space where people can exchange goods even when the other person is offline..only for crafted items.
The only reason I bring this up is to ensure if crafting can be leveraged to make people stay online even when the numbers are 0, 1 or 2 with varying alignment
Crafting is intended to work how you say, it's just not implemented fully... The big boss monsters that drop crafting components, should drop LOTS of the components, yes, but there should also be lesser spawns/areas to get the stuff, just in lower quantities.
For instance, a jaunt through the ruins, should always yield enough to craft a steel sword or something, but if with a group, you find a super monster, and kill it, you should be able to craft a couple of full plates from it.
Shared storage sounds a little bit like merchant stalls to an extent, which is something the team have been discussing.
Shared storage also exists to an extent, with the claimable bases (which were designed for players to be able to interact with others that are in other time zones, though, more of a competitive interaction admittedly), and faction storage, but I do see what you mean. -
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@Zool thanks for the reply.
The way I was envisaging this to work was you getting an order using forum from a pc. The crafter makes the item and the gives it to an NPC with a password and amount may be by using a dot command. The buyer will approach the NPC and use the password and agreed gold to retrieve the stored item. The benefit is Crafters playing in opposite timezone can still benefit with buyers and demand for their craft obviously with a nominal holding fee to the NPC
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@shonmann said in Raising Server Numbers:
@Zool thanks for the reply.
The way I was envisaging this to work was you getting an order using forum from a pc. The crafter makes the item and the gives it to an NPC with a password and amount may be by using a dot command. The buyer will approach the NPC and use the password and agreed gold to retrieve the stored item. The benefit is Crafters playing in opposite timezone can still benefit with buyers and demand for their craft obviously with a nominal holding fee to the NPC
Yeah, we're looking into something like it. No promises as it's quite an involved thing to make... But it's something the team has been discussing for sure.
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@Zool said in Raising Server Numbers:
For instance, a jaunt through the ruins, should always yield enough to craft a steel sword or something, but if with a group, you find a super monster, and kill it, you should be able to craft a couple of full plates from it.
I wish this were the case! It takes days and weeks to find enough Netherese steel to make a sword. Casual players? Forget it.
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I know, it's my fault entirely, I set it up really really badly a long time ago, and never fixed it.
Sorry..
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Spiffy
Scripted quests make it easier to control character level progression
Just typed this bit as i couldn't find how to "quote" on these new forums.Doesn't mean it is a good idea just means you did it.
Raising player numbers means getting people that don't play here wanting to.
The servers with the most players still use the default tile sets so you can assume from this that graphics are not what brings in players.
One of the most popular servers had last month 1020 players and 217 new players so you really should take that into consideration when thinking what will attract players because it isn't haks and tile sets.These servers have role playing and immersion into a setting.
CoA has changed it's setting so much sometimes at seemingly random it no longer has a "feel" to get immersed in.
V3 despite it's faults had the feel of a city with a LG population with law and order.
V4 gave the feel of a tainted city with corruption bubbling under the surface.
V5 doesn't have one things changed so quickly or start then stop that it just has no sense of what the place is like.So for V6 you need to think up what you want the setting to feel like for the players and stick to it,
Don't add plots to alter the setting keep the setting if you want it to change for V7 then have a long running under current type plot that you can hook things into to guide it's flow.
This will create an narrative that players can get there teeth into and create characters around,this in turn may generate less flash in the pan concepts allowing players to become more invested in the characters and in turn the server.Players dislike losing and hate being told they have to play a certain way. Make the server more player friendly remove the systems that have restricted players and then tell them.
Send out a group email to all members saying what new stuff you have coming and how the negatives have been removed.
Forum PM everyone even if they haven't played for 7 years you never know they could well be playing somewhere else and pop in to have a glace at the forums.
Email everyone with the new forum address and server address as you can no longer google the forums.Or don't it is after all your sand box to build or demolish as you choose but if you want more to play with you then you need to change attitudes from negative to positive and empower your players.
fin.
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Sorry, you will lose on CoA. The end. Not everyone is going to win. The end. You might die a gruesome, terrible death- the end. Someone might be able to murder your character, the end. That is CoA's selling point, the possibility of consequences. If people do not like consequences or want consequences, they can go elsewhere. We are not going to be a server of cuddly kittens and puppies. We got wolves, and they will eat your face.
That server you mentioned btw, is an adult server where most people are busy faping to pixelated dicks and breasts, and most of the content they develop IS haks and character customization. While gmork is capable of modeling such things- I don't think he wants to spend all day modeling a new outfit for female pcs to reveal more cleavage- or animations for characters.
How we wish to attract players will be from a strong story telling narrative. That is CoA's strongest selling point and how we will best market ourselves- not being a fantasy playground, but exuding a believable world where consequences and choices definitively alter the game world.
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@JoeKickAss said in Raising Server Numbers:
(and we could of done it if we were a little more careful in the execution).
You mean, if you had builds/equipment which provides enough AC/hp that you don't have the 'holy shit' fear that something will crit you or dispel, as well as enough damage to clear them.
Because, let's be honest here, that's probably the difference between your group and the group which cleared it. :man_golfing_tone1:
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@Amarant said in Raising Server Numbers:
@JoeKickAss said in Raising Server Numbers:
(and we could of done it if we were a little more careful in the execution).
You mean, if you had builds/equipment which provides enough AC/hp that you don't have the 'holy shit' fear that something will crit you or dispel, as well as enough damage to clear them.
Because, let's be honest here, that's probably the difference between your group and the group which cleared it. :man_golfing_tone1:
Sill theories like this are what causes rumors and toxic environments. Do not speak about another's actions with out knowing the truth behind it.
The truth here is that the second group had planned well and long, had scouts and trap springers as well as having studied their enemy so they knew what to expect and how best to combat it. And even after all of that only 2 were left alive with hardly a hand full of hp left between them and they managed to drag out the rest of their team to be raised.
So, again, do not speak about things you do not know the full story of.
Also, this is way off topic. Get back on topic or I will close the therad -
@Amy-Veln said in Raising Server Numbers:
One of the most popular servers had last month 1020 players and 217 new players so you really should take that into consideration when thinking what will attract players because it isn't haks and tile sets.
I've a few bones to pick with this statement Amy.
For one, if that server is so great, why are you drawn back to Arabel to preach at everyone so much.Furthermore, if "but it's got high numbers" is all that was needed to justify emulating someone else, even at the risk of losing coa's soul/individuality over it....
Then world of warcraft has a population of 40000000, how about we start charging everyone 15$ a month to play on coa amirite?You're posting in this topic as if you had a bone to pick with the server, and rather than working the problem and talking with people you're jabbing at the problem and talking (at) people.
Please keep in mind that over many years CoA has become a community of players who appreciate a certain genre/mentality/philosophy in their roleplay. Many servers cater to many such genres and mentalities.
There are those whom simply can not stand to lose or face risks who play on servers where you simply can NOT lose, and where there is no risk. And there are players whom enjoy high risks high reward who play on servers where your character's life expectancy is low, but the thrill is real.
CoA has its own mentality, its own style and its own pace, if that style isn't as popular as say....sinfar where the mentality is "hey wanna fuck?" That's unfortunate I guess, but just because one style is more popular than the style you enjoy doesn't mean that your style shouldn't exist and we should all start converting to someone else's favorite theme instead...
If you're here it's because you're either attached to what this community represents and the soul/individuality that coa has which makes it differ from other servers.... Or you have a vindictive bone to pick with it and just can't get over it. If it's the former then work with the community to make the server shine without just copying some other server that we don't play on because we don't want to play on it.... If it's the later, then just get over it and go play on the "clearly superior servers" you're bringing up.
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@Amarant said in Raising Server Numbers:
@JoeKickAss said in Raising Server Numbers:
(and we could of done it if we were a little more careful in the execution).
You mean, if you had builds/equipment which provides enough AC/hp that you don't have the 'holy shit' fear that something will crit you or dispel, as well as enough damage to clear them.
Because, let's be honest here, that's probably the difference between your group and the group which cleared it. :man_golfing_tone1:
Tammarast planned within a few DAYS with less than a handful of PCs and supplies
The other group had this planned for MONTHS and had a LOT more PCs and supplies
Tammarast took a risk, it was cool but sadly it didn't work out. Cause their group tried, it actually helped the bigger group in the end. Tammarast got a major ending and made a mark, that is an reward despite losing.
I'm famous for having barely any mechanical knowledge, only my last PC was decent as a build but that was cause of faction loot and I asked someone who knew mechanics to help me build a decent fighter. But I have had PCs which I just leveled by hitting recommend, and they got to be a part of various major things despite this shitty mechanical strength. I crippled myself with ignorance and the lack of care, but I still had fun and was still successful despite many, many times of falling off the horse.
Having a decent build helps, yes. But having a good amount of supplies and allies does even more so. The DM balance after player level and the scenario, lets consider this event was an ORCAN WAR CAMP. A group of less than.. what 6? will struggle and die from it, EVEN if they are decent in mechanics. trust me, some of those PCs tried before on another camp and 2/3 of the party died. Despite this, a level 2 guy survived cause he used supplies and hid during that slaughter.
Some people are better at mechanics, some people have better gear, some people have more supplies. But just cause they have worked on getting that knowledge of the game and items IG, their effort IG shouldn't be undermined. Comments of saying "it was just cause of build/loot/X" is insulting the players efforts IG on working on plots, please consider that some of these things have more to it than what meets the eyes.
So no, that was not "probably" the difference to the groups. There was a lot more.
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Also, going off topic. This is meant to bring suggestions in how to raise numbers of the server, so lets get back on tracks.
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Disgruntled players looking to vent about unrelated things put aside.
Had a great time IG today, we spent a good 5-6 hours looking around for the 5 new mini event areas, found one of them that an adventurer had apparently found before us and tried to solo (regretably dying) but we were able to recover his body, which means he won't have to respawn when he comes back the next day. Might be a load off his chest.
Then we found another after a bit of patroling and adding another pc to our patrol. Had some good rp in between and during and a blast clearing it. On our way back to Arabel we heard that another player had found another such area, tried to clear it. Couldn't, requested some reinforcements. They reconned the area and decided they needed a bigger group, made a sending and we gathered up a larger group for that one area than we've had players online at any one time in the past week to do it.
It was overkill but we had a blast. Sufficed to say that we've got some pretty decent proof of concept so far for that idea, it really shows merit. I hope it's not too hard to make such things in the present/future because I'd love to see more of it. But yeah, throw in a metaplot and some interesting faction goals in the mix and we've got ourselves a party :)