Simple Fixes to improve player retention

1) Improve movement speed. Movement in SOTA is like you're stuck in molasses. Run speed should be the default speed and only increase with speed modifiers. Jumping should be responsive and not stuck in the air for seconds.

2) Animations need weight and improvement. The Forest is a Unity game, Crowfall a Unity game and an MMO. Both are good examples.

3) Heat system combat only. Random card decks probably the worst idea ever for an MMO. Keep the system in the game for the 3-5 people who enjoy it. Locked bars with heat system is default.

4) Impose limits on how many GMs someone can keep, period. Make specializations more impactful to create classes and interdependencies in a group. The holy triad of Tank/Healer/Crowd Control works, DPS for other group members. Due to the limited population 4 people in a group should be able to tackle all content.

5) Rare loot. Should drop from mobs "named" and some should be Best in Slot, even better than crafted. Alternative rare components drop that are required to craft BiS items. These BiS items should be called something like Artifacts and they should NOT decay. They should be rare items that level up with you and are cherished. Once you start leveling them they should be character locked but extremely powerful.

6) Property should generate income through materials. One should not have to spend countless hours gathering resources in the wild. Property and hired NPCs should gather/farm set amounts each day based upon property size. Larger properties generate more resources. If property ownership becomes profitable people will work towards owning larger properties and buying more with COTOs. The extreme levels of resources needed for crafting will control inflation of resources. NPCs should do ALL the work (we pay them with COTO or Gold) we just log in each day to collect the "profits" make this enjoyable NOT tedious and annoying.

7) Remove AFK prevention mechanics to fishing. If someone wants to fish AFK, LET THEM. An AFK player at least adds to the player population and gets people logging in. So what if people want to stay on 24 hours fishing or gathering water with a macro. FAR too much development time was wasted in implementing these anti macro systems. Fishing should NEVER require you to move an inch. Fish all day in the same spot, make it mindless just like real fishing. A player should NOT have to gather water and water crops to begin with. Stop implementation of tedious gaming mechanics. This won't destroy the game economy, because it's already destroyed.

8) Give players the tools to make all content like dungeons. Our dungeons should drop the same loot as any Developer dungeon. XP should be the same. If the player dungeons are better than the developer dungeons so be it. Developer content should not provide better rewards it should be better content to get people to play Dev content versus Player content. Rewards should be the same.

9) Remove PVP from all Developer created content except the Arena. Let players create PVP areas and test their leet skills in the Arena. Developer created content should be PVE only, outside PVP arenas. Some of the best zones are wasted because they are PVP enabled. (Blood Bay, The Fall)

10) Play Everquest to get an idea on how to implement rare loot. Copy that system. There is a reason a 20+ year old game is thriving while SOTA is dying. Its the reward system!

11) I'm wasting my time writing this, but hey the forums are dying too so at least it gives us something to do?

12) I remember hearing we don't want to make SOTA into Farmville. I say why not? Farmville was a HUGE success. Make farming better and less tedious. Let us grow trees, ore, all resources on player land, sometimes rare crafting Mats should drop too.

13) It's not too late to fix this game. Until it's too late.

 

1. Cant increase move rate, it was reduced for a reason. with enough speed you can just avoid damage like crazy.

3. You will find most of the top players use a few unlocked slots, so taking that away sucks for people who know how to use it right.

4. Game was advertised not to have those limits like all those other games out there, I find when I hit limits in game, I tend to switch games.

5. game was advertised crafted to be the top stuff, taking that away takes a whole huge piece of the game away.

6. this would lead to pay to win.

7. NEVER allow macros. when I log into a game and see a bunch of people, it really sucks to learn most of them are not even playing.

 

Mac, please no offense, but designing the game to meet your needs is why we got into such a mess. You are an outlier, extreme niche player.

 

1. As one person said it was limited for a reason which was so things could be hit. I run 90% of the time with buffs on so this never bothered me. As to jump it was done this way I think for Puzzles so those that dont have good jump skills have a chance to land.

2. I agree on this more fluid animations would be nice but no required for retention

3. I only use Heat, but know a few that go the other way for some cards. Either or doesnt matter to me as I have that choice already to pick which.

4. I would be fore this idea. like UO which had a skill cap, a GM cap would help limit something. Mind you in time having all would be nice. I do agree though 100% on the spec should give alot more which I believe will happen with ep2.

5. I am a crafter and well I understand what you are saying I do think there should be good, epic, legendary loot tables for named bosses. As to best I still think crafted should be. We already have artifacts that you can't beat as a crafter like the hoods, and some of the bows.

6. Nope, property needs to remain fluff this would be a win for many big guys like you and me with keeps etc.

7. Disagree, Macroing should not be allowed for anything that will give you a gain.

8. This I like, as I am working on a dungeon I would like a lot more tools and flexibility. As to loot I am fine with what they are doing/planning.

9. I dont see a need for this change. If anything I want to see more PVP out there. I like the idea they presented of no loot areas.

10. I do agree to look at loot like this, but want to keep that balance where Crafters stay on top. As to SOTA Dying I dont see it. There is new players every day now. Almost all this last months store transactions were from new players according to Chris on the stream.

11. lol Forums are not dying, They have new things in here everyday. Only time I come here like today is to responds to things or request things. I'm in game 99% of the time and 1% or less to check in here whats going on

12. I agree we need more in POTS like animals , nodes etc. beyond what is out there. would be nice.

13. that statement would be correct

 

I can 2 many all content almost, took a while but got there. and I am only in the 120 level. I think too many people want to be rewarded too quickly. UT has made the game change alot as everyone has GM's and getting millions of xp and levels a week which is silly if you ask me.

I do think they do need to focus on more fun factor stuff and add more content or things to do in all these places beyond farming mobs and crafting materials.

 

Unlike many previous backers, I've not sold my assets off, flipped tables, and talked poorly of SOTA. I still have hope and much respect for the player base and Developers.

That said, funding is slowing, forums posts are maybe 7 a day in General. Economy in game is in bad shape. Steam number declining. Partnerships dissolved. I don't want to go on, but there are minimal positives with regards to a successful game. Almost no metric points to SOTA being a success.

These are just my ideas, I realize a waste of time and the usual people will disagree. Not to discount them, but whomever the Developers have been listening to have got us into our current situation.

I spent a great deal of time, effort, money, and desire on SOTA. I paid for a right to speak my mind. Disagree and come up with better ideas. What we have now isn't working, and has never really worked. At some point everyone has to realize we need to change course.

 

So we should go for your needs and wants instead? I do not ask for many changes, I was not playing games for 5 years before sota, but some of these things got me back into gaming. So, I knew what this game was before I got into it, I knew it was my style, so I dont have to ask for a bunch of changes to something that long ago stated what it was.

 

I agree on the Dungeon Loot and Exp - If you can be throttled by hour anyway, why specifically the need to nerf the dungeon rooms?
It will just be another dead play option if the content is nerfed. Let the players make good content.

 

As far as I know, loot is not throttled. Some mechanic to highlight possible exploiting for manual checking.


Regards
Spung

 

Incorrect, Chris designed dungeons to work like Control Points - XP and Loot drop 1-2 Tiers below the difficulty level of the mob. So fighting harder for less XP/Loot

Unless something radically changed in the recent design.

 

Run is the default. Press the "/" key on the number pad to see what walking looks like.

Locked glyphs are the default.

 

The Developers can choose the input they wish to implement and face the consequences. For what it's worth, I design and run expansive projects with many stakeholders. I frequently do not agree with their assessments. I listen and consider all input. Ultimately I keep the best paying customers happy, because THEY pay the bills. Successful businesses tend to listen more so to those spending the most money. That is capitalism and it works.

I know many who spent tens of thousands on this game who no longer play. They were huge financial supporters of this game. Many of their complaints are the same as my list. Most sold off their items and moved on. A few of us remain. Do the math.

 

However, its fine if he starts off a little less until loot until they can be sure PoD's cant be over exploited for major gain, but hopefully once things solidify, they choose to bump up the rewards on them much closer if not equal to overland encounters.

 

Ok you have an opinion.
And this is mine:
Its because of a kindergarden made by devs, with no offense, no conflict, no competition. Put all high tier resources in PVP zone only and you will be shocked by the amount of new players.

 

Sorry I meant no global loot throttling. Dropping a mobs loot tier is not what I call throttling. Attenuation is throttling. When you hit X in y time you get less for the same work once throttled.

Matching the loot of the control points makes sense to me. As they are allowing the same kind of wave spawners as control points have.


Regards
Spung

 

I agree

.... You cant have this drop in your dungeon trend has already begun ..with essences ... if it continues ..its just a matter of time till people decide to tear them down cause theyre not giving them what they want/need.

I dont think it will work. You want best in slot as drops and you want huge amount of resources generated out of thin air through property... how long until they become so cheap that you cant even pay rent with these resources . The crafting system will not absorb them because everyone will want the best in slot drop ...Look at the bow market for example... once envy bow and xen penetrator have been added ingame as the new BEST IN SLOT ,the crafted bows market pretty much died ... you can buy an envy bow with 1 mw for 50k thats beter then any 4/4 crafted bow i can make . To make a good 4/4 id probably need to spend about 3-4 mil on materials .The head slot item got replaced by hoods .. everyone favourite necklace is Warlock chain... if this trend continues with every slot replaced by drop ...crafting will be history...economy for resources will crash....

 

I didn't always agree with the things they did either, and we cant say these are the only reason those players left either. There was a HUGE backlash when things like commision free vendors went WAY down in price and easier to get. Or when something that was suppose to be exclusive all the sudden was back again. Many of the players who spent a lot of money also did so for investment and were hoping to make more money from what they invested, it was never about the game for them in the first place, it was just a way to make some more money. Didnt work out for them so they left, not to say we really felt them leaving cuz they didnt really play in the first place, BUT, they did pay the bills.

 

Wrong title, this should be "Simple fixes including some to lose even the few remaining players".
I disagree on everything except improving the rare loots.

Basically you asked to remove classless system, remove deck building, remove pvp, add hard caps, things that are the strongholds of SotA.
In addition to this you also proposed to incentivize private grinding in private dungeons, considering that private farming is what is really ruining the game.

 

I think @Spinok echoed my sentiment... Playing SotA is like going to KinderCare...

 

Increase walk speed so people can RP without taking an hour to saunter across the street.

@Elrond bummer to hear about dungeon fall off. I took a wait and see due to it sounding like I could never summon in monsters as a dungeon master, thwarting the heros. But I am hoping it's still great for others.