An incentive to attract new players.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Winterweaver, May 29, 2020.

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  1. CICI

    CICI Avatar

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    Over haul the prices on (most) of the deco to 100 COTO's each and don't sell sets of deco =D Players can get a free row and village deed via questing with lower prices new players may buy coto's or sub to the game =D

    Sure this will take the dev's time to do this but the long term effects on how new players see the cash/COTO shop will be well worth the time...
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2020
  2. Winterweaver

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    I have listened and respect your views. As for the quote:

    I had some friends I 'lured' in here. They took over the few business I ran, expanded - and now they have several lots with businesses in here.

    Another came in here, found it interesting though he didn't have enough time to play at that moment, but he will return.

    So ... new players can be attracted and if the content matches their demands it seems that the content alone can persuade them at least to look more thoroughly into SotA.

    You might argue that the friends came in based on recommendations. True, but I and my wife found SotA via Steam!

    I started UO one year after its launch and the UO that I recognized in SotA was enough to make me stay and invest in the first place, so I had a logical interest in staying.

    My wife however didn't have any UO experiences at all, but she stayed as well. I, wifey and the friends are just few out of many, that probably will find their way.

    In the new player welcoming section here on forum, I responded to a player and his wife - that had been looking for the SotA content.

    It is too easy and too early to give up, but as long as we have a negative attitude and post such on forum, we will surely scare some away that otherwise could have stayed. Unless a newcomer is a troll'er, I don't think that person has much interest in staying - who wants drama when they look for ... and willingly pay for fun?

    This is one of the main reasons I find posts or responses about previous or past dramas unreasonable and show lack of respect if posted in other peoples threads - beyond the fact that such responses are off topic.

    My opinion.
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2020
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  3. Sephald

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    Fully agree here. The latest build is so laggy that I nearly fell asleep playing.
     
  4. Sephald

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    The game lacks realism after a while. Too much repetitiveness from one scene to the next. There ought to be occasional surprise encounters appearing at anytime in any scene. Some encounters can be a boss with special loot and supply bundles. Have the resources appear in random locations. Makes it more fun for treasure hunting.

    Repetition becomes boring after a while. Find a way to mix it up.
     
  5. Beaumaris

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    Random encounters like this, with rewards, would be a great way to spruce up old scenes that need work too.
     
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  6. Beaumaris

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    Great post.

    One thing I'd offer is that your ideas present themselves as UO oriented. Will UO players stay here? I have been in an SOTA guild founded on Ultima lore with some 300 members, and in the past month found myself the only one on for evenings on end. And this while everyone is locked down with Covid with not lots else to do. So is the issue (and need) to attract new UO players, or to retain those who already migrated here?

    A second thing I'd question is whether incentives are needed for new players more than long time players and backers who have already sunk a ton of money into supporting the game need a bit of a break. For example, as a Duke+, why continue to require me to pay $25 if I want to update my heraldry. At some point, when I want to do that and see I have to pay yet again, I just log off. Meanwhile, we want to incentivize newcomers while our trusted player base is handled like that and we see them leaving? I understand incentivizing newcomers, but is that really the highest priority if so many previous backers have moved on. Maybe getting them back would be better for the game in the short term.
     
    Last edited: Jun 19, 2020
  7. Xiones

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    Doesn't the main quest give you Row Deed in the first half, and a Village lot deed when you complete the main quest?
     
  8. Barugon

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    You get the row deed very early, in the outskirts.
     
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  9. Jikininki

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    I’m only going to comment on the thought put forth that housing should be cheaper. Instead I believe it should made more aware and advertised better that all players can get a free row home and deed and a free village home and deed.
    Many don’t know it. Or how to go about it. Make it a toll tip. Make it more known. They are FREE. All they cost is your time. And honestly you can get the free row deed and home in a couple hours only.
     
  10. Chemeck

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    What i hear the most from players who joined the game recently is that the game needs balance when it comes to exp rewards. Incrasing EXP reward from quests was a good move, but i'm aware that some vet players were crying that it's ruining economy in the game. It wasn't. Economy would adjust itself quick. All it was ruining was their businesses, prices and income, since more people was able to train their crafing faster and that would cause that some people would lose their monopoly. But you have to pick, you want those players happy, or new players happy. Can't have both, since clearly not many here are ready for any compromises.

    Devs managed to cause a cobra effect. I assume the 10x exp event was to encourage people to do quests, now, after the event, nobody is doing it anymore, since it's just not worth to complete quests now, when there can be another event boosting exp from quests.

    Thing that should be considered is also a really poor end game in SOTA, tho not really about new players any more. After a while, if you want the best EXP in the game, all you got left is grinding in ERG with few people and few bots for few hours to progress. Balancing EXP reward would give more possibilities to grow fast, not just the worst spot in the game that makes me sick, but i do it anyway, since there is nothing else rewarding me with exp this good.
     
  11. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    with the introduction of porting to Zones and the fact that things are instanced along with the above this is why you dont see many. I befriend almost everyone so I have a general view of player base online at any given time. There are many but all in different instances. but at the same time there is not enough to make the world alive and bustling. i think if they ever allowed us to animate npc's for player towns it would look more alive in terms of visuals but it still would be the same. There are some places you can go to see more people like the main markets where people come and go all the time. I do think prices stifle some of the issues, but that would not solve everything. There are many things that still need to happen including what I would call a relaunch which many games do these days. look at mmos with new releases tagging unleashed, reborn, etc onto them after a revamp to show that they listened to players and have gotten things back in line to meet the demand. I think until ep2 content is there and with new content not rehashed cloned zones as well more quest and things there is no point in doing a large advertising campaign. just my thoughts.
     
  12. Xiones

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    I say eliminate the Tax Free Deeds, and make everyone pay rent but make it cheaper
     
  13. Barugon

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    And eliminate a source of funding, sure. BTW, they already made tax a lot cheaper.

    [edit] Not to mention all of the other fallout from making a rash decision like that.
     
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  14. Xee

    Xee Bug Hunter

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    ROFL, no... if they did that than half the towns would vanish. I use TF deeds to build town stuff on like the public crafting area, the story NPC spots, and so on not to mention if you look at Elgarions new pvp arena its built on multiple deeds. You remove those and you remove all the stuff people built for people. not to mention as a Backer that was one of the main points to backing the game was to get the TF founders deeds. myself I dont have any founders. I paid to upgrade every single one of mine with the exception of my water ones which I pay every month just so I can have a light house in my bay.
     
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  15. majoria70

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    Lol also to mention the real money and pledge money spent on those tax free deeds. Someone can't come in and say banish to all of that. Anyway it's not a solution to anything. I know players who don't play because they're too casual to keep up on the daily rent well and probably other things too. One example being the lack of a knowledge system which could have been the first thing players see when they come in the game. It would tell what the heck this game is about and what there is to do. The game entrance for new players is way too vague of what this game is about. Well it should have been from the get-go described in a quest and knowledge journal what there is. You know one with tabs. One that points out hey we have free lot deeds and give housing info on how to start. Also hey you can play instruments solo or in a group and here's how. Many don't know much of anything which is normal and some enjoy that journey too but The journal could be there to support that if and when they care to look. A lot if basics still need to come in imo. We need that achievements/task system. So as always here's hoping
     
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  16. Rat2

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    The unfortunate thing is that the game won't support large scale events that would bring people into the game. Imagine a siege or a capture the town event like we've seen in other games. The visuals would be awesome, but the game can't support it.
     
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  17. majoria70

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    Hopefully they won't work just like control points which would be more of the same. Imo they need extra details that control points don't have. So again here's hoping for fun and interesting details to be added to them. A timer would be great and of course I always think a quest, discoveries, and a story add more purpose to anything we do.
     
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  18. Violet Ronso

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    I think you missed the sarcasm in Greens post, he was saying that Castle sieges were supposed to be a thing nearly 2 years ago, back in release 58 :p
     
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  19. majoria70

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    Lol oh ok. Well so true about many things *sighs*
     
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  20. KnownInGameAsGeorge

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    I have often thought the multi season plan for future releases suited slowly releasing the game free to play as newer areas are brought in for paid customers. I think it is an excellent path for getting new players.

    The early material had a lot of focus on core product building and that is expected. As the game progresses I hope to see future content to be more exciting and more extensive.

    As paid players we would get that content a year early and play while it is still a little buggy, make bulk loot and learn to profit off the higher level content.
    When the new material for us is released each step the previous content is fully polished and fun and exciting for visiting free players, encouraging them to buy the next seasons high level material during the early release process.

    That is very much the way I understand it was always planed to be and I think it is working fairly well.

    I would like to see a focus on keeping the entry points for players updated with the most advanced technical content so it gives a good impression.
    Then I think the best improvement would be in making it easier to find the ingame content that is available. Constant improvement to the find a group systems so that if you do not know what to do you can always jump in a queue for a random team.

    Maybe a 'find me a quest' button so when you have no idea what to do it can highlight a path to a nearby available quest giver.

    A lot of the problem has always been that people enter and enjoy the game but can not find the next exciting thing to do and get bored easily. There is content available for them it just is not always obvious to them where it is. Exploring is fun for a while but walking aimlessly for hours and not finding anything but random map encounters and POTs is not.
    I think more to address this would encourage more players to stay long term and that would give more chances for them to choose to become paid high level content players. If free players keep flowing through and common content is easy to participate in the only thing left to do is make more new high level content each year and keep the cycle repeating.
     
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