Multi-Player online

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Korim Rackham, Aug 19, 2016.

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  1. Stahlknecht

    Stahlknecht Avatar

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    The MMO-Part brings the cash for Portalarium via Addon Store. So they should focus on that.
     
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  2. Roycestein Kaelstrom

    Roycestein Kaelstrom Avatar

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    There seems to be a misunderstanding about how the online mode works on this game. Here are couple notes on this game.
    1. People are pledging and paying on the add-on stores to get the items to play the game in any of the selectable online mode they want, not just to be forced into see a bunch of other people running around just for the sake of seeing them.
    2. The zones in this game are instances connected by the over world. At the very best zone, we would only see up too 100 players per session. Any more people on that same zone will be sent to another instance of the same scene.
    3. Players can still list and buy items from the vendors regardless of which online mode they are in.
    4. Some zones such as mines and dungeons are already behave as single player or friend only mode where people have to be in the same party in order to see one another.
    5. The multiplayer online mode is essentially the general public where you don't get to choose whom you want to see running around doing things.
    6. Even in Friend Only and Single player online, people can still do zone chat, guild chat, and whisper to anyone who gets online.
    In order to get more people to show up on the same non-selective multiplayer mode, the game performance needs to be improved, there need to be more incentive in joining the scene with random people cooperatively or competitively. Having to "wait in line" to fight or gather resources wouldn't pan well. To simply force people on general public multiplayer would not end well. Again, if a player feel so insecure and have the need to connected with other people at all time especially more than 100 people, there are Discord/IRC/Forum that will provide that need.

    There are games out there that handle multiplayer like this and still being successful. GTA Online is one of them. There are reason why people want to selective choose whom they want to be in the same session.

    If people expect to see 1,000 other people on the same scene at all time, then they are playing the wrong game here.
     
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  3. Pikegirl

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    One way I see to help this is to instance the wilderness zones, so you can be in online mode and interact, while having an option to "solo" and harvest when you feel like it.
     
  4. redfish

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    Yea, but its overcomplicating things IMO. Personally, I want to find random players in the wild -- so I want to be in OPO -- but it doesn't need to be six people in East Perennial Trail!

    The instancing mechanics just have to be rethought, in my opinion. So, lets talk about the example of E. Perennial Trail, which I'm bringing up because during early post-wipe I was hunting there and there were ridiculous numbers of people in the scene every time, and its a small scene. It was uncomfortable to the point that many players I talked to said they felt forced to log out and into SPO/FPO...

    I might say, as an example, you meet 1-2 people there max, not 6 people. 1 person if that person is Solo, 2 people if they're a party. However, you'd only meet people 25% of the time, or whatever number feels right and works right -- otherwise the game would allow you to enter the scene alone. So lets say someone walks in the scene and as chance has it there's 1-2 other people. Some people might be okay with this. Some people might not be, will leave the scene, and come back a few minutes later, and will find the scene empty. Most people would like this better than having the game force them to meet 6 people, or force them to meet people every single time.

    Larger scenes could have more common matches, or matches with larger groups of other players. The devs would do this all by ear.

    The point is I think the current way instancing is done is not smart and doesn't work for most players. Instead of creating more options, just get the current options to work better.
     
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  5. Anvar

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    Agreed getting the current system to work better would be good so people had less / no need to switch to friends or solo beyond the wish for some privacy or playstyle rather than the corpse and mob rate being the deciding factor.

    The only reason I suggest it as a new option is that if you talked about replacing a kickstarter feature then you be in for a whole roomfull of trouble ;)
     
  6. manufacturedsoul

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    If people want a solo player experience so much let's give it to them! Make it so that anything done in friends or solo online stays in friends / solo online like how the banks work you can see it but can't access unless you're in the correct mode. Then we will see just how badly they want to keep playing in a "solo" experience. It seems absurd that these solo guys want to have the cake and eat it to.

    Also we could flag all items / resources pulled in sub modes so that us multiplayers can choose not to support these guys with our business / gold. They don't want to play with us but want us to buy their goods seems pretty lopsided to me. Let's make this solo nonsense have some consequences!!!

    Another option might be to not only flag these items for the mode they came from but if they are moveable to multiplayer it costs a COTO to move the item into multiplayer!

    Also this whole nonsense about lag is laughable buy a better PC! I have no lag no matter how many people I run across...
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2016
  7. Korim Rackham

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    On point 2. I doubt you will ever see 100 players in a scene I'd be surprised if there were ever 100 player in online multiplayer mode at the same time at anytime.

    Also a few of your posts suggest that wanting to see other people in game suggest potential insecurities. I disagree with the statement. In my case for example I simply want to see other people in an online game. I don't play sota for the single player experience the games horrible for that. If I wanted a good single player experience I'll play through witcher or something like that.

    You are correct if the multi player doesn't feel like multiplayer than this will not be the game for me or many other people if that's the case. Personally I feel like it isn't going to be the game for me and that's ok. I only play now because I haven't found anything else to suck up my free time other than war hammer. Soon as a new Mmo game comes out with pvp and good content I'm sure I'll never touch sota again unless some big changes come and soon.

    I realize I'm just one person, so not a big deal. But I'd imagine there are alot of others that feel the same. How could any true Mmo fan not? To say sota is an awesome game at this point is only those feeling emotional attachment to their pledge.' Not the game per say. Nice thing is a lot of people are able to sell their pledges to recoup most the cost. People that have done so are smart. If big changes don't come and ep1 doesn't deliver those 1k+ pledges may not even go for 45 dollars and that my friend is the reality.
     
  8. Berek

    Berek Portalarian Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    Discord is definitely recommended for quick "hey, anyone want to quest together?!" messages :).
     
  9. Lazlo

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    "These solo guys" is a pretty large percentage of the player base and funding for this game. This is a big part of what this game is and what it has been sold on from the beginning. It is one of the things that makes SotA unique from other games and ensures that there will always be at least some people that have interest in it.

    Building a good game that is a good value is all that is needed to build a player pool. If the game is fun and accessible, a lot of people will play, and there will be plenty of people to adventure with regardless of the fact that people have to option to play alone or with friends. Stripping away the things that make the game unique and removing options from players isn't productive.

    Not too many people are going to go out and buy a new computer just to play an unfinished video game. This kind of "Works for me, so who cares about them?" attitude just further shrinks the pool of potential players. If you want there to be other people to play with, maybe you should consider other people for a moment.
     
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  10. manufacturedsoul

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    I did consider other people I said we should give them the game they want! A SOLO experience and that they should pay to bring their solo goods into the multiplayer world if that's what they want to do. I also implied that if you can selectively choose not to play with others us "others" should be able to selectively choose not to not support you in game with our gold or our business seems perfectly fair and logical how bout that!

    In terms of the PC comment sorry but if you have a good system the game runs fine, if your system is sub par it doesnt. It's that simple I can agree with what you are saying only to the extent that other people don't use game lag as a crutch in their argument when it's obvious that it's not the game but the PC used to play it...
     
  11. Mykll

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    Please buy me a new computer. Also please buy me a new house with moving expenses so I can move back into the city to get good internet. Obviously the 3 people having lag is 100% on us because it works fine for you. Oh wait, more than 3? When I am above the recommended specs (per Steam page) running a still unoptimized game the fault is all on me then? Guess all the people on Discord running far superior computer specs are lying about their lag too. "It works for me." Even when Port folks say they need and will do more optimizations? Why bother if it works for one person? Everyone should just upgrade instead of them wasting time on game optimization.

    Man, all these online comments. What is this, No Man's Sky Multiplayer? The second I am forced to play Multiplayer Online is the second I stop playing. Literally. Because I will have no choice. Because all I get is [PELICAN] disconnects on Multiplayer. So it sure would be nice to know if this will EVER be the case, or if they are ever looking into the [PELICAN] disconnects, before, you know, they come around begging for more money in 2 days.

    Which, all the money I pledged I should have known up front I have such a poor computer, would run poorly on a game not optimized yet, not helped fund this game, and upgraded my computer instead right?
     
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  12. Hawkshield

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    What I pretty much do, if I have "serious" resources for a project I single player it online. When I go to any city, I go Multi cause I want to see people :)
    About once a night, I go Multi in Adventure zones to get resources, BUT anything I kill, I leave it with full loot for lower level players to just pick up. Thats my small contribution
    to helping the Social market. I tend to buy from locals if I can (player vendors). But I have to admit I see very little chat happening, or introductions etc.. The biggest population I ever see is in Owls Head where its so
    busy during early evening hours (CT-U.S.) that it causes serious lag.
     
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  13. Korim Rackham

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    I have 0 lag issues with the game as well
     
  14. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    That's the whole point of solo online.
     
  15. Roycestein Kaelstrom

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    There were at least several occasions that there were more than 100 people on one scene that new instance: Shooter Jennings concert, BMC gold handout, and the monthly post release parties. Which is why forcing everyone to go on multi player online mode will do much, even with 1000 players are playing, you will only see up to the maximum of what the instance is allowed.

    There was never a binding contract where you are restricted to play only one game. Right here right now anyone can play any other games when they can. I have nothing against multi player mode, I always get on that mode when I go around the world interact with people. I only hunt in friendly only when I have a party or single player when I want to go solo. I have limited play time each day. I would rather not spending time running around waiting for resource to respawn. At least not until the mobs/resource respawners on all the zones have been changed to what they are design, which around 2-3 full parties. Right now it is not.

    If people want to be on the multiplayer modes, they will. Why force them to be in that mode just because you want to see them walking around?

    There are exceptions of course, like those PVP zones, which are designed to be the places for PVPers to fight.. In that case, I have no issue with the multiplayer mode-only restriction.

    It's not even about having the most powerful rig. The game is currently in process of being optimized, even 8 core machines with the large amount of memory still can get lag in some areas.

    In any case, if you want more people to be in multiplayer mode, then the game performance, resource/mob respawner issues need to be addressed first. By forcing people to play how they don't want to play will just be counter productive. People always have option to spend their time on something else, you know?

    Just think of it this way... try arrange 60 nerds on the room would probably not gonna be the best social event. Give them some pizza and beer, now we're talking.
     
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  16. Korim Rackham

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    Ok let me clarify you won't see more than 100 on any given day. I'm glad you can name 3 occasions in how many years ?
     
  17. Roycestein Kaelstrom

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    Ok so what is your point again? Forcing people to be on online mode, so you can see 100 of them on the scene you're in?
     
  18. redfish

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    What I'd love to see is the Soltown Inn, and every other inn and tavern in the game to look like this, year-round, on any given day,

    [​IMG]

    How to do this, IMO ---

    * Don't create mechanics that incentivize people to log out of OPO and log into FPO/SPO. While some might want to run into players in every scene they go into, even small ones, it won't create the best possible game IMO. If people log out into FPO/SPO for hunting scenes, they won't log back into OPO to go into towns and towns will be emptier. Yet, on the other hand, if players don't see a lot of people out in the wild all the time, they'll naturally go into towns to find people, and towns will be full. Going into a town will be a natural way to look for players to party with. Work on other mechanics that negatively affect shared experiences in scenes and drive people into FPO/SPO.

    * Continue to build a game around local chat -- not global or zone chat -- and keep a strong focus on travel and regional economies. People will only go into local taverns to find people to talk to or to join a party with if it makes more sense than typing to people they can't see on a global chat or zone chat, or quickly gating/teleporting/running over to what they think is a more popular town.

    * Make gameplay reasons to go into taverns. Make food important rather than a useless junk item that nobody uses like in other MMOs -- make it it necessary to eat in order to regen out of combat, and have a hunger mechanic so you eat over using Heal spells, and make taverns a go-to stop to get food (players will also create their own shops for this, but there needs to be a consistent story location). Put noticeboards in towns outside of taverns, in taverns, or near taverns, so people will run by to check on advertisements or jobs from other players. Make random NPC traders, quest-givers, and hirelings show up in taverns one week and disappear a week later. Have the tavern owner give out gossip or be a good source of information about the area.
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2016
  19. Korim Rackham

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    nope, id like to see more than 100 people at any given time. My point is I don't want to feel like I'm playing single player game in multi player mode. Not sure I can state that any simpler, ill try one more time, I-would-like to see multi players in multi-player mode, make sense? not just the sporadic 1-2 but daily feel like I'm in a multi player game.
     
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  20. Mykll

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    On the subject of limited resources... Guild Wars 2 and Final Fantasy XIV both do a great job in handling resources. If you see it, you can grab it. You are not fighting with everyone else on the same thing.
     
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