Too many online modes/too much instancing gives appearance of abandoned

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Razimus, Jul 26, 2018.

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  1. Gix

    Gix Avatar

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    Then people would just wait for others to try to mine the node for an easy kill. Adding more resources won't fix the problem as it'll just skew the economy and make people think they need even more resources.

    I'm a bit perplexed that some would play online but refuse to give up a single node for anyone else and/or that others are immediately jerks for taking that particular node.

    Share the sandbox.

    I don't see anything specifically wrong with the way the game modes are set... but I'd probably put more effort to communicate the population on the overworld; the town graphics are probably a little too subtle. Maybe we'd also need to display footsteps graphics that show up on the overworld to showcase where the Private and Friends only players are to display for whoever is playing in Open mode.
     
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  2. Elwyn

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    The thing is, there are no "open" "dungeon" areas. So you have to form a party anyhow if you want to see someone there. Only the above-ground adventuring areas are open.

    If you want to encounter people randomly in a dungeon area, you can't.

    It was kind of fun when some mine areas were open, but it turned out that the respawn of resources just couldn't keep up.
     
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  3. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    the rise, the fall, k'rul and 'krawl (i'm pretty sure), the inter-region passages, the various sewers.
     
  4. Mirjhaf Uth'Mathar

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    I Think '' Default Mode '' to enter a Scene its a great Idea... but i think, by Default, the World Map should be Open for all player and City Scene.. .. Only Adventurer Scene should offert Open, Party or Solo Online Mode option...
     
  5. Turk Key

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    While playing solo, I do get a sense of community by seeing the skeletons of the recently deceased laying around. I am drawn to scenes littered by the stationary white bones and fantasize about the carnage that went on around me. I would hate it if those skeletons started to move and talk. But seriously, having those laying around is a great design IMO. I can't complain. You can never discern what type of person they were, and in your imagination all are your RP buddies.
     
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  6. Dantuin

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    I personally like the way the modes are currently, for me it allows the freedom to play the way I wish (so one vote for seeing less people).
    I would go into more detail but I do not want to be banned..
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2018
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  7. Tiina Onir

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    One of the proposals is for us to be able to let us set our mode by the "type" of zone. It would be the same, just we could set different modes for towns, and adventure-zones. If you don't want to see anyone ever? Okay, just set both to "party." A number of us, though, want to see people in town, but also want to be able to be in party when hunting. This would let us do that, without having to have an extra mode flip every time.
     
  8. Verity

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    Hello, I have only just started reading the forums, so this has probably been suggested before.

    Why not do what Dark Souls touches on - for even those players that operate in online Private/Party modes, they would appear as ghosts to Open mode players; cannot be interacted with at all, and the illusion of a ghost town... well, is actually made a reality, hehe, in a good way. Anyone in Party or Private do not see ghosts from the other instances, or what have you.

    It was a neat feature to momentarily see ghostly figures moving around my world, that others there & then are enjoying the game just like I was, even though I played Dark Souls as "single player only".
     
  9. Scanphor

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    I like the current system but agree being able to set defaults for scene types would save a lot of manual switching
     
  10. Elwyn

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    The main reason for instancing is performance. Private instances are just a bonus. Having it show people from other instances would negate the benefit of having instances in the first place. When the player base grows sufficiently (or during popular events), popular towns will often be split into multiple instances just because of hitting the limits. This is what allows the game to avoid having world shards.
     
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  11. nonaware

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    I like being able to take my time and explore adventure scenes if that's just grinding mats doing puzzles or just exploring. not having someone else there to ruin the fun of that is great.

    but I do like seeing other people in towns and on the world map a chance to say hello and just socialize.

    right now I do a lot of switching between modes to achieve that.
     
  12. nonaware

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    how about changing the current multi player selection screen to have only 2 options solo and open.

    then change that when we enter scenes we select if we want solo open or party?
     
  13. Black Tortoise

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    the game was designed to have a single / party only online mode

    as a result, most of the scenes balancing of size, resources, monsters, and interactables like loot chests, is only such due to the ability to click a button and be the only player in a scene. without Single / Party Online mode(s), the scenes would be terribly imbalanced, and some not playable at all (just imagine deep ravenswood or crag foothills, for example).

    imo there isnt much of a difference between single/party online mode, just slightly more anonymity. it would make zero difference on the population of multi online mode if single online mode were dropped (and party left in place). may as well keep all three.
     
  14. Razimus

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    But it would make a difference. You would *see* more players on your screen. Seeing other Avatars is a big thing in MMOs, MMORPGs, online games, seeing as this isn't advertised as a MUD, or P2P, seeing Avatars on your screen is something new players will expect, when they don't see it, they'll stop logging in. Merging the online modes into 1 mode would cause more players to be seen on the same screen. I'm seeing a few that prefer to play solo, or with their own party, and never see other players online.

    For those wanting to solo or small group play the entire game that's great and fine, but it isn't great or fine for the majority of players logging in expecting to see other players. How can they ever even make friends if they never see anyone? I see it as a bit selfish to like it as it is, and ignore the new players who will never see you unless you take the time to go into open mode to recruit new players and bring them into your party which some players do, and it is appreciated but it's still not the same as seeing an area with a lot of players, I know such is possible as I've been here since before release 1, and back then, release 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, the multiple modes didn't exist, you just logged in, and there were a lot of players.

    Then I see XP being a major factor for some, this brings me to remember Warhamer Online, the game that was fun for a month and quickly fell into the trap of giving 20% bonus XP for players who played in the arena. The entire game was elaborately designed, similar to SotA, yet no one explored, 99% of the players chose the 20% XP bonus with the instance of a few teams over exploring the map, which left it abandoned, new players saw an abandoned map and never logged in ever again, the game quickly disappeared. I just don't want to see the same thing with SotA, I wouldn't post time and time again for over 4 years if I didn't care. I don't believe SotA has an XP problem, I do believe they have a, open world that seems empty problem, the same problem that Warhammer Online had before it went offline.
     
  15. Elwyn

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    I don't think there is any difference at all, even when you join a party. From what I have been told, you can be in "Private" mode, join a party, and be in the same instance with the rest of the party that is in party mode. But I'm not in party mode much, so someone else would have to verify this. All that having a separate "Private" mode does is avoid confusion for those who don't want to see other people.
     
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