Current Activity Improvement Poll

[Fire Wraith]

Hi everyone,

Seems things have been a little slow(er) of late, so I figured we'd run a poll to gauge what people would be interested to see more of. Note that this isn't a guarantee you'll see (whatever), but something we can take into consideration for where we're spending our time and effort. Feel free to expand in responses below, as well, with extra details.

Additionally, if there's anything negative that's bothering you, please feel free to message me directly, and I'll bring those to the staff (either anonymously or openly at your request).

[goodapollo]

In other: I'd love to see some non-DM 'permanent' content such as...
A less tedious writing system, maybe in-game bulletin boards
A more robust crafting system, if only for simple things like healing supplies and consumeables
More ways to earn crafting materials that we currently have. (Repeatable no-xp quests?)
Overall: More things to do as players to effect the world/have 'professions' and activities that are less tied to DM quests and Arabel Central.

A few low-power (ECL 0-1?), low-cosmetic-change races available freely would be nice, as well.

[Melody]

I would love to see DMs inhabit NPCs and simply have chit-chat conversations. Regular, mundane things like a mother taking her child out to play. It's one of the best ways to make the server feel "alive" by making the world feel rich and full. It doesn't need to involve XP - just make NPCs have lives of their own, hold conversations with PCs, and make the whole world *interesting* even at the mundane level.

[etherealvanity]

I'm with Kiko on this. I have seen where such "mundane" NPC interactions have really made the setting feel alive and breathing. Which is a good way to make PCs feel as if they are part of the setting, and not in some PC-only 'instance based' vacuum. Which happens easily when the only time PCs are reacted against are from other PCs or during scheduled events. And as Kiko says, no EXP need to be involved. Furthermore, it is an amazing way to also weave various plots together and have the setting actually react to the presence of the PCs and their actions.

This is also a good way to reinforce the setting itself through how the world talks about, to and behind the backs of PCs. Some conversations may be held within earshot of PCs but not at them, so to speak.

[realityjumper]

I used to do quite a bit of this. Be happy to do some random visiting encounters for folks!

[jamaisvu]

I'd love to see more things on the server able to actually be done without DMs. More power to the players' RP allows for less burn-out, more influence in the game world, etc.

It just feels difficult to actually do anything without DM help in character. Taking steps to allow for characters to cultivate things to do in-game will help with that, I feel like.

[azure]

I'll second both Kiko and Jamaisvu's suggestions.

My work, and most business, have been slow lately due to spring break, and business is just now starting to pick up again as that's wrapping up. Maybe that's affecting server activity too?

Either way I apologize for not being around as much. I've been logging fewer hours even though I have plots and things in the making I'm super excited about, just also doing other things with friends I haven't seen as much and stuff. I will continue to be around, likely moreso as Azalea's transformation plot approaches.

[tenorgeneral]

I'd say that more automated crafting, on-par with some of the loot available, maybe up to the PNP limits of crafting (maximum EB of +10 from all properties) so that some loot outshines it, would be a big draw.  That of course would be more of a draw if there was some way to quest for crafting reagents, especially if said reagents were more than just "shard of ____".  In other words, it'd be a fun draw if say, making a flaming sword required you to find a red dragon scale, or similar.

There'd also be more of a draw for me, in a more soft-cap oriented xp system, which rewards adventuring beyond the basically meaningless gp you get after hitting the hard cap every level.  It'd allow people to make some progress instead of hitting a brick wall when they don't have the time to be around for long multi-hour quests or fair drips to get rp xp.

[The Red Mage]

Bloating the upper mid to high level dungeons will help activity as well, I believe, as burnout from running the same dungeons seems to have occurred with many in the passed couple months. That paired with some system of crafting or doing something in the down-time to compete with square chatter may help keep playercount steady.

There's enough lower to lower-mid unused dungeons to do this relatively quickly.

[hjorrprimul]

My first instincts, given my overall experience with online RP, would have been to vote for player-driven content, be that faction- related or otherwise, but.... in the first two days in the server I had several instances of NPCs reacting to the existence of my character, or talking to each other around her and that was so cool that I have to put my first vote there. I'm not sure who it was that did it, one instance being a guard who gave Jeanette directions, another being two commoners talking about kobolds by the road. Whoever you are: you are awesome and appreciated.

That said, though, I think players being able to cook up things with minimal or no DM intervention is great. It creates less burn-out all around, I think. The tricky part is setting things up for that to happen, of course.

[Nepharian]

I've been giving this some thought, and I would very much like to share them

Having been here a while now, it has become very clear to me that characters will go stagnant at a certain point. For me, this has everything to do with not being able to actually advance in any way, except for farming items and gold.
It's not that I want to powerlevel to 20 and then beyond, but I've seen so many people stand around in Arabel, simply waiting for their daily 300xp. And then they log off.

In my opinion, this is a problem. And I believe that loosening the XP rules might help fix that problem. Perhaps even by removing the cap, and letting teen-level and high-level characters gain experience by playing the game - by dungeoning and slaying mighty foes and terrible hordes of undead.

I love playing my character... but she isn't actually doing anything at the moment. Because there's very little reward. (Yeah, I know. But we are humans, and humans like rewards and advancing!).

Having said this, I realize that I have yet to play any part in actual DM events and storylines (except that I am waiting for one to begin). This is due to lack of time, and due to me being in the EU timezone.


I appreciate all the effort and hours the Admins, DMs and builders have put into this amazing PW, but I really do think that there is a problem that needs to be discussed, and somehow fixed.

[Fire Wraith]

As a note, the poll is now closed (as it was designed to be up for only the month of April, from the beginning).

Thanks to everyone for the ideas and feedback! We'll be taking it all into consideration on how we can focus our efforts on improving things.