Port Atlantis Overcrowded!

[moondog]

This problem should not be left for the players to deal with

Asking players to stay away from camp Icarus is ridiculous, this is obviously a MA problem, which is their responsabilty to resolve. Surely they expected an increase in new players with the advertising campaign.

I spend a lot of time at Icarus as I have a number of disciples and they like to trade, hunt, mine and socialise in this area mainly due to the low level mobs and decreased risk of dying every 2 minutes.

The introduction of more puny / areas in game would alleviate this problem instantly. One disciple asked me last night if there were other noob areas to go to, but being only a week old I could think on no area in the game where he could comfortably play, the area around PA has the right level mob but as mentioned previously PA is a nightmare to move around and the players are not concentrated in one spot.

I really like camp Icarus and I know a lot of other seasoned players do as well, I spend a lot of time there and enjoy encouraging new players and giving advice and help where I can.

I think the solution is a few other noob areas with TP's given automatically to new players, this would diperse the crowd at Icarus and allow the new players to explore more of the planet in their early weeks of play.

Come on MA - sort it out - if these areas existed I would encourage new players / desciples to go their in their first few days of play

Moondog

 

[Ludvig|MindArk]

Asking players to stay away from camp Icarus is ridiculous, this is obviously a MA problem, which is their responsabilty to resolve.

Obviously they are working to resolve it... If the post said "please never go to Icarus again", I could understand your critizism, but it doesn't. It tells you to "please cooperate with us while we fix this temporary problem", and I really can't see the problem with that?

 

[DoubleWolf]

Good problem to have, no question.

But the problem you face now is a design problem. This isn't something the players can fix on their own. What made PA before VU10 so great was not that the players decided to make it such a hub, it was that it was designed in such a way that made it a great hub. It's like the age old question: what came first, the chicken or the egg? Did the players going there make it great, or was it great so players went there?

The original PA was designed well because it had all the elements to create a high traffic area, while reducing server load. The new arrivals came in and were greeted by a bustling city with traders, people looking to help, full service center and a central teleport. The first stop for a new player to go was to the swamp camp, which required them to run there and cross a server border. I remember this border well. It was on the first little raised island that you had to run across. You would always see a player or two and mobs stuck there running in place as they loaded into the next server. This kept the busy trade area and the new, active players separate.

What also made PA so great is that players at the swamp HAD to come back to PA if they wanted access to the auctioneer or the teleport. This created a situation where there was a lot of foot traffic. As a trader, you want to be in an area of high traffic in order to get your message out to as many players as possible. Even better if you know the traffic is coming back from somewhere to buy or sell their goods because they have to.

VU10 messed that all up because you gave swamp camp a full service auctioneer. You had the teleport part right, but gave the players full access to selling around the planet, so many players would never need to leave the camp. I thought the VU10 PA wasn't designed horribly as it had a central TP that players could gather around and had to pass by to move to other parts of the city, but because the camp had the auctioneer, that PA slowly died. Traders moved to Twin and the camp itself to try to capture the newbie goods and could then sell right to the auctioneer there.

PA's death blow was the redesign. Beautiful looking city, but horribly dysfunctional. Who's bright idea was it to move the TP up to a second level making it a pain in the ass to access? Not that it really matters though. There's no reason to go to PA now that Icarus has it's own TP and auctioneer. You basically created Hadesheim 2.0.

So now people that want to trade with newbies can teleport straight in to the camp, can access the auctioneer, the newbies can hunt their punies, and you made it so all this is done on the same server. This is clearly a design problem.

By giving players more of what they want, you've actually made things worse. Players don't always know what the best thing is for them, or don't see the consequences of the things they are asking for.

 

[ChairmanEdgewise]

It would make the problem worse because 80% of the people in starting zones will be wannabe mentors

It's bad already as it is - some newbies coming out of Thule already have "mentors" because of farmers camping there.



Except for Calypso's.

Well one way to sort this out would be to "unlock" chances to be rewarded, from your "total" skill...


Having 150k+ skills and you have a slightly, just slightly, bigger chance of getting a reward of something else than a Hunter ME mask... This would make people wanna fight for their mentoring profession, so the higher one is the bigger the chance to get a nice ME item is... Keep in mind, the chance to actually get something AWESOME would still be very low for this to works...


Higher skill, more different armor ME unlocked, at some certain point say 150k or 200k, weapons are unlocked etc... Must balance it well ofc and I am not the one to do it, Im just brainstorming here... Some sort of new system where rewards are unlocked by total skills (higher total skills means either A LOT of peds pumped into the avatar, or a long time player.. )

What would be important is that these rare, good, different ME items should be UL ofc, and given at 0 TT value, providing more options in the universe and in time lowering prices on guns and making them more avail. to every 'avarage joe' which would perhaps make the game more appealing for many players..)





... Both should somehow be rewarded by helping other players to make their way through the universe, IMO

summing it up:

high total skills = SLIGHTLY or MINIMAL higher chance to get rewarded by a different more rare/good/effective item.

Mentors will be actually be skilling to reach this goal so they can get nicer rewards, that way they (hopefully) learn along the way what not to do and what to do. These might be experiences they will share with their disciples once they have one and experiences in this game really is important to survive.... Right?


Having the "total" skill decide what you may unlock also pushes us to reach a high total skill, chasing after all professions we can to raise it... Hunting, Mining, Crafting, Beauty, Coloring, Design... All of these are areas that can be of interest for a new player and should be told about from the newly aquired mentor, or at least this is how I think it should be... I wish it was this way since ever

Or is this a bad idea?

 

[FlorencioNine]

thats why , the main part of the deal with MA is :
MA provide the planet and the whole game system and hosting for free.
PP provide designer to design their PP + an huge budget for advertising.

Are you sure that MA provides the planet and hosting for free, and all the PP has to do is bring in a design team with an advertising budget? Cause, if that's the case, then I may as well be a PP. Considering that it seems optional to actually do any advertising since I barely see any advertisements these days except for Calypso ones. (Note: When MA's advertising budget was geared towards all planets, I saw adverts for all planets, but a few months ago they came out with a post saying that they no longer had to do this and all their advertising money was going to be kept strictly for Calypso, after which I never saw adverts for any other planets anywhere.) So, with those terms, it wouldn't take much for a team of dedicated people who knew graphic design to setup a planet and just sit on it with MA providing the space for free. I was pretty sure that the PP has to pay something for the upkeep of their planet as well.

yes , but here its not MA who ask for help , its the PP of calypso , if i remember good , its FPC.

Isn't the PP of Calypso supposed to be all the CLD holders? And, I thought that Kim was with MA?

 

[Etopia]

Are you sure that MA provides the planet and hosting for free, and all the PP has to do is bring in a design team with an advertising budget? Cause, if that's the case, then I may as well be a PP. Considering that it seems optional to actually do any advertising since I barely see any advertisements these days except for Calypso ones. (Note: When MA's advertising budget was geared towards all planets, I saw adverts for all planets, but a few months ago they came out with a post saying that they no longer had to do this and all their advertising money was going to be kept strictly for Calypso, after which I never saw adverts for any other planets anywhere.) So, with those terms, it wouldn't take much for a team of dedicated people who knew graphic design to setup a planet and just sit on it with MA providing the space for free. I was pretty sure that the PP has to pay something for the upkeep of their planet as well.

Yes i am sure , thats the deal.
MA ask guarantie that you have a plan of want you want to do , original idea ,and budget to do it...
But , i guess nowday , MA is propably more hard to convince , since , as you noticed , many PP , did somehow break the deal by not really doing adver , or small advert.

Isn't the PP of Calypso supposed to be all the CLD holders? And, I thought that Kim was with MA?

CLD Calypso Land Deed
yes , kim probably was at MA , since MA had to 'buy back' calypso , after that the PP who did buy it wasnt paying it... still from what i know , calypso , is under control of special MA team , and they make a different compagnie...dont know how they are name nowday.

 

[Svarog]

Are you sure that MA provides the planet and hosting for free, and all the PP has to do is bring in a design team with an advertising budget?

IIRC, when the concept of PP was first introduced, MA on its site had stated that PP must have a large sum at its disposal, some of a 6-digit $, don't remember exactly the sum. Later they removed all public details.

What I don't remember is was that sum had to be handed over to MA as entrance fee, or you just had to prove that you posses it.

 

[Bemo]

IIRC, when the concept of PP was first introduced, MA on its site had stated that PP must have a large sum at its disposal, some of a 6-digit $, don't remember exactly the sum. Later they removed all public details.

What I don't remember is was that sum had to be handed over to MA as entrance fee, or you just had to prove that you posses it.

2mil dollars and you dont have to hand it over just show you have it from what I remember reading before they took it down.


-Bemo-

 

[SpikeBlack]

There were adverts it's just that we weren't necessarily in the right region to see them.

Rather than blanket advertising they target the demographic they want to attract, in the case of Ark they've made that Asia so that's where the budget went.

Even MA did it with the vid screens, some of us saw adverts for the UK Navy or films about to the released, Crank for instance, while others saw something else. No point wasting cash showing adverts for things you can't buy or in a language they don't understand.

 

[mastermesh]

temporary easy fix - make the whole area lootable pvp for a few weeks.

 

[Ludvig|MindArk]

Isn't the PP of Calypso supposed to be all the CLD holders? And, I thought that Kim was with MA?

Kim works for Planet Calypso AB, which the Planet Partner tasked with developing Calypso.

 

[moondog]

Alternative New Player Area

Much has been commented upon regarding - the overcrowding at Camp Icarus and allegedly at Port Atlantis, (ref comments from Kim). I have to admit that recently Camp Icarus has become laggy

Fort Isis is a very under populated player region that is one of the closest TP's to Icarus / Atlantis. Some of you may know I host a radio show on Atlas Haven Radio, where I try to incorporate the elements of Gonzo journalism (RIP Hunter S Thompson), by reporting events as I see them and interact with them.

So last night while doing a show I traveled to Fort Isis as I have not been there for a while. I am happy to report that MA have made mob changes here in a recent VU. The area was originally filled with puny, low level combibo and snable snots with some nexnecicus and other larger mob thrown in.

This has been changed and yesterday I found only puny mob, level 1 Plumatagerus and a single level 3 old Kereberos. This is a beautifully designed area within the game with a very surreal landscape. With the mob level reduced it is perfect for new players on puny missions and could potentially be a solution to the overcrowding at Icarus / Atlantis. All MA has to do is give the TP free to players who arrive from Thule. I believe new players would really enjoy this area of Calypso. It has a full suite of terminals, auctioneer, crafting machine and technician. The teleporter is a little hidden (under the cliff) but other than that I cant see any reason why this area cannot be utilised by new players.

I have already mentioned it to a few players I met at Icarus later last night and even flew a couple there. It isnt even that far too run and as far as I can tell if approached from the north there does not appear to be and high level mob restricting new player access.

 

[aia]

Fort Isis is a very under populated player region that is one of the closest TP's to Icarus / Atlantis.

I don't really like it as it is right now, mainly because of a few minor things.

Mainly, there is a huge building there that doesn't appear to have any special function.

Secondly, at least when I looked at it at first, there is no obvious way of getting from top of the cliff/top of the building down to the bottom, to the TP. Maybe there is a televator there now.

Another thing is that the way the landscape is, I guess the layout of the building and the cliff takes up a lot of space in the vicinity, which would make it a bit harder to allow for several low-level spawns close to the TP. Maybe it would work if there would be only one spawn nearby ("puny").

If I remember right, there is a big mob near (maffoid), but that can't be hunted by lesser level players because of regen, and there is no iron mission for it that would make higher level players stick around for it. I can't find of any obvious mob to replace it with though. Maybe molisks. If a higher level mob is around it shouldn't be so close so it's a menace for the beginners who hunt punies (especially since they practically can't kill it with TT-grade weapons).

I have to admit that, besides from some occasional TP-run, I haven't spent much time around there.

 

[aia]

We're also currently investigating the possibility of instancing shop containers so that they're separated from the regular server areas, this could remove about 5-10% of the load on the average server.

It will pull higher client resources tough I guess - lots of rattling on the harddrive. If it's done in a too high scale, you miss a bit of the social part ("Anyone wants muscle oil before I TT it?") - and if it's too dull in the instance part, people will go in, do their deal with the TT, and then rush back and then you haven't won much. Maybe even make the server load higher on the part when someone is bidding on something in auction, will jump in and out to keep an eye both on auction and to be a part of the crowd.

The shop container at old sweat camp (VU9) had open doors even, so you could heal/focus people from outside.

I think a way to keep down the preassure from that server is simply to move out parts that doesn't have to be in the area:
- Orthos oil field, move to another server?
- Rippersnapper frenzy can probably be moved to another lake (it's not really beginner level)
- Event mobs, especially those who can kill beginners (attackers, spider bombers) -
maybe move to New Oxford (as all beginners have that TP nowdays?)
- Feffoid cave entrance, feffoid cave mission giver (not really beginner friendly). If there wasn't feffoid mission there already it would be logical to have feffoid cave mission giver and cave entrance in fort fury - why not entrance just outside the gates next to TP).
- Move token trader to balcony Twin Peaks (it's hard to find anyway if you don't know where to look)
- Maybe removing some of the bigger fish south of Port Atlantis (down to Jennifer's Island) would reduce load a bit.
- Integreate "Thule" teleporter with the normal teleporter system instead of having special televator.
- Not having Port Atlantis as landing zone from space.

Totally different: about the starving atrax: Maybe put it on a small island - that way it would drown if someone would try to drag it away (not too far out in the water, just enough water to make sure it can't get over), and it would also be easier to find. Then you'd also understand why it would starve

Sabakuma: I guess one problem that could occur would be that it's activated by mistake by people flying over. I thinki it also happened once to me that someone who ran by took a sabakuma in tail, meaning I wasn't able to complete the wave (it got timeout though there was no sabakuma left in radar).

 

[aia]

Back since the robot spawns got placed near many of the old TP's i had to stop utilizing athena spaceport as my way to auction from space and going back up.

Imho Athena Spaceport is bad for "huge" eventmobs because the way it's designed (if you die and TP you typically either are falling down or on wrong side of a cliff, mobs can get stuck on wrong side of rocks, and if steelbird elites are camping the teleporter (which happens sooner or later when people run from revival at other side of the area towards the teleporter) it can be hard for someone without TP-chip to leave the area at all).

 

[Talania]

It will pull higher client resources tough I guess - lots of rattling on the harddrive. If it's done in a too high scale, you miss a bit of the social part ("Anyone wants muscle oil before I TT it?") - and if it's too dull in the instance part, people will go in, do their deal with the TT, and then rush back and then you haven't won much. Maybe even make the server load higher on the part when someone is bidding on something in auction, will jump in and out to keep an eye both on auction and to be a part of the crowd.

The shop container at old sweat camp (VU9) had open doors even, so you could heal/focus people from outside.

I think a way to keep down the preassure from that server is simply to move out parts that doesn't have to be in the area:
- Orthos oil field, move to another server?
- Rippersnapper frenzy can probably be moved to another lake (it's not really beginner level)
- Event mobs, especially those who can kill beginners (attackers, spider bombers) -
maybe move to New Oxford (as all beginners have that TP nowdays?)
- Feffoid cave entrance, feffoid cave mission giver (not really beginner friendly). If there wasn't feffoid mission there already it would be logical to have feffoid cave mission giver and cave entrance in fort fury - why not entrance just outside the gates next to TP).
- Move token trader to balcony Twin Peaks (it's hard to find anyway if you don't know where to look)
- Maybe removing some of the bigger fish south of Port Atlantis (down to Jennifer's Island) would reduce load a bit.
- Integreate "Thule" teleporter with the normal teleporter system instead of having special televator.
- Not having Port Atlantis as landing zone from space.

Totally different: about the starving atrax: Maybe put it on a small island - that way it would drown if someone would try to drag it away (not too far out in the water, just enough water to make sure it can't get over), and it would also be easier to find. Then you'd also understand why it would starve

Sabakuma: I guess one problem that could occur would be that it's activated by mistake by people flying over. I thinki it also happened once to me that someone who ran by took a sabakuma in tail, meaning I wasn't able to complete the wave (it got timeout though there was no sabakuma left in radar).

I think Kim is talking about the Mall shops in PA. Not auction houses. When you are in the Mall in PA you can't see anyone on radar but if you go into the shops or the auction area in the Mall you suddenly are able to see chat from outside the entire Mall and green dots on radar.

So everything in the shop that is being sold is also on the same server. Putting the shops in an instance would mean a completely different server for them and maybe make for some very fast loading times when shopping and fewer people crashing that are shopping for a while.

 

[aia]

I think Kim is talking about the Mall shops in PA. Not auction houses.

Yeah, I agree with that.

Well I wouldn't put the mall as an instance (because then a beauticioner) wouldn't be able to work with customers... but rather just put it in a separate server area.

And the one in Twin Peaks because it's within radar range of Twin Peaks town so I guess even if you're inside the mall the client tries to render everyone at the octagon ring.

However there is a problem: Unless MA thinks ahead, putting it in a separate server area means that auction and storage wouldn't work. This is a problem because mall shops is also a meeting place for crafters, and then need access to materials (typically stored in the storage) and sometimes need to get more supplies (from auction).

Maybe the definition of shop container is a bit fluid. My definition of shop container is the VU9 green boxes that used to be placed at the outpost that wasn't big enough to have a service center (or service center deluxe) or didn't have one of those Amethera style "ship service centers".

I can't check right now but I think you can see how an, at least modified, shop container in either Camp Caravan (with roof over door) or Billys (with wings).

 

[NevadaJake]

I hope instancing shop containers isn't required to solve this. I like seeing everybody else in there and getting scanning skills.

Dividing areas into smaller places with more servers seems like it would be better and adding more puny mob locations for the Iron Challenges would be very helpful. Not to mention how good that would be for swunting.

Could puny mobs me added to the Atlantis Archipelago area? Those are some beautiful islands and it could encourage new arrivals to venture to the islands they see off in the southern distance (maybe they would even buy a boat - super-low TT boats could be introduced for fun)

 

[aia]

Could puny mobs me added to the Atlantis Archipelago area? Those are some beautiful islands and it could encourage new arrivals to venture to the islands they see off in the southern distance (maybe they would even buy a boat - super-low TT boats could be introduced for fun)

If MA still have a copy of the area, I'd like the "hotel" (with island(s)) back.

Why not put old gateway where the middle island with the archipelago is now, with included puny spawns.
Some of the mission givers could be there - keep the parts where they give information, just remove the free handouts of weapon/ammo and such. Missions that reward with attributes could be changed to a symbolic amount of normal skills (since I guess the old gateway rewards isn't "compatible"). (And also keep the clueless dude on the upper exit lol). Add terminals and auctioneer on the middle part inside (original gateway didn't have TT).

Or maybe better: Keep atlantis archipelago TP. Then put the gateway area just south of the server border, remove the nastier fish so beginners can swim without any major problems, and merge the "hotel island" with "Jennifer's island" (call entire island Jennifer's island) - put campfire etc on the northern side, and move the beacon portal to south side of the island and also the tunnel entrance. While keeping the old gateway spawns (punies) where they were, also keep the birds from Jennifer's island.

 

[Viperstrike]

Ok, so I moved out of the PA server area and everything from reports tells me that it works fine!

LOL, sorry for lagging down the server Kim

My heavy butt is now moved out of newbie town hehe

 

[Talania]

Yeah, I agree with that.

Well I wouldn't put the mall as an instance (because then a beauticioner) wouldn't be able to work with customers... but rather just put it in a separate server area.

And the one in Twin Peaks because it's within radar range of Twin Peaks town so I guess even if you're inside the mall the client tries to render everyone at the octagon ring.

However there is a problem: Unless MA thinks ahead, putting it in a separate server area means that auction and storage wouldn't work. This is a problem because mall shops is also a meeting place for crafters, and then need access to materials (typically stored in the storage) and sometimes need to get more supplies (from auction).

Maybe the definition of shop container is a bit fluid. My definition of shop container is the VU9 green boxes that used to be placed at the outpost that wasn't big enough to have a service center (or service center deluxe) or didn't have one of those Amethera style "ship service centers".

I can't check right now but I think you can see how an, at least modified, shop container in either Camp Caravan (with roof over door) or Billys (with wings).

I hope instancing shop containers isn't required to solve this. I like seeing everybody else in there and getting scanning skills.

Dividing areas into smaller places with more servers seems like it would be better and adding more puny mob locations for the Iron Challenges would be very helpful. Not to mention how good that would be for swunting.

Could puny mobs me added to the Atlantis Archipelago area? Those are some beautiful islands and it could encourage new arrivals to venture to the islands they see off in the southern distance (maybe they would even buy a boat - super-low TT boats could be introduced for fun)

Putting the Mall in an instance doesn't make it so no one else can get in.....it is just a different server. Motherships are an instance, Space Stations are an Instance, Planets are an Instance....

Only thing I would be concerned with about MA putting the Mall into an instance is the simple fact that they mess everything up they work on and shop owners have had enough problems over the years. Best to just leave them alone if they are working.

 

[aia]

Putting the Mall in an instance doesn't make it so no one else can get in.....

Oh, I guess it depends on the definition of "instance".

I just thought that "instance" was an isolated area where a group of players could enter independently of other groups. Pretty much a separate "running copy" of something. The word "instance" for me is a separately run copy of a process - pretty much "re-entrant" program code where the program code is shared between two processes but where the data and "progress" differs.

As for motherships though they technically can be seen as "named instances" and where they keep the state between activations, I wouldn't consider them instances because if who people, independent of eachother, enters a mothership they will meet (in hangar). I would consider a mothership more of a "server area" than an instance.

Oldtime beacon missions is pretty much the opposite: Though implemented as a fixed area on same server as the planet surface, by limiting the number of active teams to one and having a different elevation so you can't see it from ground, they would practically work as an instance with the exception that when that limit of one concurrent team has been reached other teams have to wait until they can enter. (But when they enter the beacon area would be reset as if the previous team hadn't been there.)

Just some word picking That's how I see "instance" and "server area".

 

[Kristin]

Dear Calypsians,

We have a problem with overcrowding on the Port Atlantis/Camp Icarus server during peak hours. This is caused by the large influx of new players due to the success of the current ad-campaign.

We are working on increasing the capacity but until then we kindly ask for your help so that the new players who join actually have somewhere to go after the gateway/Thule.


So how can you help?

• If you're socializing, trading etc please consider choosing another location like Twin Peaks.
• If you're out hunting or mining, see if you can hunt the same creature or mine the same resource on another area.
• If you have disciples that you know play near Port Atlantis, let them know of alternative areas!

ROFL! Laymen ... like always ...

 

[Talania]

Oh, I guess it depends on the definition of "instance".

I just thought that "instance" was an isolated area where a group of players could enter independently of other groups. Pretty much a separate "running copy" of something. The word "instance" for me is a separately run copy of a process - pretty much "re-entrant" program code where the program code is shared between two processes but where the data and "progress" differs.

As for motherships though they technically can be seen as "named instances" and where they keep the state between activations, I wouldn't consider them instances because if who people, independent of eachother, enters a mothership they will meet (in hangar). I would consider a mothership more of a "server area" than an instance.

Oldtime beacon missions is pretty much the opposite: Though implemented as a fixed area on same server as the planet surface, by limiting the number of active teams to one and having a different elevation so you can't see it from ground, they would practically work as an instance with the exception that when that limit of one concurrent team has been reached other teams have to wait until they can enter. (But when they enter the beacon area would be reset as if the previous team hadn't been there.)

Just some word picking That's how I see "instance" and "server area".

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/instance

It would be the exact same instance as all the other Malls that are the same except it would be a static instance that players own shops in....

 

[aia]

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/instance

It would be the exact same instance as all the other Malls that are the same except it would be a static instance that players own shops in....

Ah, so more like what I would call a server area/"mothership" style.

a case or occurrence of anything

For me making an instance of let's say Twin Peaks mall would be someone entering it he'd come to the "first occurance". Next person entering it would come to "second occurance" and so on.

Thinking of the problem shop owners have had with the shops, maybe the best to do with the malls would be to ensure the walls are "tight". That is that, simularily to normal servicestations, that the inside is completely isolated from the outside when it coms to the "outer world". The round servicestations appear to have an inner zone, separate from the outer zone by a shared area by the doors; If you're at the inner zone you don't see avatars that are on the outer zone.
Theoretically the malls also have an inner zone, but the border between inner zone and outer zone seems to be a but vague - sometimes you're at the inner zone, and sometimes at the outer/shared zone (even if you're at floor 3). Having the mall in the outer zone would be fun for chatting if it wasn't for the fact that the "audible area" at twin peaks mall doesn't cover entire twin peaks town. The problem isn't the chatting (the chatting is more a symptom) - the problem is when you move between inner and shared/outer zones (through the glitched walls in the mall not by acutally moving to the doors), I guess that the client has to be able to render all avatars on the outside (even if you practically can't see them).

 

[Dan59]

I hope we dont end to use Massive Multiplayer Online game (+RCE) EU client just to be able to play Single Player instance games in it.

 

[aia]

I just got an idea!

Either as a separate instance, or randomly at say 1% chance when you enter a mall, you get to the Haunted Mall.

When you enter you get a mission, to collect three gems, one on each floor and give to the auctioneer (which now isn't a real auctioneer but an Evil Trader, who for a gem will give you a key so you can progress to next level. So you don't have to search all "shops" only say 5 of them would be open (accessible) with a lit "yes we're public" sign. (You can't buy things inside the shops but there are some random junk in htem, with spiderweb/cobweb if possible).

The interior is a bit lit down, as compared to usual, and occasionally there is a swarm of bats (as the bat swarm in feffox cave). The mobs in the floors could be mobs like foul, boorum and some occasional molisk. In the room with auctioneer you could have a (killable) Maffoid Trader (well easier to kill than normal maffoids) you have to kill before you can talk to the Rougue Auctioneer. Background sound could be some occasional hissing wind and some howling.

On the roof (it's night outside with full moon) is the treasure chest in the middle, but guarding it is a Thorifoid (well low level) or possibly hovering Aetherex you have to kill first before the chest will open. After opening (looting) the chest, a shimmering light will appear on the opposite side of the cheast, when when you enter the shimmering light, you get back to where you started (in the normal world).

If you want to bail out you can use a normal televator inside the mall but instead of saying "Televator" it says "Televator Out Of order". If you try to use one you get a warning message: "Warning: This televator is known for sending those those who try to use it out of the premises. Do you still want to use it <Yes> <No>". (If revival is needed, it could be placed at the wall at the stairs, next to the televator. In the Rougue Auctioneer room the repair- and trade terminals could work as normal, while the storage terminal isn't normal.)

 

[billairboy]

I hope we dont end to use Massive Multiplayer Online game (+RCE) EU client just to be able to play Single Player instance games in it.

Well, as someones have said, we have used the word instanced to mean different things. But a small separate server area, "multiplayer instances" that handles big houses like malls would not make any big different to the gameplay, but could help the solve the problem with the server load.

 

[DoubleWolf]

Well, as someones have said, we have used the word instanced to mean different things. But a small separate server area, "multiplayer instances" that handles big houses like malls would not make any big different to the gameplay, but could help the solve the problem with the server load.

Isn't this how areas such as service centers already work? They seem to load entirely separately from what's going on outside. If you're at Twin in the service center, the game doesn't render all the players outside and all the trade chat they produce.

I think this is in opposition to how the malls work though. If you're in a mall, can't you still see players on the radar and get their chat from outside the mall?

 

[Svarog]

Isn't this how areas such as service centers already work? They seem to load entirely separately from what's going on outside. If you're at Twin in the service center, the game doesn't render all the players outside and all the trade chat they produce.

No, if you stay in the corridor, you see both inside and outside chats, so it's the same server.

I think this is in opposition to how the malls work though. If you're in a mall, can't you still see players on the radar and get their chat from outside the mall?

Only in rooms with windows.