Stefan 008 Bond
Dominant
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2007
- Posts
- 373
- Society
- Mod Merps
- Avatar Name
- Stefan 008 Bond
Greetings fellow Entropians, thanks for joining me, and welcome to Volume 7 of “A Player’s Notes”
In my previous writings, I have taken an in depth look at things such as the Hunting loot mechanics, crafting economy ideas, coloring/texturing improvements as well as social aspects and time wasters. For this one though, I will attempt to offer up something a little different. This will be sort of a mental riff on the overall game and will try to offer up many ideas to spice the game up and bring back some of the fun, mystique and wow factors. I will draw upon things mentioned in earlier notes as well as some new thoughts as well. It won’t necessarily be cohesive but it should offer up a lot of talking points..
For the past year or so, my avatar has been more inactive than any other period in my 12 years here. This was entirely from IRL business though and had nothing to do with the state of the game. In that time period, EU has seen some major changes to hunting and economy in general. I have been playing again more regularly just lately and I have been busy testing loot 2.0 which I will prepare as the next note in the series possibly very soon.
It occured to me coming back, that I had a fresh and unique (to me) viewpoint of the entire game as a whole. I have followed along, but not been an active participant. As I am awash in emotions of new things i like, new things i don’t, things that still haven’t been changed, things that really need to change, etc etc. I thought I would share with you some of my thoughts:
I will go through different aspects of the game and attempt to highlight where the biggest gains can be had based on the amount of work it would take MA and feasability. I will order this in terms of easy. medium , hard
General UI , Maps, Missions and Skills:
This area is actually pretty solid within its individual parts (with a few caveats) but lacks cohesiveness in a major way.
Easy: Making mission lists as well as maps with teleport names accessible from any planet anywhere at all times. I want to see what missions I have started on other planets. This shouldn’t really need much explanation and should be very easy to code
Medium: Smartphone / Tablet - about that cohesiveness.. there isn’t any. The best anyone can do is set up and memorise a ton of shortcuts and or plaster icons all over their screens. This needs to change. Please give us a cohesive unit with menus to access all vital systems. A huge time saver to veterans and much much easier on the new players. Bonus points if they are customisable.
Chat System: Again another solid entry (despite some current bugs but we aren’t addressing bugs here). We have some nice options nowadays but I believe there is room for more:
Easy: Customisable Personal global feeds showing only friends, society mates and disciples. This should read globals universe wide as well. At the very least, color coding so they stand out No more missing out on my friend’s global because he’s on a different planet. We want to stay connected in those sort of ways. Easy to code
Medium: I think I huge opportunity exists for MA in chat smilies/emojis. Im aware they won’t be popular with everyone so should always be filterable, but there is no denying the amount of extra expressiveness, joy and humor those little things bring. More so, this really could really be expanded upon by offering new ones via mission rewards etc etc. collecting them could be a real fun time. Actually very easy to code, we already have those hearts.. But expanding on it and really bringing it to life could take some time
Trade, Travel and Transport: Now it gets interesting... Travel in particular has been hotly debated on here many times. The best of both worlds actually offers up a lot of extra local economy boosts and facilitates trade.
Easy: Allow instant teleportation universe-wide Naked. Yes you can travel anywhere instantly, No you cannot bring anything but your ped card with you. I realise that is harsh but think of the implications… There is a demand for facilitating fast easy travel and it would really help the Planet partners, but we have economies to protect and balance. So we allow it but with severe restrictions… the sightseers and medium lvls can go and buy L gear from the locals. The more serious players will know what to do. Bonus points if you make it interesting and not just paid in ped. Upkeep or missions or tokens needed??
Medium: Cargo missions implemented please. Lets go, it doesn’t have to be perfect the first time, changes can be made. Im putting it under medium because MA already announced this and it should be under development….
Hard: Auction overhaul - there are some great threads running currently about this and on top of that, it falls under the “almost everyone uses it every day” so it is of highest impact. Similar to what the smnartphone would bring..
Space - ……
Easy: Space mob hunting missions - this also needs no explanation, very easy to do. Add it.
Medium: Space Mining and Hauling - obviously should be in the pipeline at some point but just a barebones version would do for now as it would open up another dynamic of space traffic. Hauling could be an option for both the space hunters and miners as well as the interplanetary trade that is planned.
Hard: Space Sector Deeds - Ah where to begin.. While we have a blank slate and an entire space economy to invent one, that I have dreams of tying all of the economies together, we can start with the notion of Space Sector Deeds. Part of me feels some of the lack of content in space is because of the planet partners? I would say allow PP to own and develop local space while offering the rest of deep space sectors as deeds. Down the road this could play into the development of the space economy.
Hunting:
Easy: We need more variety in loot, odd, rare things I always thought all sorts of collectibles should be on offer in loot statues, plushies, collectable cards etc etc in increasing rarity just to have the odd fun thing loot once in awhile
Medium: Please find a way to make team hunting and mission counter points work together.. Please…
Hard: Seasonal loot
Mining:
Hard: Probably needs a loot 2.0 type overhaul introducing a shrapnel so they can simultaneously improve returns and protect mu%. Also, Space mining
Crafting:
Easy: Crafting Iron missions, this will massively stimulate the economy.
Medium: Create a series of single resource draining bps similar to the explosive projectiles
Hard: Similar to mining could use a 2.0 treatment and or a Second whole layer added. There needs to be more long term demand. A system that facilitates massive amounts of clicks without saturating the markets would be great
Other Thoughts: As this is getting quite long, I will just throw out some other random thoughts and ideas:
Weapon and Item Skins. Colorable and texturable of course. These should work similarly to the makeup masks and should be removable and reappliable.
Instanced Player Housing - Just a small place to call your own and make use of the small trophies and decorations we receive. No player should be homeless!
Reworking the Coloring/Texturing System: all fields should be able to be done both incrementally and individually
Add more tree types to be found and harvested. I think a lot of players really enjoy that activity from time to time, Please expand on it just a little bit..
Thanks for reading! For what it’s worth, these were my thoughts!
008
In my previous writings, I have taken an in depth look at things such as the Hunting loot mechanics, crafting economy ideas, coloring/texturing improvements as well as social aspects and time wasters. For this one though, I will attempt to offer up something a little different. This will be sort of a mental riff on the overall game and will try to offer up many ideas to spice the game up and bring back some of the fun, mystique and wow factors. I will draw upon things mentioned in earlier notes as well as some new thoughts as well. It won’t necessarily be cohesive but it should offer up a lot of talking points..
For the past year or so, my avatar has been more inactive than any other period in my 12 years here. This was entirely from IRL business though and had nothing to do with the state of the game. In that time period, EU has seen some major changes to hunting and economy in general. I have been playing again more regularly just lately and I have been busy testing loot 2.0 which I will prepare as the next note in the series possibly very soon.
It occured to me coming back, that I had a fresh and unique (to me) viewpoint of the entire game as a whole. I have followed along, but not been an active participant. As I am awash in emotions of new things i like, new things i don’t, things that still haven’t been changed, things that really need to change, etc etc. I thought I would share with you some of my thoughts:
I will go through different aspects of the game and attempt to highlight where the biggest gains can be had based on the amount of work it would take MA and feasability. I will order this in terms of easy. medium , hard
General UI , Maps, Missions and Skills:
This area is actually pretty solid within its individual parts (with a few caveats) but lacks cohesiveness in a major way.
Easy: Making mission lists as well as maps with teleport names accessible from any planet anywhere at all times. I want to see what missions I have started on other planets. This shouldn’t really need much explanation and should be very easy to code
Medium: Smartphone / Tablet - about that cohesiveness.. there isn’t any. The best anyone can do is set up and memorise a ton of shortcuts and or plaster icons all over their screens. This needs to change. Please give us a cohesive unit with menus to access all vital systems. A huge time saver to veterans and much much easier on the new players. Bonus points if they are customisable.
Chat System: Again another solid entry (despite some current bugs but we aren’t addressing bugs here). We have some nice options nowadays but I believe there is room for more:
Easy: Customisable Personal global feeds showing only friends, society mates and disciples. This should read globals universe wide as well. At the very least, color coding so they stand out No more missing out on my friend’s global because he’s on a different planet. We want to stay connected in those sort of ways. Easy to code
Medium: I think I huge opportunity exists for MA in chat smilies/emojis. Im aware they won’t be popular with everyone so should always be filterable, but there is no denying the amount of extra expressiveness, joy and humor those little things bring. More so, this really could really be expanded upon by offering new ones via mission rewards etc etc. collecting them could be a real fun time. Actually very easy to code, we already have those hearts.. But expanding on it and really bringing it to life could take some time
Trade, Travel and Transport: Now it gets interesting... Travel in particular has been hotly debated on here many times. The best of both worlds actually offers up a lot of extra local economy boosts and facilitates trade.
Easy: Allow instant teleportation universe-wide Naked. Yes you can travel anywhere instantly, No you cannot bring anything but your ped card with you. I realise that is harsh but think of the implications… There is a demand for facilitating fast easy travel and it would really help the Planet partners, but we have economies to protect and balance. So we allow it but with severe restrictions… the sightseers and medium lvls can go and buy L gear from the locals. The more serious players will know what to do. Bonus points if you make it interesting and not just paid in ped. Upkeep or missions or tokens needed??
Medium: Cargo missions implemented please. Lets go, it doesn’t have to be perfect the first time, changes can be made. Im putting it under medium because MA already announced this and it should be under development….
Hard: Auction overhaul - there are some great threads running currently about this and on top of that, it falls under the “almost everyone uses it every day” so it is of highest impact. Similar to what the smnartphone would bring..
Space - ……
Easy: Space mob hunting missions - this also needs no explanation, very easy to do. Add it.
Medium: Space Mining and Hauling - obviously should be in the pipeline at some point but just a barebones version would do for now as it would open up another dynamic of space traffic. Hauling could be an option for both the space hunters and miners as well as the interplanetary trade that is planned.
Hard: Space Sector Deeds - Ah where to begin.. While we have a blank slate and an entire space economy to invent one, that I have dreams of tying all of the economies together, we can start with the notion of Space Sector Deeds. Part of me feels some of the lack of content in space is because of the planet partners? I would say allow PP to own and develop local space while offering the rest of deep space sectors as deeds. Down the road this could play into the development of the space economy.
Hunting:
Easy: We need more variety in loot, odd, rare things I always thought all sorts of collectibles should be on offer in loot statues, plushies, collectable cards etc etc in increasing rarity just to have the odd fun thing loot once in awhile
Medium: Please find a way to make team hunting and mission counter points work together.. Please…
Hard: Seasonal loot
Mining:
Hard: Probably needs a loot 2.0 type overhaul introducing a shrapnel so they can simultaneously improve returns and protect mu%. Also, Space mining
Crafting:
Easy: Crafting Iron missions, this will massively stimulate the economy.
Medium: Create a series of single resource draining bps similar to the explosive projectiles
Hard: Similar to mining could use a 2.0 treatment and or a Second whole layer added. There needs to be more long term demand. A system that facilitates massive amounts of clicks without saturating the markets would be great
Other Thoughts: As this is getting quite long, I will just throw out some other random thoughts and ideas:
Weapon and Item Skins. Colorable and texturable of course. These should work similarly to the makeup masks and should be removable and reappliable.
Instanced Player Housing - Just a small place to call your own and make use of the small trophies and decorations we receive. No player should be homeless!
Reworking the Coloring/Texturing System: all fields should be able to be done both incrementally and individually
Add more tree types to be found and harvested. I think a lot of players really enjoy that activity from time to time, Please expand on it just a little bit..
Thanks for reading! For what it’s worth, these were my thoughts!
008
