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Suggestion: Give Land Area Operators a Viable Tool Box.

Captain Jack

Captain Jack

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Dec 28, 2010
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Endgame
Introduction

In consideration of the recent castration of player run events for land areas it seems now would be a good time to remind MindArk of the absolutely pathetic suite of options available for running events on land areas.

The Current System

Right now there are only two viable event formats in the in-game event format. Highest Single Loot and Most Loot, between which the former is the more popular. Yes, there are other event formats ingame but none of them are viable for running a competitive event to successfully generate substantial revenue on a land area at this time.


The Cost: On Calypso it costs 25 PED just to create an event. This is a fee which is completely lost - not refunded in any way to the land area owner or operator. There are additional fees built in which are refunded by means of tax (which has it's own myriad of problems from LA income manipulation).

A Few Inherent Flaws
This system requires all participants to register ahead of time, limits the max to 100 participants, and runs for a period of hours only. It is not scalable for weeks or months.
To get a decent turnout the land area operator must put up a prize amount which is typically sufficient to generate a net loss on the event, and these events are normally used to push publicity for the land area and a forum-run event rather than generate revenue.

A Few Proposed Solutions

Boss Mob Tokens

Here I propose that every DNA have a connected Boss Mob (or series thereof) of similar stats as can be found at the end of Dynamic Wave Events. These boss mobs would be spawnable by way of boss mob tokens, and would spawn the boss upon activation of the token on the land area which generated the token.
Tokens would be tradeable and could therefor be awarded by an LA operator to LA participants who could then spawn the boss mobs at a time of their choosing, enabling special events such as birthday hunts.
Tokens would be awarded to Land Area operators by two methods.

Fertilizer method: All fertilizer expended on a land area contributes progress toward the boss mob tokens.

Activity method: All PED cycled on the land area contributes progress toward the boss mob tokens.


Land Area Tokens and Event Vendors

Create an item similar to a Shopkeeper or Bank Vendor pad, and attach three of them to each land area (to enable creation of multiple simultaneous events).

Land Area Operator UI: This gives a land area operator a user interface allowing them to create an event. Tokens can be created here, as well as a specified drop rate which could be based on number of globals, global amount, total LA kill count, individual LA kill count, total LA PED turnover, individual PED turnover, etc.
The tokens can then be exchanged for prizes which the Operator loads into the vendor. The items loaded into the vendor would be frozen in place until redeemed.

Event Participant UI: This gives an event participant the ability to register for an event, view the information given on a particular event, and exchange tokens for prizes.


Land Grab Fortress Integration

This would give every Land Area the ability to purchase a Land Grab fortress for a reasonable price (no more than 10,000 PED).
The land area manager could then set the terms of a land grab event including but not limited to;
- Duration of management rights awarded on successful claiming of the land area.
- Soft Health caps for participants
- Soft DPS/max damage caps for participants
- Soft heal/sec or max heal caps for participants
- Restricted healing
- Restriction of buffs
etc.


Plenty of other ideas to come. I'll leave room for expansion.
 
Captain Jack said:
A Few Inherent Flaws
This system requires all participants to register ahead of time, limits the max to 100 participants, and runs for a period of hours only. It is not scalable for weeks or months.
To get a decent turnout the land area operator must put up a prize amount which is typically sufficient to generate a net loss on the event, and these events are normally used to push publicity for the land area and a forum-run event rather than generate revenue.
Click to expand...

Not to mention server overloads which has ruined more than one event... (I recall Corwin's event on Freakin Cold place where the Neconus just did not re-spawn until the very end)

Captain Jack said:
A Few Proposed Solutions

Boss Mob Tokens

Here I propose that every DNA have a connected Boss Mob (or series thereof) of similar stats as can be found at the end of Dynamic Wave Events. These boss mobs would be spawnable by way of boss mob tokens, and would spawn the boss upon activation of the token on the land area which generated the token.
Tokens would be tradeable and could therefor be awarded by an LA operator to LA participants who could then spawn the boss mobs at a time of their choosing, enabling special events such as birthday hunts.
Tokens would be awarded to Land Area operators by two methods.

Fertilizer method: All fertilizer expended on a land area contributes progress toward the boss mob tokens.

Activity method: All PED cycled on the land area contributes progress toward the boss mob tokens.


Land Area Tokens and Event Vendors

Create an item similar to a Shopkeeper or Bank Vendor pad, and attach three of them to each land area (to enable creation of multiple simultaneous events).

Land Area Operator UI: This gives a land area operator a user interface allowing them to create an event. Tokens can be created here, as well as a specified drop rate which could be based on number of globals, global amount, total LA kill count, individual LA kill count, total LA PED turnover, individual PED turnover, etc.
The tokens can then be exchanged for prizes which the Operator loads into the vendor. The items loaded into the vendor would be frozen in place until redeemed.

Event Participant UI: This gives an event participant the ability to register for an event, view the information given on a particular event, and exchange tokens for prizes.


Land Grab Fortress Integration

This would give every Land Area the ability to purchase a Land Grab fortress for a reasonable price (no more than 10,000 PED).
The land area manager could then set the terms of a land grab event including but not limited to;
- Duration of management rights awarded on successful claiming of the land area.
- Soft Health caps for participants
- Soft DPS/max damage caps for participants
- Soft heal/sec or max heal caps for participants
- Restricted healing
- Restriction of buffs
etc.


Plenty of other ideas to come. I'll leave room for expansion.
Click to expand...

Some really good ideas there. I have another one which is inspired by a feature which the player 'owned' instances on RT have, which is the ability to add a distinct item into the loot pool which is only available from that instance. For example theunicate has added 'crates' to the instance that he controls and has evolved a persistent event from it which is explained in his thread here. Btw I'm not promoting that event and I have absolutely no affiliations with it or theunicate, I just thought this is related to the topic at hand.

So similarly, Land Area owners should be able to add some items to the loot pool on their lands and this would allow them to create some interesting events based on these. I kind of don't like the HSL model because you're giving the luckiest person even more money. This other way takes care of that for me, it allows someone to win the prize even if they didn't get lucky during the event and didn't get the biggest global/HoF.
 
Maybe these exists but in case they don't:

1. Most mobs killed. This focuses on equipment and skill and reduces luck/chance.

2. Fewest deaths during event. May help revitalize the healer/support profession.

3. Event participation token. Given to those who pre register and participate in entire event. Spent like combat tokens.

4. Maze rush. At the start of the event a giant maze is spawned with mobs inside. Winner is first one to center of maze.
 
Monria is always doing those field trips and gets special treatment by allowing Planet Partners to spawn special mobs, etc.,... why do Moon owners get this type of special treatment and not other LA owners too? Every damn thing the moon field trippers have ever experienced since day one (including but not limited to what you may call 'gambling' type loot due to PP pushing hard to force it) should be the type of stuff Mindark should bend over backwards to allow ALL LA owners to do on some scale.

----------
As for improving LA Events, etc. Just look to other games and the various pvp type fun-tionality they have vs the boring stick in the mud stuff we have here in this grindy ol game.
 
Last edited:
atomicstorm said:
Teleporters shouldnt be $7500 either. That is some sketchy shit.
Click to expand...

yep. There's NO reason there couldn't be a TP on every LA just like there is on asteroids, etc. Flying vehicles have made life easier, but there's still a lot of out of the way areas that take a while to get to, etc.

While at it, lower the damn cost of Participant content across the board. It's still up there in 2008 dial up type prices while the rest of the world's internet budget for advertising has gone down a bit.

In ancient days there was talk of allowing linking to youtube videos, etc. More internet streaming options for music and radio stations in game, etc. In today's social media world there's no reason to not allow that type of stuff.

Something else to think about is how many 'FREE' mob spawns there are vs how many unique mobs are in certain prestige LAs and other areas... maybe cull it down and give every LA owner one unique type of mob that is directly tied to that LA which cannot be found elsewhere... and perhaps for a small fee (similar to current buy a tp for the LA option type fee) LA owners could make the loot better, extremely similar to what Rocktropia tried to do with the shop instances, but failed a bit horribly at it since the cost are too high and Developers are way behind in making things happen at light speed.
 
Last edited:
thoreau said:
4. Maze rush. At the start of the event a giant maze is spawned with mobs inside. Winner is first one to center of maze.
Click to expand...

more Cyrene type Hub and instance stuff available to all LA owners would be quite neat.

At one point in time Star Trek online allowed players to create levels for instances. Currently Entropia lets Planet Parnters do something similar with instances... maybe open that up a LOT to allow LA owners to create instances they design on each LA... putting work in to something like that instead of deep token type scams would improve this game quite a bit. Focus on the community that is already here.
 
Captain Jack said:
Introduction

In consideration of the recent castration of player run events for land areas it seems now would be a good time to remind MindArk of the absolutely pathetic suite of options available for running events on land areas.

The Current System

Right now there are only two viable event formats in the in-game event format. Highest Single Loot and Most Loot, between which the former is the more popular. Yes, there are other event formats ingame but none of them are viable for running a competitive event to successfully generate substantial revenue on a land area at this time.


The Cost: On Calypso it costs 25 PED just to create an event. This is a fee which is completely lost - not refunded in any way to the land area owner or operator. There are additional fees built in which are refunded by means of tax (which has it's own myriad of problems from LA income manipulation).

A Few Inherent Flaws
This system requires all participants to register ahead of time, limits the max to 100 participants, and runs for a period of hours only. It is not scalable for weeks or months.
To get a decent turnout the land area operator must put up a prize amount which is typically sufficient to generate a net loss on the event, and these events are normally used to push publicity for the land area and a forum-run event rather than generate revenue.

A Few Proposed Solutions

Boss Mob Tokens

Here I propose that every DNA have a connected Boss Mob (or series thereof) of similar stats as can be found at the end of Dynamic Wave Events. These boss mobs would be spawnable by way of boss mob tokens, and would spawn the boss upon activation of the token on the land area which generated the token.
Tokens would be tradeable and could therefor be awarded by an LA operator to LA participants who could then spawn the boss mobs at a time of their choosing, enabling special events such as birthday hunts.
Tokens would be awarded to Land Area operators by two methods.

Fertilizer method: All fertilizer expended on a land area contributes progress toward the boss mob tokens.

Activity method: All PED cycled on the land area contributes progress toward the boss mob tokens.


Land Area Tokens and Event Vendors

Create an item similar to a Shopkeeper or Bank Vendor pad, and attach three of them to each land area (to enable creation of multiple simultaneous events).

Land Area Operator UI: This gives a land area operator a user interface allowing them to create an event. Tokens can be created here, as well as a specified drop rate which could be based on number of globals, global amount, total LA kill count, individual LA kill count, total LA PED turnover, individual PED turnover, etc.
The tokens can then be exchanged for prizes which the Operator loads into the vendor. The items loaded into the vendor would be frozen in place until redeemed.

Event Participant UI: This gives an event participant the ability to register for an event, view the information given on a particular event, and exchange tokens for prizes.


Land Grab Fortress Integration

This would give every Land Area the ability to purchase a Land Grab fortress for a reasonable price (no more than 10,000 PED).
The land area manager could then set the terms of a land grab event including but not limited to;
- Duration of management rights awarded on successful claiming of the land area.
- Soft Health caps for participants
- Soft DPS/max damage caps for participants
- Soft heal/sec or max heal caps for participants
- Restricted healing
- Restriction of buffs
etc.


Plenty of other ideas to come. I'll leave room for expansion.
Click to expand...

You had included in another post on event creation , of the ability of the land owner or event creator to drop items into the loot pool for that land area.

I found this to be an exciting idea.
 
Yes Jack, while I believe the privately organised events were becoming too much for MA, it shows the time, effort and dedication some players are willing to put in. This should be helped by MA, not hindered, so I agree MA should make some improved tools available here.

The hard part is - what could MA change/allow that adds flexibility, fun and fairness, without loss of 'control'? By control I mean elements of balancing, for example, which lie beneath the surface most of the time, but are exactly what savvy players are trying to find... and maybe gain control over themselves.
There is also the layered nature of influence to be considered - what pps can offer and how close players can be allowed to get - all below our boss MA.
Tricky, but hopefully doable, MA!
 
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