Nodes are meant to solve the problem of singular player sinks in the world, and provide some new mechanics.
But the importance of player spread can be multiplied and more FUN than Planned.I'd like something more interesting like a warfront around big threats in the world to keep them contained/ at bay and enemies popping up everywhere that are great at surviving long-term;
ambushing and roaming like living entities and groups;
hunting to kill;
stealing resources;
et cetera;
to give the spread of players more purpose and reward initiative in a non-gimmicky non-TOKEN non-fake way. . .
Trying to take over things, competing with the players. . . . to the point where entire sections of the world where there used to be Nodes may be 'Owned' by NPCs. They would breed over time. . . set up fortifications. Large weapons such as Ballistas, Cannons, et cetera. . .
A guarded Territory.
ADD a Failstate to Servers. Let Players fail. I have BALLS GOD DAMN IT I DON'T NEED THIS SAFE SHIT.
Let
Death be
PUNISHING.
Let Strategy BUILD the WORLD and TURN entire 'WARS'.
With a punishing game you can balance encounters & systems and worry less about power accelerating and scaling out of control.
Those PUNISHED will Organize or struggle to get their Basics down.
Those Winning will Lead (or fuck around).
Low Character Progression and High enemy INTELLIGENCE will BALANCE and more importantly be FUN.
Winning servers may be opened back up a year(s) later as part of an expansion OR THE EXPANSION SWOOPS IN ONE DAY AND WRECKS SHIT UP without 'pausing' the Won Servers.
LOST servers Shutdown and RESET.
NEW servers have Low Max-Logged-In-Chars, Max 1-Char-per-Account, and Max 1-Account-per-Server.
Especially at START. . . 8k char & 8k accounts, gradually up to 15k chars & 25k accounts after a month.
Legacies may be written and available online similar to how Dwarf Fortress has Legacy mode to see the history of the world. This is a History of the World
This may only be available after the server 'wins' or 'loses'.
Player video of the time may be included with the Legacy pulled from Youtube or part of some server-client that collects video/pictures of the server occasionally and based on 'Importance'. Events/ Interactions may be catalogued in great Detail.
DEMOGRAPHICS and "CAN I WIN?" CONCERNS
SERVER DEMOGRAPHICS
PROMPT THE ACCOUNT USER:
CHOOSE: EXPECTED PLAYTIME FOR ROUGH BALANCING.
Easy Fix to: Ratio of NOLIFERS to 4 WIFEs 12 KIDS FAMILY MEN.
CHOOSE: [PvP, PvE, PvX] Preference?
Easy Fix to: RATIO OF [KILLKILL, HELPME, HAVEFUN] -ers.
Type in Friends Account Name --> You can Join their Server. But if you fuck up the RATIO the Server will be MODIFIED.
Too many PvE? Increase PvE Threats. Make them smarter. Make them more aggressive.
Too many PvP? You sure? That happens? Really? ok. Game requires cooperation anyway so who cares. It shouldn't be a problem since PvP players are basically PvX for the most part.
Too many PvX? You will all become PvX, in Time.
Systems may be
updated; some visuals and audio changed; improvements to dogshit
for all Phases of the Game; but '
new story/world progression' would be locked behind
progression of the server.
I think a 3 - 9 month timescale on Winning would be pretty work/life/fun balanced. This will be based on the average ratio range of NOLIFERs to 12 WIVES 4 KIDS FAMILY MEN .\
Stagnation is a huge issue and simply having a Failstate to the game would contribute to making a fun high friction game. HIGH DYNAMIC. Cool.
"But the lifers! The grinders! I have 1 hour a day! I'll be IRRELEVANT!!"
If players are need all over, contributing all over to many things, you are man power and wars need manpower.
Economies need manpower.
My suggestion is pretty dogshit if one person can craft 1, 800 Adamantium Swords in an hour after putting in 500hrs to reach that Crafting Level.
If someone can make
1 unsharpened adamantium sword in an hour, being a
nearly unbreakable sword doesn't make it magically slice Dragon Scale or Stone like Butter sharpened or not, and
spending all your time on Crafting is sometimes detrimental to the ServerBECAUSE YOU HAVE TO STRATEGIZE TO WIN, NOT GRIND but hey it can be great. . .
And often you need to focus on other things just to get to the point where you're Crafting, such as Gathering or Fighting for Resources. . . .
then it's All Good. Epic, even. . .
If it always takes MANPOWER to do something; and Individual SKILL on Execution! Not that Token Skill either; a Higher standard of FUN TO DO rather than Arbitrary ####s and MISSING FUNCTIONALITY.
then no matter how long you play the game you can be useful.
With Gear not the be all end all of winning and survival. . . steel is steel of various grades, adamantium is good but a 900 ft Dragon doesn't care about scratches and won't let you near it without you dying.
PICK YOUR BATTLES WISELY
and
NOT EVERYTHING IS MEANT TO BE KILLED
Killing all the Elephants may piss off the Dragon; since it is its Food Source. Hence the Node is attacked. Instead of having to Kill to Survive, you may need to simply BREED more Elephants or wait until the Dragon finds another Food source.... Seafood?
Maybe the world is populated by all kinds of Monsters and Dinosaurs you should not Mess With. . . and Understand the Feeding Habits and Territory of.
"But the lifers! The grinders! I want to fight! They're too strong! Everything is Too STRONG!"
Many things should be done in groups.
In terms of other players though. . .
If power scaling is more realistic it's the same thing as with econ; everyone is needed.
If combat has many realistic mechanics it's the same thing as with econ; everyone is needed and your skill and group often matters more than character progression.
But
softlock that shit. ~
Minute, ~
Hourly,
Daily and
Weekly softlock.
Intermittent softlocking that
follows the
pattern of
EXHAUSTION. Softlock off-class gains like a mofo.
Game shouldn't be a huge range of underpowered or overpowered Players; and
softlocking helps balance everything to an
EXTREME degree.
You still have the guy with a
100 lb greatsword but if there's
friendly fire
then he has a NICHE in Groups.
He's been GRINDING and deserves his gains! You can't get to PHASE 2 without him!
And he is a completely different fighter with completely different consequences for Combat Encounters compared to a ROGUE or RANGER.
COMPLETELY UNIQUE.
Let SOFTLOCKS determine CLASS. Attributes and Skill make up a character or person both; it's realistic and practically designs itself!
Ranger gets softlocked sooner than a Fighter on Strength Growth. . . . but Ranger gets softlocked later than a Fighter on Agility and Bow Skill Growth.
Rogue gets softlocked sooner than a Ranger on Stamina and Bow Skill Growth. . . . but gets softlocked later than a Ranger on Agility and . . . Dagger Skill Growth.
It's a predictable pattern and merely needs to be TUNED and ELABORATED Upon.
For
3x the weekly gains of someone putting in ->
30 minutes 5 days a week or so, put in
4 hours 7 days a week or so.
But nothing gets done if EVERYONE puts in 30 minutes because then your server LOSES! DEAD!
BECAUSE THE SERVER IS ALIVE AND TRYING TO FUCK SHIT UP!
You can still get stuff done without your Character Progressing. You still make stuff; do stuff; avoid stuff; help or hinder; be productive or deconstructive. . . . sabotage or guard. . . or simply improve your skill, maybe have some Fun eh?
Point of the game isn't the grind; that guy putting in 4 hours should be Defending the Realm or whatever Grief he wishes to cause other players. I can imagine all the drama to read up on and watch videos of already.
CONCERNS???
"But I just want to chill!"
You can still sit in one spot and do something easy.
Just hang out in the Node and vote for the most competent person. Go to the
Secured Resource Collection Zones and put in an hour while talking over VOIP if ya feel like it.
Run to safety when the Gnolls attack;
glance back and see your friend die and barely escape (or be the dead guy lol). Hope the Guards can take care of it.Guards and anyone. . . should be able to get fucking XP from DOING or 'Training' rather than just Kills or some arbitrary "Quest" XP (jfc).Some people just wanting to Guard the Gatherers will want to play the 'Training Mini-game' while not doing much or Dueling. . . whatever.
There's plenty of room for low-effort and high-effort play if you make it.