A few serious concerns
-
Full disclaimer, I know that this game has it's core group who will defend the developers choices regardless, but as someone who wants the game to actually succeed, acceptance isn't a solution.
Now, I'm someone who has stuck with this game for a very long time, and I've noticed the same core issues recited by new (now former) players. The woes of these players cannot simply be chalked up as "But that's the developers view", or "I like it, therefore it's fine", because ignoring legitimate complaints will undoubtedly lead to a game with higher attrition than onboarding. Though most games can function with a minimal, dedicated player base, this game, with it's "player driven economy", cannot be feasible without a growing community and the changes driven by them.
The following are common complaints that I have read:
- The time it takes to move past primitive gear, and the lack of a "how" has caused many players to leave. There is simply too much BS in the way of producing higher tiered gear than primitive when you don't know what the hell is going on, and the tedium to make work stations is a turn off.
Potential solution: allow access to all crafting stations in starter cities, but maintain the gold cost. Remove the gold cost when crafting in your own plot, or untaxed city. Remove the refining time for leather, wood, metal, etc.
- The heavy material tedium. Is harvesting heavy materials supposed to be a full time job? There is very little incentive other than to make crafting stations, or level up your crafting (which does next to nothing), and the system itself just seems tedious and unenjoyable. This GAME should not feel like a full time job, with all it's monotony and BS.
Potential solution: remove heavy materials and replace them with normal materials which fit into your inventory space. This would make crafting, building, collecting in general, MUCH more enjoyable and less time consuming, making time for other more entertaining elements of the game.
- PVE combat. With the latest update, PVE combat has become more prohibited to solo players. The solution of "just play with others" is not attractive to many players, who would rather play a different game entirely than be forced to work with others.
Potential solution: Decreases in either mob health, damage, or both, to produce a more entertaining game for solo players. Maintain the group requirement through difficulty for legendary creatures, pvp forts, sieges, and maybe future "raid" type instances.
- PVP. The real issue with an abundance of red players is the lack of every other player to prevent this, thus bored players who have completed everything turn against players who have not.
Potential solution: listen to players grievances and try to make a game which will attract more than a niche audience. More blue/neutral players, or even reds from different groups, will help reduce the amount of suffering by PVE players.
- Introduce AI merchants to sell to and buy from, ensuring a base cost of goods and a means of generating income from other sources, or sinking gold into, let's say, an "extract vendor", who sells extracts at a relatively high cost. I know this one is a potential solution to an unlisted problem, but most successful RPGs have similar elements, and I want this game to be successful.
Potential solution: read above.
- Potions. Potions seem to be a bit off... they are relatively expensive and tedious to produce, and don't last that long.
Potential solution: make the potion effects permanent until the player enters a downed state. Increase the cost or reduce the amount of potions created to compensate. This may also dissuade red players, as they stand to lose more without extra gain.
I hope the devs give these an actual read through, as I thoroughly believe these changes would make the game more palatable for newer players, and would not effect the current player base much at all.
TL;DR
More players = better economy and game atmosphere. Some ideas for the game which are too niche should be done away with in favor or increasing the player count.
Cheers,
Beckfast
-
The next patch coming (the one for the free weekend) is making the game more solo friendly.
-
i agree with most of it. 90% is solid.
-
@Mod_Spoletta Axe still can't quickly defeat ogre, cryomage can't freeze ogre, how can physical and magical abilities be increased to 100%
-
The physical power bonus and magical power bonus can't go over 90%.
-
@Mod_Spoletta Isn't the maximum value 100%, well, so how do you increase that value?
-
@BECKFAST I don't agree with most of your suggestions. I came to play this game only because open world PVP in end game and that game is forcing you to play with others (mobs are hard for solo to kill). There are like 95% other MMO games that are solo friendly, without open world PVP... why someone would play Fractured if there are AAA ARPG games out there solo friendly and PVE focused. That's my point of view.
-
Hmm... Now my opinion may be bit mixed but well. On one hand I quite expected some of those concerns on the other side, completely changing "developers view" doesn't seem like good solution either. So I'm kinda against making Fractured yet another MMo. So maybe instead on going on FULL BACK on some points... All that is needed is some smaller tweaks or changes?
For example:
- It is quite hard to agree with it. Prices of standard gear on market are rather low. Even if You hunt only low level enemies or chests it really isn't much of a problem there. And actually is a thing to make economy more lively. For if it was so easy to craft all the gear... Who would even buy it?
I get thou the difference in effort to between crafting decent gear and best ones (for example hardwood and ironwood Longbow lets say +4) is actually really big difference in effort while change in stats doesn't seems to be quite impressive. But there comes small problem with scaling. If change was much bigger PvP once again would back to 5 sec duels of "Who attacked first". About paying in gold for items You crafted in house. I understand it was an attempt to stabilize prices a bit, but... Well I would rather see NPC to who You can sell items at fixed prices than this. Or any other more organic one, than paying gold to use Your own workshop. This looks even worse in armors I think, where there are only two options really: Basic armor for You and expensive one with actual bonuses. But instead of changing maybe adding more steps in between would be better? I get that it may create situation when You feel like You can do nothing simply because You don't have good enough gear but hey... One it is the point of putting much work into getting the best gear, second it still can be tweaked by reducing/increasing its durability.
- Understandable. But making this system work like it works in any other game is really the point? Maybe instead there should be more options of getting heavy materials You need? Of course if there were more players most likely it would naturally happen that some would offer heavy materials delivery, but for now maybe it would be good to add some other system that provides even limited/expensive options instead of reworking whole system?
Rest? Yeah... if there was simply more things to do solo, while other parts of game still forced You to find even a temporal group it would be better for all. Cannot disagree. For this I feel game just need more overall content in all the phases (maybe outside of very beginning, there seems to be enough). But here were back to what seems like the one of biggest obstacles so far. How to do that quick with limited resources?
