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Bring in New Players and Make Sure Old Ones Stay!

Printed From: Illyriad
Category: Miscellaneous
Forum Name: Suggestions & Game Enhancements
Forum Description: Got a great idea? A feature you'd like to see? Share it here!
URL: http://forum.illyriad.co.uk/forum_posts.asp?TID=5995
Printed Date: 17 Apr 2022 at 13:00
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com


Topic: Bring in New Players and Make Sure Old Ones Stay!
Posted By: Eons
Subject: Bring in New Players and Make Sure Old Ones Stay!
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 01:47
I propose a number of changes to Illyriad that I think may be absolutely influential to how this game grows in the coming years.

1. For every builidng in somebodies first town up until level 10, the build time and requireed resources are drastically reduce compared to now.

1a. This would make it alot easier for new players to get into the game, and it would mean more long-term players overall.

1b.Only a players first town, so players settling there first or their tenth cities can't get all of their structures up to a high level extremely quickly.

2. Change the ToS to allow players to have 3 accounts.

2a. I know what you're thinking, this might be seen as a way for blah blah etcetera etcetera..... Long story short this will give some of the older players something to do. You can't deny that it can get kind of boring with 20 cities and nothing to do, so building another account from the ground up will probably get some long term players that "got bored" to stay playing Illyriad instead of outright quitting.

2b. While this could be seen as exploitatious I think it will be better for the game in the long run, and will help to grow it as a whole.

3. Make a new server.

3a. Allow anybody to start a new 2 (or 3) accounts into a completely new Illy world, where everything is exactly the same as this world, but they can have a new, fresh start.

3b. This could not only be a good way to promote the game, (i.e. advertise a new server in this alreay great game so that new and old players can all start on an equal playing field) but it could be another break to the monotony.

Well, that's all I have so far, but this is a work in progress and I will be adding to this list as time goes on and I will be posting this entire list as a post to the forums.

Have a great day!

~Eons 

[Originally sent as a IGM to GM Rikoo under the subject "new players"




Replies:
Posted By: Eons
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 01:48
4. A reward program for the players of Illy that have been here for years(or months), I'll leave the details on this one up to you guys to figure out.


Posted By: Consul Zynot
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 01:49
Number  2- NO         3 ACCOUNTS?    no more perma-sats .


Posted By: Eons
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 02:06
*Ammendment to 2. If the possibility for three accounts were to arise, it would definitely be crucial to: greatly limit the ability of sitters, remove perma-sat accounts, or maybe even limit the number of sat accounts to one per character.


Posted By: Sheza
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 02:20
No other servers.....   new lands with differant quests and creatures ..  
and three accounts No.thanks .. please. maybe more cities .. 
rather have more space in my city . 



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If Horses don't go to Heaven when they die. then I want to go where they go.


Posted By: Wartow
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 02:38
Eons - As Rill said in GC, congrats on your enthusiasm, but the ideas here need more work.

My additional thoughts:

-- The time an account can have a sitter must come from a balance that is accrued based on the number of active days.  Everyone should get 14 days when they begin the game.  Additional days are earned for each 20 calendar days of active participation.  The most sitting days one can keep in their account is 30 days.

-- I'm not sure the answer to more active accounts is to increase the number of accounts that one can own.  I'd like to see a more complete use of magic, T3 diplos (see NoneTooBright for more info), and corresponding additional research to keep existing users busy.  

-- I'd also favor taking a cap off of the maximum number of cities that can be owned by a single player.  The increased cost for additional cities should make achieving a large number of cities difficult and dependent on a highly functioning alliance.  Speaking of alliances... how about a maximum number of cities for each alliance, rather than a maximum number of players, and make this limit based on the percentage of total players (or total cities or total population) in the game?

-- Or... an alternative to increasing the total number of cities may be to treat sov structures as mini-cities.  In addition to the graphic component on the map, and a new city view, these sov spaces can have a primary function (the structures we know them now), but additional capacity to produce resources along with a small capacity to store pretty much anything.  These sov spaces are subject to diplo and military attack and a small capacity for defense.

-- The closing of Lord of Ultima (LoU) earlier this year was a missed opportunity for Illyriad.  While Illyriad has no "end game" an opportunity for LoU migrants to get involved in an LoU-style (extended) tournament would have been a great way to get people involved.  I've been here since May and the sum of the excitement of the entire server has been Audrey and the changing of the seasons.  Again, I appreciate the slow development and long-term nature of Illyriad but more events that can be a common experience for the game has the potential to draw players closer to each other and increased loyalty to the game.

-- Just as in life... this game has economic influences on behavior... with lots of space with the introduction of the BL and plenty resources there is little motivation from an economic sense for conflict.  Perhaps a game-wide natural disaster resulting in resource scarcity, aggressive factions forcing people from where they have settled, or NPC/Audrey hits on cities or caravans, would change some behavior of the community without crushing the generally friendly atmosphere in the game?

So concludes my largely unsolicited opinions...

\/\/artow


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Posted By: Eons
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 02:53
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, I like.


Posted By: ajqtrz
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 04:09
I suspect that no matter what "barrier" you place, somebody, or a lot of somebodies will reach it.  Even in LoU you couldn't have more than 1001 cities and I would have made that in a few more months myself on one server.  Unfortunately, given the nature of a digital world, there will always be some kind of limit.  The 10 city limit (per account) is not really the problem, it is the maximum population of each city, which means the number of buildings you can build.  Again, an artificial limit. 

If you want to retain people who have reached the limits you must make the upkeep of those limits more difficult to maintain.  In other words, production should decrease over time if not attended to in some way or other by the player.  There needs to be a law of entropy built into the game.  Wars and tournaments provide this, but if the devs don't have the time to be constantly creating them, and the players would rather not fight amongst themselves, declining production and high maintenance is probably the only way.

Along these lines it appears that once you reach a certain level of pop you can generate far more res than you can use in a peaceful environment.  The storage of this abundance in hubs should be limited and costly above a certain point.  Again, this means players would have to pay more attention to their cities and thus, could not just store up huge amounts. 

As for the new server.  Why not?  A new server could be used to make changes, build excitement, and let everybody start from scratch on an "even playing field."  Like most games, if you get there late the party is already half over and somebody has already emptied the keg.  

And finally, as to accelerating the first city, I do think a faster start time, however that is done, is a good thing.  Perhaps just something as simple as having a queue of 4 until you get your first level 10 building would do the trick.  Much of the early loss of players, I think, is due to their being very small but not being able to get to their second city fast enough.  That second city really does help the desire to stay so make it easier and retain players as a side benefit.

AJ


Posted By: Rill
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 06:17
I think if you look at the attrition pattern in Illy, of course there is a lot of attrition immediately (in the first week).  But then another "wave" of attrition comes after players settle their third city.  So I don't think speeding up building is necessarily the answer for keeping folks long term.

Speeding up building without speeding up resource production would be counterproductive, I believe.  In fact, it has already been done once -- build times were substantially reduced for low-level buildings early in Illy history (before I began playing in June 2011).  However, the rate of resource production was not also increased, and that has resulted in the situation that occurs today with new players essentially being dependent on the goodwill of the community to make substantial progress early on.  It's certainly possible to progress independently (as my Newb Diaries post elsewhere demonstrates), but it is painstakingly slow.

So I would suggest rather than looking to build times, look at resource production at low levels, or if build times are decreased again at least balance this with increased resource production.


Posted By: Veneke
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 06:19
Frankly I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that somebody thought it was a good idea to allow players have two accounts. However, if you're convinced by the argument to go from 1 to 2, it strikes me as much less problematic to go from 2 to 3.

--

I can't speak much about how more established players feel, but as a new player the start of the game is pretty rough going. The problem, as I see it, is two-fold. 

First, the mechanics oblige a month-long newbie cycle, more or less. During this time you are essentially forced to beg, either from the community at large or your alliance. It's a disturbing experience, all things considered. Worse, this state of affairs seems to continue if you want to develop at any reasonable pace. I'm 3 weeks into the game, and despite having been fed res by GC, and my alliance, and I'm still around a week off the point where I can Exodus/Siege. That's really the point at which you leave the newbie phase. If there's a reason why newbie retention is so poor I'd definitely consider chalking it up to that month-long start.

Second, the community is extremely averse to warfare and confrontational politics, both of which typically drives MMOs elsewhere. For a start, it's pretty common for new people to be told not to bother with the military at all. No new player wants to hear that the most exciting mechanics available to the game can be ignored. The few times actual politics has been discussed in GC invariably results in people being told to talk about it privately or, worse, some far more established player will threaten a level of action against others that prevents conflict between two, clearly bored, smaller players/alliances.

Making stuff build faster and cheaper up until level 10 doesn't address the first issue. The longest time to completion, and res requirements is between level 15 and 20. Allowing them to hit level 10 more quickly will speed things up by a few days at most. So instead of having your second city in a week or so, you'll have it in under a week - then you'll have a long slog to Exodus/Siege/third city. In fact that switch from rapid to slow development will be made all the more apparent by the faster/cheaper building before level 10.

As for the second, I'm not sure there's any solution for that. Which is a pity really, as I'm inclined to the view that it's really this which drives most new players away.

--

A new server is a fine idea, but it'll only stay a level playing field for so long. Plenty of other MMOs with persistent worlds start new servers reasonably regularly, but just doing it once is not going to change anything in the medium to long term for new people coming to the game. It'll prove interesting to existing players, of course, but that's only one half of the problem - and given the number of people playing Illyriad, it's the smaller half.


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"May have been the losing side, still not convinced it was the wrong one." - Captain Malcolm Reynolds


Posted By: Brandmeister
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 06:49
I see it as a problem that players are told that Tenaril is precious, and that they should save it. That condemns them to a slow, lonely start in the newb ring. If Tenaril functioned like an instant exodus, it would be much better for joining a new alliance. I think it also frustrates people to spend weeks building up to a Warehouse 20, then 5 days on Exodus, only to trash it all when they move.

I have said elsewhere that the community's discouragement of hunting, small armies, diplomats, and harvesting has killed the interest of many new players. The community doesn't allow newbies to take any action against each other, even scouts, without an unnecessary level of threats and interference.

As to the larger gridlock, that's just a result of a permanent game where annihilation is possible. People are reluctant to take the risk on wars. Unfortunately that leads to boredom, and to minor conflicts attracting interest from bored big players who perceive little personal risk. To be fair, those tectonic plates have broken free twice in two years, leading to massive wars.


Posted By: Rill
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 07:04
I am in global chat a lot, and I don't see very much discouragement of hunting.  New players who are interested in hunting are often encouraged to do so and sometimes even provided with supplies.  I've written a forum post outlining how a new player can effectively build a small army and begin to hunt.

It's true that people caution against attacking other players -- but at the same time attacking other players doesn't confer a lot of benefits in Illyriad.  The resources to be gained are not that significant (and there are other ways to gain resources that are more efficient than building armies).  I play other games with similar limited benefits to attacking other players, and established players in those games also communicate that to new players, so the phenomenon is not unique to Illy.

I do think that the idea that players should attempt to build to Exodus rather than Tenariling their initial city discourages a lot of new players.  The advantages to Exodusing rather than Tenariling are extremely long-term and mostly theoretical.  Very few players will actually benefit from terraforming (as opposed to simply settling mostly on 7-food square and perhaps Exodusing their capitals later).

Terraforming is something that does provide a marginal benefit, but for the large number of players who may give up on the game because they are trying to build a level 20 warehouse before they have a properly built city, it is counterproductive.

In terms of a change that I think the community could make that would help retain players, I would say stopping with the expectation that new players should attempt to build level 20 warehouses and Exodus early in their Illy lives; this causes more problems than any admonitions about hunting.

Certainly new players can be told of the option to terraform, and players in very supportive alliances may find that this is something they want to do, but I think most new players will be better off Tenariling early and perhaps terraforming later with an alt account.  Not having the pressure to devote a bunch of resources to building a gigantic warehouse (that will then just be de-leveled) will free up those resources to do other interesting things like build armies and diplomatic units.


Edited: clarified run-on sentence.


Posted By: Wartow
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 14:38
Regarding the newbie experience...  Patience is necessary in this game and if you are unwilling to wait around for the development of your first city then how do you think things will go during the wait in between later cities (as Rill said earlier in this thread)?  One nice aspect of the slower pace at the start is that you do not need to be functional in every aspect of the game to make progress (or just survive).  I often hear new players, and had the experience myself, that there is a lot to wrap your head around in this game and not having to do it all at once is a good thing.

A potential improvement to the newbie experience would be to limit the NPC that are spawned in the newbie ring.  Keep the groups small and the animals to hunt simple.  This may limit the incentive of larger players to remain in the newbie ring other than as a recruitment tool to supply newbies with resources.

Fixing the tenaril spell...  I guess the most simple edit would be to require use of the spell prior to reaching the population necessary for a third city.  After this point the spell would be lost.  To get the newbies involved with the tenaril spell it could also be set up as a quest similar to the Temple of Reason.

The problem of resources for newbies...  I think those that feel they have to beg for resources may have made a poor decision when it comes to selecting an alliance.  I may have been lucky stumbling into MOON when I started but I found my fellow alliance mates to be available 24/7 and were always checking with me to see if I needed anything (huge shout out to Erista, Lanky, Lallia).  This experience really prepped the next wave of players to be equally generous to the littlest of newbies among us.

A new server would worry me... resources and space is already overabundant in the current game.  Encouraging people to migrate from one server to another seems counterproductive.  I think any expansion in terms of land should be with a mysterious twist.  For example, the opening of the BL should have been accompanied by new forms of travel.  Perhaps marine vessels or something like "moongates" (or dormant portals) as was the case in LoU.




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Posted By: IbnSenna
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 16:18
lol!
For example, the opening of the BL should have been accompanied by new forms of travel.  Perhaps marine vessels or something like "moongates" (or dormant portals) as was the case in LoU.
I've just been talking with peeps in ACHE about 'innovations' in Illy such as sov'ing  water squares, opening BL: both were acompanied with promises of new features that were never implemented:
  • vessels, shipchandlers-like items…
  • dormant portals linking both continent masses…
This is bad enough, but i you add that some newbie members from ACHE just lost some scouts to a 'dormant portal' that happened to be open (no relevant moon phase, seemingly!), this is kind of messy, isn't it?



Posted By: Veneke
Date Posted: 01 Dec 2014 at 18:05
In the month or so that I've been here every instance of a new player seeking advice on attempting to act on one of the more interesting mechanics of the game - ie combat/thieving etc - has been met with not so subtle redirections away from such thinking. 

Earlier today there was a relatively new player asking about thieving from a <30 pop unaligned player which had been inactive for about a week. The advice offered was to wait for 30 days, and then send a message to make certain he was no longer playing. Fortunately (I guess?) a nearby abandoned city was eventually found for the player. 

Aye, it's certainly true that it can be uneconomical to go thieving or hunting or the like. That's certainly a state of affairs not unique to Illy. However, the fact that it might not be worth it economically wasn't even a factor in the discussion that took place in GC. Maybe it's just the active community in GC, but the impression that the player-base of Illy has left on me has been one that is exceptionally timid. That has benefits, certainly, but it does run against the grain of strategy MMOs. So you can hardly expect your bog standard strategy MMO bloke to take to Illy like a duck to water when you're looking at a lengthy build-up time (even if you didn't plan on Exodusing, Siege requires a Level 20 barracks, and trading has its own issues), and a lack of PvP combat which is one of the primary draws of strategy MMOs over single player strategy games.


Originally posted by Wartow Wartow wrote:

Regarding the newbie experience...  Patience is necessary in this game and if you are unwilling to wait around for the development of your first city then how do you think things will go during the wait in between later cities (as Rill said earlier in this thread)?

There's a world of difference between requiring patience when you're literally watching a timer count down (which you are for the first week, or two), and patience when you have a wealth of options available to you - like thieves, armies etc.

Quote A potential improvement to the newbie experience would be to limit the NPC that are spawned in the newbie ring.

No, this is silly. PvE is combat which the community here seems relatively okay with - and you want to further reduce the availability and strength of the NPCs in the newbie ring?

A better solution here would be an increased NPC presence in the newbie ring, and more direction/tutorials pointing new folk in the direction of combat. As has been mentioned, combat is reasonably uneconomical so it wouldn't be a reason to stay in the ring but it would point new players towards some of the interesting options available to them from their second week onwards.

Quote The problem of resources for newbies...  I think those that feel they have to beg for resources may have made a poor decision when it comes to selecting an alliance.

What poorly managed alliance runs resources to new players without first checking if it's needed, they're active, and how much resources said player can hold? One way or another, you're begging for resources. Oh, it's not like some pauper calling you out on the street but it's begging nonetheless.


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"May have been the losing side, still not convinced it was the wrong one." - Captain Malcolm Reynolds


Posted By: Glin
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2014 at 13:15
I think it would be cool to make T3 research that allows for more squares in the city after you have reach 9 cities. Also having T3 crafted items that only longtime member with a certain tech score can open. Make large players valuable again, rather than just sitting around hoping for a war to be useful. Most of the big players are bored. keep them busy by giving them research that allows them have more plots of the certain types in their towns. Also, make it so that when the town is seiged those additional plots are not transferable.


Posted By: TheBillPN
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2014 at 17:00
2. No, I don't think so. Having three accounts would lead to an awful lot of overcrowding and stuff, especially with all the account sitting going on. I am good with two accounts, there is lots to do, and you could always get someone to attack a town of yours and de-level stuff so you can start that town over again.
 
3. A new server would be lovely, and I realise that the devs would say its too expensive or unworkable or something like that, but could we at east have some more new map space to the east, west or north.
 
 
 
What we really need is  purge of all the abandoned accounts that are very low level or have been left un-sieged for a long time, to free up space on the map. A new tourney or some more new mysteries would be good too to keep people interested. A new map section (I realise that BL only came out recently) would be brilliant to un-crowd Elgea. Finally we need live faction AI's, whenever they are coming, whenever  talk in GC we inevitably end up questioning when this may happen.
 
If I have said anything that has already been addressed, solved, or just isn't true feel free to correct and shout at me.TongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongueTongue


Posted By: Rill
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2014 at 22:52
Inactive accounts are purged regularly.  That account that seems to be sitting there (perhaps a on a city location you covet) and doing nothing for years at a time has SOMEONE logging in regularly (at least every 90 days) to check it.

I think the developers have struck the correct balance between "we need to purge the inactives" and "agghhh! my account was deleted while I was gone."  The evidence for this is that we see regular complaints on both sides.  Wink


Posted By: fronfor
Date Posted: 02 Dec 2014 at 23:17
I second the proposal for a new server. I understand the unlikelihood of allowing three accounts, but I relish opportunities to try new playing styles and a new server allows for this. With only two accounts, you only get to try two of the four races, let alone pick a favorite!

Edit: And I agree so much with Veneke's post you don't even know.


Posted By: Wartow
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2014 at 01:05
My comment regarding NPCs in the newbie ring was a call to reduce the size of each NPC party present.  I don't believe many newbies are going to be able to hunt anything in numbers greater than Many (so those Gatherings, Hordes, Throngs, Hosts are off the table early in the military and hunting experience).  Also limiting the types of animals present to simple wild dogs, wolves, bears, would further encourage developing players to depart the newbie ring to find other regions with more diverse flora and fauna useful for crafting.  Most experienced players wouldn't stay in an area with so little to offer other than as a location to feed newbies or potential new recruits for an alliance.

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Posted By: Brandmeister
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2014 at 01:21
The number and size of alliances in the ring would imply that there are more perceived benefits to staying there than just interesting hunting.


Posted By: Rill
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2014 at 02:32
It could also say something about the long-term nature of the game and the difficulty of moving cities, Brand.  A lot of the larger alliances that have a significant presence in the center of the map have been there since before Exodus was possible.  (And before the wildlife had its current characteristics and before harvesting was introduced.)

Whether alliances with cities in those locations would choose to put them there if they were to start fresh, given current conditions, is another question.


Posted By: Glin
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2014 at 03:16
lol, it would be kinda funny if the devs devised a random city sling shot. Cities just up and move somewhere else (keeping their plot types, ofcourse)


Posted By: Dragonwort
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2014 at 13:50
For the most part, what I see is, are a number of ex-LoU players lamenting the lack of daily warfare. This and other differences between Lou and Illy are the very features I extol.

Another LoU, Evony, etc. clone is NOT needed. It is wonderful to retire and not worry about which cities will have been attacked when you awaken. Illy is not for warriors only....you can actually exist and flourish here as a trader, craftsman,etc.

Of course, Illy can be improved..I'm too new to sing the "boredom blues" and my point of view is from a training alliance but some ideas to appease the long time players:

1. Have more tournaments, more often....both alliance wide and individual player tournaments.

2. Tired of seeing the same names in the winner's circle? Abolish the perma- sits. I'm no IT person but isn't it possible to trigger and instant city abandonment if the free prestige isn't taken by an account in 90 days? Of course, this won't stop the alliances who have players quit and leave their sign in and password(cheating); but it's a start.

AND for the newer players:

1. It takes a lot of time and effort to get the first two cities upgraded and moved to wherever you want them. However, this gives the newbie a taste of what to expect in Illyriad. I don't believe this game is for most pre-pubescents and was created for a more mature, more patient audience.

2. I do agree it is disheartening to build up your warehouse to level 20 for exodus research, only to have it de-leveled when you use exodus.

3. Begging for resources....this is what I send our newbies when they have a problem asking..


To Res or NOT to Res

Hothlings I offer a warm salutation
and also a needed explanation
of the alliance resource situation
in hopes of building a stronger nation
(it actually sounded worse when I rapped it...lol..)

JUST THE FACTS:
Fully researched/upgraded storage is 767,508...
Fully researched/upgraded market is 70 Caravans
A Huge/Sprawling City without much Sovereignty claim can produce over 15K/hr of basic resources
One Safari of 70 Caravans can ship 52500 each of the four basic resources

These are the numbers for ONE city. Veteran players may have ten cities, ten more for their alternate, and can be sitting for two more players for a possible total of forty cities from which to draw resources. Once a city is leveled up, the resources are used for production and sovereignty upkeep. Generally the resource storages are in the red each morning (overfilled) and all that res is just disappearing into cyberspace to be lost forever.

So, while trying to be self sufficient and not ask for help with resources is admirable; it is also totally unnecessary early game.....YOU WON'T BE DEPRIVING ANYBODY...The only limitation is the turn-around time for the caravans... AND the faster you grow the better for you and the alliance.....something to consider....    Dragonwort

So while some may consider it "begging" to ask for resources; I think it is selfish and irresponsible to NOT ask.

Basically, Illyriad is an alternate universe where you are able to engage in activities unavailable in Real Life....it is also a sandbox game and,  within a few restraints, can be played any way you wish to play. Just because there is no endgame presented to you doesn't mean you can't create your own goals and pursue them. A little imagination and "outside the box" thinking goes a long way in Illyriad.Wink My two cents... Big smile Dragonwort


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Just another wrench in the works..


Posted By: Brandmeister
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2014 at 16:03
It would be better if Exodus required a Warehouse 12. That would resolve a lot of pointless building and immediate loss for new players.


Posted By: Angrim
Date Posted: 03 Dec 2014 at 23:42
is anyone else chuckling that BL finally opened and already we have new posts asking for more space/an even playing field/etc.?


Posted By: Rill
Date Posted: 04 Dec 2014 at 00:43
Until I have my own continent without all of this riffraff, clearly there is not enough space.

Wink


Posted By: Albatross
Date Posted: 04 Dec 2014 at 11:09
Players want more.
If everyone gets more, they'll still want more.
Let's look at that: if everyone gets more, does it improve the game?

Perhaps not; that would just shift the limiting factor onto some other resource: free time. That would be undesirable; the point of a game like this is to enable stuff to be done, without the real-life effort of doing it (without too much 'grind'). It needs to be accessible by all who play it, not just those who have many hours per day to spend on Illyriad.

So my view is that upping limits, adding vans, maps, towns, town plots, and so on, only serves to alienate those who don't have a lot of free time. The advantage would then be with the grinders.

I believe that the greatest potential of this game is the fact that it has (soft) limits, and you have to commit to specialise in order to hit only a few of those limits. Indeed you can push those limits a bit further with extraordinary resource commitment. the flexibility exists to use other towns resources to support a very specialized town.

But you don't have the resources to be good at more than a few things at a time. The best Illyriad gameplay thrives on short, potent shocks, from carefully-prepared towns.


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Posted By: Sheza
Date Posted: 04 Dec 2014 at 14:34
Excellent post Thumbs Up

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If Horses don't go to Heaven when they die. then I want to go where they go.


Posted By: Duff Doppelganger
Date Posted: 05 Dec 2014 at 04:42
i got bored reading and jumped straight to the end. but ...i think it would have been nice to start my town with a higher level of res production. this would help new players to become self sufficient earlier, and the build times wouldn't bother so much. And the tav! i can't afford scouts that early! GC is telling me to set my taxes at 1% and do tav quests for extra res! how about if you get boy scouts instead? they come with the tav, and don't cost gold, just 1 sandwich per hour? and maybe little mule wagons too? for the other tav quests. that way i could use my vans for harvesting and buying res at the hub.


Posted By: Sheza
Date Posted: 15 Dec 2014 at 18:53
We want people to come and stay.. 
Give us more quests . different and harder 
Make the gems and herbs we gather do something for us 
or worth something .  
More animals to hunt.  Saber tooth tiger .. 
coral snakes have never left any parts for me 
and the brains are wanted in hubs.
Night Diamonds ?  is there such a thing 
I been here since 2012 and never seen or heard of anyone having one. 
Herbs to give my Commander a boost even if only 12 hours  
or troops march bit faster.. 
Something. 


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If Horses don't go to Heaven when they die. then I want to go where they go.



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