The Plan So Far (in rough)
 

Having undergone further discussions with the Development Team and Master Storm, i'd say that most (if not all) of us are in agreement as to what we should be looking to create and what approach we should take in order to build it.

I would like to keep things rough for the time being but perhaps further elaborate on each of the following steps individually at a later point in time.
I just wanted something that was written down in basic and i'd like to be public with our intentions.
Keep in mind that we are not strictly limited to these ideas,
there is likely to be ongoing thought towards such aspects as guild rivalry/factions, sparring/pking, overworld field games, competitions for example.

1. Scrap the current server, it's systems, and start afresh from the ground up.
I don't believe there is any disagreement that the foundations right now make it hard/impossible to focus on the long term, while there has been work and changes done towards it over the years it's never really yielded much feeling of progress anyway,
some of the systems are exceptionally messy and it's not a matter of being able to unplug them and plug something else in, and the fact that they're only understood by a few of us is a large problem and concern in itself.

2. Shrink the Overworld, start with the Core Graal City levels, and gradually expand outwards towards a plan in a strategic manner at a later point in time.
One of the main problems with the current server is the sheer quantity of empty levels on the Overworld.

It's easy to say that we should therefore just fill the Overworld with content to make use of the space, but it's an unrealistic thing to put into practise with an overworld that was built unstrategically, or with some areas that have no plot.

Now I admit exploration is an aspect of the game but I believe it is driven by the hope of discovering something of interest or benefit that you wouldn't otherwise discover.

This is why I believe that when designing an Overworld it is important to take "Content Density" into consideration, you can have alot of content overall, but if it is spread around a huge space that still generates the feeling of emptyness and causes the problem of seperating players, also nobody likes spending too a long time travelling from place to place.

On the other hand, even with a relatively small Overworld you can create the feeling that it is complete, however players would be kept knitted much more tightly together, which is more likely to encourage some of the basic things like PKing.

This would also leave us the room to expand outwards and design each specific area with care, perhaps strategically based around what Quest is located there.

3. Work towards a dynamic economy.
One which covers extraction of natural resources, manufacture and goods production, markets and services.
it would take into consideration supply and demand, where basically no resource would be infinitely available, mass extraction of a resource would gradually lower it's availability, while possibly increasing the availability of related resources.

There would also be more control on currency itself,
we're thinking a limit on the amount of Gelat that can be held by players,
such as wallets, however upgradable.
Also there would not be a bank deposit/withdrawal system implemented until there's an Economy structure in place.

4. A more professional appearing and abstracted events system from the ground up.
One system which allows us to maintain control of all Events from a single script.
It would incorperate automatic summoning, and greater statistical records (wins, losses, etc), there would also be a system designed specifically for making it easier and saving time to create more team based events.

With this plan, how do you expect the server to ever reach the Classic tab again with the current PWA Rules and Tab Requirements?

Sounds cool, would be nice with some shops where you can buy items like maybe lvl 2 sword, boomerang ect and hp/mana pots for fancy adventures xD

We're not looking to get back on the Classic Tab merely for the sake of being back on the Classic Tab.
We're looking at getting the basic core foundations that are expected of any server in place first, but in a manner which allows subsequent content-specific Development to be easier and time effective, however organised and towards a plot/theme.

I think that the players should be concerned about when they can actually play the server again and your post suggests that you believe you'll get away with releasing this as a starting point. This is pretty basic stuff that any server or development team could generate, which is disappointing. From your plan it would also seem that Classic isn't going in any kind of unique direction, and instead is heading for an itemcentricity style of gameplay to retain players and this is offered elsewhere. I just don't see how you're going to get away with offering things that already exist tenfold, or downsizing to the point where there is nothing offered that would suggest it is a unique server other than the servers name, other servers don't get that kind of ease.

@ rufus

I assume this is the "first step" plan more than the "final" plan to help the server correct itself. Once these steps are implemented, I assume, we will begin to see more large-scale projects that have a significant positive impact on classic.

As for the plan itself, it looks pretty solid.

This is more like a basic structure of how Classic could potentially be like. Nothing seems concrete or finalized yet. It might be a good stepping stone for Classic if the content made actually is worthwhile enough.

I have yet to see a public server with a decent quest line and relevant items, wrapped in with a sound pking/sparring community. No I do not care about new Delteria.

That plan is not loyal to classic at all. I'm incredibly disappointed.

Keep in mind that this is only a very basic guideline,
one that is far from the finished article,
and that there are countless specific ideas towards content which are however yet to be phased out as part of a bigger picture.

Now I admit I think it is more important that we focus on what we can offer rather than what the other servers already offer, but doesn't mean to say it is being ignored.

Having said that,
we already have specific instructions on what we are required to do in order to get back on the Classic Tab,
it's just not our primary goal.

There is no reason that Old Levels, Quests and ideas cannot be re-used,
just it should not be for the sake of them being old.
We have to keep up with a degree of standards but more importantly piece Quests together in a cohesive manner.

wow thank god i quit

Wierd. I was about to say the same thing. Thank god you quit.

I'm talking about taking away the ability to chop bushes to get bombs, arrows, rupees, etc.

This server, this game, is based on Zelda. The more Zelda things you take away, the less Zelda-ish it becomes. Please don't lose sight of the Zelda: LTTP inspiration.

Well,
if bushes didn't drop items,
there wouldn't be any point at all for having bushes would there?
So ofcourse it shouldn't be scrapped entirely,
but as the saying goes......
money doesn't grow on trees.

Just in bushes.

The bush probabilities as they are /suck/ anyway. I mean... it's your only source of reliable income (other than PKing, I guess, which isn't practical when no one's around, and that's just moving rupees anyway), yet it rarely drops rupees to begin with and when it does it doesn't drop reds anymore. Anyway, back on topic:

Sure, /but/, there's so freaking much /history/ in those few places, and even what didn't happen there is tied to it... I mean, when I think of Graal /as a whole/, the area in what's currently named graalcity_outside_*.nw are what come to mind. If you drop those, it's not only not Classic, but in my mind it's only barely /Graal/.

History is Classic's one resource that can't be replaced by other servers: use it! Sweeping redesigns of the overworld have happened before, after all... The Joint used to look like it was pretty much dropped in place of Link's house in LttP. Now the only thing like that at all is that you go south to the swamp.