some ideas I have to improve player presence and participation

[-HateD-]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

I had this idea a while ago but remove half of the useless guns that no one uses and make a perfectly balanced set of 15-20 guns, take away the "free" part and make the most expensive gun per say; $100,000

I realised that it would never work because eventually William would find the best "set" of weapons and everyone would copy him just like the usually do, causing gun balances to happen every 5 minutes.

Without a doubt balancing would be hard. AA12 and Flak outclass any other raid weapon while others argue between the .05 freeze guns as the best spar weapons. I think that this system would provide the best experience for new players and encourage pking

[Kohola_KinG]

As you can see staff do not get involved in these discussions, nothing will ever be done. Hopeless server until they actually get involved and listen to their community.

[Fiberwyre_P2P]

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but what keeps people playing if it just becomes a 2D CoD?
Even CoD changes it up a little every year. New maps, new guns, new killstreaks, new perks, etc.
Once all the weapons are free/reasonably-priced and completely balanced, where do we go from there?

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Kohola_KinG

As you can see staff do not get involved in these discussions, nothing will ever be done. Hopeless server until they actually get involved and listen to their community.

I remember being on a functional staff team, one that actually monitored the discussions on the official and unofficial forums, someone will take over soon enough and will assemble a team quite like the team I was on but until then you have a valid statement. I don't doubt that some staff members do monitor the threads, they just choose not to reply or just shrug what is said off, mainly due to the threads being discussed by people who either; no longer play, are banned or are classed as; "oldbie" (Being an oldbie has a biased opinion on things, you have seen everything pass before you and just want things to go back to what they were when they were successful, you need to try to acquire some sort of mid-par, unbiased opinion that satisfies the new and old players)

like I said though, the whole; "15 weapons, make them all easily obtainable" idea won't ever really work out, due to the many faults in the community. I feel like Era could grow but the people who play it are the reason it is being held back.

[Godzilla]

Originally Posted by Fiberwyre_P2P

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but what keeps people playing if it just becomes a 2D CoD?
Even CoD changes it up a little every year. New maps, new guns, new killstreaks, new perks, etc.
Once all the weapons are free/reasonably-priced and completely balanced, where do we go from there?

I also feel like a lot of people actually play Era just because of the friends they have made on the game, making it a "2D CoD" might discourage those players to continue to play, I honestly don't think we will ever find the perfect balance but we can all hope for it.

Era PC has potential, real potential, It's just down to SOMEONE coming along and making that potential content existent.

[Frankie]

new players don't stand a damn chance on this server. this is probably one of the worst non-newbie friendly games I have ever experienced. I don't understand how any administration team could ever expect to attract new players. everything caters to players who have a viable armory and a lot of cash. it's a broken system.

[Tim_Rocks]

[Scoper]

Originally Posted by Godzilla

I don't doubt that some staff members do monitor the threads, they just choose not to reply or just shrug what is said off, mainly due to the threads being discussed by people who either; no longer play, are banned or are classed as; "oldbie"

I, and quite a few of the staff I know, frequent the forum daily or bi-daily. Personally, my reasons for not replying in every single thread are a mix and match of the following:

1. I don't think there's a problem in the thread I'm reading
2. As you said, the only people replying are retired people or banned people or oldbies that have a singular, non-malleable mindset. While these people might have good ideas once in a while, they're not the customer base we're supposed to be catering to. Specifically in the case of banned people, I believe that when they became banned, they lost their right to an opinion about how Era should be.
3. I have no experience on the subject being discussed. For example, the gun stats thread, or any thread that degenerates to gunstats (they all do) -- I own 3 guns, and will probably never own another. I just ban people.
4. The topic has been derailed or degenerated into a flame war. Also every thread.
5. My last point, and this one's the kicker IMO -- It appears that about 99.99% of people here are incapable of actual discussion, and instead just push their opinion until the thread dies. You know the only person I can ever remember saying 'oh right, I see your point and I'm wrong here'? Frankie.Not saying I'm above this, either. I'm often set in my ways. But, knowing that, why bother arguing? I know what road it goes down

It's just a waste of time. Were it only my not having expert experience on a subject, I might still venture an opinion. As it stands now, every thread is usually a composite of at least 4 of those things I mentioned.
Also Tim. God damn you all for encouraging Tim

[Tim_Rocks]

Originally Posted by Scoper

Also Tim. God damn you all for encouraging Tim

I just finished the spar that I've been working on. It supports 2vs2 players, also less if you want it to. Hopefully that should get people in the mood to spar. It doesn't record deaths!

[Frankie]

I understand that I'm an oldbie, but I was staff so many times throughout the years that I lost touch with all of my genuine items and cash. returning to the server, I feel like I'm a new player. I am at a severe disadvantage and I hold no chance against most people. I tried making money, I tried joining a gang, and I tried raiding. it was just frustrating, not enjoyable, and overall a waste of my time.

keep in mind I have extensive experience with this game. 11 years of experience. just imagine what it's like for someone who's never played this game before. then they're expected to lay out $33 for 3 months of gold?? lets be real here. that's not happening. I feel like the only "new" player count this server experiences is people like me who played before in the past that return. maybe you'll get people who migrate from the mobile servers to the PC client but that probably doesn't last very long.

my ideas aren't "lol chrisz era best era just upload backups from 2003 " I see potential in this game and I really would like to see it thrive.

Originally Posted by Scoper

they're not the customer base we're supposed to be catering to.

which I think is a problem. it seems like the only goal is to keep already active players on the server happy. that's perfectly fine, but there's no balance of trying to attract new players. the only way to accomplish this is to redesign the structure of the game. get rid of the ridiculous advantage curve. put everyone on an even playing field where skill will be a lot more apparent. that's what I think will truly save this server.

[-HateD-]

Originally Posted by Frankie

the only way to accomplish this is to redesign the structure of the game. get rid of the ridiculous advantage curve. put everyone on an even playing field where skill will be a lot more apparent. that's what I think will truly save this server.

Reset change gun system encourage all pk/activity

[Supaman771]

Originally Posted by Frankie

I understand that I'm an oldbie ... it was just frustrating, not enjoyable, and overall a waste of my time.

Even having every item you could possibly 'need' to be successful on Era, I feel this way every couple of hours...
Having fun in events? ET kicks you randomly and no one cares, even when you're motha' fkin' Rogue. (Rykuz still owes me 2ec)
Having a good raid? Someone drops a dozen nukes and entire gangs start strapping on armor... One guy dared use an elixir to outplay you? Prepare your posterior for an hour of killing everyone twice-over.

Point is, that feeling doesn't exactly change. I've been [wrongly] reset like three times, and despite getting restored whenever the next management rolls around, the funnest times I've had recently were when I had to mine for a new M1 and use just that to try and compete.

Originally Posted by Frankie

then they're expected to lay out $33 for 3 months of gold?? lets be real here. that's not happening.

This number made me confused myself cause it seemed a bit high. Checked around:

The most expensive route to subscribing yourself is SMS. But that doesn't work in the US for quite some time idk why but okay, the second most expensive route is buying from SuperRewards anything under the $30 option (then it gets cheaper than the graalonline.com packages).

This is $5 for 400 gelats, which is 1.33 months of gold. You would not only get 3, but 4 months of gold for $15. I'm sure the chubbies could take a couple toppings off their pizza one night and get gold for 1/3 of the year.

Or you could even get free subscriptions by doing the offers, but who wants viruses and stuff? I do recall a friend adding a virtual machine and just installing every possible thing he could, then reset it or whatever. He got enough gelats for like 4 years in a couple hours.

Originally Posted by Frankie

there's no balance of trying to attract new players. the only way to accomplish this is to redesign the structure of the game. get rid of the ridiculous advantage curve. put everyone on an even playing field where skill will be a lot more apparent. that's what I think will truly save this server.

Oh right, I see your point and I'm wrong here.
#agreed

[Frankie]

This number made me confused myself cause it seemed a bit high. Checked around:

The most expensive route to subscribing yourself is SMS. But that doesn't work in the US for quite some time idk why but okay, the second most expensive route is buying from SuperRewards anything under the $30 option (then it gets cheaper than the graalonline.com packages).

This is $5 for 400 gelats, which is 1.33 months of gold. You would not only get 3, but 4 months of gold for $15. I'm sure the chubbies could take a couple toppings off their pizza one night and get gold for 1/3 of the year.

Or you could even get free subscriptions by doing the offers, but who wants viruses and stuff? I do recall a friend adding a virtual machine and just installing every possible thing he could, then reset it or whatever. He got enough gelats for like 4 years in a couple hours.

for some reason I thought it was 800 gelats per month of gold. I was wrong.

$33 for 8 months isn't bad at all. it's poor marketing though because advertising something as $33 for 8 months isn't as effective as $4 a month (in my opinion)

I was going by what's on the graal online website. the least amount of gelats you can purchase is 2400 for $33. if you think about it from a new player's perspective, the superrewards website looks a bit sketchy if you didn't know any better considering there's no official affiliation on the superrewards website with graal online. so their first impression is a $33 upfront fee which may turn a lot of potential customers away from the game.

[bloodykiller]

event spamming killed raids. there should only be non-pk events when raids are going on and pk events the rest of the time. how many races and events like chance or lucky grab are there?

[Frankie]

Originally Posted by bloodykiller

event spamming killed raids. there should only be non-pk events when raids are going on and pk events the rest of the time. how many races and events like chance or lucky grab are there?

very good point. events do take activity away from other aspects of the game.

but lets face it, raiding is another thing that needs to be improved. just refer to rogue's post about how frustrating it can be to raid. they generally do not last very long and it's easier for people to give up than to deal with lame weapons and tactics.

I tried raiding the other day and got mauled by two people with gatling guns shooting over the wall completely flooding me with bullets. at that point I stop wasting my time and do something else or play a different game I can actually enjoy. this is the type of attitude that a lot of other players probably have too.

make people want to raid over playing events.

I feel like raiding is forced onto people because it's been such a staple part of game play forever. the fact is that it sucks. if we have to stop ETs from hosting events during raids because it will take away from raid activity, that raises a red flag and tells me there's a bigger problem to resolve. if there are raids going on but people would rather play events, are the events really the problem here?