Quote:
Originally Posted by Draenin
Sure thing.
Class Improvements
First of all, if the classes and pvp stuff is so terrible, skills and stat assignments need to be adjusted for those classes. If a skill lasts too long, or is too potent, you nerf it. If it's not powerful enough, you boost it by adjusting the values it has been assigned.
This might require character stats to be reset, but it doesn't mean user accounts need to be reset. Zodiac actually has a built-in 'Character Reset' function for taking stats off of players and allowing them to re-assign them. That means that players will not lose their levels or items, and can continue playing as normal with the new changes in place.
Dungeon Improvements
As I've mentioned before in previous posts, one problem that Zodiac and many other servers have is that there's not a lot to do near the end of the game. The level cap was set at 60 when Zodiac released, and has never risen.
There are a few endgame 'raid' style dungeons that are meant for high level players, but the rewards are simply just gear. Most people will take the easy way out by just buying the set pieces they need instead. And once they're all decked out, they have no reason to revisit old locations.
One solution to this is to periodically release new dungeons and gradually raise the level cap, while providing extra incentives for revisiting old locations can help as well. For instance, Graal Kingdoms introduced its randomized 'chest' system in dungeons to make running them more worthwhile. And it has definitely paid off.
Also, if players are now 'OP' enough to farm enemies in the game's most difficult dungeons, that needs to end as well. Difficult dungeons are more engaging than easy ones, and Zodiac developers should not be afraid to fill them with monsters that can swat down even the strongest tanks in a few hits if they aren't being assisted by a healer or two. Doing so will also make it easier for developers to raise the drop rates on some items, because tougher fights mean a lower chance of success anyway.
Quests and Achievements
I am a huge fan of achievement systems, and firmly believe all servers should adopt them if they can. Achievements give players extra things to do at the end of the game, and provide the opportunity to do 'side quests' and earn bragging rights. They can be tailored toward any type of task, and give players concrete goals to strive toward.
Achievements can also be put in place for groups of people as well, like Guilds and Nations. This gives multiple people a common cause to fight for, and strengthens their ability to cooperate.
And while quests are important, the fact that most of them can only be completed once can be detrimental. Zodiac should definitely look into things like providing more randomized dailies, and reward players for completing them. This can be done either through direct rewards, or players could earn points with an NPC faction in order to purchase special items from their vendors.
These are just a few things which could be done to improve the server without needing to do anything foolishly drastic like forcibly wiping all accounts.
There are plenty of alternatives to these issues, and server-wide account resets do not solve the problems that faulty game mechanics create.
The best thing to do is to look for the source of these problems, and start there first.
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1. PvP adjustments have been going on for MONTHS if not years. Dark Knight's overall DoT damage and skill kit can still bring down even moderately geared players. Ninja right now is the new meta due to the Corrosion % which reduces armor by 15% on top of it being able to stack a Poison that ticks for 800. Crono can speak on my behalf when we got the new critical update it literally destroyed Monk. There are 0 Monks on the server except for Crono and yo_momma85. This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is wrong with most of the classes in the game.
We've also opened up multiple threads debating classes and damage on skills in the past. We literally have 1 man balancing over 24 classes in the game. I think he needs help or at least an assistant to help him but he refuses to outsource and seek help. So class balancing has become a major issue. If you want to lend us some scripters for balancing by all means do so.
2. We've only gotten maybe a handful of new dungeons in the last...year. One of them which is going to be closing today actually. Summer Dungeon. Not to mention that the newest dungeon we had awhile back (Terrum) now has broken mechanics which make the dungeon literally unplayable.
We've gotten a new "dungeon" which was a poor man's project that Ryu (Jiroxys7) started but didn't really get a chance to finish/spruce up. So there's that.
3. Quest now have ridiculous requirements. Example, getting 2,000 Fish for a weapon which does horrid damage. Or better yet, quest items such as Ash/Cedar Logs which range up in the 300-400 range just so you can get to the next quest. Or like 100 Cores when the drop rate on cores is 0.1%. Here let me give you our Scavenge Formula compared with our current drop rate. Courtesy of Nikwal.
Scavenge works like this:
Drop rate * 1.xx = actual drop rate
1.xx if 100> Scavenge > 9, 1.0x if 10 > Scavenge > 0 and 2.xx if Scavenge > 100 (and then applying the first two rules again).
Example: Drop rate is at 0.5%, your party gathered a Scavenge rating of 78 (even the ones not in the room count): 0.5%*1.78= 0.89%
As for the drops, it used to roll from drop to drop, like "SotT 0.01%, rolled 84%, onto the next in the list" and so on until it hit the right number (usually on armor). Thus, a lot of drops were hardly obtainable or others were more frequent. By now I think it rolls a number and if there are more than 1 drop in that percentage range, it chooses a random one.
We also have something new called Dungeon Tickets, which are dropped from bosses when you defeat them. You get 1 per. No more no less and this is our Ticket Shop. Here is the numbers for some of the best weapons in the game.
Please note the jump from 750 to 3000. A 2,250 marginal ticket increase. When Cane of Isis is the best Mage weapon in the game.
So this is where our development is at right now. 1 Ticket per boss and you 7,000 Tickets for 1 Weapon. Which will take you well over a few months if not a year of farming to actually acquire ONE of those weapons.
Let's do the math on this one. 7000 - 750 = 6250 marginal increase. Now mind you our drop rate on these "Legendary" weapons are so low that doing the tickets seem plausible and more sane than anything else. We're also in dire need of an actual Marketboard system so players can put up items over night and sell them without being logged in, currently you need to be logged in to sell those items and items in player shops can only be sold up to a cap of 3 million. Where if you put in a Marketboard, you can sell it for how much you want.