IDEAS To Revisit OLD Maps

Recently Sts have been talking about ways to make the experience for new players more enjoyable. One way I thought was to make it more fun because I think everyone can agree levelling is very boring and some new players said they hate how it’s so empty. One way to make it more popular is to make old bosses drop vanities and decent twinking gear? I know in Dark Legends the bosses can drop vanities and maybe if they were 1% drop rate they’d be worth endgame people grinding old maps for them. Also could drop pets or other things for quests I don’t know but I miss farming old maps for eggs like malison and stuff I don’t remember the last time I even visited an old map nowadays.

Also, there is no good gear until endgame for players at all, unless you buy twink gear which they obviously can’t afford. My suggestion are mini raids e.g Lvl 10 20 30 40 50 which can drop the best gear and a decent pet for that level ( not better or maybe some better than twink gear to liven it up). These could also be open to endgame players who can help them and gain like Helping Tokens which can be exchanged for gold or new vanities. This would help increase new players joining and make new things to do other than monotonous repetitve farming of gl at endgame.

I’ll be thinking of new ideas and I hope you guys help add to this. Pls can sts think about ideas like this to are the game more fun for new and existing old players :)

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Gear drops in zones. Eggs drop in zones. Chests drop in zones.

DL zones empty too except for endgame/event ones.

I'm confused.

yeah but they all suck

It's a difficult one because the pets we farmed were Malison, Wrathjaw, Snaggletooth and in elite bracken kettle and loki. These pets were sought after at that time but are now cheap enough to purchase in auction.
We also did all elite Kraken for Konga and Nordr for Grave...oh and elite Inan was a must for Valkin. There was also Mercury and Orion to farm.
New players don't even know about Konga and the others that are guaranteed. They don't seem interested either. Same with planar arena, we were going in there at level 41 without ankhs ( I dreaded it, especially the proximity curse) but it was challenging and rewarding. Do any level 41 players form parties and try the elite maps? Well we all know the answer to that. The question we should be asking is why? Oh yes..the answer is, there are no decent incentives apart from aps.
If better pets, vanities and any other goodies were farmable for lower levels, I wonder how long it would take for a sudden rise in new characters being created by old players. Would this be a bad thing? I don't know.
All I know is that the maps that were created for specific levels aren't being used. I've had players at level 50 and 60 plus ask for help with dailies in normal rengol!
I have a lot of sympathy for new players but sometimes I get a feeling that it's all about rushing through everything.
P.S. Farming locks was motivational but that's not happening anymore.
P.P.S. This bit is off topic but would it be possible to have a.r.s.e.s. back for unwanted pets? The lower levels don't want Frosts and Hortons. I hate deleting eggs.

I am working on a post like this too.

they really need to do something with new players. recently i make a new mage and add friend to many random lvl 40+ players to party up with for easier map run and then i stop play the char for weeks and i came back and saw my 70% of my friends in my friend list all offline for long time too, minimum is 3 days off. and mostly the one still on are players with alrdy have other char meaning theyre not new players. what i want to say now is... the basic of the game is really boring. the events are good but it isnt everyday event :(

I don't think the solution is to make old maps fun again - AL is most enjoyable when playing at cap level with the other 95% of players.

I appreciate that we enjoyed each map zone for months in it's "end game" era, farming the elites for eggs/pets/gear and learning all of their secrets along with out friends and guild.

Realistically new players aren't going to follow in our footsteps and for example stop at a lower level for several months to farm a full set from elites, or enjoy the challenge of getting all of the planar arena APs while they are still challenging. Trust me that will never be the same for new player today as it was for someone who lived that content as it happened.

The solution for new players, in my opinion, is to make the story quests more in depth and grant more XP, so that new players follow the story and arrive at a level 5 below cap asap. Then they can simply join in with the rest of the community and have the "current" experience.



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Originally Posted by Dalmony

I don't think the solution is to make old maps fun again - AL is most enjoyable when playing at cap level with the other 95% of players.

I appreciate that we enjoyed each map zone for months in it's "end game" era, farming the elites for eggs/pets/gear and learning all of their secrets along with out friends and guild.

Realistically new players aren't going to follow in our footsteps and for example stop at a lower level for several months to farm a full set from elites, or enjoy the challenge of getting all of the planar arena APs while they are still challenging. Trust me that will never be the same for new player today as it was for someone who lived that content as it happened.

The solution for new players, in my opinion, is to make the story quests more in depth and grant more XP, so that new players follow the story and arrive at a level 5 below cap asap. Then they can simply join in with the rest of the community and have the "current" experience.



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Yes your way is viable and quite good but the game is more complicated for new players to get their heads round nowadays.
For instance, I've lost count of how many times I've had to explain the way to a trader's permit. Some were way past level 40 and still didn't have a clue. Then there's all the quests coming at once. Some hadn't got through Dead City and were getting quests for Shuyal and allowed into Tindirin all in a matter of hours.
It's no wonder they stop playing when we think about it. Too overwhelming to take in. One player didn't even know to open the advancement chests or what a vanity was and I don't think many do. Then there's the chat, the auction being accessible in any map now, the jewels and crafting system.
We all remember starting out and some of us were all at sea when it came to learning the things we take for granted now but the game was new, most were in the same boat and people were ( I hate to say this but it's true) more helpful and to top it all, we didn't have to learn half as much as new players today.
It's a difficult one either way. I just hope people keep coming up with ideas. We need new players.
P.S. It would help if they could join in with events too. No way could low levels kill eggzaviour and that goes for most events.

Yes I do agree the game is complicated, but all it takes to learn it is time - time spent playing around others who do know the game.

If its going to take a new player 8 weeks to learn the ropes, to me that is still going to be a more fun 8 weeks if it's 2 weeks following stories quests and then 6 weeks running end game content where you are working towards relevant goals and where you will actually encounter people in maps and the "current" town, and possibly even a guild, who will be able put you right on things like traders permit.

The alternative is 8 weeks of off-putting grind in empty maps, generally speaking unable to enter a good guild and learn from others, because your level is too low.

Even when they do reach say level 66... There is still a long way to go and a lot to learn but they've made it into "the community" and the community is what makes any content fun.

We all learned the game through "end game" content, one cap at a time.

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Originally Posted by Dalmony

Yes I do agree the game is complicated, but all it takes to learn it is time - time spent playing around others who do know the game.

If its going to take a new player 8 weeks to learn the ropes, to me that is still going to be a more fun 8 weeks if it's 2 weeks following stories quests and then 6 weeks running end game content where you are working towards relevant goals and where you will actually encounter people in maps and the "current" town, and possibly even a guild, who will be able put you right on things like traders permit.

The alternative is 8 weeks of off-putting grind in empty maps, generally speaking unable to enter a good guild and learn from others, because your level is too low.

Even when they do reach say level 66... There is still a long way to go and a lot to learn but they've made it into "the community" and the community is what makes any content fun.

We all learned the game through "end game" content, one cap at a time.

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I agree with you to a certain extent. The problem is a lot of guilds won't invite players who don't have a certain amount of kills and aps. Even if they do they don't try to show new players the ropes.
Maybe a guild that welcomes new players and encourages same level parties could be the way. A guild that not only helps with difficult bosses but advises and holds guild events to reward and keep new players interested.
Like I said in a previous post, everyone wants to rush through.
Remember when it took ages to cap to level 36?
Why can't new players get together and enjoy the maps? It's new to them like it was for us. The difference is the rewards aren't as valuable some may say but we didn't have advancement chests. We couldn't get through Kraken alone at level 19 or solo shuyal at level 27. Killing Alpha was scary too.
There doesn't seem a way to solve this. We can't get rid of the the empty maps because they are actually still farmable especially in elite mode. Runner chests and even some gold chests. Plus the elusive four are to be found in the normal maps.
Rushing through versus enjoying the game?
I think the latter.
Maybe that's why people like hardcore even though some sceptical folk will say it's just for aps.
I would say, stop letting new players level up quickly early but make it easier after level 50.
Let the new players take their time learning and maybe give out all the quests xp later on when the grind is boring.

We rush everytime an expansion comes out though - we don't take the time to savour the journey we just think about getting to cap as quickly as possible so we don't fall behind.

I know it is easy for old players to look back nostalgically... I remember when Kraken came out and a group of guildies spent literally 2 hours trying to kill elite blood hammer in skull cove and then our tank dc'd and we all rage quite... But it was funny, and everyone was doing it. And it was the hardest content in the game, the newest most exciting challenge.

I do think something should be done to encourage guilds to accept newer players though as excluding players who haven't got enough pve kills can't be helping. Even if players spent longer in the "journey" they still wouldn't be acquiring kills anyway unless they were switching off xp gain on purpose...

I play hardcore and believe me it isn't groups of players banding together to spend hours defeating blood hammer... Its players doing dailies until they are 10-15 levels above where they need to be to play an elite once without dying. To get a hc character to a level where you can go past normal tindirin requires literal weeks of shuyal dailies >.<

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Originally Posted by Dalmony

We rush everytime an expansion comes out though - we don't take the time to savour the journey we just think about getting to cap as quickly as possible so we don't fall behind.

I know it is easy for old players to look back nostalgically... I remember when Kraken came out and a group of guildies spent literally 2 hours trying to kill elite blood hammer in skull cove and then our tank dc'd and we all rage quite... But it was funny, and everyone was doing it. And it was the hardest content in the game, the newest most exciting challenge.

I do think something should be done to encourage guilds to accept newer players though as excluding players who haven't got enough pve kills can't be helping. Even if players spent longer in the "journey" they still wouldn't be acquiring kills anyway unless they were switching off xp gain on purpose...

I play hardcore and believe me it isn't groups of players banding together to spend hours defeating blood hammer... Its players doing dailies until they are 10-15 levels above where they need to be to play an elite once without dying. To get a hc character to a level where you can go past normal tindirin requires literal weeks of shuyal dailies >.<

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Exactly. That's why the xp for quests should be limited until players hit..say..level 45-50 for new players?
P.S. Hardcore is fun but I already lost two characters ( to lose one is probably acceptable, to lose two, bit careless ☹️🙂)
I'm glad someone else is interested in keeping new players in the game. ☺️

What my point was is that the game is very boring and lonely for new players having to go from 0-71 to play endgame content and thus they stop playing really easily. By introducing new things there will be more reason to play old maps so the journey will be less boring and they may meet people who can help them with their journey and by adding new things the journey may not be as boring for them. It’s all about keeping new players and adding fun for old players

From my experience the grind from 0 to 71 is very tedious and repetitive. There have been many suggestions which are more or less the basics in almost all the newer games i play and i can these changes having a huge impact on this game.

1. Game needs a more in depth tutorial. Its difficult explaining all the new additions and changes to returning players so imagine what its like to someone totally new?

2. Needs a daily reward bonus on a weekly or monthly cycle to give newer people a reason to log on everyday

3. Events need to be scaled for lower levels so they can participate and feel useful even at lower levels

4. A global guild which all new players are put into until they find their own way around the game

5. Rewards for reaching a certain level in a set amount of time. Any sort of incentive for new players will encourage them to take on the grind

Just a few basic ideas taken from other games which may help a lot of newer players and maybe convince them to stay longer

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Originally Posted by illumminati

From my experience the grind from 0 to 71 is very tedious and repetitive. There have been many suggestions which are more or less the basics in almost all the newer games i play and i can these changes having a huge impact on this game.

1. Game needs a more in depth tutorial. Its difficult explaining all the new additions and changes to returning players so imagine what its like to someone totally new?

2. Needs a daily reward bonus on a weekly or monthly cycle to give newer people a reason to log on everyday

3. Events need to be scaled for lower levels so they can participate and feel useful even at lower levels

4. A global guild which all new players are put into until they find their own way around the game

5. Rewards for reaching a certain level in a set amount of time. Any sort of incentive for new players will encourage them to take on the grind

Just a few basic ideas taken from other games which may help a lot of newer players and maybe convince them to stay longer

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+1 to a global guild which all new players go into by default (as part of the "join a guild" quest which should exist, which should carry xp / plat reward )

Give option for other players to join this anytime as well - I'd totes join the global guild on an alt and answer newbies questions for sure when bored :D

Most games I start reward new players for competing the tutorial quests with a small token amount of in game currency ie plat. In this game i'd say that would equate to ~100 plat built up over small quest rewards.

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Originally Posted by Dalmony

+1 to a global guild which all new players go into by default (as part of the "join a guild" quest which should exist, which should carry xp / plat reward )

Give option for other players to join this anytime as well - I'd totes join the global guild on an alt and answer newbies questions for sure when bored :D

Most games I start reward new players for completing the tutorial quests with a small token amount of in-game currency ie plat. In this game i'd say that would equate to ~100 plat built up over small quest rewards.

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Pretty sure one of the aps you need to get is joining a guild so is (as minute as it is) an incentive to join one at least.
Tho suppose doesn't mean they would end up in a decent place I suppose esp not at low stats etc, hmmm maybe auto joining a generic one at first with no officers or masters etc like the "Insert Name" guild wouldn't be a bad starter..

could also incentivise it for some select older players "ambassadors" who get like a weekly bit of plat from sts to help newbies out (all based on activity time of course. end of the day if people enjoying it they will be online more so time online would be a decent measure an of course better safe than sorry checking new accounts ips against nominated players to ensure its all fair game ( just a cheeky highdea i thought id throw into the mix ;) )


1 + All up for bettering the tutorial and even giving plats for completing the story quests. Even at the risk of people abusing this and creating new accounts for the plats... it would still do more than it would harm. (esp as long as its not a silly amount as well, 100 is a decent amount for a new timer)



1 <3

I tried to create a usable suggestion for something like the global guild for newbs, but there was one problem I couldn't get around.....

How to keep it friendly?
All it takes is one troll who delights in drama, he now has a permanent audience to insult.
Gonna police that ? Who would want to!?!
How many languages you need to know?
No gm or officers=Racist troll city. Boot them= new alt with a free pass to rejoin.


Wanna gm all new folk?
"Gimme gold!"
"Halp me in kraken, then help me in tindrin through fester sir"
"S) crooked stick"
"Poobucket scammed me after I loaned him money!"
"All report leaderboard guy, I'm jelly"
"I'll give $ to who says gems backwards!"
"Hey guys subscribe to my broken ego on yuu tube, like me!!!"

@ Baron
We had an ambassadors program in a couple other sts games, you wouldn't believe how much drama that caused.
Many scrambled for attention on the forums choking it with attempted "helping" guides sucking up to look good to devs/mods. ( a guide to how to stash items. I kid u not)
Many did nothing after they got the title, and in some cases those ambassador acc were sold for rl $.

In the end we realized you can just go help ppl without rewards- who knew?! Lol

Ps evil double post. Pls police me forum hall monitors, I like it :)

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Originally Posted by Stephencobear

@ Baron
We had an ambassadors program in a couple other sts games, you wouldn't believe how much drama that caused....

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Possible about the guild becoming filled with trolls. This would be resolved by having "mods", either STS based (the remi and futumshs of arlor) or from the player base.

I don't see the need to be paid in plat... I am sure there are players willing to moderate a global chat for free while they play - people do it all the time as gm and officers of their normal guilds.

The other (unpopular) solution to this would be to change the way guilds work and open them up so that people can "apply" to join. Again via a quest once they reach a certain level.

Also to change the way guild lb is calculated so it is more heavily weighted on activity and AP than on account age and pve kills.

Other (unpopular) alternative would be to remove the PVE kill count from the stats page to prevent players with low kills being excluded from guilds purely based on account age.

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Originally Posted by Dalmony

Possible about the guild becoming filled with trolls. This would be resolved by having "mods", either STS based (the remi and futumshs of arlor) or from the player base?

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Problem there is that it creates more work for sts & it's likely their time is better spent working on content rather than policing speech in a nub guild that may attract trolls who have no reason not to troll (ban & he ramakes).

Paid in plat was too crazy for me to entertain lol, Apply for guild is good, changing the way lb is calculated is overdue imho,
& removing pve kills would be fine by me being that ppl bot it, but I'm ok with showing my personal kdr despite knowing there are botters, I'm torn.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dalmony

Possible about the guild becoming filled with trolls. This would be resolved by having "mods", either STS based (the remi and futumshs of arlor) or from the player base.

I don't see the need to be paid in plat... I am sure there are players willing to moderate a global chat for free while they play - people do it all the time as gm and officers of their normal guilds.

The other (unpopular) solution to this would be to change the way guilds work and open them up so that people can "apply" to join. Again via a quest once they reach a certain level.

Also to change the way guild lb is calculated so it is more heavily weighted on activity and AP than on account age and pve kills.

Other (unpopular) alternative would be to remove the PVE kill count from the stats page to prevent players with low kills being excluded from guilds purely based on account age.

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Stephencobear

Problem there is that it creates more work for sts & it's likely their time is better spent working on content rather than policing speech in a nub guild that may attract trolls who have no reason not to troll (ban & he ramakes).

Paid in plat was too crazy for me to entertain lol, Apply for guild is good, changing the way lb is calculated is overdue imho,
& removing pve kills would be fine by me being that ppl bot it, but I'm ok with showing my personal kdr despite knowing there are botters, I'm torn.

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The drama caused by ambassadors does not surprise me in the slightest however out of all of this id say +1 to def changing the way guild leaderboards are changed would be a great way to try and see how it goes could even try it out for like a few months, however only take off the kill count aspect would be best way to help, keeping account age is preferable, older accounts would still be prefered however newer account wont be so isolated and for guilds be good encouragement to help new person to gain the aps as it would count for more and easier then farming all those pve or pvp kills which isnt really going to happen with most..

1 person taking 3 people through aload of starter maps however can be easily done in 15mins XD





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