HelsEch
ICE ICE ICE!
- Joined
- Feb 3, 2011
I do not expect everyone to agree. This is not entirely thought out so consider this a rough draft. I do, however, have confidence that thinking more on key subjects will help the game and community grow, so I do not regret writing this.
My suggestion starts with regression. There's a painfully obvious trend in results and policy that shows PvP being enabled in towns restricts the process of making towns which means builders have a harder time working on the architecture which means towns are not as good looking which makes players less likely to RP. The first change should be to bring back PvP protection in towns. This makes creative players strive towards improving the game's culture while scavenging PvPers can't be drawn to towns like moths to flames.
My next suggestion is one of compromise. I know from very personal experience that occasional wars make herocraft more interesting(though anything can get old if it drags on long enough) and if towns are PvP protected then war becomes exceedingly difficult. This is where I suggest a war council feature. Either the Zo or delegated, neutral "Judges of War" act as a gatekeeper. Any town may come before the council to submit their desires to go to war, but the council exists to decide whether all out war would benefit play for the server as a whole and deliberate. This aids the rp aspect of the game by creating a connection to a higher power that acts as a part of the world. The world reacting to the whims of the players can be quite engaging.
Finally, there should be a purpose to war. We can't create politics from thin air, but we can create a prize. This leads me to the Dimension Shard(working name), a treasure bestowed upon towns that give either their citizens or their boarders certain boons. When a town successfully declares war upon the other, the ultimate end will be to destroy the enemy altar holding the Shard and steal it for themselves. This would increase the power of the conquering town and leave the defeated defenseless to some extend. This idea is the least fleshed out in my opinion, but would likely help create a more lively environment for raiding savages C:
So, I suppose it would be important to explain why we should make any of these changes. A lot of people will probably look at this and think "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" but sadly there are some issues that can now be considered long standing that certainly require addressing.
Despite some exceptions(myself included) most of Herocraft's older player base has left and even with newer players the population has definitely been diminishing. Over all this time I certainly don't think anyone has been particularly disappointed with the PvP, though there are players(myself included) who don't really play with that feature in mind. PvP has had many concessions and we've lost certain game aspects thanks to it and I'm here merely to propose a compromise to one example.
Towns are not what they used to be. I had almost forgotten how few towns had walls back in my day and each of those towns were automatically less appealing. Within a town's region and without PvP it wasn't difficult to protect your items without needing to LWC all the chests by simply putting them in a building and locking the door. There were also things like DHX(A bank of sorts) where one could store their valuables, but bringing that back is another issue. Simply put, the concessions PvP received in regards to PvP in towns have made town designs cookie cutter and unappealing. Some towns may attempt making their insides good looking, but that has very little impact on recruiting members who now essentially have to rely on word of mouth to decide where they want to join for the simple reason that looking at towns relies on the permission of suspicious town folk and hopefully not being killed. Simply put, removing PvP from towns would decrease risk on both the towns themselves and the players looking to join them; it would lead to more creative towns which will increase player morale; and an overall better looking Herocraft will keep more people playing.
I brought up how removing PvP would help player morale and I think this is true. With PvP being open to towns the teamspeak has changed to almost entirely locked rooms. This way of locking themselves out is a result of player suspicion due to the dangers of any form of player exchange. Kainzo in the past has made some moves to help player exchange(Trade Channel confimation) but it is only to a limited effect. I believe player exchange should be possible on a much larger level than o chat.
My suggestion starts with regression. There's a painfully obvious trend in results and policy that shows PvP being enabled in towns restricts the process of making towns which means builders have a harder time working on the architecture which means towns are not as good looking which makes players less likely to RP. The first change should be to bring back PvP protection in towns. This makes creative players strive towards improving the game's culture while scavenging PvPers can't be drawn to towns like moths to flames.
My next suggestion is one of compromise. I know from very personal experience that occasional wars make herocraft more interesting(though anything can get old if it drags on long enough) and if towns are PvP protected then war becomes exceedingly difficult. This is where I suggest a war council feature. Either the Zo or delegated, neutral "Judges of War" act as a gatekeeper. Any town may come before the council to submit their desires to go to war, but the council exists to decide whether all out war would benefit play for the server as a whole and deliberate. This aids the rp aspect of the game by creating a connection to a higher power that acts as a part of the world. The world reacting to the whims of the players can be quite engaging.
Finally, there should be a purpose to war. We can't create politics from thin air, but we can create a prize. This leads me to the Dimension Shard(working name), a treasure bestowed upon towns that give either their citizens or their boarders certain boons. When a town successfully declares war upon the other, the ultimate end will be to destroy the enemy altar holding the Shard and steal it for themselves. This would increase the power of the conquering town and leave the defeated defenseless to some extend. This idea is the least fleshed out in my opinion, but would likely help create a more lively environment for raiding savages C:
So, I suppose it would be important to explain why we should make any of these changes. A lot of people will probably look at this and think "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" but sadly there are some issues that can now be considered long standing that certainly require addressing.
Despite some exceptions(myself included) most of Herocraft's older player base has left and even with newer players the population has definitely been diminishing. Over all this time I certainly don't think anyone has been particularly disappointed with the PvP, though there are players(myself included) who don't really play with that feature in mind. PvP has had many concessions and we've lost certain game aspects thanks to it and I'm here merely to propose a compromise to one example.
Towns are not what they used to be. I had almost forgotten how few towns had walls back in my day and each of those towns were automatically less appealing. Within a town's region and without PvP it wasn't difficult to protect your items without needing to LWC all the chests by simply putting them in a building and locking the door. There were also things like DHX(A bank of sorts) where one could store their valuables, but bringing that back is another issue. Simply put, the concessions PvP received in regards to PvP in towns have made town designs cookie cutter and unappealing. Some towns may attempt making their insides good looking, but that has very little impact on recruiting members who now essentially have to rely on word of mouth to decide where they want to join for the simple reason that looking at towns relies on the permission of suspicious town folk and hopefully not being killed. Simply put, removing PvP from towns would decrease risk on both the towns themselves and the players looking to join them; it would lead to more creative towns which will increase player morale; and an overall better looking Herocraft will keep more people playing.
I brought up how removing PvP would help player morale and I think this is true. With PvP being open to towns the teamspeak has changed to almost entirely locked rooms. This way of locking themselves out is a result of player suspicion due to the dangers of any form of player exchange. Kainzo in the past has made some moves to help player exchange(Trade Channel confimation) but it is only to a limited effect. I believe player exchange should be possible on a much larger level than o chat.
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I do believe alot of the towns woube much more awesome and even open if PvP was off for them. And why can't towns truly choose an alignment? I think we should have the ability to make our town peaceful if we wish - which would equal no pvp. perhaps have some kind of punishment if someone from a peaceful town attacks a player, that their town is pvp enabled for like a week or 2 or something as punishment for breaking their alignment.
We call that PKing.