• GNADS
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Re: The solo game

So, some clarification, extending from the above, and some suggestions that I hope may be constructive.

Regarding PvE:

(1) Scaling missions for the various departments, hand-in-hand with commensurate, balanced rewards.  This includes both the rewards for the actual activity and any "tokens" or other such rewards.  As the "level" of the mission increases-- from a backstory POV as the agent is able to accomplish more for the Syndicate, against tougher opponents (corporate or Nian), the rewards increase.  From a top-down planning point of view, it would be good for the Devs to have the maximum reward in mind, so as to avoid inflation if the tree of choices is made longer.

(2) Missions for solo play are useful even for those used to groups-- the group is not always available.

(3) Group missions should have a different dynamic-- they are not just solo opponents x 3 or x5.  Is there a use for certain types of specialists in the group, for example?

(4) Decide if the mission heirarchy ends on Alpha and there is a completely different one for Beta, or if one gets to a certain point in the Alpha heirarchy and then the missions diverge-- there may be an "Alpha endgame missions" path and a "proceed to Beta" path, for example.

Regarding PvP:

People have vastly different ideas of what constitutes PvP.  Some think in terms of arena deathmatches.  Some think in terms of conditions for victory.  To some, blobbing an enemy is cheese and cowardice.  To some, expecting an opponent to "fight fair" is naive.

How do you make everyone happy?

You don't.

A reasonable middle ground might be to have the potential for as many types of conflict as possible: small bot, heavy mech, solo/small group, large group.  In reality, this may strain development resources.  The other answer is to define the constraints upon PvP-- or the lack of constraints-- fairly clearly for players, then build the best possible game structures and venues for it, and then roll the dice and see if your community embraces it.

In my opinion, "loss" of some sort if necessary, or there is no feeling of triumph or gain when you win.  However, the cost of doing PvP needs to be balanced against the amount of effort needed to get back to the PvP again.

Another factor is that sandbox games and any MMO with replenished, infinite resources of raw materials and in-game cash (e.g. from missions) will inevitably undergo inflation.  If different segments of the player community do not have equal opportunity to work with inflation, the dynamic of your PvP will change drastically over the months and years also: some players will be able to afford to PvP at the new higher prices; others will not.

27 Reply by Vehacan (edited by Vehacan 2012-03-29 19:54:08)

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Re: The solo game

My 2 cents for making perpetuum more interesting.

Risk - Reward - Chance

What I would like to see is the normal risk versus reward balance, but also more chance. A chance that something unexpected is occuring while on your travels on Nia.
- ambushes -> a dynamically randomized spot that spawns NPC bots or whatever danger when you travel over it
- occurences -> plants or rocks falling down when you travel over a certain spot
- creatures -> creatures living in herds that roam the island over large distances
- growth -> plants that attack bots or grow very fast and try to entangle bots when you are in a certain area or spot
- water -> use water as a specific environment that hinders certain bots and favours others that are equipped with special gear; also great to diversify assigments

All things above would bring more life to Nia and more life or diversity is what we need. smile

  • JOKE
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Re: The solo game

Vehacan wrote:

My 2 cents for making perpetuum more interesting.

Risk - Reward - Chance

What I would like to see is the normal risk versus reward balance, but also more chance. A chance that something unexpected is occuring while on your travels on Nia.
- ambushes -> a dynamically randomized spot that spawns NPC bots or whatever danger when you travel over it
- occurences -> plants or rocks falling down when you travel over a certain spot
- creatures -> creatures living in herds that roam the island over large distances
- growth -> plants that attack bots or grow very fast and try to entangle bots when you are in a certain area or spot
- water -> use water as a specific environment that hinders certain bots and favours others that are equipped with special gear; also great to diversify assigments

All things above would bring more life to Nia and more life or diversity is what we need. smile


Those ideas are pretty awesome, plants attacking bots is way cool. wink

RIP PERPETUUM
  • GNADS
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Re: The solo game

Vehacan wrote:

My 2 cents for making perpetuum more interesting.

Risk - Reward - Chance

<<SNIP>>
All things above would bring more life to Nia and more life or diversity is what we need. smile

+1 to anything that makes NIA look more "alive", whether it is something that we can exploit or not.  As long as the pendulum does not swing to the opposite side-- continually disruptive events-- some random spawns, or the reintroduction of the caravans, or evidence that there is life on NIA would add to the game's flavour.

Again, though, having something to do in the way of missions, either the instanced varieties on Alpha that were suggesated, or simply a wider set of actually functioning ones, would be nice.

  • ICS-DI
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Re: The solo game

Hey Guys, also new to Perp here can give some perspective hopefully. I like some of the things that were mentioned, especially the stuff about expanding the plants, could be quite cool smile

First of all a statement was originally made which kicked off this entire discussion.

"Player retention is really low."

Do we really know what % retention Perp has and what % is desired? Which if player retention is not the problem, then game exposure is, and the starting solo play is probably fine.

Few things that MAY turn off starting players using my own experience:

1. I know I had been putting off trying the game for a while, ended up biting the bullet as I was wicked bored with my other games. Started DLing the game all excited about it reading up on stuff, but the game was DLing at about 100kbps, compared to normal 800+kbps. It ended up taking too long and I just went to bed and never went back to installing/playing the game until 3 days after I initially installed.

I wouldn't say people are lazy... but any obstacle of installing/playing the trial I know will INSTANTLY turn off my friends from playing games. I don't know if this is normal for Perp's download, but I can see that turning people away before even logging in.


2. So I finally got around to installing and creating a character in Perp, already knew I wanted to do an Indus route, had been doing some research online for stuff. I saw the "character creator" and immediately started laughing. This looks like a joke, oh well so I kept going with the character creator and finished my character.

Now its obviously such a tiny/small/insignificant part of the game (the character face), but I also think this is a hurdle for new players. The graphics in the character creator do not do justice to the game as a whole. Not sure how much the devs really care to do about this, but just another thing I noticed starting out that could turn people away.

The amazing part here is once I got into the actual game and did the tutorials (which I found quite helpful) I thought very highly of the game, and bought a subscription after only a day or two of playing, I saw the potential there and I liked what I saw.


Now again for some of the stuff like the OP was saying. How much of that content is actually touched upon for the starting player in the first 15 days of the trial (think its 15 days). And how long do you think it takes someone to decide whether they want to sub or not? I mean it took me just a few days... so that really is the MOST important time in my mind.

So... the OP's points:

1. Mining/harvesting: Many ore spots too far away from terminals/outpost long grind hauling on such limited cargo space. Only option would be to get a second account.

I am doing mining now, and I had no problem doing tutorials and starter assignments in my starting bot, following by an Argano and a Termis I just got last night. I am still happy with the state of my mining. I did get some guidance from a player which helped me a lot, so really just a little guidance was necessary.

2. Assignments: Should be closer to terminals or give much better rewards and standing. More varied assignments should be done in the near future specially for starting players, game feels too grindy to start out with.

I had no problem with the starting assignments and the distance required to travel. Sometimes I would get frustrated by the amount of impassable terrain and having to loop all the way around for certain missions, but that's more an annoyance because I already committed one direction to find out "you can't get there from here". I would agree that it does feel grindy to start, at least for the fetching/killing assignments.

3. PVE Farming: Again, needs a hauler alt or join a corp but everyone wants to fight not haul.

Same as the mining, as a new player I NEVER had cargo issues because I am just learning the mechanics of the game. I didn't start the game then immediately set up shop farming PvE, that seems like an awfully boring way to learn a new game, and sounds more like a way to make money ingame after you have decided to play.

In closing (TL;DR)

1. Cargo space is fine for new players, hardly a major inconvenience until you really start getting into the game, at which point you're committed to playing the game... sooo doesn't really affect retention imo

2. Starting areas and their assignments often times have bots forced around impassable terrain, very frustrating starting out, ESPECIALLY if you did not do the tutorial and did not hit "L" to see which terrain is impassible. I see lots of frustrated players quitting solely on hitting what they see as "invisibile walls".

3. Little Grindy to start, starter assignments for fetch/kill are quite bleh.

4. Game download and character creation process might kill subs before they even log in.

  • JOKE
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Re: The solo game

Sorakin,

Firstly, I'm glad you like the game. I have been playing just a few weeks after game came live. I started a new corp few months later (RING) which closed all members left and none left to other corps , THEY ALL LEFT GAME. Recently, I joined and used to help out in a Player training corp.

Most of the feedback I get when players start is roughly the same as yours, they like they game and see a loads of potential etc. Few of them stay long term, most of them leave after a month or 2 some stay longer. Most that leave give positive feedback about the game during the first month, but then it gets old and most leave without a trace.

I really not here to put you off playing, after all I am still playing and supporting to game the best way possible and that's subscribing and keeping active. I really do hope you have the same opinion in 3-6months time. Most of my OP is player feedback, with some of my experience.

Thank you for your feedback smile

RIP PERPETUUM
  • ICS-DI
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Re: The solo game

Celebro,

Thanks smile and of course my experience is quite limited with only the first week+ of gameplay touched. I hope those who read my post can see that its just a perspective, not an end-all-be-all. Maybe in a month I'll be raging about my cargo space as well, but I cannot possible comment on that at this point.


Also interesting to hear so many leaving after a month or so, it does seem to be the trend for lots of games, so it doesn't surprise me too much.