Topic: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

New devblog discussing impending changes to the EP system: introducing EP rewards for ingame activities, and an EP handicap mechanic.

Read more here:
http://blog.perpetuum-online.com/posts/ … -upgrades/

2 (edited by Chemist 2016-05-25 14:16:54)

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

RIP Perpetuum...

Zoom, players want new content, not EP. When newbies reach our veterans, they left game like we, because BORING! sad

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

Why not...

EVE is taking the same road with the "recurring opportunities". Just way more carefully than Perpetuum cool

I speak broken English.

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

I like it!  Good job guys. 

I would like to correct one thing.  Your EP is not the most valuable currency.  Because at some point you reach a point where your skills are maximized.  And since scaling on robot bonuses happened.  It's not worth the 2 extra points in level 9/10 skills.  Some may disagree but at the state of game, I don't really care.

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Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

Ville wrote:

I like it!  Good job guys. 

I would like to correct one thing.  Your EP is not the most valuable currency.  Because at some point you reach a point where your skills are maximized.  And since scaling on robot bonuses happened.  It's not worth the 2 extra points in level 9/10 skills.  Some may disagree but at the state of game, I don't really care.

New players can run heavy mechs day one.  See the post about Mroq

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Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

i wait online after this update
http://memesmix.net/media/created/tyquy5.jpg

Just @ Game

7 (edited by Chemist 2016-05-25 15:57:11)

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

Maybe EP for PVP-kills? big_smile

5 years, we ask new and interesting content ... for 5 years, we have not received anything. And then you hope that will come here to play new people? The project, which is not updated, and infinitely rebalance?

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

wow, finally a good change

as far as i understand, the regular daily EP boost will still happen passively as long as you log in on regular basis.

what i don'T understand, is the decreasing EP reward depending on your absolute EP count. Extensions already scale exponentially in cost.

New player will be confused and penalised regarding twinks on the same account - again...
I can explain further if requested/necessary.

*Disclaimer: This post can contain strong sarcasm or cynical remarks. keep that in mind!
Whining - It's amazing how fast your trivial concerns will disappear

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

Annihilator wrote:

what i don'T understand, is the decreasing EP reward depending on your absolute EP count. Extensions already scale exponentially in cost.

Yes but that affects everyone equally. Total EP amount is a key difference between new and old accounts.

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

Logged out and deleted. Well, at least it's settled now.

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

DEV Zoom wrote:
Annihilator wrote:

what i don'T understand, is the decreasing EP reward depending on your absolute EP count. Extensions already scale exponentially in cost.

Yes but that affects everyone equally. Total EP amount is a key difference between new and old accounts.

but it makes no sense to begin with?
whats the reason behind it?

after all, the result with the other stuff you wrote there, will be that multiboxers on isolated beta/gammas will exploit the *** out of it by leveling up their alt agents, and the few "new player" they manage to recruit via unlimited dumb high-level NPCs, spawned from a field terminal.

since you grant them a "pvp zone bonus" again, it will probably create another reason  not to pvp at all...

*Disclaimer: This post can contain strong sarcasm or cynical remarks. keep that in mind!
Whining - It's amazing how fast your trivial concerns will disappear

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

JetNexus wrote:

Logged out and deleted. Well, at least it's settled now.

O/

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Dev Zoom: I think its time to confess, Ville is my alt
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Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

Its an OK change. It won't increase the population but its OK.

Why keep making content that won't bring in money? Doesn't this devalue your money making elements and so bring in less cash?

Proverbs 23:20-21 warns us, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags."

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

This is good.  It isn't as great as brand new content, but it is new, not pay to win, more like...play to win? =O
I agree with jita and ville (Ah!) this will make the new player experience much more rewarding, and make them feel like they do have a shot joining perpetuum and will probably contribute to longer lifespans of new comers.

This however doesn't address the playerbase that can't even be bothered to log in for their 3 day ep; for this you must give new content!  So ride the wave from this into some new content and you might build momentum to bring a lot of players online, new or otherwise. 

Overall it is good, keeping the same flat time-based EP generation with this as a bonus on top is a great move. 

Paw brings up a good point though, does buying a DLC end up screwing you out of more EP if you deferred the purchase?  In terms of balancing, you might want to have a flat rate that exceeds the EP amount from the DLC's before the diminishing curve begins.  Or maybe tweak the overall expected return from these new rewards so it doesn't significantly impact this factor (maybe the amplitude of the curve is not huge).  Its a curious problem, and as jita says this devalues the product that the DLC's deliver. 

Regardless, a player that plays should get more stuff than players that don't:
'cause *** 'em that's why! XD

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

Ok. Average players in last 30 days - 9.3 before update...
We are waiting for an update after 100 500 bots living on the alpha.

I see only one plus (as in all games): a lot of bots - more market, less than the price. It's all. And yes. With this update, there is no incentive to buy EP-booster. lol

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

I'm going to give you my full two cents here.  I am not going to go into great detail because no one at AC will care or read it anyway.  But here we go:

THERE HAS TO BE WAR, but it can't be ALL OR NOTHING.  PVP is great and good but there needs to be something worth while to play for.

All or nothing stems with the territorial warfare aspect of the game.  People LOVE taking bases on Beta and gamma and using them and settling into them but we are hella close.  And the random timers are great mini game but they aren't friendly to corporation based game play they are for alliances.  Which worked 3 years ago because there were people playing, and not EVERYONE had T4 gear and there was a little bit of luck/skill game play involved.

What needs to happen is threefold.

Step One:

Greater restrictions on Beta management need to exist.  For example a corporation can only own 1 or 2 stations. 
MORE NPC OWNED BETA TERMINALS NEED TO APPEAR. To allow safe spaces.  (The PLAYERBASE WOULD LOVE YOU IF YOU MADE CARBON COPYS OF ALPHA AND MADE ADDITIONAL BETA TERMINALS OUT OF THEM). 

Step Two:

Syndicate robots, reused animations.  We don't care..  I have stacks of thousands of robots in the station in tellesis just hanging out there.  We need something different!  This same things applys with uping a T5 class thats linear progression with maybe some negative stat modifications.  Something to put Veterans in the field mining, producing, moving assists.

Step Three.

QoL items for your playerbase.  Gamma needs less NPCs.  And more semi afkish things the community can take advantage of.  Like deployable mining towers that the players fuel themselves.  So we can spend more time doing LESS GRINDY BULLSHIT.

I've started back playing WoW full time again.  And you know what a massive developer did?  Instead of trying to speed up the grind they push people to end game content where they can be raiding/pvping in under a week.

I should be able to buy 2 million EP for $100 if I want too in this game.  Or spend $50 for a black robot.

Your moving to Themepark dynamics, it's time to get the yellow ! over npcs.

Steam achievement Unlocked:  Being a Badass
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Dev Zoom: I think its time to confess, Ville is my alt
Dev Zoom: Ville can be sometimes so sane it's scary.

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

Chemist wrote:

With this update, there is no incentive to buy EP-booster. lol

Maybe not for new players, but as the handicap bonus slowly fades out, there will be.

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

logicalNegation wrote:

Paw brings up a good point though, does buying a DLC end up screwing you out of more EP if you deferred the purchase?

Maybe I'm missing something, but it doesn't matter at what point you buy a DLC since just like daily EP packages, they are not affected by the handicap mechanic, and always give the exact amount.

Sure, if you buy them early, the amount of activity that would have been needed for the same EP increase is less compared to when you buy them later, but their net EP worth stays the same. It's more like a psychological dilemma, do you jump forward early when EP is pouring, or later when it's slower.

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

- (Kickstarter campaign)
- Rename the game Perpetuum Evolved Reborn Enhanced Remastered Whatever.
- Free to play
- Reset the server, fresh new start
- (New engine)
- Pink Gropho $$
- New bots
- Give players reasons to fight
- New devblog every month, even to say hello
- Small but regular updates
- Yes you need to work hard to succeed

No way? Game over.

Now we have to wait another few months to get an update, maybe with some terrible/ok/good content, but players will never come back.

http://steamcharts.com/app/223410 - Do I want to play an MMO with 10 players online?

The name of Perpetuum is doomed.

I'm cute.

I speak broken English.

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

Chemist wrote:

Ok. Average players in last 30 days - 9.3 before update...
We are waiting for an update after 100 500 bots living on the alpha.

I see only one plus (as in all games): a lot of bots - more market, less than the price. It's all. And yes. With this update, there is no incentive to buy EP-booster. lol

25 may - 9.3 ppl
26 may - 9.2 ppl
to be continued...

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

This will be about as successful as trading cards in bringing new players in

Proverbs 23:20-21 warns us, “Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags."

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

Why not get rid of daily EP?  Use boosters to pump up EP gained by doing stuff.  Increase EP requirements by an incriminatle amounts so you can be a maxed EP pilot in 1 year playing 8 hours a day.  Then instead of doing that whole ex potential curve stuff, just make it simple.

Steam achievement Unlocked:  Being a Badass
http://www.perp-kill.net/kill/239407
Dev Zoom: I think its time to confess, Ville is my alt
Dev Zoom: Ville can be sometimes so sane it's scary.

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

DEV Zoom wrote:

Sure, if you buy them early, the amount of activity that would have been needed for the same EP increase is less compared to when you buy them later, but their net EP worth stays the same. It's more like a psychological dilemma, do you jump forward early when EP is pouring, or later when it's slower.

That's the key phrase: 'psychological dilemma'!  Even if the numbers play out the same over time, if the player Feels like they got screwed, that becomes their truth.
Hell that's why this update is happening at all, new players Feel like they time-based progression is a death-sentence and they will never 'win' and cant be competitive.

24 (edited by Chemist 2016-05-26 13:39:31)

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

I repeat again: it is not in the EP. No new content. Over the last 5 years have not added anything new since the start of the game. There were only rebalance. It loses interest of players. Ask all of their old players - they will confirm this. If a person is bored - he would never will do all these things. Listen to us at least once, do a good deed - add new content and you will see the result.

Give the players an incentive to play. I have a lot of the EP, like all veterans, but we get bored playing. We have come new players, but no more online, since you lost your veterans. Give a lot EP for beginners, they also leave because they get bored. Vicious circle.

You are trying to lure players with promises of wealth (EP). This is absolutely wrong. I already talked about this many times. People should choose your game. But it should be interesting to do.

Re: New devblog: Extension Point system upgrades

Ville wrote:

Why not get rid of daily EP?  Use boosters to pump up EP gained by doing stuff.  Increase EP requirements by an incriminatle amounts so you can be a maxed EP pilot in 1 year playing 8 hours a day.  Then instead of doing that whole ex potential curve stuff, just make it simple.

If this is they way the Devs are going then I agree - get rid of daily EP.
Add a daily EP package(s) to the store. (financially for AC a bit like the old subscription model)
Add activity EP boosters to the store.

I'd take it a bit further even. Extensions are split into categories at the moment. Re-jig the categories a bit and have different types of Activity EP to "spend" in the different categories with an extension tree rather like the current research tree.

The tree gives players something to aim for which is another hook for staying and playing. You can take it further still by making certain extensions and/or levels only available by exchanging other items in addition to EP.

The potential for encouraging activity in such a model without requiring grind could work out very well if considered carefully.