So this is much more a general suggestion, but server population has been rather low lately. I'm sure it will pick up, but I think it becomes a little frustrating for players to log in when they can't find much to do. I think if there were more ways to earn gold/xp for players above level 6 on their own, you'd see more people logging in and then it would avalanche into higher server population in general.
Ways this could be accomplished:
-Make explorables which are generally min 2 players, 1 player
-Make some of the max lvl 6/7 quests min 1 or 2 instead of 3.
-Add in some more courier quests that solos can take to distant parts of the server (i.e. bring this to Shagga or Lop for lewts)
-Increase the number of bounties, frequency of bounties, add in a lower bounty type system
Just a few thoughts off the top of my head.
Would be nice to see. I think there was something before with explorables where you could go in with one person if server population was under a certain amount.
I personally don't like the idea of allowing people to solo explorables. The minimum 2 player requirement makes you go out to find another person who's level doesn't matter. Finding another person usually turns into more people coming along which can make for interesting role-play.
If the server population is under 3-5 people, it would be hella good to be able to do some scripted or random content by yourself. I fully endorse this and can only encourage others to come up with ways to draw people back into the many silent hours.
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I am more along the lines of keeping things that have major effects on your character (loot, xp, ect.) as they are and with a incentive or necessity to be in a group. I'm not a fan of a higher XP tick simply because all it would do is raise the level of the server which will have big ramifications (high magic, high level inequality.)
However I would like to make this observation.
When the server is low (and my playtimes are such that recently there are often 1-5 people online) I find that I have a fun time occupying myself with a stealth or invis capable character. The sheer number of explorables and the size/lore of the server will always keep me entertained. But with a main character that is incapable of either I find myself wary to explore far (fear of losing higher levels being so real), and usually it means being landlocked to Upper or Lower until I happen to bump into somebody.
The underlying point is I don't want to have to play an alt to have solo fun.
If there were something that could be accomplished by characters without solo exploration ability, even non tangible, it would make logging on with a severely low population much more worthwhile.
The best ive seen on another server was Arelith's insanely extensive crafting system. Any character (using a skill system similar to efuss) was capable of crafting a large amount of trade worthy or usable items on their own. Reagents were a pain to come by and you still had to group up to find the good stuff. But you could stockpile and then spend an afternoon making swords and armor/etc. to sell to characters. Tbh when I would play on that server the crafting system was the only reason I would leave EFU.
Cooking is the only non kill yourself crafting, I have explored it and it is quite fun, but not everybody is the Swedish chef.
As something that is far easier to implement to make the non stealth part of the server more appealing, I just came up with this little idea.
A placeable to root through the library for some interesting tidbit of knowledge from old efu. A letter from Trenada to Stenton, lost to time player faction posts from the original efu forum that may or may not have wider significance.
I am suspicious of additional experience ticks as the solution to an underpopulated questing community. While it would keep me glued to a single character throughout the day, and allow me to roleplay as I please, I was witness to methodical "time" farming upon other implementations of this strategy. Those servers were not more active because of it. Their online numbers were artificial. They had apathetic husks sitting in their lairs out of habit; I had to pull teeth to interact with them in any significant way.
The root of the problem is in the many core players that've gone missing. Perhaps we should address that, rather than the symptoms.
Where did they go? Will they return? Are they waiting for something?
Quote from: Saturnalia;435120A placeable to root through the library for some interesting tidbit of knowledge from old efu. A letter from Trenada to Stenton, lost to time player faction posts from the original efu forum that may or may not have wider significance.
I'm always delighted to dig up more server lore.
I will add here a few cents of my own.
The Lair System allows for people to go out and explore, gather. There is a clear incentive. Every mushroom and ore counts, every tar and acid pool. There is a reason to venture out and gather each of these, or just to note down where they are so that the rest of your lair members can then try to extract them.
When I had my down time with some characters I would go out and hunt for Rothe, to earn coin, or try to engage mobs to gain supplies (it's possible to get a lot of supplies, just by random exploration).
In fact, there were moments where I would stumble on whole hoards of treasure (realy, treasure) even after the server was live for 24 hours +.
Yes, an issue is levels/danger. Even with my current PC I cannot feel 100% safe from the infamous Umber Hulk Stalker. If you made a brand new PC venturing into the wilds to do some solo exploration becomes incredibly risky, and there is really very little to do in the city itself, especially if you wanted to make a character focused more on RPing/meeting with others than daring and dangerous adventuring.
That said, solo explorables... I am not certain if that is the way to go, as even higher level PCs could stumble on these and easilly solo them. Since the Solo Explorables would have to be toned down a bit due to difficulty this would make them far more attractive for higher level PCs looking for easy loot.
Let us put this in a slightly different perspective, Druids always have the option to perform their rituals. If the server is completely empty, or filled with people, they can perform them, and they offer them some manner of bonuses (or at least some RP). Meanwhile, a Priest lingering in Upper, perfoming sermons to NPCs won't achieve anything really. There is no real visible benefit to do that, and even if you write about it in your PCNs it wouldn't be the way for a Cleric to gain real favor with their God or followers of their faith.
Alchemy, Herbalism and Cooking are ways of killing a bit of time, yes, but they are also very dangerous, and you can only perform them if you have the means, and some knowledge, to do so.
There are only so many NPCs you can rob in the Inbetween as well.
I think what has been somewhat lost in my OP is the idea that if people log into the server, see there are only 3 PCs on (and two are your enemy) there isn't really all that much one can do. They log back out. However, if there were things you could do solo which provide tangible benefit to your character (risk/reward) you might set out to do those things, keeping you on the server. Hence instead of 3 PCs, you now have 10 who stuck around to do something solo. Now you have the population to group up and accomplish bigger tasks together. It creates a direct relationship where solo activities promote more group finding capability.
Getting population up is the real goal, and adding solo content the means to reach it. I don't think it requires any significantly drastic changes.
A few more ideas:
-Resetting exploration XP (in the really hard to reach places) after X amount of time, so players who have explored all there is to explore, have incentive to explore a second or third time.
-Giving some more XP for spawn kills in the UD (especially the real baddies).
-A second herbalist gathering quest for levels 6+ with reagents much further out into the dark.
If the server population is so low that you can't find a single other person (or even two) to do stuff with, there's probably bigger issues to address than making solo content to spend DM time on. I don't think you want people logging on just to farm solo content to get numbers up. I also don't think we need to add anymore incentives for people to be invisible/stealthing through the server. If randoms were made possible to solo you might just end up in a situation where everyone online at a given time is some kind of invisible/stealthed explorer looking for randoms to solo and almost zero chance of finding each other even if they pass directly by one another.
Lots of solo content that can be done up to high levels feels like it goes against the spirit of EFU and a properly functioning PW Story server/Roleplay server. It's a nice thought to try and get people to log in and fluff the numbers but it's the wrong approach.
Just my opinion.
Quote from: Vlaid;435125I also don't think we need to add anymore incentives for people to be invisible/stealthing through the server.
I think that what we need are incentives for people who can not be invisible or stealthing to interact with the server on their own, outside of Alchemy or Herbalism (which usually means your class can invis or stealth).
You should be able to play (for example) a lvl 6 fighter and have something to do in Sanctuary (adjacent) every reset.
If its an xp tick that is desired, I think something simple that you have to do for it is far more desirable and more interactive than free xp for standing in a room with a rock on your keyboard so you don't idle.
Maybe not something totally safe, but something simple and interesting that might bump you into the other character on the server.
The shark pit at Lollypop is something (albeit far away) that I think is a good example of a universal solo-able (difficultly) that gets you out into the server.
Quote from: Vlaid;435125If the server population is so low that you can't find a single other person (or even two) to do stuff with, there's probably bigger issues to address than making solo content to spend DM time on. I don't think you want people logging on just to farm solo content to get numbers up. I also don't think we need to add anymore incentives for people to be invisible/stealthing through the server. If randoms were made possible to solo you might just end up in a situation where everyone online at a given time is some kind of invisible/stealthed explorer looking for randoms to solo and almost zero chance of finding each other even if they pass directly by one another.
Lots of solo content that can be done up to high levels feels like it goes against the spirit of EFU and a properly functioning PW Story server/Roleplay server. It's a nice thought to try and get people to log in and fluff the numbers but it's the wrong approach.
Just my opinion.
I second Vlaid's posts in that explorables should be explored with others and other things should be adressed.
+1 to Vlaid.
Ok...
So there are bigger issues to focus on.
What can be done?
I suggested a number of things.
Quite frankly- its boring right now during my hours (EST weeknights). Typically 2-5 people IG. Little reason to log in. Give me things to do. That is my suggestion.
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I'll be frank, I find this thing where players are upset and begging for more dm activity and dm scripted content to be pretty toxic. Ultimately it is the players who drive EFU, DMs are just there to shepherd you along the path. The player count is low right now and I don't think there's any one definitive reason as to why. I'm sure It'll pick up like it always does and things will go back to normal. Until then there are myriad other ways you can waste your time that don't force DMs to waste theirs.
I honestly can't think of a pertinent suggestion that might address the OP's concerns, so I haven't replied to this thread yet - but I think at this point it might be wise to mention that while, like any suggestion, these ideas can be counter-argued and picked apart and simply disagreed with, that's not really very helpful at all.
These are suggestion forums, and I've seen it said time and time again that they're not for debates about the efficacy of the OP's suggestion.
If people disagree with anything about the original suggestions for any particular reasons, I think it might be a great deal more helpful if their concerns were accompanied by counter-suggestions. In this way, the staff (Who look at this subforum specifically for things they can do/script in the server) will have alternatives to consider if they, too, feel they do not support the OP's own suggestions.
I've found out that during the summer player numbers seem to wane. People go outside or on vacation and disappear for a while. As much as I'd like some more soloable content, I have to admit that it would most likely break the delicate balance of EFU, as well as going against its policy of pushing characters together rather than setting them apart.
On the other hand, I have also played on excellent servers whose total population amounted to about 30 people. This means that more often than not, seeing six people online meant something -big- was going on. I'd suggest logging in anyway and prodding fellow players to join. The downtime, long, boring wait is the flip side of a server where when RP ensues it is actually good. I have actually experienced a -lot- of that as a newcomer.
Summing up: the player shortage might be just temporary, if you want to introduce a little bit of solo content it is probably worth trying, but an excessive amount might turn the server into a bunch of players each soloing their own stuff, thus being actually counter-productive.
The best solo content is within the packs of fallen players. Who needs more than that?