Hello heroctafters. Long time no post. For those of you who are too new to remember me, I have been here for six years. While I seldom log in these days, I do still creep around the forums like a crazy HC stalker.
What I am seeing in this thread is that there are still some people who care enough about this server, both staff and players, to make a rebirth possible. For that to happen though you will need to stop blaming each other and accept responsibility for your role in the decline.
We cannot control others actions, but we can control how we react to others. Instead of looking for what everyone else did wrong ask yourself what you could have done better to keep the server alive.
For any system to thrive you need to strike a balance between differing personalities. You need builders to build towns, you need PVE players to farm mobs. You need Crafters and farmers to keep everyone fed and equipped. However, in order to keep them all interested you need PVP players to provide a sense of danger, and create incentives for the other player types to band together. Nothing brings people together like having something to fight against.
Every major loss of players on HC has been precipitated by a shift in the system that created an inbalace between these different groups. Despite declarations that Kainzo never listened to the community before, most of the shifts that have led to the decline of the server were made in response to demands from the community.
People in general tend to demand what they want right now, without regard to the long term effects. You may want to eat a donut right now, but you likely do not want to get fat, which is the inevitable result of continually eating donuts. When the PVP oriented players demanded TNT and war break regions, they where thinking only about the fun they would have right then in the moment raiding towns and bases. They did not think about the fact that such a system removes the incentive for build oriented players to build towns and bases in the first place(dispite warnings from
many of us who have lived in the world and understand human behavior). Short term fun long term disaster.
When in response to this move PVE oriented players asked for a separate map to build on, they thought only of the immediate safety from TNT and bullyish PVP. They did not think about the fact that struggling against the PVP crews, and helping protect new players from them, was part of the reason many of their towns people logged in every day(despite similar warnings from similar people). In this case short term pleasure, long term loss of purpose.
These are only two examples of a narrative that has played out on HC time and time again.
The fact is that you cannot give everyone what they want all, of for that matter even some of the time. If you make PVP and raiding too easy, you will limit the incentive for building oriented players to stay on the server, or even to play as a builder if they do stay, as people tend to move towards the easiest path to success. This will lead to a lack of targets for PVP. Likewise if PVP is too difficult, few will attempt it and you will lose the sense of danger and triumph associated with building a successful town. You need to do your best to create a system where all playstyles are equally viable, and no playstyle has a distinct or intentional upper hand.
Just as everything in life is a trade off, so too should it be in the game. For instance: a plug-in that allows players to have a diminishing likelihood of keeping their equipment on death depending on the vanilla xp level they have might seem like a slight against PVP players because they get less loot. However, if such a system encourges more players to leave the safety of their bases the end result will be more PVP, which will benefit PVP players in the form of more PVP and also benefit the less PVP oriented players in the form of having experiences and seeing parts of the server they may not have seen if they never left their base to begin with. Additionally, the increased above world activity will make the server feel busier and less desolate.
A system that allows towns to be impenetrable except through subterfuge or flaws in the design/build might seem like a deterrent to PVP because raiding those towns will be more challenging and less rewarding. It is however preferable to a server where no one bothers to build a town in the first place.
The end goal should be to create a system where everyone gives something, and everyone gets something.
I have been on this server long enough to see it somewhat balanced, PVP heavy, and PVE heavy. Somewhat balanced had it's issues, but it had a much larger, more vibrant, and less toxic player base than either of the other two.
I have a lot more to say on this subject should anyone wish to hear it.
