Herocraft: The Great Discussion

[LightningCape]

Wall of text* (You were warned)

First off let me just say what this thread is NOT about:

· Doomsaying

· Blaming

· Demonizing

· And/or persecuting

Please note:

Now I was going to make this thread in the staff forums when I thought to myself “that would completely destroy the point of this”. This is a thread created for the purpose of making a discussion about the server’s present and future, and those who post comments that are spiteful, toxic, or offtopic will receive forum warnings and post removal. The community we have is a nice one. Herocraft is the #1 in terms of activity on MCF in terms of page views (which is well over 1 million) under all survival servers. If that doesn’t mean anything to you then I’d also like to mention that Herocraft is also an old community that has survived mainly by constantly attracting people, and providing content that they enjoy. Whether it be completely new or improved.


I bring this up not because I believe the community and server are in danger but rather, there are steps that we can take to improve them now. Some things will obviously always affect Herocraft’s player base that cannot be stopped or avoided. These are not the things we’ll be talking about.


It’s no surprise to anyone when I say that Herocraft’s recent server population has seen better days. I will start off by saying nothing we do will increase the amount of players overnight. There isn’t a magic silver bullet and there isn’t a single entity to blame. Like I said before this is partially due to forces Herocraft has no control over likeschool/work, interest in other games/like of interest in minecraft, and many more.


There are many in the community who are strongly concerned with the goals, offerings, and objectives in Herocraft (AKA the reason for playing). Many would tell you PvP is the main offer while others would tell you playing with friends. The fact of the matter is PvP has always been one of the stronger concepts of Herocraft which isn’t necessarily negative to say. The reason some in the community are concerned is because they feel the goals and objectives associated with their favorite offering are lacking.


This is largely due to the fact that PvP is slightly limited by both game mechanics and the server’s economy.

I do believe it would be reasonable to get to the biggest elephant in the room and that would be the grinding:

The Grind

Outside of Herocraft and Minecraft together when you tell people about a game (mostly RPGs) and mention any kind of grinding they will almost instantly get a sick look on their face and think of the one of the biggest killer of games, Repetition. You can cheer them up by making the grind one or more of the following:

· Rewarding

· Challenging (Not too much) and Enjoyable

· Varied and Entertaining

What can really do a game in is if little is done to silence the monotony. This repetition is present currently in Herocraft and I believe that it can be changed say that the grind feels less like grinding. For grinding to be better it needs to work well with game mechanics and in Minecraft’s/Herocraft’s, server side economy. The grinding of exp has pretty much always been linked to the economy of the server since mobs have and currently drop currency. This makes tackling potential issues with either difficult without changing or affecting the other.


Main Points

· Players must not only feel rewarded but actually rewarding when grinding

· Steps need to be taken to silence the monotony of grinding

· Grinding and the economy must be fine tuned to promote all aspects of play full as opposed to little bits of some.

· Or just flat out easier (connects to monotony)


The Economy & Professions:

Secondary crafter specs are meant to give the player a boost in the economy. What happens when professions no longer make any meaningful difference other than game mechanics? To be blunt they become unnecessary to the players. When players abandon the economy it will mainly become something only ever used when rare/unobtainable items are on the line. When it comes to professions the course of action becomes relatively simple. Make them more relative to the economy and game, or give their permissions and aspects to the other professions and remove the class altogether.


The types of Professions (currently)

· Cool game mechanics but little interaction with the economy

o Engineer, miner, Runesmith, Enchanter, Alchemist​

· Economy interaction but no interesting game mechanics

o Merchant, Smith​

· Neither

o Farmer​

Main Points

· Professions must become more prevalent

· Server sponsored items should not require monotonous grinding to achieve

· Professions need to be cleaned up in terms of usefulness and possible even new one added with new concepts surrounding them

Staff Members

As a member of staff I feel the need to explain to the community what exactly we are and what we do. In the hopes that those who still don’t understand staff I will make a list.

Staff are:

· Volunteers who expect nothing in return ( High staff like @Moderators , @Coders , @Admins know what I mean)

· Promoted on trust and represent the server when they do their job correctly

· Are here to help people and provide and maintain the proper environment

· Are NOT robots. We have lives

· Can be overwhelmed

When I see people yelling at staff members I honestly want to tear one of their arms off and bitch slap them with it.


Classes/Heroes

Now a big thing for a lot of people on the server is a word that comes up a lot. Balance. However, this doesn’t only mean PvP. People need to understand that balance also applies to game mechanics and PvE. With Heroes being arguable one of the main features of Herocraft great detail is put on them. With 17 classes and more to come, balance can get complicated. I find it reasonable to assume so. Though I feel that some things have been overlooked when it comes to balance.

I’ll be a little frank. Some classes atm are clearly better than others. It’s a fact and it’s universally understood by some in the community. The frustration occurs when players think that staff either do not care or are unwilling to act. I will say that not all staff members are equally connected to class balancing, but some know it very well and push for changes. Even @Kainzo has started something he thinks will help solve the issues currently facing balance. Currently they look promising even though they have attracted some negative attention. Clearing the way for balance is leading for more input from the balance team, more results, and even new classes being planned.


Things needed & things being done

· Overall class balance

· Making sure there aren’t overplayed classes because of strength

· Keeping it fresh by occasionally release new classes

· Having the community have a say in how classes should be balanced (numbers and not concept)



Objectives & mechanics

Game mechanics and objectives are ultimately what give a game life. Having players define this is dangerous. Meaning, if you have players decide there are no worthwhile objective then interest in the game will decline rapidly. There has been work in this field by adding conquest points around the PvP and the newly added TnT, also on TnT. There are, however, questions we now have to ask:

· Are they properly integrated?

· What can be done to improve them?

· Should PvE get objectives?

· Should different kinds of objectives be added?

When I ask people in-game these questions I generally get mixed answers. I will list some of the other answers that I agree with bellow.

· TnT blasts need to last much longer if people will ever hope to raid full townships

· Objectives need to give rewards that the economy can actually support

· Rewards must have real value

· More and different objectives are needed

· They should be simple and easy to follow



This is where I stop. I would like staff and the community to not only comment on these issues but to discuss those they think should be that I didn’t include. Remember keep it civil.

@Kainzo | @Wiki Team | @Moderators | @Admins | @Proctors | @Architects | @Rules Council | @Heralds | @Balance Team | @Guides | @Coders | @Event Team | @others

 

[Irishman81]

First issue I see....I did not get any out of my 4 tags.

On a serious note, Since I've joined the balance team, I have tried to take the initiative for pushing classes and balancing the ones currently in game. What I plan as the next step is to try and comminicate with the community in what they want to see, commit to doing it, and actually push it in game.

 

[Kainzo]

First issue I see....I did not get any out of my 4 tags.

On a serious note, Since I've joined the balance team, I have tried to take the initiative for pushing classes and balancing the ones currently in game. What I plan as the next step is to try and comminicate with the community in what they want to see, commit to doing it, and actually push it in game.

Tag system is being looked into by the forum dev.

@LightningCape - I agree with a lot of these points and I know for a fact that there's no "simple" fix to bring in hundreds of players without drastically changing the server into a mini-games network, something we've been trying to NOT do for 2+ years.

@cindy_k and other developers have been avidly working on player retention by making it easier to understand and play. Something that has taken a large amount of time, imo.

The adventure update will be the largest update to Herocraft and I hope to get a beta-server up for all players to play on it so we can test it before launch.

• Unique mobs.
• Challenging Encounters.
• Quests and Missions.
• Item Progression.
• Profession integration.
• Random Events.

 

[Clawscript]

It's true that farmer has no economic advantage, but gosh is it pleasant to level for those who hate mining.
For my main point, however, I think the Adventure server should do a lot. We already have a growing team of active members working on the coding part.

 

[LordZelkova]

From my perspective:

We've lost a lot of the older players as some of them have been playing MC for so long they are simply bored of it, and even Heroes doesn't change enough. In the case of Adventure I cannot wait to see it, but Quests, Dungeons, Mob Bosses are things that have been promised for a long time (Dungeons have been promised since the demise of the MA in DG).

The coming changes are great, they are interesting and simplifying the entrance to HC without sacrificing what people love about it. We aren't making HC easier, just less overwhelming.

On topic (I guess): I would love to see all profession be able to interact with the Economy. Ones like Farmer or Engineer are not called upon often (If ever in the case of farmer) and don't have much money earning power. Which for some is something that keeps them from trying that prof.

 

[Ultanian]

My lack of motivation to actually play would most likely be the fact that by dying you simply lose everything. Chests don't spawn for me most of the time (I die mid-air) or I die while mining in lava. A better alternative would be losing souls instead of items on death, and if you've been killed by another player they gain those souls. You drop your items if you have no souls left. PvP increased; fear of losing your things gone.

 

[LightningCape]

From my perspective:

We've lost a lot of the older players as some of them have been playing MC for so long they are simply bored of it, and even Heroes doesn't change enough. In the case of Adventure I cannot wait to see it, but Quests, Dungeons, Mob Bosses are things that have been promised for a long time (Dungeons have been promised since the demise of the MA in DG).

The coming changes are great, they are interesting and simplifying the entrance to HC without sacrificing what people love about it. We aren't making HC easier, just less overwhelming.

On topic (I guess): I would love to see all profession be able to interact with the Economy. Ones like Farmer or Engineer are not called upon often (If ever in the case of farmer) and don't have much money earning power. Which for some is something that keeps them from trying that prof.

Well said

Tag system is being looked into by the forum dev.

@LightningCape - I agree with a lot of these points and I know for a fact that there's no "simple" fix to bring in hundreds of players without drastically changing the server into a mini-games network, something we've been trying to NOT do for 2+ years.

@cindy_k and other developers have been avidly working on player retention by making it easier to understand and play. Something that has taken a large amount of time, imo.

The adventure update will be the largest update to Herocraft and I hope to get a beta-server up for all players to play on it so we can test it before launch.

• Unique mobs.
• Challenging Encounters.
• Quests and Missions.
• Item Progression.
• Profession integration.
• Random Events.

Good to hear. Looking forward to it

 

[JupiterRome]

For me its Mainly Conquest Points arnt Worth it, Grinding takes to much time to the point its not fun to switch classes, and yeah some Classes are better then others, and I've even been muted raging about balance because its so frustrating to loose to somebody you know your better then because their class is just better then yours.

 

[RShooter2000]

My lack of motivation to actually play would most likely be the fact that by dying you simply lose everything. Chests don't spawn for me most of the time (I die mid-air) or I die while mining in lava. A better alternative would be losing souls instead of items on death, and if you've been killed by another player they gain those souls. You drop your items if you have no souls left. PvP increased; fear of losing your things gone.

Loosing your things when you die is good for PvP, it gives a reason to kill someone.

 

[ytiggidmas]

Wall of text* (You were warned)

First off let me just say what this thread is NOT about:

· Doomsaying

· Blaming

· Demonizing

· And/or persecuting

Please note:

Now I was going to make this thread in the staff forums when I thought to myself “that would completely destroy the point of this”. This is a thread created for the purpose of making a discussion about the server’s present and future, and those who post comments that are spiteful, toxic, or offtopic will receive forum warnings and post removal. The community we have is a nice one. Herocraft is the #1 in terms of activity on MCF in terms of page views (which is well over 1 million) under all survival servers. If that doesn’t mean anything to you then I’d also like to mention that Herocraft is also an old community that has survived mainly by constantly attracting people, and providing content that they enjoy. Whether it be completely new or improved.


I bring this up not because I believe the community and server are in danger but rather, there are steps that we can take to improve them now. Some things will obviously always affect Herocraft’s player base that cannot be stopped or avoided. These are not the things we’ll be talking about.


It’s no surprise to anyone when I say that Herocraft’s recent server population has seen better days. I will start off by saying nothing we do will increase the amount of players overnight. There isn’t a magic silver bullet and there isn’t a single entity to blame. Like I said before this is partially due to forces Herocraft has no control over likeschool/work, interest in other games/like of interest in minecraft, and many more.


There are many in the community who are strongly concerned with the goals, offerings, and objectives in Herocraft (AKA the reason for playing). Many would tell you PvP is the main offer while others would tell you playing with friends. The fact of the matter is PvP has always been one of the stronger concepts of Herocraft which isn’t necessarily negative to say. The reason some in the community are concerned is because they feel the goals and objectives associated with their favorite offering are lacking.


This is largely due to the fact that PvP is slightly limited by both game mechanics and the server’s economy.

I do believe it would be reasonable to get to the biggest elephant in the room and that would be the grinding:

The Grind

Outside of Herocraft and Minecraft together when you tell people about a game (mostly RPGs) and mention any kind of grinding they will almost instantly get a sick look on their face and think of the one of the biggest killer of games, Repetition. You can cheer them up by making the grind one or more of the following:

· Rewarding

· Challenging (Not too much) and Enjoyable

· Varied and Entertaining

What can really do a game in is if little is done to silence the monotony. This repetition is present currently in Herocraft and I believe that it can be changed say that the grind feels less like grinding. For grinding to be better it needs to work well with game mechanics and in Minecraft’s/Herocraft’s, server side economy. The grinding of exp has pretty much always been linked to the economy of the server since mobs have and currently drop currency. This makes tackling potential issues with either difficult without changing or affecting the other.


Main Points

· Players must not only feel rewarded but actually rewarding when grinding

· Steps need to be taken to silence the monotony of grinding

· Grinding and the economy must be fine tuned to promote all aspects of play full as opposed to little bits of some.

· Or just flat out easier (connects to monotony)


The Economy & Professions:

Secondary crafter specs are meant to give the player a boost in the economy. What happens when professions no longer make any meaningful difference other than game mechanics? To be blunt they become unnecessary to the players. When players abandon the economy it will mainly become something only ever used when rare/unobtainable items are on the line. When it comes to professions the course of action becomes relatively simple. Make them more relative to the economy and game, or give their permissions and aspects to the other professions and remove the class altogether.


The types of Professions (currently)

· Cool game mechanics but little interaction with the economy

o Engineer, miner, Runesmith, Enchanter, Alchemist​

· Economy interaction but no interesting game mechanics

o Merchant, Smith​

· Neither

o Farmer​

Main Points

· Professions must become more prevalent

· Server sponsored items should not require monotonous grinding to achieve

· Professions need to be cleaned up in terms of usefulness and possible even new one added with new concepts surrounding them

Staff Members

As a member of staff I feel the need to explain to the community what exactly we are and what we do. In the hopes that those who still don’t understand staff I will make a list.

Staff are:

· Volunteers who expect nothing in return ( High staff like [USERGROUP=12][USERGROUP=12]@Moderators[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] , [USERGROUP=15][USERGROUP=15]@Coders[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] , [USERGROUP=9][USERGROUP=9]@Admins[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] know what I mean)

· Promoted on trust and represent the server when they do their job correctly

· Are here to help people and provide and maintain the proper environment

· Are NOT robots. We have lives

· Can be overwhelmed

When I see people yelling at staff members I honestly want to tear one of their arms off and bitch slap them with it.


Classes/Heroes

Now a big thing for a lot of people on the server is a word that comes up a lot. Balance. However, this doesn’t only mean PvP. People need to understand that balance also applies to game mechanics and PvE. With Heroes being arguable one of the main features of Herocraft great detail is put on them. With 17 classes and more to come, balance can get complicated. I find it reasonable to assume so. Though I feel that some things have been overlooked when it comes to balance.

I’ll be a little frank. Some classes atm are clearly better than others. It’s a fact and it’s universally understood by some in the community. The frustration occurs when players think that staff either do not care or are unwilling to act. I will say that not all staff members are equally connected to class balancing, but some know it very well and push for changes. Even @Kainzo has started something he thinks will help solve the issues currently facing balance. Currently they look promising even though they have attracted some negative attention. Clearing the way for balance is leading for more input from the balance team, more results, and even new classes being planned.


Things needed & things being done

· Overall class balance

· Making sure there aren’t overplayed classes because of strength

· Keeping it fresh by occasionally release new classes

· Having the community have a say in how classes should be balanced (numbers and not concept)



Objectives & mechanics

Game mechanics and objectives are ultimately what give a game life. Having players define this is dangerous. Meaning, if you have players decide there are no worthwhile objective then interest in the game will decline rapidly. There has been work in this field by adding conquest points around the PvP and the newly added TnT, also on TnT. There are, however, questions we now have to ask:

· Are they properly integrated?

· What can be done to improve them?

· Should PvE get objectives?

· Should different kinds of objectives be added?

When I ask people in-game these questions I generally get mixed answers. I will list some of the other answers that I agree with bellow.

· TnT blasts need to last much longer if people will ever hope to raid full townships

· Objectives need to give rewards that the economy can actually support

· Rewards must have real value

· More and different objectives are needed

· They should be simple and easy to follow



This is where I stop. I would like staff and the community to not only comment on these issues but to discuss those they think should be that I didn’t include. Remember keep it civil.

@Kainzo | [USERGROUP=41][USERGROUP=41]@Wiki Team[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=12][USERGROUP=12]@Moderators[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=9][USERGROUP=9]@Admins[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=17][USERGROUP=17]@Proctors[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=34][USERGROUP=34]@Architects[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=47][USERGROUP=47]@Rules Council[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=39][USERGROUP=39]@Heralds[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=38][USERGROUP=38]@Balance Team[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=35][USERGROUP=35]@Guides[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=15][USERGROUP=15]@Coders[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=45][USERGROUP=45]@Event Team[/USERGROUP][/USERGROUP] | @others

I don't feel like creating a wall, so I'm just going to say some things that I personally think could be changed to better Herocraft.

Things such as:
"The Grind"
-The grind is too repetitive, takes too long, and makes it so people have to spend hours leveling to play a class they've already played before
-PVP & PVE are basically the exact same thing when it comes to leveling, and does nothing but provide a safe haven to EVERYONE who wants to level(which isn't exactly bad, but what's the point of leveing on PVP if PVE is free from pvp interactions?)
-In my opinion the EXP modifier on all combat classes should be increased 40% (not profs)
-PVP EXP grant should increase 20%
-PVE EXP grant should stay the same
-PVE should have MobArenas with dungeon like arenas to make leveling a fun process, and something to be done with friends
-Mob difficulty increasing the farther you go out into the map doesn't really change anything, or enhance gameplay, but rather makes
leveling more tedious, and for what seems like less experience because you die more often. -I suggest this be removed, or only exist on PVE

I say this because leveling at the moment for nearly all players feels boring, repetitive, and makes it so people level one or two classes, and never level anything else because they don't want to go through the grind. This could make the grind, less of a grind, and people could enjoy the mobarenas.

I'll add to this another time, but this is just what I could think of at the moment

 

[ChazzaMaGazza]

I'm not really sure on this idea but maybe to solve the grind issue maybe make others ways of earning levels?

Could be a reward on Loot crates
Maybe if your in the top 5 voters you gain X amount of levels.
Possibly you could buy Exp/ levels with souls (this could improve the economy as well)
A drop wit a rare chance could be a potion that rewards you with a certain amount of exp/levels.


There is many other possibilities, these are just a few I thought of.
Feel free to respond .plz no hate. <3

 

[Kydone]

I will write a bit here too :3
I think the main problem is hardly said the PvE map... The most people want to level their class, build a home/town and do then PvP, but that is not possible if there are much players on the PvE map. Imo it is good to lose your stuff if you die, because that is a feature of minecraft and I think if you do not lose your stuff it is a server for pussys and you should not play minecraft on a heroes SURVIVAL server. Where is then the happiness, if you kill anybody and you get no stuff? It is just boring imo.

The things I read about the adventure update is a really good start, to make leveling and the gameplay much funnier and easier, but that will not keep the players on the server... That is a process you cant stop!

Another terrible thing imo is that you cannot switch your class for free, which sounds really ugly for new players and these are the guys you need to hold on the server. I mean, a new player do mostly not know much about the heroes plugin or the herocraft classes, so they pick often anything. After a while they do not like their class and want to change it, but oops it costs 400 souls and they are like wtf? So they will quit the server again.

I will make later another thread, where I explain a few ideas, to increase PvP nd raiding a lot, because I think that is the bread and butter...

 

[Rumblestikk]

TBH - In the little time I have to play its the Grind.

Grinding mobs to level... understandable. I've played games like Rganrok Online with a worse grind.

Griding Ores to find any form of Money or resources is what drives me insane the most. I think we should really take a look at Different ways to help people get souls. I have my sights set on a 35k plot but I know I'll never get there without endlessly devoting my time to HC something I just can't do right now with everything going on in my RL.

 

[CoolBeans279]

TBH - In the little time I have to play its the Grind.

Grinding mobs to level... understandable. I've played games like Rganrok Online with a worse grind.

Griding Ores to find any form of Money or resources is what drives me insane the most. I think we should really take a look at Different ways to help people get souls. I have my sights set on a 35k plot but I know I'll never get there without endlessly devoting my time to HC something I just can't do right now with everything going on in my RL.

but da 35k plot is too big.

 

[devotedworker]

Wall of text* (You were warned)

First off let me just say what this thread is NOT about:

· Doomsaying

· Blaming

· Demonizing

· And/or persecuting

Please note:

Now I was going to make this thread in the staff forums when I thought to myself “that would completely destroy the point of this”. This is a thread created for the purpose of making a discussion about the server’s present and future, and those who post comments that are spiteful, toxic, or offtopic will receive forum warnings and post removal. The community we have is a nice one. Herocraft is the #1 in terms of activity on MCF in terms of page views (which is well over 1 million) under all survival servers. If that doesn’t mean anything to you then I’d also like to mention that Herocraft is also an old community that has survived mainly by constantly attracting people, and providing content that they enjoy. Whether it be completely new or improved.


I bring this up not because I believe the community and server are in danger but rather, there are steps that we can take to improve them now. Some things will obviously always affect Herocraft’s player base that cannot be stopped or avoided. These are not the things we’ll be talking about.


It’s no surprise to anyone when I say that Herocraft’s recent server population has seen better days. I will start off by saying nothing we do will increase the amount of players overnight. There isn’t a magic silver bullet and there isn’t a single entity to blame. Like I said before this is partially due to forces Herocraft has no control over likeschool/work, interest in other games/like of interest in minecraft, and many more.


There are many in the community who are strongly concerned with the goals, offerings, and objectives in Herocraft (AKA the reason for playing). Many would tell you PvP is the main offer while others would tell you playing with friends. The fact of the matter is PvP has always been one of the stronger concepts of Herocraft which isn’t necessarily negative to say. The reason some in the community are concerned is because they feel the goals and objectives associated with their favorite offering are lacking.


This is largely due to the fact that PvP is slightly limited by both game mechanics and the server’s economy.

I do believe it would be reasonable to get to the biggest elephant in the room and that would be the grinding:

The Grind

Outside of Herocraft and Minecraft together when you tell people about a game (mostly RPGs) and mention any kind of grinding they will almost instantly get a sick look on their face and think of the one of the biggest killer of games, Repetition. You can cheer them up by making the grind one or more of the following:

· Rewarding

· Challenging (Not too much) and Enjoyable

· Varied and Entertaining

What can really do a game in is if little is done to silence the monotony. This repetition is present currently in Herocraft and I believe that it can be changed say that the grind feels less like grinding. For grinding to be better it needs to work well with game mechanics and in Minecraft’s/Herocraft’s, server side economy. The grinding of exp has pretty much always been linked to the economy of the server since mobs have and currently drop currency. This makes tackling potential issues with either difficult without changing or affecting the other.


Main Points

· Players must not only feel rewarded but actually rewarding when grinding

· Steps need to be taken to silence the monotony of grinding

· Grinding and the economy must be fine tuned to promote all aspects of play full as opposed to little bits of some.

· Or just flat out easier (connects to monotony)


The Economy & Professions:

Secondary crafter specs are meant to give the player a boost in the economy. What happens when professions no longer make any meaningful difference other than game mechanics? To be blunt they become unnecessary to the players. When players abandon the economy it will mainly become something only ever used when rare/unobtainable items are on the line. When it comes to professions the course of action becomes relatively simple. Make them more relative to the economy and game, or give their permissions and aspects to the other professions and remove the class altogether.


The types of Professions (currently)

· Cool game mechanics but little interaction with the economy

o Engineer, miner, Runesmith, Enchanter, Alchemist​

· Economy interaction but no interesting game mechanics

o Merchant, Smith​

· Neither

o Farmer​

Main Points

· Professions must become more prevalent

· Server sponsored items should not require monotonous grinding to achieve

· Professions need to be cleaned up in terms of usefulness and possible even new one added with new concepts surrounding them

Staff Members

As a member of staff I feel the need to explain to the community what exactly we are and what we do. In the hopes that those who still don’t understand staff I will make a list.

Staff are:

· Volunteers who expect nothing in return ( High staff like [USERGROUP=12]@Moderators[/USERGROUP] , [USERGROUP=15]@Coders[/USERGROUP] , [USERGROUP=9]@Admins[/USERGROUP] know what I mean)

· Promoted on trust and represent the server when they do their job correctly

· Are here to help people and provide and maintain the proper environment

· Are NOT robots. We have lives

· Can be overwhelmed

When I see people yelling at staff members I honestly want to tear one of their arms off and bitch slap them with it.


Classes/Heroes

Now a big thing for a lot of people on the server is a word that comes up a lot. Balance. However, this doesn’t only mean PvP. People need to understand that balance also applies to game mechanics and PvE. With Heroes being arguable one of the main features of Herocraft great detail is put on them. With 17 classes and more to come, balance can get complicated. I find it reasonable to assume so. Though I feel that some things have been overlooked when it comes to balance.

I’ll be a little frank. Some classes atm are clearly better than others. It’s a fact and it’s universally understood by some in the community. The frustration occurs when players think that staff either do not care or are unwilling to act. I will say that not all staff members are equally connected to class balancing, but some know it very well and push for changes. Even @Kainzo has started something he thinks will help solve the issues currently facing balance. Currently they look promising even though they have attracted some negative attention. Clearing the way for balance is leading for more input from the balance team, more results, and even new classes being planned.


Things needed & things being done

· Overall class balance

· Making sure there aren’t overplayed classes because of strength

· Keeping it fresh by occasionally release new classes

· Having the community have a say in how classes should be balanced (numbers and not concept)



Objectives & mechanics

Game mechanics and objectives are ultimately what give a game life. Having players define this is dangerous. Meaning, if you have players decide there are no worthwhile objective then interest in the game will decline rapidly. There has been work in this field by adding conquest points around the PvP and the newly added TnT, also on TnT. There are, however, questions we now have to ask:

· Are they properly integrated?

· What can be done to improve them?

· Should PvE get objectives?

· Should different kinds of objectives be added?

When I ask people in-game these questions I generally get mixed answers. I will list some of the other answers that I agree with bellow.

· TnT blasts need to last much longer if people will ever hope to raid full townships

· Objectives need to give rewards that the economy can actually support

· Rewards must have real value

· More and different objectives are needed

· They should be simple and easy to follow



This is where I stop. I would like staff and the community to not only comment on these issues but to discuss those they think should be that I didn’t include. Remember keep it civil.

@Kainzo | [USERGROUP=41]@Wiki Team[/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=12]@Moderators[/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=9]@Admins[/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=17]@Proctors[/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=34]@Architects[/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=47]@Rules Council[/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=39]@Heralds[/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=38]@Balance Team[/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=35]@Guides[/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=15]@Coders[/USERGROUP] | [USERGROUP=45]@Event Team[/USERGROUP] | @others

No tag >.<

 

[LightningCape]

Glad a discussion is starting. All this feedback I feel will only lead to more perspectives and positive changes.

Main things I'm seeing and main questions I think should be talked about:

The Grind-

• How can it be made less repetitive without taking away from other aspects of the game?
• How can it be made fun & exciting to people leveling?
• How can we have it better connect with the economy ?
• How can we make leveling more rewarding without making it too easy?

Also keep in mind @Kainzo is planning something with MythicMobs

I will write a bit here too :3
I think the main problem is hardly said the PvE map... The most people want to level their class, build a home/town and do then PvP, but that is not possible if there are much players on the PvE map. Imo it is good to lose your stuff if you die, because that is a feature of minecraft and I think if you do not lose your stuff it is a server for pussys and you should not play minecraft on a heroes SURVIVAL server. Where is then the happiness, if you kill anybody and you get no stuff? It is just boring imo.

The things I read about the adventure update is a really good start, to make leveling and the gameplay much funnier and easier, but that will not keep the players on the server... That is a process you cant stop!

Another terrible thing imo is that you cannot switch your class for free, which sounds really ugly for new players and these are the guys you need to hold on the server. I mean, a new player do mostly not know much about the heroes plugin or the herocraft classes, so they pick often anything. After a while they do not like their class and want to change it, but oops it costs 400 souls and they are like wtf? So they will quit the server again.

I will make later another thread, where I explain a few ideas, to increase PvP nd raiding a lot, because I think that is the bread and butter...

You bring up some understandable points. In my opinion I feel our tutorial is dated. It was an idea I brought up to the architects a while ago but never had the time to complete. I'll be looking into it soon.

 

[Jrr_]

I would like to talk about the map itself. I wouldn't mind seeing smaller maps in the future. If we had smaller maps I believe we could all interact a bit more where towns were easier to get to which could lead to better pvp and a better rpg experience all together. Then we have another world (ffa, ruins) where you gather resources which can be like 10k by 10k but have the PvP Map at like 2k,2k and same with Pve.

 

[Kydone]

Trust me, for raiding a town the distance is the smallest problem... its more the fact, that you often raid nothing and cause this i will do a suggestion, to make it imo easier and more interesting, but i am scared of my english... I think you will not understand it <.<

 

[Fjordsen]

Trust me, for raiding a town the distance is the smallest problem... its more the fact, that you often raid nothing and cause this i will do a suggestion, to make it imo easier and more interesting, but i am scared of my english... I think you will not understand it <.<

It's not about raiding, it's about being able to meet new people without travelling far and wide. I've never went farther than 1K blocks from spawn this map, just because the area around spawn is much more lively. Meeting new people is one of the best things with Herocraft for me.

 

[Kydone]

But this happens mostly at PvP and not at raiding, or am I wrong?