In my opinion over the past maps the quality of HeroCraft has gone down severely. This reduction in quality has to do with a few major changes that have happened since I have started playing on your server. These changes are as follows:
• Tier 2/Legendary Classes
• New leveling systems/Amount of exp needed to master
• Item Drops/Custom Crafting
• Conquest Points (Needs Revisions)
• Death Drops
• Staff
The few items listed above are things that have not only had a severe impact on the server population but, have also had a role in discouraging old players to come and play on new maps. Below I will continue to elaborate on each individual points made above.
1. Tier 2/Legendary Classes:
On paper it is a great idea, to reward players with a new skill and extra attribute points for the time and effort they put into their classes. However, the players that have been playing since Dragon Guard do not want to re-level a Tier 2/Legendary class after doing it the previous map. That opinion however, is not shared by the entire community some people do enjoy leveling classes, in order to get an extra skill and attribute points. The point being though that the people that I used to play with, did not like the leveling tier 2 classes or legendary's. They believed it made PvP unbalanced, which it does. Realistically this server is not an RPG server it is a PvP server. Once enormous factions such as the Freepers, Treepers, Umbra, Legion of Oblivion, and Indar came about for their sole love of the people they played with and the PvP on the server. Now, to make PvP unbalanced by adding in Tier 2's, Legendary's, Custom Crafting, and OP Armor is what caused these once enormous factions to become inactive. Granted these factions still exist but, the amount of people in them have greatly decreased due to this unbalance in PvP caused by Tier 2/Legendary classes.
2. New leveling systems/Amount of exp needed to master:
I understand the concept of heavens gate and dungeons, both were meant to boost the efficiency of leveling while reducing lag. However, this led to people bringing PvP into the dungeons and camping the people were leveling. Ultimately this led to the slow leveling and occasional rage quitting of "noobs." The old concept of going into a cave, or flattening out a swamp for the mobs to spawn, led to various places in the map were people could level and reduced deaths from PvP while players were leveling. The amount of exp needed to master a class sky rocketed with the latest patch were level 60's were rolled back to 50. After level 50 it is nearly impossible to level without a boost. As I previously stated the people that used to be active on this server wanted PvP, and if it is going to take 2 weeks of leveling to master a class they want to play, they are less inclined to actually play. If the intent of raising the exp was to push people to buy boost to level their classes, you are going about it the wrong way. From customer to business owner, you are running a business and their is a need to make a profit at doing so. Instead of raising the exp needed so that people would buy boost to level, a smarter way of approaching it is to, lower the costs of boosts, and have the maps reset every 2-3 months. This way levels will reset and people will buy more boosts in order to level the classes they want to play.
3. Item Drops/Custom Crafting:
This issue is the same as the first. dropping prot 3 armor, and being able to craft weapons with potion effects causes PvP to be unbalanced. Which in return causes players to leave. It is understood you are trying to push new ideas to keep the server entertaining and fun. However, it is doing the exact opposite of your intentions. Making PvP unbalanced with the use of these weapons only drives people away, your time and effort would be much better used in creating new tier 1 classes. [DELETED] did a great job of that, they got rid of their 4 tier system and moved everything to tier 1 classes with 8 or 9 classes for the 4 groups of hero's they had. This made PvP more fun and versatile. However, classes from [DELETED] were highly unbalanced, from the 3 hero server I've played on HeroCraft has had the most fluid and balanced classes.
4. Conquest Points(Revisions):
Conquest points are a great idea for raising PvP but, they are managed horribly wrong. A conquest point should be held once a week on a Friday or Saturday evening (when most players are on.) Additionally giving three gold, some exp, 3 gold, and little money should not be a reward for an event that goes on only once a week. A "Conquest Crate Key"(explained below) is the appropriate prize for controlling a conquest point. There is to be 4 different conquest points, in the 4 different quadrants of the map, and only one of them is to be active for the conquest event. A party would go over there and try to cap the point, if another party is to show up the point would go on freeze continue if the second party is eliminated or restart if the second party is victorious. Only the party leader would receive a key for a "Conquest Crate" that would have either ores, or pieces of fairly good armor (Featherfalling IV DepthStrider III) which would be the party leaders responsibility for disturbing it among the members.
5. Death Drops:
This point is fairly short. When I go out to PvP I am going out not only looking to get the ELO, I also am aiming on getting the opponents gear. When they keep their armor and weapon it defeats the purpose of PvPing and therefore reduced the overall PvP in the server. EVERYTHING should drop on death.
6. Staff:
This is not a rant on the performance of your staff. This is simply just a point to their activity in creating a fun and engaging community for your players to participate. Things such as weekly videos, monthly tournaments, player engagement, etc. should be happening actively within the community to keep it alive.
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Just the general broad thing of what I am saying here, keep it simple. There is no need for this new leveling system, custom crafting, or item drops. HeroCraft was great the way it was before, when things were just black and white, easy to understand. I encourage you to go look at these two faction servers, [DELETED], [DELETED]. They both have highly active communities and both do minimal to nothing on providing something "new." It is the frequent map resets and fresh starts that have kept those two servers populated for a long time. Historically HeroCraft spawns have been magnificent, but they really don't need to be all that. All there needs to be is a semi-decent looking building that has a "Trade District"/"Nexus" and has a non-building space between wilderness and spawn. Taking all of what I have written above into account I truly do believe you can once again repopulate HeroCraft. It will take time but, with correct community management, and marketing players should start joining again.
- SpikesLoL
