Let me start this post off by saying that I really love Herocraft! I have not played on any other servers for an extended period of time because I just feel like this place is special. It is not, however, quite where I would like for it to be. Below is a list of things that I think are integral to the Herocraft experience and some suggestions for my vision for this game's future.
COMPLEX CLASSES
I think they're balanced wonderfully right now, although I do miss particle effects a lot. Fireblast was so much fun to scare people with! As has been mentioned elsewhere in the thread, particles like that really give the oomph that players want to feel when they're using abilities. It makes the game feel a little more different from vanilla MC.
I understand the urge to simplify classes, but this is the wrong way to go. I hate games where I feel like I have to play the same thing that everybody else does. I want to feel unique in the world. I want my abilities to have their own realm of influence. HC classes are in a great state, and I would like to see them stay there with one big addition that has also been mentioned- Intro Classes
SOLUTION: I think that Lost Soul was a great way to start. It takes away the initial decision that can overwhelm a new player and gives them time to learn the world/systems a bit before they have to make a decision that is really important. I personally would prefer to see Lost Soul replaced with "Warrior, Rogue, Caster, and Support classes". That is a decision that most people can jump right to. The caster path would give fireball and could unlock a unique ability from each sub class. Once they get to level 20 Caster, they can choose Wizard/Endermage/Beguiler etc.
TOWNSHIPS
To me townships is the thing that makes Herocraft HEROCRAFT! I've made some great friends from joining up with towns, and I would really hate to see this go away. I believe that townships are what keep players coming back over and over. The problem that I have with townships now is that every noob is trying to make one. Townships should never be something that is easily accessible. They should cost 1000-2000 coins just to start up.
I believe that having fewer and larger towns is the healthiest way to push this game since this creates lots more interaction with players. It promotes new players skills by giving them mentors instead of them just spending all of their time underground, and it removes a lot of pressure from them. The most fun that I ever had was with the AD kingdom that was massive. The server was nearly split in two, and there was always PvP to be had.
However, some players do not want to join towns, and there needs to be an alternative to protecting your stuff that is reasonably accessible. Personal regions and LWCs are the key to this.
PERSONAL REGIONS
There has to be a balance between making these accessible and letting every noob who joins the server build one. My thought is that if a player gets their Crafter class to level 20 then they have made it past the "join and leave" noob phase and are probably going to stick around. You want them to have a PIECE of Herocraft.
Give a free 7x7 personal region to each player upon reaching Crafter level 20. They may have been killed dozens of times and have nothing to show for their leveling itemwise, but they can at least build a place to call home. I suggest 7x7 because to me that is the minimum size you need to make a decent looking structure.
MONEY MAKER- Just like backpacks allow players to pay to upgrade the available size of their PR. You can even get unlocks for the next step up from crates. Supporters get access to a 2nd PR, which grows as their supporter tier grows.
LWC
To me the absolute worst change with this map is not getting your money back from a locked chest. It gives supporters/veteran players HUGE advantage, and it also completely screws the noobs. I remember saving enough souls for my first LWC chest when I joined, and I was so damn happy/proud! I had my little hut (not a PR) and a chest that I could keep my stuff in, and it was safe.
Then I built another base in a different area, and I moved my chest there. I never would have made that move or had that fun if I couldn't move my chest. I would have been to hesitant to give up that 250coins. What if I want to join a town and move my stuff there? Again I would feel like I just wasted all of my time/money.
NEW PLAYER EXPERIENCE- THE PVP and PVE ARGUMENT
The number one thing that I think has culled the potential population for Herocraft is that new players get put through the ringer, and it is worse now than ever. Noobies have always been killed lots. They should be protected early, but I understand the complaint that it prevents PvP. This has to be done WITH the addition of high end PvP content.
In this game you MUST have your combat class specific weapon to be effective. If this is going to be the case then give everybody a bound weapon that they ALWAYS have. Make every character have a weapon that is bound for their class (and isn't tradable) and allow them to perform quests or progress by upgrading that weapon.
If you don't want to do that, then let us use generic crafted tools/swords somehow. It feels REALLY weird to have to use a specific weapon like that, and it is way too hard for noobs to get a 2nd weapon if they lost the 1st. Over and over I see new players quit because they can't get a 2nd weapon. I've even gone to spawn and given them gold/redstone and WALKED them to the exchange NPCs only to have them say, "This is stupid" and log off. This has happened multiple times, and I don't feel like it needs to.
Armor should also NOT be dropped on death. The strongest players don't need more pieces of armor (a lot of it unenchanted). That's not good loot. As it is I think that most players are scared to wear their enchanted armor out because they are afraid to lose it. I know I won't until I feel like I'm leveled enough for PvP. This has also killed the economy for Enchanting, because who wants to spend much money on something that they will likely lose if they walk out of spawn?
The armor problem is even worse for new players. Leather is not easy or cheap to come by, and noobs know that even if they get the armor they will likely lose it. Basically noobs are forced to join townships to survive. This is an automatic turn off for lone wolf players who could actually be really stable players.
ECONOMY
First of all, please SCRAP the globalmarket system. I miss the days of hawking stuff on trade chat and running from shop to shop to see who has the best deal on leather. The trade chat interactions built trust between players and encouraged people to meet up. Trade booths were great, and they added a feel good element to the game. It is way more satisfying to make a player to player trade vs clicking a sign.
People play Herocraft for the social interactions- NOT the interactions with computers and bots.
Right now you spawn in this tiny little circular ring, and the town is small. Starter towns used to wow people when they logged in, but I don't think there's anything that amazing in Pantheon compared to any previous map I have played. Part of this was the chest shops and the shops inside of buildings. It was cool to see how people decorated their shops, and who doesn't like to bargain hunt?
You have an incredible outlet for making the economy strong- Professions. Give farmers unique foods with slight buffs or that restore mana as well as health. Runesmiths have a great niche. Make blacksmiths the only guys who can make anything above leather armor, and now that there are chest shops again people can buy the armor they need from KNOWN blacksmiths.
Professions no longer provide identity except for a very select few players.
One thing that I really don't like about combat class specific weapons is that we don't get really rare weapon drops. I remember hearing people talk about a Fortune VII Named Pick that Rizza had. LEGENDARY weapons that were sought after. I remember people paying 1000+ souls for extremely rare drops like that. These are the memorable items and trade chat discussions that are fun!
The soul shard/fragment thing has never been intuitive, but I like it. I often see new players ask where they can sell diamonds and emeralds and such., and lots of players have suggested going back to the gold standard. I'm behind this idea and think that you should set a low floor price at the exchange for rare ores and other materials. Let the player-run chest shops create the actual price that things sell at.
GRIEFING
When I first joined Herocraft I remember running out into the wilds and seeing dozens of structures outside of spawn! Not all of them were beautiful, and most of them weren't regioned. There were areas around herogates and stuff that were like little communities. Now there is no protection. The people who would normally have been deterred from destroying a structure now don't care.
The only way as a new player that you feel like it is worth it to build a nice place is if you somehow get enough money for a PR or join a town. Towns don't really offer a TON of creative freedom, and most new players can't afford a PR.
I lived in a non regioned house for a long time with my increasing number of REFUNDABLE LWC chests until I could afford a PR, and then I refunded all of my chests to region my PR. I joined a town a while after that, and I had no problem moving my things there. I kept my small PR house just outside spawn because people still walked out of spawn those days.
TRANSPORTATION
Wizards selling GTPs were the good ol' days. It was usually expensive to get back to spawn, so a lot of times people actually ran. I remember railroads set up underground from towns to spawn, and they stayed there because there was no griefing. There were PLAYER BUILT ROADS from spawn to lots of big destinations.
You just don't see any of those things like you used to because most players (myself included) go to their town and spawn. There are no dungeons to run to. For plentiful redstone you can go to spawn and RIGHT back to your base, and you can rinse and repeat every 15 minutes.
Keep warp, and make it cost your combat class level in coins. Low level players can still use it to get to spawn in a pinch. Higher level players with more experience will have to pay for a GTP to spawn, find a port from a buddy, run to spawn, or fork out lots of coins to do it.
I don't like /townspawn, but if you keep it raise the CD time to 1 hour so that it is still convenient but not a crutch.
DUNGEONS
The only reason I've heard given for not launching with dungeons is that players felt it prevented world PvP. Besides creating an alternative to boring vanilla mob farming, dungeons created 3 types of player to player encounters for me on a regular basis.
If I found somebody in a dungeon we would either talk quickly and group up, or we would get hostile. One player would get run out of the dungeon, or one player would get killed. I made friends and enemies this way.
Dungeons gave something for people to claim as their own. There were dungeons that I really wanted to go to, but I wouldn't dare because they were too close to an enemy town. I had a noobie dungeon with a small PR house next to it that I pretty much felt was MY dungeon. I leveled there tons, and I knew it in and out. I often had 3-4 LWC chests that I rented out to noobs so that they could level there and learn the game safely.
If there is high level PvP content and arenas and such, then I think that there is no reason for the game to lack dungeons.
I'm going to snag a 2nd spot in this thread where I can compile what I just said here. I have not even read over what I said above, so I hope that it's coherent and not too much of a ramble.
*Oh my gosh did I just write a freaking book about Herocraft?
