Help choose our next "Big Thing"

Ilyos

While we're going to keep on refining and tweaking the systems we put in place this month and going through our backlog of bugs and suggested changes from you all, we'd also like to start work on our next "Big Thing" (planning, designing, implementing). But we'd like your help on deciding which of the options below it should be!

(Oh, we always have fun things in the works, we do so now as well, but a "Big Thing" takes a lot more planning and time so let's look to the future together!)

Poet

I want all of these, particularly the removal of the level cap. But overall, I think the economy is still the biggest thing that needs work.  We attracted so many people early on who were interested in economy stuff, and many of them have become frustrated and left.  

Rhindara

I was really torn on this decision, and I'm still not honestly sure I picked what I most want. I don't even like bashing! But what we could really use aside from people being able to bash their little hearts out without worrying about hitting a ceiling, is some form of group bashing to come back. I know it's difficult to balance that, especially with so relatively few areas, comparatively slow respawn rates, and so on. But it's a fact that while some people love grinding alone, some people really enjoy cooperating to level up. It's certainly possible now, in groups of 2 or 3 at the most, but it's agonizingly slow and ultimately not worthwhile. I don't want group bashing to be better than solo bashing, but it would be great if it were a reasonable option.

juno

I'm somewhat scared of the changes and how they may negatively effect my own efforts thus far. All those people with early ships having to pay more marks to refit them and such was foreboding enough!

That said, I'd find the most engagement in more world related PvP options to participate in (i.e things outside the arena).

Pink_Candyfloss

While I do feel all the options proposed are quite important and I'm sure the staff will get around to everything on the list, I had to put my vote in for improving and expanding ship stuff. One of the main selling points of Starmourn is cruising the stars in your own ship, the game is set up so everyone has a ship, there just needs to be plenty to do so everyone can continue to enjoy ship related content. I'd love to see hauling, smuggling, piracy and NPC trade convoys we can pillage for goods.

That said, I do think enabling and encouraging group bashing needs to be a priority. I don't care about new zones and lifting the level cap, that can come later when we want to flesh out existing content. Every IRE game has bashing, it isn't exactly exciting so shouldn't be a priority. All it will do is inflate the marks people can earn, increasing the price of credits for newbies. Being able to hunt with people no matter the level difference is a staple in IRE games. It turns it into more of a social activity and I think the social aspect is one of the main appeals to MUDs.

Jerom

Choosing is hard!

I think I'll go with hacking updates because right now, hacking is really only useful for cosmpiercers. A little diversification would be nice. Other PvP games or level uncapping would be a close second.

Erkeeheb

More economy stuff gets my vote, because that can impact everything and ties things together.

Though what I'd most like is more to explore, the ability to build colonies, space stations, etc. 

Vega

I’ll be happy with any of these options. 

kamyr

PvE improvements are the fastest way to give players something to do together. Ships are a little harder and daunting, same for PvP. Getting more accessible group content means more players which will make it easier to create healthier mechanics for PvP and the economy.

The only thing that doesn't jump out as a potential option, though, is the uncapping. I do not need to come grind by myself more.

Nykara

It appears that there is absolutely no option to change your vote, which is unfortunate, because I glazed over the PvE Mechanics option (as Evasion/Cover) without thinking about what it could be.

Having a level cap has actually been OK in my opinion for the health of the game, because it gives us a good point to test from. We are in beta, so we are still testing things out; we still haven't gotten things to what I think is a pretty decent balance point. 

On the other hand... PvE is in need of a lot of work, and it isn't about using cover or Evasion being more useful (although both of those are important issues). First and foremost, the problem is (as @kamyr said above and @Rhindara said elsewhere and @Pink_Candyfloss mentioned here) that solo bashing is really boring, and group bashing is not a viable option. 

It has been said, "I don't want group bashing to be better than solo bashing." I don't share this opinion: I see absolutely no reason that group bashing shouldn't be better than solo bashing. It shouldn't be twice as good, but 20-50% better is absolutely a goal to aim for. Why? Well, simply: this game is social. Social activities should be more rewarding than not, because if we don't foster a community then we are in danger of the community falling apart. 

blah blah, anyway. Long-winded post summarized as: pls to make group bashing (and bashing with your low-level friends that you just got into the game without rolling a whole new character) very viable. 

eta: 
Also sorry for late add but - level 50 areas. We need a new one, a better one. One that is not Literally Hell (anemoi is even Amaian for Hell) to bash in. 

Kirin

So I chose space fleets and grouping

what differentiates SM from any other MUD is the gigantic space map that one can explore. Right now it feels very spartan and feel we can really push it in many interesting directions. 

All other activities listed are also nice but it’s not why you come to SM.

space is the final frontier 

Zhe

I am new to Starmourn but the one thing I notice lacking is HELP SONG/HELP CELESTINE/etc. Are there no city governments in place? Will there be? 

Rhindara

There's definitely governments in place in both Song and CA. I have no idea what Scatterhome does over there, but I wouldn't call it government. That said yeah, we could really use at the very least a command to see who's around to induct in factions, who's a leader (if there is one), and some small blurb about the org. 

I also want to clarify that I don't think it's necessary to raise the cap to any specific level; I think 75 is fine for an end point where stats, health, and equipment are concerned. But allowing people to go past the current cap so that they can watch numbers go up with no real mechanical benefit would be really nice for the people who enjoy that sort of thing.

Yayeh

I admit that what I chose (PvE mechanics) is not my top choice. Still waiting for ship modding!!! But under the definition of "the next big thing," I understand that ship modding would only effect a handful of players. I would like to see more group activities: group PvE both on the ground and in space, group hacking (I have NO clue what this would look like, but sounds intriguing), and group quests. A large part of the game's progress is determined by individual grinding efforts, regardless of where that focus is. Overall, it would be really good for the game is more group mechanics were introduced.

Xiru

Zhe said:

I am new to Starmourn but the one thing I notice lacking is HELP SONG/HELP CELESTINE/etc. Are there no city governments in place? Will there be? 

@Rhindara already answered that yes there are already governments in place but you're correct that those are missing files, and I think they should be in existence. 

Kitrana

what i want more then any of those is this cosmpiercer thing sorted.

Jerom

Another thing I'd also like but isn't in this poll are faction arenas. I want a Celestine arena, goddammit. I can already picture it in my mind, full of splendor and over-the-top bling. A testament to badly-spent wealth.

Zhulkarn

And definitely a nostalgic looking microphone to announce "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Ceeeeeleeeeessstiiiiineeeee Waaaarrrrrgaaaamesssss!!!!!"

That said, despite I am more RP-PvP oriented and at times dislike grinding I know PvE and sense of advancement via grinding is alluring to a portion of people. Hence gave my vote on that side. Besides, I also look from the side of the economy...better PvE means more drops and more materials (mods, armor pieces, marks to spend etc.) Improved PvE mechanics, boss fights requiring different strategies and resistances, no level cap etc. could play to the hands of other activities in the future. 

You know if you can create some mobs (possibly a special area or a boss) that can fight like a PvPer with rotations/healing that would even make PvPers interested. But possibly that would be the pinnacle of what can be achieved with current game mechanics, so I would not expect them appearing any soon.

Ilyos

While this poll is ongoing, I'd just like to point out that, both here and in other channels, a lot of people voted or prioritized stuff that might not exactly be their number one choice, but which they think others would enjoy more. Thank you all for being so awesome!

(Also, all of these things will be done eventually, this poll doesn't mean that what doesn't get picked will be erased off the whiteboard)

Tallulah

Jerom said:

Another thing I'd also like but isn't in this poll are faction arenas. I want a Celestine arena, goddammit. I can already picture it in my mind, full of splendor and over-the-top bling. A testament to badly-spent wealth.

Your friendly local Storyteller is your direct line on that kind of thing. I can't make any promises about it being 'the next big thing in CA', but I can definitely take inspiration where it's appropriate.

Matlkael

:O YES TO FACTION ARENAS!

Nykara

As a counterpoint - no to faction arenas, but provide more neutral ones. I hold a strong dislike for faction arenas. They make factions more isolated, and in a game our size we can't really have any of that. We need to be forced to interact and having neutral zone arenas definitely enforces that. 

Zhulkarn

To be honest the factions possessing arenas would not impact positively or negatively on isolationism. The other faction is as close as saying hi via a tell. People will still meet you on neutral ground for RP or PvP or any other activity. 

Ilyos

Faction Arenas...maybe down the road. Indeed, there might be cases when you're waiting in line for the Omni Arena to free up, but with our current population, it's not that big of an issue. I'd rather expand the functionality of the arena so that you might spectate the fight inside (which we will do soon) and add more PvP games to the arena before giving factions the option to have their own. Oh, also, when that happens, factions will have to buy them. And they'll be expensive.

Azlyn

I'd really like to see a queue for arena games implemented before anything else like arena-watch, so players can initiate events without needing Admin involvement. I think the appeal of Faction arenas is so we can host games when we want, but, a queue would satisfy that itch!

Nykara

@Zhulkarn
hard disagree there. Not having a faction arena forces people to go to the neutral arena, which produces spontaneous interaction. Some of us are invested enough in RP to send tells to random notables, but lots of people are either terrified or dislike that kind of RP. More spontaneous RP = more life. 

juno

As the game population grows, I'm sure factional arenas won't be an issue, but with where the numbers seem to be hovering currently, it's a bit easier when it's in one neutral spot.

Ikchor

I voted for evasion for entirely selfish reasons (i've invested into evasion, so i literally have a vested interest in it being more useful) but I have a different idea for the level cap

Two 'problems' that come up is the random nature of loot, and the fact sometimes you wind up with one bit of equipment that is like 10 levels below you for ages. So I propose an alternative drop design, whereby gaining a fixed amount of xp per level generates "kill data" tokens. Can take these tokens to a kiosk, and convert them to/sell them for fixed level gear.
"Kill data" generates gear, basically.

Maybe until like level 15 you still have the old random drop rate and call it "system calibration" for that level 1-15 area/range.

After level 15, you generate tokens automatically on level up. Comes with your statpoints, and you will always get enough to get at level armor for your character. This continues on til level 75, at which point you unlock a couple new functionalities.
1) Rerolling your armor/weapons. Spend tokens to try and get better stats (kind of reverts back to old loot system but its only part of the functionality)
2) You still gain XP, and every time you "level up" at 75 you get another batch of tokens.
3) Can now go to kiosk for mods.

4) Tokens do not decay (thus eliminating the whole 'i was gone for 2 months and nanites ate my everything' issue too)

TLDR: Leave the cap alone, but give us XP tokens to roll into at level gear. Similar to how the faith drops system in Imperian works.

Indi

I voted economy purely because I think it is critical for the success of Starmourn as a whole.
However, facilitating pvp is very important to me.

And as I see that uncapping level is important to so many people, I just want to caution (again, I know I probably sound like a broken record on this topic) against stat/hp increases continuing with more levels. Getting to 75 here honestly felt like getting to L100 in Aetolia in the late 2000s. It being a requirement for pvp... by all means uncap the level limit, but make it optional.

And... for the reward, access to an alternate class (i.e. Achaea's dragon) is the best idea IRE games have had for max level, and a major stat boost (i.e. Aetolia's endgame races and statpacks) is the worst.

DPierre

Is it too late to vote? 

I would vote top priority be "PvE Mechanics - Evasion/Cover improvements or revamp". My disenchantment with how PvE is currently is largely why I've essentially quit playing for now. And when I do happen to log in, I just sit there unable to bring myself to grind out PvE. It's important to have the PvE game be interesting because it's the one thing EVERYONE can fall back on in the moments of low population/activity. 

It's not that PvE is bad, it's just boring and not what I was expecting whenever I read about the awesome ideas behind the cover system and the curing system. 

I picked scoundrel to be my main due to the expectation of them being highly dependent on as well as make the best use of the cover mechanics. Jumping behind cover, moving from cover to cover while firing off shots in a gunfight. But cover ends up being something I barely care to use simply because I cannot tell if it's effective, or not. Cover should be an integral part of combat with each of the classes requiring cover more for protection the lighter their armor, in exchange, they should gain the most benefits from cover. For example:

Heavy Armor (Beast) - Do not need cover at all for their protection. Could possibly even be used for cover.
Medium Armor(Engineer/Nanoseer) - Can make use of cover but it isn't necessary for their survival and gets minor benefit from cover.
Light Armor(Furies/Scoundrel) - Cover is integral to their survival with Scoundrel being the most dependent but, in turn, gets the most benefits/use/tricks from cover.

And for PVE in general: 

My biggest gripe about bashing is the fact that HEALTH is the most important thing, and all of my deaths or close calls has been because of health damage. With such an awesome and varied system of afflications, losing health should be the absolute *last* way to die simply because it's the least interesting. I hardly ever get a chance to experience being hurt by other means because I'm always most concerned about my rapidly depleting health. 

I really wish health damage was low, or almost negligable compared to the other forms of damage possible. NPCs could be *so* interesting if they actually made more use of this system. Additionally, I don't like how depleting health is the most effective way to kill an NPC.

Ikchor

Heavy Armor (Beast) - Do not need cover at all for their protection. Could possibly even be used for cover.

I've been joking about BEASTs being the ideal cover since launch, much to the seeming annoyance of a few pilots.