A Rant (Opinions and Proposals included)

I been thinking too much

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Acceptance

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General Roadmap/ Additional Feedback Round - There was a forum post poll/thread asking what players wanted, and I think that is the most vital component to keeping such a niche game alive as a baseline.

Proposed Fix: A new forum post checking in on the community in general, as a general feeler to see where everyone’s mindsets are at.

Are they looking to play a lot longer/What are general player goals? What do they love/hate dealing with in-game? Are they willing to donate (more)? Are they willing to pay a subscription fee? What do players need in order to rationalize *needing* to spend money on this game?

[added: Or activate a boost (and/or maybe event/release?) as soon as monthly donation threshold is met]

Player Count - Admins should acknowledge the current state of the game. Player count is at all-time lows. It’s not “dead,” but it looks closer to death than full of life. Sure, there are plenty of active “accounts,” but I’m sure everyone realizes the reality of the situation.

Proposed fix: Offer a boost to incentivize some players to come back. Player count was highest when the boost was active (since I’ve been back). [added: Player count increased during the new Monthly Boost Event as well, hope to see more faces for the Carnivolo Event (August 28th, Boost starting Aug 31st; and Monthly Boost Event (Sept 15th-17th)]

The only other things I can think of are new content releases and competitions/things of a competitive nature (damage/speed/pvp ranking etc). [added: Ready, set.. Go!, Kung Fu Free For All PVP, & GM Auction (Saturday Sept 7th; 3am & 9pm Server Time Start Time) are all great examples]

Active player count is basically our quick reference lifeline indicator.

[added: I imagine with all the content and playstyles available to gamers nowadays it would be better to aim any future advertisements to as much of the the original Solstice community as possible, then potentially to a (much) larger audience when game is more active and has a bit more to offer across the charts for all levels with less major bugs]

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Update Proposals

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!!! Black Screen Bug - This is probably the single biggest issue affecting most players at the moment as far as direct gameplay is involved. When wrapping to the same map using a green scroll there is a chance the game completely crashes and needs to be force closed via Task Manager. Many players have voiced their concerns about this issue for months and it is still currently an issue.

Proposed Fix: Outsource a fix if you have to, maybe someone from Fiverr or post a Gig ad somewhere like Craigslist. Quell players with a temporary additional server boost while the administrative team looks into remedying the issue as soon as possible.

Are donation campaigns allowed?

[added: I've been doing light testing, currently documented on page 2 (next) of this thread; using a return/red scroll before wrapping/green seemingly reduces chances of this occuring]

PS: If any other game had this issue, the dev team would probably never hear the end of it - let alone have any players that *” have”* to pay to play; my personal opinion is it kinda feels like paying for an incomplete project/coming back to one with more severe issues than before

“New” Content Release Schedules - Players have been asking for (from what I’ve seen) primarily “new” dungeons and costumes, but also housing and new maps/ monsters/ levels.

Proposed Fix(es):

• small consistent new content releases regarding costumes (maybe a new set every season or so with the change of LBs?) ; seasonal
• Larger maybe biannual content updates (Housing pt I, Dimension drift, Rurara, Mogras) ; new content for all players once or twice a yr
• Even larger annual updates (new maps, new lvl cap, one large end-game content, with smaller end-game updates (items, dgns, bosses))

First and foremost, remind players there will likely be unforeseeable bugs with any major updates, to prepare their expectations and reduce unnecessary complaining down the line.

I imagine there are levels to these bugs, and I would imagine cosmetics are generally of the least concern. I suggest finding the “easy to release” content (maps, monsters, dungeons, costumes, SOMETHING easy that historically has little/few/very easily fixable bugs) to quell anyone anxious for something new

[added: maybe suggestions from a list like this?]

Fixing Bugs in General - Constantly running into small issues is not something any player wants to run into when gaming; it slowly deteriorates the enjoyable gaming experience. The community does look past many bugs, but in order to bring old players back and keep new players, things that have been consistently complained about should be fixed.

Proposed Fix: Assign the organization of these unresolved bugs by more specific categories (i.e. add “items” / “costumes” / “stats” / “quests”) then have someone manage what order they’re handled in and/or once-a-month updates on progress etc.

[added: I think new categories have been added for bug updates? Would still like to see a category specifically for items. General Bug List)

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Potential Roadmap Outline

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2023:

Summer: Boost

Aug: Looking into solving Lag/Dc/Black Screen

+ General administrative update with DETAILS

Fall: Player Feedback Check-in/New Update Suggestions

Sept: small bug reorganization overhaul, in preparation for holiday player influx

Oct: Halloween Events (as scheduled) + Securing and finalizing bug fixes

Nov: Mogras Helm readdition?

Winter: Cosmetic Release(s) + Xen Madness?

Dec: Santa Dgn/Xmas Events (as scheduled)

+ Update to Red Mines xp/quest drop rates (and potentially other kill quests/etc, but Red Mines first)

+ Worldwide donation acceptance

2024: Big Content Update! Housing by Summer?

Winter:

Jan: New dungeon/boss (Rurara has constantly come up a lot)

Feb: Valentine's Day Events (as scheduled) + housing progress

Spring:

Mar: St Patty's Events (as scheduled) + Bug fixes

Apr: Anniversary Events (as scheduled) + Bug fixes

May: Bug Fixes

Summer: "School's Out" Summer-long Boost? + Housing?

Jun: TBD

Jul: TBD

Aug: TBD

(Disclaimer: I have 0 idea how realistic/possible this timeframe is, but seems generally do-able with team effort)

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Other Notes

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• New Skills I recall were being worked on; I think there should be an “If you could have any skill for your class, what would it be?” thread to ensure the community is also satisfied/sentiments don’t get too overlooked
  • Maybe have a lv200 skill for each class that has some like boss run kill quest to unlock from skill master? Basically Amplification process, to introduce the concept
• Socketing system was also in the works, not sure if the skills are still a part of that
  • People do want the glow, but I feel like there will be sooooo many new bugs with that update it’d be easier to fix the smaller bugs first, before adding a whole lot more to the batch

• Kill Quests are all absurdly not worth it across the charts, this could open a new leveling route that could be very helpful for ST classes (E. Eir, Sky, and Dragon maps, Red Mines) or anyone preferring such rep quest-ish play styles
  • Reduce the kill count requirement or increase rewards; I think kill count is the better solution
• Low-level Rep Quests aren’t as worth it anymore - it’s easier to just lvl on a map or get plvl’d
  • Increase xp from rep quests (and?) reduce xp from maps for players under lv 45-66 or so to make staying within farming range little less difficult

• PvP used to be a hang-out spot, but is now rarely active [added]

• Free games are attractive
• Most of the player base is playing for NOSTALGIC reasons, play into that
  • Focus on the most remembered things from OG versions
    • In order of popularity among players, to generally retain the highest satisfaction possible
    • Unsatisfied players generally have shorter patience/ worse temperaments

• Many players have brought friends along and I feel like not many of them have not stayed. Feedback from those people would probably be best regarding what exactly made them stop playing. Too grindy? Inaccurate or inadequate skill/class/quest descriptions? FEEDBACK HELPS
  • Lexicon is good, but is still not complete and there are still many nuances that are near impossible to figure out if an OG player isn’t assisting - maybe incentivize adding information with something similar to the bug reporting tiers

MORE NOTES ON PAGE 3

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I imagine there is plenty of variance in thoughts/opinions/desires

What do YOU want to see in Xen?

Let the record show it, say something productive

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Quote from deeteek

give squirtle a basilisk and he will return

8 toy cars and no basilisk? slackin

Quote from VII

I feel like there's something behind the scenes going on we don't know about and it probably isn't good. Updates should definitely be aimed as a biannual release. I have a pretty decent idea on how to get new eyes on this game but I don't wanna suggest it if the initial player base isn't sticking around. I keep checking back in to make sure this game hasn't gone poof yet.

-LINKL0L

I agree. I think everyone is still around, just not on mains or actively grinding on maps 24/7 like back in the day. Kinda sad not as many people even afk though, it makes the game look even more dead than it actually is.

Biannual, annual, anyyy updates. I know there's been unexpected IP/admin drama really throwing a wrench in everything since some (one?) people with power clearly have no idea how to use it. Coding a game and ruling a world are 2 very different things.

I wish you would share the ideas to get more people playing, but I can definitely see why u rather wait til there's a solid base to build on.

Thanks for your response

Quote from StarBlue

do guild dungeon run and you can get one. Sad it is not tradeable.

Quote from Aerith

there doesn't seem to be the people to do Guild Dungeons, are any alive and well now? we were going really well everyday now everyone stopped playing so I need Zageria in an active Dungeon Guild to move on, we were doing good running everyday then nothing? it's sad

Guild Dungeons were a great addition to the game and even though there were some bugs with it, is still a great reason to come together as guilds.

I personally think WB kills should grant like 10-25 Guild XP per guild player that helps kill it. Like actively attacking/healing for more than half the time.

The only source of Guild XP right now is Guild Dungeon. That's it. (inb4 gUiLd xP bOoKs)

I'd probably be in favor of something like 1 Guild Raffle entry per Guild Level, but that might severely imbalance that event.

Maybe like more entry tickets for certain level tiers (ie. 1 ticket for guild lv 1-3, 2 for 4-7, 3 for 8-11, etc)

As other forum posts have mentioned, seems as though there are other things that can be done to get guilds generally more active again.

Thank you for your responses

Quote from Heavenstar

I agree. Hopefully they'll fix it.

I hope they'll at least try, even taking the bugs down one at a time if necessary - where there's a will there's a way

GM Squad working hard? Hawt :Q__

Thank you for your response

Quote from Rokusan

Well articulated ARMYPRO99 , I'm with you. Totally agree with all of your points. Here's hoping the higher ups read this and really take these suggestions into account!

I mean, at LEAST A brief weekly reminder of how the state of the game is regarding updates.

Or...even a weekly 50% xp boost during the weekends is decent incentive for players to keep playing.

Biannual, annual, anyyy updates. Boosts always bring players back, I remember when they were like every weekend and were at a point of bringing players in.

"Or...even a weekly 50% xp boost during the weekends is decent incentive for players to keep playing." <- Literally, this.

Only issue I can imagine is play time goes thru the roof on weekend and game activity down on weekdays. However, I think more players will be playing in general, so in that instance, a "dead week" might still be more active than we are currently. I'd imagine playtime is generally down across the charts on weekdays anyway.

Thank you for your response

Quote from Tatsi

I think if they knew how to fix it they would have by now.

"if they" <- exactly. They don't. This wasn't an issue before and it doesn't *have* to be an issue. It's an issue because the fix is simply not known, that does not mean a fix doesn't exist. Just, they are incapable of fixing it at the moment. Maybe they're looking at the problem wrong.

I can't recreate it directly definitively infinitely, but I'm fairly certain it happens based on a big equation - along the lines of:

map location of player, amount of players on screen, amount of other "things" on screen (pets, items, mobs that have location data), and general amount of interactions between those things within a certain time frame.

I believe blackscreen occurs bc the game/server basically has a seizure trying to compute too much info within such a confined area which then stretches across the map when a warp scroll is used.

I'm certain that the root of the issue is based in "player location" data. ie. how mages (and archers/healers?) have pets that run ahead of them on everyone else's screens. There's clearly a disconnect btwn player and pet location. This disconnect then gets amplified with multiple players, attacking mobs, pets picking up items, etc, and basically fries the computations. Then game crashes.

If not - Does anyone ever get blackscreen when soloing?

Bug Fixes > New content, IMO. Build a base properly.

Quote from Tatsi

The thing is there's no way for us to get new assets, so once the last maps and costumes are released... that's it. There's maybe a couple of costumes left that we've seen GMs wear but haven't been a reward in any event yet.

How often did we get new updates/item releases in OG? This is a private server, I thought we were just playing for funsies.

I'm not saying everything needs to be released immediately, but it'll be hard to convince more people than just me (ie the whole server) that 1-4 new costumes being accessible couple times a year is a bad idea. They don't even ALL have to be released (so GMs can have their special outfits etc), just SOME new costumes.

Glam and Swag is the ultimate endgame (ie FFXVI).

Quote from Tatsi

But I agree that new content is needed, I don't have many characters left to max out before retiring.

An actual legend. 🏆

Thank you for bug list and your response