Live Server Downtime - Patch 1.118 and Herald Character Search

[Solic Archers]

Live Server Downtime - Patch 1.118 and Herald Character Search
Posted by John Thornhill | 2015 Jul 13 11:57 -0400 GMT

We are pleased to announce that Patch 1.118 is here!

Live servers will be coming down Tuesday, July 14th at 5:45 AM EST / 10:45 AM GMT

Check out the full patch notes HERE as well as the new Otherworlds Campaign Calendar HERE!

This downtime will also correct the RvR statistics not updating on the Herald's Character and Guild search feature. Additionally, we're pleased to announce that after the downtime, players will be able to search for characters on the Archived servers as well! This should help those returning players track down which server(s) their old characters were on!

 

[BloodOmen]

Patch is rather mediocre. Had 7 free days due to not being active in the last 60+ days so I thought i'd give it a go and see what the fuss is about, the patch has basically just confirmed to me BroadSword haven't got a clue what they're doing with DAOC. It's essentially a PvE patch in a game thats main draw as far as the crowd goes is PvP, if people actually wanted more PvE they'd be on Gaheris, so logic would then dictate why not expand PvP further rather than PvE? its not rocket science.

 

[CorNokZ]

But on the other hand they haven't been able to improve rvr the past couple of years, regardless of their efforts

 

[Raven]

Quite a lot of that is community though, not much they can really do about it.

 

[BloodOmen]

But on the other hand they haven't been able to improve rvr the past couple of years, regardless of their efforts

They haven't even tried, the changes they've put out to RvR have either been reverted due to community hate or just... shite. They don't listen to the community, that's BroadSwords problem, depsite all their claims that they listen to feedback very little of what they've done has reflected on the feedback players are giving. If it did they wouldn't have reverted the NF overhaul they did etc.

Basically they're stuck in the 'I'm a dev and I know everything' loop and they aren't getting out due to blatant arrogance.

What they need to do is put out an entire campaign to welcome new players, not existing players and not old players because existing players and old players aren't going to bring the game forward at all. They'll keep the game afloat sure, but they won't progress it any and that's what BroadSword fail to realise and that's why ultimately they will fail in the long run.

 

[Gwadien]

They haven't even tried, the changes they've put out to RvR have either been reverted due to community hate or just... shite. They don't listen to the community, that's BroadSwords problem, depsite all their claims that they listen to feedback very little of what they've done has reflected on the feedback players are giving. If it did they wouldn't have reverted the NF overhaul they did etc.

Basically they're stuck in the 'I'm a dev and I know everything' loop and they aren't getting out due to blatant arrogance.

What they need to do is put out an entire campaign to welcome new players, not existing players and not old players because existing players and old players aren't going to bring the game forward at all. They'll keep the game afloat sure, but they won't progress it any and that's what BroadSword fail to realise and that's why ultimately they will fail in the long run.

Which arguably they're trying to do by releasing PvE content - PvP is still extremely niche.

In a perfect world without budgets or resources, I'd expect them to create a new engine, make the game free to play and have pay-to-cosmetics.

 

[BloodOmen]

Which arguably they're trying to do by releasing PvE content - PvP is still extremely niche.

In a perfect world without budgets or resources, I'd expect them to create a new engine, make the game free to play and have pay-to-cosmetics.

Yes but its PVE content that only appeals to people with max level characters, there is no incentive for a new player start up by releasing constant max level updates.

The kind of things they should be doing is

- Increasing level gains drastically (no one gives 2 hoots about the leveling process, DAOC's main selling point is the PVP and that's exactly what they should be selling, a game where you can get to max level very quickly with a brand new character and get out into RvR) - I'm talking bat shit crazy XP rates like 6-7 hours tops from 1-50 totally solo as a brand new player without a buffbot.

- Making it overall easier to start out with a brand new/fresh account (by easier I mean the sort of changes they did with TOA when they made ALL artifacts come level 10 and much easier to obtain without a group or very low numbers)

- Reducing Realm Rank requirements to bring fresh players in line with higher rank players quicker (maybe RR1-5 reduced by 40-50% then normal rates after that)

- Looking at all aspects of RvR and giving each aspect a reason to keep doing it, just examples but:

Solo - 20-30% Bonus Realm Points if you're alone/no outside interference during a fight

Pug 8 man - 100% bonus realm points if the entire group is a pug made up from the group finder only (not only does it make people actually use the group finder it makes them stick to a group rather than just rage quitting when they die once)

Battlegroup/Keeps - 20-25% Bonus Realm Points + Gold for attacking a defended keep & defending a keep vs an attack (make people take pride in their realm and defend it)

Silly changes but ultimately its things like that what will reach out to people, not "Oh heres a new item and new caps, now you not only have to redo your entire template after resubbing but you'll also have to either pay a monumental amount of plat for the items or stomach going to a battlegroup and praying you win them" - that just does not appeal to old and new players, not in the slightest.

Also - Plat generation, what on earth is a new player meant to do? nothing really sells anymore, the only thing people buy are current items such as ML10, Darkness Falls, Summoners Hall or good rogs + crafted gear, everything else is virtually worthless. Give new players and current players better ways to generate plat. Why not have something in the game that players can simply sell/find on their travels and/or while leveling? Champion Level XP items would be a good one, why not simply scatter them across the globe, dropping from all monsters ranging from level 1-50? the amount each item gives depends on the level of the monster that drops it, so by the time new playres get to around 40-45 they should be able to farm a decent amount of plat by just leveling up/killing stuff - people will pay through the teeth for CLXP.

Another suggestion for plat: When salvaging items that yield Arcanium level materials there is a chance you may also find a junk item that sells for a good amount of gold.

There's just so many ideas that BroadSword just aren't clicking onto that would improve the game, bring in new players and make it a better experience overall.

 

[Himse]

Yes but its PVE content that only appeals to people with max level characters, there is no incentive for a new player start up by releasing constant max level updates.

The kind of things they should be doing is

- Increasing level gains drastically (no one gives 2 hoots about the leveling process, DAOC's main selling point is the PVP and that's exactly what they should be selling, a game where you can get to max level very quickly with a brand new character and get out into RvR) - I'm talking bat shit crazy XP rates like 6-7 hours tops from 1-50 totally solo as a brand new player without a buffbot.

- Making it overall easier to start out with a brand new/fresh account (by easier I mean the sort of changes they did with TOA when they made ALL artifacts come level 10 and much easier to obtain without a group or very low numbers)

- Reducing Realm Rank requirements to bring fresh players in line with higher rank players quicker (maybe RR1-5 reduced by 40-50% then normal rates after that)

- Looking at all aspects of RvR and giving each aspect a reason to keep doing it, just examples but:

Solo - 20-30% Bonus Realm Points if you're alone/no outside interference during a fight

Pug 8 man - 100% bonus realm points if the entire group is a pug made up from the group finder only (not only does it make people actually use the group finder it makes them stick to a group rather than just rage quitting when they die once)

Battlegroup/Keeps - 20-25% Bonus Realm Points + Gold for attacking a defended keep & defending a keep vs an attack (make people take pride in their realm and defend it)

Silly changes but ultimately its things like that what will reach out to people, not "Oh heres a new item and new caps, now you not only have to redo your entire template after resubbing but you'll also have to either pay a monumental amount of plat for the items or stomach going to a battlegroup and praying you win them" - that just does not appeal to old and new players, not in the slightest.

Also - Plat generation, what on earth is a new player meant to do? nothing really sells anymore, the only thing people buy are current items such as ML10, Darkness Falls, Summoners Hall or good rogs + crafted gear, everything else is virtually worthless. Give new players and current players better ways to generate plat. Why not have something in the game that players can simply sell/find on their travels and/or while leveling? Champion Level XP items would be a good one, why not simply scatter them across the globe, dropping from all monsters ranging from level 1-50? the amount each item gives depends on the level of the monster that drops it, so by the time new playres get to around 40-45 they should be able to farm a decent amount of plat by just leveling up/killing stuff - people will pay through the teeth for CLXP.

Another suggestion for plat: When salvaging items that yield Arcanium level materials there is a chance you may also find a junk item that sells for a good amount of gold.

There's just so many ideas that BroadSword just aren't clicking onto that would improve the game, bring in new players and make it a better experience overall.

As much as I agree, I don't think DAoC will get new players, and this just makes the game 100x easier for existing ones. There needs to be some sort of challenge, this is almost give everyone 200p level 50 and rr5 to start almost. Which would also be nice

 

[Raven]

Yeah I would quite like that actually.

 

[BloodOmen]

As much as I agree, I don't think DAoC will get new players, and this just makes the game 100x easier for existing ones. There needs to be some sort of challenge, this is almost give everyone 200p level 50 and rr5 to start almost. Which would also be nice

yea i dont think it'll get new players either because very little is being done to attract them.

 

[CorNokZ]

I was thinking of returning, but having to get all new items, rework templates and getting into all the new shit put me right off

I played a couple of nights in molvik during my free 14 day period, but even that community went to shit. No pugs and ppl were just being dicks

 

[Himse]

In all honesty the game is just dead. I booted up a few months back and ran with a couple of friends, we could run 5:30pm-6:30/7 and then the zergs and fgs come out and the action stinks.

Any spirit of the game is just dead, you'd be chased across 3 zones for RPS by a fg if you're solo.