People are always confusing things in these kinds of threads. Even in the above posts people are talking about things that attract new players cris-crossed with things to attract old players to come back.
Most old players who left, left because of real life issues making it harder for them to invest the time needed to play. This game is quite time consuming if you want to achieve things, and most old players have actually achieved things already. Hence for them to be enticed to come back, there need be new things for them to achieve.
This is a totally different beast from how to attract new players. Whereas a new player needs a way to learn, grow and get engrossed into the mud, most old players need a way for them to get back into the mindset where they want to spend (waste??) their time doing things on this mud.
Breaking this down, basically new players need:
- newbie quests and/or clans for them to learn
- easy access to gold/basic equipment for them to re-eq and rent after "losing everything"
- good pre-rolled characters on all sides (the whole "experienced players" thing for different sides should be abandoned in my opinion).
What newbies do not need is:
- special flags or protections: this will only postpone the time for them to get killed cross-race, only postponing them being exposed to this. Better to get into the unlimited pk mud right away, so that if it is not for them, they dont waste their time (remember that this kind of pk/mud is not everyone's piece of cake, and thats ok).
On the other hand, old players returning need the following:
- an easy way to get rid of excessive rent costs, so that they dont log on, see 10k rent debit, and then quit out to never return.
- an easy way to get back to their clanranks. There is a way actually, but I would like for everyone who rented more then 365 days to see like a message at log-in that they can get reranked to rank 5 at the master blacksmith, and for over rank 5 to contact their immortal + an up to date immortal list for each side/clan/etc.
- an easy way to get rerolls. The current rerolls are crap (broken or intended), and I wonder whether this is intentional or an oversight. If it is intentional, I would suggest a rethinking of this policy. Rerolls working as before, will actually make it so that people can use their old characters in all kinds of ways, instead of having to waste time re-statting new characters. I would rather see old names run around then people wasting time to stat for competitive stats, which in itself can drive old players away again.
On a more philosofical matter, I actually do agree with Ominas in a way that bonusses can get old players back. Remember, most of these players left because they lack time, but also alot of people leave once they feel like they "achieved everything" they can achieve (or in better words, that they can achieve without having to "start all over again"). In this matter I actually think that more bonusses can help out here, but with more bonusses, I actually mean: a redistribution of bonusses: spread bonusses out way more across sides and clans.
This way, you give people new and exciting things to work on, and also make it more worth while to invest in characters rather then keep statting a plethora of new characters for whatever (especially the reroll rethink would be a big thing here).
At the moment most bonusses are concentrated in a few clans/remort characters, I would propose to spread this out, and I would rather call them "post-master" bonusses for humans, seanchans and trollocs:
HUMANS
Reqs:
2000qps, kill a DS "cityhead" (Akkad, Hkretth, Blarg, Boghag, Shaidar, Maeltor, Dreadlord J.) or a SS cityhead
Justiceclans, Gleemen, Illuminators, Gaidin, Legion, Thiefbane, Kandori Merchant Guild:
Swordmaster
Bonus:
Gain bladeforms (same ones as now).
Gain +10pb and +5 ob (This would be on top of master postures)
Cannot group with other Swordmasters, Forest Minions, Assassins or Big ruffians.
Iron fist
Big Ruffian
Gain +1 strength
Gain attack on 2-handed bashing weapons.
Cannot group with other Big ruffians, Forest Minions, Assassins or Swordmasters.
Forresters
Forest Minion
Gain wolfbrother moves/movement bonusses/malusses
Gain free outdoor scan
Cannot group with other Forest Minions, Big ruffians, Assassins or Swordmasters.
Black Talon
Assassin
Gain +1 dex
Gain free sneak/hide
Cannot group with other Assassins, Forest Minions, Big ruffians or Swordmasters.
SEANCHANS
Reqs:
2000qps, kill a LS "cityhead" or a DS "cityhead"
Morat'torm and Morat'raken
Member of the High Blood (rank 7's are already rping members of the blood)
Bonus:
Gain bladeforms (same ones as now).
Gain +10pb and +5 ob (This would be on top of master postures)
Cannot group with other Members of the High Blood or Deathwatch Ogier.
Seanchan Deathwatch
Bonus:
Gain +2 strength, +2 constitution (reroll hps), -5 dexterity down to a minimum of 9
Can only use axes
Cannot ride horses (give them trolloc moves)
Cannot group with other Members of the High Blood or Deathwatch Ogier.
DARKSIDE
Ghar'ghael
Behemoth
Bonus:
gain +2 strength, +2 constitution (reroll hps), -5 dexterity (to a minimum of 9)
Cannot group with other Behemoths, Grey Men, Shadow Prowlers, Shadow Zealots or Dark Tyrants
Dha'vol
Shadow Prowler
Bonus:
Gain 50 moves and increased regen
Gain free ranger sneak.
Cannot group with other Behemoths, Grey Men, Shadow Prowlers, Shadow Zealots or Dark Tyrants
Ko'bal
Grey Man
Bonus:
Get set to the grey man class as test-played: basically become a human DS hunter, ability to ride horses, etc.
Cannot group with other Behemoths, Grey Men, Shadow Prowlers, Shadow Zealots or Dark Tyrants
Dhai'mon
Dark Tyrant
Bonus:
Gain the ability to lead +1 groupmember
All Dhai'mon grouped with the Dark Tyrant are immune to fear, chill and contagion
Cannot group with other Behemoths, Grey Men, Shadow Prowlers, Shadow Zealots or Dark Tyrants
Ahf'frait
Shadow Zealot
Bonus:
Autorescue on Chosen in the group.
Can switch targets to attack the biggest threats to his master.
Can be "bonded" by Rank 5+ Dreadlords only for hps drain.
Cannot group with other Behemoths, Grey Men, Shadow Prowlers, Shadow Zealots or Dark Tyrants
I actually have no real idea's for WB's, Warders, Kin, Wisdoms and Aes Sedai, as they already have bonusses or are channelers (non-channie wisdoms might be eligable for these??).
These would be my ideas about other clans and races. You will notice that the reqs are a bit higher then fading reqs, because you dont need to get the alt-qps that are a big hurdle in fading nowadays. They are however lower then rank 8 bonusses. The Rank 8 bonusses should be scaled back to only the weapon/chestpiece, personal rooms and perhaps the stats increase, so that rank 8 coupled with post-master bonusses would be about the same as rank 8 now (remove zone sense alltogether for rank 8!).
For DS this should be a choice thing though. Once a trolloc choses this path over fading, there should be no turning back. Its either this, or fading.
Please dont argue about the exact bonusses per clan/side/whatever, these are just my own basic ramblings, its the tenet of having spread out bonusses accessible for all clanned people out there, that is what this post is about. If imms would decide to actually do this, then is the time to start discussing the exact bonusses per post-master option