I feel like the best thing the mud could do at this point is add things to do in small groups and solo. The mud has done several things to this extent like crafting guilds (should be brought to SS, and DS as well) and small quests. Other things should be added as well though to promote activity and things to be done while PK is not going on and promote leaving cities and going out into the world to find items/quest mobs ect. What this would do is promote people staying online, thus more activity and the more activity there is the more chances there are for player interaction naturally.
This is how the mud used to be, pk would happen naturally. There was actually not very many hardcore pkers way back in the day. People would be doing their own thing, exping/smobbing/rping ect then a raid would come along, find people doing such things and kill them. The way the mud is now it has become a gaming lobby, where everyone is trying to connect to "north pk" or "south pk". They sit there and wait for a narrate and then pile onto it hoping to get some action. There are a few pk starters and then many people waiting for it to be kicked off. Tons of people will log on, check who, narrate asking if anything is going on, and if there isnt then log off.
Adding several things to do in this down time would keep people online and give the % chance of players running into players organically. It would make the game more interesting, more dynamic and more alive.
I also believe all city heads should be made worth killing. If you are willing to raid caemlyn/fal dara/tar valon and kill the leader, you should be rewarded decently. They don't all need to be loading a heron, but there should be a chance that they load a rare, and they should always load something worth doing them for, even if its a static QP reward of like 10 qps.
Just a couple suggestions.
How can we bring more players to the quieter hours?
Re: How can we bring more players to the quieter hours?
The early morning hours (especially 4-5am EST) are my favorite time to get a lot of game related work done. Whether that means catching up on Hall duties (I.e. Issuing quests and qps) or completing personal quests with little to no risk of running into PK.
However majority of the playerbase does not have such tasks that keep them busy in the off hours.
I would suggest there being something implemented right after reboots. Maybe rare items load on smobs at higher percentages right after the reboot. Or randomly loaded items that are hidden throughout the world that would create a scavenger like hunt to keep those players engaged and working towards some type of goal before the majority of players log on at later hours.
We do get exp multipliers fairly frequently but what about making it a permanent feature the first hour or two after a reboot to draw more players on?
What about a mini auto raid that randomly loads in different major cities right after rebooting?
These are just some ideas hastily put together. But I do agree that when playing my alts I find the hours right after a reboot to be a bit boring as most other players are sitting idle or AFK.
However majority of the playerbase does not have such tasks that keep them busy in the off hours.
I would suggest there being something implemented right after reboots. Maybe rare items load on smobs at higher percentages right after the reboot. Or randomly loaded items that are hidden throughout the world that would create a scavenger like hunt to keep those players engaged and working towards some type of goal before the majority of players log on at later hours.
We do get exp multipliers fairly frequently but what about making it a permanent feature the first hour or two after a reboot to draw more players on?
What about a mini auto raid that randomly loads in different major cities right after rebooting?
These are just some ideas hastily put together. But I do agree that when playing my alts I find the hours right after a reboot to be a bit boring as most other players are sitting idle or AFK.
Re: How can we bring more players to the quieter hours?
Have smobs drop more gold in the off hours.
Re: How can we bring more players to the quieter hours?
This is something I've been thinking about for a while now. Only problem is I have absolutely zero website skills and don't have the free time to learnTaziar wrote:Anyone good with websites and want to create a player run site? Russ3Z over at wotmudarchives.org has said he is willing to host stuff and has plenty of sub domains. He also is going to update the forums soon and we are going to be adding more content and support for anything players want to contribute there.
More player contributions to the Wiki can also help our player base and we are going to be creating a forum on Archives to discuss and facilitate this. So if anyone is wanting to get involved on the player side of things, there are some of us already working together in this direction. Come on over and join in!
Taziar
. I imagine an official-looking player-run site that will actually pop up on the first page in a google search with links to forums, the wiki, wotmudarchives, and an easy download+step by step startup instructions would definitely help get at least some new players. When I started, I found the game by searching "wheel of time game" and this was the first or second result. Now, wotmud.org shows up on page six, and kinslayer at the bottom of page five!Re: How can we bring more players to the quieter hours?
Not sure what tzao is talking about. There were always hardcore pkers in every era and evolution of this game.
Re: How can we bring more players to the quieter hours?
Don't even start with your JMUD.
However I enjoy logging into rig and rping my hat off as a trolloc by killing humans then numb my mind with mindless killing
However I enjoy logging into rig and rping my hat off as a trolloc by killing humans then numb my mind with mindless killing
Re: How can we bring more players to the quieter hours?
I am not saying there weren't always hardcore pkers Jaster, ( it's all that's ever interested me in this game) I am saying that the mud wasn't always just all pkers basically like it is now. There were a lot of different types of players back then, now the game is a Pk waiting room.
Re: How can we bring more players to the quieter hours?
Well after hitting scout, flocks, checking tracks up to RK, tracking recents of shadow from rk to fence in SG - turned out to be Spyder - then looking for him SG, mtns (the bit I know 
), sted, blight - until Rig and another showed up. Had narrated 3-4 times but no one on the thin LS who list was pking. Left sted for 2 tics to grab a cure poison from FD because spyder had gleamer - and then I get to hear
* R HP:Wounded MV:Full > x
On the Forgotten Trail
Twisted roots sprawling over the ground make travel difficult. All of the
surrounding flora is in decay, brown and dry. None of the green lushness of
the stedding is evident from this small path.
[ obvious exits: S W ]
A Tairen bloodstock stallion stands here, tail swaying with the breeze, being ridden by you.
The lone wolf is slinking about in the shadows.
The lone wolf is slinking about in the shadows.
* R HP:Wounded MV:Full > Players in your Zone
--------------------
Isabel - On the Forgotten Trail
* R HP:Wounded MV:Full > No-one by that name here.
* R HP:Wounded MV:Full > yell aren't but can go dusty
x
Spyder bellows 'following you around 40 zones for no pk is firetrucking boring'
* R HP:Wounded MV:Full > You bellow 'aren't but can go dusty'
Not blaming anyone because I have no idea what was going on at DS end, but this kind of thing does destroy my desire to try starting up pk, all the work for which believe me, is equally boring. All this btw fully knowing that I'm going to have to run south soon, and there's a % chance that people will not chase - aka, pointless from the beginning to have gone north solo.
Anyway is probably a better idea to not waste my time, and just wait in FD for someone to hit scout, or else rent if narrates are clear.
), sted, blight - until Rig and another showed up. Had narrated 3-4 times but no one on the thin LS who list was pking. Left sted for 2 tics to grab a cure poison from FD because spyder had gleamer - and then I get to hear * R HP:Wounded MV:Full > x
On the Forgotten Trail
Twisted roots sprawling over the ground make travel difficult. All of the
surrounding flora is in decay, brown and dry. None of the green lushness of
the stedding is evident from this small path.
[ obvious exits: S W ]
A Tairen bloodstock stallion stands here, tail swaying with the breeze, being ridden by you.
The lone wolf is slinking about in the shadows.
The lone wolf is slinking about in the shadows.
* R HP:Wounded MV:Full > Players in your Zone
--------------------
Isabel - On the Forgotten Trail
* R HP:Wounded MV:Full > No-one by that name here.
* R HP:Wounded MV:Full > yell aren't but can go dusty
x
Spyder bellows 'following you around 40 zones for no pk is firetrucking boring'
* R HP:Wounded MV:Full > You bellow 'aren't but can go dusty'
Not blaming anyone because I have no idea what was going on at DS end, but this kind of thing does destroy my desire to try starting up pk, all the work for which believe me, is equally boring. All this btw fully knowing that I'm going to have to run south soon, and there's a % chance that people will not chase - aka, pointless from the beginning to have gone north solo.
Anyway is probably a better idea to not waste my time, and just wait in FD for someone to hit scout, or else rent if narrates are clear.
Re: How can we bring more players to the quieter hours?
This is the part of your post that legitimately needs to be addressed. I don't think there's anything anyone can do to alter the way people pk or their attitudes towards it. But what can be changed is the idea that if there's no pk, you should just rent.isabel wrote:
Anyway is probably a better idea to not waste my time, and just wait in FD for someone to hit scout, or else rent if narrates are clear.
I really think we need more non-pk activities to engage people in all corners of the mud, including pk centers like Fal Dara and Falme, where people tend to either just wait around for pk or have to roam numerous zones searching for it.
I think Tzao touched on this, but activity breeds activity. I believe this very strongly for Seanchan side, but it's relevant for the other sides as well. One of the biggest problems right now, in my opinion, is that someone will log on, ask if anything is going on and then rent if there isn't pk. Then someone else logs on, sees there's not that many people on, ask if anything's going on, then rents.
We need people to log on and stay on, even if there isn't pk. If Joe blow logs on and sees 5 people (or 25 if you're LS or 10 if you're DS, whatever), he will be more inclined to stay on because there are others on and the chances of something interesting happen go up. How do we keep those 5 on in the first place? Non-pk activites. Activities that could lead to pk.
I think PK has evolved very well and doesn't need much help. I think if we want to increase our playerbase again, we need to shift our focus back to roleplay and non-pk activities such as questing and exploration.
Re: How can we bring more players to the quieter hours?
I think the % of people that afk in PK cities (FD/Keep/Falme) and wait for easy pk is the worst aspect of the game. honestly wouldn't mind all the no hides in keep removed at least so the AFK people would have to move to TKD or something or take some small risk. So yeah, going to disagree that staying on to afk is good at all.