RoF: What Next?

[Samlen]

I will say however, before I got so busy I lost time to play entirely I always felt Ironman mode was taking away a lot from the server. I felt like Ironman mode meant that you couldn't really do anything while you were playing. the inability to place blocks and such after activating Ironman mode meant that anything you ordinarily would end up doing (expanding the house, decorating the house, building funny structures inside the cave you were hiding in, the very little we had left to do was gone. Generally, when more content is added there is always the argument that if it's not fun you can ignore it, but Supercookies are important to ranking up, which is also important to RoF. I do not think that the new ranks were at all a bad thing, but I think an alternative to Ironman Mode should be added one that doesn't limit the restrictions on what someone can do, but actually heightens the difficulty. (maybe send 'Fire assassins' after them and have mobs occasionally spawn near them to kill them? There are a ton of ways you could add difficulty without doing things the way Ironman mode did it. I also suggest this alternative mode avoid introducing hunger because it makes the option of 'living off the land' much less feasible and that was one of the things players had an option to try if they wanted an extra challenge.

Thank you for pointing this out. I didn't completely realize it, but the way the Ironman mode was setup could (or was/is) easily be one of the larger reasons for stagnation. Adding onto what I said in my previous post about how long rounds are boring by yourself, Ironman mode introduced a concept where you couldn't easily partake nearly as many of the fun/interesting/creative shenanigans that did happen, all because in order to progress further, you had to partake in a mode where doing anything at all was overly dangerous. If people didn't care about ranking up, then Ironman wouldn't be a problem, but people do like ranking up. By adding a whole new set of ranks realistically obtainable only by activating a dangerous gamemode, it encouraged the majority of the higher ranked playerbase to do.... almost nothing. And when the majority of the players seem to be doing nothing/very little for each round, it discouraged new players from joining because it seemed boring. It discouraged old players from continuing to play since goofing off happened less and less. Because noone was willing to do something 'fun' and 'dangerous', because it would compromise their ability to rank up. So the current Ironman mode needs to be scrapped, and either brought back radically different or never brought back at all. Extraneous ranks should be cut, because players should be focusing on having fun, not ranking up.

 

[myusername22]

Thank you for pointing this out. I didn't completely realize it, but the way the Ironman mode was setup could (or was/is) easily be one of the larger reasons for stagnation. Adding onto what I said in my previous post about how long rounds are boring by yourself, Ironman mode introduced a concept where you couldn't easily partake nearly as many of the fun/interesting/creative shenanigans that did happen, all because in order to progress further, you had to partake in a mode where doing anything at all was overly dangerous. If people didn't care about ranking up, then Ironman wouldn't be a problem, but people do like ranking up. By adding a whole new set of ranks realistically obtainable only by activating a dangerous gamemode, it encouraged the majority of the higher ranked playerbase to do.... almost nothing. And when the majority of the players seem to be doing nothing/very little for each round, it discouraged new players from joining because it seemed boring. It discouraged old players from continuing to play since goofing off happened less and less. Because noone was willing to do something 'fun' and 'dangerous', because it would compromise their ability to rank up. So the current Ironman mode needs to be scrapped, and either brought back radically different or never brought back at all. Extraneous ranks should be cut, because players should be focusing on having fun, not ranking up.

I think ranks are a goal to work towards, and therefore vitally important to have. The only issue is where ranks get in the way of playing the game. I.e. right now when we have ironman mode. Part of what made the 'build a house and survive' model of RoF work was because we had a goal to work towards and then we spent the rest of the time just messing around. It's important to have ranks which are difficult to achieve because a lot of players need to feel like they are making progress of some kind.

Sure, you get occasional players who would take very little risk and sometimes even build 3x3 houses just to survive, but a strong majority of us were at least somewhat creative with house building and took at least a few risks, provided we were given the tools to do so. ROF is a social game, but without ranks it would often be more boring than vanilla.

 

[Samlen]

ROF is a social game, but without ranks it would often be more boring than vanilla.

Ranks are important, I just think that too many ranks is part of what gets in the way of gameplay (partially speculation, partially opinion, may not be big enough to actually matter). Only a small part when compared to how Ironman gets in the way of gameplay, but still a small part.

 

[Catcocomics]

replace ranks with a sushi bar

 

[Eliguy]

Well, Here is what I think...
-Shorter rounds
-Makes the game harder and more fun, since you have to build your shelter quicker. It is especially intense when the Lava God is angry.
-Change the rules of Ironman mode
-Instead of limiting your ability to build and other stuff, I think we should stick to, "if you die, NO COOKIES FOR YOU!", and still allow the player to build. The hunger aspect of the current ironman is kind of pointless as well. New users to ironman will waste their food trying to keep their hunger bar up when they don't really need to since they can just survive by staying, sing it with me, "Indoors!.......indoors!...... iiiii-iinnnn doooooooooooooooooooorrrrrrrs!"

Also, I like Vatumok's idea of the death runs that were once in the classic lava server. I honestly think more people would participate in that "round-tweener" than in KOTL(King of the Ladder). Plus, it should be used as a competitive way to earn more cookies.

 

[BanSwift]

-Change the rules of Ironman.

What would you change them to and how would they help gameplay?

 

[Eliguy]

What would you change them to and how would they help gameplay?

I believe we should make ironman mode more difficult to survive, but make it free to take the challenge. The hunger and mining fatigue aspects should be removed, for reasons stated already, you get no cookies if you die, and you are allowed to place blocks. To add on to that, when you are in ironman mode, the lava setting will be set to annoyed or angry, and your inventory will be cleared(your items would return). All of these changes can create an intense and possibly fun experience trying to survive the waves of lava. In addition, there is no real loss when you fail to survive. Sure, no cookies are earned, but it's worth the risk of having a lot of fun trying to survive the lava with your friends(if they accepted the challenge of course). Finally, I made sure I balanced out the removal of aspects that made ironman challenging, and replaced them with even more difficult rules. These new rules are balanced with the fact that ironman is free and you can place items to make a protective shelter. Hey, the idea might not be foolproof, but I feel as though it is a good place to start.

 

[Faliara]

• Why you stopped playing: Well, before the laptop crashed (it's back now, but completely reset and there's an actual computer as well) I still occasionally came back on, but honestly? Compared to Classic, I didn't quite find it as fun because while it wasn't really logical for things like wood to not burn, it was a lot more fun to me because I had no idea exactly what was going to burn to the ground and what wasn't because it's always randomized so I could go kinda insane with what I could make and had to layer up at times, you get what I'm saying? Compared to Classic Lava, it's just not as fun.
• What would need to be done to get you playing again: Well, I'd first have to get Minecraft again on the computer, but for more consistent activity, you'd probably have to do something related to what I said above, or at the very least randomize what would melt on furious even without immortalizing things that should melt because stone bricks constantly not melting kind of gets... Stale, I suppose. Maybe on Furious, only one or two blocks doesn't melt but it switches between glass and stone bricks and things like that? Just make the blocks that melt and what doesn't random, even if wood and leaves and such still have to burn every time. ... Even then, I might not be able to keep up activity due to school and such, but this was one of my stronger feelings on the server, so...
• What you would do if you had full control over the server: What I said above, and possibly try to find a way to get Death Run back even if I give up in the end. (Also, hypothermic water. Or is that already existant? I can't recall.
• Classic/Premium modes: ???
• Ranks, currency and the like: I kind of miss the days we could have little pet thingies that we don't see and people getting titles >.< As well the coffee emoticon I got from Wilson, but oh well.
• Anything else! I kind of burnt myself out around the end- perhaps I'll think of something else later, but now is not the time.

 

[tyukmn]

Alright, I'll respond to this thread.

First of all, just to put it out there, the Escrestart website looks better every time I see it. The front page looks fantastic.

Why you stopped playing?
As stated in another thread, I am still into League and have been busy with work. The are less people recently and it was hard keeping Rof from being too monotonuos, feeling like I had to make a more elaborate stone brick house than the last. The latest goal of mine within Rof was to craft the best enchanted items I could. I found myself running out of personal goals and creativity within the rounds.

What would need to be done to get you playing again?
I think there needs to be more activity again for me to get sucked back into Rof. Today I saw 3 new people on the server playing for a couple rounds, so our servers are still attracting new individuals. Oh and the shops were broken today which was discouraging, couldn't there be a permanent fix for that? or was that proven to be an un-fixable bug?

What you would do if you had full control over the server?
I would try something new with the server and then recieve feedback on it from people who have actually played with the new change.

Just kind of pondering for a bit I though of two ideas; and both would encourage/benefit from the removal of Ironman mode.

1. A simple add-on to the game would be, having designated areas on each map where you can receive extra cookies. Stand within that designated spot at the end of the round and get double the cookies or a scookie, simple as that. These areas wouldn't have to be tiny, maybe like a 10 x 10 or 20 x 20. They would provide more of a drive for everyone to build in the same place, on the same house. I think people get the most kick out of everyone working together on a common house and laughing at the same dumb little ducks, or whatever else is going on in the house. Another side of this idea is to make this cookie area randomized. Have it choose between 4 or 5 different locations or program it to be completely random within the whole map. This will add more variety to each round, as well as having to find the location at the beginning of the round as a group. There are only so many times that you can play a map before you know where every one is going to go every time it's played. If you aren't interested in building with everyone else, build your own house nearby and connect with it later, I just personally think it's less fun when everyone is spread out in 6 different houses around the map. One of the main reasons to build by yourself was because you got the same amount of cookies no matter what, and it was safer to be by yourself when grinding for ranks. I don't see this idea being too hard to program, it it just another check at the end of the game to see if you are within a specified region, and mark the region some how with a simple ring of unbreakable blocks.
2. My second idea, I believe is realistic as well. Why not wipe everyone's ranks every month or two and lower the ranking amounts to some degree. This gives everyone a common starting ground every month or two and much more tangible progress towards ranking up. I believe new memebers within Rof became discouraged from ranks taking so long, and having to grind constantly to reach the next one. If ranking becomes easier, and we git rid of Ironman mode, there will be more focus on building during the rounds.

Classic/Premium modes?
Pick one or the other, otherwise no comment. Although if you go to full classic, might as well ignore everything I said above this.

Ranks, currency and the...?
The ranking system appeals to most members, I would not consider removing it. Keep Ironman mode or don't, it's whatever I guess, but if you remove it make some other way to get additional cookies.

Addtional thoughts:
Bring back a furious mode, or whatever mode will make only 1 or 2 randomly chosen blocks, safe during that round. That's okay if it confuses new players, I was confused first time I dealt with it in classic, way back. People will in time understand this new round and in-turn appreciate it.

Oh, and as others have said, add different times to the maps, for that extra punch of variability

In summary, make a noticeable change to Rof, recieve feed back; then progress from there or revert to the current Rof. Thanks for reading, and stop changing your usernames people :/

 

[755someone755]

What you would do if you had full control over the server?
Ban people who change their usernames.

Thank you for your valuable input.

Seriously though these changes need to happen (preferably before I have time to play again in June).

 

[Velzerat]

1. My second idea, I believe is realistic as well. Why not wipe everyone's ranks every month or two and lower the ranking amounts to some degree. This gives everyone a common starting ground every month or two and much more tangible progress towards ranking up. I believe new memebers within Rof became discouraged from ranks taking so long, and having to grind constantly to reach the next one. If ranking becomes easier, and we git rid of Ironman mode, there will be more focus on building during the rounds.

This one seems especially important to me. A rank reset needs to happen (just the once or every so often, I don't know) and I think prestige (ranks) should get removed too, at least until there's a decent amount of grandmasters again. Maybe the server should be made more casual/short in general-- Shorter rounds, shorter time required to get cookies, to rank up, etc.

 

[superhalo6]

In terms of removing prestige ranks that may just be more annoying for the people who earned them, and would just drive them away from RoF (if they considered coming back) or make them angry at the Directors.

Kinda like giving someone sugar, then shoving a lemon in their mouth.

I believe rank resets would just make striving to earn Grandmaster/Master/Expert futile, considering you would just lose it, no one would be bothered with RoF, if there is no long term accomplishments to be proud of.

 

[Vatumok]

In terms of removing prestige ranks that may just be more annoying for the people who earned them, and would just drive them away from RoF (if they considered coming back) or make them angry at the Directors.

Kinda like giving someone sugar, then shoving a lemon in their mouth.

I believe rank resets would just make striving to earn Grandmaster/Master/Expert futile, considering you would just lose it, no one would be bothered with RoF, if there is no long term accomplishments to be proud of.

Rank resets don't have to work negatively. Of course some people will be mad as they've put hours into getting this rank but you can't satisfy everyone. If a reset would go through of course the rank system should be changed because if it's the same old grinding again it feels pointless (like you said) to get back to a higher rank. However, if instead of add a new ranking experience, that is less grindy, it can make players feel the joy of climbing through the ranks and achieving stuff again. That feeling can make people forget about their sadness of losing their old rank. Also RoF feels at a point where it looks better to just completely restart it, kinda like aod2. Starting over gives new players also a chance to start as the same rank as everyone else meaning they don't have to be trying to catch up with the grinding.

In the beginning it can make people sad but I think the pros will definitely outweight the cons in the long run.

 

[superhalo6]

I feel there is only one difference between current RoF and old AoD/AoD 2.0:

Currently RoF has no players, and AoD was shut down for a while, making the return of AoD more anticipated.

So the whole "return of a liked server" thing outweighed the "lost ranks" thing.

And I was considering rank resets as in "every month or two" (as tyukmn mentioned) instead of a clean slate.

 

[Txboy1234]

• Why you stopped playing
• I sorta finally lost almost complete interest in MC, but I did quit playing Blocktopia (I know I know it's not Blocktopia) quite some time ago then I went on to other places. Honestly it's just the servers went dead, after classic ended the servers were great and very enjoyable with many players. Now? Well look at it, no one will want to play on a server with 3 people on it.
• What you would do if you had full control over the server
• Modernize the servers in the sense of what everyone else does. Donations need to go bye bye and have people buy ranks, if there are kids out there willing to spend $300+ on a rank then I am sure you can get the money too. Not saying to make a $300 rank :) There is a lot that you can do with ROF with perks and ranks. Your current ranking system is similar to a prison server where you work to earn the next rank. Perhaps use that as a possible thought? Bought ranks = more xp/money obviously.
• Anything else!
• Do what you think is best, always believe in your instinct and don't listen to us lurkers.

 

[pilotranger]

http://escaperestart.com/forum/threads/rof-aod-in-context-of-the-community.18882/

Basically I'd love to see deathrun make a return to RoF and I also think that rounds should be shorter and more action packed.

I too would like for this to see the light of day again, I basically recommend it any day

 

[omgitsathong]

I just wanted to expand a little on the furious lava moods regarding lack of resources in survival mode (I didn't see this certain aspect mentioned, so I guess it's worthwhile enough to add unless I missed it somewhere in this thread). If players did want a furious lava mood where only 1 or 2 blocks would not melt, it should definitely be chosen based on a pool of what blocks are current in the map. Also other factors such as how abundant that is as well, but then it might lead to maps having certain requirements? Otherwise maps would easily be guessable on which resource block is the safe block; a desert themed map for example with mostly sand and sandstone blocks, some cactus trees and stone. Out of that pool, there's only a handful that you can really guess anyways. So, I guess this little nuance affects map requirements and the rotation, but I am all for a "furious" lava mood. Knowing stone bricks were always safe got a bit repetitive and made any other building resource I kept on me obsolete.

TLDR; I guess what I'm saying is "furious" lava mood is good. Selection of the safe block should be based on a pool of current blocks in the map. Other factors should play into deciding it as well (if cactus was safe in a cactus-scarce but present map, everyone would need to cram!). Might affect map requirements in the future/current rotation.

 

[KyleTheExplorer]

One word that ruined RoF.
"Kami"

Kami killed RoF altogether and to be honest I don't think RoF will get it's original player base back, people left and can't see improvement with inactivity, but however we could gain a fresh player base with intriguing improvements such as competitions, mini games during rounds and what not. I feel we also need to work on getting a wider time zone player base, because us Aussies don't get much action if not any while playing. But yeah improvements are needed and I think now is the best time.

 

[FrostyFoxie]

Why you stopped playing: Loss of interest and loss of players in part, but for me the stone that killed RoF was the return of AoD.

What would need to be done to get you playing again: More player activity on RoF would probably get me on more. Unfortunately, this can't be done at the wave of a wand. I would suggest an increase in events.

What you would do if you had full control over the server: I would work with the staff team to dig up old events and make ideas for new ones.

Classic/Premium modes: Keep classic, maybe make Premium exist, but on less maps

Ranks, currency and the like: I like all of this right now. Maybe a special rank for anyone who gets 1st on the money leaderboard or the ontime leaderboard

Anything else!: Maybe get a new RoF bakery. I find too many cookies to be overcooked. I like my cookies soft.

Blocktopia servers need to be on classicube dude, its the way for old players to connect further :/

 

[Jivvi]

- deathrun

edit: - cold water

Spoiler: other spitballing

- shorter rounds with less leniency and faster lava, perhaps variable per map for fine tuning.

- tweak classic mode to resemble classic mc more, random block melts n stuff. something to make it less predictable and monotone. again, making them less incredibly long would be sexy.

- tweaking survival would be nice too. something like making players start from scratch but less extreme, so that you can't just have a stockpile of blocks to make 3x3s with forever. having a random few of the ordinarily-fireproof blocks melt may make things more interesting.

- could replace ranks with win streaks. the more rounds you survive consecutively, the more cookies you get per victory. a max of 500/a bit more would let you buy most shop items at the current price. custom titles could be incorporated at a high price, or perhaps becoming available after a certain streak length, and colours or something could be used to show streak milestones. obviously more difficult rounds would be needed to make this function.[/spoiler ]