Some thoughts on Player Count

[Kaios]

Could be fun.

Could also work the opposite, knowing there's a reset coming every 6 months why bother putting in any effort at all. Or, put in enough effort to get to the point where you can raid other players and just do that knowing the consequences of your actions don't really matter as it will all be wiped out in a short time anyways.

Does not sound fun to me at all.

[Tamalak]

I'd rather not know when ragnarok is coming. It's better to play with the feeling that the world could/will last indefinitely. And then when it comes, it's sudden, so you're thinking long term to the very end, and any dismay at losing your character is salved by the glee of a fresh world

[Neon14]

I'd rather not know when ragnarok is coming. It's better to play with the feeling that the world could/will last indefinitely. And then when it comes, it's sudden, so you're thinking long term to the very end, and any dismay at losing your character is salved by the glee of a fresh world

This is a great way to describe it.

[Carebear]

Very interesting post. Being new to Haven, I can't help but toss in the high learning curve and lack of information that new players have access to. Some people are really into the discovery aspect, but vets seem to be a quite an advantage. If you want to grow the player base, new players have a pretty big wall to get over and I have to guess it is driving some off.

Smaller worlds, shorter lifespan of servers, changes in P2P models are great variables to consider, but none of them will help get new players to stay if they are struggling to learn the game but unable to get there. I am sure the vets just want to raid, but without new blood your targets are dwindling.

[_Gunnar]

Carebear the point of the OP is that the number of players might be higher than these data superficially suggest.

I think jorb and loftar are working on "quests" as tutorials, or you can try to look to join up with people who will answer your questions. Not everyone playing the game just wants to kill people. I would probably guess that most don't, in fact, but the forums distort that.

[DaniAngione]

Interesting read, thanks for all the work, ArvinjA.

I feel like a god damn necromancer, sometimes. Every game I play is filled with people saying that game is dead.

[Treetheater]

I 'unofficially' quit playing about 3 weeks ago. The reason's behind it are probably a 75/25 split between real life taking priority and just plain getting bored of the mid-late game. I think reducing the overly massive world size, as well as re-implementing the rivers we all loved from legacy, could really have a positive effect on the game as it stands currently. I feel like this would drastically increase the amount of contact anyone would have with other players, which is a necessity in this game. To me, there isn't a whole lot of 'fun' to be had in the tasks that eventually become a daily routine. What makes these otherwise tedious tasks rewarding is having some sort of clear objective of what you want to do with the result of your work, and not the result in itself. The mechanics of the game should work to support some sort of meaningful meta game, which I do believe is underway, they're just not entirely there yet. This is probably the reason most people who 'quit' the game still actively browse the forums, looking to harvest at least some bit of excitement they feel they missed out on from the interactions of the more established and involved players.

Haven in itself is pretty tedious and 'stressful' to play with any level of proficiency. Overcoming the task of planning and carrying out the logistics behind your village/hermitage can be rewarding for sure, it's what comes after that for the average player that felt a bit lacking to me.

[_Gunnar]

I 'unofficially' quit playing about 3 weeks ago. The reason's behind it are probably a 75/25 split between real life taking priority and just plain getting bored of the mid-late game. I think reducing the overly massive world size, as well as re-implementing the rivers we all loved from legacy, could really have a positive effect on the game as it stands currently. I feel like this would drastically increase the amount of contact anyone would have with other players, which is a necessity in this game. To me, there isn't a whole lot of 'fun' to be had in the tasks that eventually become a daily routine.

We can make the world smaller. Its pretty fun zipping around on roads.
I agree about daily routine becoming boring, though. More endgame goals would be good.

[abt79]

I 'unofficially' quit playing about 3 weeks ago. The reason's behind it are probably a 75/25 split between real life taking priority and just plain getting bored of the mid-late game. I think reducing the overly massive world size, as well as re-implementing the rivers we all loved from legacy, could really have a positive effect on the game as it stands currently. I feel like this would drastically increase the amount of contact anyone would have with other players, which is a necessity in this game. To me, there isn't a whole lot of 'fun' to be had in the tasks that eventually become a daily routine.

We can make the world smaller. Its pretty fun zipping around on roads.
I agree about daily routine becoming boring, though. More endgame goals would be good.

I've always wanted forgotten beasts, DF style

[MagicManICT]

So hard to click the "Play" button.

If installing Java is your idea of tech-minded, then you don't know what that means.

Yes, installing and configuring Java is tech-minded. No, it is not the hardest thing in the world to do and yes, I'm sure YOU find it easy. But it bars just about every grandma out there from playing, for example.

TBH, if a person can't figure out how to follow the direction on configuring Java to play, they probably won't be able to figure the game out.

DF style

The DF community is what brought me here. So far, it's the closest thing I've found to the world's greatest game, and with some of the changes this world, it got a little closer.

That said, yeah, some end game content other than just troll hunting would be nice. Jorb has already talked about dragons and such, but I think some of these events have been too rare in the past to really hold any extra attention beyond those that are already dedicated to the game. (Not to mention you could force spawn a troll with botted mining alts.)