Some thoughts on Player Count

[hazzor]

I've recently stopped logging in to farm and feed my animals, I was just logging on to do that each morning for a few weeks, things just get boring as all hell very suddenly.

I feel like the world might be too big, at the start of the world our group of 4 walked about 2/3 hours from the starting grid, at first we had three or four small groups nearby us and a few hermits, then all the hermits disappeared, followed by the groups, and then the world (as far as we were concerned) was totally empty. It's like playing a local multiplayer game at this point.

I think that some certain groups have been interacting with one another much more, especially those in places like brodgar, living close to or in the spawn grid, but if you're out in the sticks it's totally dead.

Edit

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.

there are so many things I'd love to see come over from DF, underground farming, more interesting enemies. I've always wanted to live underground in haven but the facilities aren't really there to allow me to do it well.

[ramones]

When I showed the game to some buddies, it was like:
1. few didn't even want to start it saying "java game? u kidding me? no way jose"
2. some started, needed 2h to get it going (they're not brilliant pc-techs, but not noobs also) so they preety much didn't have the time to even continue after that
3. those 1-2 who did get inside had 10fps with solid pc specs (i5+) and laughed at me introducing it to them. quit before they could find first stone
4. i even convinced some players who played with me w6 and w7 to try it out and when they had 10fps (again) they just said "no improvements in performance?" and never bothered to open the game again

It is kind of sad to see the bad performance thing and it does annoy me preety much too, specially the "freezes" that I get when loging in (all clients the same) and music torture when loging in, sound freezes etc. Not to mention watching videos of raids (like last JC one) where people look like retards without pathfinding, clicking like mad around objects to come to where they want to. But ofcourse, PF is bad cause bears would kill a noob then

[Grable]

I've recently stopped logging in to farm and feed my animals, I was just logging on to do that each morning for a few weeks, things just get boring as all hell very suddenly.

Same here, basically. I think the problem also lies with the game being awfully boring, not just performance issues. Most of the people don't leave villages because it's too risky and you lose everything if you die. Foraging is not worth it. Doing your daily chores gets boring after a certain time. Advancing your character by crafting heaps of different curios and putting it in your study inventory provides zero fun value. The game is just simply... boring.

[bmjclark]

I feel like the world might be too big

This is what's getting me tbh. Going out to palibash/track people is all i did in previous worlds. Now if i want to go outside i have a solid 2-4 hours of walking ahead of me to even find another village, followed by 20-30 mins of bashing then an hour of waiting to be able to hearth. The chance of running into anyone outside is incredibly slim and even if i did run into people, i wouldn't really want to risk it because it's not even my char i pilot around to palibash. No boat travel has also made the world seem even bigger.

I recently got my friend to start playing the game, he was complaining about the 10-15 mins it took us to get to the ports to our village from the starting grid. I can't even imagine trying to get someone to play if you didn't have ports to your base outside the starting grid. I know that no hearth spawning was put in as a way to counter alt spams but i would rather be alt spammed to death than have to try to make people i want to start playing walk huge amounts of time just to start playing. "Download java, download the game, then walk 3 hours to get to me" doesn't sound like a fun starting process to any new player. I'd much rather spawning be done how it was in legacy.

Concentrating spawns in the starting grid is also probably one of the fastest ways to kill the playerbase tbh. Most of the more experienced players moved out of the starting grid and a bunch of noobs stayed where they spawned making them the easiest targets ever. It literally brought everyone who wouldn't build a bwall together into a nice confined space to be palibashed and put noobs in an area together where people would go looking to kill them because it's the only area you see any activity. There's some exceptions obviously, there's some more established places that built in the starting grid but largely it's people who don't know any better.

I think there's probably still a decent amount of people playing but they probably are just playing less. At this point i barely even need a sub to keep doing what i've been doing. Log in, patrol the wall, feed my cows, make curios, make food, feast, patrol the wall, log out. Just daily chores.

[ChildhoodObesity]

4real tho, the world is waaaaaaaay 2 big. it would be manageable if there was river systems going throughout the whole world tho

[Amanda44]

It was an interesting read but I'm not convinced the data is that misleading, I do know a lot of people who have quit, and it continues, another person I speak to left last wk and I don't think as many players are joining to replace them, or not long term, the majority of the new players who arrive that I have seen and start building seem to quit before or as they get to pali stage.... the reasons are varied, cost and boredom being the most prevalent, followed by changes to the game and changes incoming.

It was exactly the same with Salem, if you slow the game down too much and make it more complicated then you are detracting from the fun, then add mechanics that either don't work as they should or that players aren't happy with and ofc you are going to lose players, both new and old.

I am not at any point where I want to quit yet but I am slowly losing interest and playing less on my hermit char for sure, atm Em, V and I have that trip going on so it has given me a new interest for my other char, but hermit life has become all about chores, taking forever to actually advance and no time for more interesting projects, such as landscaping, building, exploring, etc. I do now sometimes question whether to continue subbing it as I could probably get by now on the verified hrs. The only time I really get back into it again and spend more time is when a new build gets introduced. The game play it's self has become too monotonous.

(And I also agree that the river system needs better connections and in the meantime at least put back in rafts or a way to transport wagons, livestock, etc over them. There are little fords but there are also very long rivers with no way to cross.)

[Grable]

I'm basing my data on my own observation. All the people I know have quit out of boredom. Nothing to do with game price or anything. The game just isn't fun and I'm not sure what could be done to make it more fun.

[Tonkyhonk]

i dont think the world being too big is the real culprit here except for raiders who decrease the casual players anyways.
but if if trying to focus this on player count alone as an issue, the simplest and easiest solution is to allow players to spawn near their friends using hearth secret like before. i dont think disallowing hearth spawns actually helped alt issue much, tbh. its only hindering new players meet up to play together in most part and those who create alts do so anyways. what increases players in general are usually players bringing in their friends. whether they find it fun or not comes after, but people generally dont wish to suffer before even starting to play.

having three spawn methods in old legacy, somewhere in wilderness, charter spawn, and hearth spawn, was actually a great way to increase players, though i honestly want to be more sympathetic and understanding about why devs wanted to remove the other two. i enjoy starting alone, but i know i cant force that to others who have never played this game.

[venatorvenator]

Haven has issues but gradual player loss is expected in every game. Honestly, instead of fancy fixes the solution might be to just invest in advertising.
Devs need to stop caring about our whiny posts and focus on new players, not on old ones.

[Grable]

Haven has issues but gradual player loss is expected in every game.

Not really. If a game is good and isn't overly old its playerbase is gonna rise. It is expected in H&H however, due to the nature and harshness of the game (aka permadeath makes people quit).