by CSPAN » Thu May 12, 2016 1:54 am Readily Available is the population tracker. Seen below.
LINK: http://199.233.247.46/RedFox/Haven/Tracker.html
Although you can see decline has happened from the start of both worlds, the good news is that decline has been much slower, showing the game has been much more successful this world over the last. But you can notice that decline is picking up pace, notably towards the end of April.
Obviously, this is something anyone can notice and conclude. It comes down to what can be done to keep things fresh, through suggestion, that isn't over the top.
The current meta, from my own experience comes down to this:
-Get your discoveries and Basic skills
-Set up temporary camp for character development
-Rush Survival on at least one character to search for good quality nodes
-Build a permanent settlement (ideally) near said quality Node
-Start Farm, petting zoo, and material industry
-Rush to level 5, pray you find something worthwhile ie. quality nodes, gold, and silver
-Improve gear and equipment
-Trade until you dont really need anything
That's my experience thus far, nothing exciting, but it's fun with drama and high competition for nodes and resources early on in the world. At this point, its watch numbers go up and having villagers and neighbors move on to other things until a new world, or an exciting update.
Current PvE is not interesting in any way. Killing a mammoth for the first time is cool, sure, its a personal accomplishment. But I discovered it was much much easier than I thought it would be. As the strongest, readily available game, I am left without a challenge, aside from PvP. Trolls would be great to see, but all too hard to find. Which is why many, especially in larger factions, turn to bot mining aimlessly into the stone, until one appears, sometimes more than once a day. A feature not available to 99% of the population.
PvP, according to those who are more experienced than I, say its dead. A small portion of the population will fight, for the sake of fighting, ever so often just for the excitement, rather than for geopolitical reasons. And honestly, geopolitical warfare is for the factions, the ones with the time to find the best of the best as early as possible, and then fortifying it. As small as this world is, anything good thats easily accessible is already taken. In my opinion, a game where someone can't gain footing, simply because they were too late to the scene, is doomed to decline. On top of a population of bored advanced players who will probably your demise for their entertainment.
To combat this decline, more content, although needed, isnt necessarily the answer, because all it does is push back the inevitable. Some ideas I'd like to see, in summary, are:
1.) World Resets every 3-5 months with varying/random elements and a different map
-"Who would want to put in all sorts of work to see it potentially wiped after a few/several months?" Be as bored as I am with the game and youll want to see it burn. I think making the game a competition of sorts would deter people from putting in effort, competition is attractive, its addictive. The most action and fun is within those first 3-4 months, which is reflective of the competitive nature of that world stage. Go as far as giving accolades/badges for accomplishments in each world to villages, like highest this, highest that, most this and that w/e. The reward is pride! Could re-implement world ending events.
2.) Stop adding more strenuous, tedious tasks, and give up the tri quality system.
-The Gilding system, although incredibly helpful to already developed people, has made starting the game, not only more confusing, but more difficult. A large number of once traded goods have become useless, fox hats, druid cloak, badger vest, ranger stuff,etc. And who wants to sit around and work with chances and percentiles in hopes of extra slots, youre gambling your time away for a chance its not been wasted.
-Tri Quality system is a pest, a majority of people dont like it, give it up.
3.) Mainstream Trolls in a way it still takes work and uncertainty.
-The only way to successfully find them is running bots that grid mine all day and all night. Instead of just having to stumble upon one, why not give some sort of exp event that signals that there is a Troll somewhere in the vicinity.
4.) Content, even though its not the answer (#1 is)
Im just player with nothing to do and nothing left worthwhile to accomplish. Its clear that world decline is a big part of every iteration of the game, and that the goal is to not need world resets, but this games meta in insufficient for long term success in my own opinion, thats shared with other diehard haven fiends. So ultimately lets share meta changing ideas that could result in long term success.
Dont hurt my feelings
inb4 tl;dr
Smell of Arrogance
