The Center, Hermits and more.

[PauloGreco]

I've been having some of these ideas for some time now and i'm pretty sure some of them have been discussed over in some form or in other, but i just want to lay out mine, especially after the recent events with the whole watergate fiasco.
I've been playing this game on and off for more than 10 years now and i see the same issues persist, one of the main issues i see being extremely persistent is the fact that the game feels like it's hostage to a small minority and their gamestyle. Haven having a permadeath feature(Not to forget that it's just one mechanic out of so many in this game), would normally attract and mainly retain the kind of people that enjoy this aspect and understandbly so. But having so much going on, it always attracts a lot of other players too. Which it fails to retain, unless they are willing to change their playstyle.
A possible fix to this is the idea i've been having about the Centre, or the Central Continent. Now i am no programmer or game developer, so i don't really know how much or how easy it is to implement any of these in a procedurally generated world but i think it is worth discussing.

The Center

The Center revolves about the main idea of having 2 zones inside the game, much like provinces, but with different rules and features engraved into them. The map consists of outer continents, these continents are Green Zones. In Green Zones the game plays exactly the same way with one main difference. There is no permadeath. There is only a Knock Down possibility and never a KO instance. You get Knocked Down and drop everything in your inventory and everything equipped. Maybe even add a chance for some items to be completely destroyed in this event. Add maybe a 10% decrease in Stats and LP as a consequence as well. You get the same message of either respawing at your HF or waking up at the exact same place after a short while. The bag dropped with all your items is completely lootable with no consequence for anyone looting it, if you wake up you can just pick everything up(except maybe for the items destroyed), if someone downs you he can steal everything.
Sounds kinda boring, i know. That's when we get to the Center AKA Red Zones.
The Center consists of one or maybe even more smaller continents that are all considered Red Zones. Between the Center and the Outer World, lies a body of water, an Ocean. Permadeath is enabled, maybe even have less rules, no criminal acts, claims only work as to protect from Decay and no other real gain so that it's more difficult to build Villages and claim stuff around. Make the Center be a +50, +100 or more baseline quality Zone. Maybe make it gradual with 3 Zones, an Outer Center Zone and an Inner Center Zone. In time maybe add specific mobs, features or biomes to the Center. This way there is a real incentive, other than the Permadeath Adrenaline rush, so people make expeditions there, or try to sustain high hisk colonies and enjoy that aspect of the game there.

By trying a massive change like this, in theory, you give everyone a way to enjoy their own playstyles. People that view the game as a Harvest Moon/Stardew Valley/Farmville clone get the Green zones, for a more laid back and chill experience and people that like PvP aspect more get hot zones where shit goes wild. In Theory, you retain both playstyles and maybe in time ditch some miserable people that only play the game to prey on hermits, sprucecaps and small groups of players to feel some sort of fullfilment.


Criminal Acts & Reputation

Other than or alongside the idea of the Center, i've been thinking about adding a Reputation like system that will introduce more consequence to Criminal Acts.
Reputation is a 100 meter filled by Criminal Acts. You get points and fill it by the Criminal Acts performed and according to the severity of them the pointage differs. Let's say unprovoked murder fills 50 points. So if the person you murder does not fight back, you get 50 points towards tarnished Reputation Level 1. If he does fight back you get 10. Vandalism, costs 2 points and stealing 1 or something similar, you get the idea. This of course will create a new abuse, and people will build everything around and you won't be able to destroy claims and Palisaded things easily. You can eliminate this by reworking a bit the Claim System. Claims Decay faster and you need to be actually present on them or very near to them to fill the meter and using LP to fill them is more costly and the more you have the more increase in cost. Also things decay faster once they are outside a claim or a dead claim.
Also make it so, so that Criminal Acts cost Experince Points, so that people can't create bots or numerous alts all over the place and abuse people so that they have to kill them and get a bad Reputation.
You can maybe have a good Reputation, something which will help hermits and spruces that just want to chill. If you don't conduct any Criminal Acts, after a period of time, you start getting an increase in Reputation. A daily +1, +5 to the meter or something like that.
Now what would be the consequences of having a tarnished Reputation or a good Reputation. Tarnished Reputation means you progress more slowly, at level -1 you get a 0.75 rate of gaining FEPS and LP. At level -2 you get a 0.50 rate and at 3 you get a 0.25. Maybe even add a 4th one for complete stagnation and maybe even no return, which would mean your Character can't gain anymore Stats and LP untill the next World. To get a better reputation you need to stop doing Criminal Acts, or maybe introduce some sort of Altars or some feature which will enable you to Redeem yourself at a cost.
Whereas having a good Reputation means you get an increase. Increase in my opinion should be smaller, but again noticeable. Maybe 1.10 rate for level 1 1.20 for level 2 and 1.30 for level 3. Again this will probably help hermits and spruces that just want to chill and give them a small way to kinda catch up.

Again these suggestions in theory will prevent people from doing nasty stuff, especially to Hermits or Sprucepaps since it just won't be worth it and give Hermits and Spruces a better chance. Right now a Hermit or a Spruce does not compete with them, or pose a real threat to them, yet people kill them just for the fun of it, with no real repercussions, causing a big portion of the playerbase to leave the game forever or turn the game into a dead zone in 3 months, since people wait for a reset to start again and try their luck.
In theory this will retain more players and add more longevity to each world.


These are my main 2 ideas to combat what seems to be the most persistent issues Haven have been dealing with since i first came across it so many years ago.
Again, i understand that a big part of the current playerbase has been lured and retained due to the fact that there is a Permadeath feature and some of them because they can prey on the weak, but there are 100x times more people that left the game and their voices have never been heard. It's the same people or kind of people that hold hostage the game under the pretendence that this is what it just is. A Permadeath game. There is a lot more to it. And i am not really suggesting in completely disabling it, as even i enjoy the fact that mistakes are costly in Haven, but there must be some real consequences for perpetrators and there must be a choice to be made. Whether you are willing to risk and get rewarded, or just play the more chilled part of the game and have a good chance to make it to the end of the World.