Rewards for living in the middle of civilisation are poor

[theTrav]

Hideously biased on this one as I am, I don't think I'm wrong when I say that living in Mordor is VASTLY more appealing to players than living in a highly populated area.

I have no suggestions on how to fix it, I just want it to be different

[loftar]

We have, of course, been well aware for quite a while, and have been discussing various ways to remedy the situation. I can't really say that we've reached any useful conclusions yet, though, but it is definitely true that Mordor is supposed to be generally unappealing, while populated areas are supposed to be appealing (which is obviously the opposite of the current actual situation).

[Peter]

Just to try a really random possibility, how about this:

-Animals in the wild get endlessly increasingly difficult.
-Average Q of wild animals approaches 1 as savagery increases, though some unique "boss" animals have very high Q stuff.
-Domesticated animals gradually increase in Q.
-Eliminate black skills.
-Do not allow anyone to play.

I think I lost my train of thought somewhere...

[Jackard]

-Animals in the wild get endlessly increasingly difficult.

:facepalm: how much thought do you really give your suggestions?

thats the exact opposite of one aspect needed to reduce grind - the removal of animal levels

[theTrav]

it is definitely true that Mordor is supposed to be generally unappealing

Current rewards for mordor:
Better quality animal products accross the board
Higher LP for killing animals that are of no more threat to character than LVL 1 animals
Largely un-molested by random griefers

while populated areas are supposed to be appealing (which is obviously the opposite of the current actual situation).

Current rewards for being in populated area:
slightly decreased decay rates...


Ok, so how about you do something like:
1 - Make mordor animals worth EXACTLY THE SAME LP as lvl 1 animals.
2 - Make HQ animal components a locational factor rather than a function of the animal level (maybe link it to quality water sources?)


There straight away you're cutting out 80% of the appeal of mordor.
If you did those things I would almost never visit it, I would have no reason to.

Most players will complain bitterly about such a change.
This is largely because they want the LP, but as you've said the LP system is already badly flawed. Why continue to use it as an influencing factor?


The next thing I'd recommend after those quick changes (if you have time) is to re-do hunting.
1 - Don't use the same combat you intend to use for PvP.
2 - Don't make it so a single character can take down a bear, no matter how much you love your blaze it creates a solo favoring game rather than a multi player game.
3 - Make animals over a certain level eat you when you get knocked down and there are no other targets around.

[theTrav]

-Animals in the wild get endlessly increasingly difficult.

:facepalm: how much thought do you really give your suggestions?

thats the exact opposite of one aspect needed to reduce grind - the removal of animal levels

If the LP and quality gain did not increase with the difficulty of the animal I would have no problem with making them more difficult.
Hard to kill animals should be a negative attribute to a region, not a reward for players who want to challenge themselves.

[Potjeh]

Until there are actual crime safety benefits from living in civilized areas, everyone will live in Mordor. Obscurity, as unreliable as it is, is better than nothing.

[Yolan]

I think an update of village code would go a long way, as mentioned weeks (months?) back. Combined with some big-ass stone city walls, and domestication.

- With domestication you could get animals of increasingly high Q, but maybe link that quality to civ level. So, best Q domestic animals could only be raised in civilized areas.

[Chakravanti]

Civ values could go higher than causing the lowest L1 animals (Based on butchering it seems there are various grades within levels).

Scents could take longer to decay in high civ areas than low civ, meaning villages that invest lotsof communal effort will have greater means of arbitrating justice.

Furthermore, members of said civilization might gainthe benefit of leaving lesser scents or allowing village authority (And dually lend further purpose to authority!) to erase scents. Then invaders who fail and are slain can't take a murder alt to go back, gather scents & summon slay. People who want to 'spar' can also do so with the added benefit of having their scents removed afterward.

Things like Cheese racks could ferment faster, steel production etc. Ticks in general could be sped up based on civ values for farming and such. This may or may not lend itself to realism but the game mechanics for benefit are clear. Hunters do best in the wild, and production does best in civilization.

Spawn rates for plains types could be increased giving the farmer who makes a nice lawn next to his farm and homestead in a given village the advantage of having frequent farm animal spawns.Once domestication is in, breeding rates.

Basically, give a slight to moderate speed boost to production based on civ values.

[firemage]

it is definitely true that Mordor is supposed to be generally unappealing

Current rewards for mordor:
Better quality animal products accross the board
Higher LP for killing animals that are of no more threat to character than LVL 1 animals
Largely un-molested by random griefers

while populated areas are supposed to be appealing (which is obviously the opposite of the current actual situation).

Current rewards for being in populated area:
slightly decreased decay rates...

Ok, we have many rewards for living in Mordor and next to none for living in the civilized areas.
But why nerf Mordor then instead of increasing the benefits of civilization?

e.g.
better quality crafts (including farming, animal domestication, smithing...)
increased LP rewards for hi Q crafts


The problem is not that Morder has to many benefits, it's that civilization has next to none!
And for the rest I completely agree with Chakravanti.