Game Development: Surveyor's Delight

[Neppy]

W17 is here

[SpacePig]

The first few weeks of a fresh start are the most fun. HnH isn't build to be a forever game. Too much vertical progression that makes players rather wait for the next world than join late when most players have already quit.

I would play right now if I knew W16 was permanent but since it isn't, I'd rather wait.

Typical start of this game is that everyone looks for a place to settle down, but then each PvP faction repeatedly raids all their neighbors several times in a row:

1 Dry skin — they'll take it right off your drying rack.
2 If you manage to dry the skin before they come, they'll arrive when you're making leather and take everything along with your buckets. Your wattle fence won't help at all.
3 If you're clever and experienced enough to avoid these situations (only about 5%), they'll come as soon as your claim dries out. It's visible from three mini maps away, and there's no way to hide it.

Now, once you've built a palisade, they'll show up immediately, break it apart, and demand tokens or other in-game items you'll have bought for real money. They'll resell them for cash to players like yourself. If you refuse, they'll wait by your campfire every time it's green just to kill your character over and over again.

Therefore, the smartest low-faction groups flee far away as soon as they encounter griefer factions—everyone meets them eventually. Even if there are five or six of you, nothing changes; they’ll simply spend a little more time on it.

Meanwhile, while you're heroically trying to escape griefers, their factions will dig two levels deep into mines using your resources, craft bronze armor and swords for themselves.

Thus, for approximately 90% of players, including all newcomers, the beginning of the game turns into a genuine nightmare. For the remaining 10%, however, it's fun, trolling, and occasionally even an opportunity to make some real money.

After the first two months, typically only around 20% of the initial player base remains—this includes both griefers and non-griefers who knew what was coming based on previous worlds. Then, after feasting on rich villages, the griefers (who prefer calling themselves “PvP factions”) whine like spoiled children because sieges have become too difficult. Yes, indeed, they've either killed or forced 80% of players to quit, and it took them a whole two months! And now, instead of effortlessly looting plentiful settlements, they're left with the tedious task of picking off one or two stragglers from small villages just to ruin their gaming experience.

[Neppy]

That's the best part. Who says I'm not stealing from other players myself? It's the only time when the average player gets to have some player interaction.
Continue playing on W16 and replant your cucumbers until they reach Q1000.

[SpacePig]

That's the best part. Who says I'm not stealing from other players myself? It's the only time when the average player gets to have some player interaction.
Continue playing on W16 and replant your cucumbers until they reach Q1000.

What you can steal from another poor wretch is a dugout boat, or 50 Q1 hay bales, or mine 18 chunks of tin in the cave he found, won't change that in two months griefer players will slaughter all player population again until there are only 200–300 left.

In this game you have no choice—play or cucumber. In this game it's either forever cucumber or die forever.

[Neppy]

W16 apparently will remain online alongside W17 for those who like to quality grind in peace.
Lots of players think HnH isn't worth playing past the 2-3 month mark. I don't think PvP is to blame for that.

[LaserSaysPew]

Thus, for approximately 90% of players, including all newcomers, the beginning of the game turns into a genuine nightmare. For the remaining 10%, however, it's fun, trolling, and occasionally even an opportunity to make some real money.

83% of those 90% are perfectly happy with beginning of the game being "a genuine nightmare". And 83% out of the remaining 17% of those 90% are just OK with it.

Can you stop pulling those statistics out of your ass please?
Also - drop the drama queen act. Genuine nightmare, holy fuck, such a horrible experience, scarred for life.

Each world start has a spike in numbers. Most of those are returning players. Wanna know why? Cuz it's fun. That "genuine nightmare", as you call it, is what attracts people. Joy of discovery in a pristine world with mostly unknown new features/changes.
If you don't like it - that's not 90%, that's just you.

[Dawidio123]

83% of those 90% are perfectly happy with beginning of the game being "a genuine nightmare". And 83% out of the remaining 17% of those 90% are just OK with it.

The jokes write themselves.

[pagsiu]

The first few weeks of a fresh start are the most fun. HnH isn't build to be a forever game. Too much vertical progression that makes players rather wait for the next world than join late when most players have already quit.

I would play right now if I knew W16 was permanent but since it isn't, I'd rather wait.

Typical start of this game is that everyone looks for a place to settle down, but then each PvP faction repeatedly raids all their neighbors several times in a row:

1 Dry skin — they'll take it right off your drying rack.
2 If you manage to dry the skin before they come, they'll arrive when you're making leather and take everything along with your buckets. Your wattle fence won't help at all.
3 If you're clever and experienced enough to avoid these situations (only about 5%), they'll come as soon as your claim dries out. It's visible from three mini maps away, and there's no way to hide it.

Now, once you've built a palisade, they'll show up immediately, break it apart, and demand tokens or other in-game items you'll have bought for real money. They'll resell them for cash to players like yourself. If you refuse, they'll wait by your campfire every time it's green just to kill your character over and over again.

Therefore, the smartest low-faction groups flee far away as soon as they encounter griefer factions—everyone meets them eventually. Even if there are five or six of you, nothing changes; they’ll simply spend a little more time on it.

Meanwhile, while you're heroically trying to escape griefers, their factions will dig two levels deep into mines using your resources, craft bronze armor and swords for themselves.

Thus, for approximately 90% of players, including all newcomers, the beginning of the game turns into a genuine nightmare. For the remaining 10%, however, it's fun, trolling, and occasionally even an opportunity to make some real money.

After the first two months, typically only around 20% of the initial player base remains—this includes both griefers and non-griefers who knew what was coming based on previous worlds. Then, after feasting on rich villages, the griefers (who prefer calling themselves “PvP factions”) whine like spoiled children because sieges have become too difficult. Yes, indeed, they've either killed or forced 80% of players to quit, and it took them a whole two months! And now, instead of effortlessly looting plentiful settlements, they're left with the tedious task of picking off one or two stragglers from small villages just to ruin their gaming experience.

Definitely an IQ issue.

[Robben_DuMarsch]

The first few weeks of a fresh start are the most fun. HnH isn't build to be a forever game. Too much vertical progression that makes players rather wait for the next world than join late when most players have already quit.

I would play right now if I knew W16 was permanent but since it isn't, I'd rather wait.

Typical start of this game is that everyone looks for a place to settle down, but then each PvP faction repeatedly raids all their neighbors several times in a row:

1 Dry skin — they'll take it right off your drying rack.
2 If you manage to dry the skin before they come, they'll arrive when you're making leather and take everything along with your buckets. Your wattle fence won't help at all.
3 If you're clever and experienced enough to avoid these situations (only about 5%), they'll come as soon as your claim dries out. It's visible from three mini maps away, and there's no way to hide it.

Now, once you've built a palisade, they'll show up immediately, break it apart, and demand tokens or other in-game items you'll have bought for real money. They'll resell them for cash to players like yourself. If you refuse, they'll wait by your campfire every time it's green just to kill your character over and over again.

Therefore, the smartest low-faction groups flee far away as soon as they encounter griefer factions—everyone meets them eventually. Even if there are five or six of you, nothing changes; they’ll simply spend a little more time on it.

Meanwhile, while you're heroically trying to escape griefers, their factions will dig two levels deep into mines using your resources, craft bronze armor and swords for themselves.

Thus, for approximately 90% of players, including all newcomers, the beginning of the game turns into a genuine nightmare. For the remaining 10%, however, it's fun, trolling, and occasionally even an opportunity to make some real money.

After the first two months, typically only around 20% of the initial player base remains—this includes both griefers and non-griefers who knew what was coming based on previous worlds. Then, after feasting on rich villages, the griefers (who prefer calling themselves “PvP factions”) whine like spoiled children because sieges have become too difficult. Yes, indeed, they've either killed or forced 80% of players to quit, and it took them a whole two months! And now, instead of effortlessly looting plentiful settlements, they're left with the tedious task of picking off one or two stragglers from small villages just to ruin their gaming experience.

You realize this world Snail, Sheep, Ozzy, Arcanum, etc all had a compact to grief and attempt to destroy WB, a public city that gladly accepts spies, and we still managed to have our entire mega city completely built less than 48 hours after server up, right? Servers came up Friday evening my time, we had the leather and started building the wall Sunday morning, we completed the entire city sometime Sunday early evening, and we moved all the newbs and spies in the following day to allow some wall soak. The city was truly gigantic.

I mean I'm relentlessly pro hermit but this victim shit is entirely next level. Yes, I know some of the tools and tactics you need to use to defend yourself are a little arcane and that's probably not good for genuinely new players, but it's absolutely not true that as a random hermit with some experience that you're automatically going to be fucked.

If you literally picked some random forest removed from a river to put up a claim and a picket fence you're, probably going to get your leather to dry. If you want, you can choose a cave, or even use a cave claim as long as we still have the dumb things. If someone bashes your claim pick another forest or cave 5 minutes away.

[Neppy]