Let’s start with the charitable response.
The GrumpyCat wrote: ↑Wed Jun 14, 2023 5:41 pm
What sort of thing would you invistion End Game content to look like? What kind of thing do you think would be good?
Keep in mind a few things.
A) there needs to be some sort of award for 'end game content' but at the same time, we need to be wary of too much power creep.
B) Whilst I'm all for some version of mega dungeon/more sailing/ect - I think that more chill, solo-active things - (e.g. fishing, language learning) are good too.
Genuinly curious as to see some ideas here.
So let’s start with my goals in answering this question.
1: Avoid power creep while still providing some meaningful, tangible reward
2: Provide content that individual players can actively contribute toward in their idle time without necessarily requiring high intensity or rapt attention
Straightforward enough, but I will add a few more components to the design philosophy
3: The task must be, in some way, Sisyphean. Consistent upkeep > snowballing reward, inconsistent upkeep > lesser reward. This drives engagement with the system.
4: The task must be compatible with both group play and solo play on some level.
5: The task must drive conflict while not necessitating conflict. This gives PVP hounds a rabbit that they are permitted if not encouraged to chase without feeling like they are ruining someone’s day by doing so.
Now that I’ve set forth my own ground rules, this is the sort of thing that comes to mind:
Expand upon the settlement system. No, I’m being serious.
Players now have the ability to deliver regular parcels to and from settlements, by foot, using some permutation of the warded package system we have already implemented into delivery writs. Doing so rewards both the sending and receiving settlement with Trade Goods. Trade goods can be spent by settlement leaders for the purpose of beautifying their settlements with cosmetic changes - possibly by expanding fixture limits in certain areas for a duration, possibly by spending trade goods to create new, semi-permanent fixtures in the area that degrade over time if not maintained. This allows players who interact with the system to take an old, dying settlement and see it flourish under their careful hand - assuming they continue to maintain it, that is, for a settlement that isn’t upkept will slowly wither to utter dinginess.
Players who participate in the system will be rewarded as we reward them now for pursuing delivery writs - upfront XP and gold, and a larger amount of adventure XP. In addition, consider also granting them some manner of metacurrency that can be spent on cosmetic features - possibly weapon effects? - that needs some amount of upkeep in order to drive long term investment into the system and keep it from just being another same old “Everyone who’s anyone eventually has a ghost parrot if you play long enough”.
Here’s where it gets spicy: Cities generate shipments only so often. Players can influence this in two ways: firstly, players can harvest raw materials, be it meat, cotton, granite, wood, etc., and turn them in at an NPC in order to reduce the amount of time required between shipments (And be rewarded accordingly, per settlement buy rates); secondly, players can accept privateering contracts from their settlement to attack parcel carriers, intercepting their shipments and claiming them for their settlement instead. This may perhaps also interface with the rumored crime system that I’ve been hearing whispers about.
Now I’m no game designer, but I feel like that general idea accomplishes what we have laid out as objectives.
1: The concept avoids power creep by not introducing any new mechanical power into the economy, focusing on cosmetic and narrative-driven rewards.
2: Players can contribute toward parcel stockpiles by collecting raw resources, thereby allowing players to contribute in a low-intensity, low-conflict method
3: The rewards from the task inherently degrade over time, thereby making it not just another thing that people dump their time into once and then ignore for the rest of their time playing that character (Read: gearing).
4: Players can opt to take circuitous routes and use stealth to evade interception, or travel in small parties to ensure a safe delivery. Shipments happen regularly enough that players are incentivized against forming 30+ man doomstacks to deliver a singular parcel, but the reward - and threat - is sufficient that groups of four to six are encouraged if you’re going to take the most direct trade routes. Individual players, in addition to parcel running, can contribute via resource gathering. Furthermore, the task is driven by entire settlements across all time zones, inherently drawing upon a player’s faction identity toward the settlement their characters represent and engaging that settlement’s community as a whole. Thereby, the task engages multiple different levels and sizes of play group, and can be contributed to from level 1 to level 30.
5: The task gives players a valid means of conflict - privateering contracts - without necessarily requiring conflict to function as intended.
Do I think this is the perfect solution? No. But I would be thrilled to bits if something like this were to be implemented into the game.
Now, for the less charitable reply.
Xerah wrote: ↑Wed Jun 14, 2023 6:14 pm
It's really sad that your list doesn't include any kind of roleplaying creating a story. I can't imagine why people play here when they have this kind of mindset; it's no wonder things seems so dull. You're a character. Tell a story. Create a problem. Work with others. It's not all about mechanical systems.
Firstly, I’d like to point toward the first two points on my list as being…well, foremost, a bit coarse and jocular, but also, quite literally, roleplaying. The second one even has roleplay in the text of the list item. But, I digress.
I’m going to preface everything below with one thing: I’m diagnosed with a relatively significant social disability, that being a substantial dose of Autism Spectrum Disorder. I never figured out the social butterfly thing, both IRL and in game. I literally don’t know how people just… Walk up to people and talk to them. I don’t know how they can conceive of doing so. What do they even talk about? They don't know that person or their interests. It’s... just foreign to me.
So… take what I’m saying hereafter with a grain of salt.
In regards to what you said, I absolutely agree. It’s not all about mechanical systems. You’re a character, telling a story, creating a problem, working with others. And that works. Until it doesn’t work.
You are a character, and so is everyone else. You tell a story, and everyone else also has a story that they care a lot more about than yours. You create a problem, and other players treat you as the source of the problem - and they are certainly willing to use mechanical tools to remove you, the problem, from their world for 48 hours. You can work with other people, certainly, assuming you have the tools to do so, but if you’re working with them you’re probably working toward a goal that is, in some way, shape, or form, focused on solving a problem driven by a mechanical system.
I know it may not be hard for you to penetrate into certain social circles, to get people to care about what you’re doing and who your character is. I’m pretty sure people know you pretty well, and they will at least recognize your writing style if not your character. You’re a relatively big deal and I understand that you have a lot of friends here and it is very easy for you to fill your days with mirth and joy. I envy you. I have never been able to penetrate deeply into the tightly-knit social circles that dot the landscape of this server. I know I don’t have the same social capacity as most people, but I do deeply enjoy the game to what extent I can. Unfortunately, for those of us not blessed with the glibness of the fey, that leaves level 30 a lot more lonely than you think.
That said,
Coming from someone who needs a literal instruction manual on how to interact with other human beings… Thank you, for providing me with an instruction manual on how to interact with other human beings. This post has been moved to a google doc and added to my bookmarks toolbar. I will try these strategies and let you know how that works out, because that sounds like a lot of fun if it works, and I believe you wouldn’t suggest these strategies if they didn’t. So... Thank you.