Treshure 5579 Popular Post Share Posted April 20, 2021 Immediately after the Player Retention Report was made, we got to work. Each and every reply on that thread was taken into account and considered. Much of the task was distilling actionable player feedback from the broad (but still valid) criticisms of our server experience. I want to use this thread to unveil what we have been working on and listen to your feedback once again. There's a lot to improve & perfect on LotC, but I believe that this is just one move of many in the right direction. The first steps are usually the hardest. The reason why this solution to the Community Team's Retention Report has taken so long largely plays into long term efficiency. The easy move would have been to immediately set up a player-ran system to address the new player experience. I think that this is just a gesture. It's very hard to motivate entire teams to dedicate even more unpaid, volunteer hours into just one issue that needs addressing. A player-ran solution also wouldn't solve our primary problem: consistency. New players typically either receive a fantastic experience or one that drives them to quit. We have too many players joining every day with too few CT members to match. I believed that only a well-designed plugin could provide the quality and long term consistency that we were looking to achieve with player retention. Moreover, data can be easily retrieved from the project and tweaks can improve it even further. Project Genesis was drafted a week after the Retention Report. It received unanimous Admin approval a few days after that. I asked my good friend @Llir to add the proposed plugin to his enormous work queue. Without him, none of this would have been possible. It's been a long time coming, folks. The plugin is now nearing the testing phase. With "Project Genesis" on the horizon, I'm excited to finally reveal the contents of the plugin. This is the Google Doc proposal exactly as it was originally proposed. Please give your feedback in the comments below. This will influence how we adjust the plugin for release. Project Genesis This proposition comes in light of the Player Retention Report, which covered some very worrying numbers surrounding the new player experience. For instance, 60% of new players will quit in their first week of the server. One consistent highlight from player feedback was that the server’s increasing bureaucracy and restriction has suppressed the spontaneous roleplay that initially attracted them to the server. Of course, this does not cover the breadth of what the players have voiced in the thread. This proposal is an effort to address the primary issues surrounding the New Player Experience™ whilst staying true to the playerbase’s expressed desire to see more dynamic, fun roleplay when joining the server. While this proposal is not to fix every issue we’d like with activity and player retention, I view it as a measurable first step to hopefully build on. -- The time between which a player joins the server for the first time and the aforementioned player is “integrated” into a community is critical. A new player will quickly quit if they cannot engage with a group of players and join their circle. Simply guiding a new player to a settlement is also tricky, because the settlement must first be A) active and B) ready and willing to receive them. Discovering a city of sprint jumping, closed off circles of roleplay will be as effective as having not led them at all. Neither are shallow acts of integration, such as recruiting said new player into the city guard, linking a Discord chat & skin, and logging off. Players come to join epic adventures. If this is all the attention they’ve been given, they’ll give us none of theirs. I think the logical solution to this is in providing a clean, automated way for new players to easily find populated cities whilst embarking on an immediate “adventure”. Here’s how. The Quest When a new player exits Tutorial Island, they are usually placed at Cloud Temple. Instead, I propose that they be placed in front of a venue of portals. Each portal lists a major settlement and, if applicable, the race it belongs to. The current amount of players in that specific settlement’s region are also listed. The player will then have the choice of which capital they’d like to embark to. The likely event is that the player will either choose an active settlement or one that matches up with their race, such as Elf → Elvenesse. While this may become a compounding benefit to already active settlements, it is far better than losing the player entirely. After the player selects the settlement, they are teleported to the travel hub that is closest to their destination. For demonstrative purposes, the player has chosen Haense as their destination. The player is spawned with several items, Compass - A compass named after the target settlement, such as ‘Haense Compass’. It will point in the direction of Haense, and display a counter above the health bar in meters (blocks) detailing how far the player is from Haense, such as: ‘Distance to Haense: 308m’. The compass will disappear from the player’s inventory as soon as they enter the city’s region. Bread - A stack of 64 bread. Quest Tome - Soulbound. A book that lays out the new player’s very first quest: navigate the roads, pay caution to the signs, and arrive to Haense. Once the new player arrives in the region, that quest line is “finished” with a line through the quest name and its brief summary. Sample quest prompt: “It is the 13th of the Sun’s Smile, Year 9 of the Second Age. You have arrived through Cloud Temple, and now seek the fabled northern sprawl of Haense. Follow your path and compass carefully, and read the signs along the roadway. You may meet friends and foes on your journey. Be wary, these roads are dangerous.” Instruction Manual - Soulbound. A book that links to our forum’s Guide section. Alternatively, it can contain simple text of our more useful tips & tricks for a new player. Disappears from inventory after the “New Player” tag has expired. The Compass, Instruction Manual, & Bread are all in the spirit of facilitating confidence in the new player. They will have a set destination to arrive toward with plenty of food to sustain them. Additionally, the Instruction Manual can provide the new player with a further depth of knowledge as they start their journeys on LotC. The Quest Tome is intended to give the player a sense of an “objective” once they join LotC for the first time. It can also be used for several other purposes (unrelated to this specific proposal), such as assigning gathering quests to help players better understand Vortex, or event-tracking for ST eventlines. As soon as the player enters the outermost region of their target settlement, a broadcast is made to every player in their selected region, Haense. The broadcast indicates that the new player (username) has joined the world and is currently attempting to navigate towards Haense. It also encourages the players in the region to set out on the road and meet them. This is intended to provide the benefits of announcing a new player’s arrival without the negative attachments (aggressive recruiting from separate factions). Alongside Haense’s regional broadcast, Story Team Actors can also opt in to receive broadcasts about new players joining server-wide. Once receiving the broadcast, ST Actors can follow the new player and set up an encounter across the road. It may be things such as a creature encounter, or exploring a shimmering light in the forest. The events need not have depth; whilst a wolf hunt may be a tired cliche of veteran players, it’s the most exciting thing that can happen to a new player that has freshly joined the server. It's also a great way for new ST Actors to hone their craft. This feature will first be test-ran to make sure it is an effective use of ST resources. The Result In the worst case scenario, no players come from the city to greet the new player on their journey, and no ST Actors provide the new player with a short & spontaneous event. Despite all this, the new player still will have a deliberate path towards their city, the sense of a quest, and an additional manual that will answer further questions. In the best case scenario, the new player will begin their journey to shortly be greeted by strange, new, and friendly faces. As they begin to acquaint each other and head towards the city, they are beset by a curious and spontaneous event. The new player has undergone a quest, players eagerly seeking them out, and an event all within an hour of joining. The greatest benefit of this system will be removing the possibility of chance. Currently, new players lie in the good graces of a CT member to be available to guide them. CT members are still welcome to help guide new players along their journey, but it would now be styled to provide more to the new player in a more consistent manner. In addition, a Player Retention Report will be made for the month prior to the implementation date of Project Genesis. Another report will be made afterwards (in a second post following the project’s announcement) to see if retention data has improved, and if this system is due to stay (according to player feedback). 91 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urahra 5359 Share Posted April 20, 2021 I'm looking forward to seeing how this stuff is implemented and I think a lot of it sounds like a good idea. Glad to hear y'all are listening to feedback! :) 13 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulReapingWolf 2258 Share Posted April 20, 2021 Can't wait for this to turn into more quests maybe some with vortex rewards? Or allowing nations to have custom quest boards with activities for players to do :D This update appeases the MMORPG aficionado in me. 15 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MayRndz 1047 Share Posted April 20, 2021 I look forward to seeing how this will play out, with new change always brings new excitement of its own. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bhased 3586 Share Posted April 20, 2021 Thank you Treshure. When do we get to play overwatch 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unwillingly 10837 Share Posted April 20, 2021 Does the compass point directly to a city, or will it help keep new players on the roads? I feel like itll cause some new players to have to end up swimming through a giant ocean for 20 minutes, or navigating painfully steep hills because the compass could potentially guide them away from the road Great post tho, hopefully it helps improve player retention 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tea with Gwyn 217 Share Posted April 20, 2021 This is awesome, I'm really happy to see staff taking an interest in player retention and doing something about it. It always broke my lil heart to meet someone new, interact and have fun, and never see them online again. Hell, the possibility to give new players minor quests or events kinda makes me want to apply for ST Actor. +1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burnsider 4540 Share Posted April 20, 2021 36 minutes ago, Treshure said: Alongside Haense’s regional broadcast, Story Team Actors can also opt in to receive broadcasts about new players joining server-wide. Once receiving the broadcast, ST Actors can follow the new player and set up an encounter across the road. It may be things such as a creature encounter, or exploring a shimmering light in the forest. The events need not have depth; whilst a wolf hunt may be a tired cliche of veteran players, it’s the most exciting thing that can happen to a new player that has freshly joined the server. This feature will first be test-ran to make sure it is an effective use of ST resources. As a member of the Event Team, I am 100% for this and look forward to helping the newbies with their first experience. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Songwitch 1404 Share Posted April 20, 2021 holy **** this left me speechless 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Treshure 5579 Author Share Posted April 20, 2021 34 minutes ago, Unwillingly said: That was a point the Techs immediately raised after the proposal. We pulled out a map and traced out the lines between the hubs & cities. I believe the compass will adjust to help keep the newcomer on the road/on land. Shouldn't be too much of an issue, though. The lines are surprisingly straighter than I thought. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahbarah 4971 Share Posted April 20, 2021 BASED In all honesty though, would love to see something like this come to fruition! Guiding new players and getting them accustomed to the server can be tricky, especially since our availability varies during the day, so having something like this would be real neat :D 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AudTheOdd 242 Share Posted April 20, 2021 PRAISE! 🙏 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mannamannaa 1626 Share Posted April 20, 2021 As a new player myself, I am very happy to see these opportunities for change being taken! I was very lucky to receive immediate attention from a faction leader my first day on the server, but a lot of things lined up just right to quickly bring me into the Krugmar community. I understand many other players may not have it so lucky when starting out. Some worries I do have fall upon whether the player's choice of portal will align with their original character application, or if there is more flexibility in the system. For example, What if Kor'garr the orc accidentally entered the Urguan portal? Another is the already mentioned concern of promoting more stagnancy in the server-wide politics, though it could be argued the direction of newer players to very well entrenched communities is in itself a bonus... I simply hope this will not have a detrimental effect on smaller communities attempting to grow. Finally, for cities with sprawling road to arrive from the waypoint a la Elvenesse... Maybe there can be more directional signs made, and a "chain" of compass points instead of just showing a straight line to the city? More to code, I know, but I don't want any new players to quit because a compass sent them halfway up random mountain 74-B. Either way, Great work! I look forward to seeing this implemented! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glade 517 Share Posted April 20, 2021 I like this, at the very least its worth a shot. +1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotEvilAtAll 9912 Share Posted April 20, 2021 I have 2 questions: 1: Will anything be done about the increasing server bureaucracy and lack of dynamic RP as mentioned on this thread? It's cool to have more methods to bring players into a settlement and give them an ST event immediately, but it's likely that new player retention could still be pretty low if the clique-y RP, AFKers, and sprint jumpers all return the moment the initial integration is over without the new player being a part of any grander story. 2: (this is a personal matter) Will new halflings have the option to be led to Bramblebury? I will be very mad if new halflings don't have that option and have to pick between cities full of races different from their persona. There may not always be halflings in the village, but if you ping our @roleplay role on the halfling discord we can usually have a few folks show up. If it becomes a problem that new halfling players aren't getting integrated, you can give them a compass for Elvenesse AND Bramblebury if they pick Bramblebury so that if they don't get integrated in the village immediately, the Elves can give them some initial RP and have them come over to Bramblebury later if they want. 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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