Some suggestions and opinions about the game.

[DarkFury]

NOTE:Many of the suggestion that i am about to give you may have seen in another games, other you havent. I dont suggest them, because i want you to make EL like the game X, but because they are proven successful over the years. I KNOW that this game is developed only by 1 person with a little help from fans, but want to give my full opinion. I also apoligize for my bad english

First of all, i'd like to say that im fairly new player ( playing for almost 2 weeks now ), but I used to play the game before, but only for a while and I'm going to give suggestions based on my brief experiance. I've play a lot of other online games and I can see what you have, what you need, also I got good observation on what people are looking for in a game. This post will be separated in different parts, coverint the different aspects of the game.

 

Introduction: Eternal Lands is a sandbox type of a mmorpg (for those who dosnt know, sandbox game is a type of mmorpg, where you have freedom of your activities, in other words non-linear). Those type of games arent very popular, but the ones that uses this pattern are very good and respected games. Just to name few: EVE Online, Ultima online, Ryzom, Old Star Wars: Galaxies, Runescape, Darkfall, Wurm online. EL is very addicting, a lot of nice and original features and great potential of being really great game. Once again, I know that it is developed only by one person and everything is slow, but if he focus on the right things to adjust and develop, you wont regret.

 

GRAPHICS: Hands down, the first thing most of the people notice every time they stumble on a game, is the appearance of the game. While to many it is important, to me it isnt. I can have a blast in a game with 2d sticks, as long as it offers good gameplay.

 

Now lets talk about the EL's graphics: the graphics and the animations aren't the best and there isnt even animations for a lot of activities( harving, magic , mixing etc ), as i said i personally don't care, but that turns off a lot of people. When i try to offer the game to someone hes like "LOLOLOL dude are you mad that game has graphics from the 90s" and I'm like "ya ya but you can do a lot of stuff.." hes already "gimme a break it looks like pacman on steroids, im going back to WOW or <insert random shiny game here>". A graphics is something to consider, but definitely not the most important. A good improovement would be just polishing the graphics, adding new animations and improving the current ones.

 

 

SOUND: Again, something that i personally don't care, unless its connected directly with the game (for example Counter-Strike). Then again, the music and the sounds are pretty nice and fresh.

 

 

GAMEPLAY: This is where Eternal Lands shines. There arent much games that offer the diversity of EL. I love that i can harvest, fight, make potions, armors, land mines, rings, summon monsters, do quests, participate in events, instances and invasions. The progress in the game is slow, which is good, but i think its just too slow. People don't want to waste their lives on playing a game. Considering somewhat faster advancing will be good.

 

If I personally was keen on mixing stuff and harvesting, I would be okay, but I like the PVP/PK part. What I don't like is that, if you want to be successful PKer, you need to spend years to improve your skills and then again always will be someone who will be just better than you skillLevel-wise. That's just not right if you want to attract new players. Thats also a thing which would turn them off.

 

I like the idea of the PK server, but separating such a small project into two just isnt right. There can't be two servers in existance. Making two servers with different purposes just isnt the right thing to do, it is like separating the real world - one part only with criminals and the other only with peaceful people. The PK server will always be filled with players that like mainly to PVP/PK and this is where it fails and i will tell you why. The magic of the PK is in the unknown, being killed while harvesting or training, ganking little group of players who try to do some RP or have some guild event or just for the sake of it. The fear if someone might gank you while you harvest, counting the steps to the storage, to the safe place, the fear that group of player killers might just pop and kill you and take your boss and loot. Thats the magic of the PK and the full looting game. Eternal lands somewhat has this element, but not entirely. Most of the activities can be done, without even going into PK areas. Most of the ores are gathered in safe areas, where there is no form of danger. There is no actual "risk vs. reward".

 

While suggesting this to be changed might be much, i can just suggest different aproachest to the "problem". Make different territories/places that people can conquer and fight for. Make it so everyone with decent skill in Attack, Defence, Ranging, Magic can participate, something like the PK arenas . Some vets will say "no, thats not fair i've played for years to be so imba" which will drive new players away, but at the same time the very same vets say "man pk is dead, there is no pk" - there can't be flow of new players when the game does not allow it. An example of such territory can be mine - guilds fight for a mine and after controlling it they recieve bonus to harvesting and access to some rare ore. Players can use the benefits for certain amount of time and after that it will be available again for capturing by other guild.

 

A good suggestion about the PK server would be something like free trial. Give the new players chance to try out the full pvp server and then, if they like it, they can pay and play. Some time ago when i saw the PK server and when it was still active i really wanted to try it, but those 5 bucks stoped me from doing it. I wouldnt give money for something that i havent tested. Think about it.

 

 

 

Those are the things that come to my mind at the moment. Ofcourse there is a lot of little ones, but i think those are the ones that need the most attention. If you check here you can read what are people looking for. I hope i can get some feedback from the devs and the players.

Edited November 4, 2010 by DarkFury

[Quesar]

So your basic suggestion about pk is that people that don't want to participate in it should be forced to more? Great plan...

 

I understand that you like pk, and think the rush, etc is fun. However, lots of other people don't like it. Yet you automatically assume they will enjoy being victims.

[DarkFury]

So your basic suggestion about pk is that people that don't want to participate in it should be forced to more? Great plan...

 

I understand that you like pk, and think the rush, etc is fun. However, lots of other people don't like it. Yet you automatically assume they will enjoy being victims.

 

I am sorry if it is a bit unclear, but otherwise the post would be a lot longer, which isn't cool. My point was : do NOT force peaceful people to participate by making more maps PK (the so called risk vs. reward that im talking about ) AND making those territories/places. Thus you are NOT really forced to PK. It's a win-win situation in my opinion.

Edited November 4, 2010 by DarkFury

[Wizzy]

NOTE:Many of the suggestion that i am about to give you may have seen in another games, other you havent. I dont suggest them, because i want you to make EL like the game X, but because they are proven successful over the years. I KNOW that this game is developed only by 1 person with a little help from fans, but want to give my full opinion. I also apoligize for my bad english

First of all, i'd like to say that im fairly new player ( playing for almost 2 weeks now ), but I used to play the game before, but only for a while and I'm going to give suggestions based on my brief experiance. I've play a lot of other online games and I can see what you have, what you need, also I got good observation on what people are looking for in a game. This post will be separated in different parts, coverint the different aspects of the game.

 

Introduction: Eternal Lands is a sandbox type of a mmorpg (for those who dosnt know, sandbox game is a type of mmorpg, where you have freedom of your activities, in other words non-linear). Those type of games arent very popular, but the ones that uses this pattern are very good and respected games. Just to name few: EVE Online, Ultima online, Ryzom, Old Star Wars: Galaxies, Runescape, Darkfall, Wurm online. EL is very addicting, a lot of nice and original features and great potential of being really great game. Once again, I know that it is developed only by one person and everything is slow, but if he focus on the right things to adjust and develop, you wont regret.

 

GRAPHICS: Hands down, the first thing most of the people notice every time they stumble on a game, is the appearance of the game. While to many it is important, to me it isnt. I can have a blast in a game with 2d sticks, as long as it offers good gameplay.

 

Now lets talk about the EL's graphics: the graphics and the animations aren't the best and there isnt even animations for a lot of activities( harving, magic , mixing etc ), as i said i personally don't care, but that turns off a lot of people. When i try to offer the game to someone hes like "LOLOLOL dude are you mad that game has graphics from the 90s" and I'm like "ya ya but you can do a lot of stuff.." hes already "gimme a break it looks like pacman on steroids, im going back to WOW or <insert random shiny game here>". A graphics is something to consider, but definitely not the most important. A good improovement would be just polishing the graphics, adding new animations and improving the current ones.

 

 

SOUND: Again, something that i personally don't care, unless its connected directly with the game (for example Counter-Strike). Then again, the music and the sounds are pretty nice and fresh.

 

 

GAMEPLAY: This is where Eternal Lands shines. There arent much games that offer the diversity of EL. I love that i can harvest, fight, make potions, armors, land mines, rings, summon monsters, do quests, participate in events, instances and invasions. The progress in the game is slow, which is good, but i think its just too slow. People don't want to waste their lives on playing a game. Considering somewhat faster advancing will be good.

 

If I personally was keen on mixing stuff and harvesting, I would be okay, but I like the PVP/PK part. What I don't like is that, if you want to be successful PKer, you need to spend years to improve your skills and then again always will be someone who will be just better than you skillLevel-wise. That's just not right if you want to attract new players. Thats also a thing which would turn them off.

 

I like the idea of the PK server, but separating such a small project into two just isnt right. There can't be two servers in existance. Making two servers with different purposes just isnt the right thing to do, it is like separating the real world - one part only with criminals and the other only with peaceful people. The PK server will always be filled with players that like mainly to PVP/PK and this is where it fails and i will tell you why. The magic of the PK is in the unknown, being killed while harvesting or training, ganking little group of players who try to do some RP or have some guild event or just for the sake of it. The fear if someone might gank you while you harvest, counting the steps to the storage, to the safe place, the fear that group of player killers might just pop and kill you and take your boss and loot. Thats the magic of the PK and the full looting game. Eternal lands somewhat has this element, but not entirely. Most of the activities can be done, without even going into PK areas. Most of the ores are gathered in safe areas, where there is no form of danger. There is no actual "risk vs. reward".

 

While suggesting this to be changed might be much, i can just suggest different aproachest to the "problem". Make different territories/places that people can conquer and fight for. Make it so everyone with decent skill in Attack, Defence, Ranging, Magic can participate, something like the PK arenas . Some vets will say "no, thats not fair i've played for years to be so imba" which will drive new players away, but at the same time the very same vets say "man pk is dead, there is no pk" - there can't be flow of new players when the game does not allow it. An example of such territory can be mine - guilds fight for a mine and after controlling it they recieve bonus to harvesting and access to some rare ore. Players can use the benefits for certain amount of time and after that it will be available again for capturing by other guild.

 

A good suggestion about the PK server would be something like free trial. Give the new players chance to try out the full pvp server and then, if they like it, they can pay and play. Some time ago when i saw the PK server and when it was still active i really wanted to try it, but those 5 bucks stoped me from doing it. I wouldnt give money for something that i havent tested. Think about it.

 

 

 

Those are the things that come to my mind at the moment. Ofcourse there is a lot of little ones, but i think those are the ones that need the most attention. If you check here you can read what are people looking for. I hope i can get some feedback from the devs and the players.

 

 

Hi

 

Welcome to Eternal Lands

 

To be honest, I am not going to reply to the points you made, I think you really havent played long enough to completly grasp the game as a whole. Sure the ghraphics are not cutting edge. There is enough animations imo, because once you make your 100,000 health essence, I think you would be bloody sick of seeing the animations over and over and all that movement in storages. PK in eternal lands is sort of unique. It is a combination of dice rolls and hand/keyboard/mouse skill. Also a through knowldge of game items is needed to be successful.

 

Eternal lands is slow....this is why it is called "eternal" I suppose. It is as painfull as a never ending game of chess. And impossible to truely win.

[DarkFury]

NOTE: Many of the ...

 

 

Hi

 

Welcome to Eternal Lands

 

To be honest, I am not going to reply to the points you made, I think you really havent played long enough to completly grasp the game as a whole. Sure the ghraphics are not cutting edge. There is enough animations imo, because once you make your 100,000 health essence, I think you would be bloody sick of seeing the animations over and over and all that movement in storages. PK in eternal lands is sort of unique. It is a combination of dice rolls and hand/keyboard/mouse skill. Also a through knowldge of game items is needed to be successful.

 

Eternal lands is slow....this is why it is called "eternal" I suppose. It is as painfull as a never ending game of chess. And impossible to truely win.

 

 

 

The point is that there is too few PK areas and in they are usually occupied by top50 att/def/mag players. How am i supposed to even try face such players when it takes so many years to develop character ? I'm not saying that i have to PK from 20 att/def/rang level. Even if i get some few weeks training i cannot face opponents equal to me because they only visit the safe places.

 

When i try to say that i wanna PK/PVP most of peeps laugh at me, because i dont have their thousands of time played. Also the PK action is not a lot in general. I'm always in #6 and i see like few PKs per day and only between the same people.

 

EVE Online for example uses ur pattern of "eternal development", but you can participate in pvp pretty early and really it doesnt matter how much skillpoints you got so you can have fun, its just with bigger ships weapons and such. In EL there isnt such thing as low lvl pvp, or prove me wrong if i am mistaken. Thats why i am suggesting the territorial control - not everyone is forced to do it, but definitely it will bring a lot more action to EL, at least IMO.

 

About the graphics - in order to make someone to mix those 100,000 Health Essences, you gotta attract him somehow. Thats why i'm talking about the graphics. As i said, i don't care about the graphics. Runescape is perfect example of

game that can offer a lot without having DX10 fancy graphics with blur effects and such, also its availablity. Ultima online is also a good example of a game that doensn't have good graphics ( a lot of players are playing it on free shards where 2d gfx are only available ).

Edited November 4, 2010 by DarkFury

[Wizzy]

NOTE: Many of the ...

 

 

Hi

 

Welcome to Eternal Lands

 

To be honest, I am not going to reply to the points you made, I think you really havent played long enough to completly grasp the game as a whole. Sure the ghraphics are not cutting edge. There is enough animations imo, because once you make your 100,000 health essence, I think you would be bloody sick of seeing the animations over and over and all that movement in storages. PK in eternal lands is sort of unique. It is a combination of dice rolls and hand/keyboard/mouse skill. Also a through knowldge of game items is needed to be successful.

 

Eternal lands is slow....this is why it is called "eternal" I suppose. It is as painfull as a never ending game of chess. And impossible to truely win.

 

 

 

The point is that there is too few PK areas and in they are usually occupied by top50 att/def/mag players. How am i supposed to even try face such players when it takes so many years to develop character ? I'm not saying that i have to PK from 20 att/def/rang level. Even if i get some few weeks training i cannot face opponents equal to me because they only visit the safe places.

 

When i try to say that i wanna PK/PVP most of peeps laugh at me, because i dont have their thousands of time played. Also the PK action is not a lot in general. I'm always in #6 and i see like few PKs per day and only between the same people.

 

EVE Online for example uses ur pattern of "eternal development", but you can participate in pvp pretty early and really it doesnt matter how much skillpoints you got so you can have fun, its just with bigger ships weapons and such. In EL there isnt such thing as low lvl pvp, or prove me wrong if i am mistaken. Thats why i am suggesting the territorial control - not everyone is forced to do it, but definitely it will bring a lot more action to EL, at least IMO.

 

About the graphics - in order to make someone to mix those 100,000 Health Essences, you gotta attract him somehow. Thats why i'm talking about the graphics. As i said, i don't care about the graphics. Runescape is perfect example of

game that can offer a lot without having DX10 fancy graphics with blur effects and such, also its availablity. Ultima online is also a good example of a game that doensn't have good graphics ( a lot of players are playing it on free shards where 2d gfx are only available ).

 

 

In 2 weeks playing I bet you havent even seen 1/20th of the pk maps yet. In 5 years I bet there are some I am unaware of. If you want to pk at low levels, you can do it. trust me, though you may need to hone some skills

[Miiks]

Well it would be even harder to find any PK action if there were more PK areas. Atm it's just KF and DPA's where the action is so you don't need to run around to find someone to fight. I agree there should be some newbie arenas, since DPA's aren't really aimed for low lvl people anymore.

 

Also PK server is practically dead nowadays, it doesn't take away any PKers from main server imo.

 

About graphics. Imo EL is fine the way it is atm. It runs decently on slower computers too and looks good enough at least for me. There are more important things to develop than graphics, I think.

 

And I agree with Wizzy, you understand pretty much about EL even you have played short time, but still there's still lot to learn.

[ProHibited]

Summary;

+ Widen the level range (gap) for which two players are competitive in PvP versus each other.

+ Create larger (multiple map) areas separated by 100% PK-maps (possibly capped), no boats from one side to the other. (think of larger scale hydro)

 

 

What he states of obviously correct. When you go into pk there will be others who have played for years to be master in their specific style (mage, offense, defense).

 

In many other games the inter player PK'ing takes place between players with roughly equal strength and player tactics become more important. In Eternal-Lands the tactics lie more in your build then in actual game-play. (This should still be the case after any adjustments, I love the different ways of building a char)

 

Why is this the case?

EL has a combat system where a few (say 10) levels makes such a big difference that the player with 10 more levels often has the upper hand (YES).

+ What I would suggest is to widen the 'range' of levels where two players are still competative.

+ Also removing some of the negative perks (I got all but one of those...) levels the playing field a bit, those who choose not to take a negative perk (HS) find themselves 10 levels weaker then a similarly leveled player WITH the perk.

 

Now where does pk take place?

In pk maps, they are isolated (few exceptions exist) thus the players can simply go around them and only players prepared for a fight meet each other. This probably makes sense from a players perspective but for the game as a whole it does not make sense.

+ Why isolate the PvP? Make two areas, non-pk, to do something in one area (mix hydro) you need to go to another area in order to get ingredients (hydro ore) while between those two areas are pk maps. On the PK-server, when you know some players are doing some project, you can anticipate where they will be next and take over their resources. This happened often when the population was a little bit bigger, different guilds protecting harvested resources.. Even peace day did not stop that (engineering!).

With larger areas separated without boats travel times increase, mules could play a bigger role and the walk/run speeds could be lowered with the addition that running requires no potions, solely more food, while using the potion will allow you to run without using any food for some time. Also the tele-pads can play an important role. They cut travel times within the map by taking several 'jumps' but with the added risk of a team waiting for you at the other side. All this can be integrated into C2, where some maps and teleports would have to be sacrificed or create a new island.

+ In short, series of big PK maps (WS-size) with less objects (Desert, wasteland type) combining running, tele-pads and mules to transport goods between the two sides. Storyline could be two factions fighting over an enormous island (or continent).

 

 

Just to be clear about the PK-server, it is not just about PK. The no-cooldown, 100 a/d cap and free spawns make the game completely different in many aspects. Different builds are explored and PK tactics are certainly not in agreement with the PRO's from main... Lately I feel like some PK maps are actually save maps as for example harvesters in many locations are allowed to harvest some flower or iron ore.

 

All have fun! Game is slowly progressing and cant wait for the next set of artwork and the 3D landscape!

[DarkFury]

@ProHibited thats what i am trying to say exacly. Thanks for agreeing with me and for the additional points added.

[bkc56]

I like the idea of the PK server, but separating such a small project into two just isnt right. There can't be two servers in existance.

When the PK server was started there were plenty of people to populate both. The overall EL population has declined over the last three years since the PK server came on-line.

 

The PK server will always be filled with players that like mainly to PVP/PK and this is where it fails and i will tell you why.

Actually, the bulk of the players on the PK server don't PK. They are drawn to it because of the other attributes (mentioned above) like: no cooldown, a/d cap, legal multi-play, open spawns for training and quests, no mini-events, etc.

 

As to why it's not more successful, it has nothing to do with your PK/Risk idea. But it's been endlessly discussed over in the PK forum so you can go reading if you're interested.

 

A good suggestion about the PK server would be something like free trial.

Previously discussed (and rejected by radu) along with dozens of other ideas. And honestly, $5 is nothing (people waste more than that on a coffee), and there are other ways to get a character that don't require an PayPal account for the $5. The $5 I spent on a PK server character was by far the best $5 I've ever spent on entertainment. Nothing else is even close.

[pking]

 

A good suggestion about the PK server would be something like free trial.

 

Previously discussed (and rejected by radu) along with dozens of other ideas. And honestly, $5 is nothing (people waste more than that on a coffee), and there are other ways to get a character that don't require an PayPal account for the $5. The $5 I spent on a PK server character was by far the best $5 I've ever spent on entertainment. Nothing else is even close.

 

 

yep just buy/find a rosto on main

 

 

http://www.eternal-lands.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=52398