NGDs plans to get more players

[Candyx]

How are you (NGD) planning on increasing player count and retention? I've made a suggestion here:

http://www.championsofregnum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=103408&page=3

But really it would be good to know where we (the players) can help? I've invited 3 friends to regnum that now have at least 1 level 60 each, but that's thanks to some serious grind support through most of the lower levels. It really does strike me that the lower levels can't be all that profitable for you since the majority of the grind is for the higher levels. Outside of the scroll of mastery (or whatever the jump to lvl 45 scroll is called) I can't imagine you make a lot of xim from characters lower than level 45. So why not just cut this long slog of a grind out? As in my previous post, maybe only allow people to do this on their first character.

Also how about making some genuine incentive for high levels to help lower levels. Any conj or hunter can speed up the grind of a lower level easily, so why not allow people doing this to have the benefit of the lots of gold, more drops, or just simply a massive boost to the xp based on the difference in levels between the characters. It would become a regular thing for level 50s to help those of a lower level, meaning the lower levels make friends and level more quickly and become more invested in the game.

These are just ideas. Potentially impossible to implement, or maybe they'll prove financially unviable, but you have a lot of players here that can help come up with ideas!!! :D

Keep up the good work!

[oim]

First charakter instant lvl 49 after reaching lvl 25. my suggestion.

[Fiver]

I max lvl in most new MMO's in 2-4 weeks of consistent play, this game is holding itself back with a ridiculous grind.

I suggest moving the financial model to end game toon improvements.
gear, weapons, maybe make all special mounts, paints, dyes, hair cuts dances accessible only after lvl 60..idk its your game think about it!!!

Start by:

1 Expand max characters to 6 - maximizing end game toons to profit from
2. Double all exp from all kills of any kind
3. Triple all exp from quests
4. Cut dmg for mobs by 20% ( compensation for hunters make tame spell grants auto +20% dmg or to give hunters a quick boost + 40% dmg ) ( For those of you who use mob agro as a tactic in a fight maybe grant all mobs in agro state +20% dmg bonus )

You have been marketing to a small hard core group long enough time to expand the pie.

To compensate all the poor bastards that endured the punishing grind up to this point and have reached lvl 60.

Award a special cape - with +2 main attribute and passive +20% gold +1 other than main attribute - make it cool but not OP

[Adrian]

Skipping content is not a good idea. Content should be enhanced and levelling process made easier (and enjoyable) because this is part of the engagement of the new user. Insta level scrolls are for those that don't care about initial stages, and making them a rule other than an exception would be, in my opinion, a mistake.

[halvdan]

Skipping content is not a good idea. Content should be enhanced and levelling process made easier (and enjoyable) because this is part of the engagement of the new user. Insta level scrolls are for those that don't care about initial stages, and making them a rule other than an exception would be, in my opinion, a mistake.

I had before an idea. I think it's best idea how to deal with insane boring grind.
I think the problem isn't the grind itself. Yes, it's not fun killing 2000 mobs to get new level, but actually it is only result of impossibility to gain new levels by warring.
I even think that quests are made only untill level 35 just because before developers supposed that after level 35 it will be possible to grind in warzone by warring.
So my idea is to make lower levels usefull in warzone. Actually it's impossible to have fun in warzone with 30lvl barbarian. This needs to be changed. How?

Make character with level 30 same usefull as it is on level 50 now. This would include remaking power points curve. Right now level 30 has 32 power points, and it is slowly increasing to 65 power points on level 50 and then increasing by two up to 85 power points on level 60. This should be changed to rapid power points increasing from level 1 up to 55 power points on level 30, and then every level only one more power point untill level 60.
And the another things would be remaking gear. Basically level 30 characters would be able to use similar strong weapons and armor as level 50 characters can use now.
Last thing, i think easiest to implement would be changing character stats in similar way as mentioned before.

Note, that for level 60 nothing would get changed. They'd be same strong, same stats, same weapons and armor as now. This would only allow levels 30+ to have fun and also be able to grind by warring also. I guess after this change long grind to 60 wouldnt be that important issue anymore. Mostly important, after this change new players will be able to see what's RVR about noticeably sooner, what will keep em playing.
This change alongside with slight boost on xp from killing players would make grind funnier, bring more people in war and most important, it wont let new players quit while doing - "Kill 800 Giant stupid Beetle" tasks.

Last thing i forgot to mention, most probably this wouldnt change NGD profits from XP scroll boosts, because amount of XP needed to 60 wouldnt change at all.

I'd really, really like to know your opinion on this Adrian. I am almost sure that this would help the game alot.

[Adrian]

I had before an idea. I think it's best idea how to deal with insane boring grind.
I think the problem isn't the grind itself. Yes, it's not fun killing 2000 mobs to get new level, but actually it is only result of impossibility to gain new levels by warring.
I even think that quests are made only untill level 35 just because before developers supposed that after level 35 it will be possible to grind in warzone by warring.
So my idea is to make lower levels usefull in warzone. Actually it's impossible to have fun in warzone with 30lvl barbarian. This needs to be changed. How?

Make character with level 30 same usefull as it is on level 50 now. This would include remaking power points curve. Right now level 30 has 32 power points, and it is slowly increasing to 65 power points on level 50 and then increasing by two up to 85 power points on level 60. This should be changed to rapid power points increasing from level 1 up to 55 power points on level 30, and then every level only one more power point untill level 60.
And the another things would be remaking gear. Basically level 30 characters would be able to use similar strong weapons and armor as level 50 characters can use now.
Last thing, i think easiest to implement would be changing character stats in similar way as mentioned before.

Note, that for level 60 nothing would get changed. They'd be same strong, same stats, same weapons and armor as now. This would only allow levels 30+ to have fun and also be able to grind by warring also. I guess after this change long grind to 60 wouldnt be that important issue anymore. Mostly important, after this change new players will be able to see what's RVR about noticeably sooner, what will keep em playing.
This change alongside with slight boost on xp from killing players would make grind funnier, bring more people in war and most important, it wont let new players quit while doing - "Kill 800 Giant stupid Beetle" tasks.

Last thing i forgot to mention, most probably this wouldnt change NGD profits from XP scroll boosts, because amount of XP needed to 60 wouldnt change at all.

I'd really, really like to know your opinion on this Adrian. I am almost sure that this would help the game alot.

I mentioned in other threads before. We are focusing on this: the first 50 levels should be acquired by levelling with mobs/quests. From level 50 to 60, the main source of XP should be with enemy players and war quests.

BUT, you can go at any level to gain XP with enemies, but bearing in mind that the progress may be slower but more entertaining. The same with those from level 50 to 60 when they want to kill mobs or questing. They could also do it but would be less entertaining.

So, the focus is about expanding the options but keeping the performance balanced between inner realm and warzone. We want to make levelling more entertaining, but the map has to be populated and making users skip zones of the map is not what we want.

[halvdan]

I agree with you, only:
...
BUT, you can go at any level to gain XP with enemies, but bearing in mind that the progress may be slower but more entertaining.


Right now it is impossible, because level 30-40 has 0% chance to be usefull in warzone, so besides slower progress this way of gaining XP isn't more entertaining at all.
My idea was about giving lower levels chance for this second way of grind, slower but more entertaining, which is at the moment nonsense.

[Robasiewicz]

From level 50 to 60, the main source of XP should be with enemy players and war quests.

yeah. while we're at this:

can you please change the Realm Task "kill 300 players form Ignis" to: "kill 300 enemy players"?
getting 300 kills is kinda hard. not only players are harder to kill than mobs, but additionally it's unclear when the kill counts (sometimes killing the same player twice counts, sometimes it does not).
plus you can only have one RT active and fighting the same realm for a long period is rarely the case.

furthermore: exp from a kill gets divided and in most cases one gets less exp than he would get from killing a mob (no grp exp, etc) and the reward for this task is roughly the same when compared to mob killing.

so between warring and grinding the latter is faster still

[Candyx]

...but the map has to be populated and making users skip zones of the map is not what we want.

I get that a lot of development went into the inner realm development but practically speaking after you reach level 60 you don't go exploring the inner realm any longer. So 'we built this cool looking area' should be a reason to make players slog through the first 50 levels.

It sucks when you do a really neat bit of work, but then it isn't used. What sucks more though is the guy who forces everyone to use his work because he's spent the time on it - effort doesn't equal utility.

Also while I'm complaining, the whole letter quest thing is a little nonsensical. The idea behind xp is that it represents the learning curve behind killing, you start by killing mobs and as you master skills you unlock new skills. Once you've unlocked every skill you can go to war and then learn how to apply your current skills to a more challenging opponent. How does knowing the location of every NPC in Syrtis inner help me in war? It simply doesn't. Yet this is still (by a factor of around 10) the faster method of gaining experience. Explain please!

[MDpro]

The idea behind xp is that it represents the learning curve behind killing, you start by killing mobs and as you master skills you unlock new skills. Once you've unlocked every skill you can go to war and then learn how to apply your current skills to a more challenging opponent. How does knowing the location of every NPC in Syrtis inner help me in war?
You make a good point about experience representing the learning curve of killing stuff. The letter questing should be an available option though, there just should be a lot more emphasis on not using them on your first character, and instead learn how to play by using new spells that become available to you as you level. They are quicker exp, but at the loss of gold and loot/drops, so it should still be an option, but it's an option that's better suited for people that already have a high level main character, and are trying to quickly level an alternate.

I learned the hard way how too much letter questing can deprive you of general knowledge of how to use your sub-class in war. I made that mistake on my hunter, and I'd be a lot better had I used the arena or mobs more often to learn how a lot of the skills worked. I remember being level 50 something and had no idea how to use spells like evasive tactics, acrobatic, death sentence, sudden strike, retalliation, dirty fighting, break apart, sotw and some others. All of this because I wasted so much time letter questing instead of learning how to use my sub-class. Heck, I never even knew how to re-skill until I got to level 48 lol. I like the letters as an option for alts, but there should be some emphasis on learning the spells, and using the arena and such for new players.

On a side note: I'm actually working on making videos for my RO youtube channel as a guide for newer players, so they don't make mistakes like that, and instead learn the game as fluently as possible. This hopefully will allow them to get a better experience throughout their leveling stages that will help them when they get to the war zone. :smile:

[Candyx]

Haha! I remember on my first character it took me until lvl 21 to learn how to reskill (back then you had to type /reset_powers).

People not learning how to handle themselves in war wasn't my primary point, although letter questing for a few weeks with the promise of enjoyable war and only to find themselves lacking. I wouldn't be surprised if this was responsible for a few people quitting.

NGD are clearly working hard on updates, and they realise this is and issue - the noob war zone island is proof of that. But getting a workable system that doesn't affect sales is the challenge.

[Zas_]

I thought about something in between dumb grinding and player killing, using instances:

- make a 3 enters "dungeon" or labyrinth
- make 3 teams (one of each realm), level capped (ie . 3 characters within 20-25 levels per team)
- goal is an item at an equidistant place, think about a race
- dungeon has "rooms", each team have to kill mobs in each room to have a door open to next one
- number of rooms and mobs are modified according to team levels
- first team getting out with the quest item win
- teams can attack each other, and if item carrier get killed, quest item change hands (like relics/gems)
- position of other teams can be shown or hidden
- terrain may vary (random generated)

XP are won by killing mobs (like regular grinding), XP bonus is given to winning team

It is a mix of current game features: TDM, grinding, relic/gem races

It would make gaining XP much more fun imho

[Hollow-Ichigo]

Or just reduce the amount of XP you need to reach 60. 10,960,940 is steep

Best,